Women in the Bible

Women’s Sunday 2025

Genesis 2:18-25

18 Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.’ 19So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner. 21So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23Then the man said,
‘This at last is bone of my bones
   and flesh of my flesh;
this one shall be called Woman,
   for out of Man this one was taken.’ 
24Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. 25And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.

Meditation on Eve

Eve might be the best-known woman in the whole Old Testament. And one of the most maligned women, too. Much of what people think about her has been influenced not by the scriptures themselves, but by later interpretations, most of them by Christians.

For example, she is known as a sinner. However, the Bible doesn’t call her that. She and Adam certainly disobey, but the word “sin” doesn’t enter the Biblical story until Cain murders Abel.

Eve is known as the temptress, getting Adam into trouble. When we read the text, though, she doesn’t do any tempting. She simply takes a piece of fruit and hands it to Adam; they both had been told not to eat it, and they both do, and you really can’t blame one more than the other. In fact, if you look closely, Eve hadn’t been created yet when God forbid eating of the tree, so Adam deserves much more blame.

Eve gets blamed for bringing curses upon humankind, what St. Augustine later calls original sin. Reading the story in the bible, however, only the serpent and the ground are cursed, not the humans. There is no mention of a “fall” in the text; we only read the Adam and Eve are kicked out of a lush place because of their disobedience and now have to make a living by hard work.

With all the negative overlay, it is easy to overlook the joy Eve brings into Adam’s life. God doesn’t want the human to be lonely. Animals were not sufficient for the kind of community God had in mind. That’s why he creates Eve. Adam and Eve are literally made for each other. When Adam meets her, he is delighted: “This at last is bone from my bone and flesh from my flesh!” This will be great! This union between man and woman will be closer than any other union in a person’s life.

Man and woman will support one another. The Hebrew word often translated as helper or even “helpmeet”, really means an equal partner. Together, man and woman will live and work and survive and raise a family.

The biblical tale about Eve does include her disobedience, but it also highlights the blessings women bring. The name Eve means “living one” or “source of life”, and we read that she is so named because she is the mother of all the living. And she is the one who sees the fruit, judges it good, and feeds her husband. Feeding people is one way in which women have blessed their families through the ages.

So it turns out that Eve is a complex person. She did sin and lived with the consequences, but she also loved, was a partner, brought forth life, and fed her people. In that, she is a lot like you and I and the many women we give thanks for today.

Genesis 24: 54-67

Abraham sends his servant back to his original home and tribe to find a wife for his son Isaac. The servant meets Rebekah by a well and finds out she is Abraham’s niece. The servant and his men stay overnight at her father’s house; in the morning, they are ready to go back home.

When they rose in the morning, he said, ‘Send me back to my master.’ 55Her brother and her mother said, ‘Let the girl remain with us a while, at least ten days; after that she may go.’ 56But he said to them, ‘Do not delay me, since the Lord has made my journey successful; let me go, that I may go to my master.’ 57They said, ‘We will call the girl, and ask her.’58And they called Rebekah, and said to her, ‘Will you go with this man?’ She said, ‘I will.’ 59So they sent away their sister Rebekah and her nurse along with Abraham’s servant and his men. 60And they blessed Rebekah and said to her,
‘May you, our sister, become
   thousands of myriads;
may your offspring gain possession
   of the gates of their foes.’ 
61Then Rebekah and her maids rose up, mounted the camels, and followed the man; thus the servant took Rebekah, and went his way.

62 Now Isaac had come from Beer-lahai-roi, and was settled in the Negeb. 63Isaac went out in the evening to walk in the field; and looking up, he saw camels coming. 64And Rebekah looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she slipped quickly from the camel, 65and said to the servant, ‘Who is the man over there, walking in the field to meet us?’ The servant said, ‘It is my master.’ So she took her veil and covered herself. 66And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. 67Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent. He took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

Meditation on Rebekah:

The scriptures tell us a lot about Rebekah, more than about any other woman, and more than about her husband Isaac. Throughout the story, Rebekah comes across as a strong-willed woman. Sometimes, her decisions are for good, sometimes they are questionable.

