• Last lesson
    • Status of women in Old Testament times
      • Scriptural limitations
      • Roles filled by women
  • This lesson
    • How women were regarded in Old Testament times
    • What changed going into the 1st century
  • How women were considered in Old Testament times
    • Included in the covenant – Deuteronomy 29:9-12
    • Sources of wisdom – II Samuel 14:1-21
    • Wisdom personified as feminine – Proverbs 7:4; 8:1-6
    • Having great prudence – I Samuel 25:23-42
    • Wife is a very good find – Proverbs 19:L14; 18:22
  • How women considered – continued:
    • Life of a women on par with life of a man – Exodus 21:22-29
    • Books of Ruth, Esther, Song of Solomon
    • Book of Judith (uninspired)
      • Apocryphal book that tells the story of a rebel named Judith
  • Status of women in Old Testament
    • Marriages were arranged
      • Between father and prospective husband
      • Love was not a factor
      • Maintenance of tribal inheritance was
    • Emancipated widows free to seek their own
      • Ruth a good example
      • Wise woman of Tekoa presumably made choice
    • Beyond that, status was what she made of it
  • Cultural changes approaching 1st century
    • Encroachment of Hellenism throughout society
      • Embraced by some
      • Abhorred by others
      • Unavoidable by any
      • Numbness brought about by time
    • Gradual acceptance of cultural “norms”
      • Included many aspects of society
      • One change was women’s status
  • Effects of Hellenization on women
    • Neither seen nor heard
      • Harem system had roots in Hellenism
      • Woman’s place was in the home
      • Women not to be educated or to teach
      • Women to be “hidden” in public
    • Diminished legal standing
      • Could not testify in court
      • Disallowed from owning property