God equips and sends an army of women to proclaim God's word to the world.
These posts mention just a few #womenoftheBible whom God calls to publish divine messages to all.
Many of my posts examine Scriptural passages showing that the Bible advocates equality for all people. This post provides examples or precedents of gender equality (1).
It is important to remind our fellow believers of the many women of the Bible who preached, taught and led both women and men. They provide examples and models for our church today to employ the gifts God gives certain women to preach, teach, and lead.
What army of women?
🚺an army of women who proclaimed God's message are celebrated by David (Psalm 68:11). Click here for a comparison of how this verse looks in various translations.
Ancient word-for-word translations provide the detail that God sends an army of women to proclaim God's message:
The Lord shall give a word; to them that preach the gospel with much virtue. (The Lord gave the word, and many women preached this good news.) (Wycliffe)
The Lord doth give the saying, The female proclaimers [are] a numerous host (Young's Literal Translation)
The Lord provided the message. The women who proclaimed it were a great army (EHV).
The Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV) is a 2019 translation. It accurately shows the women were a great army proclaiming God's message. However, it adds a footnote saying the great army of women proclaimers is likely women greeting victors returning from battle, as they did at the Red Sea (Exodus 15:20) or when David returned from victory over Goliath (1 Samuel 18:6). Actually, the women's victory songs are women praising God for the battle, not women greeting men. The footnote seems to discount the possibility that this verse endorses women preaching or teaching.
Some current translations include the reference to women:
The Lord announces the word, and the women who proclaim it are a mighty throng (NIV)
The Lord gives the command [to take Canaan]; The women who proclaim the good news are a great host (army) (AMP)
The Lord gives the command; The women who proclaim good news are a great army: (NASB)
Many current translations omit the reference to women or females:
The Lord gave the word; thousands called out the good news (MSG)
The Lord gave the word; the company of those who proclaimedit: (NKJV)
The Lord gives the word, and a great army brings the good news (NLT)
The Lord gives the command; great is the company of those who bore the tidings: (NRSVUE)
What women are in this throng proclaiming God's messages?
🚺Miriam, leading the song of victory, took the drum and tambourine in her hand and all the women went out after her singing and dancing:
"Sing unto the Lord
for he has triumphed gloriously
The horse and rider
Thrown into the sea!"
🚺"Many women came out of all the cities of Israel, joyfully singing and dancing, to meet King Saul with drums and tambourines (1 Samuel 18:6-7)
🚺Sarah said, "God has made me laugh, and all who hear about this will laugh with me." Genesis 21:6
God admonished those who mocked the idea that Sara would ever bear and nurse children. Genesis 21:7-9.
God said to Abraham, "Listen to whatever Sarah tells you because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be counted" Genesis 21:12
🚺Deborah was a prophet, judge, and political and military leader of Israel. Deborah, a prophetess, was a judge, and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. She sent for Barak and said to him, “Has not the Lord God of Israel commanded you to go and take a troop of ten thousand men to Mount Tabor and that God would deliver Sisera and his people into your hand?
Barak said to Deborah, “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go!”
Deborah said she would go with Barak, but there would be no glory for Barak, for the Lord will give Sisera and his people into the hand of a woman. They agreed, and Deborah arose and went with Barak and the troops. (Judges 4:1-10).
Hear this, you kings! Listen, you rulers! I will sing to the Lord, praise God for the victory (Judges 5:3). Villagers in Israel would not fight; they held back until I, Deborah, arose, until I arose, a mother in Israel. (Judges 5:7)
🚺Jael, the warrior woman: “Most blessed of women be Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, most blessed of tent-dwelling women. He asked for water, and she gave him milk; in a bowl fit for nobles, she brought him curdled milk. Her hand reached for the tent peg, her right hand for the workman’s hammer. She struck Sisera, she crushed his head, she shattered and pierced his temple. At her feet he sank, he fell; there he lay. At her feet he sank, he fell; where he sank, there he fell—dead. (Judges 5:24-27, Judges 4:17-22))
🚺Hannah, announcing God's salvation:
My heart rejoices in the Lord
My strength rises up!
My mouth mocks my enemies
I rejoice in God's deliverance.
