Week 2 Reading Diary: Bible Women

For this unit's reading, I read the unit called Bible Women. I was really interested in this unit because I grew up in a Christian faith-based home, but I had not really read much about the women of the Bible. Each story from the unit was from the King James version of the Bible. 

The first woman that really interested me was Eve. I have mixed emotions about Eve because she is so trusting, but to a fault. I think trust and faith in people is a great trait for women to have. However, her trust is what got her in trouble. Especially in today's society, I think it is important for women to be discerning and intelligent so that they can support and protect themselves. This is something that Eve lacked. I also think, on a deeper level, Eve can represent the struggle women in society face today between the traditional women's roles that they are still expected to uphold versus the transition towards women empowerment and being independent. Eve's trusting nature and the trick she fell victim to represents the traditional women's roles- especially the stereotype that women are easy to deceive and should be dependent on men to take care of issues. However, she is trying to break free of these and that is why she believed the snake and told her husband that they should eat from the fruit. Her having made such a large mistake could represent the setbacks that women face in their striving towards breaking the stereotypes. Maybe this is a stretch? It kind of makes sense to me?

Adam and Eve in the Garden.
Painting by: Lucas Cranach from the first half of the 16th century

I also like how many of the Bible stories had messages that underlie the actual story. For example, the story of Hagar and Sarah tells the story of patience. Sarah was impatient for a child so she gave her husband Hagar to have a child by. It was God's promise that Sarah would have a child with Abraham even in her own age. If she had had patience, she would have waited for her own child instead of having a son by Hagar, which ruined their relationship and ended up with great conflict between Hagar and Sarah. In my own writing, I would like to implement these subtle messages if possible.

Another factor I would like to include is foreshadowing. God tells Rebekah, "Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger." This is such foreshadowing about two future countries and the role they each will have. All of these women in the unit are such vital parts of history according to the Bible. 

One thing I would change about theses stories, if possible, is to develop the women as characters more. They are mentioned in the stories and are important, however they are not developed as characters at all. I would like to know more about their personalities and their thoughts. **Storytelling idea for either retelling this story or my writing in future stories".

Lastly, I think the story of Potiphar's wife adds an element of comic relief. To me, she is such a typical immature mean girl! She wanted to be with this guy and he denied her, so she lied about the story to make him look bad. It seems like a modern day movie and made me laugh a little bit because it was so unexpected in a book as serious and revered as the Bible.