Women in the Bible For Dummies E-Book

John Trigilio

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Seitenzahl: 592

Beschreibung

Comprehensive interfaith coverage of the important female figures This friendly, approachable guide introduces readers to the famous and infamous women of Scripture, describing in everyday language the contributions these women made in their time and ours. From Eve, Sarah, and Esther to Mary and Mary Magdalene, it discusses well-known women of both the Old and New Testaments, examining their role in Biblical narratives, their place in the Jewish and Christian faiths, and the lessons their stories impart to women today.

Leseprobe

Women in the Bible For Dummies

by Rev. John Trigilio Jr., PhD, ThD, and Rev. Kenneth Brighenti, PhD

Women in the Bible For Dummies®

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Published simultaneously in Canada

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ISBN-13: 9780764584756

ISBN-10: 0764584758

Manufactured in the United States of America

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About the Authors

Rev. John Trigilio, Jr., PhD, ThD, a native of Erie, Pennsylvania, serves as the pastor of Our Lady of Good Counsel (Marysville, Pennsylvania) and St. Bernadette Catholic Churches (Duncannon, Pennsylvania). He is the president of the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy and executive editor of its quarterly journal, Sapientia magazine. Father Trigilio is a co-host of two weekly TV series on the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN): Web of Faith and Council of Faith. He also serves as a theological consultant and online spiritual advisor for EWTN. He’s been listed in Who’s Who in America in 1993 and Who’s Who in Religion in 1999 and is a member of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) in 1988.

Rev. Kenneth Brighenti, PhD, a native of New Britain, Connecticut, serves as pastor of St. Ann Catholic Church (Raritan, New Jersey). He is the managing editor of Sapientia magazine, a member of the board of directors for the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy, and co-host of Council of Faith, a weekly TV series on EWTN. Father Brighenti also served as a U.S. Naval Reserve Chaplain for ten years and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Metuchen (New Jersey) in 1988. He and Father Trigilio co-authored Catholicism For Dummies (2003) and The Everything Bible Book (2004).

Dedication

This book is dedicated to the important women of our lives who greatly influenced us and our faith:

Reverend Mother Angelica, PCPA, founder of Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) and Abbess of the Monastery of Our Lady of the Angels. She has been a shining example of a strong woman of faith.

In particular we dedicate this book on the women of Scripture to our two beloved and dear mothers:

Elizabeth Trigilio and Norma Brighenti, whose great love and deep faith have been a great source of comfort and inspiration to us as their sons.

And finally, we dedicate this work on biblical women to the star of scripture, the Blessed Virgin Mary, mother of Christ and mother of the Church.

In memory of the Most Rev. Nicholas Carmen Dattilo, D.D. (1932–2004), former bishop of the Diocese of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and the Most Rev. Vincent de Paul Breen, D.D. (1936–2003), former bishop of the Diocese of Metuchen, New Jersey.

Authors’ Acknowledgments

Father Brighenti and Father Trigilio are grateful for the assistance, guidance, and advice we received from:

Rev. Dr. Robert J. Levis (Gannon University), Rev. James M. Cafone (Seton Hall University), Jennifer Rung, the Poor Clare Nuns of Perpetual Adoration (Hanceville, Alabama), the Religious Teachers Filippini (New Jersey), the Discalced Carmelite Nuns (Erie, Pennsylvania), and the Dominican Nuns of the Perpetual Rosary (Lancaster, Pennsylvania) for their prayers and support.

We also wish to thank our bishops, the Most Rev. Kevin C. Rhoades, DD, STL, JCL (Bishop of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania), and the Most Rev. Paul Gregory Bootkoski, DD (Bishop of Metuchen, New Jersey) and the people of our parishes where we serve as pastor (St. Ann, Our Lady of Good Counsel, and St. Bernadette) for their prayerful support.

Finally, a special word of appreciation to His Holiness Pope John Paul II for his example, teaching, and leadership.

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Contents

Title

Introduction

Part I : Connecting with the Women of Ancient History

Chapter 1: Women of the Bible at a Glance

Unifying Man and Woman

Getting to Know the Women

Translating the Stories in Terms of Today

Chapter 2: Bible Basics: Delving into History, Context, and Translation

The History of the Bible

Translating Ancient Languages: Interpreters Needed!

