No 1

(Rahab)

This is the first of several studies that we will be doing on the women of the Bible. These studies will focus on how women were used of God to advance His plan for humanity and will not be presented in any specific order. The first woman who we will study is Rahab, the harlot; she is one of my favourites. She first appears on the scene in Joshua 2 : 1 where she hides two spies sent by Joshua to check out the city of Jericho. The king of Jericho had found out that the two spies were in Rahab’s house and sent soldiers. They said to her : “Bring forth the men that have come to thee which are entered into thine house for they be come to search out the country” (Jos 2: 3). Rahab did something very unchristian-like – she told the soldiers a lie! This lie, it turns out, enabled Joshua to invade the city and we all know the result – the walls came tumbling down! Joshua saved Rahab when the invasion took place and she continued to follow the Israelites (Jos 6 : 23, 25). Her name appears in the faith hall of fame in Hebrews 11 : 31 and James uses her as an example of faith with works (James 2: 26). But most importantly, Rahab is an ancestor of Jesus Christ. She undoubtedly became more and more involved with the Israelites and married Salmon, the father of Boaz. In Matthew 1 verse 5 we see her name in the genealogy of Jesus Christ and she played a very essential role in God’s plan. Now, maybe we can’t all be like Rahab, but certainly we can stand up for our Saviour when the time comes to defend our faith.

No 2

(Ruth)

One of the most wonderful stories in the Bible is the one about a young girl who, after her husband died was willing to move to another country and follow the teachings of another God. Her sister Orpah, who had also lost her husband remained in familiar surroundings in Moab. I am referring to Ruth; she is my favourite woman in the entire Bible. Ruth said to her mother-in-law, Naomi, this amazing statement: “thy people shall be my people and thy God shall be my God” (Ruth 1:16b). If you haven’t read the book of Ruth (4 chapters), would you please read it right now? There is so much truth and wonderfulness in this book that you will not want to read it just once. The concept of “the kinsman redeemer” is the main focus of the book. God, in His wisdom, provided a custom whereby a woman whose husband had died was permitted to marry her brother-in-law so that “his name be not put out of Israel”; this was introduced in Deuteronomy 25:5. The Bible does not give the name of the closest relative to Ruth’s husband but the second closest was Boaz; he was willing to become Ruth’s husband. Oh by the way, another reason why I like Ruth so much, is that she is also one of the ancestors of Jesus Christ. (Matthew 1:5); just like Rahab.

No 3

(Mary)

One day, Jesus was in the town of Bethany at the house of some friends and was teaching as he usually did. One of the members of the household say down at His feet and listened attentively to what He was saying. This same person, on another occasion took a pound of expensive spikenard ointment and anointed the feet of Jesus because His crucifixion and death was approaching. If you haven’t already guessed, this person was Mary the sister of Martha and Lazarus who considered worship more important than service. In the Bible, God has allocated more space to worship than any other theme; rightfully so, this is why we were created: “…for the Father seekth such to worship Him” (John 4:23). In the Old Testament, there are hundreds of verses that speak of worship. Mary knew that and did not want to miss an opportunity to worship Jesus and be close to Him. Mary’s example is one that we can and should follow. Are we more involved in service than worship? Think about it. How many hours, per week, do we spend on worship and how many do we spend on service? It’s good to take inventory sometimes because we can often get off the right track and do works that are important but are not necessarily what God wants of us primarily. Martin Luther, the reformist spent much time in prayer and meditation; on very busy days, he spent three hours with his Creator. We are not all afforded this privilege but should make an effort to spend as much time as we can in worship. Of course, there are many forms of worship that we have seen in our past studies (Vol 1 No 8 – Aug 18 2000). Our loving heavenly Father wants to be in communion with us; let’s be like Mary.

