Abigail was a very smart and beautiful woman--who had enough sense to avert a slaughter.  She was married to a man named Nabal who was "churlish, stubborn and ill-tempered."  He was also very wealthy.  He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats.

David--who was running from King Saul--had taken up residence (with the men who followed him) in the fields near where Nabal lived and where Nabal's sheepherders were tending his flocks.  David's men protected the sheepherders from theft, and harm.

So when the sheepherders returned to the fold at shearing time, David sent messengers to ask Nabal to give a gift, a present, to his men--a friendly recompense for the protection they had afforded. If Nabal had had a brain, he would have been showering David with thanks, presents and praise.  But he was a rude, uncouth, stupid and ignorant man.  He "dissed" David in a public in an unnecessary way.  He said, "Who does this son of Jesse think he is?" This made David furious, so he saddled up his army, drew swords, and started towards Nabal's house to kill him and all of those who served him.

But Abigail, hearing that David was coming to kill her husband for what Nabal had done, found bread, fruits, and a group of loyal men to accompany her, and intercepted David.  She knelt and asked permission to speak.  She basically told David that Nabal was a boorish nincompoop, and to put the blame on her.  She begged David not to take vengeance into his own hands, because he would have to live with the guilt of murder for the rest of his life.  And she asked David to remember her when he came into his kingdom.  (David had already been anointed by Samuel to be the next king.)  David was calmed down by Abigail's gracious words and her kindness in providing his men food.

The next day, Nabal got drunk and died of a stroke.  (God takes care of things.)  Abigail was brave.  She spoke to a man who was not family--which was not allowed back then.  She took sides against her husband in a peaceful way to avert a disaster.  She was smart, and she used her intelligence.  She flattered David.  She fed him.  (Always a good plan where men are concerned.) And she sized up her husband as an idiot--which he was.  Later, David had the good sense to send for her and marry her when he heard that Nabal was dead.  Smart move.

I am a little weary of searching for these women in the Bible--so I am going to take a break from it for a few weeks.  I have never been much of a historian and all the cross referencing has made my head hurt.  Especially now that I am in the second book of Samuel--the conflict between Saul and David goes on for chapter after chapter.  With an occasional, rare mention of a woman.

King David had a bunch of  wives.  The only reason most of them are even named is because they gave him sons.  Besides Michal, two of them are very interesting.  Abigail, and Bathsheba.  I will discuss them and then I'll write about something else for awhile.

It is easy to lose track of the mothers--of the children they had--because it always says the son was begat by "some man."  Almost never is the mother mentioned.  You would think the men had all the babies.  Their culture was so much different than ours.  That's just the way it was.  Women didn't count for very much before Christ.  He gave us honor.

But before I finish with Michal, the youngest daughter of Saul, I need to give you a little more information.  You remember that when David went to war, Saul gave his daughter Michal to another man to marry--even though she was already David's wife.  Saul was king.  He could do whatever he wanted to do--and he hated David.  As far as Saul was concerned, Michel was simply "bait" to lure David into battle for her hand.  Saul figured David would be killed and never claim his prize.

Later, after David was more  powerful, he sent for Michal--and took her back from the man Saul had given her to.  Her (second) husband followed her back as she was being returned to David--weeping because he was losing her.  She must have been something--David wanted her back.

You would think Michal would have been happy at this point--since she loved David--but when David came home from a battle and was dancing in the streets--exposing himself in the process--she became furious because he was acting "low-class" in front of all the women who were welcoming him home. So she scolded him.  And of course, David didn't like it and basically told her to can it.

She remained childless.  One of the few women mentioned for something other than producing sons.

This week, I have hit the "Publish button" instead of the "save" button twice.  So you got a draft in the evening, sometimes two in one day...........unedited.........my bad.

One of Eli's sons married a woman who went into untimely labor upon hearing that her husband and his brother--Eli's two sons--had been killed in battle and that the ark of the covenant had been stolen by the Philistines.  She died in childbirth and what God said about Eli not having an heir was fulfilled.

The next women mentioned were King Saul's two daughters Merab and Michal, and his wife Ahinoam.

Saul told David, "I will give you my oldest daughter Merab for your wife."  But when it was time for the wedding, Saul gave her in marriage to another man.  Then Saul said, "You can still be my son-in-law--I will give you my younger daughter."  Which must have pleased Michal for she had fallen in love with David.  But Saul told David he had to kill one hundred Philistines to get her.  His plan was to be sure David was killed in battle.  But David killed two hundred Philistines  and claimed Michal as his prize.

