Why is the Bible patriarchal? and a celebration of men

November 19th was ‘men’s day’ in Europe. It had a rather discrete exposure, unlike women’s day that floods your timeline and TV ads and annoying roses being handed over, men’s day is somewhat neglected. As a woman, I have always been against any kind of celebration of the sorts for any gender, first because there is always an agenda behind ‘days of’ and second, because there is no pride or reason to celebrate a biological condition that we can’t choose.

Still, during this men’s day an insight came to mind. What makes the Bible a book around patriarchs and the strength of men? While there are very important and strong women in the Bible, it’s obvious that the Word of Yahuah centers around males and one can explain this by saying that the Creator is sexist, or that those who wrote the Bible ignored the Holy Spirit’s influence to give women a central role. Or we can go beyond the surface and have some fun with some freestyle speculation.

If you're a believer, you should have a very strong trust on the creation described in the book of Genesis. The fact that Adam and Eve are our ancestors is beyond doubt and even ‘modern science’ could not avoid admitting that we all come from one couple. But I would like to stretch that. We all came from Adam.

The story is well known. Yahuah created Adam out of earth after His image and to create Eve He used a ‘piece’ of Adam. The Bible most popular translation says it was Adam’s rib. But was it really Adam’s rib? Depending on the translation, the word ‘rib’, or from the Hebrew ‘Tsela’, one can also translate to ‘side’, or ‘corner’, ‘quarter’ or ‘ridge’.

According to the Kabbalah - which is a mystical distortion from the early ‘Jewish’ Torah – Adam was initially created sort of hermaphrodite, so Yahuah took his ‘side’, and out of it created a separated female. I think this story is foolishness, but the translation used here ‘side’ is interesting. It also works with the word 'Tsela' as we already saw. Can we think of other 'sides' that could be used by the Creator to make Eve?

We know that what determines our gender is the combination of two chromosomes: X and Y. If you have two X, you’re a biological female and if you have X and Y, you’re a biological male. The chromosome Y can only be passed to the offspring by the father, therefore, what determines the gender of the child is which chromosome is in the spermatozoa (the seed).

When we look at the chromosomes, it might surprise you that they do not look exactly like an X or a Y, like we are led to believe in school. They look more like filaments, being the X a longer one than the Y.

The Y chromosome looks like a piece of the X one. Now what if we consider that what Yahuah used from Adam to produce Eve was the side, or the ridge of his chromosome? Yahuah definitely used part of Adam to build Eve, this ‘mold’ used was Adam’s genetic material.

Interesting also that due to the fact that the Y chromosome has less genetic material, while a female baby receives 50-50% DNA from father and mother, in the male offspring the ratio is 49-51% father and mother.

Going back to the patriarchal element of the Bible, there is an obvious truth that the Y chromosome brings about: if only the father has Y chromosomes to pass to his offspring and the first male was Adam, all males share the same chromosome of Adam, the first human, who was created in the image of Yahuah.

Can a woman also be related to Adam, if we consider that the second X chromosome also came from her father? we all are, after all the gender gene is only one of the 23 pairs that make us who we are, but after so many generations the strongest genetic ancestry for a woman is definitely Eve through the so called 'Mitochondrial Eve' - for a male however, it’s a 100% chance that his Y chromosome comes from of the original chromosome of Adam. Cool, huh?

This could be the reason the Bible focuses on the male lineage and why Yahusha (Jesus) calls himself ‘Son of Adam’ or ‘Son of Man’ – because he certainly was! and the Bible does not show the Messiah’s genealogy from Miriam (Mary)’s perspective, but that of her father, called Joseph. When Jacob had his 12 sons which became the 12 tribes of Israel, their Y chromosome could only be passed in their offspring thorough their sons, therefore in order to determine one's Israel tribe, one must look at the father’s genealogy.

Does this mean that women are less important?

Yahuah is so perfect and wise that even if Eve did come from Adam, all male and female on earth depend on a woman to come into the world. Isn’t it beautiful to see how the Creator finds a way to reconcile?

On a genetic level, while the Y or X sperm from the father carries DNA information that connects to the X chromosome of the mother, the mother contributes with the mitochondrial DNA which allows the cells to have energy to develop. It’s equivalent to think (in a simplistic way) about the seed using the soil for energy. The fact that the Bible uses 'seed' so often to refer to procreation is not a coincidence.

The connection between males and Adam, the initial man, is powerful. Males are the ones responsible for keeping humanity connected with our initial mortal father and are the protectors of the next generations, whereas women's role is to be their man’s helper and support, bringing the offspring to life and nurturing her family. It may sound obnoxiously old fashioned, but the truth is that the closest a woman have to the Creator is her man or her father. As it’s written:

But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Yahusha Ha'Mashiach; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Mashiach is Yahuah. (1 Corinthians 11:3)

‘I don’t like it and I don’t agree, I’m an independent woman’. Ok, you are free to file a complaint to the Creator, I’m just showing what the Bible says. ;)

Seriously though, this hierarchy should not be offensive to anyone. Would a man have the right to complain that Yahusha is his middle man towards Yahuah? Of course not!

If you’re a male or if you have sons, the acknowledgment of the masculine spiritual strength is crucial and specially during tribulation, male energy and the connection with the Messiah will be important for all of us. With this in mind, one can see that it’s not a coincidence that masculinity and men have been under growing attack. Be it the ‘all men are potential rapists’ narrative or the hidden attack with medication (e.g. for ADHD), soy products, BPA or the attack on a meat based diet, the fact is that the males of this generation – especially in the West - have less testosterone and the sperm count is on a decline.

Although it’s obvious, let me underscore that horrible males exist and their physical strength will always overcome any woman if they so want – but we must be fair to acknowledge that they are far from the majority and there are also horrible females out there bringing a lot of pain to the world.

A society with strong, masculine males to protect their big numerous families and united communities is a threat to those who wish to control humanity. If you think this is a conspiracy theory, just look at what our society has become in the last two years. A divided society, with weak males is easily manipulated. Now, who benefits from the weakening of men?

The western world is focusing on feminism and female leadership. Companies around the world are making a huge effort to switch their leadership to females (even when they must obey men). But while feminine energy does bring positive things, the agenda here does not have women's best interest in mind. The objective is to push for division between men and women and to weaken masculinity, which will ultimately hurt women and children.

Yahuah created man and woman to work together, each one compensating the other’s lack with their individual strengths. In light of this unity message, let's remember to value the important men in our lives, fathers, husbands, sons and all other important role models of masculine strength that like Adam, were made in the image of the Creator.