No 4

(Deborah)

There are two Deborahs in the Bible – one who was Rebekah’s nurse; her death is mentioned in Gen 35:8, but she is not mentioned any where else in the Bible. The other more familiar one lived in the times of the Judges (1125 BC). She was considered both a judge and a prophetess. In her role as judge, the Israelites would come to her for their affairs - “the children of Israel came up to her for judgment” (Judg 4:5). She also had a sort of leadership role when she accompanied Barak, at his request, to fight the army lead by Sisera. He did not want to fight unless she was by his side – “And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go.” (v8). As a prophetess, she commanded Barak to attack Sisera because the Lord had delivered him into his hands (v14). The Lord destroyed the opposing army and Sisera fled to the tent of Heber the Kenite and another woman, Jael killed Sisera by driving a tent nail through his temples (V21) thus fulfilling the prophecy made by Deborah – “And she said, I will surely go with thee: notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honour; for the LORD shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” (v9) The woman in this passage is Jael. God uses whom He pleases to work out His plans.

No 5

(Hannah)

The God-given desire of almost every woman’s heart is to bear children. The lady that we will be looking at today had this desire in her heart; her name was Hannah. Her husband Elkanah had another wife, Penninah who had bore him several children and she would provoke and irritate Hannah because the Lord had shut her womb. Hannah prayed and prayed the Lord for a child to the point where she even dared to make a promise to God. The Bible says in 1 Samuel 1: 11 “And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head.” When someone makes a promise to the Lord, we know that He will keep His word, but as impure and imperfect humans, we must be careful when we promise something to the Lord. As it turned out, the Lord did bless her and gave her a man-child who she named Samuel, which means “asked of the Lord”. She kept her promise also and gave him to the priest, Eli who took him into the Lord’s service. Samuel’s upbringing was given almost the same description as Jesus’ “And the child Samuel grew on, and was in favour both with the LORD, and also with men.” 1 Samuel 2:26 as compared to Luke 2:52. Hannah was a woman of God and she gave her only child to the Lord, what a commitment! She prayed a prayer to the Lord in 1 Samuel 2:1-10 that expresses what was really in her heart; we ought to have that same attitude about the things the Lord gives us as temporary possessions.

No 6

Esther

The woman who we will be studying here has many titles, among which are the self-sacrificing woman, the woman for an emergency, the courageous woman and the patriotic woman. She was named queen by King Ahasuerus who, at the time, had passed a decree removing royal estate from the former queen, Vashti, because of her unfaithfulness to him. The new queen was a Jewess who had been adopted by her cousin, Mordecai and had been carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon. Her name was Hadassah but her Persian was Esther. The Bible says that she was “fair and beautiful” (Est 2 :7) and that King Ahasuerus “preferred her and her maidens unto the best place of the house of the women” (Est 2 :9). She was used by God to preserve His people, the Jews, in this foreign country because a certain man named Haman hated the Jews and wanted to destroy them. Twice she came before the king at the risk of her life to plead for her countrymen. The Bible records in Esther 4 verse 16 that “Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish”. She did not care for her life but was more interested in preserving the lives of her people. In Esther 7 she told the king of the plot that Haman had made to destroy the Jews and boldly she said “ The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman.” (v6). She was a true hero and the Jewish holiday of Purim was created to commemorate these events. We will look at this feast in our next study.

No 7

(The Queen of Sheba)