Saul hated David because he had become famous due to his brave exploits.  The women of the city danced when he returned from battle.  So Saul set his heart to kill David.  And Michal warned David, "Get out of here before morning.  If you don't, my father plans to have you killed.  You are going to end up dead."  So she helped him out of the palace through a window, took an idol and put it in his bed, covered it up to look like a body.  When the soldiers came to get David, Michal told them that he was sick and couldn't get up.  So Saul told them to bring him in to him, bed and all.

"You have deceived me and let my enemy escape," Saul railed at Michal.  "Why have you done this to your father!"  She answered him, "He threatened to kill me if I didn't help him."  So David escaped.  Michal loved David more than she loved her father.

Years later in retaliation, Saul forced her to marry another man.  There is more to this story--David gets her back in the end.

My son Scott has been reading through the Bible again, and was reading about Hannah at the same time I was.  He sent me a note to say that God blessed Hannah after she "lent" Samuel to Eli to raise in the service of the Lord.  God gave her more children, three sons and two daughters.  So she was not alone.  God's blessings are always in abundance.

Hannah gave Samuel to God's service not knowing that she would have other children.  She gave all she had.  Everything.  Her first born. Without grudging.  I can't help but wonder if this is a picture of what God did.  First born son Jesus.  Given to us.  Without grudging.

While Samuel was in the service of the Lord, Hannah continued to care for him.  "Moreover, his mother made him a little coat and brought it to him.  From year to year she visited him when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice."  I bet that was the highlight of her year.  You know it must have meant the world to Samuel.  "And the child Samuel grew on, and was in favor both with the Lord , and also with men."  And later, when Samuel was the judge of Israel, think of the pride she must have felt at the man he had become.  

I used to make everything my children wore.  I did love to sew!!  And it was something that I was good at--we like to do things we are good at.  But the story of Hannah making Samuel a little coat reminded me of one of my colossal failures.  I had constructed a two piece suit for Scott to wear on Sundays.  It looked professional (if I do say so myself). When it was finished, Scott tried it on, looked up at me and said, "I can't wear this, Mama."  I was crushed.  "What is wrong with it?  Why won't you wear it," I asked?  He answered, "You put the buttonholes on the wrong side.  I'm a boy.  These are "girl" buttonholes."

I had made things for my two girls and myself for years and years, but this was my first attempt at making something for Scott.  I didn't know about buttonholes being on different sides.  I couldn't help but wonder--when I was reading about Hannah making Samuel a coat--if Hannah got the buttonholes on Samuel's coat on the right side.

I bet you know someone like Peninnah.  I do.  No matter what you say or do, they find fault with you.      And when there is something wrong that you can't do anything about, they make snide remarks and rub it in.  I can't help but wonder why some people are like that?   Remember high school?

Whatever the reason, I can only imagine how blessed Hannah was when she gave birth to Samuel.  And as he grew, he was an exemplarily child.  Of course he had an exemplarily mother.  And when the time came to go back to Shiloh to worship, she said to her husband, "I am not going until Samuel is weaned."  In a few years--when that day came--Hannah took gifts to the house of the Lord.  And Eli the priest was there.

Hannah said, "Sir, I am the woman that was praying and weeping here years ago.  I prayed for this child, and God has given him to me.  Because of God's goodness, as long as this child lives, I will lend him to the Lord."  And then Hannah began to pray and praise God.  Her song is found in 1 Samuel 2:1-10.  It is beautiful.  You might want to read it.  She exudes joy.

At this point, when the days of worship and sacrifice were over at Shiloh, Hannah left Samuel with Eli to minister to the priest.  I cannot even imagine such a sacrifice.  This child that she had begged God for, she was now giving back to God and to his work in the house of the Lord.  She was extraordinary.  No wonder her husband loved her so much.

The trust that Hannah had in God was enormous, because Eli had two sons who were evil.  EVIL.  And to leave Samuel with Eli--who may have been a good priest, but had been a horrible father--meant that Samuel would grow up in the presence of these two reprobates--with Eli as his mentor.

But God took care of that problem.  A man of God came to Eli and told him that God had condemned him for the way he had failed to discipline his two sons, and promised that his sons would die without heirs and that Eli's name would be wiped out.

But as for Samuel, the Bible says that, "The child grew and was in favor with the Lord and also with men."  I know Hannah must have been proud.  I would have been.

One note:  Boaz's mother was the prostitute Rahab.  (She hid Joshua's spies.)  Perhaps that is why he was sympathetic to Ruth--he knew how difficult it had been for his mother to gain acceptance among the Israelites since she was from another country.  (Even though Boaz's father was an Israelite.)  And the people of Moab--Ruth's country--were the descendants of Lot's incestuous relationship with his daughters.  The Jews considered the Moabites "the scum of the earth."  Boaz and Ruth had common backgrounds.

