Written by Rachel Held Evans, I thoroughly enjoyed this book because of the humour in it. It was another 'chuckle out loud' kind of book. Evans decides to spend a year living as a 'biblical' woman. This includes not cutting her hair for the entire year, sewing her own clothes (and she was NOT a seamstress), living in a tent in her yard when that time of the month rolled around, calling her husband 'Master', and much more. Now, I didn't take most of this book too seriously and wouldn't recommend it as a course in theology, but she does make some good points, has some excellent, well researched insights, and shares them in a light hearted way.
I have often heard of the Proverbs 31 woman as being the highest ideal that we Bible-believing women should strive for, a 'how to' of sorts. But, of course, if that was true, most of us would feel that we don't and will never measure up. What a downer!
In historical Jewish culture, men would memorize Proverbs 31 and recite it to their wives as a blessing each Sabbath. They were telling their wives they were noble or 'valorous' (as in 'heroic' as per original Hebrew). Prov. 31 was never meant to be a recipe for 'the perfect Christian woman'.
This is what I appreciated about Rachel Evan's perspective. Proverbs 31 is actually a poem praising the exploits of a woman, saying, WOW!! Look at the power that women have! Look what they can do! Look at the gifts God has given them! Look at their diversity! You GO, GIRL! I do think that is closer to the truth. We are all created uniquely, with different desires, personalities, gifts, and abilities. And we honor God most when we are living out how we are uniquely wired, loving our families and those around us.
I also think we need to be careful about interpreting the Bible through our Western cultured eyes. It is truth for and relevant to all cultures.
Definitely an interesting read!
sounds like a good read. I'll have to go and check it out. And I so agree with you about interpreting God's word based on western thinking. My husband is messianic and so in our home we observe Jewish feasts and festivals and always try and study the word from a Jewish perspective. It totally opens up the New Covenant in a way, I never was taught.
ReplyDeleteExcellent thoughts on Proverbs 31, well worth some contemplation. Sounds like this would be a fun read, though I appreciate the warning as well. Thanks. God bless, Maria at Delight Directed Living
ReplyDeleteI read this book a couple of months ago and have been meaning to blog about it too. A very . . . different book than what I would normally read, but I am so glad I did. It really was laugh out loud funny so often.
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