Tag: men

Male and Female

Posted on by jovial_cynic

This is the book of the generations of Adam. On the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them “mankind” on the day when they were created.
Genesis 5:1-2 (NASB)

The genealogy in Genesis 5 lists men being born, having children, and dying.

“Where are the mothers?” one of my students asked me.

It’s a fascinating question. Why does the text highlight the men, and not the women? Perhaps it’s because nobody asks a woman if she is the legitimate parent. Everybody knows she is, whereas the men are suspect. A statement must be made and then trusted.

But for those who might wonder if the text simply favors men and disregards women, the first two verse ensure that we have men and women in view from the beginning. Male and female, in the likeness of God. All of us. None are ignored or forgotten.

Listen to Eve

Posted on by jovial_cynic
If you think God said “because you have listened to the voice of your wife” to mean what we should not heed the voice of our wives, you have misunderstood.

Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’;
Cursed is the ground because of you;
With hard labor you shall eat from it
All the days of your life.
Genesis 3:17 (NASB)

Look more closely!

The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’”
Genesis 3:2-3 (NASB)

Go back to the start of the chapter and look at exactly what Eve said. What are her words? What would have happened if Adam had listened to her and heeded her words?

Can you see it? The problem isn’t that Adam listened to his wife’s voice and obeyed her. The problem is that Adam did NOT heed his wife’s voice.

Look at it more closely: The charge against Adam was not that he obeyed his wife, causing him to eat the fruit. The charge is that he HEARD his wife speak the truth and he STILL ATE THE FRUIT ANYWAY.

He heard her. Her words were true.

The problem is that after hearing God tell him not to eat it, and then hearing his wife say that they were told not to eat it, Adam disobeyed God and ate it anyway.

God and Women

Posted on by jovial_cynic
Does the Genesis 17 Covenant of Circumcision show that God has a special relationship with men that He does not have with women? Does Circumcision make men more special?

Perhaps the opposite. Per Jewish teaching, women are “born circumcised,” and are therefore under the Covenant from the beginning. It is only men who must be “fixed.”