Women's Roles Within the Church Structure - 2

Part II from yesterday’s post

Egalitarian’s use specific women in the Bible to substantiate their point of view, but for time’s sake I’m going to discuss one woman from the Old and from the New Testament.

In the Old Testament in the book of Judges is Deborah. She was one of the leaders of the disjointed nation of Israel. She was also a Prophetess. But, was she a Levitical Priest? Some may be scratching their heads at this point and asking what Levitical is? In the book of Exodus, Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt and into the promised land. God called Moses to be their governmental leader. Moses’ brother Aaron was to be their religious leader. Aaron was from the tribe of Levi. His family, from that time forward would become known as Levitical Priests. Was Deborah from the tribe of Levi? It states that she was the wife of Lappidoth, but nothing else.

Until Jesus’ time only Levites could be priests. They alone made all of the religious decisions in the Old Testament and as far as I can see, they were all male. Deborah was a strong, courageous woman, even a leader of her nation and a Prophetess, but I see no evidence that she was from the tribe of Levi let alone a Priest.

I also want to make another point from the time of Moses. Miriam, Moses’ older sister was a courageous girl and grew to be a strong woman. She led the people of Israel through the Red Sea in worship while escaping from the Egyptians. In Numbers 12, Miriam and her brother Aaron were complaining to one another that they should have just as much authority as Moses. God heard and responded. God called all three together and told Miriam and Aaron that Moses is the most humble man on earth and told them that he talks to Moses personally and asked if they could make the same claim.

God immediately struck Miriam with leprosy. It’s unknown if something was done to Aaron. We’ll never know. Miriam wanted to be a governmental and a church leader of Israel, and was struck with leprosy because of it. Some may ask how I can leap from Miriam wanting church authority when she didn’t state it. Simply. Moses was teaching the people civil and religious structure. If she wanted to be equal, it would have to be in both areas. I don’t hear any Egalitarians bringing up Miriam in their per suite of equality and justice within the church system.

Part III, tomorrow