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Is the Woman Created with the Rib of Man?

  • Korean Journal of Old Testament Studies
  • Abbr : KJOTS
  • 2024, 30(4), pp.204-253
  • Publisher : Korean Society of Old Testament Studies
  • Research Area : Humanities > Christian Theology

LEE SYNWOONG 1

1강서대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This study is about rethinking the Hebrew word “tzela”. Because the translation of the Hebrew word “tzela” into ribs further intensifies the gender conflict. For this purpose, this paper exegetically analyzes the creation of human beings in Genesis 1 and the creation of woman in Genesis 2 and proposes a new understanding and new translation. From around the second century BC, Judaism, which recorded and preserved the OT, was the first to think about how to translate “tzela” in Genesis Chapter 2. Reformers, in particular, knew the “side” as the original meaning of “tzela”, but could not escape the androcentric interpretation and used the translation “rib”. Unfortunately, in the process of being translated from Hebrew to another language, the Hebrew word “tzela” was translated into ribs, resulting in the blind belief that women were created as men’s “ribs” in Christianity. With the transmission of Christianity to Korea, this translation is combined with the patriarchal Confucian culture of Joseon and the androcentric atmosphere of the Japanese Colonial Period, worsening the problem of gender conflict as the theological basis for misogyny and discrimination. However, to this day, this translation has not been reevaluated within Christianity. To resolve this problematic situation, this research analyzed the creation story of the ancient Near East, revealed that “the creation of women through ribs” began with the ancient Sumerian creation myth, and analyzed the uniqueness of the latter compared to the Genesis creation story. After that, after clarifying that the “tzelem” of human creation in Genesis chapter 1 and the “tzela” of female creation in Genesis chapter 2 are linguistically related, it is suggested that Hebrew “tzela” be tranlstated into “form” or “shape”, rather than “rib” or “side”. Because man and woman have already been created in the same "appearance" in the human creation from Genesis chapter 1, the female creation of Chapter 2 should logically be created in the appearance of a man, not a man's rib. Another reason to translate “tzela” into “outward appearance” is that the original meaning of Hebrew “ezer knegdo”, which translates to “corresponding helper”, is “help from the other side facing the mirror”, so the creation of a woman is justified only when a man has the same “outward appearance” as looking into the mirror. As a result, it is revealed that the creation of women is due to the principle of creation presented in Genesis chapter 1, “tohu and bohu”(Whbow" Whto). In addition, it is argued that the difference between men and women is not a difference in material or essence, but a distinction between external clunkiness and delicacy, through the different verbs used in the creation of men and women with the same appearance. After all, this study reveals that women are not subordinated and discriminatory to men at all, but that women and men are essentially equal and equal cooperative beings. Finally, based on these conclusions, this study urges the social responsibility of Korean Christianity, which is proud to be a national religion.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

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