BY PROSPER TINGINI
At the beginning of our scriptures’ chronology, we are informed that God created a being in His likeness (Genesis 1:26). That first creation was a male. In Genesis 2:18, it continues; Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will give him a helper fit for him”. The two thus became a husband and a wife.
Initially these two were supposed to have a luxurious lifestyle, freely feasting on the provisions of the Garden of Eden. However after the sin of eating the forbidden fruit, God assigned particular tough roles for both. Genesis 3:16-19 pronounces: To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply your pain in child-bearing; in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” To the man He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree which I commanded you not to eat, cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you; and you shall eat of the plants of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
The major roles for both husband and wife were clearly defined by the Lord. Child bearing and its related aftermath were a function for the woman. No matter how loud we can cry out for equal rights or enact laws of equality across genders, nothing has as yet changed that. Despite the labours, a woman would naturally desire to have a man by her side in life. Wife’s endurance to life is far greater than that of a husband despite being a helping hand to the man, both in life and at death.
I have purposefully added the “at death” role for a wife as this has been subconsciously hidden from view. I will dig more into that, to bring out to light the greater role of a wife in man’s life, especially during his old age and sickly days before the end of his life on planet earth. We read that one of God’s pronouncement to man as punishment for eating the forbidden fruit was death. That voice was specifically directed towards Adam, and not Eve. That would mean that it was the husband who would first ordinarily face his death, prior to that of the wife. In essence it would mean that the lifespan of the man would be shorter than that of the woman. I will try to educate on the significance of this, based on this God-given religious background.
I have for over three decades of my life worked in the Life Assurance industry, both as an administrator and marketer. The most unique feature in life assurance is that when it comes to setting premiums for calculating life insurance cover, the woman’s payments are calculated based on ages which are lowered by five years from their actual official dates of birth. In life assurance circles, premiums for a woman aged 40 years would be calculated as if the woman is 35 years old, i.e five years younger; yet for a man the actual age is used. The explanation is that it has been proved beyond any reasonable doubt by the Life Assurance actuaries (insurance statisticians), that in general worldwide, women live 5 years longer than men. Simply speaking, since creation women on average have lived five years longer than men. This was thus a deliberate act of God, meant for a specific purpose.
The divine relevance of women living longer than men is that when the husband faces death, through old age, injury or sickness, the wife would be on stand-by to nurse her husband and to prepare him for his final journey towards his rest. Thereafter the wife would then follow the husband into death. Remember that the Lord created Eve so that she could be a helper to Adam. Wives usually perform most of the chores in the home from sweeping, cleaning the house, cooking, making the bed and other various household tasks, yet husbands can equally do those things as well. Nothing stops men from sharing all those household tasks equitably. Some things were created that way. Husbands are thus anointed to perform the tasks of tilling the land, providing the food to eat and other aspects family protection. That is why the husband is deemed to be above the wife in authority.
I consider it a disaster if a wife dies first, leaving behind her husband. Men have lower endurances in times of sickness or hardships. Women often endure greater pains and tribulations during the course of life, added to the child bearing responsibilities. As such, they have been accustomed already to the rigours of life. They can more easily adjust to changed circumstances or a loss. It is thus a tragedy should the wife die first, as the widower is less likely to cope. The Lord our God hinted so. He had to ensure that women lived longer than men.
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I had a personal experience of this scenario through my uncle (my late mother’s brother). He “lost” his wife in his early seventies, and soon thereafter his life disintegrated into an object of pity. He failed to hold his family together. It subsequently crumbled, as the force that had held the family together had gone. Having been close to him, I took him under my wing to live with him, at first in our urban dwelling and later at our rural homestead. Ten years down the line, his strength and health dwindled to the extent that he could not do anything for himself. At 85 years of age, he could not bath himself, change clothes, walk himself etc. All he could do was soil himself. I tried to hire “male helping hands” as carers, but they would resign soon after. Such tasks simply needed the helping hand of the wife. I had to take time off to go look after the uncle at the rural home on almost a full time basis, doing all the dirty work of bathing him and cleaning the mess, until he passed on recently.
It gave me the answer as to why God gave women a longer lifespan than that of men. Blessed are you the Eves of our time. Long live women!! Rest in peace my uncle, Eli Makiwa Ncube.
- Prosper Tingini is the Scribe of the Children of God Missionary Assembly – God’s messengers. Contact details: Whatsapp – 0771 260 195. Email address: [email protected]
