Pentecost 24 – 2017
Judges 4:1-10
Marian Free
In the name of God who has made us all, male and female, in God’s image. Amen.
When you get home today you might like to try the following exercise: Make a list of all the biblical characters that you can think of (named and unnamed) and then divide the list into men and women. I would be very surprised if your list of men was not much longer (maybe three times as long) as your list of women. There are at least three reasons why this might be so. Firstly, with some notable exceptions, both the New and the Old Testament are set in the context of a patriarchal society. This means that by and large, women have no role in public life. Secondly, so far as we know the bible was written by men who will have seen life from the perspective of their own gender. Thirdly, for the last two thousand years the bible has been interpreted by men who seem to have had a blind spot regarding the place of women in biblical history.
Our reading from Judges today is evidence that not only did women play a part in our history, but that the role that they played was far from insignificant. When the people of Israel entered the Promised Land they were governed by judges. One of those judges was a woman – Deborah. We know nothing about Deborah except these tantalising ten verses and the song that she sings in chapter 5. Deborah is both a judge and a prophet and, it seems, a woman of authority and influence, courage and vision. Deborah summons Barak (a warrior) to inform him that God wants him to go out against the Canaanites. For reasons that are not clear, Barak is unwilling to act on the word of God unless Deborah (a woman and a prophet – not a soldier) goes out with him. Deborah agrees to do so but warns Barak that the victory will bring no credit to him for God will give Sisera (the commander of the Canaanite army) into the hand of a woman.
You have to read to end of the chapter to see how the story plays out and to discover that it is another courageous and, in this case, canny woman who ensures that Israel triumphs against the Canaanites. Sisera flees to the land of Heber the Kenite where he expects sanctuary because Heber is at peace with the King of Canaan. Jael, Heber’s wife, invites Sisera into her tent on the pretext of providing him with protection. She lets him lie down, gives him milk to drink and covers him with a rug. Exhausted, Sisera falls asleep. Then Jael takes a tent-peg and drives it through Sisera’s head with such force that it nails his head to the ground.
There are other, less violent stories that tell of the significant role that women played in the history of Israel. The Israelites survived their captivity in Egypt because the midwives Puah and Shiphrah defied Pharaoh’s order to kill the male children at birth. Miriam’s quick-wittedness saved the life of her brother Moses. Rahab hid the Israelites who had been sent in to spy out the land of Canaan thereby saving their lives. Esther became a queen and risked her own life to save the people of Israel from annihilation by exposing the evil intentions of Haman.
They may be few in number but among the women named (and unnamed) in the Old Testament there are prophets, warriors, queens, midwives, seers, victims, wives, concubines and daughters. In fact, it is possible that without their intervention, Israel might not have survived. By their courage, their faith, their wisdom or their resignation, all of the Old Testament women have something to teach us.
The New Testament too includes a number of significant women who played a vital role both in Jesus’ ministry and in the life of the early church. Woman accompanied Jesus on his travels and supported his ministry from their own finances. It is to the Samaritan woman that Jesus first reveals his identity and it is Martha who identifies Jesus as the Christ. Mary Magdalene is not only the first to see the risen Jesus and the first to proclaim the resurrection, but the gospel of John and later the gospel of Philip make it clear that she played a leading role in the life of the early church. Mary and Martha also appear to have held leadership positions in the community for whom John’s gospel was written.
During Jesus’ ministry, the woman from Syrophoenicia challenged his narrow viewpoint and caused Jesus to change his mind and the woman with the haemorrhage impressed Jesus with her faith. Jesus says of the woman who anointed him: “Wherever the gospel is proclaimed what she has done will be told in memory of her.” The disciples abandoned Jesus, women followed him to the foot of the cross and in the early morning went to his tomb.
Paul’s letters inform us that women played a vital role in the early community. They were teachers, apostles and deacons, prophets and co-workers with Paul. Paul wrote to the Corinthians on the basis of a report by Chloe and he is concerned that Euodia and Syntyche end their disagreement, as they were his co-workers along with Clement. The book of Acts makes it clear that women were teachers, prophets and leaders of the early communities. Women such as Lydia hosted gatherings in their homes and Dorcas was known for her good works and generosity. The “elect lady” of John’s letters appears to be a leader in her community and the letters to Timothy single out his mother and grandmother for special mention.
The characters that populate our biblical stories are many and varied and in their stories we can find our own. Male or female we might identify with Peter’s impetuousness, Thomas’ courage, Jael’s cunning, Hannah’s despair, David’s sinfulness, Solomon’s wisdom, Tamar’s grief or Jephthah’s daughter’s resignation.
It is important that we have a balanced view of our biblical history. It is important that our daughters and our sons have both male and female role models in their faith journey and it is essential that all of us understand that our service of God is not limited by our gender, but only by our refusal to believe that God can and will use us in whatever way God chooses.
Tags: Deborah, Jael, Judges, Roles models, Sisera, Women in the Bible
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