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by Kimberly Dickson

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“Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a helper (ezer) as his partner’” (Gen. 2:18 NRSV).

Eve at Creation

God declares that it is not good for Adam to be alone, and he rescued Adam through the creation of Eve. Scripture repeatedly describes God as ezer, a Hebrew word meaning “strong rescue.” This is most familiar to us in Psalm 121:1-2, “I lift my eyes up to the mountains, where does my ezer (my help) come from? My ezer (my help) comes from the Lord, the Maker of the Heavens and the Earth.” Here we understand that “helper” is a strong rescue. In fact, ezer is used 21 times in scripture, most often to describe God’s strong rescue of Israel. 

Created in God’s image (Gen. 1:27), as a strong rescue (Gen. 2:18), Eve rescues Adam from governing creation alone. The creation context of Genesis 2 concerns the garden which provides the source for man’s work and sustenance, as well as his need for a strong partner in governing it. Yet Christian teachings have misconstrued Eve’s strong rescue to mean that women’s purpose is to rescue men from their sexual temptations.¹ This passage NEVER mentions or alludes to sex or reproduction. In fact, in Genesis 2, God specifically forms the animals to see if they might provide a strong rescue and partner for Adam in governing. They do not. Adam’s rescue can only come from one who shares God’s image, which the animals do not. So, God puts him into a deep sleep and creates Eve from Adam’s side. Then Adam immediately recognizes that Eve shares his substance. In a beautiful poem of delight, we read: 

“This one at last, bone of my bones 

       And flesh of my flesh; 

 This one shall be called ‘woman’ 

       For out of man this one has been taken” Genesis 2:22 (NAB) 

As the garden sustains both Adam and Eve, together they both worked to preserve and care for it. With their shared spiritual and physical origins, Adam and Eve shared authority together in caring for creation.  

To learn more on the creation of Eve, see “Created in God’s Image: Theological and Social Impact” by John Wijngaards.

Notes

1. Mark Driscoll, pastor of a former mega-church with multiple satellite churches in Seattle, Washington, regularly taught this heresy. See the podcast,
2. Mike Cosper, “The Things We Do to Women,” July 26, 2021 in The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill, podcast, 56 min. 

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by Kimberly Dickson

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Sarah, like all humanity, is complicated. Much of her story is resonant with the sex-trafficking underworld we’ve learned so much about in past decades. Sarah was both Abraham’s wife and his half-sister, something the Mosaic law later condemns (Lev. 18:9). Twice, Abraham objectified Sarah’s beauty to save his own life. He offered her to the leaders of the lands to take and “know” as their wife. Like prostitutes controlled by their pimps, she supported Abraham’s misleading story that she was his sister rather than his wife (Gen.12:11-20; Gen. 20:1-7). In Egypt, sold for Abraham’s life and welfare, she acquired her own slave, Hagar (Gen. 16:1). Though Sarah was beautiful, she was barren, unable to bear children. She aged without the comfort of knowing she would have a child to carry on her legacy, to care for her in her old age, and to be her glory. But she was resourceful. Having been traded for sex, Sarah also gave her slave to her husband to bear a child. According to Ancient Near East law, the child born to the slave would be considered Sarah’s own child.¹ Though a survivor of abuse, she was also an abuser, so much so that her slave Hagar fled from her into the desert (Gen. 16:1-9). Later, Sarah required Abraham to expel Hagar and her child from the family, and he complied. Intertwined in this story is an amazing degree of freedom and equality between Sarah and Abraham. Though Abraham victimized Sarah, by the time they were old, she had earned his ear and his respect. In fact, Jewish tradition celebrates their oneness and equality.²

Amid the abuse Sarah endured in a patriarchal society, and the abuse she perpetuated— God entered her story and showed himself as a God of redemption. God noticed her laughter as God promised she would bear a son in her old age, and God instructed Abraham to listen to and follow her (Gen. 16:2, 21:12). God ensured the covenant promise came through her rather than any of Abraham’s other wives, “I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her” (Gen. 17:16). At this moment, God changed her name to Sarah, which is the feminine form of chief or prince (Gen. 17:15-19, 21). “A change of name in the Bible indicates a new phase in that person’s cooperation with the divine purpose.”³ She became a chieftess, or princess, as the leader of the tribe of Israel.

To learn more about Sarah’s change of name, see “Whose Wife Will She Be? A Feminist Interpretation of Luke 20:27-38,” by Anna Beresford in Priscilla Papers, Vol 35 no 4 (Autumn 2021), page 11.

To learn about the Jewish perspective on Abraham and Sarah see: “The Oneness of Abraham and Sarah,” by Aliyah Jacobs in Mutuality, December 24, 2014.

Notes

1. Tikva Frymer-Kensky, Reading Women of the Bible: A New Interpretation of Their Stories (New York: Schocken Books, 2002), 226-227.
2. Aliyah Jacobs, “The Oneness of Abraham and Sarah,” Mutuality (December 24, 2014).
3. Terrence E. Fretheim, “The Book of Genesis,” NIB 1:459, quoted in Anna Beresford, “Whose Wife Shall She Be,” Priscilla Papers, 35 No. 4 (Autumn 2021): 11. 

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by Kimberly Dickson

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Hagar’s story is recorded in Genesis 16:1-16 and 21:9-19. An Egyptian slave owned by Sarah, Hagar likely joined Sarah while Sarah was part of Pharoah’s household in Egypt, (Gen. 12:10-15). As Sarah lost faith that she would bear a child, she gave Hagar to Abraham to bear a son in her name. It was common practice in the Ancient Near Eastern culture to offer concubines in overcoming infertility.¹ In this particular case, Scripture indicates that in bearing a child, Hagar became Abraham’s wife, while remaining Sarah’s slave. When Hagar became pregnant, her household status increased, inciting Sarah’s jealousy and vindictiveness.

Naming the God Who Sees – El Roi

 With Abraham’s permission, Sarah abused Hagar to the point that she escaped to the desert. Destitute in the desert, God saw Hagar and assured her of his presence and concern for her survival and future by asking her to name her son Ishmael which means “God has heard.” In response, Hagar called God El Roi, the “God who sees.” Hagar is the first person to name God in all of scripture. Womanist, Delores Williams, speculates that for the sake of Hagar and her unborn son’s survival, God asked her to return to her abusive situation.²

Freed but Destitute

Years later Hagar cries out to El Roi. At the behest of Sarah, Abraham expelled his wife Hagar to the desert. Freed from slavery but without resources, Hagar realizes death is closing in. Hearing Ishmael’s cry, God spoke to Hagar. He pointed her to water for their survival and reignited her hope by repeating his promise that he would make her children into a great nation. True to God’s word, her son’s people did become a great nation, with Ishmael’s descendants recorded in Genesis 25:18.

African American women find great affinity with the story of Hagar. They identify with Hagar’s slavery, abuse by an abused woman, escape, and freedom paired with great economic peril. But Hagar also speaks to their experience because God sees, hears, and provides for Hagar’s survival. The gold-standard exegesis of Hagar’s story was written by Womanist author Delores Williams in her book, Sisters in the Wilderness: The Challenge of Womanist God-Talk.

To see artwork created by Edmonia Lewis remembering Hagar, see: Six Black Female Artists Christians Should Know by Cara Quinn.

Amy R. Buckly explains Hagar’s story, and God’s amazing interventions to preserve both her and Ishmael’s life in: “In the Midst of the Mess: Hagar and the God Who Sees,” in Mutuality.

To go deeper read: “Cast Out and Cast Off: Hagar, Leah, and the God who Sees,” by I. Daniel Hawk.

Notes

1. Tykva Frymer-Kensky, Reading Women of the Bible: A New Interpretation of Their Stories (New York: Schocken Books, 2002), 226-227. 
2. Delores Williams, Sisters in the Wilderness: The Challenge of Womanist God-Talk (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1993), 20-21. 

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by Kimberly Dickson

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Miriam: Child of Courage & Creativity

A daughter born into slavery was often named “Mary” as “one who has endured much suffering.” Miriam, or “Mary,” was born under Egyptian slavery at a particularly cruel point in history. Pharoah had ordered the murder of all the baby boys to prevent an uprising. History suggests that the girls were raped so that their children would be rejected by the Hebrews and Egyptians, ensuring they would be made perpetual slaves.¹ Despite the great suffering of Miriam’s time, she was a child of courage and ingenuity who saved and protected her baby brother, Moses. She also provided a way for him to know his birth-family and their history by recommending her own mother as his wet nurse.

