An Introduction...

I am so excited to begin this study with all of you and explore together 12 of the extraordinary women found in the Bible.  The men of the bible are featured certainly as the “heads” of the ministries of their time, but let us not forget that “the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the God of Sarah, Rebekah and Rachel too.  He is also the God of every believer in our generation – men and women alike.”

Why twelve women?
The previous book written by John MacArthur was titled Twelve Ordinary Men and focused on the lives, personalities and ministries of the men we know so fondly as the twelve disciples.  These men that Jesus was closest to while here on earth – the men He would likely have called his closest friends were men that John says, “as far as their talents and their human backgrounds are concerned, they were genuinely ordinary, and deliberately so.” Which we know to be true by what the word says in:

1^st Corinthians 1:27-29        
²⁷ But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. ²⁸ God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, ²⁹ so that no one may boast before him.

The same true about the women found in this study who were carefully and prayerfully chosen to be highlighted in the book.  “Most of them were unremarkable in and of themselves.  They were ordinary, common and in some cases shockingly low-caste women – in exactly the same way the disciples were common men.  Take the Samaritan woman … We don’t even know her name… Anna was an obscure elderly widow who appears in only one brief vignette… Rahab was a common harlot.  Even Mary, the mother of Christ, was a young girl of no particular distinction… In each instance what made them extraordinary was a memorable, life-changing encounter with the God of the universe.”

So who are the women found in the bible?  Who comes to your mind?

• Mary               
• Mary Magdalene
• Mary and Martha
• Delilah
• Ruth    
• the woman at the well
• the woman who washed Jesus feet with perfume and her hair
• Sarah
• the woman they were going to stone when Jesus drew in the sand
• Lydia
   I have to be honest and say not many more though and I can’t even tell you most of their names!

We know some of their “stories” and know many by name – but this study dives deeper.  It goes to the heart of each woman, examines their experience and life and allows us to see ourselves in each of them and discover through that how God can use each one of us with our many idiosyncrasies to accomplish His will and work.

The following 12 women made “the cut” and they are who we will be getting to know the next couple months:

1.      Eve

2.      Sarah

3.      Rahab

4.      Ruth

5.      Hannah

6.      Mary

7.      Anna

8.      The Samaritan Woman

9.      Martha (and her sister Mary)

10.   Mary (and her sister Martha)

11.   Mary Magdalene

12.   Lydia

Before we dive into the individual characters, let’s first take a look at what the bible has to say about the roles and views of women in general.  From the first chapter of the bible, we are taught that women, like men bear the stamp of God’s own image.

Genesis 1:27

²⁷ So God created man in his own image,  in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Genesis 5:1-2

¹ This is the written account of Adam’s line.    When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. ² He created them male and female and blessed them. And when they were created, he called them “man.”

Wives are seen as respected partners and esteemed companions to their husbands, not merely slaves or possessions.

Genesis 2:20-24

²⁰ So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.     But for Adam no suitable helper was found. ²¹ So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. ²² Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.   ²³ The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh;  she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.”   ²⁴ For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

Proverbs 19:14
¹⁴ Houses and wealth are inherited from parents, but a prudent wife is from the LORD.

Ecclesiastes 9:9

⁹ Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun.

At Sinai, God commanded children to honor both father and mother which was a revolutionary concept considering most pagan cultures were dominated by men who ruled their households as dictators while the woman were regarded as servants.

Exodus 20:12

¹² “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

Though the bible is very clear about divinely ordained roles between men and women (many of which are clear from creation alone – childbearing, nurturing, needing support and protection as the physically “weaker vessels” – and also establishes the duties and order of the family and church leaving the headship to men.  “But women are by no means relegated to any second class status. In fact it’s quite the contrary; scripture seems to set women apart for special honor”

Remember first and foremost what it says in:

Galatians 3:28

²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

And we certainly cannot forget how scripture commands husbands to care for and love their wives.

1st Peter 3:7

⁷ Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.

Ephesians 5:25-31

 ²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her ²⁶ to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷ and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. ²⁸ In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— ³⁰ for we are members of his body. ³¹ “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”

In fact the bible on a number of occasions through words and life examples acknowledge and celebrate the priceless value of a virtuous woman.

Proverbs 12:4
 ⁴ A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown, but a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones.

Proverbs 31:10
¹⁰ A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.

Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel         à  given due merit in the account of God’s dealings with their husbands

Miriam                                    à  honored by God as one of the nation’s leaders during the Exodus

Deborah                                  à  was a judge in Israel

Sarah and Rahab                   à  specifically named among the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11

Wisdom Woman                    à  wisdom is personified as a woman in proverbs

New Testament Church        à  represented as a woman, “the bride of Christ”

Who else was esteemed for their virtue?  Is the same still true for virtuous women?

Women in general in the social and religious life of Israel and the New Testament church participated alongside men in feasts and public worship.  “They weren’t required to be veiled or silent in the public square… Mothers shared teaching responsibilities and authorities over their children. Women could even be landowners in Israel. In fact, wives were expected to administer many of the affairs of their own households.”



A look at History and Social Studies

A large majority of the views on women found in the Bible were a “sharp contrast” to the way other cultures routinely dishonored women.  We learned in grade school about the Roman and Greek cultures, and sure they had goddesses alongside of their gods, but make no mistake, the goddess worship did nothing to change the view of women in society, in fact most temples devoted to goddesses were served by priestesses who would prostitute themselves “supposing they were performing a religious sacrament” and even in the Roman empire, the wives/daughters were treated as no more than possession and barely above slave status.

