can some jews/christians pls explain the following?

Question

"I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a trap and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner she will ensnare....while I was still searching but not finding, I found one upright man among a thousand but not one upright woman among them all." [Ecclesiastes 7:26-28]

"No wickedness comes anywhere near the wickedness of a woman.....Sin began with a woman and thanks to her we all must die." [Ecclesiasticus 25:19,24]

Answer 1

Well, from an atheists point of view, the religious books are written by humans. And since in those day society was totally male-dominated, naturally the religious scriptures favor men.

Even Shakespeare's plays downplay on the image of women(i.e. Macbeth's wife).

Answer 2

1. The quote from Ecclesiastes: others have correctly interpreted as "stay away from prostitutes". Seems like reasonable advice.

2. Ecclesiasticus is also called The Wisdom of Ben Sira. (By the way, you cited the wrong verse numbers). It's an ancient text but not part of the Jewish Bible. The views of Ben Sira towards women appear to have been influenced by Greek views of the time, particularly those of Euripedes. Because of the misanthropy, misogyny, and Epicureanism of the author, as well as its Greek influence, the book was condemned by Talmudic rabbis.

Answer 3

I can't answer your 2nd verse because there is no Ecclesiastics in the bible. If you're talking about Ecclesiasties, there is no chapterr 25 in that book, it only has 12 chapters.

I can answer the first verse though. The author of this particular book is not talking about all women, but is referring to harlets (prostitutes). He was saying how men are seducted by them and fall into their trap if not. But men who have wisdom seek God will not fall for the harlet. When he said "not one upright woman among them all" means that out of all of those harlets, not one of them was trying to seek God.

Answer 4

Sounds ludicrous, but remember that all sacred texts have to be read as psychological metaphor - unity with god/reality is the goal. The older the text, the more arcane the language.

The feminine in Jewish and Christian theology is an aspect of mind, Eve/creator (Adam/masculine represents reason) but also the feminine is ego vulnerability to outside influences and temptations. Even Jesus said that Mary Magdalene had to become 'male.' It is not literal. His exaggerated demonstration of ego (body-level) death as required for authentic being/purpose made clear how damaged and worthless our learned identity was in his view.

Our emotional vulnerability as impressionable children - male or female - make us susceptible to believing in duality (good/evil) and being shamed out of the garden/heaven/unity. Returning requires applying absolute reason to every aspect of the learned egoic belief system.

Answer 5

In the first verse(s), SOlomon was reflecting on his life. He was not talking about all women, but that one type of woman. His point was that promiscuous women should be avoided by men trying to be holy.

That second verse that you have is not in the bible. There is no such book as Ecclesiasticus. It may be in the apocrypha of the catholic bible or some other ancient writing, but it is definitely not in the cannonized collection of scripture we know as the bible.

Answer 6

It's pretty clear cut, I don't see what you don't understand, but I'll explain what both mean, in a simplistic form.

If you please God by being true to yourself, and only get involved with a women that you love for her, and she truly loves you for you. So shall you never fall into the trap and doom of the chains of deceit.

I'm by no means cutting women down, but ever decision they make, is governed by emotion. Women know why another women is doing what she is doing and why. Therefore another women will never get in the way of anothers, because she understands and would never want the emotional wraith upon herself.

As far a the beginning of sin goes. Adam bit the apple of his own free will. But Eve's punishment was to bear children and go through a monthly menstrual cycle of pain. She didn't condom us to death, that is pure bull, nothing on Earth was created to live forever. That crap was added The Holy Bible to further repress women.

I don't think you really have realized yet, that the Holy Bible is a novel written by ignorant man. It's not a guide to life to be taken for verbatim. In other words, take it with a grain of salt, not as a manual for life.

No Bible of any kind, has delivered us to God.
So take them as such:)

Answer 7

"No wickedness comes anywhere near the wickedness of a woman.....Sin began with a woman and thanks to her we all must die." [Ecclesiasticus 25:19,24]



Because we sinned in the garden the the entire earth is dead to GOD... God cant fellowship with anything that is impure. Its doesnt mean die like, kill over and die.... We are dead to him. Its like your dad kicked to out of the house for wrecking the car and he never wants to talk to you again. And he says you are dead to me...

Answer 8

The woman who is a snare is actually a prostitute and also
is a metaphor for sin, temptation in general - one of
man's greatest temptations being sex anyway.

He was still searching but not finding asweres - this was
his direct observation at the time. Many women were
unlearned at that time - rich women were
likely to be foolish gossipers with nothing to do - not
allowed education.

The second reference is not in my Bible at all.

Answer 9

Is it a valedictory address? Well, I used to deliver one. If you don't mind, I would just write a tiny bit of a "paragraph" (for your speech but if you like not to include it, it's okay. It's just an idea). By the way, Nice quote! "Ever tried, ever failed. Try again, fail again but fail better." That quote fascinated me since then. Why? Because, it is something that really happens in our lives even me. I used to try (insert your goals or what you want to try) but unfortunately, I failed. Well, I learned that we should not give up right? Well, I tried again and failed again. Once I thought, why is life so unfair? Why is life loves challenges? Why life loves trials? Why? That is when I don't know what to do. I am not an easy guy/gal for life to play with and I tried for the third time but failed for the third time. But that time was different. It made me feel better. It was like, it made me ready for the real world. It prepared me for rejection. At the time I learned what life meant to teach me this lesson, and I learned why life is full of trials. Life is not as unfair as we think of it. It only wants to teach us an important lesson to be prepared for the real world beyond what we know. And now, I'm standing here in front of you, to tell you, to share you what life taught me; "Never let problems rule. Keep from playing the game." I hope I made myself clear and I hope I contributed a little for your speech. (I also answered your other question. (~,^)) God Bless! :-)

Answer 10

"[28]The author found sincerity rare among men, but among women still more rare.

7 [29] Calculations: the many vain attempts and schemes of men to attain happiness by their own efforts."
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The footnotes seem to show that the author was a sex addict who thought they could control everything ... and this caused them greif in their life ... so they were sharing the wisdom that when you enslave yourself to your penis you are a fool.

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The New Testatment writes 2 Peter 2: 10-17 to elabroate.