Prophet

We later learn of “Miriam the Prophet,” in Exodus 15. Prophets are called and appointed by God to speak God’s word to the people just as Miriam speaks to Israel through her victory song. Here she not only proclaims the death of the enemy, but her song also affirms the death of the Egyptian gods and a growing understanding of YHWH.² Her importance as a chosen leader of God is remembered in Micah 6:8, where she, Moses, and Aaron are all given credit for bringing the Israelites out of slavery.

Song Writer

Miriam leads the women with “timbrels and dancing” in a victory song known as “The Song of the Sea” or “Miriam’s Song” (Gen. 15:20). Throughout the Old Testament when men returned from battle, they were greeted in song and dance by those remaining behind, the women. Thus, the women were the percussionists (timbrel is a type of small drum), musicians, dancers, and hymn writers. Though Moses has been credited with writing the victory song, the fact that women were the greeting musicians, and that the Dead Sea scrolls attribute eight of the song’s verses to Miriam, cause scholars to presume that Miriam authored the entire song, rather than one verse.³

Beloved Leader

Miriam is clearly a beloved leader for the people. In Numbers 12:1-16, she and Aaron are disciplined for rebuking Moses. Yet, the people refuse to move on without Miriam. She represents them in their strengths and weaknesses, courageous enough to facilitate their rescue from Egypt, joyous enough to lead them in worship before God, and human enough to fail and be disciplined. Therefore, they wait for her until she is ready to travel with them.

To learn more about the circumstances of Miriam’s birth, see: “The Mary’s of the Bible and the #MeToo Movement” by Boaz Johnson.

To learn more about Prophets, see: “Women Prophets in the Old Testament” by Christine Marchetti.

To learn about the scriptural preservation of women’s words in oral tradition, read: “Who First Told the Bible’s Stories and Why It Matters” by Jeff Miller.

Notes

1. Boaz Johnson, “The Mary’s of the Bible and the #MeToo Movement,” Mutuality (December 13, 2019).  
2. Johnson, “The Mary’s of the Bible”.
3. Carol Meyers, Exodus: The New Cambridge Bible Commentary (NY: The Cambridge University Press, 2005), 116-119. 

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by Kimberly Dickson

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Genesis ends with the Hebrews flourishing in Egypt under the protection of Joseph as second in command. The book of Exodus opens hundreds of years later. The Hebrews are settled in the strategic location of Goshen on fertile ground along the Nile and at the crossroads of international trade. They have so increased, “filling the land,” that the Egyptians begin to worry about their numbers and the possibility of an uprising. So, Pharoah orders them into hard labor, a time-honored method of reducing a people’s lifespan and increasing mother and infant mortality rates.¹ However, Exodus tells us that “the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread” (Ex. 1:12 NRSV), an indicator of God’s blessing, especially upon the pregnant mothers.

Exodus then centers on two women responsible for multiplying healthy babies, the midwives, Shiphrah and Puah. Interestingly the text does not cite Pharoah’s name but remembers these two women personally signifying their importance to the Israelites, “The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah” (Ex 1:15).² Pharoah ordered them to initiate a genocide by killing the newly delivered boys, but to preserve the newborn girls’ lives, “but if it is a girl, she shall live” (Ex. 1:16). There are two reasons that Pharoah may have preserved the life of the girls. In a male-dominated society, Pharoah likely underestimated the power of women.³ As the first three chapters of Exodus develop, the reader learns that Pharoah’s blindness to the power of women sets the stage for his own demise.⁴ Motivated by power and economics, the Egyptians raped the girls to ensure the rejection of their children by both Hebrews and Egyptians, thus forcing them into a perpetual slave population.⁵ Miriam’s name alludes to this expectation as it means “one who endures much suffering.”⁶

The question arises, what then will these midwives do? Afterall , midwives were honored throughout the Ancient Near East for their medical skill in bringing new life and were often referred to as “wise women.”⁷ Like traditional healers through the ages, their wisdom embodied their very being. They recognized the smells of the earth and the herbs that brought healing; their skilled hands delivered hundreds of babies; their sight evaluated weakness and strength; and their intuition knew the best methods of healing.⁸ As life-givers and preservers, they naturally feared the God who created and gave life (Ex 1:17a). Pharoah’s order undermined their very profession and faith. Therefore, the midwives refused to comply and “let the boys live” (Ex. 1:17b).

Exodus highlights their leadership that defied Pharoah’s order to kill baby boys. Womanist Wilda Gafney makes the logical leap that Puah and Shiphrah must be the leaders of the midwives since the text says, the Hebrews filled the land in Exodus 1:7. It would have been impossible for only two women to care for so many, apparently fertile, women. Thus, Puah and Shiphrah, were likely leaders of the midwives and their instructions to the other midwives were crucial.⁹ They “did not do as the king of Egypt commanded, but they let the boys live” (Ex. 1:17b).

Pharoah calls them in a second time, demanding to know, “Why have you done this, and allowed the boys to live?” (Ex. 1:18). This time the midwives cleverly used his prejudice and bias against him with an ethnic slur and wordplay. Though most English translations state that the Hebrew women are too “lively” or “vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them” (Ex 1:19b), this is incorrect for three reasons. First, the accepted translation compliments the Hebrew women compared to the Egyptian women, something that would not have been politically astute. Second, the translation of the Hebrew word “chayah” into “lively” or “vigorous” only occurs in this one verse. Otherwise, it means undomesticated, wild animals, or beast-like creatures.¹⁰ Thus, many Old Testament scholars now translate it to mean “animal.” Richard Elliott Freedman’s translation reads:

“And the midwives said to Pharoah, “Because the Hebrews aren’t like the Egyptian women, because they’re animals! Before the midwives come to them, they’ve given birth!” (Ex 1:19).¹¹

And third, people who are part of the “other” or “oppressed” group recognize the age-old technique of survival, where humor, irony, and wit are used against the oppressor to blind him to their very techniques of survival.¹² For Tykva Frymer-Kensky, “Pharoah sees Israel as ‘other,’ they make an ethnic slur belittling these others. In this way, they demonstrate to Pharoah they are not in favor of Hebrews. Not seeing the power of these women to defy him, Pharoah is all too willing to hear something negative about Hebrews and falls for their trick.”¹³ The midwives use a racial slur, and Pharoah is deceived.¹⁴

Lastly, God not only blesses the midwives’ leadership in peaceful civil disobedience. God also preserves the Abrahamic covenant and honors the life-giving work of their midwifery, “So God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and became very strong,” (Ex. 1:20).¹⁵ Astonishingly, God made the women heads of households. “And because the midwives feared God, he gave to them houses,” (Ex. 1:21). Again, our English Bibles usually translate this as “family.” But the Hebrew meaning is “house” and uses the same language within a covenant context when God promised David that his house would endure, 2 Samuel 7:11 . God honors the midwives’ leadership by establishing them as heads of households, with no mention or concern regarding men or husbands in their lives.

The author of Exodus recognized that these powerful women initiated an uprising against Pharoah that “birthed resistance in the other [women]” who followed their leadership.¹⁷ Their holy defiance was complete when God freed the Hebrews from slavery and defeated Egypt (Ex. 15:1-20).

Read More on Shiphrah and Puah in:

“Rational and Emotional Faith” by Megan Greulich in Mutuality.

“Who’s Who? Biblical Models of Women in Leadership” by Gracy Ying May in Priscilla Papers

“Black is Blessed: A Study of Black/African Women and Men in Scripture” by Catherine Clark Kroeger in Priscilla Papers

“Defiant: What the Women of Exodus Teach us about Freedom” by Mary Lou Wiley a Book Review on Defiant

