Women

"An excellent wife, who can find?" (Prov. 31:10) "I would sooner keep house with a lion or a dragon than with a spiteful wife.  A woman's spite changes her appearance and makes her face as grim as any bear's ... No wickedness comes anywhere near the wickedness of a woman    ... Sin began with a woman, and thanks to her we all must die.  Do not let water find a leak, do not allow a spiteful woman free reign of her tongue.  If she will not do as you tell her, get rid of her." (Ecclesiasticus 25:16, 17,19,24-26) (Apocrypha) "A bad wife is a badly fitting ox-yoke. Trying to master her is like grasping a scorpion.  A drunken wife will goad anyone to fury, she makes no effort to hide her degradation." (Ecclesiasticus 26:7,8) "A silent wife is a gift from God." (Vs:14) " ... But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet." (1Tim. 2:12) "Let the women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak, but let them subject themselves, just as the Law also says." (1Cor. 14:34) "If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as menservants do.  If she does not please the master who has selected her for himself, he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, because he has broken faith with her.  If he selects her for his son, he must grant her the rights of a daughter.  If he marries another woman, he must not deprive the first one of her food, clothing and marital rights.  If he does not provide her with these three things, she is to go free, without any payment of money. (Ex 21: 7-11) "If a man has two wives, and he loves one but not the other, and both bear him sons, but the firstborn is the son of the wife he does not love, when he wills his property to his sons, he must not give the rights of the firstborn to the son of the wife he loves in preference to his actual firstborn, the son of the wife he does not love. (Dt. 21:15,16) Solomon: " Sixty queens there may be, and eighty concubines, and virgins beyond number; but my dove, my perfect one, is unique ... (SOS: 6:8,9) (And later:) " King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh's daughter--Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites.  They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, 'You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.' Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love.  He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray.  As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been.  He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites.  So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done."  (1Ki.11:1-6) (The "wisest man who ever lived" was not so wise, after all! - VAJ)                           ----- Two prophesies concerning women in the end-time tribulation: "In that day seven women will take hold of one man and say: 'We will eat our own food and provide our own clothes; only let us be called by your name. Take away our disgrace!'" (Is. 4:1) "When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will bake your bread in one oven, and they will dole out the bread by weight. You will eat, but you will not be satisfied." (Lev. 26:26)                             ----- "Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord." (Col. 3:18) "Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.  For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is head of the Church, He Himself being the Savior of the body." (Eph. 5:22,23) "In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives. ... Thus Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, and you have become her children if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear.  You husbands likewise, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with a weaker vessel, since she is a woman; and grant her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. (1Pet. 3:1,6,7,) " ... Yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you." (Gen. 3:16)