Reclaiming the Image | Debunking the Lies Used to Subjugate Women

Focus: This lesson is designed to dismantle the structures of control that have been built upon mistranslations and cultural traditions. It returns to the foundation of the Torah to restore the honor of the woman as a co-regent and a reflection of the Almighty YAH.

For generations, the status of women in the community has been diminished, relegated to the shadows of domestic labor, childbearing, and silence. This is not the result of Divine Decree, but the toxic intersection of three forces: the misinterpretation of the Fall, the legacy of the Slavemaster, and the elevation of the New Testament (specifically the writings of Paul) over the immutable Word of Elohim.

1. The Myth of "Natural" Rule

The most pervasive lie is that men were created to rule over women. When we look at the source of all things, we find a different reality.

• The Original Mandate: In Genesis 1:28, Elohim blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion..." The authority was shared equally over the earth, not over each other.

• The Prophetic Warning: It was only after the Fall that Elohim stated the man would rule over the woman. This was not a command for how things should be; it was a prophecy of how the world would become twisted. Genesis 3:22 declares: “And YAH Elohim said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil.” Knowing both good and evil, thus man would instinctively resort to evil over good. To enforce male "rule" is to enforce the curse rather than seeking the original righteousness of the Garden. Go get a dog, my Brother! You were created to rule over animals, fish, etc., not another human being.

2. The Deception of Child Marriage

Traditions and folklore, from the Talmud to cultural customs in Africa, often attempt to justify the marriage of children or very young women (ages 12-20). This is a pursuit of control, not companionship.

• Anatomical Equality: When Eve was brought forth, she was taken from Adam’s tsela (side). She was created to be his equal, standing shoulder-to-shoulder. A man's side is not comparable to the body of a child; it is comparable to a mature woman. You cannot take a man’s side and put it into a child’s body. It is anatomically impossible. Therefore, Eve’s body was comparable to Adam’s. Her mind, thinking, and behavior was comparable to his, therefore shall a man leave his mother and father and cleave to his wife and they shall be one-flesh. You can only be one-flesh with a person comparable to you.

• The Age of Accountability: Scripturally, the benchmark for maturity and responsibility is not puberty, but the age of 20. According to Numbers 32:11, it is at twenty years old that a person enters into the full weight of their covenantal standing. Seeking a child is a sign of a "twisted mind" seeking a subject, not a "help meet" (an ezer kenegdo, or a "power equal to him”).  It is wickedness for an adult man to seek a child-bride or any young female under 20 years old. An old man shouldn’t be with a young female half his age, period. 

3. The Lie That Women Cannot Teach

The claim that a woman must be silent or is incapable of teaching is directly refuted by the very history of Israel's leadership.

• Deborah: She was not just a figurehead; she was a Judge, a military strategist, and a teacher of the law who led Israel to victory. 

• Huldah the Prophetess: In 2 Kings 22:14, we see the highest officials of King Josiah, including the High Priest Hilkiah, seeking out Huldah. They didn't go to her for a "feeling"; they went to her to authenticate and interpret the newly discovered Book of the Law. If a woman can authenticate the Torah for a King and a Priest, who can say she cannot teach? In fact, she taught them “What thus sayeth YAH.”

4. The Influence of the Queen Mother

While the offices of Priest and King were male-dominated, women held the power behind the throne, often acting as the decisive hand in history.

• Bahtshevah’s (Bathsheba’s) Strategy: She was a Queen of immense influence. Alongside the prophet Nathan, she strategically secured Solomon’s throne, preempting a coup by Adonijah. 1 Kings 1:11-39

• The Weight of Kingship: When Adonijah later tried to use Bathsheba to gain Abishag, Solomon recognized the move for what it was: an attempt to seize the kingship. This illustrates that women were the "holders" of the royal legacy. To reduce such women to "slaves" or "maids" is a historical and spiritual robbery.