Notes

1. Kat Armas, Abuelita Faith: What Women on the Margins Teach Us about Wisdom, Persistence, and Strength (Ada, MI: Brazos Press, 2021), 58-59.
2. Scholars believe the defeated Pharoah was not important to the Israelite story. Richard Elliott Friedman, The Exodus: How It Happened and Why It Matters, (San Francisco: HarperOne, 2017), 69.
3. This is a common conclusion among scholars. Tykva Frymer Kensky, Reading Women of the Bible: A New Interpretation of Their Stories (New York: Schocken Books, 2002), 25; Armas, Abuelita Faith, 59.
4. Frymer-Kensky, Reading Women of the Bible, 25; Armas, Abuelita Faith, 59.
5. Boaz Johnson, “The Mary’s of the Bible and the #MeToo Movement,” Mutuality 26, no. 4 (December 13, 2019).
6. Johnson, “The Mary’s of the Bible.”
7. Carol Meyers, Exodus: The New Cambridge Bible Commentary (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 40.
8. Armas highlights the embodied wisdom of women traditional healers over the ages, which she also recognizes in Puah and Shiphrah. While Christian tradition has tended to demonize these women, Biblical tradition honors them. See Armas, Aubelita Faith, 60-61.
9. Wilda C. Gafney, Womanist Midrash: A Reintroduction to the Women of the Torah and the Throne (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2017), 89.
10. Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner, eds., The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (Leiden: Koninklijke Brill, 2000), 310.
11. Friedman, The Exodus, 220; Gafney, Womanist Midrash, 91; Armas, Abuelita Faith, 61.
12. Meyers, Exodus, 37-38.
13. Frymer-Kensky, Reading Women of the Bible, 25-26.
14. Gafney, Womanist Midrash, 90; Armas, Abuelita Faith, 61.
15. CBE International’s on staff Biblical language adviser, Amber Burgess argues” dealt well” is often used “in conjunction with wording related to the Abrahamic Covenant or is used in relation to the preservation of the Abrahamic Covenant.” While the verb ”yatab” can have many uses, Exodus 1:20 is using it in relation to the preservation of the Abrahamic Covenant.” Amber Burgess, Personal E-mail, May 26, 2022.
16. Meyers, Exodus, 37. Gafney, Womanist Midrash, 91.
17. Armas, Abuelita Faith, 60-61.

by Kimberly Dickson

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Moses married Zipporah, a shepherd and daughter to Jethro the Midianite, a priest of YHWH the Lord. Moses first met Zipporah in the wilderness when she and her sisters were being harassed by other shepherds as they tried to water their sheep at a well. A rich scriptural tradition of shepherding informs an imagination of Zipporah’s life, that ranges from Jacob shepherding his father-in-law’s sheep, David protecting his sheep from lions with a simple sling, and to Jesus describing a God who leaves his 99 sheep to find the one that is lost. Shepherding is dangerous work, filled with physical toil, sacrifice, and for females, harassment as they care for their flock. Ultimately, though, it is a life that is characterized by quick instincts that ensure their flocks are protected and can thrive. In this case, Moses defended the girls and helped them water their sheep. Scripture tells us that Zipporah’s father was so impressed with Moses, he invited him to stay with them, ultimately giving Zipporah to Moses as a wife (Exod. 2:16-22).

The fact that Zipporah’s father was a priest is crucial to this story. Zipporah’s upbringing in a wise, priestly family provided her with understanding in the ways of worship. When God confronted Moses and was ready to kill him, Zipporah interceded as a priest would in approaching God. As surprising as this is to our western sensibilities, history confirms that female priestly roles were part of Ancient Near Eastern cultures. Zipporah’s word choice,selection of instrument (the flint), and the way she circumcised her son reflects her knowledge of priestly work.¹ Together, with her shepherd’s instinct to protect the flock, and her priestly knowledge, she quickly appeased the wrath of the Lord, and saved Moses’ life (Exod. 4:24-26).²

Zipporah is discussed in several books reviewed by CBE. See a review of Imagining Equity by Katie Strand Winslow, who looks at outside women who engage in God’s work of preserving life, including such women as Zipporah.

Also, see Defiant: What the Women of Exodus Teach Us About Freedom by Kelley Nikondeha.

Notes

1. Carol Meyers discusses the fact that Zipporah demonstrates priestly knowledge. Carol Meyers, Exodus: The New Cambridge Bible Commentary (NY: The Cambridge University Press, 2005), 12, 63-66.
2. Tikva Frymer-Kensky addresses the ritualistic elements that Zipporah knew and used as a protector. Tikva Frymer-Kensky, Reading Women of the Bible: A New Interpretation of Their Stories (New York: Schocken Books, 2002), 30. 

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by Kimberly Dickson

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Jewish and Christian traditions remember Rahab as a hero of the faith. As the most outsider of outsiders—a woman in a man’s world, a prostitute, and a Canaanite foreigner saved by Israel—her shocking faith propelled her into the Davidic and Messianic lineage . 

Rahab, A Strong Rescue for The Spies

In Genesis 2:18 God creates woman as an ezer, a strong rescue, and Rahab becomes exactly that by saving both the Israelites and her entire household. Astonishingly, Old Testament books often begin with women as a clue that something good is about to happen. Rahab’s story of rescuing the spies begins the book of Joshua and reminds readers of the women who risked their lives to rescue Moses at the start of Exodus. Like Moses’s mother, Rahab hides the spies.^[1] Like the clever midwives Puah and Shiphrah who deceive the king to rescue the Hebrew baby boys’ lives, Rahab rescues the spies from the Canaanite king. Then she gives them instructions in how to remain unseen and lets them down through her window.^[2]

Rahab and her Prophetic Oracle

Rahab sides with the spies because she knows God’s plans. Using Miriam’s prophetic words of the warrior God YHWH in Exodus 15, she prophesies of the warrior God who intends to give the land to the Israelites, saying,^[3]

I know that the Lord has given you this land, and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan who you completely destroyed. When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below (Josh. 2:9–11, NIV).

The spies use her prophecy as their report to Joshua about the land. And through her faithfulness (hesed) to them, they faithfully saved her whole household.

What can a Prostitute Teach Us?

Rahab’s status as a prostitute sets the stage for both ancient adult comedy and important theological truths. Though  some doubt whether Rahab was a prostitute, both the ancient near east culture and structure of Joshua offers important clues to this being central to her situation.^[4] The quick succession of Hebrew sexual innuendos point to prostitution: “they came,” “house of a prostitute,” “and lay down there.”^[5] Adding to the sexual innuendo is the adult comedy of two young men who make a beeline from the desert to a prostitute’s house.^[6] What is more, news spread widely about the Israelites’ destruction of Sihon and Og, very likely spreading fear.^[7] So any newcomers in a walled city would be quickly recognized, especially in a brothel, the traditional hangout for men. The spies might have thought it would be a good place for them to hear the news, but instead it immediately blew their cover. The king heard about them that day, calling into question the judgement of these spies!

On a more serious note, the book of Joshua purposefully reminds readers of Exodus as the lamb’s  red blood marked Israelite homes, protecting the firstborn from the angel of destruction. Likewise, Rahab is instructed to hang a scarlet-red cord from her window, and all who remain inside her home will be protected from the ensuing destruction.^[8] This Exodus theme is important in considering Rahab as a prostitute. Rahab’s escape from destruction paralleled Israel’s exodus from demeaning slavery. The Israelites remembered the exodus from Egypt as freedom from debt slavery. Rahab’s position as a prostitute speaks to her social marginalization and deep indebtedness. As Bible scholar Robert Coote says, “she is a woman who is forced by poverty—and by her poor father or brothers—to seek income that would either help to keep her family from falling disastrously into debt or to pay off the debt they have already incurred.”^[9] Rahab represents extreme marginalization, a situation where the previously enslaved Israel would sympathize and “cheer her on as she dares to make fools out of the king and his men.”^[10]As the destruction of Egypt led to Israel’s freedom from slavery, so too the destruction of Canaan eliminated Rahab’s family debt and allowed them freedom and new life as part of the people of God. 

Rahab as Hope for Future

Rahab’s story continually turns expectations on their head in the interest of elevating the most ostracized—the woman, the prostitute, the foreigner. Centering Rahab at the start of Joshua symbolized hope that once again God’s redemption would ensure dignity, leadership, and partnership for all human beings created in the image of God.

Notes

[1] Tikva Frymer-Kensky, Reading the Women of the Bible: A New Interpretation of their Stories, (New York: Schocken Books, 2002), 36. Notably, the same Hebrew word for “hiding” is only used in these two cases of hiding.

[2] Everett Fox, The Early Prophets: Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings, A New Translation with Introductions, Commentary and Notes, (New York: Schocken Books, 2014), 16. Fox notes the similarities between the Exodus liberation begun by the decisive actions of women, and here where the conquest of the land is begun by the decisive factors of Rahab.

[3] Frymer-Kensky, Reading the Women of the Bible, 298. Frymer-Kensky demonstrates that Rahab is the “first oracle of Israel’s destiny.”

[4] Though some doubt whether Rahab was a prostitute, the earliest Hebrew manuscripts call Rahab a prostitute.  Later traditions, though still ancient, soften this designation and instead call her an innkeeper. Read Aliyah Jacobs’ Rahab the Innkeeper to see some of these traditions and perspectives.

[5] Carolyn J. Sharp, Joshua: Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary, (Macon, GA: Smith & Hewys, 2019), 107-108.

[6] Peter Enns, “Episode 227-Pete Ruins Joshua: The Bible for Normal People,” produced by B4NP Podcast, Bible for Normal People, November 21, 2022. Sharp, Joshua, 104, 109. Enns and Sharp note that many have seen ancient comedy in this scene.