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges....Ruth.  Eight books.  Hundreds of men and a few women. And now I am delving into First and Second Samuel.  And the story of Samuel's mother.

There was a man who had two wives: Hannah who was barren, and Peninnah--who had given him children when Hannah couldn't.  The man gave Peninnah portions (shares of income or land) for all of her sons and daughters--and a worthy portion to Hannah even though she had no children, because he loved her.  Peninnah was most probably jealous of Hannah.

Peninnah mocked Hannah and continually made her upset because she could not bear children.  Each year as they went up to worship at Shiloh, Peninnah provoked Hannah so horribly as they were traveling that Hannah wept and couldn't eat.  Her husband asked her, "Why are you crying?  Aren't I better to you than ten sons? Why is your heart grieved?" There must have been a lot of tension in Hannah's life.  Her husband didn't get it.  He didn't have to live with Peninnah's constant taunting.

After the service was over at Shiloh, Hannah was "bitter in her soul" and began to pray silently and weep.  The priest Eli thought she was drunk and told her to stop drinking wine.  "I am not drunk, I have not had anything to drink," she told him.  "I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit.  I am pouring out my soul to God."  So Eli told her, "Go in peace.  And may our God grant you your petition."

The next morning after worship, they returned to their home in Ramah.  And God answered Hannah's plea.  She gave birth to a son and named him Samuel.  God hears our prayers and understands our broken hearts.  And sometimes--sometimes--he gives us what we have asked for.  Praise God.

When Ruth got home that morning, of course Naomi wanted to know everything that had happened.  Ruth gave her the barley from Boaz, and told her what Boaz had said about her not going home without a present for Naomi.  She shared everything Boaz had said about redeeming their property and his willingness to take her as his wife as well.  (That was a requirement in those days.)

"I know this man," Naomi said.  "He won't rest until he has found the next of kin that he spoke of who has first right to redeeming the property."  Which is exactly what Boaz did.

Boaz called for ten of the chief elders of the city to be witnesses to the transaction.  He told the kinsman who was first in line to redeem the property, "You have first right to it, and I am next."  The man told Boaz, "I want it."  So then, Boaz told the man that the purchase of the land from Naomi required that he marry Ruth--so that she could have children to carry on her husband's name and to eventually inherit the land."

"Well, no.  I can't buy it under those circumstances," the man said.  Because her son would then inherit my property as well--in her dead husband's name."  It seems strange to us today, but those were the rules of inheritance in those days.  

So Boaz married Ruth.  And God gave her a son.  And the women of the city blessed Naomi because she now had an heir.  Boaz was willing to marry Ruth--and allow the line of inheritance go to Naomi's family's name through Ruth. 

Their son's name was Obed.  And Obed grew up and had a son named Jesse.  And Jesse grew up and had a son named David.  King David.  A man after God's own heart.  And Jesus came from the linage of David.  Jesus' background included a harlot--Rahab, who helped Joshua's spies when they went to Jericho.  And a Moabite woman from an unacceptable tribe--Ruth.  Go figure!!

Looking at the women in Christ's background, they were from every walk of life.  Just like us.  God uses women for his glory.  All kinds of women.

Now comes the part of the story that we all love.  Naomi said, "Tonight, my daughter, Boaz and his workers will be winnowing barley in the threshing floor.  All that grain has to be tended to.  Bathe yourself; anoint yourself with oils.  Put on your finest clothes and go there--but softly, quietly--don't let him know you are there.  After he has finished eating and drinking, mark the place where he lies down on the floor, so that that you will know which bed is his.  Then slip in, uncover his feet and lie down there.  He will tell you what to do."

Ruth trusted Naomi completely.  If she had told Ruth to jump off a cliff I think Ruth would have done it.  "I will do all that you say to me," Ruth told her.  I wonder if she worried about what Boaz would think when he woke up--what would happen on that threshing floor.  It didn't seem proper.  But Ruth trusted Naomi's judgment.  She was ready to do whatever Naomi told her to do.

Ruth probably didn't know about the rules of inheritance in Israel.  Naomi couldn't claim her husband's property--it had to go to her sons, who were dead.  Only a kinsman could claim it, and there was a strict line of inheritance.  And to claim it, you had to marry the widow of the heir--which would be Ruth.  You couldn't just buy the property.  It had to stay in the family.

