The Womans Bible | Page 7

of evil,
whose fruit, is said by Iahveh to cause sudden death, but which does not do so, as Adam
lived 930 years after eating it.
Man and woman are told that "every plant bearing seed upon the face of the earth and
every tree. . . To you it shall be for meat." They are thus given perfect freedom. --- Man
is told there is one tree of which he must not eat, "for in the day thou eatest thereof, thou
shalt surely die."
Man and woman are given special dominion over all the animals-"every creeping thing
that creepeth upon the earth." --- An animal, a "creeping thing," is given dominion over
man and woman, and proves himself more truthful than Iahveh Elohim. (Compare
Genesis chapter ii, verse 17, with chapter iii, verses 4 and 22.)

Now as it is manifest that both of these stories cannot be true; intelligent women, who
feel bound to give the preference to either, may decide according to their own judgment
of which is more worthy of an intelligent woman's acceptance. Paul's rule is a good one
in this dilemma, "Prove all things: hold fast to that which is good." My own opinion is
that the second story was manipulated by some Jew, in an endeavor to give "heavenly
authority" for requiring a woman to obey the man she married. In a work which I am now
completing, I give some facts concerning ancient Israelitish history, which will be of
peculiar interest to those who wish to understand the origin of woman's subjection.
E. B. D.

Many orientalists and students of theology have maintained that the consultation of the
Gods here described is proof that the Hebrews were in early days polytheists--Scott's
supposition that this is the origin of the Trinity has no foundation in fact, as the beginning
of that conception is to be found in the earliest of all known religious nature worship. The
acknowledgment of the dual principal, masculine and feminine, is much more probably
the explanation of the expressions here used.
In the detailed description of creation we find a gradually ascending series. Creeping
things, "great sea monsters," (chap. I, V. 21, literal translation). "Every bird of wing,"
cattle and living things of the earth, the fish of the sea and the "birds of the heavens," then
man, and last and crowning glory of the whole, woman.
It cannot be maintained that woman was inferior to man even if, as asserted in chapter ii,
she was created after him without at once admitting that man is inferior to the creeping
things, because created after them.
L. D. B.
CHAPTER II.
Genesis ii, 21-25.

21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept; and be took
one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh thereof.
22 And the rib which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought
her unto the man.
23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be
called Woman, because she was taken out of man.
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife;
and they shall be one flesh.

25. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
As the account of the creation in the first chapter is in harmony with science, common
sense, and the experience of mankind in natural laws, the inquiry naturally arises, why
should there be two contradictory accounts in the same book, of the same event? It is fair
to infer that the second version, which is found in some form in the different religions of
all nations, is a mere allegory, symbolizing some mysterious conception of a highly
imaginative editor.
The first account dignifies woman as an important factor in the creation, equal in power
and glory with man. The second makes her a mere afterthought. The world in good
running order without her. The only reason for her advent being the solitude of man.
There is something sublime in bringing order out of chaos; light out of darkness; giving
each planet its place in the solar system; oceans and lands their limits; wholly
inconsistent with a petty surgical operation, to find material for the mother of the race. It
is on this allegory that all the enemies of women rest their battering rams, to prove her
inferiority. Accepting the view that man was prior in the creation, some Scriptural writers
say that as the woman was of the man, therefore, her position should be one of subjection.
Grant it, then as the historical fact is reversed in our day, and the man is now of the
woman, shall his