[7] Sharp, Joshua, 112. Sharp explains how a group of people moving across the desert and successfully annihilating two kingdoms would spread fear to any walled city that might be in their path.

[8] Tikva Frymer-Kensky, Reading the Women of the Bible: A New Interpretation of their Stories, (New York: Schocken Books, 2002), 35. Sharp, Joshua, 117-118.

[9] Robert B. Coote, “The Book of Joshua: Introduction, Commentary and Reflections,” The New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume II (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1998), 591.

[10] Coote, “The Book of Joshua,” 592. Fox, The Early Prophets, 16. Fox notes Rahab’s low status signifying God’s hand at work.

Learn More

About Women Prophets: Women Prophets in the Old Testament by Christine Marchetti

Rahab the Innkeeper by Aliyah Jacobs

Rahab the Righteous by Crystal Lutton

Rahab – A Woman to be Admired by John Sowalsky

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by Ron Pierce

Deborah, Woman of Valor

Deborah’s leadership in Judges 4–5 describes Deborah as a “woman of valor” who is a courageous judge, prophet, and spiritual advisor as the “mother of Israel.”[1]

Deborah’s Story (Judges 4)

Deborah and Barak (4:1–9a)

Deborah’s story is the first of the “famous four:” Gideon (6–8), Jephthah (10–12), and Samson (13–16). She is also the first judge introduced at length and the only one who is also a prophet with an influence like Samuel’s (1 Sam 1–8). She is lauded with a string of feminine words: “a woman, a prophet, a woman of light /fire (not “her husbands” name), she herself (repetitive pronoun), she is judging.” And “Deborah” in Hebrew carries the name “bee,” implying a “pursuer.”[2] No other judge gets this kind of fanfare. Deborah’s mention of Zebulun and Naphtali (4:6, 10, cf. 5:14, 18) along with seven tribes from the south (5:14–17) paint the geographical context of the occupied “promised land” and this identifies the extent of her influence as prophet and judge (cf. 4:5).

Barak comes from northern Israel where a conflict is raging. He is familiar with the situation, people, and terrain. Deborah greets him with, “the LORD God of Israel commands you…” (4:6). His later bravery suggests he insists on Deborah’s accompaniment because he wants her prophetic voice in battle (4:10, 14–16, 22). Deborah then clarifies, “On the path ahead, the honor will not be yours, for the Lord will give Sisera into a woman’s hands” (4:9a). As a man of faith, Barak obeys even when personal glory is not part of the deal. In fact, he later contributes to the victory song that praises Jael, the woman who gets the glory. The New Testament honors him for this as a person “of whom the world is not worthy” (Heb. 11:32–39).

Shared Journey (4:9b–23)

Barak assembles his army, evoking a countermove by Sisera. Under Deborah’s command God blesses their efforts by routing the enemy as she had predicted. Barak’s pursuit of Sisera then introduces Jael, a descendant of Moses’s father-in-law, Jethro (Ex. 2–4, 18, Num. 10:29–32).[3]

The fleeing Sisera hides in Jael’s tent. She recognizes him and gives him milk to drink (4:18–19). With courage and cunning Jael fulfills Deborah’s prophecy that “the Lord will give Sisera into a woman’s hands” (4:9) by killing Sisera as he sleeps (4:21). She then displays her trophy to confirm her defection to Israel (4:22). The story ends by emphasizing Israel’s God as the true hero and victor (4:23–24). Neither the generals nor the women are in view; God frees Israel from oppression, setting the stage for Deborah’s battle hymn.

Deborah’s Song (Judges 5)

Mother of Israel (5:1–11)

Judges 5 opens with, “Deborah sang, accompanied by Barak,” emphasizing her as both author and main character (5:1). She writes repeatedly, “I, even I, will sing to Yahweh…I will praise Yahweh” (5:3), “I, Deborah, arose…until I arose, a mother in Israel” (5:7), and “My heart is with Israel’s commanders…” (5:9). She is the lead character in both the poem and the narrative. This is further highlighted by the commands, “Awake, awake, Deborah! Awake, awake, utter a song!” and “Arise, Barak, lead away your captives…” (5:12, cf. 4:14). She authors the song while Barak rounds up the prisoners.

Deborah recalls Israel’s deliverance through Moses in her pattern of military conflict preceding a victory song (1 Sam. 5:3-5; Ex. 14–15). Similarly, her reference to the earth trembling and the mountains quaking (Judg. 5:4–5) reminds us of Moses’s first encounter with God at Mount Sinai (Ex. 19:18, cf. Hag. 2:21, Heb. 12:26). Thus, she identifies herself with Israel’s first and greatest judge who gave instructions for appointing other judges (Ex. 18:13– 23, Deut. 16:18–20, 34:10). This along with Deborah’s historical location between Moses and Samuel places her strategically between these two great prophets and judges (Judg. 4:5, cf. 1 Sam. 7:15–16, 8:4).

Israel lived in fear until Deborah arose and intervened as “a mother in Israel” (5:6–7a, 8). Judges 4:9 recalls where she “arises” to accompany Barak to war, then calls him to “arise,” fight (4:14) and sing the victory song with her (5:12). She functions as “a mother in Israel,” a rare parental metaphor implying a “spiritual guide.”

Supporting Characters (5:12–31)

The passage ends by vindicating would-be rape victims by contrasting Sisera’s final position on the ground beneath Jael, with Sisera’s mother alluding to him raping young Israelite women (5:27–30). Sisera lying dead “between her feet” can no longer abuse Israel’s daughters by forcing himself “between their feet.” Jael avenges these victims and protects others at risk. Sisera’s mother also contrasts with Deborah as “mother in Israel” (5:7). Jael secures her people’s deliverance while his unnamed mother merely learns of his defeat and death.

Conclusion

Deborah’s story and song in Judges 4–5 portrays a woman of light and fire, as well as a prophet and judge, in a consistently positive way. Her people respect her. She challenges Barak authoritatively with God’s blessing. And she is a wise and protective “mother in Israel” in the spirit of Moses.

Barak is a man of faith who humbly receives God’s guidance through Deborah and is honored among the notables of faith. Jael acts with courage, cunning, and wisdom. Most importantly, God as the true hero of the story accomplishes his work through mere mortals. The book of Judges portrays no group of characters more favorably than Deborah, Barak, and Jael.

Notes

[1] Deborah should be understood as a “woman of valor,” a translation of the Hebrew term eshet chayil  (cf. Ruth 3:11; Prov 12:4; 31:10; translations herein are mine).

[2] Deborah’s name in Hebrew means “bee” and symbolizes a pursuer like the Assyrian “bees” pursued Israel (Isa 7:17–20, esp.18).

[3] Jael had likely allied with Jabin for protection (4:11, 17). As Deborah is best understood as “woman of light/fire,” so Jael is likely “woman of the community of the Kenites,” (Judg 4:17, 21, 5:24) ora“womanofdivination”—neither reflect their husbands’ names.

Learn More

Debora: Troublesome Woman or Woman of Valor? By Ron Pierce

Barak By Ron Pierce

Deborah the Judge and Jael the Just by Crystal Lutton

The Boldness that Comes with Mutual Submission by Heather Caliri

by Kimberly Dickson

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The books of Samuel begin by describing Hannah’s dysfunctional family for all to see. We quickly discover Hannah’s condition: she cannot bear children. We know this to be a painful situation. In our day, when families confront the devastating diagnosis of infertility, they often spend vast amounts of time, energy, and money seeking medical solutions. But Hannah and Elkanah lived when Israel was just a confederacy of tribes living under the judges, and according to the end of Judges, they had just endured a horrendous civil war.¹ Not only was their existence precarious, their Ephramite tribe in particular saw themselves as having a special mandate to bear children (Gen. 48:16b, 19b–20), the one thing Hannah could not do.² Elkanah addressed this problem as would any man in Ancient Near Eastern culture: he married a second wife, Peninnah, who was fertile.

 When Scripture describes marriages that have more than one wife, a relational mess ensues (think of Sarah and Hagar, or Rachel and Leah). Hannah’s situation was no different. First Samuel describes Elkanah and his family annually traveling to Shiloh, to offer sacrifices to the Lord of hosts. And during these times Peninnah did as the reader expects:

[Hannah’s] rival used to provoke her severely, to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb. So it went on year by year; as often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat. (1 Sam. 1: NRSV). 

The Hebrew word that describes Peninnah as a rival is tzara. This word describes nations at war, as adversaries, and rarely describes individual people.³ Hannah was not enduring low-level interpersonal problems. No, the Hebrew emphasizes her endurance of war-like abuse. Beaten down year after year, Hannah demonstrated classic signs of depression—weeping and refusing to eat.

