Dorcas, A Woman Full of Good Works

       Benevolent, compassionate, and devout woman that she was, Dorcas gave so generously of herself to others that her name today, almost 2,000 years later, is synonymous with acts of charity.
       More than any Bible woman of the early Christian period, she gave new meaning to the wise counsel of Lemuers mother, who in speaking in praise of the worthy woman said in part, '"She seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy'' (Prov. 31:13, 20).
       The motivating principle of Dorcas life is given in six words, ''full of good works and alms deeds'' (Acts 9:36). With her sewing needle as her tool and her home as her workshop, she established a service that has reached to the far corners of the earth. We can infer that Dorcas was a woman of affluence. She could have given of her coins only, but she chose to give of herself also.
       She lived thirty-four miles northwest of Jerusalem at the port of Joppa, an important Christian center during the years when the new faith was spreading from Jerusalem across the Mediterranean. The picturesque harbor was situated halfway between Mount Carmel and Gaza at the southern end of the fertile plain of Sharon. We can easily visualize her home. In all likelihood it was a mud-brick structure on a "whaleback'' ridge above the sandy beach. Let us suppose the house had a large roof guest chamber, reached by an outer stairway. From the roof outside this guest chamber Dorcas could observe Joppa's needy people as they wandered up and down the beach searching for rags swept in by the waters of the sea. To these poor people, without sufficient clothing, good rags washed up on the shore must have been like gold nuggets.
       It is easy to suppose that as Dorcas looked from her upper room down upon the shore and watched these destitute people she became stirred with the desire to help them. Out of this first work of hers grew the Dorcas Sewing Societies, now world-wide.
       Though the Bible does not record exact details, we can be sure that Dorcas, with her nimble fingers, stitched layettes for babies, made cloaks, robes, sandals, and other wearing apparel for poverty-stricken widows, the sick and the aged. Many of those in need were downcast because they had to wear ill-fitting rags, but once clothed in the well-fitted garments she made for them they went away renewed in spirit.
       Needs of the people of Joppa must have seemed perpetual, for in this seaport were many families who depended upon the sea for their living. In wooden boats the men would set forth on the Mediterranean, then called "The Great Sea'' and often their boats would be torn to bits when they hit treacherous rocks or were buffeted by the winter storms of the Mediterranean. History records that the bodies of early seamen were often swept into the churning waters and then sometimes back onto the shores at Joppa.
       Dorcas had great compassion for the widows and the fatherless, and people loved her because of her magnificent qualities of mind and heart. Her life suggests Paul's message to Timothy, in which he said that women should adorn themselves in "modest apparel, with shame-facedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works'' (I Tim. 2:9-10) .
       Doubtless the people she helped pondered on what would happen to them if she should die. One day, as the people had feared, Dorcas, amid her labors, was seized with illness. Death came suddenly.
       Saints in the Church and widows she had befriended made their way to her house, washed her and laid her in the upper room, probably the room where she had made garments for them. After they had given the ceremonial ablutions to their benefactress, they stood about her bier, weeping and planning her burial.
       In this age when Peter and other apostles were performing miracles, there were a few who had faith that Dorcas could be raised from the dead. About ten miles from Joppa in the fertile Plain of Sharon was Lydda, where Peter had gone to preach. The disciples sent two men to Peter to ask if he would come to them without delay. The salty, fighting hands of Peter had become the healing hands of a saint, and they believed that he could raise Dorcas from the dead.
       He knew perhaps of the good works of this woman of the Christian faith, and he left his preaching at Lydda and hastened on foot to Joppa and to the upper room of Dorcas, where she lay dead. Like Elisha, when he had healed the child of the Shunammite woman, Peter refused to recognize that Dorcas was ready for burial, even though the people stood around her dead body weeping.
       Dismissing the weepers, Peter knelt down and prayed over Dorcas. No conflicting doubts or fears disturbed him. In his own mind Peter must have seen Dorcas as well and whole again. Praying fervently, he laid his big hands on the head of the woman. In a positive tone of voice, using the Aramaic form of her name, he said to her, "Tabitha, arise‚'' (Acts 9:40).
       After Peter had spoken thus, the Bible says in dramatic but simple words, "And she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up'' (Acts 9:40). Then he called the saints and widows and presented Dorcas to them.
       We can be sure that the shouts of gratitude to God when Peter "presented her alive'' were louder than had been the wails at her death. The people whom Dorcas had befriended sensed a new joy, such as only those who see the dead restored to life can experience. For the woman who had lifted up so many in body and spirit had now been lifted up herself.
       Nothing is recorded of Dorcas after her healing, but in all probability her service increased. And those who had witnessed her healing now believed more strongly in God, for they believed that the same God who could lift Dorcas from the dead could also lift them from poverty and squalor.

Abigail, A Woman of Good Understanding

''Abigail" one of David's eight wives.

