Women in the Bible – Part 1 - Presenter: Dawn Mayer - Saturday January 11, 2025
By Mary Mosser, FSC Associate
Dawn started our day with the St. Francis of Assisi Peace Prayer. Next, we played a Women of the Hebrew Scriptures matching game. Dawn warned us that this was probably the most difficult matching game she had created for us. As I was only able to match two women with their stories, I anticipated that this would be a beneficial presentation for me.
Dawn shared some interesting facts with us. There are 956 – 1181 men and 166 – 205 women named in Scripture. Of the named women, 93 speak. Women in Scripture have many different roles – wife, mother, widow, slave, prostitute, leader, judge concubine. In the Old Testament, women only had one husband, but men could have many wives. When a woman married, she joined her husband’s household.
The two groups of women that we learned about in this presentation were the matriarchs and the women in Jesus’ lineage. First, we looked at the stories of the four matriarchs, Sarah, Rebekah, Leah and Rachel. We heard the story of Sarah who was the wife of Abraham and the mother of Isaac. Sarah was barren, but God promised Abraham and Sarah that they would have a son. Sarah encouraged Abraham to have a baby with her slave Hagar. Hagar gave birth to Ishmael, Abraham’s first born and therefore the son to inherit. Years later, Sarah gave birth to Isaac. After Isaac was born, Sarah wanted to ensure that Isaac would get Abraham’s inheritance, so she told Abraham to get rid of Hagar and Ishmael.
After Sarah died, Abraham sent a servant to find a wife for Isaac. The servant prayed for success in his quest. Rebekah appeared and offered water to the servant’s camels. She consented to travel back to Canaan with the servant to be Isaac’s wife. Isaac took Rebekah into his home and loved her. Isaac and Rebekah had twin boys, Esau who was the firstborn, and Jacob. When Isaac was old and blind, Rebekah tricked Isaac into giving his blessing to Jacob. Esau was angry and planned to kill Jacob after Isaac died so Rebekah sent Jacob away to live with her brother Laban.
​​
Sarah Leading Hagar to Abraham
by Caspar Netscher (1673)
The Meeting of Jacob and Rachel by Claes Moeyaert (1638)
Jacob worked for Laban for seven years. Jacob wanted to marry Laban’s younger daughter Rachel, but Laban tricked Jacob into marrying his elder daughter Leah. Eventually Jacob married Rachel too. Rachel was childless for many years then gave birth to Joseph, who was Jacob’s favorite son. Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin, who was the youngest of Jacob’s sons. Jacob had 12 sons with Leah, Rachel and their two maids. Those sons became the leaders of the 12 tribes of Israel.
​
Next, Dawn talked about the women in Jesus’ Lineage. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke contain the genealogy of Jesus. The genealogy in Matthew’s Gospel includes five women, which is significant because in that time, women were not considered important. The five women are Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba and Mary the mother of Jesus.
​
Tamar married two sons of Judah and both sons died. Because of this, Judah does not want to allow Tamar to marry his 3rd son. So, Tamar dressed as a prostitute and seduced Judah. Tamar claimed Judah’s staff, cord and signet ring for payment. When it came to light that Tamar was pregnant, Judah accused her of fornication, so she produced his possessions. Tamar give birth to twin sons, Zerah and Perez and secured Judah’s lineage.
Rehab was a Canaanite prostitute who lived on the edge of society. Before the army of Israel conquered the city of Jericho, two spies were sent to look over the land. Rahab hid the spies then helped them escape, saving their lives. In return, she and her family were spared from the destruction of Jericho. Rahab put her trust in the God of Israel and was rewarded.
Judah and Tamar
by Arent de Gelder (1685)
Ruth and Naomi
by Jean Baptiste Auguste Leloir
David saw Bathsheba, desired her and slept with her even though he knew she was married to Uriah. Bathsheba discovered she was pregnant, so David summoned Uriah home from battle. However, Uriah didn’t visit Bathsheba because he was a disciplined soldier. David sent Uriah back to the front line where Uriah was killed. Bathsheba’s baby died a few days after birth. Bathsheba married David and gave birth to Solomon who became the successor to David’s throne.
Naomi was a widow whose two sons had died. She was bitter towards God for how her life turned out. Naomi tried to send her daughters-in-law back to their people. One went, but her daughter-in-law Ruth said she would stay with Naomi. Ruth was a member of the Moabite people who were the enemies of Israel. Ruth embraced the religion of Naomi and converted to Judaism. Naomi encouraged Ruth to move on from her husband’s death and to pursue Boaz. Ruth married Boaz and they had a baby. Naomi’s life turned around and she left the bitterness behind.
There are lessons one can learn from these women, including be true to your purpose, be faithful for the long haul, and nothing is impossible with God. Also, sometimes, the end does justify the means. These women were far from perfect, but they were also strong, courageous and faithful. God used these ordinary, imperfect women to continue the lineage to the birth of Jesus.