When Boaz woke, he was frightened and said, "Who are you."  She said, "I am Ruth.  Spread your skirt (protection) over me for you are a kinsman (who can inherit).  He said to her, "All the city knows that you are a virtuous woman.  You have not chased after the young men of our town--either the rich young men, or the poor.  It is true what you say about my role as a kinsman, but I am not next in line to claim you.  There is a another nearer than I.  Let me see if he wants to take the part of a kinsman--which is his right.  And if he does not, I will.  Lie here till morning.  I will take care of it then."  So Ruth lay at his feet till morning, and then rose to leave before the others woke.

Then, trying to protect her from gossip, he told her, "Don't let it be known that a woman came to the threshing floor."  He had her get her vail and filled it with six measures of barley and said, "Don't go home empty to your mother-in-law."  I'm sure Naomi was on pins and needles waiting to hear what had happened.  I know that I would have been.

Once Boaz knew that Ruth was the Moabite daughter of Naomi, he answered the question she had asked--about why he was being so kind to her.  "Everyone has heard how you have cared for your mother-in-law since your husband died.  We know how you left your home to come here where you didn't know anyone.  We know how you take care of her.  It is God who has rewarded you.  You have trusted Him and have come under the protection of his wings in our country."

Boaz watched Ruth throughout the day.  He told his men to let handfuls of grain fall so that she could pick it up.  When everyone stopped to eat, he told her to sit with his reapers and eat with them.  There were probably dozens and dozens of people scrabbling for grain, but Ruth's kindness to Naomi caused her reputation to come to the attention of someone who could help her.  And he did.  God provides for those who love him.  Ruth had said to Naomi, "Your God will be my God."

I am sure she was ecstatic when she got home that night.  I bet she ran all the way home.  She couldn't wait to tell Naomi what had happened.  A huge burden had been lifted from her shoulders.    Then Naomi asked where she had gleaned that day--and Ruth told her.  "Boaz's field."

"Blessed be God who has not forgotten us after all," Naomi said.  "The man is one of our kinsmen."  Ruth shared with her that Boaz had told her to come back every day--until the harvest was over.  They would have grain for bread.  Enough grain to last till the next harvest.  I am sure that Naomi had been concerned about sending Ruth out unprotected.  "This is wonderful news. You won't have to travel from field to field where you could be in danger.  He has asked you to glean with his maidens."

And then, Naomi began to behave like every mother in the world who loves their daughter.  She began to think, "What if...."  Ruth must have been attractive.  She certainly had the qualities of character that would make her stand out in a crowd.  Boaz had taken notice of her.

So Naomi began to plan. "My daughter, I must think about your future.  I will not be here forever.  I will not rest until I know that things will be well with you; that you can be taken care of."  All a girl really needs is an anxious mother who knows how to get things done.  Naomi qualified for that.

So Naomi and Ruth trudged down a dirt road toward Judah together.  Naomi leading the way.  And Ruth following this courageous woman that she had come to love and admire.  Now bonded in a way that few of us ever have an opportunity to bond.  A strong fellowship with total allegiance to each other.  And as they finally approached Naomi's old city, I'm sure that Naomi must have wondered if any of her relatives, or any of her friends would still be there.  And if they would be glad to see her.

As they wandered into town, the people of the city were moved saying, "Is this Naomi?"  She said to them, "Do not use that name for me.  Call me Mara, for God has dealt very bitterly with me.  I went out from this place with a full life.  But I have returned empty.  I have lost everything.  My husband and my sons.  I have no one to protect and provide for me and my daughter Ruth."  (She no longer called Ruth her daughter-in-law.  Ruth had become a daughter to Naomi in every way.)

They had no land, no money, and no way to earn themselves a living.  All that the two of them could do was glean for grain.  And Naomi was too old to glean--stooping over and picking up what was left after the harvest.  So Ruth said, "Let me go to the field and glean for corn.  Maybe I will find grace in the eyes of the owner of some field and he will let me pick up what is dropped."  So Naomi told Ruth, "I have a kinsman, Boaz, a very wealthy member of my family who might let you glean his field.  Go, my daughter."  They were desperate, so Naomi blessed Ruth and sent her off into the unknown.

While Ruth was gathering grain, Boaz noticed her and asked who she was.  "A Moabite woman.  She came from Moab with Naomi and lives with her."  Whether it was pity or attraction, I don't know.  But Boaz told her "Do not go to glean anywhere else, stay here with my maidens as they glean.  And when you need a drink of water, go to our vessels.  I have charged the young men not to bother you in any way.  You will be safe here."

Ruth fell on her face before him.  "Sir, why are you doing this.  I am an outsider.  I am not an Israelite."  She wanted him to know that she was a foreigner.  I can only imagine the relief that she felt at that moment.  Now she would be able to feed herself and Naomi because of this man's kindness.  The weight of providing for the two of them must have weighed heavy upon Ruth.  She loved Naomi, and knew that she, Ruth, was what stood between the two of them and starvation.

