Women of the Bible

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The Pittsburgh Press (October 20, 1945)

Women of the Bible –
Hagar, the Slave Girl

By the Religious News Service

hagar

Hagar was an Egyptian slave girl in the dwelling of Sarah, the childless wife of Abraham. Evidently the young slave found favor in the eyes of her mistress, otherwise it is doubtful that Sarah would have conceived the idea of offering her to Abraham as his concubine, in the hope that such a union would bring the long-looked for child into their dwelling.

Later, Sarah probably became jealous of the dark-skinned beauty who began to taunt her mistress when she found herself with child. For she complained to Abraham who told her to deal harshly with the girl.

As a result, Hagar fled into what was called The Wilderness. An angel appeared to her there and told her to return to the home of her mistress, for she was ordained to become the mother of a countless people. So Hagar retraced her steps and to her was born Abraham’s son, who was named Ishmael, “The Outcast.”

When Sarah was ninety years old, she gave birth to the child she had been praying for. He was named Isaac. Ishmael was approaching manhood when it came time to wean little Isaac. Sarah and Abraham were overjoyed, but Ishmael mocked the occasion. For the second time, Sarah complained to Abraham and again, Hagar and her child fled to The Wilderness.

Their food and drink exhausted, they were prepared to die, when the angelic voice was heard again. it directed them to a well of water where they were revived. The desert became their home and the descendants of Ishmael still claim it as their birthright.

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The Pittsburgh Press (October 27, 1945)

Women of the Bible, No. 2 –
Rebekah at the well

By the Religious News Service

rebekah

An aged man stood near a well on the outskirts of the City of Nabor, in Mesopotamia. A damsel carrying a pitcher approached. She was fair to look upon, and in her youthful beauty he even discerned marks of wisdom and reflection beyond her years. He accosted her and asked her for water. With the utmost kindness, she presented the pitcher to him and when he had slaked his thirst, she brought water also for his camels. The girl was Rebekah.

The old man presented the damsel with rich earrings and bracelets and when Rebekah told him her name, he bowed his head and worshiped the Lord. Rebekah ran to tell her Mother all that had happened at the well.

Soon her brother Laban came running towards the old man. He was Eliezer, the emissary of Abraham. The good man explained he had come to find a bride for Isaac.

And so, as we further read the story in Genesis 24:45 to 67, Rebekah was married to Isaac, and to them were born two sons. One was Esau, a cunning hunter, a man of the field; the second was Jacob, a plain man, dwelling in tents.

The affectionate nurse of Isaac, the careful housewife and the active manager of the affairs of her husband in his weakness – such was Rebekah until she died and was buried in the Cave of Machpelah.

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The Pittsburgh Press (November 3, 1945)

Women of the Bible, No. 3 –
Rachel, wife of Jacob

By the Religious News Service

rachel

When it came time for Jacob, Rebekah’s youngest son, to marry, she urged him to visit her brother Laban.

Laden with gifts to his kinsman, Jacob set out on his journey to the East. At a well where he stopped to fest and water his camels, he met Rachel, beautiful and well-favored.

How Jacob served his Uncle Laban for seven years to gain the hand of Rachel, and now, according to the custom of the East at that time, her sister Leah was given to him instead, and how he served Laban faithfully for another seven years to win Rachel, is told in the Book of Genesis 29 and 30.

For long. Rachel had been childless. On this account, though enjoying the supreme affection of her husband, she envied her sister Leah. Conscious of her superior beauty, she could not brook the thought that Leah should have children and she none.

But at last Joseph was born, and he was her only son when they arrived at Canaan. Pilgrims in the land which had been promised them, they found no place to settle. During the wanderings of the Patriarch and his wife, Benjamin was born and Rachel died. Jacob buried her on the way to Ephrath and set up a pillar. In that desolate spot he left her, and pursued his way, in all the bitterness of sorrow.

