Women, like men, are told how to purify themselves after being through situations that would render them unclean. (Leviticus 15: 19-33) God obviously wanted women to be a part of His worship as much as men. And in the New Testament many women are prominently mentioned by Paul as a huge part of the work force of the church. And as such then the chapter in Proverbs (Proverbs 31) speaking about the worthy woman should be an example of a godly woman to me and how they should be respected by members of the congregation.
At first it would seem that how men are to treat women various from Old Testament to New Testament. In Numbers 5:11-31, for instance, is described how men were to deal with a woman who may or may not be defiled but the husband was jealous and the various ordeals that the woman is put through by the priest. Numbers 30:3 describes a woman making a bond. In Leviticus 12:1-7, this is never more evident as there are regulations what to do when women bear children and how to purify her so that she can come into the company of men again. There were in the temple, Court of Women which was outside of the temple courts, similar to the Court of Gentiles and other Courts that were around the temple but not inside of the Temple. But does this mean that women were to be regarded any differently by men, or is that just man’s interpretation of God’s law? More than likely it is the latter, especially since these regulations and other laws were nailed to the cross as spoken of in Colossians 3:17. There is after all no Jew, no Greek, no Male and no Female as far as God and Jesus are concerned. In Him we are the same.
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