WOMEN: COMPARISON BETWEEN ANCIENT HEBREW WOMEN AND EGYPTIAN_Final

VI. Conclusion
Hebrew law emphasized the equality of the sexes before God. The role that men played in worship in the outside world was counterbalanced by the leading role of the mother in worship and religious instruction within the home. Jewish women were seen to be shapers of the Jewish future, because their role was to educate their children. This resonsibility was appropriate because Jews have always seen women as more spiritual and open to religious ideas than men, and as closer to God. Women could not be priests, but neither could most men, as priests came from certain families, and their role was hereditary. On the other hand, Egyptian women have so much of freedom than Hebrew women. When it comes to law, legal correspondences show that (in theory) women stood as equals to the men of the same class. Egyptian women could inherit, she could purchase and own property and slaves, and she could sell her property and slaves as she wished. Therefore, the Egyptian women have freedom to do whatever their people can do. However, their freedom seem to be govern by their desire and it bring social injustice (e.g.slave trading). On the other hand, the people of God seek for social justice and family harmony. In general, Egyptian women seek for their freedom of right and Hebrew women stick on their responsibility as God determined for them. Egyptian laws are just partially good because of their social class system. The laws of the Old Testament are applicable to every human and every women as it is indeed universal law.

Ref: 

Cauchon, Dennis. “Women gain as men lose jobs.” USA TODAY.    
            http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-09-02-womenwork_N.htm
            (Accessed 25 September 2009).

 

Christopher, J. H. Wright. God’s people in God’s Land: Family, Land, and Property
            in the OldTestament. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing
            Company, 1990.
J, A. Thompson. Handbook of Life in Bible Times. Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 1986.

McHugh, John, trans. Ancient Israel: Its life and Institutions. London: Darton, Longmand and Todd, 1980.

Marry J. Evans. Woman in the Bible: An Overview of all the Crucial Passages on
              Women's Roles. Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1983.     

      
Perdue, Leo G, Joseph Blenkinsopp, John J. Collins, and Carol Meyers. Families in
              Ancient Israel. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1997.

http://womenshistory.about.com/od/ancientqueens/tp/women_pharaohs.htm

 

http://www.stoa.org/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Stoa:text:2002.01.0007