It feels apocalyptic right now. A worldwide pandemic, a potential break-down in food distribution systems, cataclysmic weather patterns, violence, economic struggles, and now something no one expected, killer hornets! It’s enough to make us go crazy. That is, if we didn’t already have a story to guide us through. A story that tells us there is not only a way in the wilderness, but the wilderness is the way.
“Stories hold the world together,” as storyteller Michael Meade has said. There’s a wonderful story hidden in the Bible that can help us find our way through these chaotic and uncertain times, a story of the woman clothed with the sun with the moon at her feet. She wears a crown on her head of twelve stars and she represents the people of God, the goodness of creation itself. We come across her in chapter twelve in one of the books most of us have spent our lives avoiding, Revelation. She appears on the scene just as a war is breaking out in heaven, giving birth to something new while fighting off evil in the form of the world’s most powerful dragon. He was so powerful, in fact, that he had seven heads and he swept a third of the stars from heaven with his tail.
Just as she gives birth to a son who is to be a great leader for the nations, the dragon tries to devour her baby. But God saves him, and gives her the wings of an eagle to fly off into the wilderness to be nourished there, for a time and times and half a time, as the story goes. This is when the dragon gets really angry and declares war on the world. But the woman watches from the wilderness, where she is strengthened and nurtured by God. While God and all God’s angels fight the war in heaven, eventually defeating the dragon forever, the death of evil .
She is nourished in the wilderness, and so are we. This motif is in many stories in the Bible. The way is made clear, not in the heat of battle, but in the forced retreat to the wilderness. None of us go there willingly, or so the story goes. Hagar is banished to the wilderness and finds the way, led by God. The Israelites escape to the wilderness and find a whole new future. Jesus is forced into the wilderness by the Spirit and finds the strength to carry out his mission there. We are tested in the wilderness, but it is also the place we are taken to be nourished, nurtured and learn to depend on a power greater than ourselves. It’s the place where we let go and learn to trust in God who shows us that there is not only a way in the wilderness, but the wilderness is the Way.
The Wilderness is the Way.
It feels like we are all on a very long wilderness journey, thanks to COVID19. The days are long without much direction, we are anxious about how our needs will be met and often wondering what to do next. We need a story to guide us, to hold us together, to tell us who we are, to ground us in something bigger than the evidence of the day. The woman clothed with the sun steps into this dark book of revelation and into the darkness of our world, and reveals something new. This something new can be a navigation point for all of us as we try to figure out what to do with each day’s chaos. God is doing a new thing, even and especially in the wilderness, in the uncertainty of our days, in the chaos of our world.
We may feel like we are at the end of a story, but the woman clothed with the sun shows us it just may be a new beginning. This feeling that we are doomed and that chaos is the only thing that rules the day is actually a trick the seven headed dragon, and the chaos monsters of our world, play upon us. The darkness of chaos is always trying to convince us that the world is full of doom and gloom and that our best days are behind us. But the woman clothed with the sun tells us, “don’t fall for it.” Resist and wait, resist and pray. God will surely come and give you rest, nurture and a way forward. Giving you the uplift of eagle’s wings just when you need it the most.
The seven headed dragon would have you believe that chaos is in control, it exists to create the chaos of uncertainty in the world. But it also feeds off of our lack of faith, our fear. Revelation tells us that God wins the war in heaven and it’s the death of evil, forever. It’s a scenario that plays out a million times a day, all over the world. Though the dragon takes its bite, love always wins. Love is the most powerful force in the universe.
This story shows us that God walks through the dark hills of our lives, too, lifting us up when we have no more strength to fight. Saving the evidence we have created out of goodness. God gives us rest and nurture, even in the middle of the fight. God not only makes a way in the wilderness, the wilderness becomes the way itself. To new life, new creation and the experience of God’s love invading the world.
Trust that God will meet you when you face the chaos monsters of your days, and give you what you need to find rest, renewal and peace. God will even fight the battle for you, when you are ready to let go.
Check out more hidden stories of women of the Bible in this free resource, click here to download the free PDF
Recently, the remains of an elite Viking Warrior were
discovered in Southeastern Sweden after being buried for 1000 years. It was
assumed that the warrior was a man, considering the lore of Viking Warriors.
