So, there is no devotional in my inbox this morning from Proverbs31...so what do I do? Well, why don't we discuss the chapters I'm reading? That would probably work.
Pull out the good book and flip with me to Joshua, chapter 15. Today will be Chapters 15 through 18. Sounds a little long, but it goes by pretty quickly. I wrote 'Be Obedient' on the notebook that I keep my discussion notes in. Just trying to encourage myself I guess. ;) I am also....a dirty rotten Bible writer. I write in and highlight my Bible. B found me a Bible a couple years ago that has scripture on one side and a notes section on the other because I take obsessive notes sometimes. I'm sorry if this offends you. It's easier to keep all the notes and what nots together...for me anyway that's how it works. I even have a copy of the discussion notes in my little notebook in my actual Bible...just to help me if I forget the notebook. Do what works for you though. If you think you need to do it a different way...BY ALL MEANS!
Here we go...
My first notes in looking at what I was reading is that it would all be about the allotment of lands. There are specific boarders set up and it goes into a couple stories specifically centering around women.
Joshua 15:16-19 Talks about Caleb's daughter, how she was a deciding factor in the way some of the land was divided by her father.
Joshua 17:3-6 Speaks of the daughters of Zelophehad. This family did not have any sons. That being the case, Moses still promised them an inheritance. There was no rule about having to marry or anything...they just received land among the 'brothers' of their tribe.
Again and again I come to noting that maybe, everything about gender was not as we think it was back then. People say that the Jews were very gender bias and that the whole book of the Bible is as well. I just simply don't agree. Reading the story of Moses in Exodus, you see women are the deciding factor in much of the way that his story goes. Moses is talked about in the end of Deuteronomy as a man that God knew face to face. No other prophet has EVER risen to the heights Moses did in the Lord.
It just strikes me as weird that there are SO many instances of strong women and the WHOLE section of Proverbs 31 that speaks of a woman that isn't the beaten down image we are told exists in the Bible. Even in seminary there is talk about how the Jews thought less of women...but...there's proof that, though there were differences in the sexes and that men were held to a different standard and 'head', women were honored and men knew the value of an intelligent, hard working and self assured woman. They understood what real submission was.
Ah...but I digress.
My other three notations out of this section have to do with more mentions of the Israelites not killing all the people that set out to destroy. God told them to destroy all the nations in the area that was to be theirs, so they wouldn't be tempted by their ways. (Joshua 15:63 - Jebusites, 16:10 - Canaanites, 17:13 -Canaanites again)
I do kind of want to put a map on the wall and line out where all the different areas were. It's a bit much to just read through it and not really have a good picture of where this is.
So, it is now 5pm and I am publishing this. Enjoy. I've eaten dinner and now...I'm off to put tape on pieces of paper for tomorrow. LOL Yay!
M
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