       Because of her good understanding, Abigail might be called the earliest woman pacifist on record. Certainly of all the famous women in the Old Testament she was the wisest.
       Though she was to become David's wife after the death of her husband, Nabal, a drunkard, it is as the wife of the latter that her fine character comes into the sharpest focus. In this first picture of Abigail we come to know why David later was to have such faith in her wise counsel. From his first meeting with her David's life seems to have taken on a higher meaning and a stronger purpose. He is no longer a fugitive and outlaw but destined to become the great king of Judah and of all Israel.
       Abigail was one of David's eight wives. The others were Michal (I Sam. 18:27), Bath-sheba (II Sam. 12:24), Ahinoam, Maacah, Haggith, Abital, and Eglah (II Sam. 3:2, 3, 4, 5), but Abigail was the greatest influence for good and helped David to remember that he was God's anointed into whose keeping the kingdom of Israel had been entrusted.
       When David and Abigail chanced to meet, he was a shepherd  hiding from Saul in the wilderness of Paran, an extended tract along the southern border of Canaan adjoining the Sinaitic desert. He had gathered around him about six hundred followers, who constituted a bodyguard and voluntarily protected the flocks of many a herdsman from prowling thieves.
       In the sheep and goat country west of the Dead Sea, and not far from where David was, lay the town of Maon. Near by was the larger town of Carmel standing in mountainous country. One of the richest men in this area was Abigails' husband, Nabal, who had some three thousand sheep and one thousand goats. Their home probably was a pretentious place on a plateau that one came upon suddenly after leaving desolate brown limestone hills, bare valleys, and dry watercourses.
       It was sheep-shearing season at the home of Abigail and Nabal. Many guests had gathered, and there was much feasting. Abigail had provided abundantly for her guests, for she was a woman who had a reputation for gracious hospitality. We can imagine that her hospitable house, run efficiently and well, was a place where the stranger liked to tarry.
       On such feasting occasions let us picture Abigail in a dress of fine linen, probably a vivid blue, with a softly draped headdress of shell pink forming a flattering outline for her brown hair and her delicate features. The headdress probably fell into a sash around her slender waist.
       We have the Biblical record that Abigail was of a beautiful countenance as well as a woman of good understanding (I Sam. 25:3). But in the next phrase her husband, Nabal, is described as "churlish and evil in his doings‚'' (I Sam. 25:3). His most niggardly act was directed at David, who had sent ten of his men up to the hills to ask for a little food during feasting time. David's own provisions were running low. His request was polite and just, for ten men could not carry away much food.
       David and his men had helped Nabal's shepherds to protect their master's large herds of sheep and goats. It was quite natural that David's shepherds, who had befriended Nabal's man, would be welcome at feasting time. But Nabal, drinking too heavily, cried out contemptuously when he heard of David's request, "Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there be many servants now a days that break away every man from his master'' (I Sam. 25:10).
       When word reached Abigail, through one of the workers on the place, that her husband had railed at David's messengers, she listened attentively. This worker, who evidently had confidence in his mistress' sagacity, reminded her that David and his herdsmen had been like a wall of protection to Nabal's herdsmen. And he added that they had come to the house in peace, asking for that to which they were justly entitled. We can be assured that Abigail possessed an innate dignity and had won the respect and faithfulness of the workers in her household.
       Wise woman, too, that she was, she lost no time, for she knew what happened when strong-minded men like David were angered. He was not one to let such an affront go unpunished. She also knew how rashly her husband acted when he was drunk. She wasted no time in lamenting the threatened danger or in making aspersions on her husband's character. Certainly she did not pause to discuss David's anger with her drunken husband.
       Instead she hastily made ready to prepare special foods for David's six hundred men. She asked no advice of anyone but went to work as judiciously and quietly as if she had had months to think over her actions and make preparations for the food. She supervised the baking and packing of two hundred loaves of bread. Also, she had five sheep dressed and five measures of grain parched, and she packed two skins of wine, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs (I Sam. 25:18). Then she had everything loaded on asses and mounted an ass herself. Let us imagine it was a white one, and as she mounted it, she beckoned to her helpers to ride before her with the food. 
       Only a capable and affluent woman could have made ready so much food in such haste. Only a woman of good understanding could have left so quietly, without informing her husband of her actions. If she had, she knew he would demand that she not give away his food to strangers. She knew, too, that the safety of their entire household was at stake.
       As Abigail came down under the cover of the mountain, David and his men rode toward her, and she heard David telling them of her husband's ingratitude and of how he had returned to him evil for good. She overheard David say that by morning all that Nabal possessed and all in his household would be destroyed.
       Abigail, unafraid, hastened toward David and alighted from her ass. In all humility she began to intercede for her husband and apologize for his bad actions. She admitted to David that Nabal was a base fellow and a fool. She then begged David to receive the food she had brought and to forgive her trespasses. She praised David, telling him that evil would not be found in him so long as he lived.
       She also predicted that he would be prince over Israel and that his soul would be "bound in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God.'' She confirmed that God's word was sure and that God would exalt him. Abigail's supplication to David runs through I Samuel 25:24-31. In not one word do we find her forgetting her own dignity. All of the greatness which she predicted would come to David she attributed to the only source of good, God Himself. And she helped David to know he was the object of God's love and care.      
      What but the unquestioning faith in God could have dictated such a humble petition? In it Abigail typifies woman in her noblest, purest character. Her actions reveal that she was a diplomat of the highest order and that she understood men and had tolerance for their bad behavior.
       When she had finished her mission, she did not loiter. She quickly mounted her ass and wended her way back over the hills. We can imagine that David watched her until she was lost in the distance. He probably had been impressed with her good countenance, and he was not to forget this woman who had brought all of this excellent food to his hungry men. His admiration for her one day would take on a deeper, richer meaning.
       When Abigail arrived home, she found her husband still feasting and drinking. But, wisely, she did not tell him of her journey until morning. When the sober Nabal learned from Abigail how near he had come to being slain by David and his men and what she had done to avoid such an attack, he became violently ill. Ten days later he died. He probably died of apoplexy when he realized the perilous situation in which he had placed himself.
       David, later to learn of Nabal's death, would affectionately remember the woman of good understanding who had come over the mountain on the ass, bringing food to appease his hunger. He was
now free to wed Abigail, and so he sent his servants, telling her that he wanted her to be his wife.
       She was now the petitioned and not the petitioner. She accepted David's invitation for marriage, but it was in humility and self-abasement. To his messengers she said, "Behold, let thine handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord'' (I Sam. 25:41). Though Abigail brought to David a rich estate and a new social position, she felt unworthy to become the wife of one whom God had singled out for His work.
       Abigail was just the wife that David needed, for he was willful and tempestuous, while she was humble and gentle. Probably she helped him to learn patience and forbearance and to put aside temptation. She also helped to inspire confidence in him.
       She dwelt with David at Gath and also went with him to Hebron, and there she gave birth to their son, Chileab, also called Daniel. Though little is recorded about Abigail after her marriage to David, we can be sure she was continually exposed to danger from the enmity of Saul and his followers and to captivity from neighboring nations. When the Amalekites captured Ziklag, she was taken captive but was rescued by David after he had defeated the enemy.
       In their years together, David probably said to Abigail many times, as he had said to her when she first rode up to him on the ass, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me: And blessed be thy advice‚.'' (I Sam. 25: 32-33).

"God Is A Spirit"

