The prophet figures of the Bible most familiar to mainstream church culture tend to be those whose names also serve as the titles of Biblical books, like Isaiah, Jeremiah, or Jonah. Of these prophets, all are men. Some might be surprised that there are any female prophets mentioned by name or otherwise, but the Old and New Testaments repeatedly acknowledge prophetesses and affirm their validity. Even a portion of Ezekiel 13 that condemns certain prophetesses at length only highlights that there is nothing immoral on Biblical ethics about a woman prophesying, only a woman, like a man, speaking falsely in matters of doctrine or prediction.
Ezekiel 13:17-23—"'Now, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people who prophesy out of their own imagination. Prophesy against them and say, "This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to the women who sew magic charms on all their wrists and make veils of various lengths for their heads in order to ensnare people. Will you ensnare the lives of my people but preserve your own? You have profaned me among my people for a few handfuls of barley and scraps of bread. By lying to my people, who listen to lies, you have killed those who should not have died and spared those who should not live.
Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against your magic charms with which you ensnare my people like birds and I will tear them from your arms; I will set free the people that you ensnare like birds. I will tear off your veils and save my people from your hands, and they will no longer fall prey to your power. Then you will know that I am the Lord. Because you disheartened the righteous with your lies, when I had brought them no grief, and because you encouraged the wicked to not turn from their evil ways and so save their lives, therefore you will no longer see false visions or practice divination. I will save my people from your hands. And then you will know that I am the Lord."'"
This set of prophetesses does not constitute the only example of female prophets in the Bible, although all the Bible must do to permit female prophets is not condemn them. Indeed, there is no prohibition of either prophecy in itself or prophecy when shared by a woman rather than a man. Some individual prophetesses are unnamed, like Isaiah's partner (Isaiah 8:3), probably his wife, while the names of others are provided, like those of Miriam the genuine prophetess (Exodus 15:20) and Noadiah the false prophetess (Nehemiah 6:14).
Ezekiel 13 simply addresses a particular group of women who lie in the name of God, which leads to those deserving of death being allowed to live and those who do not deserve to be killed being put to death. No one receives divine opposition for being a woman, as the words from God make quite clear. These women are instead in error because they prophesy "out of their own imagination", discourage the righteous with their lies, and fail to warn the wicked to repent, in addition to likely practicing or pretending to practice some kind of sorcery with their "magic charms" (for instance, see Exodus 22:18, Leviticus 20:27, and Deuteronomy 18:9-13).
The standard is the same for men and women in matters of prophecy, as it is in other moral categories. Whereas lying needlessly is sinful (Leviticus 19:11) despite lying to protect people from injustice being morally valid (as established in verses like Exodus 1:15-20), lying about receiving a message from God is universally wicked, a capital sin. It does not matter if the motivation is financial gain, social power, or anything else; any man or woman who falsely acts as if they have spoken for God, such as by contriving a promise of blessing or judgment, deserves to be killed:
Deuteronomy 18:17-20—"The Lord said to me: 'What they say is not good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name. But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, is to be put to death.'"
In contrast to the unnamed female prophets condemned in Ezekiel 13, for positive examples of unnamed female prophets along with male prophets, who speak rightly on God's behalf, turn to the book of Joel. God promises to empower men and women to truthfully prophesy in later times. Twice is explicit gender equality emphasized in Joel 2:28-29. Neither men nor women are said to be incapable of speaking in God's name or to have a stereotypical tendency to either distort or tell the truth. Moreover, Peter quotes this very passage from Joel in Acts 2:14-18, insisting that the prediction is fulfilled in the presence of a crowd from different regions. The Old Testament verses cited by Peter are not subtle whatsoever in their strict gender egalitarianism:
Joel 2:28-29—"'And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.'"
Far more passages than just Ezekiel 13 address the logical possibility and moral legitimacy of female prophets on the Biblical worldview, but Ezekiel 13:17-23 elaborates at length on prophetesses specifically. In accordance with the obvious gender egalitarianism of many other verses and doctrines, the book of Ezekiel does not see God denounce women who prophesy for being women or for daring to perform an action that is irrelevant to having a given sort of genitalia. The prophetesses are confronted for their falsehoods, injustices, and probable sorcery, all of which are sins for anyone, whether a man or woman or a Jew or Gentile. Being a woman or a woman who prophesies is not wicked!
No comments:
Post a Comment