5. The Root of the Corruption

The current behavior of many men is a "slavemaster narrative." Enslaved men watched their owners treat women as property without rights and adopted that behavior. This, combined with the writings of Paul in the New Testament which are often used to usurp Elohim's original order, has created a culture of neglect and maltreatment.

The Intersecting Forces of the Plantation and False Doctrine

To truly heal the fractures within the nation, we must engage in a forensic examination of why the mind of the Hebrew man has become so twisted toward his sister, his wife, and his daughters. The current epidemic of control, silencing, and abuse is not a product of Torah righteousness. Rather, it is a psychological and spiritual infection, a toxic hybrid of the Slavemaster Narrative and New Testament theology that has usurped the original order of Elohim.

I. The Slavemaster Narrative: Behavioral Mimicry of the Oppressor

For centuries under chattel slavery, the family structure of the Hebrew was systematically and violently dismantled. The behavior of the slavemaster became the blueprint for power that the enslaved subconsciously internalized.

• Property Over Partnership: Enslaved men watched the white slaveowner treat women as disposable property, labor units, and objects of unchecked sexual gratification. The slaveowner's wife had no real legal rights, and the enslaved woman had even less.

• The Power Vacuum: Deprived of any true authority or manhood in society, the traumatized mind of the enslaved man sought a domain where he could finally exert control. Tragically, rather than turning to the protective, honoring leadership of the Torah, generations passed down the only model of authority they had ever witnessed: the absolute dominion of the slavemaster over his household.

• The Resulting Cycle: This foolishness has been handed down through generations. Today, when a man reduces his wife to a mere cook, a maid, a childbearer, or a slave without a voice, he is not acting as a priest of YAH. He is playing the role of the plantation owner, using psychological coercion, neglect, and maltreatment to rule over an environment of fear. The same way the slavemaster beat our ancestors into submission in order to break them, is the exact way our Brothers have, in turn, beat their wives and children, instilling the same fear that was endured during slavery. How can a man beat a grown woman into submission as if she was his property or his child? A child shouldn’t be beat the way these men beat up women! The same slavemaster they complain about is the same one whom they emulate.

II. The Theological Hijack: How Paul Preempted Elohim

This generational trauma found a dangerous ally in Christian theology, specifically through the letters of Paul. The New Testament writings became the perfect tool to institutionalize the slavemaster's mindset under the guise of “scripture."

• Inverting the Garden: Where the Torah declares that both man and woman were given the mandate to rule the earth together, pseudo-scriptural dogmas used Pauline letters to claim that woman is inherently subordinate, weak, and easily deceived. This theology effectively flipped Elohim's prophetic warning about the Fall (that man would seek to rule over woman) and turned it into a permanent, holy mandate.
• Silencing the Matriarchs: Passages demanding that a woman "keep silent" or "not be permitted to teach" completely erased the historical reality of Israel's leadership. It stripped away the legacy of Deborah’s judicial authority and Huldah’s scriptural interpretation, replacing divine order with an artificial hierarchy designed to keep women powerless.

• Weaponizing Submission: By elevating these texts over the foundational truth of the Holy Scriptures (Old Testament), men created a culture where physical abuse, sexual abuse, and severe emotional neglect could be hidden behind the demand for absolute submission.

III. Restoring the Original Image

A woman was never created to be a footstool for a man's wounded ego. She was given as an ezer kenegdo, a power equal to him, brought forth from his very side to stand shoulder-to-shoulder in the governance of creation.

To treat a wife with maltreatment or to view her through the lens of ownership is a direct assault on the image of YAH in which she was made. The slave narrative must be broken, and the false doctrines that protect it must be discarded.

A woman is a gift to man, created in the Image of YAH. Physical abuse and the silencing of her voice are not just sins against her, they are an affront to the Creator who made her his equal.

Elohim still loves you, Israel. The call remains the same: Choose Life, Choose Blessing, Choose Undivided Devotion. Repent, Return, and be free from the shadows of gross darkness.

I hope this blog post has been helpful. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment below. Shalom qodesh qadasheem - the “set apart ones.”