“After the Roman Emperor Constantine was converted in 312 _AD Christianity was granted legal status in Rome and become t he dominating religion throughout the empire.  One of the measurable early results of this change was a whole new legal status for woman” recognizing their property and marriage partnership rights.   That has remained the trend “wherever the gospel spreads, the social, legal and spiritual status of women has been … elevated.  When the gospel has been eclipsed… the status of women has declined.”  

Can you think of other examples of society (ancient or modern) that had a contrasting view to Christianity as far as women are/were concerned?

Can you think of any modern day examples of this paradigm?

Okay, we get the picture, right?! J  
The bible is “Rah, Rah, yeeeeeaaaaah Ladies!”  More than that, the Bible is a lot less pro-feminism and much more pro-femininity.

Talk with me about this woman for a minute… (Picture of Rosie the Riveter)

Rosie the Riveter is a cultural icon of the United States, representing the American women who worked in factories during World War II, many of whom worked in the manufacturing plants that produced munitions and war supplies. These women sometimes took entirely new jobs replacing the male workers who were in the military. The character is considered a feminist icon in the US.

I love Rosie!  I used to have this poster hanging in my bedroom from the age of about 13 – 18.  She was exactly the attitude and kind of woman I wanted to be.  Now first, let me say before I continue, I have the utmost respect for all of the real life Rosie(s)!!  the Rosie(s) of WWII era the Rosie(s) of yesterday and today.  That is not what I’m talking about.  I am talking about the idea behind Rosie that moved beyond “We Can Do It” to “We Can Do It Without You!”

There are natural gender distinctions straight from creation that are constantly being downplayed, dismissed, despised or denied.  I was one of the culprits turning my nose down at femininity as it was “supposed” to be and taking on the “I don’t need anyone, man or woman, I am fully capable to tackle it all” attitude and I don’t need to dress in pink to do it!  I think for myself, and I can only speak for myself on this, my view of femininity was skewed.  I never looked to the bible to tell me what femininity looked like.  I looked at June Cleaver, I looked at women in magazines and television, I looked at Barbie in her pretty pink party dress.  I saw the outward adornment that Peter talks about:

1 Peter 3:3-5

³ Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. ⁴ Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. ⁵ For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. 

It’s okay women for us to take a moment to realize that there are things that we as women are naturally called to do and be, things that are uniquely and distinctively feminine and that is okay!! And there are things that men are called to do and be that is naturally them and that’s okay!!The point I’m trying to drive home here, is that especially today, we live in a society where men are doing tasks/jobs/responsibilities that are stereotypically female roles and women are doing tasks/jobs/responsibilities that are stereotypically male roles.  That is okay, that’s great! 

At the heart of it all… we must look to the Bible to find our true femininity not feminism. We find that “scripture never discounts the female intellect, downplays the talents and abilities of women, or discourages the right use of women’s spiritual gifts.  But whenever the Bible expressly talks about the marks of an excellent woman, the stress is always on feminine virtue.  The most significant women in scripture were influential not because of their careers, but because of their character.  The message these women collectively give us is not about gender equality; it’s about true feminine excellence, and is always exemplified in moral and spiritual qualities rather than by social standing, wealth or physical appearance.”  In short, it’s not about what we can do… because by the grace of God we can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens us right?! (Phil. 4:13) but it’s about who God says we are and at the heart, our character which is of great worth in God’s sight.

The women we are going to study left a lasting legacy of faithfulness.  The hope is that we will get to know more about them and see how they are so much like we are!  The hope is that they are going to “challenge us, motivate us, encourage us and inspire us with the love for God whom they trusted and served” and find ourselves extraordinary in our own ways because we were fearfully and wonderfully made!  (Psalm 139:14)

Next week we will begin with Eve:  the Mother of all Living

Please feel free to share this study with the extraordinary women in your life and invite them to join us for this exploration either in person on Wednesday Mornings at the Church of the Vine, 5 Wareham Street, S. Carver, Mass. From 9:30-11:30 (a time of prayer, study, fellowship and coffee!) or online at www. http:// e-study-12extraordinarywomen.blogspot.com.  

Be sure to become a member of this blog so we you can get an update when the next "lesson" is posted and be able to interact, add you commentary, ask questions, and please... please!  feel free to disagree with any of it!!   We want to hear from each other!  As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.  Proverbs 27:17

Love & Blessings

Gina Marie






KEY VERSES FOR THIS WEEK:


Ecclesiastes 9:9
Ephesians 5:25-31
Exodus 20:12
Galatians 3:28
Genesis 1:27
Genesis 5:1-2
Genesis 2:20-24
Proverbs 12:4
Proverbs 31:10
Proverbs 19:14
1^st Corinthians 1:27-29
1^st Peter 3:7
1^st Peter 3:3-5






QUESTIONS/THOUGHTS FOR THIS WEEK:

• So who are the women found in the bible?  Who comes to your mind?
  
• Who was/is esteemed for their virtue?  Is the same still true for virtuous women?
  
• Can you think of other examples of society (ancient or modern) that had a contrasting view to Christianity as far as women are/were concerned?
  
• Can you think of any modern day examples of this paradigm: 
  “wherever the gospel spreads, the social, legal and spiritual status of women has been … elevated.  When the gospel has been eclipsed… the status of women has declined."
  
• What does the image of Rosie the Riveter bring to your mind?  What feelings does it evoke?