A Look at Women in the Bible
Several years ago, while planning her senior collection in the Fashion Design program at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, my daughter (Shannon) decided to select eight women in the Bible whose stories resonated with her and design a “look” for each one. She took her queues from everything that was written about each woman in the Scriptures and added a twist by employing the language of flowers to embellish each outfit.
As she walked through the process, and I dug into the Scriptures alongside her, we noticed that, rather than diminish women, the Bible actually lifts them up in many ways. What follows are some examples of this.
Eve was the last thing that God created – the pinnacle of creation if you will. She was also created in response to the first negative statement/problem in the Bible, i.e., “it is not good for the man to be alone.”[1] Eve was the solution to that problem.
When God declared he would make a “helper who is just right for [Adam],” he created an ideal match. Eve was complimentary to Adam, not subservient.
God describes wisdom in the feminine and says, “Nothing you desire can compare with [her].” Wisdom was formed by God before he created anything else and was the architect at His side during creation.[2]
In the description of Job’s family at the end of the Book of Job, his daughters are explicitly named while his sons are not, and the text notes that he provided for them in his will. Both of these things were unheard of in ancient culture.[3]
Women held positions like prophet and judge in Old Testament times. The greatest king ever in Israel sent his Cabinet to seek God’s direction through the prophet Huldah during a critical time in Israel’s history.[4] Deborah, a prophet and judge in Israel, was credited with a great military victory.[5]
The book of Proverbs describes a wife of noble character as someone who “goes to inspect a field and buys it; with her earnings she plants a vineyard… She makes sure her dealings are profitable… She makes belted linen garments and sashes to sell to the merchants.” Such a woman is no shrinking violet.[6]
A woman named Sheerah was credited with building towns in ancient Israel.[7]
Women were credited with helping to rebuild a portion of Jerusalem’s wall after the return of the Jews from Babylon.[8]
God chose a woman to carry the Savior of the world in her womb for nine months and then give birth to Him. He did not bring us our Savior through the glorious works of a man. A man was not even part of conceiving Jesus.
A group of women were explicitly cited as funding and supporting Jesus’ ministry – not men.[9]
Four women are mentioned in Joseph’s genealogy of Christ, which was unheard of at the time it was written.[10]
Jesus allowed Mary of Bethany to sit at His feet like a disciple, which was unheard of at the time, and He defended her for doing so.[11]
Jesus talked to a foreign woman (a despised Samaritan) at a well, which shocked his disciples when they came across them.[12]
The descriptions of the trial of Jesus in the New Testament include only one woman (Pilate’s wife), and she declares Jesus’ innocence. Every other character described in the account is a man and they all either abuse, condemn, or abandon Jesus. Taking this even further, it appears that not one woman says anything against Jesus in the Gospels.
The Bible notes that women were the first people to see Jesus after his resurrection.[13] The testimony of Jesus’ resurrection was entrusted to women at a time when a woman’s testimony was considered legally worthless.
The apostle Paul chose a woman, Phoebe, to carry his theologically revolutionary letter to the church in Rome. Typically, the person who carried such a letter would be the one to present and explain it – in this case a female deacon from the town of Cenchrea.[13A]
Paul describes a woman, Junia, as an apostle in the book of Romans.[13B]
Luke describes a woman, Anna, as a prophet in his synoptic gospel.[13C]
There are more examples, but you get the picture.
Now admittedly, there are a lot of episodes of female abuse in the Bible. These stories, though, are not an endorsement of such behavior. My daughter’s Website notes:
The authors were simply recording events as they occurred, which was more of an indictment of our human nature than proof of sexism in the Bible. This can be hard to understand from the viewpoint of our time and culture, which differs radically from the settings of these stories. For the most part, women had inferior rights in the cultures where Bible events occurred. They were often seen as the property of their husbands or families/guardians. While this doesn’t excuse the mistreatment of women and the trespass of their basic human rights, it does improve our ability to draw unbiased conclusions. It allows the reader to better step back and assess the moral and overarching message of each story.[14]
There is one more thing worth mentioning. Much has been made of the apostle Paul directing wives to let their husbands lead their family. Such an instruction is far more palatable when we also consider Paul’s admonition to husbands. Paul writes, “husbands… love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her…”[15] Paul uses the analogy of Jesus dying for the church to describe the level of love that husbands should show to their wives. It’s much easier to follow the lead of someone you know loves you in such a radical, self-sacrificial way.
If you’re interested in seeing Shannon’s senior fashion collection, please visit shannonmelick.com.
FOOTNOTES: [1] Genesis 2:18, NLT [2] Proverbs 1:20-21, 8:1-3, 8:22-31, and 9:1-6, NLT [3] Job 42:13-15, NLT [4] 2 Kings 22:2,11-20 and 23:25, NLT [5] Judges 4 and 5, NLT [6] Proverbs 31:16,18,24, NLT [7] 1 Chronicles 7:24, NLT [8] Nehemiah 3:12, NLT [9] Luke 8:1-3, NLT [10] Matthew 1:3-6, NLT [11] Luke 10:38-42, NLT [12] John 4:1-42, NLT [13] Mark 16:9 and Matthew 28:9, NLT [13A] Romans 16:1-2, NLT [13B] Romans 16:7, NLT [13C] Luke 2:36, NLT [14] http://www.shannonmelick.com/concept [15] Ephesians 5:25, NLT