When Solomon reigned over the whole of Israel, royalty from other countries came to witness, for themselves, the vast wisdom of this son of David. One of the many visitors that came to see God’s chosen king was the Queen of Sheba. Sheba or Seba was located in Southern Arabia and had become a monarchy before the days of Solomon; they were Semites and they carried on trade in spices. The Bible says in 1 Kings 10:1 “And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to prove him with hard questions.” and in 2 Chronicles 9:9 “And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices great abundance, and precious stones: neither was there any such spice as the queen of Sheba gave king Solomon”. She was very impressed at Solomon’s wisdom and his ability to apply this wisdom to life. Some commentators say that she was no different than other dignitaries who came seeking trade and military alliance with this powerful Jewish king. I believe that we should look further than this in her visit for two good reasons: 1) Of all the visitors Solomon received, she is the only one that is mentioned in the Bible 2) Jesus spoke of her also; He called her “the queen of the South”. In Matthew 12:42b, Jesus was chastising the Pharisees because they requested a sign from Him and He said to them “for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.” The queen of Sheba was astounded at Solomon’s wisdom but she also realized that this wisdom came from the God of Israel because she said in 1 Kings 10:9 “Blessed be the LORD thy God, which delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel: because the LORD loved Israel for ever, therefore made he thee king, to do judgment and justice.” When she returned to her country she undoubtedly told her countrymen of the God of Solomon. The Queen of Sheba’s visit is a clear picture of what Israel’s position will be like when Messiah rules on the throne of David. One day, Israel will be the head, not the tail. “And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” Isaiah 60:3

No 8

(Bath Sheba)

When someone’s name is in the genealogy of our Lord Jesus Christ, that person is important; I mean that person is one of our Saviour’s ancestors!! Bath-Sheba was such a person. Her name does not actually appear in Jesus’ genealogy in Matthew 1 but the text refers to “the wife of Uriah” (v6); she was the mother of King Solomon (2 Samuel 12:24). There was however, much controversy as to her status when we first meet her in the Bible. She was likely King David’s neighbour and one night, while she was minding her own business, David saw her and lusted after her. This was a difficult period for the king of Israel because not only did he commit the sin of fornication with her but he also got rid of her husband by sending him to certain death on the battlefield (2 Samuel 11). Bath-Sheba conceived a boy-child “I am with child” (2 Sam 11:2-5) through this illicit encounter but the Lord did not permit him to live because of the circumstances of his birth. However, as well as we know David who was a man after God’s heart (Acts 13:22), he repented of the sin and wrote Psalm 51 “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.” (v4). The Lord forgave him and blessed him with another son who became the richest and wisest king that Israel ever had. Bath-Sheba was used by God to accomplish His plan and I’m sure that she did not know that she was to be one of Jesus Christ’s ancestors.

Now, if I had written the Bible, I would’ve probably left this story out; and many others also. But thank God that I didn’t write the Bible because we read about wonderful examples of how our great God forgives the repentant heart.

No 9

(The Syrophonecian woman)

“And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master’s table.” Mark 7 :28.

This woman gained comfort in her misery by thinking that Jesus was able to heal her daughter. Jesus had just talked about the children’s bread and she figured that since Jesus was the Master of the table of grace, there was sure to be an abundance of bread on the table. And since there was such an abundance of bread for the children that the crumbs that end up on the floor for the dogs the children would not be any worse off if the dogs are fed. She thought Him one who kept so good a table that all that she needed would only be a crumb in comparison; yet remember, what she wanted was to have the devil cast out of her daughter. It was a very great thing to her, but she had such a high esteem of Christ, that she knew that it was nothing to Him but a crumb to give. This is the road to comfort. Great thoughts of your sin alone will drive you to despair; but great thoughts of Christ will bring you into the haven of peace. Our sins are many, but it is nothing for Jesus to take them all away. The weight of our guilt presses heavily down on us, but it is no more than a grain of dust to him, because He has already paid the penalty in His own body on the cross. It will be but a small thing for Him to forgive us and it is an infinite blessing to receive it. The woman opened her soul’s mouth very wide, expecting great things of Jesus, and He fills it with His love. She laid fast hold upon Him and drew arguments even out of His hard words. She believed great things of him and she won the victory by believing in Him. Her case is an instance of blind faith and if we want to conquer like her we must take hold of Jesus and His promises.