Woman of Samaria

       Alone, this nameless woman trudged from the village of Sychar to the ancient well dug in a field that had once belonged to Jacob. The high noon sun beat down upon her, and as she glanced toward Mount Gerizim in one direction and Mount Ebal in another, she saw but a few wandering shadows cross the Plain of Shechem. Even the well-watered vineyards looked lifeless to her in the glare of the midsummer Judaean sun.
       She had felt famished in body and soul as she had set forth with a water jug on her shoulder. It was strange that this woman who had lived for carnal pleasures should feel this way, for she had not thought too much about her soul.
       Her sandals, we can imagine, pounded heavily upon the ancient cobblestones that were burning like hot coals from the heat of the midday sun. They fitted loosely and were dirty and worn. Her cotton dress, probably of faded blue crash, was carelessly draped about her, and her loose, flowing headdress, of another drab color, outlined a face once pretty, but now sad and hard. Her figure, once voluptuous, now showed age and weariness.
       This woman had chosen the noontime to go to the well, probably to avoid the gossipy women who usually gathered there in the early morning, while it was cool, and at twilight, when the shadows from the mountains folded in over the plains.
       Today her feet pounded more heavily than usual. Her loose way of life had brought disillusionments and heartaches. She longed to find a new way to live, but it was too late, she probably thought to herself.
       As she neared the well, she remembered how often she had come there for water; but today, for the first time, she sensed a new weariness of spirit. It was unlike anything she had experienced before. Her heavy footsteps broke the silence and intruded upon the solitude of a gentle-faced man, who sat by the well refreshing Himself.
       This man, Jesus, had come down only a little while before from the brown hills of Ephraim into the hot valley of Shechem. He was on His way to Galilee from Judaea and most probably was weary, for He had trudged over hot sands and rough stones for several hours. The sound of approaching footsteps had aroused Him from His quiet meditation.
       Having deliberately chosen the Samaritan Road, an unpopular road for a Jew like himself to travel. He probably now sat pondering the hatred that existed between the Jews and Samaritans and wondering why all men could not love one another. This hate. He remembered, dated back to the Assyrian conquest when some of the Israelites, left behind when the ten tribes were deported, had intermarried with Assyrian invaders and colonists of other nationalities. The racially mixed population of Samaria had set up on Mount Gerizim a rival temple to the one in Jerusalem, and this had antagonized the Jews. At a time when the old hate still smoldered, this wretched, worldly woman of Samaria came upon this godly man of the Jews.
       As he sat quietly on a hard stone step beside the well, He saw the woman drawing water, and He spoke somewhat quickly to her, saying, "Give me to drink.'' The request came as a surprise to the woman. With an incredulous smile she answered, "How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.''
       Jesus answered her, "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee. Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.'' The woman of Samaria was puzzled. Turning, she said to Jesus, "Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?'' Then she questioned Him further, "Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well?''
       The only living water this woman knew was the water which flowed freely from the springs. Like a miracle, as she stood in the presence of this man of God, a change came over her. She began to drink into her inner being His words: "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.''
       So uplifting were Jesus' words that the woman of Samaria was suddenly transported to a new level of life. For the first time she received a glimpse of what the living water this great man talked about so confidently could mean.
       With a great longing in her heart to know more about it, she said to Jesus, "Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.'' The prophetic insight of Jesus was revealed when He spoke: "Go, call thy husband, and come hither.''
       If their conversation was to continue, Jesus realized that it was best for the woman's husband to be present, because it was not customary for a rabbi to hold a long conversation with a strange woman. He had desired to awaken the sleeping conscience of this woman, and He had. She was forced to answer that she had no husband, and Jesus said to her, "Thou hast well said, I have no husband: For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.''
       No one had ever reprimanded this woman in such an honest manner before. She, who evidently had been the subject of so much gossip, was bewildered. Here sat a man she had never seen before, but He was revealing her past. Had He sensed her innermost heartaches? She did not know, but she was certain His presence inspired her reverence.
       She must have known that great things often come at unexpected moments. But she was stunned when she realized how much this moment would change her own life. The spell of Jesus' spirit had made her forget entirely how parched had been her lips and how tired her feet. As she stood contemplating the significance of this meeting, these words flowed freely from Him, as freely as the water had flowed from the well into her jug:
       "God is a Spirit,'' He said to her, "and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.'' To her He had spoken that tremendous truth, the foundation of our knowledge of God. Now she could glimpse the spirituality of all true worship, for gently the Master had raised her up. He had asked for water, which was temporal, but He had in turn given her the eternal gift of spiritual fountains for the soul.
       So revived was she that she said to Him, ''I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.'' Then it was He revealed to her that long-awaited message: "I that speak unto thee am he.'' And because she received this message, she has an immortal place in the Bible.
       After this revelation, Jesus' disciples, who had come to meet Him, interrupted the conversation and bade their Master eat, but He told them that He had partaken of the food of the spirit.
       The remarkable conclusion to the story of the woman of Samaria, as told by John, is that she left her water pot and on winged feet went forth to say to others in Samaria, "Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?''
       In the face of this repentant, careworn woman the Samaritans must have seen a new, piercing light. She could make even the unbelievers know that she had drunk from spiritual fountains of water. The people, longing to receive the same gift, now streamed out toward Jesus, and He and His disciples stayed with them for two days. Many of the Samaritans believed in Him, but they said it was not because of what the woman had heard but because of what they also had seen and heard. For the first time they called him Christ, the Savior of the world.
       Many conversions followed. The disciples who were with Jesus now understood what He had meant when He said, "Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest."
       The story of the conversion of the woman of Samaria has a universal meaning. She is the prototype of women everywhere who live for carnal pleasures. Comforting it is to know that today, as in the time of Jesus, there is a fountain to refresh eternally all these who are parched by sin and suffering.
       That fountain is God Himself, who must be worshiped in spirit and truth, by saint and sinner alike. In fact the sinner, like the woman of Samaria, may draw closer to Him and more quickly than the self-satisfied, righteous person who has a tendency to look down on those he considers less righteous than himself.
       This woman's story confirms the belief that God is no respecter of persons and that Christ came to show the inner meaning of worship. His profound teaching had quickened, enlightened, and illumined the spirit of this worldly woman. She could now know what it meant to take of the water of life freely-not the water in the well as Sychar, near which she had stood, but the spiritual refreshment which had come into her own soul after her encounter with Jesus.
       Paradoxical it is that this woman of very common clay in the sight of the world had been chosen to receive Christ's teaching that ''God is a spirit.'' (John 4:7-42) Edith Dean

Who was the Widow of Nain?

Portrait of the Widow of Nain.

       The widow of Nain's son (Luke 7:11-19) was the first person Jesus raised from the dead. It was after He and his disciples and a multitude following Him had left Capernaum and had entered the village of Nain, which lies on the lower slopes of the Little Hermon. When Jesus came to the gate of the city, "Behold, there was dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her."
       Luke goes on to relate that Jesus had compassion upon her, as He always did upon women in distress. No one asked Him for help, but walking up to the widow Jesus said, "Weep not." Such words
were not a feeble effort to console her. They had a deeper meaning, as she was soon to learn.
       He came and touched the bier of her son and spoke to him, "Young man, I say unto thee, Arise." And the young man who had been dead began to speak. Though Luke does not give us a definite
picture of the mother or express how she felt when her son was raised  from the dead, the one graphic stroke is sufficient: Jesus "delivered him to his mother."
       The most amazing phase of the healing of the widow of Nain's son is that all who had witnessed this miracle "glorified God" saying a great prophet had come among them. And they recognized that Jesus was a far greater prophet than had been Elijah, who had raised from the dead the son of the widow of Zarephath. Elijah had raised her son after he had gone into a room alone and prayed for the boy. But Jesus healed the son of the widow of Nain instantaneously as a bewildered crowd looked on.

Who was Asenath?

The Egyptian wife of Joseph, Son of Jacob.

Asenath (Gen. 41:45, 50; 46:20), wife of Joseph and daughter of Potipherah, a priest of the great national temple of the sun at On or Heliopolis, seven miles northeast of modern Cairo.
       The three times that Asenath's name is mentioned the same phrase appears, "daughter of Potipherah priest of On"sacred city of the Sun-Worshipers. Priests of On were sages; hence the byword, "the wisdom of the Egyptians" (Acts 7:22) .
       Among the honors conferred on Joseph by King Pharaoh for interpreting a puzzling dream was the hand of Asenath. He probably thought she would be a factor in helping him forget his own people, the Israelites.
       Asenath bore Joseph two sons before the years of famine in Egypt. He gave to both of them Hebrew, not Egyptian, names. The first was Manasseh, meaning "God hath removed me from all my troubles and from my father's house." The second was Ephraim, meaning "God hath made me fruitful in the land of my affliction."
       Asenath's Egyptian sons were adopted by her father-in-law Jacob. Upon Ephraim, the elder, he conferred the family blessing.
       One tradition says that Asenath renounced her sun-gods and worshiped Jehovah.

Herodias, Killer of John The Baptist

Herodias, Killer of John The Baptist.