Co-Dependency in Abuse

Scripture states that her husband, Elkanah, loved Hannah. But when he approached his weeping wife to comfort her, his words betray either overt cluelessness to the warlike dynamics in his own family, or judgment requiring justification: “Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart sad?” (1 Sam. 1:8a). He did not wait for her reply but went on to ask an impossible question, demonstrating that he was not interested in hearing her. Instead, he asked, “Am I not more to you than ten sons?” (1 Sam. 1:8b). Considering the era in which they lived, this question is tone deaf. Women had no property or inheritance rights. Not only would ten sons save her reputation and stop the abuse, but ten sons also would ensure that she would not be destitute when Elkanah died. Further, the question displays Elkanah’s own self-absorption as “he places himself, and not the plight of Hannah, in the central focus. He significantly does not tell Hannah that she is worth more to him than ten sons.”⁴ If she answered no, she dishonored him, if she answered yes, she denied the reality of her destitute future.⁵

These questions reveal Elkanah’s refusal to acknowledge the abuse happening in his home and furthermore demonstrate that he would do nothing to stop the abuse. In modern terminology, we would say Elkanah was a co-dependent character to the abuse. Elkanah’s questions seem to be the “lightbulb moment” for Hannah. Her actions and voice from this point forward demonstrate her understanding of Genesis 3:16, where God tells Eve that the consequences of sin will be evident in her turning her attention toward man, enabling him to rule over her.⁶ With Hannah’s focus on her husband rather than God, she had no tools to escape abuse. So she turned her head back toward God, the way God originally created women. And that made all the difference for Hannah, for their family, and for the nation of Israel.

Practical Steps Toward Healing

With a change of focus came a change in behavior toward health. Hannah ate. Then she stepped away from her abusive family to go pray alone at the temple. Separation from abuse indicates a good, strong, healing movement. She then poured her soul out to God, releasing her pain of abuse, specifically using a Hebrew word that means oppression, abuse, affliction, and misery.⁷ She was telling God the truth and begging God not to forget her! In fact her prayer was very similar to the cries of the afflicted Hebrews suffering under slavery in Egypt. And then in simple language she asked God, not her husband, to solve her problem.  If God would hear her prayers and allow her to bear a son, Hannah would dedicate her son to God’s service.

Hannah’s prayers continued and were so deep from within her soul that only her lips moved, causing the priest, Eli, to mistake her for a drunk. But instead of silence at another accusation slung at her, Hannah defended herself. In 1 Samuel 1:16, Hannah told Eli that she was mourning her situation, using a Hebrew word that means lament—which is a prominent form of prayer we see in Psalms 55:35, 64:2, 102:1, 142:3—where people tell God in all honesty the pain they are suffering.  Likewise, Hannah brought her anguish before God, the one with ultimate authority.

Rather than condemning her, Eli blessed her. Though no outward situation changed, Hannah changed, transformed as she shifted her attention from being powerless to an active agent who honestly laid her oppression before God. When she returned to her family, she was not the same person who left. Hannah reversed the consequences of sin that God explained in Genesis 3:16.  She became the ezer, strong rescue, that was God’s original intent at creation. Genesis 2 describes God’s reaction to Adam’s situation after God asked him to govern the garden. God saw it was too much for man alone. So God created woman and called her an ezer, a strong rescue (Gen. 2:18). Interestingly, through Hannah’s transformation the situation in her family transformed. First Samuel 1:19 notes the change: now they all worshipped together as a family, Elkanah knew his wife, and God remembered her, giving her a child. 

Family leadership dynamics changed as well. Rather than submitting to Elkanah’s yearly trip to Shiloh, where Hannah had been abused year after year, Hannah defined the terms for herself and her child going forward. She informed Elkanah that she would remain home and raise Samuel until his time of weaning, which could have been anywhere between four to six years old. She would decide when to return to Shiloh, and when she did, she would dedicate her son to God’s service. Rather than Hannah’s assertiveness earning Elkanah’s rebuke, it instead earned her husband’s approval. Although Mosaic law allowed husbands to nullify their wives’ vows before God, Elkanah encouraged Hannah, saying, “Do what seems best to you; wait until you have weaned him, may the Lord establish your word”⁸ (1 Sam. 1:23a).

Child Abandonment or A New Future?

Hannah’s dedication of Samuel to the Lord and then leaving him at the temple with Eli looks harsh in our modern eyes. Some scholars claim that Hannah exploited Samuel to increase her own ranking in the family and then abandoned him.⁹ But Scripture provides evidence that Hannah maintained a close relationship with her son, sewing and bringing him clothes as he grew (1 Sam. 2:19). Scripture indicates that Samuel maintained a strong relationship with his family and clan from Ramah, for as an adult after completing a judicial circuit within Israel, “he would come come back to Ramah, for his home was there,” (1 Sam. 7:17a). Rather than abandonment, Hannah ensured her son’s future, independent and free from his older half-siblings. And based on the description of Peninnah’s war-like treatment of Hannah, that future may have been precarious. Unknowingly, Hannah’s actions to ensure Samuel’s future ensured that Israel too had a future.

In a beautiful hymn that begins 1 Samuel 2, Hannah describes the God she experienced, the one who rescues the abused and makes the barren woman fertile. And truly, she went on to have five more children. Like the songwriters Miriam and Deborah before her, Hannah explains that God sees, hears, and responds to the poor, the oppressed, and the downcast. The high and mighty oppressors will be brought down. Her song of hope testifies to her own experience, that the almighty God is on the side of the abused and that God transforms individuals, families, and nations. The tiny and threatened people of Israel recognized their own situation in her words, and her theology became the theology that set the standard for her son and the coming monarchy.

Notes

1. Bruce Birch, “The First and Second Books of Samuel: Introduction, Commentary, and Reflections,” The New Interpreters Bible: A Commentary in Twelve Volumes (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1998), 957.
2. Tracey Stringer, “Hannah: More Than a Mother,” Priscilla Papers 33, no. 1 (Winter 2019), 3.
3. Birch, “The First and Second Books of Samuel,” 975.
4. Yairah Amit, “Am I Not More Devoted to You than Ten Sons? (1 Samuel 1:8): Male and Female Interpretations,” in A Feminist Companion to Samuel and Kings, ed. A. Brenner (Sheffield: Sheffiled Academic, 1994), 68–76. Quoted by Birch, “The First and Second Books of Samuel,” 975.
5. John Peterson, Reading Women’s Stories: Female Characters in the Hebrew Bible (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2004), 44.
6. First wave Christian feminist, Katharine Bushnell makes a detailed study of the Hebrew word teshuqa commonly interpreted “desire” in Genesis 3:16, discovering that the earliest translations were “to turn towards” and more in keeping with the intent of the passage. I find her argument convincing. Katharine Bushnell, God’s Word for Women (Minneapolis: CBE International, 2003), 57–66.
7. HALOT, עָנִי ‘ani, 856.
8. Some translations say, “May the Lord establish his word” rather than “your word.” The different translations are due to differences in ancient texts.  The ancient Hebrew Masoretic Text reads “his,” but the Septuagint, Dead Sea Scrolls and Syriac read “your.”
9. Naomi Steinberg, “Children in the Hebrew Bible and the Case of Samuel from Personal Experience to Analysis,” Samuel, Kings and Chronicles, edited by Athalya Brenner-Idan and Archie C. C. Lee (Bloomsbury Publishing Place, 2016), 197. Proquest EBook Central. Accessed September 30, 2022. 

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by Kimberly Dickson

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Michal: The Political Strategist 

We meet Michal in 1 Samuel 14:49 when the narrator alerts us to Saul’s family composition: his wife, his three sons, and his two daughters with Michal being the youngest. Women are so rarely mentioned in family lines, that when they are, it cues the reader to stop and take note. When a detail like birth order is addressed, the biblical narrator is nearly shouting–remember, the least of these will be the most important! And Michal does not fail to disappoint. 

Young Love 

We get to know Michal later in 1 Samuel 18, in the euphoria of David becoming the next up-and-rising hero in Israel. Everyone loves David, from the most powerful men in Michal’s family—Saul and Jonathan—to the women in the streets singing adoring praises. Like the others, Michal fell in love. We can imagine a teenage girl in love with the nation’s new young, courageous, SINGLE, and good-looking military hero. Why wouldn’t she? Not only did her whole family love David but “all Israel and Judah loved David” (1 Sam. 18:16 NIV).  