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The Pittsburgh Press (November 10, 1945)

Women of the Bible, No. 4 –
The wife of Potiphar

By the Religious News Service

potipharwife

Because he was the son of his old age, Israel loved Joseph more than all his children. Jealousy resulted in the kidnaping of the youngster by his brothers, who cast him into a pit and informed their father he had been destroyed by beasts.

Midianite merchantmen rescued Joseph and he was sold for twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites who brought him into Egypt and sold him in turn to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh.

Potiphar’s wife, a voluptuous and imperious woman, became enamored of him, but Joseph, faithful to his master would have none of her. So this woman, scored by her husband’s slave, waited for the right opportunity, seized his garments, and accused him of having attempted to assault her.

When Pharaoh heard her story, he put Joseph into prison, but “the Lord was with him” and he was cleared of the charge and later set free.

More about Joseph, how he prospered and how he came face to face with his brothers again, can be learned by reading Genesis 40 to 47.

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The Pittsburgh Press (November 17, 1945)

Women of the Bible, No. 5 –
Pharaoh’s daughter

By the Religious News Service

pharaohdaughter

Pharaoh was the Egyptian king who greatly feared the Israelites increasing in numbers and influence in his domain. He decreed that all newly born male infants be put to death.

Shortly after he had issued this edict, his daughter, accompanied by her attendants, went down to the river to wash.

There, in a clump of reeds, she found a carefully constructed ark or cradle. In it was a lusty male child about three months of age. As she gazed down on the little one, he began to cry.

Though she knew it was the offspring of a woman of the Hebrews, and that her father’s edict called for its death, she was filled with compassion. What to do with the infant was the problem facing her.

From a vantage point close by, a girl was watching to see what happened to the babe, and it was she, the sister of the boy. who whispered to the King’s daughter, that she knew a Hebrew nurse.

Little did Pharaoh’s daughter realize, when she ordered the young girl to bring the nurse, that it was the mother of the little one into whose care the child was placed, with instructions to nurse and rear the infant carefully.

Had Pharaoh’s daughter any inkling of what a thorn this babe would be in her father’s side, no doubt she would have left him to his fate in the crude ark in which he was found.

The child’s mother needed no urging from Pharaoh’s daughter to give him every attention; and so the boy grew, and at last was brought to the King’s palace and became the adopted son of his daughter.

She called him Moses because she had drawn him out of the water. The boy grew to manhood. One day, seeing an Egyptian belaboring a Hebrew, he killed the former and buried him.

When Pharaoh heard of this, he sought to slay Moses who fled into the land of Median.

More of the amazing life-story of this youngster who was saved from a watery grave to be a great leader of his people is found in the Old Testament books, Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers.

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The Pittsburgh Press (November 24, 1945)

Women of the Bible, No. 6 –
Prophetess of Israel

By the Religious News Service

deborah

Deborah, the Prophetess of Israel, dwelt under a great palm tree. From all directions, the children of Israel came to her with their problems, and with them they brought gifts, as was the custom in those days, when a Prophet was asked to sit in judgment.

Now, there was a King in Canaan called Jabin. He was the oppressor of Deborah’s people, and they came to her, crying “help us, or we all will be dead, for this man oppresses us beyond all endurance.”

The Book of Judges tells us how Deborah sent for Barak, the Fighter, and told him to raise an army and that Jehovah would be with him; but Barak was emphatic that he would not go into battle unless she accompanied him.

When Deborah had given him her promise, he gathered about him an army of ten thousand men and led them into battle against the forces of Jabin commanded by Sisera. Soon the battle turned into a rout; the nine hundred chariots of iron assembled by Sisera and his hordes proving useless on the hilly grounds. Sisera fled to the tent of a shepherd named Heber, where he was put to death by Jael, the latter’s wife.

Flushed with success, Deborah now turned the army against King Jabin himself, and when he had been destroyed, peace reigned again among the Israelites, and for forty years, they lived in contentment.

