Lie of Equality
“And Caleb said, ‘I will give my daughter Aksah in marriage to the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher.’ Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s brother, took it; so Caleb gave his daughter Aksah to him in marriage.
One day when she came to Othniel, she urged him to ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, ‘What can I do for you?’
She replied, ‘Do me a special favor. Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me also springs of water.’ So Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs.”
Today’s Text: Joshua 15:13-19 (Living Life Daily Devotional)
The culture of the ancient Israelites is very different from ours. First cousins do not marry in most cultures today. Even so, Caleb’s “brother” could have been a brother from another mother, since polygamy was more common in their culture. But polygamy itself is not common in most cultures today.
Ancient Hebrew culture was also patriarchal, just as many cultures are today. But to assume that women have no influence in a patriarchal society would be a mistake. The United States is still effectively a patriarchal society, but we all have experienced the strong influence of women in our lives.
There are matriarchal societies today, too. I wonder how influential the men are in those societies. I suspect—although I have no data to back up my suspicion—that as a whole, women in patriarchal societies have more influence in the society than men do in matriarchal societies.
Perhaps my suspicious is just a product of having grown up in a marginally patriarchal society.
What makes a society either patriarchal or matriarchal? Sociologists use those terms to describe how family lineages and inheritances are passed on generation to generation. Undergirding (or driving) those systems is the culture’s view of “power” dynamics between men and women in the society. Obviously, the relationship between men and women as a whole within any given society is a complex phenomenon.
But what are the alternatives to patriarchy or matriarchy? Some people propose and egalitarian society. I did a little Google research to see if there is such a thing as a true egalitarian society, and the following is one of the responses I found:
In fact, for the majority of human history since our emergence as a species 200,000 years ago, people did actually live in egalitarian societies, where sharing and co-operation were the norm. Hierarchy, inequality and oppression were virtually unheard of. This changed only within the last 10,000 years.
I read a little deeper into that tract and quickly realized that the author had no idea what he or she was talking about.
Another alternative that Google offered was something called gender-balanced/dominator-free systems. And so I asked if there are any such cultural systems in this world, and the answer was that there is not. However, the AI pointed to matriarchal societies as examples that come close to it! Hm.
The assumption of some sociologists seems to be that “sharing and co-operation” cannot happen in a patriarchy. They seem to think that “sharing and co-operating” are more possible in matriarchies. Again, such an assumption would be a mistake.
The devil has done an amazing job of convincing the “enlightened” world that men and women must be “equal.” Maybe it wasn’t so hard for him, because men, for the most part, in patriarchal societies abused the system for the sake of power. But God never intended patriarchy to be that way.
And so came the “sexual revolution,” which certainly is making men and women more “equal.” But the result is a growing pathological sense in our society that women don’t need men, and men don’t need women—because they are “equal” and can find fulfillment and happiness on their own. The devil wants us to think that we can. But we can’t.
Again, God never intended it to be that way. God intended for men and women to be “one,” not “equal.” God intended for men and women to complement one another as “one” to fill the earth with the glory of God in Jesus’s name through God-fearing, God-honoring, God-worshiping, God-loving communities and families, the church. And that is the way to true happiness and fulfillment.
Father, You are Creator of all things. You created all the “systems” by which we live. Humanity has become so incredibly dull because of rebellion. Forgive us. Forgive me. Make our hearts simple, so that we can be smart again. Return us to the beauty and goodness of being one, not equal. For the sake of Your lonely and hurting children, have mercy on us! In Jesus’s name. Amen.