Political Intrigue 

But, as the women sang David’s praises, Saul realized that David had the potential to usurp the throne, arousing his survival instinct.1 Samuel 18:8-9 reads, “Saul was very angry, for this saying displeased him. He said, ‘They have ascribed to David ten thousand; what more can he have but the kingdom? So, Saul eyed David from that day on.”   

As a reading audience, we get an insider’s look at Saul’s strategizing, and his central plan is to use his daughters as political chess pieces. First, he decides to give his oldest daughter, Merab, to David as a wife; with the explicit condition that he “be valiant for me and fight for the Lord’s battles. For Saul said to himself, ‘I will not raise a hand against him. Let the Philistines do that!” (1 Sam. 18:17). The political strategizing intensifies. David understands that Saul’s royal family far outranks his lowly family, meaning strings will be attached in such a marriage. So, he refuses saying, “Who am I, and what is my family or my clan in Israel, that I should become the king’s son-in-law?” (1 Sam. 18:18).  

But once the plan began to brew in Saul’s mind, it did not die. When Saul heard that his younger daughter, Michal, loved David, he was pleased. Again, he thought, “I will give her to him…so that she may be a snare to him and so that the hand of the Philistines may be against him” (1 Sam. 18:21).  And this time he addressed the first offer’s weakness; he gave David an explicit bride price—the foreskins of one hundred Philistines. And he manipulated David’s ego, having his servants whisper in David’s ear how much they loved him. Saul’s plan worked. “When the attendants told David these things, he was pleased to become the king’s son-in-law” (1 Sam. 18:26). 

A Woman’s Expected Loyalty 

If we step back from the story a bit and consider other Old Testament episodes, we begin to understand the political value Saul expects of his daughter. Delilah provides an early example of siding with her Philistine people against Samson. Jezebel provides a later example. Her sin amounted to remaining faithful to her foreign gods and people.¹ And Ruth is beloved because of her exceptional loyalty not to her own people and gods but to Naomi’s. In the Ancient Near East culture women remained loyal to their families and their power was not underestimated.² Like Delilah was a snare to Samson, Saul expected Michal to be a snare to David for Saul’s benefit. 

So, Saul concocted an elaborate plan, daring David to kill one hundred Philistines in close combat to earn his daughter’s hand, convinced it was a death trap. But Saul had met his match in David, a tried-and-true warrior, a successful strategist in his own right, with his own political savvy. Though we know that Michal loved David, Scripture never says that David loved Michal. No, David desired the marriage for political proximity, not love, and he knew he could easily procure the bride-price. As the text says, “David was well pleased to be the king’s son-in-law. Before the time had expired, David rose and went, along with his men, and killed one hundred of the Philistines” (1 Sam. 18:26-27). Not surprisingly, Saul’s plan backfired and it began to dawn on him that Michal could be his undoing. Michal was powerful, with proximity to the throne and a rearing in all things political. Saul “realized that the Lord was with David and that Saul’s daughter Michal loved him. So, Saul was still more afraid of David” (1 Sam. 18:28).  

A Courageous Strategist in Her Own Right 

True to Saul’s fears, the next episode reveals that Michal is as capable and strategic as any. No sooner does the narrator tell us that Saul sent guards around David’s house with plans to kill him in the morning than Michal reveals her insider’s knowledge, saying, “If you do not run for your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed” (1 Sam. 19:11). We already know that the palace servants love David. It takes little imagination to suspect how Michal was informed of Saul’s plans, likely directly from the guards sent to kill David.³ So, with her own political savvy, Michal planned, executed, and defended David’s escape. A skilled military leader, David recognizes Michal’s tactical brilliance and silently follows her plan. While David flees for his life, she stands courageously and selflessly, suffering the full consequences to come.⁴  

Protecting David by accusing him of abandonment and murder, Michal returned to the patriarchal “protection” of her father’s home. We learn in 1 Sam. 25:44 that Saul used his power to marry Michal off to Paltiel, cutting David off from any legitimate claim to the throne.⁵  

Michal Reveals the Ugly Side of Power 

The next time we meet Michal, she is no longer a lovesick teenager but a mature woman. Her father’s selfish act of marrying her off to another man, despite her love for David, effectively removed her from the political contest. Now, in another political act of posturing, David again uses Michal as a pawn by forcibly removing her from her husband’s home (2 Sam. 3:15-16), not because David loved her but because he paid the legal bride-price.⁶ Having finally found love with Paltiel, David rips her away only to settle a political score. 

We meet Michal one last time in 2 Samuel 6 when David is dancing in victory before the Ark of the Covenant as it enters Jerusalem. No longer blinded by the infatuation of her youth, “when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him” (verse 16). She confronts him saying, “how can the king of Israel distinguish himself today, going around half-naked in full view of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would.” (2 Sam. 6:20). Her accusation recalls Israel mocking her father prophesying, naked.⁷ Israelite law forbids nakedness in holy places (Ex. 20:26).⁸ David does not deny the allegations but flaunts them in his response to her, “I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor” (2 Sam. 6:22).  He can act as sexually undignified as he wants and no one will blame him.  In his mind, it is essentially a contest of winners and losers and David is on the winning side (2 Sam. 6:21). 

Abuse and the Future 

The scene is heartbreaking and recognizable to many women as they look back over their lives. With all their youthful enthusiasm, natural brilliance, life experience, and love they fully engage in the patriarchal structures of their youth. They sacrifice their families and often their own futures. But at some point, perhaps when they are taken out of the situation or something changes, they suddenly recognize the system in which they engaged.   

Michal’s courage remained with her to honestly confront David no matter the consequences. She was unable to play along any longer, and the consequences were severe. 2 Samuel 6:23 records David’s full rejection in the words, “and Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.” Many of us empathize with Michal, as we see this brilliant, courageous woman used as a chess piece in someone else’s game. 

Scripture preserves her story for a reason. This is a story of abuse. Saul and David exploited Michal’s power, courage, and tactical savviness. They recognized her God-given ezer, her power to save, and tried to use it for their own gain. Void of empathy and without regard for her future, they abused their power over her. Strikingly, the Spirit thought it was important that our hearts break as we empathize with her injustice beside her enormous potential. While these words point out the broken world in which we live, they point to the true Messiah who came to rescue us from this brokenness, to restore the world to a time when man and woman, together represented the image of God created for shared governance (Gen 1:26-30) not male dominance (Gen 3:16). 

Learn More 

Consider the many women in Scripture who took initiative to save others in this Mutuality article, Taking Initiative. 

Consider how women are protectors, like Michal and Abigail in Protectors or Protected? 

Consider the contrast between how some daughters like Michal are treated in The Delight of Daughters: A Theology of Daughterhood. 

See the end results of a theology that supports patriarchal marriage in A Theology of the Generations. 

Learn how to faithfully interpret and understand difficult biblical texts such as Michal in A Whole Bible Approach to Equality. 

Listen to experts talk about abuse and how to create healthy mixed gender partnerships in the Mutuality Matters podcast, Creating Safe and Thriving Mixed Gender Partnerships. 

Consider Michal’s situation and the spiritual structures that have not allowed us to interpret her situation as you read this article, The Unavoidable Link Between Patriarchal Theology and Spiritual Abuse. 

