You have to go back a lot farther to the beginning of the story of the relationship between man and woman. Genesis chapter 2, verse 24 and 25 say;
"For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed."
I remember a book called "The Act of Marriage" and in a sense that's what happens when a marriage is consummated. It becomes official as it says in Genesis. In Genesis it was the act that made the marriage. Imagine if that was the standard for defining a marriage today. How many wives have us men had or husbands have you woman had then? lol
Now these regulations you posted from the law sound very barbaric. That was a barbaric time. The law was used for a short time in the whole history of man and then Jesus came and made a better way. The Bible states the law was imperfect, and could not do for man what God wanted. But His Son Jesus could, being perfect. Jesus became the new law replacing the old. And He did it with His own blood and suffering I might add.
Let's look at Jesus's own demonstrated attitude towards women. Some men brought a woman to Jesus saying they caught her in the act of adultery and asked Jesus if she should be stoned. According to the law she should be stoned, they all knew that. They wanted Jesus to condemn her. They were testing Him to see if He would keep the law. If He didn't they could accuse Him of not being the Messiah. But Jesus did not want to condemn the woman. It was not His reason for being on earth. He came to replace the law with Himself and His mercy and forgiveness. Those men knew Jesus would not want to condemn her and thought they had Him in a trap. Jesus taught about mercy and forgiveness and they wanted to force Him to go against those teachings. (And it's worth noting that those men did not bring the man too as the law says both should be stoned. That was some hypocrisy there.) Jesus scratched the ground with a stick and finally said let the one among you who is without sin cast the first stone. They all slowly left. So Jesus was able to show mercy and also not violate the law. The law was imperfect and Jesus is perfect. And Jesus said to the woman, Does no one condemn you? She said, no one Lord. And Jesus said Neither do I condemn you. Go your way and sin no more.
In Matthew 9:13 Jesus said (to the Pharisees), "Go and learn what this means, I desire compassion and not sacrifice, for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
The obvious symbolism is there, compassion representing Jesus, and sacrifice representing the law and the (righteous) Pharisees who served the law. Jesus was saying the law was passing away, being replaced by Him. And He is full of compassion. Jesus said, "Come to Me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest, for my yoke is easy and my burden light". The burden of the law was heavy.
Another example of Jesus's attitude towards women is this. When He rose from the tomb who did He appear to first? Peter? The twelve? He appeared to Mary Magdalene first. |
