Unlikely Witnesses

In the gospels we see that it was women who first found the empty tomb, they experienced seeing the angel and first talking to the resurrected Jesus.  In the Jewish, Roman and Greek cultures the testimony of a woman was of little value compared to that of a man.  In fact every morning a good Jewish man would pray a prayer of thanksgiving, “Thanks God that I am not a woman, a slave or a gentile.”  If a person were to have fabricated the story of Jesus’ resurrection, it would have been more significant if a noble person, a political leader, an important religious person or even a common man were to first find the empty tomb.   In a fabricated story women would never be used as the first eye witnesses of the resurrection!  So this detail of the women arriving first at the empty tomb of Jesus was contrary to what good reason would dictate if the account had been fabricated.  It was provided in the original Gospel accounts because that is the way it was, the writers were faithful  to truthfully declare the accounts as they happened.

This little detail is of great significance in helping to prove the credibility of the NT resurrection accounts of Jesus.  In the eyes of God, women are of great importance as proven by their first experiences in the resurrection account.

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