What is the worth of a person? Jesus put the value as greater than the world. (Mark 8:36; John 14-18) In Levitical law, cast so to settle natural issues of mankind in human culture and borne from justice related to righteousness, a child could be valued for a certain amount, and an old person for another. Between the ages of twenty and sixty years (between youth and age), the value was the highest signified. A male was valued at fifty pieces of silver and a woman at thirty. (Leviticus 27:3 ff.) Jesus was given the worth of a female (a reduction in cultural or economic value in the ancient patriarchal mind). That amount was the determination of the priests in the sale by Judas for the betrayal of Jesus. There was, centuries after Moses, something sinister in meaning, in that Jesus was to be made the worth of a woman, not of a male. The distortion of the original meaning has been lost, early in the arrogance of the leaders, and continued in its misapplication in any age. It is interesting and appalling that the leaders of the religious community would use Moses’ law, given of God, to eliminate the gift (life) of God to all mankind. Bizarre details of Christ’s crucifixion appall us when explaining the event. The one who came that mankind might have life was auctioned off to a disciple of this man for the lowest price of an adult person. Certainly women never were inferior to men in the eyes of God, but that their commercial value to the family was in variance to that of men in that culture where physical prowess for warfare was presumed to be in men. Women have always been the symbol for life, even in the subliminal thinking of a society. On such belief, laws were, for centuries, designed to protect women (widows) and children (orphans) in the society. That, for some societies, this differential was distorted to mean a difference in value to God and mankind is not to be denied. Some went so far as to question if a woman had a soul. This kind of distraction, in this and other contexts, leads to tension and shifting that may cloud the clarity of Scripture. Gender proposals of activists to modernize Scripture may be difficult to manage, helping in some contexts and hindering in others. The mixing of genders, life terms, and status into a stew for individuals does not address the equality of all persons. We subscribe to the long held perception that the tribe of man is made up of male and female, identifying persons of primary interest to God. Any dominance of culture that divides human beings in this or that era or situation must not violate that fact and order in Scripture. Studies of dowries might help.
Scripture, while recognizing the equality of all persons, demonstrates order by placing responsibilities upon this or that grouping or identity. There are indications in those differences that relate to the image of God in mankind. The pattern is born of mystery, as found in one God, of three Persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is reflected in a unit called the family made up of three persons in one – father, mother and child. Little wonder that God is negative about any diminution in families –divorce, abandonment, disloyalty, irresponsibility, death, or whatever. Family break up is seen in Judas before the priests, or Peter at the fire near the trial site. Reconciliation came for Peter, unlikely for Judas. Whatever our failures may be, there is likely a way of reconciliation that includes the image of God in us. We seek practical conduct.
Various voices have stated that until babies may be generated from an egg and sperm in a test tube, women will not be liberated. Some argue this will soon be accomplished to history. The imagination runs away from us in the wonder of who we are, and the transfer of God’s plan for family to be pro-created according to some racial style. This morning’s news (09/21/2011) reported that a child is now chosen by hair color and athleticism, from sperm banks. The Swedish providers report increased inseminations. Red hair sperm is now chosen by many women. The future, with man taking on some of the privileges of God, will be possible as long as God tolerates an independence that sports elements of arrogance in it. God provided the system that makes it possible for mankind to live and serve, and, if used properly that life will have the feeling of abundance in it. The point of persons is to find and practice the values of God, to give attention to whatever is necessary to maintain dependence on his graces, and to follow his way if the individual will rest faith in the person who gave the life valued, in the plan designed for it. Life is that magnificent, and belongs only to God. In the plan of God it is vouchsafed to the individual person. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020