During these peaceful years, Deborah the poet, judge, prophetess, and leader dwelt beneath the palm tree, uttering wise judgments, and speaking the words of Jehovah.

Deborah’s people did not forget then, and have not forgotten since, that it was a woman who first judged all Israel and then defeated the great tyrant who had set up his rule within the land itself.

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The Pittsburgh Press (December 1, 1945)

Women of the Bible, No. 7 –
Daughter of Jepthah

By the Religious News Service

jephtathdaughter

The daughter of Jepthah, the Gileadite, comes before us in the Bible narrative in all her innocence and gaiety, as she steps forth from her father’s home with timbrels and dance to greet the warrior returning victorious from the war for the Israelites against the Ammonites.

But for Jepthah, his triumph was turned into bitter lamentations and despair for he had made a covenant with the Lord that if the children of the Ammonites were delivered unto him, he would offer up for a burnt sacrifice, whosoever came forth from his house to meet him.

When his daughter ran to him ready for his kisses, he rent his clothes and cried “alas, my daughter, thou hast brought me very low, for I have opened by mouth to the Lord, and I cannot go back.”

The noble and devoted girl told him to accomplish as vow; she asked only she might be allowed two months to go up and down the mountains, and bewail her fate with her companions.

And so when the two months were ended, the vow of her father was accomplished. As to the manner in which it was fulfilled, grave and learned have ensued the disputes. At all events, her fate was a mournful and tragic one. The very uncertainty which hangs over her end makes the daughter of Jepthah a subject of melancholy interest, and gives her, more than to any character in ancient song or story, unique place in ancient lore.

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The Pittsburgh Press (December 8, 1945)

Women of the Bible, No. 8 –
Delilah, the traitor

By the Religious News Service

delilah

In the Valley of Sorek, lived a woman of the Philistines, who was called Delilah.

During the wars between the Jews and the surrounding nations a man named Samson arose to deliver Israel out of the hands of the Philistines. He quelled the enemies of his people; and he judged Israel for 20 years.

Great in the field and terrible in his strength, Samson was a slave however to his passions. So it was that he went to the Valley of Sorek, and there met Delilah and loved her.

When Philistines heard this, they promised Delilah a great reward if she should discover the secret of Samson’s strength, so that they might bind and afflict him.

Samson was loath to reveal the secret of his strength, but Delilah finally prevailed on him, as we learn from the story in Judges 16. He revealed that the secret of his strength was in his hair. If he were shaven, his strength would go from him.

So the false Delilah made Samson sleep and caused a man to shave off the seven locks of his head and when he awoke, his might had gone from him.

Then the Philistines took him, gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza, where he arose again to destroy his enemies and to redeem himself by a final heroic act.

Delilah, with her wiles and falsehoods, stands alone, yet with the strange interest that belongs to one who humbled the champion of Israel, who was yet the enemy of the people.

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The Pittsburgh Press (December 15, 1945)

Women of the Bible, No. 9 –
Ruth, the gleaner

By the Religious News Service

ruth

One of the most beautiful stories of devotion is told in the Book of Ruth.

Naomi, an aged widow, had wearied of living in Moab, where she had suffered a triple bereavement in the death of her husband and two sons. She resolved to return to her homeland in Judea, where some of her kinsfolk dwelt.

In her journey, she was accompanied by Orpah and Ruth, the widows of Naomi’s two sons. Ever and anon, the careworn woman entreated the two younger ones to return to their own land and to follow her no longer. At last Orpah went back, but Ruth refused, saying “Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.”

It was at the time of the harvest that the two travelers came to Bethlehem. Many of the people gathered around them and the devotion of Ruth to her mother-in-law was talked of by all.

To find means for their subsistence, Ruth went out into the fields among the harvesters. Boaz, the wealthy owner of the fields, saw the stranger, he inquired of the overseer, who told him she was the Moabitish girl that came back with Naomi. So Boaz went to her and said she was free to glean in his fields, and asked her not to go to any other. Ruth was fair to the eyes, and she found favor with Boaz.

