Wishing
all women a very Happy Women’s Day! Women have always proved their excellence
by taking different roles as a mother, wife, daughter, sister, etc. Bible has
so many examples of women of honor but somehow inadvertently or purposefully
they are not marginalized in Churches today. Let me remind the foundation verse
which gives God's perspective that says in Genesis 1:27 “So God created
human being in his own image. In the image of God, He created them; male and
female he created them.” God had assigned specific roles for
both man and woman and expects that we play the role efficiently. To a larger
extent cultures have manipulated to silence women and created a male-dominated
society. Diane Langberg Christian Psychologist talks about the misuse of power
beautifully. “Christendom has used scripture to sanction slavery,
racism, domestic violence, sexual abuse, and other cruelties our God hates.
Some corners of Christendom today have, I fear become less interested in truth
and more interested in power.".
I think
it is good to highlight some of the women characters from the Bible who made
tremendous impact but ignored. Let's look at few of them:
1.Jochebed the
mother of Moses who daringly let go of her son in faith. She put him in a
basket and let him float in the Nile river (Exodus 2: 1-4).
2.Zipporah initiated
and completed the circumcision procedure of her son, and established the
covenant (Exodus 4:24-26).
3.Deborah was the
only female in the line of judges ( of the 14 judges of Israel) and was a
military leader. She wanted Barak to have the credit but because of his refusal
to go on his own, he was not credited for the act (Judges 4:1-9).
4.Jael was a bold woman who kills
Sisera with kindness and power, subduing the power of Canaanites (Judges
4:17-23).
5.Ruth's noble character gave way to
form the lineage of Jesus (Ruth 1:16-18) through David's genealogy.
6.Hannah, the
barren woman’s decision to offer her son to be one of the greatest prophets in
Biblical history (1 Samuel 1: 11-28).
7.Queen Vashti is unique to be
qualified in this list. The King wanted to flaunt her beauty to a bunch of
drunken men. Would it not be labelled as humiliation and abuse of power in
present times? And the consequences pornographic? Vashti should be considered a
righteous hero for standing up for her modesty (Esther 1:-10-12).
8.Abigail was a wise woman
married to a fool (as admitted by her). She gives a brilliant discourse and
saved her husband from David’s wrath (1 Samuel 25: 23-31).
9.Mary Magdalene, Joanna Susanna and many other were supporters for Jesus’ ministry (Luke 8: 2).
10.Mary Magdalene, Mary of Nazareth, Mary wife Clopas stood by Christ till the last in the crucifixion history (John
19:25).
11.Priscilla along
with her husband corrected Apollos, an eloquent orator on the teachings of
Christ accurately (Acts 18:24-25) and was also involved in the
founding of the Church at Corinth.
12.Women who witnessed the empty tomb and proclaimed the resurrection story is commendable. (Luke 24:10; Mark 16:9; Mat 27:56, 61)
I have
mentioned just few and we all know there are so many more in the Bible who have
set an amazing example for all of us to follow. Before I could conclude let me
juxtapose two prominent male characters from the Bible. The first one is
Amnon who stripped the dignity of a woman (Tamar happened to
be his sister) (2 Samuel 13:1-14). The second person is Boaz
who protected Ruth when she was vulnerable spending the night with him. He
clothed the woman (Ruth) with dignity and extended his protection (Ruth 3:
7-18). In the world where there is so much of discrimination and abuse,
women still outshine like a stars. We honor you and bless you. May you excel
and ignite the world which is filled with differences, hatred and abuse.
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