God and Women

Does the Genesis 17 Covenant of Circumcision show that God has a special relationship with men that He does not have with women? Does Circumcision make men more special?

Perhaps the opposite. Per Jewish teaching, women are “born circumcised,” and are therefore under the Covenant from the beginning. It is only men who must be “fixed.”

Violence Against Women

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.
Genesis 6:4 (NIV)

The actions of the “sons of God” here are written in stark and glaring contrast to Genesis 4:1, where it says that Adam knew his wife Eve.

I believe the text is describing violence.

Good vs Beautiful

The sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.
Genesis 6:2 (NIV)

Translators do violence to the text.

This word we translated as “beautiful” here? FIFTEEN TIMES this Hebrew word is used before this, and EVERY SINGLE TIME, the word is “GOOD.”

“Good” is how God described the world he created in Genesis 1. It’s the same “good” of the Tree of good and evil knowledge.

The theological paths you can take here are absolutely tremendous.

The daughters of humanity were GOOD. What does this teach us about women? What does it say about God’s view of them? Who or what corrupts them by way of violence?

There is much water to draw from this well.

Another important link:

When Sarai is taken by Pharaoh in Genesis 12, she is described as beautiful (yawfeh), but when Esther is taken by Xerxes in Esther 2:7, she is described as both good (tov) and beautiful (yawfeh). And actually, the whole book of Esther links Haman with the concept of “falling,” which is the same root word as the Nephilim in Genesis 6. One might argue that Haman is Nephilim, and both the Pharaoh and King Xerxes are like “sons of God” who take women they please.