Putting the Bible’s References to Women in Perspective

Chapter 3: Discerning the Roles of Women

Studying the Contrasts: Biblical Viewpoints on Women

Jewish Perspective on Women

Christian Perspective on Women

Evolving Equality

Chapter 4: Judges, Prophetesses, and One Smart Lady

Judge Judy She’s Not: Deborah

On Behalf of the Lord: Prophetesses

You Can Learn a Lot from Lady Wisdom

Part II : The Big Six: The Most Famous Women of the Bible

Chapter 5: And Then There Was Woman: Eve

Examining the Two Stories of Creation

Oops, I Probably Shouldn’t Have Done That

Mother of All

The Three Faces of Eve

Chapter 6: A Famous Mom: Mary, the Mother of Jesus

The Life and Times of Mary

The Importance of Mary

Chapter 7: Befriending Jesus: Mary Magdalene

What the Bible Says about Her

What Folks Speculate about Her

Controversial References to Mary

Chapter 8: Three Women, Three Books: Ruth, Judith, and Esther

Meeting Ruth

Getting to Know Judith

Esther: Becoming a Queen

Part III : Influencing Lives, Shaping History: Women of Faith and Power

Chapter 9: Generating a Dynasty: The Matriarchs

Strong-Willed Sarah: Wife of Abraham

Wily Rebekah: Wife of Isaac

Rachel and Leah: Wives of Jacob

Tough Tamar: Mother of Perez

Chapter 10: Spawning a Kingdom: Women of the Hebrew Nation

Triumphant Jochebed: Mother of Moses

Fearless Miriam: Sister of Moses

Virtuous Zipporah: Wife of Moses

Helpful Rahab: A Harlot Harbors Fugitives

Ruling by Example: Judge Deborah

Chapter 11: Staying Faithful through Adversity

Traveling Naomi: Staying Strong Despite Hardship

Barren Hannah: Praying for a Baby

Devout Rizpah: A Mother Grieves

Steadfast Susanna: Asking God for Help

Cursed Sarah: A Widow’s Stigma

Chapter 12: Ruling (and Royal) Women of the Bible

From Princess to Queen: Michal

Quick-Thinking Abigail: A Wife Saves Her Husband

Intelligent and Independent: The Queen of Sheba

Athaliah: The Ice Queen

Chapter 13: Getting to Know the Gals of the Gospel

Elizabeth: Mother of John the Baptist

Martha and Mary: Sisters of Lazarus

Mary: Mother of James and Joses

Mary: Mother of John Mark

A Chance Meeting with Jesus: The Syro-Phoenician Woman

Spiritual Rebirth: The Samaritan Woman at the Well

Chapter 14: Church Ladies: Women of the New Testament

Sinful Sapphira: Putting Appearances First

Devout Dorcas (Tabitha): Doing Good for Others

Self-Made Lydia

Pious Priscilla

Phoebe (Phebe): A Trustworthy Messenger

Drusilla and Bernice: Spoiled Sisters

Eunice and Lois: Fostering Faith

Part IV : Women of Public Debate . . . or Disdain

Chapter 15: Hiding in Obscurity: Important Yet Overlooked Women

Mothering Ishmael: Sarah’s Handmaid, Hagar

Looking Back: The Demise of Lot’s Wife

Dinah’s Dismay: The Daughter of Jacob and Leah

Plotting Against Joseph: Potiphar’s Wife

Heeding Advice from a Prophetess: Huldah

Chapter 16: Getting Wise to the Connivers: Biblical Femme Fatales

Double Agent Delilah: Sapping Sampson’s Strength

Bathing Bathsheba: King David’s Secret Lover

Witch of Endor: Summoning the Dead

Infamous Jezebel: Cunning and Unholy

Old Habits Are Hard to Break: Gomer

Chapter 17: Causing Controversy: Intriguing Biblical Women

Vengeful Herodias and Her Dancing Daughter, Salome

Speaking Out: Pilate’s Wife

The Enigmatic Mother-in-Law of Simon Peter

Part V : The Nameless: Wives, Mothers, Daughters, and Widows

Chapter 18: Walking the Walk: The Wives

Cain’s Wife: Mystery Woman

Noah’s Wife: Faithful in the Flood

Judah’s Wife: Famous for Her Death

Manoah’s Wife: Obeying an Angel

Samson’s Wife: The Answer to a Riddle

Solomon’s Wives: A Kingdom’s Downfall

Jeroboam’s Wife: Suffering for Her Spouse’s Sins

Job’s Wife: Giving Up on God

Ezekiel’s Wife: A Symbol of the Temple

Chapter 19: Mothering Worth Mentioning

Material Minded: Sisera’s Mother

Falsely Religious: Micah’s Mother

Morally Influential: The Woman of Tekoa

Conflicted: The Two Mothers and King Solomon

Voice of Reason: Belshazzar’s Mother

Chapter 20: Darling Daughters of the Bible

Meeting the Daughters of the Old Testament

Looking at the Daughters of the New Testament

Chapter 21: Widows and Other Women without Names

Understanding the Culture of Widows

Meeting the Widows

Nameless but Significant Women

Part VI : The Part of Tens

Chapter 22: Ten Most Misunderstood Women of the Bible

Mary Magdalene — Married?

Sultry Salome?

Ruthless Rebekah?

Tricky Tamar

Bathing Bathsheba

Misunderstood Miriam

Zealous Zipporah

Risqué Rahab

Hagar — An Innocent Victim?

Judith: Battling the Stereotype

Chapter 23: Ten Most Famous Women of the Bible in Art

Judith

Delilah

Salome (and Her Mother, Herodias)

Esther

Bathsheba

Queen of Sheba

Martha and Mary

Mary Magdalene

Eve

Virgin Mary

Chapter 24: Ten Most Influential Women of the Bible

Eve

Sarah

Rebekah

Tamar

Bathsheba

Miriam

Zipporah

Rahab

Hagar

Virgin Mary

Appendix: Alphabetical List of Women in the Bible

Part I

Connecting with the Women of Ancient History

In this part . . .

This part explains why we wrote a book about women in the Bible and why you may find it interesting, informative, and enjoyable to read about these ladies of scripture. In this part, we also discuss some important things you should know in order to appreciate the context as well as the content of what the Bible has to say regarding women. You see the background of how the Bible came to be, what makes it such a special book, and how women play a part in what is written on its pages. We also describe the religious, social, and cultural viewpoints on women during the time of the Bible and today and shed some insight on the roles of the only female Judge in the Bible, the prophetesses, and Lady Wisdom.

Introduction

T he Bible has been and continues to be one of the oldest and longest bestselling books in the history of humankind. Within the pages of this epic piece of literature, and what believers consider to be the inspired and revealed Word of God, are the fascinating stories of human beings on their journey of faith. Women play an important and vital part — not only in salvation history itself but also in the journey of faith.

