What was the importance according to scholars, of women finding the tomb of Christ empty?

Question

Why is it important to scholars and historians, that the bible tell us that women found the tomb of Christ empty instead of men finding it empty?

Answer 1

Hey, I think the big thing is that if the Gospel writers/early Christian community was making all this resurrection stuff up they n-e-v-e-r would have gone with a story where a woman was the first to find that Jesus had risen... given the cultural assumption of that day that a woman's testimony was not necessarily trustworthy. So not only does this speak to Christianity's high view of women, but to the realism with which the Gospels relate the story of what happened.

This happens throughout the New Testament... lots of places where you would assume that the writers would tweak the story to make it more palatable, but they don't do it because they weren't making stuff up but reporting what really happened.

Answer 2

It would be important to *religious* scholars. Since it's not history, historians would not be concerned with it.

This from wiki has a reasonable point:
The presence of women as the key witnesses who discover the empty tomb has been seen as increasing the credibility of the testimony, since, in the contemporary culture (Jewish and Greco-Roman), one would expect a fabrication to place men, and especially numerous and important men, at this critical place, rather than just "some grieving women."

Answer 3

because a woman's word was hardly taken seriously in those days and therefore this just shows that the gospels that were included in the canon of scripture (the ones that were written by eyewitnesses) were not fabricated just so people would take them more seriously but rather just true accounts of what actually happened because if someone wanted to make the story more believable they probably would have said it was a man that found the empty tomb. instead they just wrote the truth.

Answer 4

Mostly it would have been women that would have discovered it because they were the ones that had a reason to go back to the tomb.

The more notable fact is that when Jesus appeared after resurrecting, he chose to appear to Mary Magdalene instead of his disciples. This has been taken to indicate that she had some sort of special significance or relationship with Jesus.

Answer 5

It goes back to the Old Testament where it was told that there would be a Savior to come and die for mankind. And he would rise again.
In the NT it was foretold more often. Jesus told His disciples that He would come again. The Resurrection and the Tomb being empty proved what Jesus said was not a lie.

Answer 6

Maybe Christ went for walk and take a pee?

Answer 7

that womens word is as important as men.

Answer 8

It proves that he was risen to heaven since it's impossible for someone to rob a grave or create an empty grave.

Answer 9

What is important is that there is no other evidence that ever happened except the bible.

Answer 10

We must be careful not to read more into this than what there is.