The book of Judges Deborah who was a brilliant strangest and commander. Steven�s three daughters who prophesied. Lydia who healed church in her home, seller of purple (she had money). Abigail who was wise and became one of King David�s wives. Sarah, Rebecca, and Leah my foremothers� whose relationship with G-d raised the 12 tribes of Israel. These few women are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head. But what just these woman accounts tells me is G-d is a liberator of woman, He uses women, and we matter to Him. What should we exemplify in Messiah? Mighty women in Him!!! Wisdom, intelligence, a close walk, wisdom, ears to hear, courage to speak, and power from on high.
^^ Here are two women that are good models - MsMarvel and mcubed.
I'm just chiming in here for fun. Here is the story of Abigail. I wouldn't mind at all having a wife like her.
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Abigail and David - Abigail Was King David's Wisest Wife
Abigail Was the Comrade David Needed to Succeed
by Cynthia Astle
The story of Abigail and David ranks almost as exciting and deceitful as that of David and his most famous wife, Bathsheba. The wife of a rich man when she met David, Abigail possessed beauty, intelligence, political shrewdness, and material wealth that helped David at a critical moment when he could have thrown away his chance at success.
When Abigail and David encounter one another in 1 Samuel 25, David is on the run from King Saul, who has rightly discerned that David is a threat to his throne. This makes David an outlaw, camping out in the wilderness while trying to build up some following among the people.
In contrast, Abigail lived in Carmel in the north of Israel as the wife of a rich man named Nabal. Her marriage gave her considerable social standing, judging by the fact that she had five maidservants (1 Samuel 25:42). However, Abigail's husband is described in scripture as "a hard man and an evildoer," making us wonder why such a paragon of virtue as Abigail would have married him in the first place. Yet it's Nabal's rude and intemperate actions that bring Abigail and David together.
According to 1 Samuel 25:4-12, David, in need of supplies, sends 10 men to seek provisions from Nabal. He tells the messengers to remind Nabal that David's band had protected Nabal's shepherds in the wilderness. Some scholars say this reference implies that David was merely seeking a quid pro quo from Nabal, but others argue that David was really trying to extort the ancient Israelite equivalent of "protection money" from Nabal.
Nabal appears to think David's request falls into the latter category, for he sneers at their message. "Who is this David?" Nabal says, meaning essentially "who is this upstart?" Nabal then accuses David of disloyalty to Saul by saying, "There are many slaves nowadays who run away from their masters. Should I then take my bread and my water, and the meat that I slaughtered for my own shearers, and give them to men [who come] from I don't know where?"
In other words, Nabal gave David the ancient Israelite version of "Buzz off, kid."
Abigail Gets the Word and Acts
When the messengers report this unhappy exchange, David orders his men to "gird on your swords" to take provisions from Nabal by force. The phrase "gird on your swords" is key here, says the book Women in Scripture. That's because in ancient Israelite warfare, girding involved wrapping a sword belt around the waist 3 times to make it secure in battle. In short, violence was about to ensue.
However, a servant brought word of David's request and Nabal's rejection to Nabal's wife, Abigail. Fearing that David and his army would take what they wanted by force, Abigail was prompted to act.
The fact that Abigail would gather supplies in defiance of her husband's wishes and ride out to meet David herself implies that she was not a woman oppressed by her culture's patriarchy. Carol Meyers, in her book Discovering Eve: Ancient Israelite Women in Context, writes this of gender relationships in pre-state Israel: "When a household occupies the preeminent place in society, women have a strong role in decision making and consequently exercise considerable power in the household. This is especially true for complex households such as the extended or multiple-family units that made up a significant number of domestic compounds in Israelite villages."
Abigail was clearly one of these women, according to 1 Samuel 25. She not only has five women servants of her own, but her husband's male servants also do her bidding, as seen when she sent them out with provisions for David.
Abigail Used Courtesy and Diplomacy
Riding a donkey, Abigail was just coming into view of David when she heard him cursing Nabal for his stinginess, and swearing vengeance against all of Nabal's extended family. Abigail prostrated herself before David and begged him to take his anger at Nabal out on her instead, because she didn't see the messengers he sent and therefore didn't know of his needs.
Then she apologized for Nabal's behavior, telling David that her husband's name means "boor" and that Nabal had acted like a boor toward David. Far more polite and diplomatic than a woman of her standing needed to be with an outlaw like David, Abigail assured him that he has God's favor, which will keep him from harm and give him both the throne of Israel and a noble house of many descendents.