When she told her mother-in-law how kind the master of the fields had treated her, Naomi inquired as to his name and when she was told it was Boaz, she was pleased, because he was her late husband’s kinsman.

It was the law among the Jews that a widow should be married to the nearest kinsman of her husband and it was the custom that the woman claim this right; so when Ruth approached Boaz, he told her of a nearer kinsman whom he expected might want her; if not, then he himself would.

The relative came and after a long ceremony, according to the manners of Israel, Boaz obtained the right to marry the gleaner of his fields.

The elders of Bethlehem bore witness joyfully to the marriage and expressed the wishes to Boaz, that the Lord might make the woman he had chosen like Rachel and Leah, who had built up the house of Israel, and that he himself might be famous in Bethlehem. Their wishes were realized, for from Boaz and Ruth descended the royal house of David.

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The Pittsburgh Press (December 22, 1945)

Women of the Bible, No. 10 –
Hannah, the faithful

By the Religious News Service

hannah

Though she was the object of Elkanah’s love, Hannah, his wife, was a sad and bitter woman, for no child had come to bless their union.

Annually both she and her husband went up to Shiloh to worship and to sacrifice unto the Lord. There she prayed and vowed if God would bless her with a son, she would dedicate him to His service.

In time, her prayer was answered. And when her child Samuel, which means “sent by God” was weaned, she prepared to fulfill her promise.

There was no sadness in Hannah’s heart when she placed the little one into the hands of Eli and told him how she had prayed for this child to be born to her, and how she had vowed to give him to the Lord. Her noble song on this occasion is no less remarkable for the deep faith and gratitude it breathes than for its lofty poetry.

Every year thereafter Hannah made a little robe and brought it with her when she went with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. Though she could no longer regard him as her own, she rejoiced to see her son on the solemn visits.

For all her faith and prayers, she was abundantly rewarded. Samuel grew and waxed in favor with God and with man, and Hannah felt herself more than recompensed for her love and faith.

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The Pittsburgh Press (December 29, 1945)

Women of the Bible, No. 11 –
Abigail, wife of David

By the Religious News Service

abigail

We are told that Abigail was a woman of good understanding and a beautiful countenance; but her husband Nabal, the Carmelite, though owner of 3000 sheep and 1000 goats was churlish, and evil in his doings.

The gallant David, who was hiding from the wrath of Saul, sent a party of his young men to ask provisions from Nabal, expecting that the latter would from his abundant stores bestow something to feed the bold warrior and his men.

But Nabal refused, and asked scornfully who was this man David that he should aid him. When David heard this, he commanded his forces to march against Nabal and slay him and destroy everything that belonged to him.

Abigail, learning how Nabal had dealt with David, hastened secretly to send food in abundance. She came herself to see David and pleaded with him to turn away his anger from Nabal, placing the blame on herself.

David accepted the gifts of food and told Abigail to go in peace. When Abigail told her husband of the fate from which she had saved him, he became ill and ten days later died. On learning this David asked Abigail to become his wife and she consented. Their story is vividly told in Samuel 1, Chapter 25.

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The Pittsburgh Press (January 5, 1946)

Women of the Bible, No. 12 –
Jezebel, the infamous

By the Religious News Service

jezebel

A name of infamy is that of Jezebel, the story of whose life is told in the Second Book of Kings.

She stands for the incarnation of all the evil of which woman is capable. Her conduct with regard to the vineyard of Naboth shows her influence over her weak and wicked husband Ahab.

The vineyard of Naboth was close by King Ahab’s palace, The King desired it, but Naboth refused to give up what he had inherited from his fathers. Jezebel then brought false charges against Naboth, accusing him of blaspheming God and the King. When the sentence of stoning him to death had been carried out, she took possession of the vineyard for her husband.