Women in the Bible are prominent and obscure: the Bible mentions women by name, by title, by familial relationship (wife, mother, daughter, widow), and sometimes just by geographical location. Famous women like Eve (the first woman), Sarah (wife of Abraham), Mary Magdalene (follower of Jesus), and Mary of Nazareth (mother of Jesus) are discussed, but so are lesser known women like Judith, Dinah, Jochebed, Huldah, Dorcas, and Lydia.

About This Book

Although it’s not a substitute or replacement for the Bible, this book serves as an introduction for those who may never have read the Bible, or it can be a help for those studying the Bible. If we’re lucky, it can also serve as an eyeopener to some who never realized how many or how vital women have been in scripture. Some of these women may inspire you. Some may impress you. Some may just make good reading. Many questions, mysteries, and unknowns remain about several of these women. We may not answer every question, but that’s because the Bible often doesn’t give all the details. Unlike mystery novels in which the mystery is resolved at the end, the Bible usually unveils more mysteries and unanswered questions every time you read it.

What You’re Not to Read

Well, maybe you shouldn’t take it to that extreme, but we should let you in on a couple of things to know about this book:

Sidebars contain information that you don’t have to read to understand the Bible or the women mentioned in it. They serve as asides, anecdotes, or extended examples of what we discuss in the regular text.

Order doesn’t matter. That being said, you can read anything you want without hurting our feelings. Feel free to skip around. We use copious cross-references to help you understand anything you may have skipped over.

Foolish Assumptions

In writing this book, we made some assumptions about you. Want to know what they are?

You want to know something about the women who are mentioned in the Bible, whether you’re a woman or a man.

You’re curious about what the Bible has to say about women or how it describes women.

You’ve heard or seen some of the names of these women in the Bible before — maybe you’ve even read about them in another book — but you want to know how much of what you know or have read is actually from the Bible, and how much is fiction.

You want to know the actual stories about these ladies in easy-to-readand-understand formats.

How This Book Is Organized

We’ve intentionally written this book in such a way that you can jump into it at any point and just go. You can read straight through, cover to cover, from Chapter 1 to Chapter 24, or you can go directly to the section that interests you. Here’s a brief summary of our organization.

Part I: Connecting with the Women of Ancient History

This part gives a brief background on the origin, history, and development of the Bible; the biblical, religious, social, and cultural roles and perspectives on women in general; and the impact of language, gender, and ideology on how women are treated. Because the Bible was written over a period of many centuries and by people influenced by various philosophies, cultures, and societies, this part also looks at how those factors affected what was written, what was intended, and how it is understood today.

Part II: The Big Six: The Most Famous Women of the Bible

This section begins our actual look at the women mentioned in the Bible, and we discuss the six most famous for starters. Eve, the first woman; the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus of Nazareth; and Mary Magdalene, follower of Jesus, are the starting lineup here. We also discuss the only three women to have a book of the Bible named after them: Ruth, Judith, and Esther.

Part III: Influencing Lives, Shaping History: Women of Faith and Power

This part deals with the women who were the movers and shakers of their time. We look at the matriarchs who helped shape the foundation of the Hebrew people, the women during the times of slavery and persecution, the powerful and influential women who helped establish the Hebrew kingdom (particularly those women who ruled), and the women who knew and followed Jesus, as well as the women who helped the early Christian church get off the ground.

Part IV: Women of Public Debate . . . or Disdain

This part looks at the obscure, the intriguing, and the scheming women of the Bible. Their motives may not have been known, but what they said and/or did as recorded in the Bible is examined.

Part V: The Nameless: Wives, Mothers, Daughters, and Widows

This part zeroes in on the women of scripture who have no name. They’re merely identified by their familial relationship (wife, mother, daughter, or widow), their location (the town or region they are from), or their situation (physical or spiritual health).

Part VI: The Part of Tens

Here’s the fun part. We give you quick overviews of the most misunderstood women of the Bible, the most famous women of the Bible in art, and the most influential women of the Bible.

Appendix

Here we list the women in the Bible — even the ones we did not discuss in depth — alphabetically and with their corresponding biblical citation.

Icons Used in This Book

Throughout this book, we guide you toward important points by using the following icons:

Next to this icon, you find information that’s good to keep in mind. This is just stuff we think is important to remember.

Lots of people have lots of different opinions about the Bible’s stories. We use this icon to point out many of the points about which people disagree.

This icon signals that we’re going to delve a little deeper than usual into an explanation or definition. We don’t mean to suggest the information is too difficult to understand — just a little more detailed.

“Exactly!” That’s what you’ll think when you read this icon’s info — because it quotes exactly what the Bible says about a woman or an event.

Where to Go from Here

Women in the Bible For Dummies is like an appetizer. You can get a taste of the women who are mentioned in the Bible, what they said or did, and maybe what impact they had. We recommend that you have a Bible of your choosing nearby as you read just in case you want to look up what the scripture says about these women. Otherwise, jump right in.

