Jena Holmes
Paper- First Draft
3/14/2015
A Woman’s Worth In the Bible, childbirth is highly accredited in the community. A woman is defined by her ability to conceive and give birth. In these times, the only way to leave your mark in the world was to produce children. This is because children were represented as a blessing to the family and a link to the future. There are many instances throughout the Bible where women become distraught over the thought of not being able to reproduce. By looking at how the Bible demonstrates the importance of childbearing and why it thinks childbearing is so important, we can see how the Bible emphasizes that a woman’s primary purpose in life is to bear children. Now we will take a look at how the Bible demonstrates the importance of childbearing and how this leads to the emphasis the Bible puts of childbearing being a woman’s primary purpose in life. In the story of Genesis, Lot’s daughters perform a sinful act because they believe it is their duty to preserve offspring through their father. Lot and his two daughters flee their city and decide to reside in a cave up in the mountains. The daughters believe that there are no longer any men on earth.
“And the firstborn said to the younger, ‘our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the world. Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, so that we may preserve offspring through our father.’” (Genesis 19:31-33)
In this passage, we can see that Lot’s daughters believe that their father is the only man left on the earth. The daughters have come to realize that in order to fulfill the role of a woman, they need perform a sinful act to do what is best for the land. “Ancient women’s lives were determined by the realities of procreation.” (CO,p.50) The daughter’s act is not performed out of sexual attraction but rather out of an eagerness to carry on passing children down from generation to generation. “Using her intelligence, the female trickster exhibits greater understanding of the needs of her family and nation than the corresponding male does. Second, as a matter of faith, she more closely understands God’s purposes than does her male counterpart” (AE,p.143-57).
The Bible emphasizes the importance of child bearing again in Genesis with Rachel. “The intensity of a woman’s longing to conceive and bear a child is epitomized by Rachel’s cry to Jacob: ‘Give me children, or I shall die!’(Genesis 30:1)” (WM). The passage says that Rachel would rather die then not bear Jacob a child. Rachel envies her sister who is neglected by Jacob just because she is fertile. Her envy stems from the fact that: “motherhood is a role of honor and a source of great happiness” (FG, p.70). As beautiful as Rachel is and as much as Jacob loves her she values having a child over love and beauty. In both of these passages, the Bible demonstrates that over all other things (beauty, love, morals) the main thing a woman should be striving for is motherhood.
Now that we have looked at how the Bible shows the primary role of a woman is childbearing, lets look at why they portray this message. “Childbearing was viewed as an essential function for a female in ancient times. The dominant role for a woman was found in conceiving, bearing, giving birth to, and rearing the children” (W.E). Basically the usefulness of a wife to her husband was these duties. If she cannot fulfill these duties, then she is at loss for a social identity and possible at a loss of approval from society. “Mothers are essential to families…they need to bear children, but once the children are born, they disappear from the story” (FG, p.71). The Bible is showing that the most important contribution a woman can make to her husband is giving him children, other then that, she doesn’t deliver much importance. “Families in biblical literature are incomplete without children…”(FG, p.70). This correlates to why women have such a deep desire to be a mother in these times. Bearing a child earned a woman a place in life and gave her a right to something in the household. Through these reasons, the Bible has placed emphasis on what the role of a woman should be in society at this time.
So through passages in the Bible, you are able to see the importance that is placed on women’s child- bearing abilities. Without fertility, women are at a loss of self- identity and belonging. The passages from Genesis demonstrate the lengths women are willing to go to in order to bear a child and that over all other attributes you can have, as a woman to be fertile is the most crucial.

Bibliography 1. Carol A. Newsom and Sharon H. Ringe. Women’s Bible Commentary. Westminster John Knox Press. Louisville, Kentucky. March 7th, 2015. 2. Danna Nolan Fewell and David M. Gunn. Gender, Power, & Promise. Abingdon Press. Nashville, Tenesee. March,7th, 2015. 3. Ann W. Edgar. Old Testament Women as Tricksters. Mapping of the Biblical Terrain: The Bible as Text. Associated University Presses. Canbury, New Jersey. March 8th, 2015. 4. Carolyn Osiek. A Women’s Place: House Churches in Earliest Christiantity. Lewis Univeristy. Romeoville, Illinois. March 8th, 2015. 5. Watson E. Mills. Childbearing in Ancient Times. Biblical Illustrator. Ipswich, Massachusetts. March 8th, 2015.