“You’ve come a long way, Baby.” A catchy phrase for Virginia Slims cigarettes in 1968, designed to support the women’s liberation movement — to smoke in public and give her this newfound independence and equality.
Here we are today. How far have we really come? Angry women screaming in the streets? I don’t think so. Does it have to do with love?
“The contentions of a wife are a continual dripping” (Proverbs 19:13, NKJV). There is nothing more irritating than a dripping faucet.
What happened to the sweet bride in the beautiful wedding gown as she walks toward her waiting groom with a sparkle in his eyes, with his hopes and dreams in front of him? Then something changes. She doesn’t feel loved.
Everyone wants to be loved. It’s the core and longing of our being. In the fall of mankind, the desire of man and woman shifted from a perfect union when a curse was put on their relationship. “Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you” (Genesis 3:16, NKJV).
The woman, the bride, has been living under the tyranny of the curse since the fall of mankind. The cross canceled out the curse put on the woman, but she doesn’t realize she is no longer bound by its dictates.
I found a missing piece of the puzzle as I studied the role of the woman. “I am my beloved’s and his desire is toward me” (Song of Solomon 7:10, NKJV). The word “desire” (longing) has been distorted since the curse that came because of the original sin. The reuse of this term “desire” in Song 7:10 is a term only used in Genesis 3:16 and 4:7, which tells of the curse on the desire.
Prophetically, the Shulamite, the bride of Solomon, is living in the reversal of the Genesis 3:16 curse. She no longer desires to rule but gives herself wholly to the king. “I am my beloved’s,” and she places the “desire” to lead where it belongs, with her husband.
“And his desire is toward me.” She lives and thrives in the heart of her husband without fighting for her independence. In Genesis 4:7, the Lord told Cain that sin’s desire lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it. Also “a sin offering lies at your door,” referring to God’s answer for the curse — that is, the cross.
In Professor James M. Hamilton Jr.’s book, “Song of Song,” he writes, “Sin’s desire was to master Cain, to control him, to dictate his actions. That seems to be the nature of the desire the woman is cursed to have in 3:16. She was made to help the man, Gen. 2:18 … but will desire to control.”
Cain needed to master sin, refusing to tolerate tempting impulses. He was not to rule harshly over the woman. Man would deal with the curse — that the woman would want to control and he would respond with iron-fisted ruling.
What a mess a lot of marriages are in. The Bride speaks in Song 7:10 of the reversal of the Genesis 3:16 curse. She is free to show her love to her husband, the king.
When Al and I came to the Lord in late ‘60s, we were told the husband was the leader, the wife was to obey him and submit to her husband. Women were to become like doormats, implying we were lesser than the husband.
We were told if we had a spiritual question, we were to ask our husbands. The woman couldn’t think for herself. There were many rules we lived under. And it all belonged to that curse that came about through Adam and Eve.
On Sept. 7, 1968, women rebelled, known as bra-burning, they threw their bras and other items in a “Freedom Trash Can” to protest. They refused to take their husband’s name in marriage. They took out the word “obey” in their marriage vows. They liberated themselves, but lost what they needed: love.
Since the cross reversed the curse, what should a marriage look like? I thought about Adam and Eve before they sinned. What were they to each other? How did they treat each other? There is little about their relationship except she was made from him, a part of him, and was to be his helper, comparable to him. They were naked, but not ashamed. We know they walked with God in the cool of the day. It must have been a beautiful relationship before the fall.
The woman was not inferior to man. Less in physical strength, but not in her role to be his helpmate. Solomon ended his Book of Proverbs with the portrait of the virtuous wife. She was capable to be like a merchant ship, provide food for her household. She considered a field and bought it. Her abilities were many and her husband was not threatened by her confidence, but safely trusted in her.
He praised her. Solomon finished his portrait of the wife with a last brushstroke. “She feared the Lord, and she shall be praised.”
Marriages are in trouble today. The devil has tried to destroy what God has made sacred. Is it because a couple in love does not understood the grace upon their lives and how the cross has elevated the woman to be who she was intended to be? If her husband will encourage his wife to be in her rightful place, she will choose his love and have true liberation.
Final brushstroke: Wrongs have been reversed and human love derives its meaning and purpose from the character of God’s love. Renewed and transformed by God’s love, marriages can prosper as they should.
Send your comment to bettyslade.author@gmail.com.
Views expressed do not necessarily represent those of The SUN.
>