Because They're Pretty....

I finished reading Job this morning. The last couple of times I've read Job I've been fascinated by the end of the book. Job is given 7 more sons and 3 daughters. The daughters are listed by name. The sons are not. In an Old Testament book of the Bible, this is weird. There has to be some significance to the reason the daughters are named and not the sons. So naturally I took to Google to do a little study.

The first link I clicked on was upsetting. The writer of the piece made a simple observation. Because the text says that there were no women in all the land as fair as Job's daughter (Job 42:15), then obviously the reason Job's daughters are named is because they were beautiful (my paraphrase). That's it... The sons are not mentioned because there was nothing special about them....

Ugh... That would be the first link I click on.

Thankfully I did a little more research to get some answers that made some more sense (but which I'm still not totally in love with). And to be fair to said writer, he does go on to say that possibly they're mentioned by name (giving the definitions of the names) to show that Job's suffering had come to an end. But that was his second thought....

As the soon-to-be father of a little girl, this line of thought doesn't sit well with me. As a person, it's upsetting enough that's the first explanation I get on Google.

(Come on Google! Don't you know my political and theological thoughts on all of these things? Or did you want me to be angry?)  

There's obviously been some push back lately to just telling girls they're pretty and being more engaged in helping girls see that their self worth is in more than their looks. From Maddie and Tae's song pushing back on the awful hit genre of bro-country to Lego's girl scientist collection, to commercials "shaming" people for telling girls what they can't do. I mean, Mo'ne Davis was the face of the Little League World Series!

So why does it feel like we never talk about the female biblical heroes? Sure, we talk about Ruth who was loyal to her mother-in-law and because of it found a new husband (and made her a part of Jesus' lineage). And we talk about Esther, who used her position to help save the Jewish people from being massacred, but what about the other female heroes of the Bible?

What about Deborah? She was married and was able to keep a job as one of the judges of Israel. Deborah's not even the real hero of the story. But it was a woman who saved Israel. Barak, the head of the army, wasn't interested in going to fight unless Deborah was going with him, so the victory over Sisera, the head of the Canaanite army, would belong to a woman. The honor of victory went to Jael, the wife of Heber, whom Sisera foolishly felt safe to run to because of an alliance. She took a tent peg and hammered that peg into Sisera's skull. WHAT!!!!!??? That's some Game of Thrones violence!!! Of course you probably won't hear that story in church because... violence is not cool. (Unless it's David and Goliath....?) [Judges 4]

And who was the first person, in the history of the world, who got to proclaim that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead??? A woman! Not the disciples, but Mary Magdalene.

And you want to talk about the Proverbs 31 woman? Badass! Just read Proverbs 31 again. The Proverbs 31 woman works her hump off!!! And not just in the kitchen making sandwiches or doing laundry. She runs a vineyard, she's dealing with merchants at the dock, working with the poor, making all the clothes for her house, keeping everyone fed.... What is the husband doing? It sounds like his wife has got it all taken care of. When did the description of this woman start at verse 25? Her list of accomplishments is way more impressive than just watching over the affairs of her household.

I want my daughter to grow up and be a strong woman, confident in who she is and who she is in Christ. I want her to know that she can be whatever she wants to be! I don't want her to have to feel relegated to certain roles because that's what society has dictated for her gender. And I want her to know that the Bible is full of women who were badasses doing great things for the Kingdom, God and God's people and that those woman still exist!

The Bible is full of great stuff and there are a lot of things in God's word I will probably never come to terms with why they're there... But I just CAN'T believe that Job's daughter's are mentioned by name because they were hot.

End Rant.