Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - What Does the Bible Say About Women? | Torah | Genesis 35:16-29

Episode Date: March 30, 2022

What does God think about women? Does the Old Testament condone the abuse of women? How should Christians think about stories of abuse? In today's episode, Jensen looks at Genesis 35:16-29 to discuss how God brings justice against evil and abuse. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Genesis 35:16-29 Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now.

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jensen Holt McNair. Right now, we're going through the first book of the Bible, Genesis. In 2017, Time's person of the year was actually a group of people. They were named the Silence Breakers. Time described these women as the voices that launched a movement. That movement was the Me Too movement. I'm sure you remember this time as many women came forward and bravely spoke of the sexual misconconderance. conduct, harassment, and abuse that they had endured. Even in the evangelical culture, there's been a sort of awakening to the abuse and sexual misconduct that has pervaded the church. The rise and fall of Mars Hill is a podcast that's become increasingly popular. It follows the story of how

Mark Driscoll became the pastor of a megachurch in Seattle and subsequently felt a disgrace. One particular episode condemns, amongst other things, the disturbing beliefs that Driscoll held about women and how he should be treated within a marriage. For years, Driscoll used his position as a pastor to misuse scripture to uphold sexist beliefs until 2014 when he resigned amidst a number of accusations against him. His story is not the only one of misconduct in the church. Church too became a hashtag alongside the Me Too movement and many other pastors' sexual sins were brought into the light. It seems that slowly our culture both inside and outside of the church is standing up, and calling out the mistreatment of women. But it can be hard seeing so many, so high up in the church,

abusing their power in this way. It can make the waters murky for so many involved in the church, and oftentimes it turns people away from the church and maybe even from their faith. In the same way, it can be hard as we read passages in scripture about men of faith exploiting the women around them. If you've been following along through Genesis, you know that the family line that we've been following has been rife with the sexual mistreatment of women. Abraham slept with Hagar, his wife's servant, someone without the power to say no. Twice he gave his wife Sarah over to foreign leaders to become one of their many wives. Following in his footsteps, Jacob slept with not one but two of his female servants, one from each of his wives. And in today's passage, we find sandwich between the

death of Rachel and that of Isaac, a heartbreaking story of yet another sexual abuse. Genesis 3522. While Israel, and remember that's Jacob, while Israel lived in that land, Rubin went and lay with Bilha, his father's concubine, and Israel heard of it. So at this point in the story, this is all that we hear about this event. It seems that there's no repercussions for Rubin. His father hears of what he's done, and the author moves. moves on to tell us about the family line of Jacob. Now, if you're reading through Genesis and just

looking at this passage, it can be troubling. Bilha has spent her life as a servant of Rachel, Jacob's wife. She's been given to Jacob to produce children for Rachel, and now the half-brother of her sons has taken advantage of her. Why doesn't God step in? Why doesn't Jacob condemn the actions of his son? It's often stories like these that make people pause. They make people question scripture and wonder if God is a God that stands by and allows abuse. Some say that the God of the Bible is a misogynistic God, and that passages like these open the door for men to treat women poorly with no repercussions. And in this case, as Genesis continues, it starts to seem like there aren't any repercussions for Rubin. He continues to live his life alongside his brothers.

It seems that his sin has gone unnoticed. That is, until we get to Genesis 49. Chapter 49, which we'll talk about in more detail later, details the blessing that Jacob gives to his sons. Ruben, as the firstborn, would be expected to gain the birthright and the blessing to go along with it. And yet, we see that his blessing, it's not positive. Rubin, you are my firstborn, my might, the first sign of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power, turbulent as the waters you will no longer excel.

for you went up onto your father's bed, onto my couch, and defiled it. Later in chronicles we read, he, Rubin, was the firstborn, but when he defiled his father's marriage bed, his rights as firstborn were given to the sons of Joseph, son of Israel, so he could not be listed in the genealogical record in accordance with his birthright. Ruben's sin does not go unnoticed by God. When we step back and look at the whole story, we can see clear condemnation of Rubin's actions. He lost what should have been his, the honor of the firstborn, the rights and responsibilities, the leadership, the land. His actions had real consequences in his lifetime, but we can also be sure that there will always be justice against the evils of this

world. God saw Hagar when she was sent away into the desert. He saw Bilha as she was abused by those in power for years, and he sees the abuses of power that continue in our world. Proverbs tells us that no evil will go unpunished. Revelation tells us that a day is coming when we will have a king who is just, and we will live in a world where there is no abuse of power, no brokenness, no exploitation. The Bible is clear that those who continue to abuse, who do not repent, will face God's judgment. It's easy to look at these passages in the Old Testament, read them out of context, and assume

that we follow a God who's okay with these kinds of judgment. kinds of things. But when people take scripture out of context like this, they miss out on the larger story. When we do this, it's easy to decide that God is like the men in these stories, or to use scripture to defend the abuse of women. Either way, we miss out on who God really is. The men and women in the Bible, they're humans. They're broken and sinful just like you and me. It's in their brokenness that we can see ourselves and recognize our need for grace. These stories were never meant to teach us exactly how to live our lives. But they are there to point us to Jesus, the only human who lived without sin and without brokenness. If you want to know who God is and what he believes about women,

look at Jesus, fully God and fully man. In John 4, we learn that Jesus goes out of his way to meet a Samaritan woman at a well outside of her town. He talks to her, something that would have been uncommon in his culture. He teaches her, listens to her, and reveals to her for the first time ever that he is the Messiah. In Luke 8, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna, and many other women were with Jesus alongside the disciples as he went around proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. In John 8, we learned that Jesus stops religious leaders from stoning a woman caught in adultery. Instead, he shows her mercy, calls her to live a faithful life. Luke 10 tells us that Mary sat at the feet of Jesus and learned from his teachings alongside

his disciples. This is something that would have been extremely unusual at the time. John 20 tells us that Jesus chooses to appear to Mary Magdalene first after his resurrection. He tells her to go. and to tell of what she has seen. If you want to know what God thinks of women, look at Jesus. A man who saw the value and dignity of the woman at the well. A man who valued the voices and minds of women by teaching them and partnering with them in ministry. A man who protected women and loved them. If you take scripture at its whole, you will see a God who upholds the dignity of women,

a God who gives them places of honor in the work he is doing, who calls his people to stand up for those who are oppressed and who punishes the evils of this world. When you run into Scripture that's confusing or makes you angry and frustrated, take a step back and look at the larger story. Dive into Scripture. Don't let the passing opinions of the world or a verse out of context draw you away from the truth of who God is and what He is about. God cannot uphold injustice. God cannot commend evil. God is not a God who turns a blind eye to abuse.

He sees you. He loves you. Remember, we follow a righteous king. Before you forget, sign up for the 10-minute Bible Talks newsletter. Hit the link in the show notes, and you'll get an email every Wednesday that will help encourage you in the middle of the work week and bring you deeper in your walk with Jesus. Thanks for listening.