Men I Love

I love the characters of several men in the Bible. In my recent preaching assignments I found one interesting commonality of three such men-personalities in the Bible. They are Job, Moses and Jesus (the God who came in human form). What do they have in common?

Job
There may be several traditional learnings from Job. But I am attracted to the mention of his children in the last chapter. When Job got his blessings restored God gave him seven sons and three daughters. I love the way the daughters are named here. It is very uncommon to see the sons not named here. The lesson for me however is in V.15 where we find Job giving equal inheritance for both his sons and daughters Jemima, Keziah and Karen. I still wonder how a man who lived in Pre-Mosaic times (when the law was not yet given) could respect women, here his daughters!

Moses
The next hero I adore is Moses. Look at the story where he met his wife in Midian in Exodus 216-19: Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and began to draw water and fill the troughs in order to water their father’s flock. When some shepherds came and drove them away, Moses came up and defended them and then watered their flock. So when they came home to their father Reuel, he asked, “Why have you come home so early today?” They said, “An Egyptian man rescued us from the shepherds, and he actually drew water for us and watered the flock!” We see Moses as a defender, provider, rescuer of women in a difficult situation. No wonder, the girls’ father found it easy to give Zipporah, one of his seven girls to Moses as his wife.

When the issue of the five daughters of Zelophehad came up in the exodus journey with regard to inheritance rights for girls we see Moses as a person who did not drive them away, but it is said: Moses brought their case before the Lord (Numbers 27:5). The God of justice granted the girls’ request. While I appreciate the five girls Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah for their fight for justice, Moses needs an applause for taking their case to God. Moses’ respect for women is mind-blowing.

Jesus
Jesus is the champion of women’s rights, the perfect model for us to follow. From the virgin birth narrative of Mary till the mission mandate of Magdalene Mary, the gospels record various instances of how Jesus respected women. He undid all the curses that were laid upon women and redefined the laws regarding adultery, divorce and other social stigmas. There is much to write about Jesus. I will take that up in another blog-article in the future. This thing is true: Jesus respected women.

On this International Men’s Day I commend men who already reflect this particular Godly character of respecting women like these great personalities in the Bible. Wishing my men-friends all the best!