By diverting David from vengeance against Nabal, Abigail not only saved her family and its wealth, she also saved David from committing murders that could have brought retribution upon him. For his part, David was captivated by Abigail's beauty and apparent wisdom. He accepted the food she brought and sent her home with a promise that he would remember her good counsel and her kindness.
Thank you for your input, mcubed. I noticed that you spoke of women who are not commonly talked about as great, or admirable, that's a really different perspective. I usually see more spoken of Ruth or Esther, or Mary. Thank you for bringing that up and reminding me.
I'm not sure I followed you when you said the Lord is a liberator of women, could you expound more on what you meant? Jesus died to set us all free, indeed, is that what you meant?
I think Ruth showed tremendous faith and charity in following Naomi, being a Moabite widow and foreigner, one who comes out of a land of idol worshipers and came to know the Lord. The Lord is good and works all things for our good.
Because of Ruth returning with her Mother in Law, she was able to marry her kinsmen redeemer, Boaz, and was also in the blood line of King David and therefore the blood line of Christ. It's all very exciting and intricately designed.
Thank you for your reply, IWalkAlone, that's wonderful take on Abigail, makes me want to turn the page and try to read more.
I see Abigail also acted in a kindly manner. It is good to be firm and steady and do what's right and also be kind-spirited, some forget the value of rebuke and correction, while others can be too cold or unforgiving and forget the value of gentleness. I think Abigail showed tremendous diplomacy as well.
A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger. - Proverbs 15:1
Job's wife...often overlooked because she broke down and told Job to curse God and die...she gets a bad rap.
But think about it, they were her 7 children that died, she lost everything, too, she was the one who took care of Job when he was at the lowest point in his life...cleaning his sores. She was just as rejected by the 'friends' and their families...she had no one to turn to...and wanted her husband to no longer suffer.
Yes, she was wrong for telling him to curse God and die...but how many would hold up any better?
Thank you, teach_ib, though I believe she was overlooked for a lot of the good things she undoubtedly did, her husband was going through the same manner of suffering and did not curse the Lord.
A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. - Luke 6:45
Putting myself in her position, well it's impossible to think of the suffering (to say nothing of the emotional suffering alone) that she also endured. I can't say I would have acted any different, to assume so would perhaps be Pius of me. I would feel very repentant and sorrowful if I had.
What is more righteous than saving a life? Agile saved her husband�s life that day!!!! The midwives of the Hebrews lied and deceived Pharaoh and said the Hebrews� have their children too fast to kill them.
"I'm not sure I followed you when you said the Lord is a liberator of women, could you expound more on what you meant? Jesus died to set us all free, indeed, is that what you meant?"
Yes you are right, but I am specifically speaking of that time when women were owned and had no voice and the Word of g-d mad them not only human but owners of property as in the book of Deuteronomy with the women I spoke about. I am saying G-d before the modern so city mad us equal as humans G-d from the beginning in His Word already did.
There are a lot of women in the bible I would love to know more about. The woman that touched Jesus robe had great faith which moved her to action. The woman who only want crumbs from the masters table. The woman at the well that brought her whole town out to meet the messiah. There are so many places where the bible only offers us a small snapshot into the lives of these women, like Job's wife(I'd say she gets a bad rap like Judas did), and it's hard to decipher what was really going on, and easy to just assume it or gloss over the little information we have. I'd say the one I'm most interested in is the prophetess Anna that recognized and praised baby Christ at the temple. An 84 year old widow, worshiping day and night in the temple. She recognized the messiah by sight, and went out speaking to people about the redemption he brought with his birth. Sounds like a powerful example to me!
I understands now, thank you mcubed, for elaborating on what you meant. It is interesting to me, it seems many different people of many different races, tribes and genders were at some point or another slaves.
Our merciful Lord sets us spiritually, emotionally and physically free.
DHTM, you still post here too? Hi! Thank you for the examples of biblical women you gave, I'd like to learn more about Anna as well. There's a lot of men and women in the Bible who showed tremendous amounts of faith, obedience to the Lord and good works who are not discussed often.
I admire the prostitute who washed Jesus feet with tears and dried them with her hair. She didn't wait for a private moment with Jesus, to spare her dignity, she knew that even in front of all those pharisees her need and wretchedness were so great she abandoned herself to Him. At the end, Jesus didn't rebuke her, but the pharisee who'd put on the dinner party.
I'm not saying I want a prostitute for a wife, but I'd far rather have a woman who's life has been transformed by knowing the mercy and love of God than one who can recite scripture all day yet not recognise when God's children and our brothers and sisters (by this I mean all other people, not just believers) are hurting and desperately need to be shown some compassion.