But the DNA of the warrior’s bones confirmed a shocking truth. This elite
Viking Warrior, buried in an elaborate grave with two sacrificed horses,
swords, arrows and other weaponry, was a woman.
A similar process of uncovering buried secrets about women’s roles in ancient history is occurring in the landscape of biblical studies. In her book, Daughters of Miriam: Women Prophets in Ancient Israel, Hebrew Scholar Wil Gafney writes about several female warriors who have been hidden in plain sight in the Bible.
Beginning in Exodus 38:8, and appearing again throughout the Bible, Gafney interprets the Hebrew language and context to define these women as warrior guardians stationed at the entrances to the sanctuary.1 Gafney is convinced that these women served in a military capacity.
In their appearance in Exodus 38:8, their mirrors, a part of their armor, were used in some way to form the bronze basin for the traveling sanctuary. Gafney explores the concept that perhaps the women were equipped with mirrors as military signaling devices while some scholars suggest that their mirrors were used as devices for prophetic oracles.2
Whatever the case may be, these warrior women appear several times throughout the Bible, including the woman who guards the entrance to the temple in John 18:16. In this case, one of the disciples with temple clout must gain permission from her in order for Peter to enter into Jesus’ trial.
Gafney’s interpretations, among the work of other female biblical scholars, reveal for us what has been hidden in plain sight. Just like Viking lore, biblical lore has led us to believe that only males could fulfill the roles of warrior and prophet. Even though there are Bible stories that clearly speak a different reality.
Some better known female warriors in the Bible include Deborah (Judges 4 and 5), the great judge, prophet and military leader who led the Israelites out of oppression through a victorious battle. Jael (Judges 4 and 5), Deborah’s accomplice, who slayed Sisera, the general of the opposing army and received the glory for the battle. There are the women mentioned above who guarded the gates of the sanctuary and also those mentioned in 1 Samuel 2:22.
There are likely countless unnamed women, Gafney believes, who
served YHWH Tzva’ot, God of Hosts or God of Armies (one of the many
names attributed to the God of the Israelites) as Divine warriors, whose names
we will never know. Their presence haunts the biblical landscape.
As their stories appear, we may feel that new ground is being broken within the pages of the Bible itself. We may feel our own hearts awaken a little bit to new possibilities. If this is true, then what else have we been settling for in our lives that are only half truths? Whenever we tell the lost stories of women, something wonderful happens in our lives, too. Our story becomes a little stronger, a little clearer. The haze is lifted from the pathways we’ve been struggling to see.
As we discover these warrior women of the Bible, we can embrace their courageous spirit, the women of God who let nothing come between them and their Divine path. Not even being buried alive.
Would you like to explore more things you never knew about women of the Bible? Check out my free resource below. You’ll discover women who were prophets, military leaders, women who ran businesses and even a woman who became a king! I’ve also included resources about the women who are discovering these things, female bible scholars and authors. Download it for free!
We always thought the role of the prophet was a “for males only” club in the Bible. That’s likely because if you’ve ever read any books on the prophets of the Bible you will often find the usual list: Moses, Aaron, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, Hosea and other men. We’ve often been told that while women were allowed to speak prophetically such as Miriam, Hannah, Mary and others, they’re not usually considered candidates for the traditional role of the prophet. But things are changing, God is always doing a new thing, even in the pages of the Bible.
Prophets were the greatest authority on God in ancient Israel, that is, if their prophecy came true. If it was untrue, then they were branded a “false” prophet, and well, their career was pretty much over. It was a risky job. Prophets had a wide array of duties in the ancient Israelite world. From interpreting Divine oracles (proclaiming God’s Word), to recruiting disciples, appointing monarchs, military leadership, singing songs, gathering the community, and much more. Their voice was central to the community, a kind of oral, spiritual navigation device before sacred words were written down to guide humanity. So, it stands to reason that if we see the Bible from the perspective of all things patriarchal, women would not be granted such an important role. But we would be wrong if we made this assumption. As scholars are discovering, there were many women prophets in the Bible, named and unnamed. Women who were not just prophetic, but full fledged prophets.1
There are some legitimate female prophets who stand out in the Bible, whose stories are not so hidden, such as the prophet, judge, and military leader, Deborah, found in Judges 4,5. There is also Huldah who is mentioned in 2 Kings 22:14-20 and 2 Chronicles 34:22-28, a prophet who taught rabbi’s and priests in matters of holy law at the temple gates. In fact, to this day, there are gates at the Temple mount known as The Huldah Gates.