Chapter 1

Women of the Bible at a Glance

In This Chapter

Understanding God’s wish for unity of the sexes

Becoming acquainted with women and biblical culture

Turning to biblical women as good examples

T he Bible contains many more stories of men than of women . . . and in much greater detail. Although most of you probably know the stories of biblical men — Adam, Moses, Noah, Jesus, and Peter, to name several — many biblical women remain mysteries. Yet women play critical roles in the Bible and in salvation history. Some are famous, and others are unknown; some are powerful, and others are powerless. Like their biblical male counterparts, some women used their gifts and abilities for good, and some for evil. But no matter what their individual personalities and contributions, their stories are often crucial to understanding salvation history. They also provide a multitude of examples for readers today. From the original woman on earth (Eve) described in the first book of the Bible to the “woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet” (Revelation 12:1) mentioned in the last book, we

Unifying Man and Woman

The best-selling book of all time isn’t some John Grisham thriller. It’s the Bible. But like any Grisham novel, the Bible is also chock-full of drama and excitement. Yes, the Bible has its fair share of adultery; it has sin, and it even tells many tales of love, romance, and kindness. The Bible has it all, and its importance throughout history can’t be underestimated. Many world religions regard it as the inspired, inerrant, and revealed Word of God.

The Good Book, as it’s often called, describes the words and deeds of the good, the bad, and the uglyof our species in their relationships with the Almighty and with each other. These stories and people cross every line — gender, race, class, ethnicity, age, and more. There is no good gender, class, or other group portrayed in the Bible, and on the flip side, there’s no “bad” group, either. Even the Bible’s greatest heroes are portrayed as real — and flawed — human beings.

The bigger picture in Genesis

The Bible tries to teach unity within diversity. Just as every man and woman is a unity of body and soul, and human nature is a unity of intellect and will, humankind is both male and female. Men and women are not inherently rivals, one against the other. According to Christian and Jewish theology, it was the devil (whose name means “adversary”) who tempted Adam and Eve to commit sin, an action that brought disunity into the human equation. The Bible teaches that grace unites and sin divides.

This unity is shown in two passages in Genesis. Genesis shows that both genders are equally human and are equally made in the image and likeness of God.

Genesis 1

“So God created humankind in his image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27). This key passage from the first chapter of the first book of the Bible underscores the idea that both men and women are made in the image of God and that both genders together reflect the divine. Though the masculine pronoun is often used to describe God (he, his, and him), it isn’t because men more resemble the Almighty than women do. (See Chapter 2 for more on translating what the Bible says.)

Because the scriptures also reveal the idea of God as both Father as well as Creator, the masculine is used in the same way we use the feminine to speak of mother earth (terra mater in Latin) or holy mother church. Yet, theologians point out that even the notion of God as Father is not to say that God is male. They say God is a spirit — pure spirit to be exact — and therefore has no gender in terms of divinity. Human beings, on the other hand, are either male or female, while at the same time both share the same human nature. Interestingly, though, the Bible does describe wisdom as if speaking of a woman by using the feminine pronoun (see Chapter 4 for more about Lady Wisdom).

Because of the human need to make God approachable, accessible, and lovable, people use a personal pronoun to describe him. Although the neutral “it” could be used to refer to God, that word sounds cold, unemotional, and disrespectful. Bible versions use “he” in reference to God, but that’s not meant to demean or diminish women or femininity, because God made both “male and female” in his own image and likeness.

Cooperation, rather than competition, between the sexes is encouraged because both were created in God’s image. Through the creation stories in Genesis, the Bible seeks to show that differences between men and women can be complementary and not necessarily adversarial or contradictory. For example, while there is a difference between how God created Adam (from the dust of the earth) and how he created Eve (from the rib of Adam), both are said to have been made in the image and likeness of God. Both father and mother are to be equally honored, as mandated in the Ten Commandments. Murdering a man or a woman incurs the same guilt and punishment.

Genesis 2

“Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). Whereas Genesis 1:27 (see the preceding section) speaks of male and female beings made in the divine image, this quote now speaks of unity, the two becoming one flesh. Scripture scholars point out that Genesis 1 has a slightly different Creation story than does Genesis 2. Both describe the same event, but each has a different perspective and purpose.

The passage from Genesis 2 shows that husband and wife are united in marriage in the same way that new skin is grafted to the old, the two becoming one. You experience the dual aspects of your human nature already as body and soul, flesh and blood, and mind and will. Male and female are just two more levels of ways to distinguish each other. The two passages together give the whole picture.

Two genders, one history

Both genders have a part to play in salvation history. When Exodus describes the Ten Commandments, both sexes are explicitly mentioned when it says, “honor your father and your mother” (Exodus 20:12).

Although most of the people listed in the Bible are men, the women aren’t just window dressing or background scenery. Women like Sarah (see Chapter 9) are not just wives and mothers; they’re also matriarchs, prophetesses, teachers, and leaders, as in the case of Deborah the Judge (see Chapter 10) and Esther the Queen (see Chapter 8).

The Lord worked through both women and men in the Bible to teach, to save, and to protect. They may have been assigned different roles and responsibilities in this ancient culture, but they were both given one objective: to serve the will of God as best they could.

Equal dignity doesn’t always translate into equal duties and responsibilities, whether cultural or religious.

This book looks at the significant women of the Bible, including Sarah (Chapter 9) and Miriam (Chapter 10), controversial women such as Delilah and Jezebel (Chapter 16), misunderstood women such as Mary Magdalene (Chapter 7), and famous women such as Eve (Chapter 5) and the Virgin Mary (Chapter 6).

Societies have, over time, chosen to embrace, embellish, adapt to, or reject boundaries placed on men and women. (And some societies, as discussed in Chapter 2, have even misinterpreted the Bible in order to protect their perceived powers.) The Bible explains how humans were created with the same rights, and its tales describe many women who, united with their men, made quite a difference in the history of the world.

Getting to Know the Women

Though men outnumber women in the Bible’s stories, the book doesn’t neglect the importance and influence of women of faith and the invaluable contribution they have made. The Bible shows from the very beginning of creation that women are not incidental but instead essential to the main stories being told — in spite of the patriarchal system in which they lived.

