“The women proclaiming the good news are a large army.” – Ps. 68:11
The article opens by quoting Genesis 2:18 which says that the first woman was created as woman a complement of the man. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, “complement” refers to ‘completing or fulfilling’.
“A thing which, when added, completes or makes up a whole; either of two mutually completing parts.”
The latter definition seems to apply here, for while Eve completed Adam, Adam completed Eve. Though angels are also created in God’s image, there is no corollary to this unique human relationship in the spirit realm. Both sexes are made in God’s image; neither is lessor nor greater than the other in God’s eyes.
“. . .And God went on to create the man in his image, in God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.” (Ge 1:27)
The wording of this verse indicates that “man” refers to human, not the male, for man—male and female—was created in God’s image.
Paragraph 2 speaks of the unique privilege that humans enjoy of being able to procreate their kind—something angels cannot do. Perhaps this is one of the things that tempted the angels of Noah’s day to take women for themselves.
An Ironic Point
After concluding that man’s rulership has failed utterly, paragraph 5 states: “Realizing that fact, we acknowledge Jehovah as our Ruler. – Read Proverbs 3:5, 6”
There is considerable irony in the publisher’s choice of Proverbs 3:5,6 to support the idea that we are acknowledging Jehovah as ruler, for that scripture tells us to ‘trust in Jehovah and not to rely on our own understanding.’ With that in mind, consider Philippians 2:9-11:
“. . .For this very reason, God exalted him to a superior position and kindly gave him the name that is above every other name, 10 so that in the name of Jesus every knee should bend—of those in heaven and those on earth and those under the ground— 11 and every tongue should openly acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”
So the one Jehovah tells us to acknowledge as Lord or Ruler is Jesus, not himself. It is to Jesus that every knee should bend in submission. If our tongues are to openly acknowledge Jesus as Lord, why are we leaning on our own understanding and ignoring him in favor of Jehovah. This may seem logical to us. We may reason that Jehovah is the ultimate king, so there’s no harm in bypassing Jesus and going right to the source. However, in leaning on our own understanding, we ignore the fact that we openly acknowledge Jesus as Lord to the glory of God, the Father. Jehovah wants us to do it this way for it brings him glory as well, and by not doing it this way, we are denying God the glory he deserves.
Not a good position for us to put ourselves in.
Paragraph 11 speaks of the decree of Pharaoh to kill all the male Hebrew babies because the Hebrews were growing in number and the Egyptians saw this as a threat. Pharaoh’s solution was stupid. If one wants to control population growth, one doesn’t kill off the males. The female is the bottleneck to population growth. Start with 100 men and 100 women. Kill 99 men and you can still have a birthrate of 100 children a year. Kill 99 women on the other hand and even with 100 males, you’re not going to get more than one child a year. So Pharaoh’s population control plan was doomed before it started. Mind you, considering how his son behaved 80 years later when Moses returned from self-imposed exile, it’s obvious that wisdom was not a royal family trait.
Bias Rears Its Ugly Head
Paragraph 12 gives way to male-oriented bias by contradicting what is plainly stated in God’s Word. “In the days of Israel’s judges, one woman who had God’s backing was the prophetess Deborah. She encouraged Judge Barak…” This statement is in harmony with the “Outline of Contents” for the book of Judges in the NWT 2013 Edition, which lists Deborah as a prophetess and Barak as a Judge. Likewise, Insight on the Scriptures, Volume 1, p. 743 fails to include Deborah in its list of the judges of Israel.
Now consider what God’s word says.
“. . .Now Deb′o·rah, a prophetess, the wife of Lap′pi·doth, was judging Israel at that time. 5 She used to sit under Deb′o·rah’s palm tree between Ra′mah and Beth′el in the mountainous region of E′phra·im; the Israelites would go up to her for judgment.” (Jg 4:4, 5 NWT)
Barak is not mentioned even once in the Bible as a judge. So the only reason that we discount Deborah as a judge and appoint Barak in her stead is because we cannot accept that a woman could occupy a divinely appointed position of oversight that would allow her to direct and instruct a man. Our bias trumps what is plainly stated in God’s word. How often true Christian have been challenged with the question, “Do you think you know more than the Governing Body?” Well, it appears that the Governing Body thinks it knows more than Jehovah, for they are blatantly contradicting his Word.