       The most striking example in the New Testament of how far reaching can be the evil influence of a heartless, determined woman in a high position is the story of Herodias. Not only did she occasion the beheading of John the Baptist, but it may even be that she helped to hasten the crucifixion of Christ. It was to her husband, Herod Antipas, that Jesus was sent by Pilate, and Herod might have delayed the verdict. This was the same Herod whom Jesus earlier had compared to a "fox" because of his curnning (Luke 13:32).
       Herodias herself, like her husband, was descended from a line of wicked people. Though the story in the Bible relates only one scene in her life, the beheading of John the Baptist, let us view her entire life from the pages of history in order better to understand what kind of woman she was.
       Her first marriage had been to her half-uncle Herod Philip. She entered into a second incestuous and illicit union when she divorced him to marry his half-brother Herod Antipas, who was the step-brother of her father Aristobulus. This Herod Antipas was tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea during Jesus' time and he is mentioned more frequently in the New Testament than any other Herod.
       To Herodias' first union had been born her dancing daughter, to whom Josephus gives the name of Salome, though in the New Testament she is never identified in any way except as Herodias' daughter. The daughter was born of the Herod family on both her father's and mother's side and must have been brought up in the evil atmosphere of the family. We are told she excelled in sensuous dancing.
       History shows us that evil ran all through Herodias' life. She was a granddaughter of Herod the Great, who carved out his empire with a sword and sought to destroy the child Jesus. (Matthew 2:13). The family line of Herod has become so entangled as to make it a veritable puzzle to historians. They record that he had ten wives and killed his fiirst wife Mariamne, the only human being he ever seems to have loved. Herodias' father, Aristobulus, was the son of Herod the Great by this Mariamne.
       After Herodias' first marriage to Herod Philip, history records, she lived in Rome, where her husband had been exiled and disinherited because his mother had taken part in a plot against his father, Herod the Great. There Herodias and her husband, Herod Philip, entertained as their guest her husband's half-brother, Herod Antipas. He had come to Rome to receive his investiture as tetrarch and at this time was married to the daughter of King Aretas of Arabia.
       Herod Antipas, while a guest in his half-brother's home, indulged in a guilty relationship with the brother's wife, Herodias. Desiring to be closer to the throne than she could ever be with her present husband, a more retiring man, Herodias was willing to pay any price for a regal position, regardless of principles or people involved.
       She persuaded Herod Antipas to divorce his wife, and she in turn divorced her husband and left Rome for Tiberias, the capital city of the province of Galilee, where Herod Antipas was now tetrarch. With her went her daughter, who probably was just entering her teens.
       Great artists have depicted Herodias as a beautiful woman, who wore a crown from which a thin veil fell in long, graceful folds. Beneath it was her dark hair, adorned with pearls. Her dress was of a flowing, rich, regal fabric. Richard Strauss has made more real her wickedness in his opera Salome, with its setting in Galilee, where her second husband, Herod Antipas, had great power.
       The only one who had the courage to speak against this incestuous union of a man of such power was John the Baptist, who said to Herod, "It is not lawful for thee to have her.'' (Matthew. 14:4). She was his brother's wife. Herod would have put John to death at once, but he feared the multitude (Matthew 14:5), which looked upon John the Baptist as a prophet. In Mark 6:19 we learn that it was Herodias who felt especially bitter about John and desired his death but was held back by Herod.
       Herodias, however, was not a woman who could easily forget John the Baptist's stinging rebuke of her marriage. Vindictive as well as cruel, she determined that she would get rid of this man; and so she entered upon her foul scheme.
       Her daughter danced for Herod in the palace on his birthday, as Herodias sat looking on. The daughter pleased Herod so much that he said to her, "Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee.'' (Mark 6:22) . The Scriptures tell us further that the daughter went forth and said to her mother, "What shall I ask?'' And the mother made her ghastly request for "the head of John the Baptist."
       The daughter became her mother's puppet as she danced to please Herod. Though he "was exceeding sorry.'' (Mark 6:26), Herodias had her way. She was the evil influence for both her daughter and her husband and the sole instigator of one of the most horrible crimes ever committed against a just and holy man.
       According to the portrayal given us in Strauss's opera Salome, the daughter danced with many veils and then flung them off one by one, as Herod looked on with lustful eyes. Then when she had concluded her dance, he sent and had John the Baptist beheaded and ordered that the head be brought on a platter and presented to Salome, who in turn gave it to her mother.
       Though her husband and daughter committed this horrible crime against John the Baptist, they were merely the tools of Herodias. She was actually more responsible than either of them for the outrage because she had planned it. As Jezebel had made a tool of Ahab to slay the prophets of Jehovah, so Herodias had made a tool of Herod Antipas to behead John the Baptist. Though the Bible follows through to the very end of Jezebel's life, when she was eaten by dogs, the Bible story of Herodias ends with the delivering to her of the head of John the Baptist.
       However, ancient history relates that after this she became so jealous of the power of her brother, Agrippa, who had been made a king, that she induced her husband to demand of the Roman emperor Caligula the title of king for himself. But Agrippa sent word to Caligula that Herod had been plotting with the emperor's enemies. When Caligula questioned Herod and Herodias in Rome, he was not satisfied with the answers of the guilty pair.
       Instead of making Herod Antipas king, Caligula took from him even the title of tetrarch and added the tetrarchy of Galilee to the kingdom of Agrippa. The emperor banished Herod to Gaul. This is all related by Josephus.
       Because of his friendship for her brother, Caligula offered Herodias her freedom, but she chose exile and disgrace with her husband. Strangely enough, this is the only time that we have any historical record of a praiseworthy action on her part.
       Legend has it that Herodias and Herod died in Spain. Did she have time to live with her guilty conscience and to realize that the beheading of the holy and just John the Baptist was a crime for which she must suffer to the end of her days? Did she come to see that one word which she might have spoken could have saved Christ? At the time of Jesus' trial Pilate, fearing to render an unpopular verdict, had sent Jesus to Herod, for Jesus was from the town of Nazareth in Herod's tetrarchy of Galilee. But Herod had "mocked‚"and sent Jesus back to Pilate (Luke 23:11).
       Did Herodias ever realize that, had she stood on the side of God and righteousness, the history of this period might have had a different ending? She had been warned by John the Baptist of her evil choice in the matter of her marriage, but she had hardened her heart to this message of God. With but one exception, her life had followed an evil pattern to the end.

Deborah, "Is not the Lord, gone out before thee?"

"Is not the Lord gone out before thee?"

