Bible Women

If you have been reading Lindsay’s book, either on your own or in a group, you may be discovering, as I am, that the Holy Scriptures are full of female characters that most of us have never heard of. To start the New Year I chose the Daughters of Zelophehad. I wanted to get back to the Old Testament, moving past the Book of Exodus, and I wanted to find a woman with a Low profile. It was a quick decision, since the unfamiliar five daughters are the only women who speak in the Book of Numbers, and the next book, Joshua, includes the high profile woman, Rahab. (Lindsay has designated Rahab with a Moderate profile, but for those of us who were introduced to Lindsay’s writings with The Scarlet Cord, Rahab’s profile is High.)

When I read about the daughters and their courage to face the legal authorities of their day and to challenge the status quo of passing property only to sons, not daughters, I was intrigued by what the young women did and the outcome of their challenge. Moses took them seriously and appealed to God, the author of all laws, and God sided with the daughters to inherit their father’s land. Reading Lindsay’s Who and What and the story of the daughters of Zelophehad, I found this to be a great little parable, just because God responds to the daughters as God’s equal children. At this point we can talk about the struggles our own foremothers have had receiving equality with men. We can talk about being treated as second-class citizens. I once worked as a mortgage banking professional in the Washington DC area. I was sent to Shreveport, Louisiana, my hometown, to gather information about an apartment complex that was for sale, but of course I wasn’t supposed to let on that my company wanted to buy the mortgage. At the management office of the low-income apartments, I tried to fit in with my marginal Southern accent and my East Coast clothes. As I began asking my questions, I heard a deep voice say, “Cum ’ere, little lady.” I went into the inner office and there he was, the Moses of the apartment complex, leaning back in his chair, feet on the desk, the man who had the information I needed and the authority to share it, or not. And I smiled, and spoke with a Southern twang, and I confessed I was with a mortgage business in northern Virginia. For me it took courage and it took determination and I was rewarded with the information I needed. Perhaps Zelophehad’s daughters used a little charm, too, with Moses. How about you? Have you stood up to authority and asked for your due? I imagine many of you have in much more significant ways than my example.

And then we turn the page of Bible Women to Consider this. The Daughters of Zelophehad have been cited in an argument before the United States Supreme Court! They also have been cited in an article in the American Bar Association Journal. These five women may have been unknown to you and me, but other people have known them well enough to lift up their name and their deeds and use them to fight for people’ rights all the way into the 21^st Century.

Parents, teachers, and mentors can look to the children given to our care and we can hope that, even if we don’t find the cure for the common cold, well, maybe one of these children will find the cure because of us. But what about smaller accomplishments? A silent woman in the Gospel of Mark placed two small coins into the treasury and Jesus pointed out her selflessness to his disciples. We can continue to place our small coins of thankfulness into our UTO boxes, joining coins from around the provinces to provide grants for good works around the world. And great and lasting things may come from those good works. Do you give a word of encouragement to others? Do you lead your ECW group in ministry? I love that the five daughters stood up to the authorities to ask for what was fair for themselves, but even more I love that their story helps others even today to receive what is fair for them. It is in the thin place of encountering Jesus when taking care of oneself that our deeds become taking care of others.

++++ Coming January 15th ++++

 Chapter 7 – Jael

Content provided by Author Lindsay Hardin Freeman

Illustration: Claire Elam

Reading anew the familiar story of Mary and Elizabeth, I am drawn to their friendship and to the solace that Elizabeth gives to Mary. Both women seem very calm about their unexpected and unorthodox pregnancies. Lindsay Hardin Freeman points out that Elizabeth, upon hearing that she will have a child born in her old age “rejoices without question, in full trust.” There is an honest calmness that comes with age; because we have seen and experienced so much, very little surprises us. Joy is a welcome change to a daily routine of unfulfilled dreams, and if that means a baby in old age, then so be it. Mary, on the other hand, may seem calm on the outside but I think she is in turmoil on the inside. At her young age the unexpected is frightening. Many of us naively said we had a plan for our lives; we knew what our college major would be, when and what kind of person we would marry, how many children we would have, and what type of house we would buy. It was probably the same with Mary’s expectations for her life. It takes years of experience and growing wisdom to realize that life happens, not as we have planned, but as it evolves. I think to find reassurance, and as soon as she could after the visitation of the angel Gabriel, Mary left her home and went to her older cousin and friend, Elizabeth. There she remained about three months.

Mary’s unmarried state of pregnancy could have led to her death, and acceptance of Mary could have led to Elizabeth and her priestly husband Zechariah’s undoing in the community. Elizabeth’s calm demeanor opened a welcoming door to Mary. Joan Chittister, a Benedictine nun in the Roman Catholic Church and a prolific author, has written a book, The Friendship of Women. In the chapter titled Elizabeth: Acceptance, she writes:

“Elizabeth, contrary to all tradition, against all common sense, took Mary into her home, no questions asked, no verdict levied. More than that, Elizabeth recognized in Mary the great gain that would eventually come from a situation that looked like such great loss to everyone else. Elizabeth accepted Mary for who she was, and she saw the goodness in her. Literally. Immediately.

