In the course of this study series, I discovered a website that taught the women in the Old Covenant text never preached in and assembly, and this is reason to support patriarchy as a divine ordinance.[1] Without meaning to disparage the preacher in any fashion, I do intend to express my disagreement. However, I present his claim here in an effort to show, what I believe to be, an honest approach that disagrees with what I have been saying in this study series. The claim made is that, although there were, in fact, women prophetesses in the Bible, none of the women ever gave a public address, as male preachers do today. Thus, this understanding is supposed to support the doctrine of patriarchy in the Christian church, today.
I believe the fallacy of the idea that nowhere in the Bible does a woman ever offer a public address is that the argument assumes women never give public addresses. Therefore, when a woman is presented as a leader, if the text doesn’t explicitly say the women gave such and address, this means she never gave one. Did Aaron, Moses’ brother and a prophet (Exodus 7:1) ever give a public address? None are recorded! Did Nathan the prophet ever give a public address? None are recorded! Abraham is called a prophet by God, himself (Genesis 20:7). Did he ever give a public address? None are recorded! The prophet Gad is called David’s seer (2Samuel 24:11). Did he ever give a public address? None are recorded!
This argument is proved false, in that it is so similar to the argument of the Jewish authorities that Jesus couldn’t be the Messiah, unless he gave a sign (John 2:18). He had already given many signs that were clear proof that he was sent by God (John 3:2), but what the unbelieving authorities wanted was for Jesus to give a sign on demand, a sign of their choosing, similar to the one requested in Matthew 4:6. However, Jesus said no such sign would be given except for the sign of the prophet Jonah (Matthew 12:39-40; cp. John 2:19). The point is, once it was established that Jesus was sent by God (John 3:2), further proof for Jesus’ claims was not only unnecessary but demanding an additional sign, or one of one’s own choosing, is tantamount to not only a lack of faith, but also the rejection of the proofs already given.
Similarly, once the text claims a woman is a prophetess sent by God, further demands made upon the text, to satisfy one’s personal understanding of her leadership compared with that of men, is not only unnecessary, but such demands only prove one is inserting a distinction between men and women that simply isn’t in the text. For example, Deborah told Barak what he must do (Judges 4:4, 6), but does this contradict 1Timothy 2:12? First of all, Deborah wasn’t silent; secondly, she did, in fact, assume authority over the man, Barak; and, finally, she taught (told) him how he should behave.
Another example, and perhaps more to the pastor’s point in the video mentioned in the footnote, Mariam was called a prophetess in Exodus 15:20, but the pastor in his YouTube video claimed she never gave a public address. However, this claim seems to be refuted in a dispute made by her and Aaron against Moses in Numbers 12:2, “Hath the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us?” Notice what was said. The Lord had not only spoken by Moses, but also by Aaron and Miriam. If the Lord had spoken by Miriam, how was that done exactly? The text doesn’t say, but it does say the Lord had spoke by her, a woman! What is more, the Lord didn’t deny Miriam’s and Aaron’s claim. Rather he made a distinction between how he spoke to the three of them. He spoke in visions and dreams to Aaron and Miriam, but face to face with Moses. The implication is that just as Moses spoke to the people, so did Aaron and Miriam (cp. Micah 6:4).
Silence in the text is scarcely proof for an idea one desires to strengthen. Simply because a woman’s public address is never recorded in the Bible doesn’t mean a woman never made such an address. The Bible never makes a distinction between a woman leader or a male leader. It simply presents the male or female as a leader. To make a distinction between the two is done at one’s own peril before God.
______________________________________________
[1] See Female Prophets In the Bible and Its Significance Today by Isaac Bourne at Chapel Hill Church of Christ; December 8, 2017
Smoodock's Blog 