       The only woman in the Bible who was placed at the height of political power by the common consent of the people was Deborah. Though she lived in the time of the "Judges," some thirteen centuries before Christ, there are few women in history who have ever attained the public dignity and supreme authority of Deborah. She was like Joan of Arc, who twenty-seven centuries later rode in front of the French and led them to victory.
       Deborah was the wife of an obscure man named Lapidoth. The rabbis say she was a keeper of the tabernacle lamps. If so, what a wonderful yet humble task for this woman who was to become so great in Israel! Later, when her faith in God became the strength of Israel, she would become the keeper of a new spiritual vision that
would light all Israel.
       In all of her roles, first that of counselor to her people, next as judge in their disputes, and finally as deliverer in time of war, Deborah exhibited womanly excellence. She was indeed "a mother in Israel.'' She arose to great leadership because she trusted God implicitly and because she could inspire in others that same trust.
       For twenty years Jabin, king of Canaan, had oppressed the children of Israel. Their vineyards had been destroyed, their women dishonored, and their children slain. Many had turned to the worship of idols.
       Deborah's story comes in the first part of the book of Judges. These men were more than judges in today's meaning of the term, for they were chieftains and heroes as well, and their influence was felt mainly in war. Long before Deborah became a leader in war, she was a homemaker. Her house was on the road between Ramah and Beth-el, in the hill country of Ephraim, where flourished olive and palm trees. It was under one of the most royal of date palms that she would sit and give counsel to the people who came to her.
       As a counselor in time of peace, Deborah became known far and near, but her greatest service came in time of war. And she led her people into war. Most of them had stood by fearfully because they were afraid of the enemy's 900 chariots of iron, when they had none. While they paled with fear, Deborah burned with indignation at the oppression of her people. A gifted and an intrepid woman, she felt a call to rise up against such fear and complacency, for she carried in her heart the great hope that God would come to her people's rescue if they would honor Him.
       Because the men of Israel had faltered in leadership, Deborah arose to denounce this lack of leadership and to affirm that deliverance from oppression was at hand. Her religious zeal and patriotic fervor armed her with new strength. She became the magnificent personification of the free spirit of the people of Israel.
       We can imagine that Deborah looked the part of a great and noble woman. She must have had fire in her eyes, determination in her step, and a positive ring to her voice. We can see her, a tall, handsome woman, wearing a dress of blue crash striped in red and yellow and a yellow turban with a long, pure-white cotton veil, lace edged, reaching to the hem of her dress. A feminine woman, who never had had the ambition to push herself forward, Deborah better personified the homemaker in Israel than a warrior. But as she counseled with her people and began to sense their common danger, she kindled in them an enthusiasm for immediate action against the enemy.
       She had the courage to summon one of Israel's most capable military men, Barak, from his home in Kedesh. Together they worked out a plan for action against the enemy. Deborah let Barak know she was not afraid of Sisera, commander of Jabin's army; neither was she afraid of his 900 chariots. She made him feel that the spirit that could animate an army was greater than either weapons or fortifications. Probably she recalled to him that God had led the Israelites through the Sea of Reeds and had broken a mighty oppressor, Pharaoh. And she made Barak realize that God, who had proved Himself to be mightier than Pharaoh, also was mightier than either Jabin or Sisera.
       "Go," spoke Deborah positively to the fainthearted Barak, "and draw toward mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun." (Judges. 4:6). And she convinced Barak that the Lord would deliver Sisera and his chariots and multitudes into their hands.
       Barak, sensing the spiritual insight that Deborah possessed and feeling the urgent need for her presence and spiritual counsel, answered, "If thou will go with me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go." (Judges. 4:8) . That is one of the most unusual passages in the Bible spoken by a man to a woman. It demonstrates a general's great confidence in a woman, a homebody, too, who had risen to a high place in Israel largely because of one quality, her abiding faith in God.
       Without hesitation, the stouthearted Deborah declared triumphantly, 'I will surely go with thee; notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honor; for the Lord shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman." (Judges. 4:9). In these words Deborah demonstrated more than leadership. Her people were to discover that she was also a prophet.
       In Judges 4:9 we learn that "Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh." That one word"arose" best explains her positive action. She did not sit at home and ponder the matter when the time came for action, but she arose, believing firmly that she was armed with strength from God.
       When Barak summoned his tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh, he saw that none was well armed and none rode in chariots. But Deborah's faith carried the Israelites forward unafraid. When she and Barak and their ten thousand men came to the spur of the hills, near where Sisera and his charioteers were, Deborah, looking out from a lofty rock, exclaimed to Barak, "Up; for this is the day in which the Lord hath delivered Sisera into thine hand: is not the Lord gone out before thee?'' (Judges. 4:14).
       We learn directly from Josephus and indirectly from the song of Deborah that a storm of sleet and hail burst over the plain from the east, driving right into the face of Sisera and his men and charioteers. The slingers and archers were disabled by the beating rain, and the swordsmen were crippled by the biting cold.
       Deborah and Barak and their forces had the storm behind them and were not crippled by it. As they saw the storm lash the enemy, they pushed on, believing all the more in providential aid. The flood waters were now racing down the Kishon River. So violent was the rain that Sisera's heavy iron chariots sank deep in the mud, and as they did, many of the charioteers were slain. And the hoofs of the cavalry horses splashed through the mud as a small remnant made its retreat.
       Sisera, abandoning his mighty chariot, ran for his life through the blinding rain. He managed to reach the tent of Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite. Because the Kenites had been at peace with Sisera, he thought that here he would be safe, especially since Jael had come forth to offer him her hospitality. Weary from battle and comforted by the warm milk and lodging which Jael had so hospitably given to him, Sisera fell soundly asleep. And as Sisera lay sleeping Jael took a peg which her husband had used to stretch the tents on the ground and with a hammer drove it into Sisera's temples.
       Hot in pursuit of Sisera, Barak soon came to the tent of Jael. She went out to meet him and said to him, "Come, and I will shew thee the man whom thou seekest." (Judges. 4:22) . And Jael took him into the tent where lay the dead Sisera. It was just as Deborah had prophesied: "For the Lord shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.'' (Judges. 4:9).
       To celebrate this great victory the Ode of Deborah, one of the earliest martial songs in history, was composed. It began: "Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel.'' (Judges. 5:2). Deborah took no credit to herself. She gave all the credit to God, for she knew that only He could cause the earth to tremble, the heavens to drop torrents of water, and the mountains to melt. In the song she is called "a mother in Israel.''' for she, like a mother, had led the panicky children of Israel to victory. Their cry to her to lead them echoes in the refrain: "Awake, awake, Deborah: awake, awake, utter a song." The tribes of Israel who had stood by her in the conflict were praised.
       Tribute is paid to Jael for putting Sisera to death. In every line of the song one senses Deborah's extreme devotion to God and to the well-being of her nation. At the end of the song, which runs through thirty-one verses of Judges 5, her courageous voice sounds forth like the clear notes of a trumpet of freedom. Her people were  no longer enslaved. Now with her they could declare, "So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord; but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might." Such fire as Deborah possessed literally never died out of Israel.
       Her glorious victory is best recorded in these concluding but meaningful lines of her Bible biography: "And the land had rest forty years" (Judges. 5:31).

Potiphar's Wife, "Because thou art his wife..."

       An erring woman remembered only by her wickedness - that was Potiphar's wife. When she attempted infidelity with young Joseph during her husband's absence from home, she disgraced the distinction she might have borne, that of respected wife of the chief of the Egyptian king's bodyguard.
       Egyptian sculptures and paintings on the walls of ancient tombs help us to picture her as a woman wearing a dress of exceedingly fine linen, pleated into a chevron pattern in the back. Around her high waistline she wore an ornamental girdle and on her head a gold band set with jewels. Her sensual lips were heavily painted with a' purplish pigment, and her slanting eyebrows were made darker with heavy black dye. Around her ankles were gold bands, and she wore other heavy jewelry in her ears and around her neck, and on her long tapering fingers were rings with large jewels.
       We know she was a spoiled, selfish woman, probably older than Joseph and certainly more worldly. She knew nothing of Joseph's God and the high standards upheld by those who believed in Him. Her gods were the physical pleasures, and she spent her days trying to satisfy them.
       The setting in which she moved was one of elegance and splendor. Her house, similar to Egyptian royal houses of that period of about 1700 B.C., had a block of high rooms surrounding the main room and inner garden court.
       This Egyptian house kept Joseph, the young overseer, busy, for it had stables and harness rooms, shelter for small wooden chariots, servants' quarters, granary courtyards, and conical grain bins, as well as an agricultural center. Even the trees, set in brick tubs containing Nile mud, had to be watered daily. There were slaves to direct, purchases to be made in the market, and distinguished guests who demanded personal attentions.
       As supervisor of all this, Joseph, who had been purchased from the Ishmaelites in the slave market, had risen to a place of high trust, for the young Hebrew was faithful, honest, upright, and conscientious. We can be sure, too, that he was beautiful of form and face like his mother Rachel and humble and consecrated like his father Jacob.
       It was with dignity that he moved about his master's house, wearing a skirt of fine linen tucked under a colorful belt from which hung a leather tab. On his feet were simple sandals with pointed upturned toes, and his abundant black hair probably hung to his shoulders. But one would be less likely to observe the details of his dress than his quiet demeanor and the noble qualities in his smooth- shaven face.
       He was a sturdy, stalwart youth whom evil women would delight to tempt. Potiphar's wife probably was dissatisfied with her own husband. Here in her own house was this handsome young Hebrew with whom she would like to take liberties.
       Because Potiphar was one of King Pharaoh's important officials, it is quite natural to suppose he had to be away from home a great deal, and he had entrusted to Joseph not only the safekeeping of his most valuable possessions but also the protection of his family. For a man to feel safe about his family, especially his wife, he had to leave as overseer one who had not only superior ability but also a deep sense of integrity.
       Potiphar's wife, however, had no appreciation of good character. After her husband had departed, she sought to become familiar with Joseph. And one day, when no men were about the house, she said to him, ''Lie with me'' (Gen. 39:7). But he resisted, for he had disciplined himself to do what was right.
       He must have startled this evil woman when he answered her invitation by saying, ''There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back anything from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?'' (Gen. 39:9).
       Potiphar's wife had not dealt with such an honorable man before. She was angered, but she was not outdone. Day by day she invited him into her private boudoir, but he always retreated from her advances, because he knew God had great purposes for him to serve, and he must uphold that which was right and good.
       Finally, when Potiphar's wife could not entice Joseph, she caught his garment in her hand and held it; but he fled, leaving it with her. This woman who had not received what she asked for determined to hurt Joseph, in order to save face herself. She screamed loudly to other men in the household, saying, ''See, he hath brought in an Hebrew unto us to mock us; he came in unto me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice,'' (Gen. 39:14).
       She now kept Joseph's garment and showed it to her husband on his return. When Potiphar saw it, he immediately cast Joseph into prison, for his wife had lied, saying, ''The Hebrew servant, which thou hast brought unto us, came in unto me to mock me: And it came to pass, as I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled out.'' (Gen. 39:17-18) .
       These are the last words of this despicable woman, who has become a symbol of the faithless wife. Her obscurity, except for her wickedness, is final, but the young Joseph rose to noble stature, even  within prison walls. Her own silence, in face of the youth's term in prison, is even greater admission to the bad character of Potiphar's wife, who was not only a sensualist but also a coward who could not admit her own guilt.