In Isaiah 8:3, there is the female prophet with whom Isaiah conceived a child. There are the female prophets, plural, of Israel that Ezekiel condemns in 13:15-17. There is also Noadiah, a very powerful Israelite female prophet who opposes Nehemiah in 6:14. Other women who are identified as women who prophesy are Miriam, Hannah, Abigail, Sarah, Rachel, Esther, and Mary, the mother of Jesus. I’m sure there are still others that could be added to this list as their stories are excavated from the unexplored regions of Bible. We have so much more to learn about women’s roles in the ancient world of the Bible. But the real work lies ahead of us and belongs to the people of faith. We have much work to do to teach our young girls (and boys) about these heroic women in the Bible. The women who led armies, preached God’s prophetic words, ordered faith communities and fought the giants of the land. The question is not about whether or not female leaders existed in the Bible, rather, what do we do with their stories now that they have arrived in our world?
Learn about the female leaders of the Bible and much more in this free resource. Click this linkto download.
Rev. Sherry Cothran serves as Lead Pastor at St. Mark’s UMC, Chattanooga. She has been a senior pastor in the United Methodist Church since 2010, she is also a singer/songwriter and author. Her last project, “Tending Angels: Stories From the Frontlines of Heaven and Earth” combines a music video with a book to bring awareness to the plight of the homeless in the U.S. You can learn more about her work at www.sherrycothran.com.
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Wilda C. Gafney, Daughters of Miriam: Women Prophets in Ancient Israel (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2018 [↩]
When we think about the Bible, we don’t often think of the beauty and power of songs, especially by women. They aren’t sung loudly over edgy guitar riffs or punctuated by trance inducing beats. They’re not delivered to us via Youtube by stylish singers in trendy clothes. But if we go searching for them, we find that songs are a big deal in the Bible, and though they may not make it to the top 40 Billboard charts, they are some of the most powerful tools we have for claiming a new world order. One in which the hungry are fed, the weak are made strong, the oppressed are set free and the lion lies down with the lamb. A world in which swords are turned into plow shares.
If I were to get a hook out of the songs of Hannah, Deborah and Mary it would be this: God has done the impossible again, should we be surprised?
Though there are nearly two hundred songs in the Bible, some of the most powerful ones are created by these three women.
What makes them so special?
They teach us how to sing our faith into existence by envisioning God’s action in a song, it’s classically known as praise. But the word itself is deceiving. It brings to mind joy, beauty, ease or happiness. But their songs of praise tell us a different story. Praise is hard. That’s what makes it so powerful. These women do the gritty, scrappy, world ordering work of praise in their songs, and it’s what makes them world changing.
Praise is hard because it must be uttered over and against
evidence that points to the contrary. It’s much easier to believe the evidence
that the world is a horrible place than to speak the good news that it is not.
To praise God in a world in which violent hate crimes seem to rule the daily news, where children become targets just for attending school, where women are sold every day into sex trafficking, even in our own backyard, is a radical act. But that’s exactly what faith is, praising God in adverse conditions. This is how the world is changed. Channeling the love of God over and against the reality in which we live. That’s exactly why it’s crucial. Because praise not only heals us, it heals the world, too.
The women of the Bible who sang God’s powerful and healing
love into the world weren’t the product of warm, fuzzy, comfortable societies.
They were scrappy and lived in a culture that often held them to a rigid
standard of having to negotiate life as the property of men. They also lived in
a time in which a woman’s worth was often measured by her ability to bear a
male child, remain a virgin until married and be submissive to male authority.
But the three women whose songs changed the world, Hannah,
Deborah and Mary, colored outside of these lines. Not because they were seeking
attention for themselves but because God asked them to, they simply responded
to a calling from on high.
