The Womans Bible | Page 8

place be one of subjection?
The equal position declared in the first account must prove more satisfactory to both
sexes; created alike in the image of God--The Heavenly Mother and Father.
Thus, the Old Testament, "in the beginning," proclaims the simultaneous creation of man
and woman, the eternity and equality of sex; and the New Testament echoes back through
the centuries the individual sovereignty of woman growing out of this natural fact. Paul,
in speaking of equality as the very soul and essence of Christianity, said, "There is neither
Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are
all one in Christ Jesus." With this recognition of the feminine element in the Godhead in
the Old Testament, and this declaration of the equality of the sexes in the New, we may
well wonder at the contemptible status woman occupies in the Christian Church of
to-day.
All the commentators and publicists writing on woman's position, go through an immense
amount of fine-spun metaphysical speculations, to prove her subordination in harmony
with the Creator's original design.
It is evident that some wily writer, seeing the perfect equality of man and woman in the
first chapter, felt it important for the dignity and dominion of man to effect woman's
subordination in some way. To do this a spirit of evil must be introduced, which at once
proved itself stronger than the spirit of good, and man's supremacy was based on the
downfall of all that had just been pronounced very good. This spirit of evil evidently
existed before the supposed fall of man, hence woman was not the origin of sin as so
often asserted.
E. C. S.

In v. 23 Adam proclaims the eternal oneness of the happy pair, "This is now bone of my
bone and flesh of my flesh;" no hint of her subordination. How could men, admitting
these words to be divine revelation, ever have preached the subjection of woman!
Next comes the naming of the mother of the race. "She shall be called Woman," in the
ancient form of the word Womb-man. She was man and more than man because of her
maternity.
The assertion of the supremacy of the woman in the marriage relation is contained in v.
24: "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and cleave unto his wife."
Nothing is said of the headship of man, but he is commanded to make her the head of the
household, the home, a rule followed for centuries under the Matriarchate.
L. D. B.
CHAPTER III.

Genesis iii: 1-24.

1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had
made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of
the garden?
2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said Ye shall
not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof then your eyes shall be opened, and ye
shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to
the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did
eat and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they
sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day;
and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the
trees in the garden.

9 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked;
and I hid myself.
11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof
I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat?
12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the
tree, and I did eat.
13 And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the
woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did