 | Woman | |
Was "taken out of man" (Genesis 2:23), and therefore the man has the preeminence. "The head of the woman is the man;" but yet honour is to be shown to the wife, "as unto the weaker vessel" (1 Corinthians 11:3, 8, 9; 1 Peter 3:7). Several women are mentioned in Scripture as having been endowed with prophetic gifts, as Miriam (Exodus 15:20), Deborah (Judges 4:4, 5), Huldah (2 Kings 22:14), Noadiah (Nehemiah 6:14), Anna (Luke 2:36, 37), and the daughters of Philip the evangelist (Acts 21:8, 9). Women are forbidden to teach publicly (1 Corinthians 14:34, 35; 1 Timothy 2:11, 12). Among the Hebrews it devolved upon women to prepare the meals for the household (Genesis 18:6; 2 Samuel 13:8), to attend to the work of spinning (Exodus 35:26; Proverbs 31:19), and making clothes (1 Samuel 2:19; Proverbs 31:21), to bring water from the well (Genesis 24:15; 1 Samuel 9:11), and to care for the flocks (Genesis 29:6; Exodus 2:16).
The word "woman," as used in Matthew 15:28, John 2:4 and 20:13, 15, implies tenderness and courtesy and not disrespect. Only where revelation is known has woman her due place of honour assigned to her.
