Woman
Was “taken out of man” (Gen 2:23), and therefore the man has the preeminence. “The head of the woman is the man;” but yet honour is to be shown to the wife, “as unto the weaker vessel” (1 Cor 11:3, 1 Cor 11:8, 1 Cor 11:9; 1 Pet 3:7). Several women are mentioned in Scripture as having been endowed with prophetic gifts, as Miriam (Ex 15:20), Deborah (Judg 4:4, Judg 4:5), Huldah (2 Kgs 22:14), Noadiah (Neh 6:14), Anna (Luke 2:36, Luke 2:37), and the daughters of Philip the evangelist (Acts 21:8, Acts 21:9). Women are forbidden to teach publicly (1 Cor 14:34, 1 Cor 14:35; 1 Tim 2:11, 1 Tim 2:12). Among the Hebrews it devolved upon women to prepare the meals for the household (Gen 18:6; 2 Sam 13:8), to attend to the work of spinning (Ex 35:26; Prov 31:19), and making clothes (1 Sam 2:19; Prov 31:21), to bring water from the well (Gen 24:15; 1 Sam 9:11), and to care for the flocks (Gen 29:6; Ex 2:16).
The word “woman,” as used in Matt 15:28, John 2:4 and John 20:13, John 20:15, implies tenderness and courtesy and not disrespect. Only where revelation is known has woman her due place of honour assigned to her.
From Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897), by Matthew George Easton.
