Samuel Martin (son of Earnest Martin, WCG) has a series of posts on his blog about the feminine voice that is found in a lot of scripture. This is sure to gall many diehard Armstrongite leaders because God only works through men, at least in their eyes.
Samuel writes:
Yes, these books are
known in ancient times by the Hebrew name, Megillot (meaning festival
scrolls because they were read on specific festivals in the Hebrew calendar)
and they appear in this order in the Hebrew Bible. We’ll have much more to say
about this in future posts because I believe these books are full of feminine
voices.
However, a major
feminine voice appears in the book of Proverbs, which merits investigation. This
text, in fact, is so obvious and presents us with an urgent blinking light
telling us to pay attention, I think. So, of late, I’ve given Proverbs a fresh
look and I am indeed glad that I did.
Before we get into that
though, let’s look at this obvious text with a specific feminine voice. It is
found in Proverbs 31 and I think it provides a type of a key of understanding.
No, it is not the “perfect
woman” text per se that I want to draw your attention to. No! It is who the
author of it is! The source of that section of Scripture is a woman! The
evidence cannot be clearer.
“The words of King
Lemuel. An oracle that his mother taught him:” (Proverbs 31:1 ESV)
Much more research is
needed on this issue because not only did Lemuel’s mother teach her son some
exceedingly beautiful and inspiring teachings, she did it in such a way that
the English reader might not catch.
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Now, if we take a look at this
abecedarian poem in Proverbs 31 through Mediterranean eyes a bit, what we may
see here is a glimpse of a song/poem that a mother made up for her son (which
is exactly what the text of Proverbs 31;1 says) with the idea that it would
help him remember the qualities of a woman that she hoped him to find.
And who better to know the desirable
qualities of a woman than a woman herself? A mother knows and cares more than
anyone else about the type of woman that their sons marry! This is especially
the case in a patriarchal society where daughters would leave the home and join
the families of their husbands whereas wives would enter the home from outside
of the immediate family and become a part of a new family.
The investment and interest that a
mother has over who her future daughter in law is in such a society is of prime
importance because it is her son who will be caring for her in her old age as
she will probably outlive her husband. So, this is no small point for the
future harmony of households in ancient and even modern times.
Now, this is just a taste of where I
am going with this, but in the next post I will do, we are going to look at
Proverbs 1-9 anew.
Feminine Voices In Proverbs?
