tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3931921496989071942.post8066160041214177397..comments2023-06-08T07:32:39.725-05:00Comments on Aristotle's Feminist Subject: Euripides & St. Peter: Feminist & Weaker Sexist?J. K. Gaylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07600312868663460988noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3931921496989071942.post-30421150621369714352011-03-22T16:11:53.963-05:002011-03-22T16:11:53.963-05:00Anonymous - Thanks for sharing the possibility tha...Anonymous - Thanks for sharing the possibility that "binah" is the intent of the I Peter use of "skeue." It's certainly in a direction different from Chariton's and Euripides's uses of the Greek word, isn't it? Wouldn't it have to be much more a metaphor, then, in I Peter?J. K. Gaylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07600312868663460988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3931921496989071942.post-8495507961713483822011-03-20T23:46:09.346-05:002011-03-20T23:46:09.346-05:00Some thoughts about the phrase “weaker vessel”. Mo...Some thoughts about the phrase “weaker vessel”. More modern translations than KJV of 1 Peter 3:7 say something like: “husbands, in the same way,live together with your wives, according to knowledge that she is the weaker vessel and give honor to her as a joint heir to the grace of life so your prayers won’t be hindered”. To me, this makes more sense. That said, I read that evidence suggests that 1 Peter was written to jewish christains rather than gentiles. After all, Peter was known as the apostle to the jews and Paul the apostle to the gentiles. With this in mind, I was wondering what the term “weaker vessel” would mean to a formerly jewish audience. I found that a man named R. Yonatan taught: <br /><br />“The Creator does not test frail vessels, which He could not even tap once before they would break. Whom does He test? Beautiful, sturdy vessels that, even if He taps them several times, they will not break. Thus, the Holy One does not test wicked people, but rather the righteous, as it is written (Tehillim 11:5), “God tests the righteous.”<br /><br />http://www.vbm-torah.org/parsha.64/03lekh.htm<br /><br />R. Yonatan was a first century rabbi who was taught by Hillel (the same guy who taught Paul and was a contemporary of Jesus and Peter). The term “fragile vessel” can also be a translation of the greek in 1 Peter 3:7 instead of “weaker vessel”. R. Yonatan used the term “fragile vessel” to refer to people who were unbelievers or weak believers. Personally, I think Peter is using this same phrase to describe UNBELIEVING WIVES. In the previous verses, it is widely believed that Peter is referring to christain wives with unbelieving husbands as well as slaves with unbelieving masters. Why would he be referring to something different when he is referring to husbands and their attitudes toward their wives? While “weaker vessel” can refer to physically weakness, I don’t believe so when the whole chapter is taken into consideration. So, I believe Peter is referring to unbelieving wives with the phrase “weaker vessel”. In other words, the wife is weaker due to unbelief or lack of faith. Also, the phrase “according to knowledge” never sounded right either. Knowledge according to what? Christain beliefs, gentile beliefs, jewish beliefs? Even though the rabbis denigrated women, they did believe that women had a higher level of “binah”. Binah is described as wisdom,intelligence or discernment about spiritual matters. Another word used for binah is the greek work gnosis which means knowledge (the same word in 1 Peter 3:7). Maybe the phrase “according to knowledge” means “according to binah” in jewish thought. The wife is a fragile vessel acording to binah because she lacks the spiritual discernment of a christain believer. Of course, I’m not saying women are spiritually inferior to men in general, but in the case of an unbelieving wife, she lacks the appropriate knowledge. I think Peter is telling husbands to keep in mind that their wives lack knowledge of the christain religion, but the husbands should still treat their wives with the same respect they would show a christain wife.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com