“Acceptance is the universal currency of real friendship. It allows the other to be the other. It puts no barriers where life should be. It does not warp or shape or wrench a person to be anything other than what they are. It simply opens its arms to hold the weary and opens its heart to hear the broken and opens its mind to see the invisible. Then, in the shelter of acceptance, a person can be free to be even something more.”

In the best of times, a friend is someone who shares the good times with you. Vacations together are reinvigorating to mind, body, and spirit. Bonds are strengthened through play. The just completed ECW Pilgrimage to the Holy Land was much more than a vacation and it allowed for deepening of friendships and formation of new friendships in the shared experience of walking where Jesus walked. The pilgrimage was the best of times.

It is much more of a risk to reach out to someone when life becomes burdensome and frightening. In a dark period of my life, contemplating divorce and severing of family ties, I turned to many people to help me through the pain. I knew who sincerely accepted me despite my flaws. I knew who wished me to go away and leave them alone. And while struggling to find acceptance of myself, I found friends who accepted me, frightened and flawed. Can there be real acceptance without there first being risk?

Mary took that risk and said yes to God. Elizabeth took that risk when she kept her friendship with Mary. Jesus took that risk when he gathered around him a ragtag bunch of followers, even one who would betray him. God took that risk when God created us, and when God gave his son for us.

May you have a blessed Christmas. May you be with friends and family who risk to be their true selves and who are accepted and accepting for who we all are.

++++ Coming January 1st ++++

Chapter 5

The Daughters of Zelophehad

Content provided by Author Lindsay Hardin Freeman

Illustration: Claire Elam

We have had an interesting start to our 7-month book study. I hope you are enjoying every aspect of it and that you will join in the conversation. What did I know about Tamar before reading about her in Bible Women? I knew she was the first of five women mentioned in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus, and I only knew that because Bishop Michael Curry of North Carolina told me so in a talk he gave a few years ago to the ECW of Oklahoma.

We learn a lot about ourselves by studying our genealogy and finding a place where we belong. Tracing one’s family pedigree is regarded by many societies as vitally important. It is your name and your background that opens doors for you, determines who you marry, and what work you might do. In our more democratic and diverse country we no longer bar the doors because of one’s name or ancestry. And yet, knowing and telling the story of our family is an important way of understanding how we came to be the people we are. I have a friend who is very much engaged in genealogy. She has gotten past the trunk of her family tree and even the larger branches. Now she is researching those smaller twigs of her family that bring the excitement of new discoveries and the joy of connecting to previously unknown family members.

Tamar is one of those smaller twigs in the genealogy of Jesus. In the genealogies of the Book of Genesis there are no mothers named, but in Matthew’s genealogy we find “Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar.” Lindsay Hardin Freeman+ notes that Tamar was not a Jew (p. 66), and neither were three other women in Jesus’ family tree: the Canannite, Rahab; the Moabite, Ruth; and the Hittite, Bathsheba, wife of Uriah.

When God spoke to Abraham, the first name in Jesus’ genealogy, God said: “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them. So shall your descendents be.” We see now that the family of Jesus includes Tamar and other women who are not descendents of Abraham, yet can be counted beyond the stars. Why do you think Matthew included Tamar as one of only 5 women named in Jesus’ lineage? How does it make you feel to be a member of the family of God, to be counted beyond the stars?

Studying one’s family can dig up some quite interesting stories. Can you imagine discovering someone like Tamar? She is the real stuff; you can’t make this up! The hope of motherhood is a strong incentive to do whatever is necessary to achieve it. “Take note, please, whose these are: the signet and the cord and the staff.” What have your maternal ancestors done to achieve motherhood? What have you done? I myself went through years of fertility tests and treatments. It was embarrassing and humbling, yet in the end, with the birth of my second son, worth it.

What did I know about Tamar’s midwife before reading about her in Bible Women? Why, absolutely nothing. Because of Lindsay’s book, I am learning that several midwives spoke in the Bible. At a time in history when any childbirth could be difficult, the birth of twins would be not only painful but dangerous. How blessed Tamar must have felt to have an accomplished midwife at her side. To have known that twins were coming and to have the foresight to mark the first born (though in this instance the crimson thread was premature – “This one came out first.”) are great attributes of a veteran midwife.

Although these two women are not well known outside of Bible scholars, and although their words are few, they both play a vital role in the continuity of the Hebrew line from Abraham to Perez to Jesus.

How have these 2 women impressed you, both individually and collectively?

Tamar depicted in Claire’s illustration has a posture and presence to her as she holds the objects of Judah’s pledge in her hands. What does Tamar’s posture say to you?

What “For reflection” questions from these Chapter 3 Genesis women jump out for you?

What would you add to the “What might we learn from” lists for Tamar and Tamar’s midwife?

++++ Coming December 1st ++++

Miriam

Content provided by Author Lindsay Hardin Freeman

Illustration: Claire Elam