Elijah the prophet heard what had been done and he appeared before Ahab and Jezebel, prophesying the dogs would lick Ahab’s blood as they had done at the spot where Naboth died. Turning to Jezebel, he foretold that the dogs should eat her by the walls of Jezreel. Shortly thereafter, Ahab was slain in battle and what Elijah had foretold, came to pass.

One of the leaders of the Israelites at this time was Jehu, commander of the chariots. He had fought valiantly against the forces of Joram and had slain their leader, Jezreel. As he approached the town, Jezebel decked herself in all her finery and waited at a window to greet his arrival. She had forgotten the fate Elijah forecast would befall her.

As Jehu entered the gate, she cried out to him and his answer was to call out loudly. “Who is on my side?” He commanded the servants standing near Jezebel to “throw her down.” So they cast her to the ground and the dogs ate her flesh, as Elijah has predicted.

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The Pittsburgh Press (January 12, 1946)

Women of the Bible, No. 13 –
Queen of Sheba

By the Religious News Service

queenofsheba

The Queen of Sheba, having heard of the wisdom and fame of Solomon, resolved to find out for herself if he really was the great person about whom she had heard such wonderous things. So bearing gifts of precious stones and spices, and accompanied by a vast retinue, she journeyed to his court in Jerusalem.

She came with many puzzling problems. When Solomon solved all of them, the queen confessed she had come to prove for herself the truth of all that had been said of him.

She showered many and priceless gifts on him, and Solomon, not to be outdone, invited her to whatever boons she wished. Solomon saw her desires granted, and sent her on her journey homeward, well pleased with her visit.

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The Pittsburgh Press (January 19, 1946)

Women of the Bible, No. 14 –
Esther, the queen

By the Religious News Service

esther

In a contest staged under the direction of King Ahasuerus of Persia, Esther, because of her beauty and her modest and unassuming demeanor, was selected as his queen. On the advice of her Uncle Mordecai, she kept secret the fact that she was a Jewess.

One day Mordecai discovered a conspiracy against the life of the King. He made it known to Esther and she in turn warned her husband, and the conspirators were hanged. These facts are written in the Book of Chronicles.

When Haman was appointed Prime Minister, all were commanded to bow and render obeisance. However, Mordecai refused. So Haman obtained from King Ahasuerus a decree for the extermination of the Jewish race throughout the empire.

Mordecai brought the news to Esther, and together they planned to circumvent the destruction of their people. Esther requested the King and his Prime Minister to honor her by attending a banquet she had arranged. So pleased was the ruler with the entertainment that he asked Esther what reward she desired. She asked that they come back again to another banquet she had planned.

Naturally Haman was elated this signal honor from the Queen, but it still irked him that Mordecai the Jew, who sat at the King’s gate, refused to bow and revere him. When Haman’s wife and friends suggested he erect a gallows and obtain the King’s consent to hang Mordecai, the plan pleased Haman, and he decided to carry it out.

Because the King could not sleep that night, he commanded that the chronicles of the kingdom be read to him. It was then he discovered Mordecai had never been rewarded for disclosing the plot against him. In the morning, he sent for his Prime Minister and asked him, “What shall be done to the man the King delights to honor?” Thinking he was the man, Haman hastily suggested a plan. “Make haste and do unto Mordecai the Jew who sits at the gate, what you have just proposed,” said the King.

So Haman was compelled to conduct Mordecai in triumph through the city. When he returned to the palace to attend the banquet arranged by Queen Esther, he trembled with foreboding when the King again asked his Queen what reward she desired.

Then Esther revealed to her husband that she was a Jewess and prayed for her own life and that of her people. She accused Haman of a gigantic plot against her people and pointed to the fact that he had erected a gallows on which he intended to hang Mordecai. When the King heard this, he became enraged and ordered Haman should be hanged thereon instead of Mordecai.