A patriarchal society is characterized by the supremacy of the father in the clan or family, the legal dependence of wives and children, and the importance of carrying on the male line.

Chucking the stereotypes

You won’t find a stereotype of women in the Bible. You come across mothers (Chapter 19) and daughters (Chapter 20), wives (Chapter 18) and widows (Chapter 21), queens (Chapter 12), matriarchs (Chapter 9), and the poor and destitute. Other stories discuss harlots (Chapter 10), witches and soothsayers (Chapter 16), prophetesses (Chapter 15), a Judge (Chapter 10), and a military leader (Deborah in Chapter 10). Brave and courageous biblical women are forced to contend with cowardly and unscrupulous ladies. Some are shy; others are outspoken. Some are known for their beauty, wisdom, and grace; others for their fidelity, loyalty, and courage. Biblical women aren’t cookie-cutter characters — not a Stepford wife in the bunch.

Yes, most of the women of the Bible are wives and mothers, just as most men are husbands and fathers. The males are identified primarily through their occupation (Joseph the Carpenter, for example), whereas most women are identified by their relationship to someone else (mother of Jesus, Peter’s mother-in-law, sister of Moses, and so on). You still see that type of identification today to some degree, such as references to the First Lady of the United States. But you also see this in the reverse, such as in the case of Sir Denis, the late husband of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Despite these identifying characteristics, scripture doesn’t imply that mere relationships to others (sister, wife, and widow) made these women great or holy. Instead, their faith in God made many of them important. What these women did or did not do and what they said or did not say is the bottom line, even though some are nameless and merely referred to by titles such as Lot’s wife, Jairus’s daughter, or the widow of Zarephath. Being faithful to God, doing the right thing, and showing courage in times of adversity are the actions that make the nameless and the named women in the Bible truly remarkable and worthy of attention.

Like their male counterparts, the heroines of the Bible aren’t perfect any more than the villainesses are totally corrupt. People such as Naomi (Chapter 11) have some really hard knocks in life, yet they remain faithful despite their weaknesses. The good ones made mistakes just like the men, but they never stopped trying to do better, and they never gave up on God or on each other.

Understanding their circumstances

The sacred scriptures offer a glimpse into how women were treated in Old Testament and New Testament times in the Jewish and Christian traditions. The Bible also portrays the tension between the religion and culture and the effects that tradition, custom, and society had upon women. Women weren’t the only group treated unfairly in the Bible; the poor, the foreigner, the unlearned, and those conquered by the predominant power at the time were often treated as less than human, as well as less than equal.

Understanding the culture and beliefs of the times is critical to understanding the women of the Bible. Human failure caused the inequality of those days. How do you know this? Consider Abraham (see Chapter 9 for the full story). He treats his wife Sarah disrespectfully by passing her off as his sister rather than as his wife just to protect his own skin. But God intervenes and protects her by getting her out of the sticky situation her husband got her in.

These women had normal human origins and lived ordinary lives. But when their faith was tested, they overcame enormous obstacles by their own human nature endowed by God’s grace.

Many of them suffered, but they continued to keep their faith. For example, Elizabeth had no trouble believing that she would become pregnant, even when her husband, Zechariah, doubted the Angel Gabriel (for more on Elizabeth, see Chapter 13). Although she was eventually rewarded with a child, Zechariah’s lack of faith was punished when he was struck speechless until the babe was born.

Widows, such as the one of Zarephath (Chapter 21), who was about to starve to death but was miraculously saved, are mentioned in this book. You also have the story of the wise woman of Tekoa (Chapter 19) from whom King David seeks advice. Unlike the witch of Endor (Chapter 16), whom King Saul consults, the woman of Tekoa gets her wisdom not from nefarious occult knowledge but simply because she is a good woman known for her insights that are believed to have come from God.

These and other women exhibit great strength of character and, most important, rock-solid fidelity to God. During a troubled time, had Jochebed not believed, she would never have placed her infant son Moses in the Nile River (see Chapter 10). And the early Christian church owes a debt of gratitude to the kindness, generosity, and assistance of women such as Phoebe, Priscilla, and Dorcas (Chapter 14).

Translating the Stories in Terms of Today

This book includes the theological and religious contributions some women made despite the injustices and inequalities they faced. While their culture and society treated them as second-class citizens at best and domestic servants at worst, the spiritual reality was that these women were just as holy and as important in the eyes of God as many of their male counterparts who receive praise today.

Knowing more about the women of the Bible is good not just for women but also for men, because both genders are made in the image and likeness of God. Despite the patriarchal structure in which they lived, women of strong faith still emerged and were used by God to continue the covenant (the sacred and permanent oath between the Lord and his Chosen People). Women readers can be empowered by the examples set by the women of the Bible, and everyone can perhaps better understand how women impacted salvation history.

Accepting our flaws — by reading about theirs

Unlike the old movie Westerns in which the good guy always wore a white hat and the bad guy wore a black hat, the heroes and heroines of the Bible are more complicated, mysterious, imperfect, and unpredictable, which makes them far more realistic. The women of the Bible are not unduly sanctified or vilified within its pages. They, too, struggled with good and evil, vice and virtue, sin and grace.

The Bible is essentially a book of nonfiction. The people portrayed aren’t figments of the authors’ imaginations; rather, they’re real people who had to overcome real weaknesses and shortcomings. Those who persevered and never gave up the struggle are honored as saintly, holy persons, while those who gave up trying to be better — or ultimately succumbed to evil influences — are remembered as villains.

