Renowned scholar Dr. Sandra Richter dissects the idea of "women in the Bible" to show how God's plan has always been bigger than cultural limitations.
The post Women in the Bible: How They Drive the Plot appeared first on Bible Gateway News & Knowledge.
Women in the Bible. I have seen this title used for everything from academic resources to Instagram posts, and I’m usually disappointed.
Why?
Because too often the folks writing these resources are so distracted by their own cultural context and agendas that they fail to recognize the cultural context and agendas of the Biblical writers. And failing to recognize means that they also fail to champion the objectives of the Biblical writers.
As Christians, of course, we want our perceptions shaped by those of the Spirit-directed authors of the Bible. And as the community of faith, we want our lives shaped by those same perceptions. Hence the question of the hour: what does the Bible have to say about the women preserved in its pages?
Let’s begin at the beginning.
Women in Genesis: The Image of God
Unlike the creation narratives of Israel’s neighbors in Egypt and Mesopotamia, the Bible is markedly “countercultural” regarding the identity and status of women.
Genesis 1 and 2 communicate that woman (ʾiššâ) is fully human and, like her male counterpart (ʾîš) is made in the image of the Creator (Gen 1:26-27, Gen 2:23). Only the Bible places this sort of value on women in the ancient world. And note how far the biblical writer goes to communicate his message — even violating normal grammar and syntax:
Then God said, “Let us make humanity (ʾādām) in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. So, God created humanity in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. — Gen 1:26-27
“Humanity” is singular in this passage — one race, one species. But this one will be created “male and female” and “they” will rule. The author has made his point: “woman” is human; “woman” will rule; “woman” is made in the image of the Almighty. As with all things in Eden, this is God’s blueprint, his original intent for his perfect world.
The Fall profoundly disrupts God’s good plan for humanity and for this planet. But God’s value of and intentions for his Image-bearers does not change. Woman remains fully human; made in the Image; and co-commissioned to exercise dominion and stewardship over this planet. And that is why women, although bumped off the stage of history in the majority of human cultures, continue to drive the plot in the great story of Redemption.
Women in Ancient Israel: Elevated Above the Margins
Let’s consider Israel for a moment. Ancient Israel was a patriarchal, patrilineal, and patrilocal culture — all authority and privilege, all inheritance, even the family residence rotated around the oldest living male.
This culture that Israel inherited marginalized women at every turn — in both their lived lives and in their reported lives. As a result, women rarely appear in the history-writing of Israel’s neighbors.
But in the Old Testament we read about Eve, Sarah, Rebekah, Leah, and Rachel. Miriam and Zipporah are named and honored. Abigail is a hero, Jael a celebrated assassin, and Huldah a prophetess who garners more attention in king Josiah’s rediscovery of the Book of the Law than Jeremiah does (2 Kgs 22)!
Deborah: An Unlikely Hero
And then there is Deborah, the hero of my most recent Bible study in the Epic of Eden series. Deborah is not only named among the twelve judges of Israel. She is celebrated as a judge of exemplary integrity and courage — courage that leads to a highly strategic and miraculous victory.
Like Moses, Deborah serves as the commander-in-chief of Israel’s military. When she speaks, her clan commander, Barak, obeys without question.
Like Joshua, Deborah obeys God’s command to engage the Canaanites and leads the tribes of Israel in the epic battle for the Jezreel Valley.
Like Samuel, she is named not only “judge” but “prophet” (nābîʾ) — the most powerful office in Israel’s theocracy (Deut. 13:1-5; 18:9-22).
Like Othniel and Gideon she leads Israel for over 40 years.
Every inch an unlikely hero, Deborah is wife and mother, liturgist and prophet, commander-in-chief, and supreme court justice. Because of her God-given authority within the community and her confidence in the God of Israel, Barak and the men of Naphtali find the courage to stand against Sisera’s outrageously well-equipped, professional army… and win! And she does all of this in one of the most morally corrupt and politically divided eras of Israel’s history.
And can we take a minute to talk about Jael? Although she is by all definitions a “nobody” in Israel’s world, this woman comes out of nowhere and assassinates a warlord with a tent peg! (Judges 4:17–21) Craziness.
Women in the New Covenant: Breaking Free of Greco-Roman Culture
When we turn to the New Covenant, we find that women continue center stage in the Great Story. Keep in mind that the events of the New Testament occur in the midst of the Greco-Roman world where women were viewed as not only inferior to men, but in most contexts, as “sub-human” as well.
Yet Jesus counts women among his disciples.
He talks theology with Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42).
It is a very young Mary, an aging Elizabeth, and the prophetess Anna who are the first to recognize Jesus’ identity as Messiah (Luke 1:39-55, 2:36-38).
It is a woman who is commissioned by Jesus as the first evangelist to the Samaritans… and her testimony turns an entire town upside down (John 4).
It was women who had the faith and courage to stand at the cross (John 19:25).
Jesus entrusts the first declaration of the resurrection to women (John 20:11-18).
And as the Church moves forward, Priscilla is the master-teacher of the book of Acts, Lydia is a church-planter in Philippi (Acts 16:11-25), and Junia is named “apostle” in Romans 16:7.
Women Are Protagonists in God’s Redemptive History
What we learn from the Bible is that women regularly served as the protagonists of Redemptive History. Even though their stories occurred in cultures that marginalized and dismissed women as insignificant to the great events of the day.
Just as important, the biblical authors record the contributions of these women.
The Bible was written by men. Men who due to the cultural codes of their day would have considered anything a woman did as peripheral to real history. As is common to so many ancient (and modern!) histories, the domestic realm was considered unnecessary to the “real” circles of power in the public realm.
Yet under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the men who wrote our Bibles refused to be distracted by their cultural standards and assumptions. Rather, they were inspired to faithfully recognize and record the mighty acts of God through the prophetic and miraculous work of women.
In this fashion, the biblical writers set the example, helping us to see past our own cultural agendas to understand who “Women in the Bible” actually were… and who the women of faith and calling in our generation can actually be.
Join beloved scholar and professor Dr. Sandra Richter for a deep dive into the narrative of Deborah in the book of Judges. In this info-packed, eight-session Bible study, explore how one woman’s “yes” rescued the people of God and showed how God can use even the unlikeliest heroes to drive his redemptive history.
The post Women in the Bible: How They Drive the Plot appeared first on Bible Gateway News & Knowledge.