CHAPTER IV THE HEBREW IDEAL OF THE FAMILY THE Hebrew ideal of the relationship between man and woman, and of marriage and the family, growing out of that relationship, is found chiefly in three passages: the first chapter of Genesis, the second chapter of Genesis, and the thirty-first chapter of Proverbs. In the first chapter of Genesis the writer declares that "God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them"; and that to them jointly he gave supremacy over the earth: "God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the foul of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." He is not represented as giving authority to one over the other, of making the one for the other, of creating the one in his image more than the other is created in his image. The image of God, the supremacy over nature, is not in any man: it is not in any woman; it is in humanity, the man and woman, neither of whom completes the image of God, neither of whom is sovereign on the earth. Both the American and the English poet have truly interpreted this Hebraic conception of the relationship of the sexes: Nor equal, nor unequal; each fulfills Defect in each, and always thought in thought, The two-celled heart beating with one full stroke, As unto the bow the cord is, So unto the man is woman. Though she bends him, she obeys him; Though she draws him, yet she follows: This is not the relationship of husband and wife. It is the relationship of man and woman. The two together make humanity. Man is not complete without the woman; woman is not complete without the man. Woman is no more made for man than man is made for woman. Woman is no more to be educated for man than man is to be educated for woman. Nor do they duplicate each other. Their characteristics are not the same. Their function in 1 Alfred Tennyson, The Princess. 2 Henry W. Longfellow, Hiawatha. society is not the same. Their education ought not to be the same. Man is not a woman in trousers; woman is not a man in petticoats. Neither is a model to be imitated by the other, neither is the standard by which the other is to be measured. A masculine woman and a feminine man are equally abhorrent to nature; they are abnormal specimens of the race. This truth, that man and woman do not duplicate but do complement each other, which Tennyson and Longfellow have put in poetry, Mr. Frederic Harrison has put in almost equally beautiful prose: Who now wishes to propound the idle, silly question which of the two is the superior type? For our part, we refuse to answer a question so utterly unmeaning. Is the brain superior to the heart, is a great poet superior to a great philosopher, is air superior to water, or any other childish conundrum of the kind? Affection is a stronger force in women's nature than in men's. Productive energy is a stronger force in men's nature than in women's. The one sex tends rather to compel, the other to influence; the one acts more directly, the other more indirectly; the mind of the one works in a more massive way, of the other in a more subtle and electric way. But to us it is the height of unreason and of presumption to say anything whatever as to superiority on one side or on the other. All that we can say is that where we need especially purity, unselfishness, versatility, and refinement, we look to women chiefly; where we need force, endurance, equanimity, and justice chiefly, we look to men.1 The first chapter of Genesis gives the Hebrew conception of manhood and womanhood, the second chapter of Genesis the Hebrew conception of marriage. We have lost much out of our Bible by our unwise literalism, by insisting that there is no poetry, no fiction, no legend, that all is prosaic fact; that only Gradgrind could have written the Bible and only Gradgrind can interpret it. Let us read this second chapter of Genesis as we should read it if we found it in any other literature than the literature of the Hebrew people. Man is in a garden, in the days of innocence, before sin, before temptation, before society exists, before cities are built or work is begun. He is lonely, this man in this garden, and the good God brings to him one animal after another for companionship. He is to christen and to name them. The horse comes saying: "I will bear your burdens." "Will you bear my sor rows with me?"-"No! I cannot do that." The dog comes: "I will watch by your side.". "If I am sick, will you nurse me back into life?" 1 Frederic Harrison, Realities and Ideals, p. 91. In some details I should put the contrast differently. Thus, I think, in a certain type of endurance woman is superior to man. -"No! I cannot do that." The cat comes: "I will lie in your lap, and you shall caress me."— "And will you caress me in turn?"-"No! I cannot do that." The bird comes: "I will sing sweet songs to you." - -"Will you rejoice with me?"-"No! I cannot do that." The man turns from the animals whom he has christened and says to his Father: "None of these is a companion to me"; and the good God says: "No, for you are not yet finished. You are only half made; you are only half a man; you have only half a life. Wait! See! Out of your very side I will take her who shall be your comrade. She shall bear your sorrows with you, and you shall bear hers. She shall give you strength to carry your burdens, and you shall carry hers. She shall watch by you in time of your sickness, and you shall watch by her. She shall sing softly and sweetly to you, and your heart shall feel the thrill of the heart that is like your own." And from that opening chapter all through this collection of sacred literature there is no hint of servitude or separation save as they appear as the outgrowth of selfishness and sin. The two are one in their creation, co-equal comrades. The two are one in their life, co-equal mates. The third Hebrew ideal is contained in the thirty-first chapter of Proverbs: |