Notes

1. Robyn J. Whitaker, “Invoking Jezebel, Invoking Terror: The Threat of Sexual Violence in the Apocolaypse to John,” Terror in The Bible: Rhetoric, Gender, and Violence, ed. Monica Jyotsna Melanchthon and Robyn J. Whitaker, (Atlanta: SBL Press, 2021), 110. This is not an attempt to justify Jezebel’s behaviors but to note the Biblical pattern of women remaining loyal to their own foreign national gods and people, which many just as Whitaker have also noticed.
2. Linda L. Belleview, “Women Leaders in the Bible,” in Discovering Biblical Equality: Biblical, Theological, Cultural and Practical Perspectives, 3rd ed., ed. Ronald W. Pearce, Cynthia Long Westfall, and Christa L. McKirkland (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2021), 75. Belleview says, “though there appear to be more men than women in the political spotlight, it was not due to a lack of intelligence, temperament or political savvy. Nor is there any notion in the Old Testament that women leaders were inappropriate.”
3. Wilda C. Gafney, Womanist Midrash:A Reintroduction to the Women of the Torah and the Throne (Louisville: John Knox Press, 2017), 193. Gafney also suspects that Michal had insider sources.
4. David Jobling, 1 Samuel Berit Olam: Studies in Hebrew Narrative and Poetry, ed. David W. Cotter (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1998), 152. Jobling notes the difference between Michal and David’s actions too, stating, “Michal’s whirlwind of activity…is a convincing enactment of her love for David. David, by contrast, has a passive role (the only thing we see he actively does is run away v.12).”
5. Bruce Birch, “The First and Second Books of Samuel: Introduction, Commentary, and Reflections,” The New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume II (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1998), 1224. Birch notes that “Saul hoped to remove any claim by David on kinship to the house of Saul that might strengthen Davidic claims on the throne.”
6. White, “Michal the Misinterpreted,” 458. See also Wilda C. Gafney, Womanist Midrash: A Reintroduction to the Women of the Torah and the Throne (Louisville: John Knox Press, 2017), 194; Birch, “The First and Second Books of Samuel,” 1224; and Jobling, 1 Samuel, 159. White notes the many Old Testament scholars who recognize the legal language of David’s negotiations that demonstrate no emotional appeal to have back his wife who he loves and saved his life.
7. Everett Fox, The Early Prophets: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings: A New Translation with Introductions, Commentary, and Notes (New York: Schocken Books, 2014) 450. Fox suggests that David’s “near nakedness reminds her of her father’s prophetic moments, which caused people to whisper (see 1 Sam. 19:24).”
8. White, “Michal Misinterpreted,” 460-461; Fox, The Early Prophets, 450. Both Fox and White note the sexual undertones of this passage, and White argues that Michal is justified in protecting her sexual marriage rights jealously. Rather than David honoring the woman who saved his life and is trying again to save his reputation, he taunts her and no one will blame him.
9. Tykva Frymer-Kensky, Reading Women of the Bible: A New Interpretation of Their Stories, (New York: Schocken Books, 2002), 146.  See also Gafney, Womanist Midrash, 196. As noted in the footnote above regarding White, many interpreters see David flaunting his sexual promiscuousness before Michal.  Wilda Gafney says, “In other words, ‘I have yet to begin to debase myself. I’ll do so with whomever I choose-anyone but you-. And the-slaves of slaves-those girls are just my speed.  No matter what I do, they’ll cheer me on, and they’ll like it.”

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by Kimberly Dickson

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Abigail: Businesswoman, Diplomat, Peacemaker, Prophet

Stuck Between Two Extremes

Many of us have read the story of Abigail, Nabal, and David in 1 Samuel 25 so many times that we fail to appreciate the precarious situation in which Abigail finds herself. She is caught between two powerful systems threatening both her life and those of her household.

Nabal’s power stems from his expansive property, agriculture, and wealth. The text describes him partying like a king (1 Sam. 25:36). Simply put, he represents established power. To Nabal, David represents a rebellious servant fleeing from his master and running a criminal protection racket.¹ Nabal asks, “Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days. Why should I take my bread and water and the meat I have slaughtered from my shearers, and give to men coming from who knows where?” (1 Sam. 25:10-11).

Meanwhile, David’s power comes from violence, perfected in his military background and fed by desperation. We meet him on the run, hiding in a cave surrounded by indebted and desperate men. When he doesn’t get his way with Nabal, the narrator tells us of his crude intentions to kill “[every] one who pisses against the wall” (1 Sam. 25:22 Everett Fox).² To David, Nabal represents a wealthy potential patron who could care for him and his men.

Nabal treats David as we treat terrorists, refusing to negotiate, and David takes up the role, marching on his plantation to kill all the men. Abigail and the rest of the household are caught in the middle.

Nabal: An Abusive Drunk

Countless women recognize their own circumstances in Abigail. From the outside, Abigail has it all. She is beautiful, intelligent, and married to a very wealthy man. She had her own servants, the loyalty of her husband’s staff, and unquestioned access to all the household abundance. But beneath this wealth, Abigail is navigating a marriage to a drunk who is likely abusive.

After her peacemaking mission to David, she comes home and finds her husband drunk and partying, so she decides not to tell him about it until the morning, “when Nabal was sober” (1 Sam. 25:36–37). Those raised by or married to alcoholics recognize Abigail’s choice to wait until the alcohol has worn off. The fact that she does not approach him that night speaks to her years of bitter experience with his drunkenness that taught her when to avoid her husband in her own home.³

The text further suggests an abusive side to Nabal. Both his servants and Abigail describe him using the phrase “son of Belial,” often translated into English as wicked or worthless (1 Sam. 25:17, 25). The Old Testament repeatedly uses this phrase to describe men who disregard God’s law, specifically in the context of egregious abuse, including the following:

• The men in Sodom who demanded to rape Lot’s angelic visitors in Genesis 19
• The men in Gibeah who raped the Levite’s concubine all night in Judges 19
• Eli’s sons who raped the military women at the entrance to the tent of meeting in 1 Samuel 2⁴

Who Really Runs the Business?

Beyond being an abusive drunk, the text describes Nabal as a greedy fool to whom his servants don’t even defer for important business matters. Instead of telling Nabal about David’s protection of Nabal’s flocks from banditry and wild animals, they tell Abigail, explaining that their master “is such a wicked man [son of Belial] that no one can talk to him” (1 Sam. 25:17b).

This raises the question of Nabal’s business skills. Did he did not recognize how well his flocks fared that year compared to years past? Did he did not question his shepherds so that he could replicate their strategies in the coming years? And later, when Abigail tells him of the disaster she averted, rather than appreciate her business savvy, he goes into shock and dies ten days later. How could he be so wealthy and have no business instinct? Many business leaders, particularly women, will recognize the answer hidden in the text. Nabal was just the front. Abigail was the businesswoman.

First Samuel 25 is full of clues that point to Abigail’s business smarts. The servants went to her and told her all that happened, and then they said, “Now think it over and see what you can do” (v. 17a). She quickly understands David’s threat. She has unquestioned access and authority to marshal the necessary resources to stave off disaster. And her own words to David provide the final clue, “Please pay no attention, my lord, to that wicked man Nabal. He is just like his name—his name means Fool, and folly goes with him. And as for me, your servant, I did not see the men my lord sent” (1 Sam. 25:25). David’s men had gone to the wrong person, the man, when in fact a woman—Abigail—ran the business. Oh, how so many of us can relate!

David: A Man of Violence

Unlike Nabal, David was not known as a drunk or a fool. No, he was a brilliant strategist. But as a man of war, violence was his language and an issue that surrounded him his entire life. In fact, this chapter is sandwiched between two chapters of David being tempted to kill Saul, God’s anointed, and his own violent streak scared him.⁵ But now, faced with a rich, established man who was not anointed by God, David had no misgivings about violence. First Samuel 25:21–22 reveals David’s brooding about the vengeance he would exact, “It’s been useless­—all my watching over this fellow’s property in the wilderness so that nothing of his was missing. He has paid me back evil for good. May God deal with David, be it ever so severely, if by morning I leave alive one male of all who belong to him!”

David’s violent streak is barely controlled against Saul, and later we see it unleashed against Bathsheba and Uriah. But in this instance, Abigail intervenes, saving David from himself.

Abigail: A Skilled Diplomat in the Art of Peacemaking

David met his strategic match in Abigail, a successful businesswoman who had navigated the world of abusive men. As Birch says, “If David was quick to take action for violence, Abigail matches his decisiveness in the effort to avoid violence.”⁶ Taking executive action, she quickly loads donkeys with a feast of supplies for David’s men.

Like her clever ancestor Jacob who anticipated meeting Esau’s vengeance, Abigail sent the supplies ahead to appease and distract David’s anger, softening him before they met face-to-face. Rather than sending a mediator in her place, she courageously met David and foreshadowed Jesus by taking her husband’s blame upon herself to save him and her entire household.⁷ As a peacemaker she employed the diplomatic skills women have used to persuade men for eons, convincing David that she was on his side.⁸

Thus Abigail convinced David to save himself from the stain of bloodguilt that would impede his path to the throne. Abigail also anticipated the Davidic Covenant in 2 Samuel 7 by prophesying that “the Lord your God will certainly make a lasting dynasty for my lord, because you fight the Lord’s battles” (1 Sam. 25:28a).⁹ In so doing Abigail saved not just herself and her household, but David’s future and the future of Israel!

Disaster Averted!

Just as David heeded his first wife Michal’s strategic plan to save his life, David listens to Abigail and recognizes God speaking through her, saying, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me. May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself with my own hands” (1 Sam. 25:32–33).

He then admits what Abigail and anyone who has experienced abuse knows, violence affects more than the intended target. Though David’s explicit plan was to take out the men, he knows there would have been collateral damage, saying, “Otherwise, as surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, who has kept me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me . . .” (1 Sam. 25:34).