Abraham’s servant arrives in Rebekah’s hometown, meets her at the well, talks to her, and tells her that he is looking for a wife for his master’s son. Rebekah is willing to go with him. The very next day, she is ready to mount her camel and take off. She will be moving about 600 miles away from home. What a gutsy move!

Even though marriages are often arranged by families, her father and brother actually ask her if she is willing to marry Isaac. She is! She has more say in this matter than Isaac does, who is expected to accept the wife the servant brings home. As it turns out, they two find love at first sight. Isaac loved her, which is a rare statement in the Bible.

When Rebekah is pregnant with twins, she is miserable and decides to inquire of the Lord. She wants to find out what is going on and where this all will lead. She demands answers, even from God.

Rebekah delivers male twins, Jacob and Esau. The Bibel tells us that each parent has a favorite: Isaac loves Esau and Rebekah loves Jacob. In her eagerness to promote her favorite son, she instructs Jacob to betray his father and cheat his brother out of the rights of the firstborn. Rebekah is the one who plans the deceit from beginning to end and instructs Jacob on exactly what to say and do.

When Esau finds out and is understandably furious, she tells Jacob to hightail it out of there until the situation calms down. She explains this to Isaac by saying she sent Jacob to her home tribe to find himself a wife.

Overall, we encounter in Rebekah a strong woman who knows what she wants and who exerts a surprising amount of power in a male-dominated world.

Esther 4, selected verses:

Introduction: Esther and her uncle Mordecai are Jews living as a minority in the Persian Empire. Through a beauty contest, Esther becomes queen. Mordecai learns that the government official Haman is planning a pogrom against all the Jews of the empire; he is asking Esther to talk to the king and change his mind.

Esther’s servant went out to Mordecai in front of the king's gate, and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the exact sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king's treasuries for the destruction of the Jews. Mordecai also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show it to Esther, explain it to her, and charge her to go to the king to make supplication to him and entreat him for her people. The servant went and told Esther what Mordecai had said. Then Esther gave him a message for Mordecai, saying, "All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law—all alike are to be put to death. I myself have not been called to come in to the king for thirty days."

When they told Mordecai what Esther had said, Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, "Do not think that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this." Then Esther said in reply to Mordecai, "Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will also fast as you do. After that I will go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish." Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.

Meditation on Esther

Esther finds herself in a predicament that is absolutely not of her own choosing: She is part of the Jewish minority in the Persian Empire; she is one of many young women summoned to the palace so the king can pick himself a new queen and ends up being chosen; for safety reasons, she keeps her Jewish faith a secret. Even though she is queen, she does not have the right to approach the king without being invited; she could be killed for that. But now her uncle Mordecai asks her to do exactly that. He asks Esther to go before the king and ask him to abort this pogrom against her people.

As we hear in the scripture reading, Esther is scared. This could cost her her life. Mordecai keeps urging her, and in the end, Esther agrees to risk it. Read the whole Book of Esther to find out how she is successful, Haman is punished, and the Jews are saved.

This is a very rich story with many interesting points. Today, let’s focus on three of them:

One: Esther is a very unlikely hero. She is a young girl from a religious minority who suddenly finds herself in the king’s palace with all its intrigues and power plays. Yet she makes the best of it and even uses her unexpected position to save lives. That could be a good lesson for us: When we find ourselves in unexpected, even unwanted circumstances, maybe we can look around and ask ourselves how we might still be a blessing to others.

Two: Facing a dangerous challenge, Esther asks for the support of her community. Everyone is praying and fasting. This fortifies Esther. Knowing that countless prayers are said on her behalf, gives her the courage she needs. We are all surrounded by a caring faith community, as well. Let us take advantage of this gift from God whenever we face a challenge and boldly ask for the prayers of our brothers and sisters.

Three: The most famous line in the Book of Esther is probably the verse Mordecai says to Esther when she is hesitant, “Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this." Mordecai believes that God brought Esther into her position so that she could intervene on behalf of her people. When might we be in the right place at the right time to make a difference? Where have we been placed “for such a time as this” to speak up for the minority, the persecuted, the marginalized, the weak, the person in any kind of need? May we have Esther’s courage and faith and make a difference in the lives of other people.