Women In The Old Testament

The way that women were treated in the Old Testament and New Testament alike, were much different from how they are treated now. In the Old Testament women were very limited as to what they could do and say. In Jesus’ time, conditions were much the same, but Jesus went against the popular opinion and did what he thought was right. In ancient Israel, women’s freedoms were limited by law, as well as the culture. They were seen as almost second class citizens at the time. Women were believed to be lesser than men, and this can be argued to be true right from the get go. In the book of Genesis it says God created males, and from the male he created a female because Adam needed a “helper” (Genesis 2:7-18). This can be taken as inferring that Eve would be playing a lesser role than what Adam was.
Even in the Ten Commandments inequality can be found if you look deep enough. One of the commandments says that you should not covet your neighbor’s property (Exodus 20:17). It goes on to list of possessions that should not cause jealousy; A house, servant, ox, and then wife. This is interesting because it clearly compares mere physical objects to a human being, a woman. It is saying that a woman is property of a man, and he owns her, much as he might a slave. …show more content…
Not only does this imply that having a child is seen as a dirty act, but having a girl instead of a boy is twice as bad. It could be reasoned that the cause of God says that having a male is better than a female is because a male can carry the family name; However even if that is not the case it is still non-negotiable that the females of the day were seen as lesser for multiple reasons, mainly because it was simply the popular belief of the