Bible -- Commentaries; Bible -- Feminist criticism; Women in the Bible
29 See, for that the Lord hath given you the sabbath, therefore he
giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man
in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.
30 So the people rested on the seventh day.
In these texts we note that the work of men was done on the sixth day,
but the women must work as usual on the seventh. We see the same thing
to-day, woman's work is never done. What irony to say to them rest on
the seventh day. The Puritan fathers would not let the children romp or
play, nor give their wives a drive on Sunday, but they enjoyed a better
dinner on the Sabbath than any other day; yet the xxxi chapter and 15th
verse contains the following warning:
15 Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of
rest, holy to the Lord: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he
shall surely be put to death.
As the women continued to work and yet seemed to live in the flesh, it
may refer to the death of their civil rights, their individuality, as
nonentities without souls or personal responsibility.
A critical reading of the ten commandments will show that they are
chiefly for men. After purifying themselves by put ting aside their
wives and soiled clothes, they assembled at the foot of Mount Sinai. We
have no hint of the presence of a woman. One commandment speaks of
visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children. There is an
element of justice in this, for to talk of children getting iniquities
from their mothers, in a history of males, of fathers and sons, would
be as ridiculous as getting them from the clothes they wore.
"Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work." With the majority of
women this is impossible. Men of all classes can make the Sabbath a day
of rest, at least a change of employment, but for women the same
monotonous duties must be performed. In the homes of the rich and poor
alike, most women cook, clean, and take care of children from morning
till night. Men must have good dinners Sundays above all other days, as
then they have plenty of time in which to eat. If the first born male
child lifts up his voice at the midnight hour, the female attendant
takes heed to his discontent; if in the early morning at the cock
crowing, or the eventide, she is there. They who watch and guard the
infancy of men are like faithful sentinels, always on duty.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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