There can be no doubt that Barak’s position was subservient to Deborah. It was she who summoned him and she who gave him Jehovah’s orders.
“. . .She sent for Ba′rak the son of A·bin′o·am out of Ke′desh-naph′ta·li and said to him: “Has not Jehovah the God of Israel given the command? ‘Go and march to Mount Ta′bor, and take 10,000 men of Naph′ta·li and Zeb′u·lun with you.” (Jg 4:6 NWT)
In turn, Barak recognized her appointed status, for he feared to fight the enemy without her presence beside him.
“. . .At this Ba′rak said to her: “If you go with me, I will go, but if you do not go with me, I will not go.” (Jg 4:8 NWT)
She not only commanded him on Jehovah’s behalf, but encouraged him.
“. . .Deb′o·rah now said to Ba′rak: “Rise up, for this is the day that Jehovah will give Sis′e·ra into your hand. Is Jehovah not going out before you?” And Ba′rak descended from Mount Ta′bor with 10,000 men following him.” (Jg 4:14 NWT)
Clearly, Deborah—a woman—was Jehovah’s Appointed Channel of Communication at that time. There may be a reason that we so unashamedly demote Deborah from her divinely appointed place. The Governing Body has recently anointed themselves as God’s Appointed Channel of Communication. Consider this in light of Peter’s words about a feature that would manifest itself during the last days.
“. . .On the contrary, this is what was said through the prophet Joel, 17 ‘“And in the last days,” God says, “I shall pour out some of my spirit upon every sort of flesh, and YOUR sons and YOUR daughters will prophesy and YOUR young men will see visions and YOUR old men will dream dreams; 18 and even upon my men slaves and upon my women slaves I will pour out some of my spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.” (Ac 2:16-18 NWT)
The women were to prophesy. This occurred in the first century. For example, Philip the evangelizer had four unmarried daughters who prophesied. (Acts 21:9)
The simple declaration of our Lord is that the slave he judges as faithful upon his return, is so judged on the basis of giving food at the proper time. The Governing Body take this statement to mean the slave has the sole right to interpret prophesy and reveal Bible truth.
If we accept that argument, then we must also accept that women would occupy a place in that slave, otherwise, how can Joel’s words come true? If we were in the last days in Peter’s time, how much more so are we now in the last days? Therefore, should not Jehovah’s spirit continue to be poured out on men and women who will prophesy? Or did the fulfillment of Joel’s words end in the first century?
Peter, in his next breath, says:
“19 And I will give portents in heaven above and signs on earth below, blood and fire and smoke mist; 20 the sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and illustrious day of Jehovah* arrives. 21 And everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah* will be saved.”’” (Ac 2:19-21 NWT) *[or more accurately, “the Lord”]
Now Jehovah’s day/the Lord’s day has not yet arrived. We have not seen a darkened sun and a bloodshot moon, nor heavenly portents nor earthly signs. Yet, this will happen or Jehovah’s word is moot, and that can never happen.
To prophesy means to speak inspired utterances. Jesus was called a prophet by the Samaritan woman even though he only told her things that had already happened. (John 4:16-19) When we preach to others about God’s word as revealed to us by holy spirit, we are prophesying in that sense of the word. Whether that sense is sufficient to fulfill Joel’s words in our day, or whether there will be some grander fulfillment in our future when the signs and portents are being manifested, who can say? We’ll just have to wait to see. However, whichever turns out to be the correct application of those prophetic words, one thing is beyond dispute: Both men and women will play a role. Our current doctrine that all revelation comes through a tiny forum of males does not fulfill Bible prophecy.
We cannot prepare ourselves for the wonderful things Jehovah will yet reveal if we give way to biased thinking by bending the knee to men and accepting their interpretation over what is plainly stated in the Holy Word of God.