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The Pittsburgh Press (January 26, 1946)

Women of the Bible, No. 15 –
Athalia, the wicked

By the Religious News Service

athalia

Athalia, daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, came of a wicked family. When her son Ahaziah was killed she had all her grandchildren but one massacred and usurped the throne. The child Joash was saved by Jehosheba, the wife of the high priest who hid him in the house of the priest.

Athalia ruled over Judea for six years. Through her influence idolatry was supreme in Judea.

When Joash, whom she thought dead, was seven years old, the priest brought him before the elders of the people, bound them to secrecy, and solemnly crowned him.

Tired of Athalia’s looseness, the people were delighted at seeing the young prince and shouted “God save the King.” Athalia, hearing the noise, went to see what it was all about and when she discovered Joash had been made king, she cried out “Treason, treason!” But the people were enraged over the cruelty she had shown during the six years she had reigned and she was seized and slain.

Having restored the rightful family to the throne the high priests made the people swear to be faithful to the service of the true God. This is told in the Eleventh Chapter of the Second Book of Kings.

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The Pittsburgh Press (February 2, 1946)

Women of the Bible, No. 16 –
The captive maid

By the Religious News Service

captivemaid

One of the most dramatic narratives in the Old Testament concerns the little captive Judaean girl, who had been taken and carried into slavery by a guerrilla party of Syrians.

Her quickness and ready wit had apparently gained for her a confidential position near the wife of the highest lord of the Syrian court, and, like the child Miriam before the princess of Egypt, she was forward, prompt, and busy with suggestion and advice.

Naaman, the prime minister and chief counselor of the King, to whose household the nameless captive child belonged, was afflicted with the worst form of incurable leprosy. So the text relates:

“And the Syrians had gone out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid; and she waited on Naaman’s wife. And she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy. And one went in and told this lord saying, Thus and thus saith the maid that is of the land of Israel.”

There is no further word of the maid in the story of how Naaman was cured completely when he obeyed the prophet Elisha’s command to “go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.” Naaman became a grateful worshipper of Jehovah, and it is not too much to suppose that around this little maiden might have gathered a cluster of converts to the faith which had wrought such wonders, for her master.

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The Pittsburgh Press (February 9, 1946)

Women of the Bible, No. 17 –
Doctrine of worship told to the woman of Samaria

By the Religious News Service

samariawoman

It was to the woman of Samaria, one of a careless life and loose morals and little culture, that Jesus proclaimed the sublime doctrines of spiritual worship.

“Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when neither in this mountain nor yet in Jerusalem shall ye worship the Father. … But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a Spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”

The story of how Jesus made her acquaintance, arrested her attention, gamed access to her heart, and made her a missionary to draw the attention of the Samaritans to Him, is wonderfully told by St. John in the fourth chapter of his Gospel.

The power which Christ had to touch the divinest capabilities in the unlikeliest subjects is graphically illustrated in this narrative. He saw the higher nature of the women of Samaria, and as one might draw a magnet over a heap of rubbish and bring out pure metal, so He from this light-minded, good-natured, unprincipled creature, brought out the suppressed and hidden yearning for a better and higher life. She had no prejudice to keep, no station to preserve; she was even, to her own low moral sense, consciously a sinner, and she was ready at the kind and powerful appeal to leave all and follow Him.

After the resurrection of Jesus, further fruits of the harvest sown by His chance interview with this woman, are found in the eighth chapter of Acts. Relating the in-gathering of a church in a city of Samaria, it is said that “the people, with one accord, gave heed to the things spoken by Philip, and there was great joy in the city.”

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The Pittsburgh Press (February 16, 1946)

Women of the Bible, No. 18 –
Story of Witch of Endor tells of God’s forgiveness

By the Religious News Service

witchendor

Endor, a place in the territory of Issachar, was known for its many caves. In one of these dwelt the Witch of Endor who was consulted by Saul as the Philistines gathered a mighty host to destroy Israel.

