I’ve been thinking quite a bit lately about Western christians women’s continued resistance to being obedient to the word of God when it comes to submitting to their husbands. One of the reasons I often hear as to why a wife shouldn’t be “too submissive” to their husbands is because pastors and other christian women warn them that they might “make an idol out of their husbands”, and that this would mean they are putting their husbands before God in their lives, which is a big no-no. So while I was bandying about and considering scripture a few questions crossed my mind. Questions I would certainly like to ask those same pastors and christian women who cause wives to stumble by trotting out this lame and fake excuse for rebellion.
Question: Was Moses an idol?
God told the Israelites to follow and obey Moses because God set him up as a messenger and leader. In Numbers 12 we find his own brother and sister, Aaron and Miriam, questioned Moses’s God given authority to their own detriment. So what happened?
Well, Moses had told the Israelites they were forbidden from marrying foreign women, then he ended up taking an Ethiopian woman, which, naturally, caused some contention. Rather than going to Moses and the elders and calling him on his hypocrisy they chose to challenge his mandated leadership from God, likely because they had their eyes set on that leadership long before this incident.
Now, Moses was not a perfect man by any means, and by this time he had already screwed up on several occasions and he would continue to screw up on many occasions after this incident, but the bible tells us he was a meek leader, “…above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.”, meaning he was not ruling with an iron fist or in an incorrect way. He wasn’t harsh, but he was stern and, for the most part, commanded the people as God commanded him.
Anyhow here we have Aaron and Miriam who are challenging the authority of Moses by asking (and I am just paraphrasing here, go read it for yourself), “Is God really speaking to us only through Moses? Didn’t He also speak to us?”. Basically, “Why is Moses the one in charge of God speaks to us as well? Are we sure God wants us to obey ONLY Moses?”. Unfortunately for them God heard their rants and decided to intervene – IN PERSON.
Numbers 12:
4 And the Lord spake suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, Come out ye three unto the tabernacle of the congregation. And they three came out.
5 And the Lord came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came forth.
6 And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.
7 My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house.
8 With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?
9 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them; and he departed.
10 And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous.
11 And Aaron said unto Moses, Alas, my lord, I beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly, and wherein we have sinned.
So, for those who have trouble with the KJV: God called them outside and, speaking directly to Aaron and Miriam said, “Everyone else I speak to I speak to through visions and dreams, but Moses I speak to face-to-face, because he is faithful to me more than all other people. I speak to him directly and not through shadows or mysteries. Because of this, why do you not fear speaking against him?”
After that the Lord was angry and He split, but as he left Miriam became leprous, and her skin instantly turned white with the disease.
Aaron, upon seeing this, freaked out and turned then to Moses, NOT TO GOD, and begged Moses to ask God for forgiveness:
Numbers 12:
11 And Aaron said unto Moses, Alas, my lord, I beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly, and wherein we have sinned.
12 Let her not be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out of his mother’s womb.
Yes, though Aaron could have cried out directly to God, he got the gist of what God was saying: That Moses had been given Gods authority, and it was through him and by him that God would deliver His instruction.
Moses, fortunately, loved his brother and sister and immediately cried out to God to forgive Miriam, but he had every right not to, and if he had told both of them that they had gotten their just desserts, God would have not batted an eye, for it was Gods judgement that she should be stricken.
God heard Moses and, even in His mercy, punished Miriam rightly, telling Moses:
Numbers 12:
“…If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days? let her be shut out from the camp seven days, and after that let her be received in again.”
Thus Miriam was shut out from the camp for seven days, suffering as a leper the entire time, until she was healed and allowed to return.
So, my question is: Did God create an idol of His servant, Moses? Do you think that if Aaron and Miriam had told God, “We don’t want to be TOO obedient to Moses’ authority because we fear we might make an idol out of him!”, that God would have accepted such a silly and nonsensical excuse? Absolutely not! To be obedient to God was to be obedient to Moses, who had been given Gods authority. HE BORE THE SAME AUTHORITY AMONGST THE PEOPLE THAT GOD DID, BECAUSE GOD BESTOWED THAT UPON HIM. To disobey instruction from Moses was to disobey instruction from God, provided that Moses was speaking within Gods intent. Had the people disobeyed a commandment from Moses to build another golden calf then God would have punished Moses and sided with the people because that commandment would have been against Gods law, but even so, if Moses had commanded the people in any thing that was not against Gods law the people were to obey.
Husbands have been given authority over their wives and children, over their entire household, as Christ has been given over the church. They are the final word, and to rebel against them is to rebel against God Himself. A husband is not a replacement for God, but as a knight who rode out from his Lords castle with a writ of authority, granting his words the same weight as the king himself, so husbands have been given the same power.
With that power comes great responsibility and an even heftier punishment if it is used incorrectly. That same knight, using the weight of the kings authority to further his kings desires would receive great reward, while using that authority to commit atrocities and perform actions contrary to the kings desires would garner him a fate worse than death, because his actions reflected directly back onto the king, whom the knight represented.
In this same manner christian husbands will be held to a higher standard than their wives, and will be judged accordingly.
1 Corinthians 11: 7
For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.