The Bible consists of 66 separate short "Books" written by many different people.  Only two of them are named for women.  Ruth and Esther--and both of them are very short.  However, their stories are rich and wonderful.  The book of Ruth tells us the story of three women.  Ruth, Orpha, and Naomi.

There was a man who was living in the land of Israel during a time of great famine.  He could not care for his wife Naomi and their two sons.  He heard that there was grain in the land of Moab, so he took the whole family and they moved there until the famine was over.  In the meantime, his sons grew up and married Moabite women--Orpha and Ruth.  But before he could take his family back to Israel, both he, and his sons died. Leaving his wife Naomi and his two daughter-in-laws without a protector and no source of income.

I love some of the phrases in the Bible: "Then she arose...".  What else could Naomi do.  She had nowhere to turn; no one to help her.  I can just see her getting up one morning--resolved: "I am going home to Judah."  She told her two daughter-in-laws to return to their mother's houses and said, "May God deal kindly with you as you have dealt with me all of these years.  Maybe you will find another husband there."  But the women said no, that they would go with her to her people--so they all left.

But along the way, Naomi insisted.  "I am too old to have another son for you to marry.  I have no hope of finding another husband.  And even if I could find a husband today and became pregnant, would you want to wait for that son to grow up!"  So Orpha kissed Naomi goodby and went home.

But Ruth said, "Intreat me not to leave you, or return from following after you; for wherever you go, I will go: and where you lodge, I will lodge: your people shall be my people, and your God my God.  Where you die, I will die and there I will be buried.  The Lord do unto me, and more also, if anything but death part you and me."   Probably one of the more well known passages in the Bible.

Ruth's words are a testament to the character of Naomi.  Ruth had come to love Naomi and did not want to live her life apart from her.  She cast her lot--for good or bad--with her mother-in-law for the rest of her life.  Their stories are woven together into a tapestry of love in this short Biblical book.  It is a story of love, courage, trust, faith and fulfillment.  Just four pages long, but it has it all.

The book of Judges ends with two strange accounts of women.  The first woman mentioned takes an entire chapter and is very odd.  It has no moral, or context; it just tells us that an unnamed woman's son stole her money, and later confessed that he did it.  She took the money that he returned and had a silversmith make some idols.  Which of course was the wrong thing to do.  (Both of them.)

The scripture explains it this way, "For in those days Israel had no king so everyone did whatever seemed right in their own eyes."  Which seems to be the mantra in America today.  People have no moral compass.  Which you don't if you don't believe in God--or his authority over your life.

The next woman mentioned was about a man's wife.  (unnamed)  She became angry with him and ran away back to her father's house.  The man took his servant with him to go reclaim her and take her back home with him.  He found her, and as they were returning home, some sodomites banged on the door of the inn where they were staying demanding him to give them the man-servant so that they could have sex with him.  But the man said, "No, take my wife."  (Good grief.)

Then the husband shoved his wife out the door, and the gang of men raped her throughout the night.  In the morning as her husband was leaving, he opened the door and his wife was lying with her hands digging into the threshold, where she died.  He then proceeded to cut her into twelve pieces--and sent a piece to each of the tribes of Israel to cause them to take action against the people of that land where she had been abused.  (I can't imaging how he rationalized that her death wasn't his own fault.)

Horrible stories.  Why are they in the Bible.  Perhaps to show man's depravity.  I couldn't help but wonder if the husband was paying his wife back for running away from him in the first place.  The story is bizarre.  Doing what is right in your own eyes is not a good way to live.  If we follow the guidance of Jesus, we will always, "...do unto others as you would that they should do unto you."

Throwing someone to the wolves certainly doesn't meet God's expectations.  Just the opposite.  Perhaps that is the lesson in this passage.  I'm tired of all of these horrible stories.  Tomorrow, I will write about a wonderful woman.  Actually, two of them.  About time.

An angel appeared to the wife of a man named Manoah--one more important woman that didn't have a name--and told her that she wouldn't be barren anymore, she would have a son--and that she was not to drink any wine or strong drink.  This son would be a Nazarite from the day he was born and was never, never to cut his hair.  She named him Sampson.  He would become Israel's last Judge.

You would think that a man given by God for such an important role as a judge would respect his office.  But Sampson was a womanizer.  First he took a Philistine woman to be his wife--over his parent's objections.  Sampson made a wager, a riddle for the wedding party men to solve.  Those same men talked his new wife into finding out the answer to the riddle.  "Go entice Sampson."