From all that appears, this “dark shadow of a prophetess” was a soft-hearted, kindly, cowardly creature, turning a penny as she could to make up by artifice for any lack of reality. When, as recorded in the First Book of Samuel, she obeyed Saul’s request and summoned the spirit of Samuel from the dead, she was somewhat appalled by the achievement.

Saul had broken with his God on the score of an intense self-will and he did not repent. The prophet Samuel had announced wrath, and threatened final rejection, but no humiliation and no penitence followed. In this mood of mind, when his fear became as desolation, all the avenues of knowledge or aid which belonged to God’s children were closed upon him, and he voluntarily put himself into the hands of those powers which were his declared enemies.

The story of the Witch of Endor serves as a reminder of the contrary alternative to God, in the wants and sorrows of life, that there is no Divine anger that might not be appeased and turned away by deep, heartfelt repentance and amendment.

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The Pittsburgh Press (February 22, 1946)

Women of the Bible, No. 19 –
Story of Miriam reveals traits found in leaders

By the Religious News Service

miriam

The first, and one of the most revered, of the race of Hebrew prophetesses was Miriam, daughter of Amram and Jochebed, and sister of Moses and Aaron. According to the Rabbinic tradition the gift of prophecy descended upon her even in childhood. When Pharaoh gave the command to destroy every male child, Miriam, then only five, said in anger: “Woe to this man! God will punish him for his evil deeds.”

Three years later, as she sat in the house, Miriam cried out suddenly, “My parents shall have another son, who shall deliver Israel out of the hands of the Egyptians.” The second chapter of Exodus relates the birth of the child and how he was later found in the river by Pharaoh’s daughter and was called Moses, “because I drew him out of the water.” It was Miriam who provided the child’s mother as nurse for him.

Great self-poise and self-confidence marked Miriam as a child, and these traits of the natural leader were strong throughout her life. She was, we are told, possessed of a peculiar, prompt self-assertion and ready positiveness which made leadership a necessity and a pleasure to her.

A woman to court rather than shrink from responsibility, and feeling to the full all the personal dignity and glory which her rank and position gave her, those unwatched traits in Miriam gradually grew up into the very worst form of selfish ambition.

Numbers XII records how Miriam joined with Aaron in protesting the marriage of Moses to an Ethiopian woman. In consequence, she was reproved and punished with temporary leprosy by the Lord. Despite the attempt to repudiate his authority and set themselves up as equals, Moses forgave Miriam and Aaron and she is subsequently mentioned as an ordained prophetess.

In most things, Miriam’s influence and advice had been good, and there had been in her leadership among the women of Israel much that was valuable and admirable. Her death is recorded in Numbers 20:1, and her passing was mourned in the most solemn manner for thirty days.

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The Pittsburgh Press (March 2, 1946)

Women of the Bible, No. 20 –
Minute account of Lydia tells complete story

By the Religious News Service

lydia

Only a minute account appears in Scripture of Lydia, a distinguished convert, made by the preaching of the Apostle Paul at Philippi.

She was a vigorous, large-hearted Greek woman, perhaps and probably of Jewish parentage, and evidently a convert to the Jewish religion, who embraced Christianity at once, and became in a large and generous sense a ministering mother in the Church.

That there was afterwards a church in her native city of Thyatira may have been the consequence of her Christian enthusiasm and zeal, but there is no further distinct record of the fact. She was a trader in purple and fine linen; probably her business had its center in Thyatira and she visited Philippi in the way of trade, where she met the Apostle.

Paul’s narrative says: “On the Sabbath day we went out of the city by river side, to a place where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women that resorted thither. And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshiped God, heard us, whose heart the Lord opened that she attended to the things that were spoken by Paul. And when she was baptized with her household, she said, “If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come unto my house and abide there. And she constrained us.”

Later, Paul and his associates cast out a demon which possessed a young girl, and were then led before a magistrate. And they were scourged and cast into prison. When they had been miraculously delivered, they returned again to the house of Lydia, where they remained for some time, comforting and strengthening the disciples.