Though Abigail saves her household from destruction, she is left widowed. Her husband cannot absorb the magnitude of what has happened and dies of shock. When David hears that she has been widowed, he honors her request and remembers her, asking for her hand in marriage (1 Sam. 25:39). Through her incredible skill, Abigail not only saves her household’s lives and David’s reputation, she also secures her own future in the royal household.

Learn More

Abigail Can Teach Us How to Let God’s Love and Wisdom Flow Through Us by Madeline Steele Johnson

Abigail: Old Testament Type-of-Christ by Heather Celoria

Who’s Who? Biblical Models of Women in Leadership by Grace Ying May

Taking Initiative by Karen L. H. Shaw

Notes

1. Tikva Frymer-Kensky, Reading the Women of the Bible: A New Interpretation of their Stories (New York: Schocken Books, 2002), 317. See also Bruce Birch, “The First and Second Books of Samuel: Introduction, Commentary, and Reflections,” in The New Interpeter’s Bible, Volume Two (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1998), 1166. See also Jared Byas and Peter Enns, “Joel Baden-The Historical David: The Bible for Normal People,” produced by B4NP Podcast, Bible for Normal People, October 3, 2022. This is not an original idea. Many scholars note that David’s behavior, and especially his willingness to kill all of the men in Nabal’s household for not “paying up” for services Nabal had no knowledge or choice in securing, is very reminiscent of protection rackets.
2. Everett Fox, The Early Prophets: Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings, A New Translation with Introductions, Commentary and Notes (New York: Schocken Books, 2014), 400. Fox preserves the literal Hebrew in this English translation, which can also be found in old translations like the KJV. Our modern English translations tend to gentrify David’s language. Fox points out that this language is playing off the insult of dogs—Nabal is a Calebite, a word closely associated with the insulting word “dog,” who pisses on the wall. This is earthy language of military men, not foreign to our own world today.
3. Wilda Gafney, Womanist Midrash: A Reintroduction to the Women of the Torah and the Throne, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2017), 206. Gafney speaks to the truth that children and spouses of drunks know how to avoid drunken people in their home.
4. Kimberly Dickson’s translation. The Hebrew word describing these women is zaviot. Scholars agree that this word has a strong military meaning and describes God as the Lord of Hosts (zaviot), which as Birch says, “emphasizes the God who fights as a warrior for Israel.” Birch, “The First and Second Books of Samuel,” 1087. Considering the strong military meaning of this word, Dickson concludes that patriarchal interpretations are at the root of this translation of “serving” in the context of women at the tent of meeting. If serving was the author’s intention, there is a different common and appropriate word for service.
5. Birch, “The First and Second Books of Samuel,” 1166. Birch’s commentary on David’s rise and kingship returns again and again to the issue of David’s violent streak, how it scared him in the case of Saul, how Abigail helped him control it, and how it eventually got the best of him in the case of Bathsheba and Uriah.
6. Birch, “The First and Second Books of Samuel,” 1167.
7. Heather Celoria, “Abigail: Old Testament Type-of-Christ,” Mutuality, July 12, 2012.
8. Frymer-Kensky, Reading the Women of the Bible, 319–320.
9. Frymer-Kensky, Reading the Women of the Bible, 321. Birch, “The First and Second Books of Samuel,” 1168.

En Español

by Kimberly Dickson

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Hulda: Josiah’s Court Prophet

Prophets speak on behalf of God to the people, especially to Israel’s leaders. During King Josiah’s reign Huldah served as a court prophet. When the book of the Law was found (probably Deuteronomy), the high priest Hilkiah turned to Huldah to discern God’s voice. Hulda’s prophecy was delivered to the highest-ranking civic and religious leaders in Israel. Though both Jeremiah and Zephaniah were prophets at the time, these leaders turned to Hulda instead.

Hulda’s Prophechy

Hulda validated the authenticity of The Book of the Law and the curses it contained against Israel for straying from God’s laws. She affirmed the curses were applicable to Israel at that moment, as Israel was engaged in horrific idol worship. Amongst the horrors, women were prostituted in the temple, and children were burned alive as sacrifices to Molech. Hulda’s prophecy came at a turning point in Israel’s history, marking the end of Israel’s occupation of the land.

Israel’s Greatest and Longest Revival

When King Josiah and his court heard Hulda’s powerful message, they responded in earnest. They wiped out all traces of idol worship in the nation by smashing and grinding the idols into powder so they could not be used again. King Josiah’s humble response to Hulda’s preaching and leadership led to Israel’s greatest revival and God’s personal message to King Josiah, “Your eyes will not see the evil which I am bringing on this place.” God’s retribution would be delayed (2 Kgs. 22:8–20 and 2 Chr. 34:14–33).

To learn more, see: “Women Prophets in the Old Testament” by Christine Marchetti in Priscilla Papers.

What is this Woman Doing Preaching in My Bible?” by Sara Ronnevik in Mutuality, October 13, 2014. 

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Esther, the Earliest Silence Breaker,” by Mimi Haddad,

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The story of Esther demonstrates how authentic leadership is forged in intimacy with God and manifest in attention to the defenseless. Completing what Vashti began, Esther risks all for good, breaking the silence to expose her husband’s abusive regime moving toward a genocide. As the story unfolds, so do the contrasts between good and evil, between righteous and corrupt leadership. With their thirst for control and exploitation, Haman and Xerxes provide a stark contrast to the bold and holy leadership of Queen Esther.

A lust for power—rooted in narcissism—swallows Haman whole. Yet equally depraved is King Xerxes! He promotes Haman to chief of staff despite his lack of accomplishments or his interest in the affairs of Susa or its people. Some commentators also believe that Haman may have been part of a plot to assassinate the King, averted only through the loyalty of Esther and Mordecai. Even so, Xerxes honors Haman, decreeing that all must kneel in homage. Mordecai refuses—a move that ignites Haman’s vindictiveness. So, Haman plots to kill Mordecai and massacre the Jews. Appealing to Xerxes’ greed, Haman asks to slaughter the Jews. Without a second thought, Xerxes agrees, and both head off to get drunk.

Abdicating his responsibilities to corrupt officials, Xerxes is inaccessible and derelict as a leader. More interested in pleasure than serving the needs of his people, his indecisiveness and self-indulgence create a leadership vacuum, filled initially by Haman but ultimately by Esther—a genuine leader, a woman, and a Jew.

Unlike the inaccessible Xerxes, Queen Esther is always on hand, attentive to the vulnerable, and ready to act. She is available intellectually and maneuvers within an honor/shame culture to secure safety for the Jews. Esther is especially attentive spiritually. While Xerxes wallows in wine and women, Esther fasts and prays.

Esther embodies what her husband cannot—leadership that defends the vulnerable. Her husband signs away their lives, but Esther becomes their deliverer. She gives her people a voice, breaking the silence on Haman’s plot and delivering the Jews from slaughter. Unlike Haman, who is bent on destroying life, Esther is ready to give her life to save others. While Haman believes he controls his destiny and that of his enemies, Esther is humble and contrite. For her, the future is unclear, but she is ready to die if necessary.

Esther’s availability, self-sacrifice, humility, and holy wisdom make her one of the great leaders in Scripture. What we see in Esther is found supremely in our savior Christ—who delivered us from our worst enemies–sin and death. Because of Christ we enter a complete rest, just as the Jews entered peace and rest from their enemies because of Esther. In this way, Esther foreshadows our complete deliverance in Christ.

A woman leader, representing a hated minority, Esther responded to God’s call, risking her life to break the silence and stand against evil and abusive power. In a patriarchal culture like Susa, God chose a woman as a deliverer. Scripture honors Esther (9:29) as a woman in full authority. Let’s honor Esther by imitating her leadership—characterized by prayer, courage, and self-sacrifice on behalf of despised outsiders oppressed by the powerful. The name “Esther” means “star.” May we—like Esther—shine God’s light on injustice, expose oppression, and break the silence on abuse wherever we find it.

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To learn more, see: “More Than a Pretty Face,” by Emmaline Kempf.

Part 2, “More Than a Beautiful Body: Star Wars, Beauty Standards, and the Imago Dei,” by Emmaline Kempf.

“Power Brokers: Vashti, Mordecai, and Esther,” by Young Lee Hertig.

Listen to Young Lee Hertig’s workshop on her chapter in Mirrored Reflections: Reframing Biblical Characters regarding Power Brokers: Vashti, Mordecai and Esther, titled “Women Leaders Navigate the Patriarchal Systems of Family and Church: Young Lee Hertig.”

“Esther: When God Calls for Disobedience,” by Allison Quient.

“Character Counts,” by Mimi Haddad.

“Calling all Deborahs, Esthers and Junias” by Grace Medina.