No 10

(Sarah)

The name of Abraham’s wife is listed in the faith hall of fame in Hebrews 11 – “Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.” (v11). She believed in God but when we read the account of the promise in Genesis, we could have some doubts as to her trustworthiness in God. On two occasions, she demonstrated certain doubt as to her ability to bear children to Abram; her name at that time was Sarai. The first occasion is found in Genesis 16:2 – “And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.” She seemed to believe that God was not able to bless her with a child. The second time is in Genesis 18:12 “Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, after I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?” She laughed at the idea of bearing a child at her age; she even lied about laughing “Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not” Gen 18:15a; her new name means “princess” Is this the type of behaviour for a woman of faith?

God sees the heart whereas we see the exterior and because of our limited capabilities, we tend to be judgmental but God knows our thoughts and He knew Sarah’s heart and it was pure. In 1 Peter 3:6, we read “Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.” She is likened unto our mother because Peter’s letter is addressed to New Testament believers. Suffice to say that Sarah is one of the most important women in the Bible.

No 11

(Mary Magdalene)

A seventeenth century philosopher once said “a reputation once broken may possibly be repaired but the world will always keep their eyes on the spot where the crack was”; Mary Magdalene has had such a fate. For some reason Mary has been the target for some very malicious treatment over the centuries. She has been called a prostitute and a terrible sinner; she has even recently been called Jesus’ lover who bore His children (The Da Vinci Code).

The name Magdalene stands for where she came from – Magdala near Tiberius in Galilee; an extremely wealthly but corrupt city. So it is quite possible that Mary was rich. We first hear of her in the Gospel of Matthew where she is at the empty tomb (Matt 27) but she actually comes into the picture in Luke 8:2 where the Bible says “And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils,” She had undoubtedly placed her faith in Jesus Christ and was delivered of the demons; nowhere in the Bible does it say that she was a prostitute or even a sinner, for that matter. She kept good company – Mary the wife of Clopas, he was the one who Jesus met on the road to Emmaus; Salome, the mother of James and John and Mary, the earthly mother of Jesus. Scripture does not give Mary Magdalene’s age so it also quite probable that she was as old as the other women she travelled with; nowhere does the text say that she was young and attractive as some writers or artists have depicted her.

Most importantly of everything, Mary Magdalene was the first to see the risen Christ – Mark 16:9 “Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.” The devil hates the fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, so he has tried to discredit Mary over the centuries but this devout and faithful woman of God had the privilege of testifying to the bodily resurrection of the Messiah which is in itself reason for us to praise the Lord for Mary Magdalene.

No 12

(Miriam)

Miriam was the daughter of Amram and Jochebed and the older sister of Moses and Aaron, all of whom were Levites. Miriam was a prominent participant in the Exodus from Egypt and many of the key events of the Israelites' time in the Sinai after their escape from slavery. We first read of Miriam in Exodus 2:3-10, when Moses' mother could no longer hide the infant after the Pharaoh had ordered that all of the male Hebrew newborns were to be slaughtered. Moses’ mother put him in a basket in the Nile and he was found by the Pharaoh’s daughter. “This is one of the Hebrew babies, she said. Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you? Yes, go, she answered. And the girl went and got the baby's mother.” (Exodus 2:7,8).

The incident illustrated two of Miriam's qualities that stayed with her throughout her adult life – boldness and intelligence. God was of course responsible for the saving of Moses' life, but He chose to do it by means of a little girl who wasn't afraid to go where she was needed and who could think fast when she got there. Years later, at the time of the Exodus, after the crossing of the sea when Pharaoh’s chariots and horses were destroyed in the waters, Miriam had developed her leadership qualities as a prophetess and songleader - “Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron's sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her, with tambourines and dancing. Miriam sang to them, Sing to The Lord, for He is highly exalted. The horse and its rider, He has hurled into the sea.” (Exodus 15:20-21) Miriam died and was buried at Kadesh before the Israelites entered the Promised Land. She, along with her brothers Moses and Aaron did not cross the Jordan into the Promised Land back then, but she will in due time. God does not forsake those who serve Him well.