Women in the Old Testament

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer discusses that the women in the Old Testament are delegated to certain set roles, and those roles frequently center on sexuality. Given that sex was viewed as something sinful, it is not surprising that many of the women in the Old Testament, including Eve and Hannah, were cast in a negative light. The writer then points out that, as the natural result of sexuality was pregnancy and childbirth, which were both revered by Old Testament Jews, many Old Testament women were also revered in their roles as mothers. Both Eve and Hannah were celebrated mothers in the Old Testament. The writer notes that for Christians, the most important role that the women played was to contrast with the appearance of Mary in the New Testament, and one can see features of both the story of Eve and the story of Hannah in the later story of Mary.

From the Paper:

"Therefore, Hannah offered to give her child to God. Moreover, not only did Hannah offer her child to God, but she delivered him to the service of the Temple as soon as he was weaned, so that he could devote himself to the Lord. Later, in the New Testament, a similarly devout woman, Mary, would be approached to give a child to God. Of course, the essential difference is that Mary did not pray to become pregnant; instead, she was chosen by the Lord to carry His son. However, both women offered up their sons to the service of the Lord and did so by their faith.
"Of course, that is not the only similarity between the two women. In fact, after discovering that she was going to carry the son of God, Mary called ... "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Blank, W. (Unknown). Hannah. Retrieved January 14, 2008 from The Church of God Daily Bible Study.Web site: http://www.keyway.ca/htm2002/hannah.htm
• Pelikan, J. (1996). Mary through the centuries. New Haven: Yale University Press.
• Spong. J. (1992). Born of a woman: a bishop rethinks the virgin birth and the treatment of women by a male-dominated church. San Francisco: Harper Collins Publishers.

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