Being a biblical woman

Upending assumptions, following God

Lesendes Mädchen, Sigrid Hjertén, 1918.

Today, for International Women’s Day, I thought we could briefly look at the women of the Bible, those who God used to upend assumptions or societal norms. One piece of the “Biblical woman” discourse that always confuses me is the way specific verses are cherry-picked without giving room for the revolutionary reality of many women in the Bible.

Because if we are going to talk about Biblical women, we need to account for all the women.

1. “Help-mate” (the word used to describe Eve) is the same word used for God coming to aid his people (Psalm 70:5, 146:5).

2. Hagar is the first person to name God (El Roi—The God Who Sees Me).

3. Deborah is the leader of the people of Israel in the era of judges.

4. Jael killed Sisera with a tent peg and saved the people of Israel.

5. Huldah interpreted the law when it was discovered by King Josiah.

6. Esther saved the Jews by working within a patriarchal and foreign system.

7. In Psalm 131, God is described as a mother.

8. Proverbs 31 describes the ideal woman like this: “She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard. She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong.”

9. Song of Songs consists of three “speakers”: The Woman, The Man, and The Single Women of Jerusalem. The Woman speaks the majority of the verses and initiates sex and intimacy.

10. The book of Ruth purposefully upends the traditional man-finds-woman-at-well by putting her (a woman, a widow, AND a foreigner) as the one to seek out Boaz AND initiate intimacy.

11. Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary are all included in Christ's genealogy.

12. The angel appears to Mary first, not Joseph.

13. Also Mary's Magnificat.

14. The prophetess Anna, who meets Jesus at the temple.

15. Jesus subverts the Old Testament man-goes-to-well-to-find-wife narrative by meeting the Samaritan woman at the well, offering her salvation, and then having her be the one to bring her entire town to Jesus.

16. Jesus describes himself as a mother hen.

17. Mary “sitting at Jesus’ feet” parallels males sitting at the feet of a rabbi.

18. The women stayed at the cross even when the men scattered.

19. God chose women to be the first to discover the tomb empty.

20. Mark’s mother Mary had a house church (Acts 12:12).

21. Priscilla and Aquila, a married couple, had a house church and trained pastors.

22. Timothy was trained up in the faith by his mother, Eunice, and grandmother, Lois.

I’m sure I missed examples—please feel free to comment those below.

I’m grateful to the women in my life who continue to live and enter the spaces God has called them. Thanks for modeling what Christianity can look like.

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