The bows of mighty warriors are shattered
Those who were weak are now dressed in power
Those who were full are now hungry
and those who were hungry are now starving.
God brings low the wealthy
and lifts up the lowly. (1 Samuel 2:1-10).
🚺Huldah was a prophet, and the king instructed his male priests to seek out her advice. King Josiah, King of Israel, ordered the high priest Hilkiah and other male royal officers to seek out the prophetess Huldah and ask her what the Lord said. Huldah explained that the scroll meant that God was about to bring disaster to the place and its citizens because they had deserted God and worshipped other gods. However, because King Josiah submitted to the Lord and mourned his mistakes, God will gather you to him in peace. (2 Kings 22:1-20).
🚺Noahdiah was an influential prophetess who corrected or admonished Nehemiah.
Nehemiah served the Persian king and then led a group of Jews to Jerusalem to rebuild the city walls. However, an influential prophetess named Noahdiah struck fear in his heart. Perhaps Noahdiah thought, like other prophets, that rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem would build distrust and enmity between Jerusalem and its neighbours. In addition, Nehemiah spoke against mixed marriages and supported the exile of foreign wives and their biracial children. Noahdian spoke against Jewish husband abandoning their wives, leaving them without shelter, food, or citizenship. Noahdiah was an influential female leader (3) in Israel. (Nehemiah 6:14 and Nehemiah 13:23-25) (2)
🚺The wife of Isaiah (4) was a trusted witness, a prophetess and scribe, a co-worker with Isaiah. She was likely a co-worker with the group who proclaimed and preserved Isaiah's oracles. She gave a symbolic name to their son as evidence of the message Isaiah preached to King Ahaz. (Isaiah 8:1-4, 16-18).(3)
🚺Anna told everyone, men and women, that Jesus was God's deliverer
🚺Elizabeth announced that Mary was the mother of the Lord. Elizabeth was a descendant of Aaron, of the line Moses ordained to be priests. When Elizabeth was very old, she became pregnant and said it was the Lord's doing, God showed her favour by removing the disgrace and mocking of others for Elizabeth's infertility. Elizabeth had been called unable to conceive, but with God, it was possible. When Mary visited Elizabeth, she exclaimed loudly that God had blessed Mary as the mother of our Lord. Luke 1:5, 18, 24-25, 36, 41-45).
🚺Mary was chosen by God to deliver the promised deliver, and she consented (Luke 1:26-38). Mary prophesied how Jesus would overturn human power structures:
My heart rejoices in the Lord! God has favoured me, a lowly one, and raised me up! God has scattered the proud and arrogant and pulled the powerful down from their thrones. Those who were weak are now lifted up. Those who were full are now hungry, and those who were hungry are now empty-handed. God has shown mercy, just as he promised. (Luke 1:46-55).
🚺Many women: These are the women of the early church, some named in Acts and credited by Paul as his co-workers.
"... all were united in prayer, along with the women, including Mary the mother of Jesus" Acts 1:14.
"... what seemed to be individual flames of fire landed on each one of them and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit" Acts 2:3-4.
Peter and John reported everything to the brothers and sisters..."... after they prayed... the [men and women] were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking God's word with boldness." Acts 4:23, 31.
📘Get to know many woman disciples forgotten by historians in my biblical fiction: Forgotten Followers from Broken to Bold (book 1).
📘Get to know woman apostles in my #2024release Because She Was Called (From Broken to Bold Book 2) A novel of the early church.
Sources:
#christianfiction #egalitarianchristian #feminist #biblicalequality #empoweringwomen #inspiration #womeninleadership #womeninministry
Elaine Ricker Kelly Author is empowering women with historical fiction about women in the Bible and early church and Christian blogs about women in leadership, church history and doctrine. Her books include:
Forgotten Followers from Broken to Bold, Book 1 (2022)
The Sword A Fun Way to Engage in Healthy Debate on What the Bible Says About a Woman's Role (2023)
Because She Was Called: from Broken to Bold, Book 2, A Novel of the Early Church, imagines Mary Magdalene's trip to testify before the emperor (2024)
Walk with Mara on Her Healing Journey: 21 Steps to Emotional Resilience (2024)
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