So she wept and said, "You don't love me, you hate me because you put a riddle before the sons of my people and didn't tell me the answer."  Sampson told her that he hadn't even told his mother or father, but his new wife wept for days.  So on the seventh day he gave in and told her the answer.
Big mistake.  She told the male members of the bridal party, and Sampson lost the bet.

Sampson left to hunt down and kill some of the men, and while he was gone,  his new wife's father gave her to another man.  So he went to Gaza and found a harlot to sleep with.  Sampson was stupid where women were concerned.  How he had the sense to be a judge is questionable.

Next he fell for a woman named Delilah--who wanted to know where his strength came from.  He lied to her three times, tricked her.  She revealed what he had told her to the men of her city all three times.  And when what Sampson had told her proved not to be true, she said, "How can you say I love you when your heart is not with me.  You have mocked me three times and not told me where your strength lies."  So he told her the truth.  "My hair.  If I cut it I will lose my strength."

She had him sleep in her lap and while he was sleeping she called one of the men and he cut off Sampson's hair.  He woke up weak, unable to defend himself and they cut out his eyes.  I don't understand how some men seem to fall for the wrong kind of women over and over again.  You would think they would learn.  He chose three women.  All  of them untrustworthy.  I can't help but wonder how sad his mother must have been at his indiscretions.  Three women.  All wrong.

Researching all of these stories about women has been an eye-opener.  People do the craziest things.  I think that if I had done some of the things that I've uncovered in the Bible, I would be absolutely certain that it didn't get written down.  But since God is in control of what was written, we have some of the most interesting stories.  Some of them are about some stupid things that people did.

Like Jephthah.  He was a great warrior, but his mother was a prostitute.  His father Gilead had a number of sons who were legitimate--who called Jephthah a "Son of a whore" and chased him out of the country.  But when the Ammonites threatened to overrun Gilead,  those same sons begged Jephthah to come back and fight for them, and that they would make him king.

So he returned, went to war and attacked the army of Ammon.  He told God that if God would give him the victory, that when he returned home, whoever came to meet him first would be given to God as a sacrifice.  Stupid.  Stupid.  Stupid.  Human sacrifice was never acceptable to God.

After he won the war, he returned home and the first person to come to meet him was not what he expected.  His only child, a daughter ran to meet him playing on a tambourine and dancing for joy to see her father.  When he saw her he tore his clothes in anguish.  "Alas my daughter, for I have made a vow to the Lord and I cannot take it back."

His daughter told him, "You must do what you promised God, but first let me go to the hills for a vacation with my girlfriends for two months." She was weeping because she said, "I will never get to marry."  This is nuts.  God didn't want a human sacrifice, but Jephthah must have been very ignorant of the God he claimed to serve who had said, "Do not kill."  Other nations practiced human sacrifice at the time, but this was abhorrent to Jehovah.  Sometimes false "religion" takes the place of true worship.  Jephthah should have just asked God for the victory at war.  If you don't know what God wants from you, you may do something just as stupid.  Read the Bible to know the truth.

Jephthah sacrificed her.  All that we know of what happened afterward is that from that day on, it became a custom for young girls to make a retreat for four days each year to lament the fate of Jephthah's daughter.  (We don't know her name.)  I'm glad I didn't live back then.

It is very exciting to find women in the Bible who were given a man's job and did it with dexterity.   Deborah led the entire Israeli nation to war, and won against overwhelming odds.  Jael finished the battle by killing the enemy's General in command--and did it with a tent spike and a hammer!!  Who needs a gun when God is on your side!

Lest you think I am leading a rebellion against men, let me assure you that I'm not.  God has an order in the home for women.  And an order in the home for men.  But it stops there.  I once had a man in my church that was a Macho bully--and was a deacon.  He loved to criticize women and put them down.  Which he tried on me.  Big mistake.

One day he went too far with me and I said, "I am subservient to one man, and to one God.  And you are definitely not either one of them."  I didn't need a tent spike.  He backed off after that and let me do God's work in the church that I had been appointed to do.  Sometimes you just have to stand up and put an end to the rhetoric that devalues the work that women do.  Especially the work they do for the Lord and in their churches.  Yes, I admit, Iwas a little bit sassy.

You remember Gideon.  He was the fellow that put out the "fleece" because he wanted to be sure that the message that he had been given by an angel was truly from God.  He had 70 sons--one of whom (Abimelech) murdered all of his brothers except the youngest (Jotham) who hid.  Abimelech wanted to be king.  So he did away with anyone who might interfere.