Mary Magdalene, "See, He Is Risen"

Mary Magdelene, "See, He Is Risen" Jesus
casts seven demons out of the woman of
Magdala. She becomes one of His most
faithful followers, going with Him all the
 way to cross. She is first to know He has
arisen and to report this to His disciples
Peter and John.

        Christ's empty tomb was first seen by Mary Magdalene, and she was the first to report to the disciples the miracle of the Resurrection, the greatest event the Christian world has ever known.

       One of the most stirring narratives in literature is John's description of Maty Magdalene's visit to the sepulcher. He depicts her as being alone. Other Gospel writers say that other women were with her.
       Evidently going on ahead, Mary Magdalene saw that the big circular stone had been rolled back along the groove and had left the entrance clear. Hastening to Peter and "the other disciple, whom Jesus loved'' who is thought to be John, she told them, "They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulcher, and we know not where they have laid him'' John 20:2
       These disciples followed Mary Magdalene to the sepulcher. John went in first and gazed in silent wonder at the open grave, and then Peter came and saw that the grave was empty and that the linen cerements were lying neatly folded in the empty sepulcher.
       One, at least, of the disciples and possibly both of them "saw and believed'' and then went back to their homes. Mary Magdalene, possessing a woman's sensitivity and able to believe even what eyes cannot behold, returned once more to the tomb and looked inside. This time she saw two angels in white sitting there, the one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.
       Strange it was that the first word spoken inside the empty tomb should be "Woman.'' And then there followed the angels' question; ''Why weepest thou?'' Mary Magdalene answered, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him" John 20:13. Then she turned, and Jesus stood before her. Not until He spoke her name, "Mary" did she recognize that He was Jesus.
       Though she had not found Crist, He had found her and had called her by name. Then she turned to Him with her cry of recognition of her Master; "Rabboni" John 20:16.
       As Mary Magdalene stood there in the softly breaking dawn, Jesus had spoken in a voice so tender that it must have penetrated to her heart. "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God."John 20:17. Mary, awe-stricken, hastened to tell the others that she had seen the Lord and that He had spoken these things to her.
       In Christ's resurrection Mary Magdalene had witnessed not a mere resuscitation but a changing to another form, a form not subject to the ordinary laws of the flesh but ready now for a new mode of existence and a new set of relationships, a form not temporal but eternal. Yet He was still alive, active, able to reach out and to speak.
       Mary Magdalene went forth to prepare others for this change in their Master. Her long watch by the grave in the early morning had been an evidence of her faith. Because of her faith she became the first witness to the Resurrection.
       In a little while followers would see and feel where the nail holes had been in His hands and the spear wound in His side, but they would learn that this body could not be pierced again, for it had taken on an indestructible form.
       Who was this Mary Magdalene to whom Jesus appeared after His triumph over death? John gives her the leading part in his narrative. Matthew, however, writes that with her were "'Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's children.'' Matthew 27:56. In 28:1 he writes, ''As it began to dawn toward the first day of the week," Mary Magdalene and "the other Mary,'' who could have been Mary of Cleophas, came "to see the sepulcher.'' Mark tells that "Mary, the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome'' accompanied Mary Magdalene (Mark 15:40). Luke gives the prominent place to Mary Magdalene and adds the names of "Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women'' Luke 24:10.
       All of this has confused scholars, but evidently Mary Magdalene had a more significant role at the time of the Resurrection than any other woman. Also in several places in the narrative she stands beside the mother of Jesus.
       Fourteen times Mary Magdalene is mentioned by name. In eight of these passages her name heads the list. In one her name follows the name of the Mother of Jesus and the other Mary. In five it appears alone. These concern the appearance of Christ to her, as narrated by John.
       Where did the name of Mary Magdalene originate? It is derived from Magdala, the Greek form of Migdol or Watchtower. The town  of Magdala, from which she came, is identified today as Mejdei, at the south of the Plain of Gennesaret, where the hills reach forth to the lake of Galilee.
       We can be confident she was a woman who walked erectly, even to the tomb, one who was young and pretty, well-favored and warmhearted. The master painters have depicted her with auburn hair; probably in her late twenties, she possessed beauty of face and form.
       From the Scriptures it is easy to infer that she was one of the influential women of the town of Magdala, who gave of her substance as well as herself to Jesus' ministry, for she had profound gratitude in her heart for His healing of the seven demons with which she had been afflicted (Mark 16:9).
       What were these "seven devils?" Some commentators have suggested that they indicate a nervous disorder that had recurred seven times. Others describe them as evil spirits from a superhuman cause.
       There is a very strong body of contemporary evidence from highly trained and competent missionaries in the Orient and elsewhere showing that demon possession exists in the areas known to them and exhibits the same phenomenon as that described in the four Gospels. The Chinese, both educated and uneducated, have distinctive terms for the various patterns of mental disorder, but they distinguish the phenomenon of demon possession from other types of mental disorder.
       Whatever it was that afflicted Mary Magdalene, Jesus had healed her, and she had become His faithful and devoted follower. Into her living death He had come with the power of life, and had taught her victory over her so-called demons. And after His healing, she had become a fully poised woman, one who could watch at the tomb quietly and unafraid.
       Since medieval times Mary Magdalene has been one of the most maligned women in the New Testament, largely because some scholars of an earlier period chose to identify her with the unnamed sinful woman of Luke 7:36-50. The first mention of her in Luke 8:2 follows closely upon this account of the sinful woman. But there is positively no way to identify her as Mary Magdalene. These unfair aspersions have become popular, but they are not at all accurate.
       Frank S. Mead in his Who's Who in the Bible says, "We have had Mary Magdalene in the pillory for 1900 years, flinging mud: we should have been pilloried. This Mary was never a harlot; there is no evidence anywhere for that. At most she was neurotic. And Jesus healed her.'' The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia expresses the opinion that "The identification of this Mary with the sinful woman is, of course, impossible for one who follows closely the course of the narrative with an eye to the transition.''
       Because of the misinterpretation that Mary Magdalene has suffered at the hands of the few, the Concise Oxford Dictionary gives "reformed prostitute'' as the meaning of "Magdalene.'' Painters, since medieval times, have also made the mistake of depicting Mary Magdalene on canvas as the penitent sinner. Some skeptical writers have descibed her as a paranoic in the habit of "seeing things'' and have declared that what she saw at the tomb was not real.
       But if we follow the Scriptures fully, we see a Mary Magdalene who displayed the highest qualities of fortitude in moments of anxiety, courage under trying circumstances, love that could not fail, and humility and unselfish devotion to the Savior who had been crucified. Her faith is a monument to the healing power of Jesus. Her action in serving Him in life and ministering to Him when the mob had turned against Him and had finally left Him in the grave alone is characteristic of woman in Bible history at her best.
       The last glimpse of Mary Magdalene as she hastened to the disciples to say "I have seen the Lord." has all the dramatic power of victorious faith. What a magnificent commission hers was, to be a witness to Christ's conquest over death and to be the first to go forth to tell others that she had seen the Lord! No woman ever ran to deliver a more triumphant message.
       John makes us realize that Mary Magdalene did not hesitate to do as she had been commanded. She left the grave and forgot her useless spices. A great transformation had taken place in her own being, for she had witnessed a change from the material conception of life to the spiritual, a transformation whereby man was ruled not by the flesh but by the spirit. It is no wonder she could report with firm conviction His words, "I ascend unto my Father'' for she knew the true meaning of His deity and divine exaltation.