Although no Bible character is sinless, many of them repented and remained faithful. Perfection wasn’t the way the Bible personified fidelity. Rather, true biblical faith meant never quitting no matter how many times one fell. The women of the Bible who realized this were as crucial to the story of faith as their male contemporaries.

Of course, individuals in the Bible were flawed to different degrees. There were good examples and bad examples in both genders, and you can take something away from the stories of all these people. Notorious women, such as Delilah (Chapter 16), Salome (Chapter 17), and Lot’s wife (Chapter 15), show that the female gender can harbor just as much evil as their dastardly male counterparts.

Other women of the Bible fall somewhere in the middle — they weren’t as evil as the Wicked Witch of the West or as holy and virtuous as Mother Teresa of Calcutta. These women weren’t by any means spiritually mediocre; rather, they started out a little lukewarm or tepid and later on caught fire with love and zeal for God. Think about Mary Magdalene (see Chapter 7) or Bathsheba (see Chapter 16) or even Rahab (Chapter 10), who definitely was a woman of the evening and ran a house of ill repute only to later give sanctuary to Joshua’s spies and thus allow a victory for the Hebrews over the city of Jericho. These women prove that despite a bad or slow start, God can use anyone who is willing to accomplish his will if they but trust and take a chance.

Recognizing the heroines — and drawing inspiration

Superheroes are purely fictional, so you don’t find any of them in the Bible. What you will find, however, are heroes and heroines. A superhero may have special powers, abilities, or equipment, but the heroes and heroines you read about in the Bible do the best they can with mere mortal characteristics. They’re ordinary people who do extraordinary things under extraordinary circumstances. The holy women in the Bible are true heroines who can serve as inspiration for all human beings, male or female.

Today, both sexes can benefit from knowing more about the impact made by many biblical women, such as the prophetess Huldah (Chapter 15), the Judge Deborah (Chapter 10), and Queen Esther (Chapter 8). Powerful, influential, and faithful, these women preserved the faith when many of their male compatriots abandoned God’s will for paganism. Martha and Mary, the sisters of Lazarus, were close friends of Jesus, and he often visited their home during a time when most Jewish men kept a safe social distance from women. Their platonic friendship was just as real and as important to Jesus as his relationships with his male disciples and friends.

When Jesus was arrested, condemned, and crucified, most of his apostles and disciples abandoned him. With the exception of John, all the big, manly men, such as Peter, James, Thomas, and Matthew, fled. The only other family members and friends who remained at the foot of the cross on Calvary as Jesus suffered were the faithful women in his life. The Virgin Mary (see Chapter 6), Mary Magdalene (see Chapter 7), and Mary, the wife of Clopas (see Chapter 13), are listed by name in the Gospels. Eleven other male apostles and more than 70 disciples were conspicuously absent.

Although secular history may not recognize many of these women, their presence in the Bible is a sign that they had something to do with salvation history — good or bad.

In most cases, their stories demonstrate the resilience and reliability of womanhood. And because they’re merely human, their courage, sacrifices, commitment, wisdom, trust, and faith are characteristics to which everyone can truly aspire.

Chapter 2

Bible Basics: Delving into History, Context, and Translation

In This Chapter

Reviewing a brief history of the Bible

Choosing the right biblical translation

The importance of reading the Bible in context

Y ou probably know, in general, how a car works. But unless you’re a mechanic, deciphering a car manual can still be a rather puzzling experience. The same goes for the Bible. Although most of you may have a general understanding of the Bible’s history and significance, a more in-depth understanding of its background can enhance your comprehension of the stories within.

Before you examine the notable and the notorious women of the Bible, you need to understand what the Bible is and what it isn’t, and how it came to be in the first place.

This chapter covers some of the background and history of the Bible and specifically describes how to interpret the roles of women in scripture. Not everyone agrees on which version or translation of the Bible to use, nor is there a universal consensus on what every word and phrase in scripture means. Here we show some viable and reasonable ways to understand the mysterious passages of the Bible. Our aim is to explore what both the sacred author (God) and the human author (the person who wrote a specific book of the Bible) may have originally intended. And we promise it’ll be much more interesting than a car manual.

Where the Bible got its name

Ironically, the word Bible does not appear anywhere in the Bible. The English word bible comes from the Latin biblia, which is the plural for “books” and based on the Greek word byblos (meaning “book”). Before books were written on paper — as we know them today — they were recorded on parchment fashioned from the fiber of papyrus stems. The papyrus center of ancient times — the Amazon.com of its day — was a town called Gubla in what is now present-day Lebanon. Because of all the books created there, the Greeks renamed this town Byblos.

In AD 400, St. Jerome translated the Hebrew and Greek papyrus parchments, which contained the Old and New Testaments, into the Latin language. He was the first person to compile a one-volume edition of all the sacred scriptures. He called his work the Holy Bible (sacra biblia) after the Greek usage of the word, because this was to be the book of all books.

The History of the Bible

The Bible tells us many things about God and humankind, especially in regard to salvation history — the story of how the human race was created, how it fell (into sin), and how it was redeemed. Despite the historical information contained in it, the Bible wasn’t written as a history book or as a science book. In fact, comparing it to any other book is almost impossible, because people of faith firmly believe it is the direct Word of God, written by human beings who were inspired by the Holy Spirit. It is a book about and for faith.

Although the Bible can be found almost everywhere today, it’s actually quite an amazing feat that the stories of thousands of years ago — when methods of recording were primitive at best — are still preserved today. Comparatively, seemingly old documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution are in their infancy.

