The Torah Network

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INFLUENTIAL WOMEN OF THE BIBLE:

Many believers are up-in-arms and want to argue that a women’s place is in the kitchen and home to raise children. We are not in a position to decide who YHVH will use to bring a message and we are not in a position to judge should a powerful word come to us through a female. What we as believers should do is to open our ears and listen to the message and compare that to the Word of Elohim. Seek and you shall find the truth; we are taught. Because of this, there are several influential women in the Bible that plays a very important role according to me and even if we are reluctant to admit it, there are also powerful women today whom YHVH use.

Sarah
Sarah is the wife of Abraham whose name was originally Sarai -- Genesis 11:29. Her name was changed to Sarah [princess] when she was promised that she would bear a son and become the mother of nations and kings -- 17:15-16. Sarah was both the wife and the half-sister of Abraham -- 20:12. Sarah went with Abraham in his journey from Ur of the Chaldees to Haran and eventually into the land of Canaan -- Genesis 11:31; 12:5. She could not have children during most of her marriage. When YHVH promised Abraham that his children would become a great nation -- 12:2 -- and that the land of Canaan would be given to his descendants -- 12:7 --, Sarah was still barren. After ten years had passed -- compare Genesis 12:4; 16:16 -- and Sarah continued without children, she gave her Egyptian slave, Hagar, to Abraham to have a child with. Hagar conceived and bore a son, Ishmael -- 16:3-4. YHVH promised that a nation would come from Ishmael -- 17:20 -- but that he was not the child YHVH had promised Abraham. Sarah herself was to be the mother of this child, even though she laughed when the birth was predicted. Sarah indeed gave birth to Isaac -- 21:2-3, -- when she was ninety years old, twenty-five years after the original promise of a child to Abraham -- 17:17; 21:5. When famine forced Abraham and Sarah to journey down into Egypt shortly after they came to Canaan, they told the Egyptians that Sarah was Abraham’s sister. This resulted in Sarah’s being taken by Pharaoh to be one of his wives, because of her great beauty -- Genesis 12:11-15. Abraham was then treated well and rewarded by the Egyptians instead of being killed. But YHVH protected the marriage of Abraham and Sarah by sending a plague on Pharaoh and his house until Pharaoh released Sarah. Abraham and Sarah did the same thing at another time in Gerar -- 20, where she was taken into the household of Abimelech the king of Gerar. Again, YHVH protected Sarah, so that there would be no doubt who Isaac’s father was. Interestingly, Isaac was born not long after this incident -- 21:1-5, his birth having been promised about a year earlier -- 17:21; 18:10-14. Sarah died at the age of 127 and was buried in the cave at Machpelah, which Abraham had purchased from Ephron the Hittite -- 23. Apart from the book of Genesis, Sarah is referred to in the Old Testament only in -- Isaiah 51:2. Reference is made to her in the New Testament in -- Romans 4:19, 9:9, Hebrews 11:11, 1 Peter 3:6, and Galatians 4:21-31, -- although in the Galatians text she is not mentioned by name.

Miriam
Miriam was the sister of Aaron and Moses -- Exodus 15:20; Numbers 26:59; 1 Chronicles 6:3. Miriam first appears in Scripture as a young girl given the task of watching her infant brother’s cradle hidden in the reeds of the Nile River -- Exodus 2:4. Hiding baby Moses was the scheme conceived by her parents -- Hebrews 11:23 -- in order to escape the pharaoh’s edict that all Hebrew boys be drowned at birth -- Exodus 1:22. Miriam reveals not only courage and concern but also displays a certain wisdom when her brother is discovered by the Egyptian princess -- 2:5-6. Taking the initiative, she offers to find a nurse for the child. When this plan is accepted, she gets her mother -- Exodus 2:7-8. Miriam first appears by name after the Israelites have left Egypt and miraculously crossed the Red Sea -- Exodus 15:20. She is given the title of [prophetess] and is, with her brothers, appointed a leader in the nation -- Micah 6:4. Following the death of the Egyptian armies in the Red Sea, she leads the women of Israel in a song of praise with dancing and instrumental music -- Exodus 15:21. Miriam appears in disgrace after her jealousy of and rebellion against Moses. With Aaron, she murmurs against their brother Moses because of his superior influence in the nation and because of his marriage to a Cushite [foreign] woman -- Numbers 12:1-2. For this attack against YHVH’s chosen spokesman, she is struck with leprosy -- 12:10. Moses, however, prays to YHVH and intercedes on her behalf -- 12:9-13. She was restored after seven shameful days spent outside the camp, while Israel waited to resume its march -- 12:14-15. This sad incident is the last recorded event in Miriam’s public life. She died near the close of the wilderness wanderings at Kadesh and was buried there -- 20:1.

Rahab
Rahab was the heroine of the battle of Jericho -- Joshua 2-6. Soon after Moses’ death, YHVH told Joshua that he and the people were to cross the Jordan and occupy the Promised Land. Before the crossing, however, Joshua sent two spies into the land to scout out the opposition, in particular the fortified city of Jericho. Upon entering the city, the spies quickly found their way to Rahab’s house, which was perhaps an inn or a brothel. Apparently, she was a prostitute. News of the spies’ arrival was not long in reaching the king of Jericho, who demanded that Rahab divulge their whereabouts. She cleverly admitted seeing them but insisted that they had left the city at nightfall. Actually, the spies were hiding under the stalks of flax on the roof of her house. When the king’s search party left Jericho to hunt the spies, Rahab confessed to the spies the reason for her sympathy for the Israelites’ cause. She feared YHVH of the Jews, believing that He would surely give them victory -- Joshua 2:11. In return for her help, the spies agreed to save Rahab and her family. The sign was to be a cord of scarlet thread hanging from her window. The spies used this cord to escape the city. Rahab and her family were indeed the only survivors of the subsequent battle. They were led to safety, on Joshua’s command, by the very men Rahab had saved. Rahab became the wife of Salmon and mother of Boaz, and thus an ancestor of Yeshua -- Matthew 1:5. Rahab is listed, along with Moses, David, Samson, and Samuel, as an example of faith -- Hebrews 11:31. Her deed is an example of good works and justification -- James 2:25.

Esther
Esther is one of two names of the Jewish queen of Persia. Hadassah [Hebrew meaning Myrtle] apparently was her Jewish name -- Esther 2:7, -- and Esther [Persian meaning Star] her name as queen of Persia. Some scholars speculate about a connection with the Babylonian goddess Ishtar, since exiled Jews were occasionally given pagan names -- see Daniel 1:7. Esther was an orphan from the tribe of Benjamin who lived with the Jewish exiles in Persia. She was reared by her cousin Mordecai, a minor government official and covert leader of the Jewish community -- Esther 3:5-6 -- in Susa, capital of the Persian kingdom. Esther became queen after King Ahasuerus [Xerxes] became displeased with Queen Vashti when she refused to obey his command to attend a banquet -- 1:11-12. After Esther’s coronation, she discreetly won Xerxes’ confidence by informing him of an assassination plot -- Esther 2:21-23. The favour she won in the king’s eyes enabled her to deliver her family and her people from a massacre by Haman, a high official to the king. The Feast of Purim was instituted to celebrate YHVH’s deliverance of His people through Esther and Mordecai. This Jewish festival is still observed annually. The Feast of Purim is this coming week --- 16 to 17 March 2022. Google how to observe and do accordingly.

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