Manoah's Wife

        Manoah's wife (Judg. 13:2, 11, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23) was Samson's mother. She bore no name of her own in the record but is introduced as the wife of a certain Manoah of Zorah, of the family of Danites, and seems to have been a stronger character than her husband. The remarkable thing about her life is that she was told not to drink wine or any strong drink or to eat any unclean thing, for her child would be dedicated to the sacred calling of a Nazarite.
       When the angel appeared before her, she was reverent and silent and obedient to the voice and filled with faith, but her husband became fearful and pessimistic, saying, "We shall surely die, because we have seen God.'' Judg. 13:22. But Manoah's wife remained unshaken in her faith. Together, however, they offered up a burnt sacrifice to God in grateful praise. She taught her son that no intoxicating drink should enter his lips and no razor should touch his head, for his long-grown locks would speak outwardly of his sacred vow to God.
       Manoah's wife is typical of the wife who has a simple, trusting confidence in God and of the mother who is willing to consecrate herself to all that is good. We can be sure she lived closely to God, for the angel of the Lord appeared both times to her, and each time she made haste and told her husband.
       Manoah's wife appears twice in the narrative after Samson is grown. First she and Manoah are protesting because their son has chosen for his wife a woman in Timnath, of the daughter of the Philistines, out of whose hands, it had been foretold before his birth, he would begin to deliver the Israelites. But Samson informed his mother and father that this Philistine woman "pleaseth me well'' Judges 14:3. But they knew their son's marriage was not of the Lord.
       Manoah's wife last appears on her way to Timnath to see her son married to the woman to whom she had objected Judges 14:5. The marriage turned out badly, as Manoah and his wife had predicted.
       Though Samson was weak where women were concerned, he became one of the most eminent of the Hebrew "Judges.'' Can we not believe that it was to his mother's love and prayers, her dedication of her son to God even before his birth, that he owed his true greatness.?
       Was it not the godliness he had inherited from his mother that triumphed in the end? For even at the eleventh hour, when he tore the pillars from their position and brought down the roof upon his foes, the Philistines, did he not atone for all his wasted years? Despite his weakness in character, the New Testament named him one of those Hebrew heroes whose animating principle was faith, a faith such as his godly mother had possessed before her child was born (Heb. 11:32).

Noah's Sons' Wives

        Noah's sons' wives (Gen. 7:7, 13; 8:18). Noah's sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, all had wives who went with Noah and his wife into the ark, where they dwelt during the flood along with their mother-in-law. These wives and their mother-in-law are the only women of whom we have any record who survived the flood. After that had subsided, the wives went with their husbands and their mother-in-law to the spot where Noah had built an altar unto the Lord. These wives are the mothers of the descendants of Noah mentioned in Genesis 10.

Noah's Wife

        Noah's wife (Gen. 6:i8; 7:7, 13; 8:16, 18), in the five times that she is mentioned, is merely among those present, with the sons and sons' wives of Noah. In the first three instances, the sons come first, but in the last two the wife is listed first. There is no record of her, except that as the wife of the hero of the flood, she went with him into the ark made of gopher wood covered inside and out with pitch.
       Noah's wife became the first woman on record to make a home on a houseboat in the midst of flood waters. Like her husband, who was a just man and walked with God, probably she too had a deep consciousness of God. Her character is reflected in her family line, which continued strong for 350 years after the flood.
       It is interesting to note that Noah's wife played no part in his experience when he discovered the art of making wine and became drunk. He was found drunk by his sons. Probably his wife, had she been living, could have saved him this embarrassment, for this is the only blot on Noah's career.

Who were Philip's daughters?

        Philip's daughters (Acts 21:9) were the four unmarried daughters of the evangelist Philip. They seem to have had the honor of knowing and working for and with the great Christian men and women of their time in Jerusalem, Samaria, and Caesarea. Their father helped to administer the business affairs of the apostles and the growing Church in Jerusalem and to distribute relief to the poor.
       They probably assisted him in the latter and were with him when he preached and healed at Samaria and when he led Simon the sorcerer to become an active believer in Christ.
       Their mission as prophetesses is mentioned in the narrative telling that Paul's company entered the house of Philip at Caesarea on the Mediterranean. Luke probably stopped at their house also, and it is thought he may have written parts of his Gospel and the Book of Acts there.
       Because of their association with the greatest Christian leaders of their time and their own rare spiritual endowments, they became illumined expounders of God's words.

Herodias' Daughter

        Herodias' daughter (Matt. 14:6; Mark 6:22) is given no name in the Bible, but Josephus says her name was Salome. The famous opera Salome by Richard Strauss is based on the life of this daughter. She danced before her stepfather Herod Antipas and pleased him so well that he said to her, "Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee." Mark. 6:22. The daughter went to her mother and said, "What shall I ask? And the mother made the ghastly request for the head of John the Baptist because he had objected to her divorce from the girl's father and her marriage to his half-brother. The head was brought to the girl on a platter. Her own father was Herod Philip, who was a half-uncle of her mother's and a son of Herod the Great, who sought to destroy the child Jesus.

Daughter of Jairus

Daughter of Jairus.

       The daughter of Jairus (Matt. 9:18-25; Mark 5:35-43; Luke 8: 41-56) was raised from the dead by Jesus. Jairus, her father, was a ruler of a synagogue elected by elders of the community, and it was his duty to look after the order of the divine service. His office was one of the most respected in the community and no doubt his only child of twelve years was loved by all his people.
       One day as she lay at the point of death, her father hastened to Jesus, then at Capernaum, beseeching Him to heal her. But as the anxious father spoke with Jesus, a woman who had had an issue of blood for twelve years touched the Master's garment, and the multitude thronged about Him.
       This pause must have been a great test of Jairus' patience and faith, for he knew how necessary it was that Jesus hasten to his daughter's bedside. While Jesus paused to speak to the woman, messengers came from Jairus' house saying, "Thy daughter is dead.'' (Mark 5:35). Until then he had besought Jesus to heal his sick child, but now she lay dead. To the mourning Jairus, Jesus spoke the confident words, "Be not afraid, only believe. '' (Mark 5:36).
       When Jesus had healed the woman with the issue of blood, he hastened on to the house of Jairus, taking with Him Peter and James and John. Upon entering the house, Jesus found it filled with noisy mourners. Even the flute-players had gathered to play for the last rites of the dead (Matt. 9:23). But Jesus rebuked the mourners, saying, "The damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.'' (Matt. 9:24; Mark 5:39;
Luke 8:52).
       Then He went in to where the sick child lay, taking with Him His three disciples. He said to her, "Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise'' (Mark 5:41).
       The Gospel writer, Mark, in his graphic way tells us, "And straightway the damsel arose, and walked.'' And Luke, the physician, makes this comment, "And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway: . . . And her parents were astonished.'' (Luke 8:55, 56) .
       In their astonishment, the joyous parents forgot that their daughter needed food, but Jesus did not forget. Turning to them. He commanded that something be given her to eat (Mark 5:43). Her hunger, a natural condition after a long illness, also made Jairus and his wife more aware that their only daughter was not only alive again but fully restored to health.
       Though Jesus told her parents to tell no one what had transpired in this room of death, Matthew reports that "the fame hereof went abroad into all that land'' (Matt. 9:26).