This section offers a brief history of the Bible: who wrote it, who compiled it, and how it went from a book for the wealthy to a book for the masses. Knowing the Bible’s background can deepen your understanding of the stories about its many fascinating women. Before getting an accurate picture of who these women are and what significance their lives hold, it is important to know about the text where the stories of these women are contained. If you thought the information was from an encyclopedia, you would have different expectations and interpretations of what you would read than if you thought you were reading a poem, a play, or a novel, right? Likewise, knowing what kind of book (and books that are contained in it) and what types of literature comprise the Bible can help you better appreciate what you read when looking at the various women in the Bible.

Preserving the Word: The authors

Lots of different people wrote the books that make up the Bible. From shepherds, farmers, kings, and priests to poets, scribes, prophets, and fishermen (and more), the Bible features the work of many, many people. Each of these writers had different intentions when they wrote, but believers say the authors all wrote from inspiration provided by God himself. Here we discuss both — their intentions and their inspiration.

The authors’ intentions

No one took notes when God created the world, and no reporter from the Jerusalem Daily Times was covering Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. The sacred authors didn’t write as things were happening like people do today. First, people spoke about what happened in the past and told the stories to each other verbally (in what’s called the oral tradition). At some point, the authors decided to put these oral stories into writing to preserve them.

Every book in the Bible, from Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus to the Gospels, Epistles, and Book of Revelation (and everything in between), had a human author who had a personal reason and purpose in writing. Often, the author was seeking to encourage his fellow believers in a time of persecution, captivity, or exile, or he was trying to give his readers realistic hope that God would deliver them someday from their suffering.

Matthew wrote as a Jew for a Jewish audience of his contemporaries. He wanted to help them see that Jesus was the fulfillment of the prophecies of old that promised a Messiah. When you read the Gospel of Matthew, you’ll find many quotations from the Old Testament and lots of sermons from Jesus explaining that he is the one who was to come. A Jew considering the possibility of accepting Christ would be interested in hearing or reading Matthew’s Gospel.

At the same time, a Roman wouldn’t know or care about the ancient scriptures that promised a Redeemer. A Roman valued deeds more than words, so Mark wrote for the Roman audience to introduce them to this man of supernatural miracles who could expel demons, cure the sick, and raise the dead. Mark’s Gospel is not only the shortest in composition and length, but it is also the most loaded with action — because that’s what Roman’s wanted. In Mark’s writings, Jesus is on the move: healing the sick and exorcizing demons.

The authors’ inspiration

Believers have come to understand that the writers of the books of the Bible were “inspired.” By inspiration, we mean the authors were guided supernaturally — and yet their own memories, imaginations, perspectives, and personal tastes also remained in the texts.

These believers say that God is the ultimate author of the Bible, but that he used numerous individual human authors to accomplish the task. These writers were not possessed zombies who involuntarily wrote things down, however. They retained their same vocabulary and figures of speech, as well as their own likes and dislikes. And these different authors used a variety of forms of literature to write in. (Prose, poetry, narrative, dialogue, allegory, metaphor, hymns, apocalyptic, and more were used; see the later section “Putting the Bible’s References to Women in Perspective” for more on this topic.)

Divine inspiration subtly influenced these authors without tampering with their free will. Each author made decisions as to what words to use to describe what he personally thought would be relevant to his audience.

For example, when you read about the Virgin Mary (see Chapter 6) in Luke’s Gospel, he alone talks about the Angel Gabriel announcing the future birth of Jesus to his mother. The other three Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and John) don’t mention this encounter. Either they didn’t know about it and therefore couldn’t write about it, or they simply chose not to mention it.

Some scholars believe the biblical authors had no idea that they were being inspired, because not one of the authors ever mentions “inspiration” in the text. Had any of them truly believed that God inspired them, it stands to reason that they would have said so to give their words more credibility. Because not one single author of the Bible has even remotely intimated being influenced by any divine motivation, many scripture experts surmise that inspiration is so subtle that it happens unknowingly to the sacred author.

From separate books to one Bible

With its numerous human authors from different places and times (refer to the earlier section “Preserving the Word: The authors”), the Bible took centuries — 14 to be exact — to write. It was even written in different languages, with different literary styles. That’s why you find poetry, prose, monologue, dialogue, allegory, figures of speech, hyperbole, parables, genealogies, and more in the Bible. Because the Bible is a collection of so many authors and literary formats, it can’t easily be categorized into one of today’s popular book genres.

Think of the Bible in terms of your cable network or satellite company: one source offering a variety of content in diverse styles to different audiences. Like today’s cable TV, some books of the Bible are more historical, some more literary or poetic, some mystical, and some practical. The Bible’s many authors had different messages and diverse audiences.

The biblical authors had no idea that they were contributing to a larger work — Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John didn’t have team meetings where they sat down and divvied up the writing assignments. When Paul, for example, wrote his letters to the various local churches at Corinth, Ephesus, Thessalonica, or Rome, he didn’t plan for these letters to be part of the New Testament.

But while the individual author may have had a smaller and more defined audience in mind when he wrote his book, the Jewish and Christian believers were convinced that these particular books were of benefit to the entire faith community, regardless of the original time and place of composition.

Today’s Bible is not one book but a collection of books. Because of its many authors and contributors, it’s more of a one-volume encyclopedia or an anthology of stories than a single narrative. How many books went into the collection depends on which version of the Bible you’re talking about: Protestant, Orthodox, Catholic, or Jewish.

