In the time period in which it took place, in a patriarchal society, this chapter was revolutionary. Moses presents the issue of five daughters who are the only surviving descendants of their father to the Lord, and God directs that they should receive their father's inheritance.
Today, in Yemen, 52% of women are given in marriage before age 18. In Honduras, a woman is killed every 18 hours on average and 90% of the perpetrators get off with no punishment. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, over 60% of women age 15-49 have experienced violence or sexual assault, half of them within the past year, and many at the hands of military personnel as a form of terrorism to force citizens to submit to their rule. In Egypt, 80% of women undergo female genital mutilation, and there are no laws to protect women from domestic violence. In Saudi Arabia, women cannot drive or go out in public without a male relative as a chaperone.
(https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/worst-places-woman-yemen-congo-saudi-arabia/)
Just as all nations, tribes, and people groups were created in the image of God and are equal in God's love as well as in His judgment for sin, so men and women are equal in God's sight. God has assigned varying roles, as the New Testament describes the church as the body of Christ, one is called to be a hand and another a foot. Yet all must work together to achieve God's purpose for the body. One role is not superior to another, just as one ethnicity or one gender is not superior to another.
Our pastor mentioned God's choice of Israel this morning and said, (paraphrased) "God did not choose them because they were superior. He chose them especially because they were so weak and powerless, so that all the nations might be blessed through them, because all the nations who saw what God did through Israel would know that it was not in Israel's strength, but in God's power."
Today, in Yemen, 52% of women are given in marriage before age 18. In Honduras, a woman is killed every 18 hours on average and 90% of the perpetrators get off with no punishment. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, over 60% of women age 15-49 have experienced violence or sexual assault, half of them within the past year, and many at the hands of military personnel as a form of terrorism to force citizens to submit to their rule. In Egypt, 80% of women undergo female genital mutilation, and there are no laws to protect women from domestic violence. In Saudi Arabia, women cannot drive or go out in public without a male relative as a chaperone.
(https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/worst-places-woman-yemen-congo-saudi-arabia/)
Just as all nations, tribes, and people groups were created in the image of God and are equal in God's love as well as in His judgment for sin, so men and women are equal in God's sight. God has assigned varying roles, as the New Testament describes the church as the body of Christ, one is called to be a hand and another a foot. Yet all must work together to achieve God's purpose for the body. One role is not superior to another, just as one ethnicity or one gender is not superior to another.
Our pastor mentioned God's choice of Israel this morning and said, (paraphrased) "God did not choose them because they were superior. He chose them especially because they were so weak and powerless, so that all the nations might be blessed through them, because all the nations who saw what God did through Israel would know that it was not in Israel's strength, but in God's power."
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