Huldah, "Thus Saith the Lord"

       Though many of the Hebrews were given to idolatry and were ignorant of God, still the lamp of divine truth was kept burning in the heart of a woman. That woman was Huldah.
       To a high degree, Huldah possessed two great qualities, righteousness and prophetic insight, and because she possessed the former she was able to use the latter wisely. This prophetic power, never trusted to the undeserving, was given to her because she loved God with all her heart.
       Evidently Huldah was known in the kingdom of Judah far and wide or she would never have been sought out by King Josiah, who sent five of his own personal messengers to her with the Book of the Law, which had been recently discovered during repairs in the Temple at Jerusalem. He had faith in Huldah's spiritual powers and he wanted her to tell him whether the book was genuine or not. Here is a clue to Huldah's intellectual and spiritual perception.
       The Scriptures give us no graphic description of this early Hebrew prophetess, except to say that she was the wife of Shallum, whose family had been singled out as keepers of the wardrobe, meaning either the priest's or the king's wardrobe, probably the latter. At least this would place her close to life inside the palace and Temple.
       The King James Version says that Huldah "dwelt in Jerusalem in the college - but the Revised Standard Version says "she dwelt in the Second Quarter'' (II Kings 22:14), indicating the area of Jerusalem in which she lived. On some maps the Second Quarter is shown to be the section in front of the Temple. Jewish tradition has it that Huldah taught publicly in a school. Other tradition has it that she taught and preached to women.
       We can justly infer that she was a woman of distinction. Among the messengers that King Josiah sent to her were his high priest, Hilkiah, who had found hidden away this amazing roll of manuscript, the lost Book of the Law, the brilliant work of a group of prophets and priests who had recorded the Yahwistic spiritual ideals. Another messenger was Shaphan, the scribe in the temple, to whom Hilkiah had first taken the lost book. Parts of this book are still found in Deuteronomy. It is now thought to be the first book of the Bible that was canonized.
       Only a deeply devout woman, one of real intellectual attainments, would have been sought out by a king and a priest to give her opinion as to whether or not this scroll was indeed the word of the Lord. It turned out to be one of the most important scrolls in the history of Israel.
       Huldah not only confirmed its authenticity but also prophesied concerning the future, saying that the Lord would bring evil upon Judah, because the people had forsaken Him and had turned instead to images. As a reward for Josiah's humility and tender heart, Huldah prophesied that he would be gathered unto his fathers before this terrible doom came upon Israel.
       Commentators have questioned why King Josiah sent his personal messengers to consult a woman. Why were they not sent to a man? Josiah, who had come to rule at age eight, doubtless had learned to rely a great deal on his mother Jedidah as queen-mother.
       We know little about her, but we do know that Josiah's father Amon was murdered in his own palace by his servants because of his idolatry. But King Josiah centralized religion at Jerusalem, exalted the Levites, threw out the shrines of the false gods, and led his people to new spiritual heights. We naturally assume that the godly Josiah had a godly mother. Because of her, he would have a sympathetic appreciation of a woman as righteous and as spiritually discerning as Huldah?
       Noteworthy it is that in the short account of Huldah's prophecy the scribe repeated four times her phrase, "Thus saith the Lord'' making us know that Huldah did not think of herself as an oracle, but only as a channel through which God's word came.
       Huldah's prophecy gave King Josiah greater courage to put into action the laws written in the Book of the Law, which had been sent to her for verification. After this, Josiah had the scroll read in the house of the Lord and made a covenant to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments. And because of it, he fought evil in Judah more zealously.
       High regard he had for Huldah's prophecy when he acted so promptly, and when he also sought to make himself more worthy of the promised forbearance of God, though he knew the threatened evil to his country and his people could not be averted.
       Only a woman who studied immutable spiritual laws and who prayed unceasingly could have been given insight into the mystery of the future. But Huldah was a woman who could throw back the veil of Israel's future because she had lived so close to God.

Who were the 400 outstanding wives in the book of Judges?

        Four hundred young virgins from Jabesh-Gilead (Judg. 21:12-23) were brought into the camp at Shiloh and given as wives to the defeated Benjamites. This incident followed the war started over the Ephraim Levite s concubine, who had been ill-treated by the wicked Sons of Benjamin, who had no wives.
       Grieved that the tribe of Benjamites was now nearly destroyed, the Israelites received them into their favor and found them wives from among their own daughters. After the Benjamites received the four hundred young virgins as wives, they went and repaired their cities and dwelt in them.
       Here is a striking example of how good wives can be the civilizers of men, thus influencing them away from evil into that which is good.

Who was Machir's wife?

       Machir's wife (I Chron. 7:15) was in the line of Zelophehad, who had the five distinguished daughters who declared their property rights. 

"Makir took a wife from among the Huppites and Shuppites. His sister’s name was Maakah. Another descendant was named Zelophehad, who had only daughters." 1 Chronicles 7:15

Who was Artaxerxes' Queen?

        The queen who sat beside Artaxerxes (Neh. 2:6) is only briefly mentioned when Nehemiah came before the king to ask for the commission to build again the wall of Jerusalem. 

"Then the king, with the queen sitting beside him, asked me, “How long will your journey take, and when will you get back?” It pleased the king to send me; so I set a time." Nehemiah 2:6

Who was Job's wife?

        Job's wife (Job 2:9; 19:17; 31:10) has been called everything from the "adjutant of the devil" (St. Augustine) to the "faithful attendant upon her husband's misery" (William Blake). She is introduced after Job, one of the richest and greatest men of his time, has been bereft of his cattle, flocks, camels, and all his children. Moreover, he is suffering from a loathsome disease, probably leprosy.
       As he sat on an ash heap outside the city walls, Job still did not blame God. His wife, probably not so faithful and certainly not so patient, cried out, "Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God, and die." Job 2:9  No doubt Job's wife regarded a quick death as better than long-drawn-out suffering. In those days sudden death was supposed to result from cursing God.
       In this statement we see Job's wife as an ordinary, normal woman. Though a dutiful wife, she probably failed to suffer with her husband in his hour of agony and consequently failed to share with him the marvelous victory of trusting God in spite of not understanding Him.
       There is another side, however, to Job's wife. She had endured her husband's affliction, even the loss of all their children and all their material possessions, and had survived these trials. Like her husband, she was bewildered amid so much calamity. Such a piece of advice as she gave him in his affliction could have been inspired by sympathy and love. Probably she would rather have seen him die than endure such great suffering.
       In the next scene where she is depicted, we find her turning from her husband (Job 19:17), because his breath is so offensive on account of the disease from which he suffered.
       Though Job's wife is not mentioned in the closing chapters, we learn in 42:14 that three daughters, Jemima, Kezia, and Keren-hap-puch, as well as sons, were later born to him. Probably Job's wife arose to new joy, just as he did, and regretted her own lack of faith when she had advised him to "curse God, and die."