Hannah, Deborah and Mary were not only prophets, but women who overcame cultural adversity to channel God’s miraculous power into flesh and bones, into peace and love. Deborah’s song tells of an impossible victory that she commands with her vision, grit and military prowess as the right arm of God on earth. Hannah’s song claims God’s miraculous power to do the impossible through a woman that the world had given up on. Mary’s song creates a new world order in which God’s love is Sovran.
Through their songs love is made possible in the world through the odd combination that women carry so well -vulnerability and strength.
The songs of women are special, because they are uttered from hearts that know of sacrifice and oppression, hearts that are well acquainted with sorrow and the impossible. Hearts that have experienced the pain of rejection. Women who didn’t settle for being the victims of an unfair system, who didn’t believe the victim narrative but rose up out of it through God’s strength to share the truthfulness of God’s mighty power with the world.
They also teach us that we can’t do important work alone, we need others to be our best selves. In a culture in which we can easily feel isolated, lonely and without nurturing love, we need to remember that their songs were not sung alone. If they had been, the outcomes could have been very different. Deborah could have gone into battle without enough of the manpower she needed. Mary could have been abandoned by her family and friends and had to face giving birth alone. Hannah would have had no sacred vessel into which she could dedicate God’s gift to her. But because they sang their songs in communities that believed in them, and believed that their words were from God, the outcome was miraculous, every time.
God has done the impossible through the songs of women, should we be surprised?
Check out some of my modern interpretations of the radical stories of the hidden women of the Bible here.
May God add a blessing to your reading of this blog.
If there were a manual for interacting with Bible stories, I would like to think the first line might be something like, “Forget everything you know.” The second line, “Engage your imagination fully.” In such a world of wonder and mystery, a world of wild spaces and untamed humanity, one easily gets lost when navigating with a 21st century mind. To imagine that God is a God of wildness, wonder and mystery, the Divine one who is constantly creating would be to unlock a door to a heart that has been sealed by industrial strength guilt, shame and fear. These were the very forces that overtook Adam and Eve (according to the old, old story).
Speaking of ancient humanity and creation stories, I really thought “Noah” was a decent movie, a great story and a wonderful jaunt for the imagination, and here is the key word, imagination. Let’s face it, if the movie was merely based on the scant literary information found in Biblical text, it just wouldn’t be that great of a movie. We forget, so often, that when we are reading the Noah Bible story of Genesis, we’re using our imagination to interact with a story and to expand meaning. The movie re-imagines an ancient story, inviting us to do more of the same. If we were part of that early community to whom the story first belonged, we might be sitting around a campfire or a dinner table listening to Uncle John tell us about how we came to BE in the world and our imagination would be on fire.
“Noah” re-imagines a world where the ancient human is completely dependent on the Creator (the movie’s language) to sustain daily life. The Creator provides according to the Creator’s will, which is basically Divine goodness. The Creator places this goodness in the human self and the development of the self is intended to unfold according to this awareness (that is, if not for the tragic garden event.) This is Noah’s language throughout most of the movie as he tries to follow his understanding of Divine will.
However, in this early, ancient world of 10th generation humans, the spirits of good and evil are at full on war, within and without. How do you depict a war of good and evil waged in the human soul? The Nephilim roam the earth, evidence of God’s footsteps in the garden still appears now and then and from this garden emerge the two paths, light and dark, the divine and the shadow sides of human nature. Even Noah is complicit (the human struggle) as the movie suggests, under extreme pressure and on the brink of insanity, he moves towards the dark side himself. The whole world was literally on his shoulders, we would all crack a little, if not a lot, under such pressure with no entourage to do political spin on our behalf. In such a world, the Watchers, magic berries, sleep inducing herbs, seeds of Eden and golden fire rocks seem to make sense. The Bible world is not a flattened out reality, the one that we sometimes live in when we overlay our millennia of information and technology (not to mention 2000 years plus of theology) over such ancient creation stories. There are many layers, helpful though they are, to peel back.
To engage Bible story with imagination might also give us the courage to take the God we have created in our own image out of the box, the box we’ve built for a God we can manipulate and comprehend. The truth is, the Divine will still be the creative force of our universe, not to mention all the other numerous galaxies that float and hover around us, long after we are gone. This is a mystery we’ve been trying to capture since we knew how to speak and dream and tell stories.
