Friday, 26 March 2010 07:57

Ever wondered why the first book of the Bible says: “A man shall leave his fathe
r and mother and unite with his wife”? Why doesn’t it say a woman shall leave he
r father and mother, as we see things today?
Every time you hear the phrase, “God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,” do you ask wh
ere the God, or is it Goddess, of their dominant wives Sarah, Rebecca and Rachel
respectively vanished to?
Funny; the way educational materials in schools talk of the Patriarchs and keep
dumb about the Matriarchs who apparently held more profound power on the former,
I dare bet. Not only did Sarah decide who of her husband Abraham’s children sho
uld inherit his estate, but also Rebecca decided that Jacob steals his twin brot
her, Esau’s birthright and blessings.
And thanks to the power struggle between Sarah and Hagar, the puzzle will never
be solved as to which account is correct regarding the beloved son that Abraham
almost sacrificed before God. The Bible says it was Isaac, yet the Qur’an says i
t was Ishmael.
Gen. 25: 5-6 says: “Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac; but while he was
still alive, he gave presents to the sons his other wives had borne him.” In fac
t Gen. 21: 11-1 doesn’t mince words. Sarah ordered Abraham to send away her co-w
ife, alias concubine, Hagar and her son Ishmael. When Abraham hesitated to favou
r Isaac above Ishmael, God ordered him: “Do whatever Sarah tells you” with the c
onsolation that after all Ishmael too would become a nation of many descendants!
The power of the Matriarchs further exhibits itself in the theological and polit
ical conflicts between Christianity and Judaism on the one side and Islam on the
other. Interestingly, Abraham married another wife, Keturah from whom tradition
says descend the Persians (speakers of Farsi language). Sarah’s descendants are
said to be the Jews (speakers of Hebrew) and Hagar’s the Arabs (speakers of Ara
bic). The four faiths, Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Baha’i, which have devel
oped from this family of Abraham, have a tracing to his three wives.
When Rebecca brought the idea of tricking her blind husband, Isaac, into passing
over the birthright to her son Jacob, she ordered Jacob: “Listen to me and do w
hat I say... and he [Isaac] will give you his blessing before he dies.” (Gen. 27
: 8-10).
Although fundamental issues of historiography and ideology are couched in these
narratives, it shouldn’t escape our attention that human society was first matri
archal before it became patriarchal, the dominant type today. Marriage and socia
l relations previously honoured matrilocality (i.e. the man migrating to stay wi
th the wife’s relatives) and matrilineality (children being traced through the m
other’s line). In fact, girls were “adopted to” their brothers who had more resp
onsibility over them than their real fathers who belonged to another lineage or
clan!
Rebecca makes Isaac order his blessed heir to go to a faraway land and marry his
(Jacob’s) maternal uncle, Laban’s daughter. Once there, Jacob spends 20 years a
nd it’s not his desire to return to his father’s side but rather his father-in-l
aw, Laban’s dishonesty and selfishness that compels him to return to relatives o
f his father.
Of course to most minds today, it’s hard to imagine the matriarchal society and
especially the economic relations thereof as the scriptures of today’s major wor
ld religions and the classics of the dominant political ideologies were said or
written during the era of patriarchy and its associated traits of warfare, waste
fulness, the nation-state and imperialism.
It’s not easy to critique, for example, the Bible’s description of God as God of
Israel, Lord of armies, the jealous God even as we live in cosmopolitan times t
hat would be crying out for the Lord of pacifism, the God of sharing, a really c
onfederal God.
The female gender has been so much dislocated out of history that you can’t anym
ore hear of goddesses.
The monotheistic religions of the West make fun of the Hindu pantheism of gods a
nd goddesses. But how Virgin Mary comes to occupy such a mighty position in Cath
olicism is the crevice through which the suppressed fountain continues to have a
 taste of the sunshine. How about the Muslim Sufis’ penchant for the story of Y
usuf and Zulaikha, the story the Holy Book calls the most beautiful story?
Interestingly, even the Devil is male! Can you hear of female angels anymore? So
, why the more do we need women in society when the entire cosmology is occupied
by males?
I fear we could sooner rather than later start a global campaign to obliterate t
he female sex, especially when homosexuality is gradually winning over the suppo
rt of a number of political and religious authorities and cloning of humans coul
d soon also get such approval. Terrifying as the scenario might be; but we are s
urely headed for an all-man human species!