Christian women should reject the concept of “making an idol out of their husbands by being too submissive” because the concept has dangerous consequences. It’s nowhere supported in scripture and, as we can see from this example, God does not take lightly those who rally against those whom He has given authority. I don’t suspect you will be struck with leprosy, but as the scripture says, “God will not be mocked”, and you certainly take your spiritual life into your own hands when you choose to be a rebellious wife. Remember that God commended Sarah (through Peter) for her obedience to her husband, and reminds us that christian women who show the same obedience are likened to the daughters of Sarah, a champion of faith!
Be like Sarah and be blessed as she was, or be like Miriam. The choice is yours.
Snapper's Domain 
Interesting.
Same complaint on every, single Christian man’s blog; day after day after day: “my wife won’t submit to me….somebody make her change!” Whaaa whaaa whaa!! “The Bible says she MUST submit!” Boo hoo hoo. Look at Sarah; she called her husband Lord! But my wife won’t submit to everything I say!” Whine, whine, whine.
And then we move to racial violence “White men rule! We’re the patriarch! We have guns and everything. We can’t make our women submit but we’re gonna go get the black guys. Just watch us!”
And then they do what they always do: sit on their fat white asses and do absolutely nothing but bitch, bitch, bitch.
What a joke.
Thanks for visiting.
1. Christian wives are being trained NOT to submit, so its a continuing problem. Old articles get lost to time so sometimes new articles must be written so they can be found via search engines and all that.
2. If you’re not a christian, don’t worry about it. Its an exclusive club that anyone is free to join, but if you’re not a part of it already then its rules don’t apply to you. If your a wife then do what you want. If your a husband then do what you want. In your own mind you needn’t worry about anything, but we feel bad for you because, in the end there will be judgement for all of us, including those who do not accept Christ.
3. Not white, so, my only skin in the game is as an American, and as an American I see injustice against white people, which is what we call racism. Also I’m not about “going to get the black guys”, I’m all about going to get enemies of freedom regardless of color.
4. Not quite sure how you can figure out anything of what I am doing by my blog, as I am not very vocal about what it is I am doing aside from a few bits here and there, but, projection, I guess.
Thanks for your input. Sorry it adds nothing of value to the conversation since your complain is like every other complaint from godless, America hating liberals or lefty wanna-be churchians. Its like none of you can actually do any real reading or learn to deliver an actual argument, you just like to come in and piss in someone else’s wheaties then run off feeling smug, like you’ve done something. Oh well. Your free to continue commenting so long as you remain civil. Have a good week, and God bless.
If women read the Bible and keep Jesus as #1 in their lives, this shouldn’t be a problem. It also helps to know who you’re marrying…
My husband and I dated for several years before marriage, and though that might sound strange in today’s society, the years felt like they went by fast. I had college going on, and he had his work. By the time we married, I trusted him (and still trust him) with MY LIFE. I have no problem submitting to him because I know him, and he loves me “as Christ also loved the church” (see Ephesians 5:22-33).
Honestly? Not wanting to submit seems (to me) like it comes from the fear of not fully trusting a man. And if you don’t trust him, why marry him?
I would venture to say that not wanting to submit to one’s husband comes from fear of not fully trusting God. God is the one who commanded wives to obey and submit to their husbands, and we know that God only wants whats best for us. Does that mean we will not go through troubles? No! Through troubles we are forged from lumps of iron into strong christians! The apostle Paul, and indeed all of the apostles, suffered great mental and physical trials, yet their faith was strong and they knew that God was with them, and that their suffering was to produce godliness in their own lives and act as a testimony for others. I think this is where modern christianity loses its salt in that we hate suffering and many pastors teach that suffering means you are not right with God. Though we can suffer from railing against Him we suffer mostly, I believe, because we live in a fallen world that is hell-bent on causing humans to suffer.
Women, especially, are susceptible to shying away from suffering for christ if it doesn’t meet their desire for attention. I’ve said before in other posts that some christian women are willing to leave their homes and Western conveniences to “suffer for christ” in a foreign country serving others, but struggle and fight against suffering for christ by being obedient to their husbands in an radical way. Oh sure, he wants steak for dinner, she makes steak for dinner. He says the house is dirty, she cleans it. But he says he wants to pack up and move to another state and the fight is on! Suddenly he is a horrible man who isn’t taking her feelings and wants into consideration and she digs in her heels rather than submitting and trusting both her husband and God. I’ve also said here on the blog that I think men might be wise to listen to their wives in some regards, but that its a mans place to know where he might want to listen to what his wife has to say and when not to. Does my wife know anything about computers? No, so why would I even consider consulting her about something computer related? And if she gave me her opinion, does she really think I will consider it? Now if we are talking about making food then I would absolutely consult her, and if she tried to give me some guidance in something I was trying to cook I would be a smart guy to hear her out!
The fact of the matter is that, for christian women, to rebel against ones husband is to rebel against God, but many christian women don’t see it that way. They think they can be disobedient toward their husbands and still be obedient to God, but since God commands wives to be obedient, well…..
Don’t worry about “taking over the blog” with your comments. I have more content than I remember and I am always happy to discuss anything I have posted or even things I have yet to post.