But the people demanded, "Who is this Abimelech, and why should he be our king."  The people and Abimelech went to war.  As Abemilech stacked wood to burn down the walls of the city, the people climbed to the top of the wall and one of the women, (I wish we knew her name), took aim, and threw a great stone down--which landed on Abemilech's head.  As he was dying, he begged his armor bearer, "Kill me! Never let it be said that a woman killed me.  So his armor bearer killed him.

That didn't change the fact that it was a woman who did him in.  And it is recorded in the book of Judges for all of us to read.  "Thus God punished him for the sin of murdering his father's seventy sons."  Justice Served.  By a woman.

In the middle of the battle that Deborah fought against king Jabin's armies, his top general named Sisera--the leader of all of Jabin's troops--saw that they were defeated and alit from his chariot and fled.  "...Sisera ran away on foot to the tent of a woman married to Heber the Kenite--because there was peace between king Jabin and the house of Heber."  Sisera was looking for protection.

 As he was approaching the tent, this woman, named Jael, went to meet him and said, "Turn in here my lord, turn in to me; fear not."  She hid him and covered him with a cloak.  He begged her for some water, something to drink.  She gave him milk, and  covered him back up.

Sisera then told her, "Stand in the door of the tent and if anyone asks if there is a man here, you say No."  I imagine he probably thought that she was just a mere woman and would do whatever he said to do.  But he badly underestimated Jael.  Huge mistake.  Jael's husband may have had an alliance with Sisera, but Jael didn't.  She sided with Deborah.

After he fell asleep, she pulled up one of the tent spikes, and "...went softly to him and drove the nail into his temple and fastened it--and him--to the ground."  The Bible says, "So he died."  I would think so!!  Pretty hard to recover with a tent spike through your head.

Deborah's general Barak came looking for Sisera.  So Jael went out to meet him and said, "Come, and I will show you the man whom you seek."  When Barak came into Jael's tent, Sisera was dead.

After everything was over and Deborah began to sing praises to God, one stanza of her song was to bless Jael.  "Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be.  Blessed shall she be above all the women in the tent.  He asked for water and she gave him milk.  She brought him butter in a lordly dish.  She put her hand to the nail and her hand to the workmen's hammer...she smote Sisera and cut off his head after she had pierced him through his temples.  Sisera's mother will cry: why is my son's chariot so long in coming?"  Then all the ladies who were hearing Deborah sing answered her with  praises for Jael.

Jael.  What a woman.

Writing about women has not been easy.  I have had to wade through one zillion men's names--the Jews kept meticulous records of who "begat" whom.  And of course, the only "begats" were of which man begat which son.  You would think that all those baby boys were "begat" by the men!!!  But for every son, you and I know that there was a mother who raised him.  She was the main "begatter."

Finally, after slogging through Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, looking for the names of women among all the "begats," I came to a shining example of woman-hood that defies all the rhetoric being espoused today by some of the more rigid churches among us--who would say that women should not speak, or be heard, or have a place of prominence or decision-making in the church.  This story about this woman lets us know what God had to say about that.

Her name is Deborah. "And Deborah, a prophetess...she judged Israel at that time.  She held court under a palm tree, halfway between two large cities in mount Ephraim, and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment."  God chose her.  She had total power in decision making when there were disputes.  And God spoke directly to her, (not through a man) and told her to go to war.

So she called the head of her troops, a man named Barak, and told him that God was authorizing him to defeat king Jabin's army.  "God will deliver him into your hand."  But Barak was frightened, and refused to go unless Deborah went with him. "If you go with me, I will go.  But if you will not go with me, then I will not go."  The greatest warrior in Israel wanted a woman to go with him!!

She answered him and said, "I will go, but you will not get the glory of victory.  God will deliver Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army to me, into the hand of a woman."  So she led them into battle.  Which was won, just as God had said.  And when the battle was over, Deborah stood before the troops and the people and began to sing, "I, even I, will sing praise to the Lord...The people of the villages were defeated.  I, Deborah arose...a mother in Israel."

A prophet, a judge over a nation, a mighty warrior, a wife and a mother.  She had it all.  With God's blessing.  You can't tell me that women aren't called by God--to do whatever he calls them to do.  St. Paul said, "There is neither...male nor female.  You are all one in Christ."  I'll buy that.

Remember the five little ladies that upset the apple-cart of only sons getting part of a man's inheritance?  Well, they paved the way for new boldness among women in asking for fair treatment.  Women even began to speak up when there was something that they wanted.  Imagine that!!

Achsah was just such a woman.  She had been offered up as the grand prize, by her father, to any man who could defeat her father's enemies.  I can't even imagine how Achsah felt--she was to have no say in who she married.  It was to be the luck of the draw.  She must have been very beautiful for such a contest to have taken place and for young men to risk their lives in battle for her.