The most ancient example of combining books of scripture in one set is the first five books of the Bible, which the Jewish people call the Torah or the Law (called by Greek-speaking Jews the Pentateuch, for five books): Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

Eventually, the entire Hebrew Bible (which Christians call their Old Testament) was assembled, and later, after the Christians wrote their stuff, those writings were also collected.

It’s Greek (and Hebrew) to me

Each book of the Bible was originally written in Hebrew or Greek. Most of the Old Testament books (called the Hebrew Bible), or at least 39 of them, were initially written by their human authors in the Hebrew language. The seven other books that Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox call deuterocanonical (Protestants call them the Apocrypha) were originally written in Greek. All these books combined were simultaneously translated into Greek from 250–180 BC.

The Greek translation created between 250 and 180 BC is called the Septuagint from the Latin word for “seventy,” because tradition has it that 70 scholars took 70 years to translate all the Hebrew books into Greek. See the following section, “Calling all canons,” for more on the history of the Septuagint.

Under Kings Saul, David, and Solomon, there was one Kingdom of Israel (1020–922 BC). During this time the first 39 Hebrew books were written. After that, the empire was divided when Sol’s boys fought with each other, creating the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. The north lasted until 721 BC, when the Assyrians conquered it, and Judah fell in 586 BC to the Babylonians.

The Babylonians feared that the Hebrew people would one day reorganize and reconquer their homeland, so they exiled two-thirds to three-fourths of the Jewish people into foreign lands. Those Jews gradually forgot their Hebrew language and learned the local tongue.

By 250 BC, the majority of Jews no longer lived in the former Kingdom of Israel and thus no longer read or spoke Hebrew. The minority left behind, in what was then called Palestine, were the faithful few who still could read, write, and speak Hebrew. Their exiled compatriots learned the lingua franca of the time — Greek — starting with the time of Alexander the Great (336–323 BC). The seven deuterocanonical books were composed during this biblical time, also known as the Diaspora and the Babylonian Exile, when Jews were dispersed to other countries. For this reason, they were written in Greek. Translating the Hebrew scriptures into Greek made sense because the majority of Jews in exile knew Greek, while only the small minority left in the Holy Land still used Hebrew and its dialect, Aramaic.

Now it’s one book — in Latin

In AD 382, the Christian Pope Damasus I commissioned St. Jerome to compile the various books of sacred scripture into one single volume. After 18 painstaking years of translation, he finally completed his task of incorporating the Greek and Hebrew books of the Old Testament and the Greek books of the New Testament into one single Latin book. (Latin was at that time the official language of the Roman Empire.)

Jerome’s translation was called the Vulgate from the Latin for “common speech.” The Vulgate was the first complete translation and single version of the Bible containing both Old and New Testaments.

The first Bible printed on press was the Gutenberg Bible, in AD 1450. It was the Latin Vulgate, compiled by St. Jerome in AD 400.

Calling all canons

No sacred author and no inspired text included a list of the “official” books that belong in the Bible. Establishing an official list or canon of books (from the Greek word kanon, which was a reed used for measuring water depth) isn’t based on the Bible itself; in other words, there is no internal evidence from the Bible to determine which books ought to be in it. Because the Bible doesn’t say what belongs or doesn’t belong (there was no such thing as a table of contents back then), believers had to rely on religious authorities to decide. Councils of rabbis (for the Jews) and of bishops (for early Christians) were convened and determined a canon, or an official list. Books on that list (now called canonical) got in the Bible. Books not on the list got left out of the Bible.

The earliest official list of scripture (which could be considered a canon, because someone bothered to put together a list) goes back to 250 BC. King Ptolemy II of Philadelphus of Egypt (287–247 B.C.) constructed a library renowned for its exquisite collections of books in many languages. Being sympathetic to the Jews, King Ptolemy II ordered a complete translation of the ancient Hebrew into Greek because 75 percent of the Jewish people then could read and write only in Greek, the national tongue, due to the exile and captivity following the fall of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. He wanted a copy of this translation to go into his library as the crowning jewel, so to speak.

Seventy scholars allegedly took seventy years (250–180 BC) to translate the 39 Old Testament books from Hebrew into Greek, and then they included the 7 deuterocanonical books (or the Apocrypha) originally written in Greek by exiled Jews. Because it took 70 scholars 70 years, the name Septuagint (Latin for “seventy”) was given to this first one-volume collection of all the Old Testament writings. Because it was done in the town of Alexandria, Egypt, the list of books in the Septuagint is called the Alexandrian Canon. Had it not been for King Ptolemy and his library, there would have been no instigation nor funding at that time for such a project to collect all the Old Testament writings into one volume and into one language.

Here are the official lists (canons) of the Bible:

Old Testament

• Alexandrian or Greek Canon (Septuagint): 250 BC; contains 46 books (39 books, plus 7 deuterocanonical, or Apocrypha)

• Palestinian or Hebrew Canon: AD 90–100; contains 39 books

New Testament

• Council of Laodicea: AD 363; determined the canon to be 27 books

• Third Council of Carthage: AD 397; determined the canon to be 27 books

The language (translation) of your Bible is not what determines whether it has 39 books in the Old Testament or 46. The version is what matters. Some Protestant Bibles don’t include the Apocrypha; others do and say so on the cover and in the table of contents. In Protestant Bibles, the 7 other books (the Apocrypha) normally come after the 39 Old Testament ones, but before the 27 New Testament ones. Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Bibles have all 46 Old Testament books integrated, as found in the Greek Septuagint version of 250 BC, followed by the 27 New Testament ones.

Clarifying the versions

Christians use the term Old Testament