a woman from ancient Jewish-Christian world

For the understanding of my reader, I will identify myself as Yocheved, a young woman living in the days shortly following the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, you may guess by my specification of the man Jesus as "Lord" and "Christ" that I am indeed a Christian. However, I am not one of those Christians who lived without the law and in ignorance of God. I was born a Hebrew, evidenced by my name which means "God's glory." I owe the debt of my faith to the brave preaching of the Apostle Paul and Timothy in my synagogue, and though many in my community desired to drive them out of our city, they proclaimed the truth without fear. I am not ignorant of the zealot revolts-- at one time I was willing to fight along side them in their pursuit of freedom for Jerusalem, but my weakness as a woman prohibited me.

All I knew of God and the Holy Scriptures was what I had witnessed my brothers reciting and memorizing while attending synagogue as all good young Jewish boys do until the age of 12. I was never permitted to study the Scriptures for myself, considered an inferior member of society by men. Our rabbis view it as a sin for me to learn God's law for myself: “Let the words of the Law (Torah) be burned rather than be committed to a woman…If a man teaches his daughter the Law, it is as though he taught her lechery” (Sotah 3.4). But I am not as ignorant as the donkey which plods along under its burden or content to have God dictated to me by men. I remembered the prophecies of Isaiah and the cries of the psalmist which I heard in synagogue and practiced by my brothers. So when the preachers came to my town, my heart resonated with their words, and I knew them to be truth. They told me I didn't have to believe because a man told me words he expected me to believe as truth, but that God Himself would speak to me. This freed me from being a second-class citizen to a member of Christ's body equal with any man!

I have thrived on this new teaching, though I only record what I learn here in my journal, for if my family, especially my father were to discover the faith I have adopted, he would cast me out of the house at least. At worse... who knows, I could be stoned because of some of the things our rabbis teach. So I have snuck out to hear the preachers proclaim the truth of Christ to us, or to sing praises with fellow believers. Can you believe it? I am permitted the freedom to sing in Christ! The rabbis most certainly would not approve of a woman singing, with men no less. I learn from others what the preaching contained when I cannot steal away from my home to hear the preachers. I must end my writing soon, or the hiding place of my confession will be discovered and I will be undone. I still live at home, though I am far older than many of my companions when they were betrothed. I have managed to remain free of any man at this time.. and I must be free in order to learn of my Lord. Were I to marry a Jewish man, he would divorce me upon learning of my faith and I would die. More later...