Worst of all, her father was one of the two most revered men in all Israel--he was setting a precedent where the value of women was concerned.  Remember Joshua and Caleb?  They were the two men who led the Israelis into the promised land and took the city of Jericho.  Well, Achsah's father was Caleb.  Mercy.

Caleb's nephew Othniel was the winner of the contest.  He defeated Caleb's enemies.  Caleb could  have done it himself--he was a great warrior--but by now he was probably an old man.

As Othniel took away his prize on a donkey to go home with him, Achsah told him to ask her father for her to give her an additional field for a wedding present.  Caleb granted the request.  Then Achsah got off of her donkey and went to speak to Caleb herself.  "Father, give me another present.  For the land you gave me is a desert.  Give us some springs as well."   So much for being a quiet little mouse.  This was one smart woman.  I think she probably "read" her father pretty well.  If he was any man at all he would have known his daughter deserved something more than being a booby prize in a battle.

So Achsah got her extra field.  And Caleb heard her, and also gave her, "The upper and the lower springs."  Both springs.  She could now irrigate the land she had been given.

Don't you just love sassy women!!

I love the story about the next woman named in the Bible.  It tells us that God looks on the heart and forgives our sins.  All of them.  It is the story of a harlot.

Moses was dead.  And his successor, Joshua, had the tribes ready to cross the river.  He sent two spies in to check out the situation in the city of Jericho.  They came to an inn that was managed by a woman named Rahab--who was also a prostitute.  After they checked in, word got out that there were a couple of Israelis in town, and there was suspicion that they might be spies since a horde of Israelis were camped out across the river.  The king sent some men to the inn to check it out and find them.
But Rahab had hidden them on the roof under bales of flax, and told the king's men that they had been there earlier, but had left.  She urged them to hurry and that they might catch them.  So the king's men headed to the Jordan looking for the suspected spies.

Meanwhile, Rahab went up on the roof, uncovered the men and said, "I know that your God is going to give my country to you.  The people of Jericho have heard all about how He led you out of Egypt and parted the Red sea.  Everyone here is afraid of you.  Your God is the supreme God.  I beg you, when you take our city, spare me and my family."

They gave Rahab their word that if she would hang a red rope from the window of her house, that their army would know to spare everyone in that house.  Rahab then gave the men a plan of where to go to escape their pursuers--and let them down from the roof by the rope, over the wall.

When the Israelites took Jericho, the promise was honored, and everyone in Rahab's home was spared.  She was saved by her faith.  She and her family then moved into the Israeli camp as new citizens.  She married and had a son named Boaz--who you will remember married Ruth.  And Ruth was the mother of Obed--whose son Jesse, who was the father of David.  King David.  Amazing!!  Jesus was a direct descendant of Rahab.   Rahab is named in linage of Jesus in the book of Matthew.  And in the Book of Hebrews--in the New Testament--Rahab is listed as a person of great faith.  James, the brother of Jesus also praises her in a letter he wrote. When God forgives, He forgives completely.  That is a message of hope.

   

And now we come to the five little Rosa Parks ladies of the Israel nation that wouldn't go sit at the back of the bus.  Hoglah, Mahlah, Milcah, Noah, and Tirzah.

Moses called for all the men over 20 years of age to be numbered and get ready to hear how the land would be divided when they crossed the Jordan river over into the promised land.  So each of the tribes presented their numbers.  "To many you shall give the more inheritance, and to the few you shall give the less--to every one shall be given according to those that were numbered of him."

I have no idea why this was done before they crossed the river.  Only two of the men over 20 years of age were left alive by then--Joshua, and Caleb.  However, every family knew what they had been allotted, so the men of each of those families had passed the inheritance on to their firstborn sons.

But there was a man who had no sons.  His inheritance was about to be lost.  That's when his five daughters got their picket signs and started to march.  "Then came the daughters of Zelophehad--of the tribe of Manassas (Joseph's son) and stood before Moses, and the priest, and all the congregation by the door of the tabernacle and said:  Our father died in the wilderness.  Why should his name be done away with because he didn't have a son.  Give us a possession in our father's name."

So Moses, being a very wise man, looked out over a sea of thousands and thousands of men and women and said, 'I better take this up with God.'  Which he did.  And God told Moses, "The daughters of Zelophehad speak right.  You shall cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto them."

What followed was a pronouncement by God of what to do in cases like this in the future.  Which must have been a shock to the male-dominated society of that day.  Women had rights!!  God had spoken, the laws were clear, and from that day forward women could inherit property.

Sometimes we forget the small steps that women have taken in the face of impossible odds and difficult circumstances to give us the rights that we have today.  Thank God for brave women.