Women in the Bible - Honoring Mother’s Day

First Reading: Exodus 1:22 - 2:10

22Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, ‘Every boy that is born to the Hebrews you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every girl live.’

2Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman.2The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him for three months. 3When she could hide him no longer she got a basket for him, and plastered it with bitumen pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river. 4His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him.

5 The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it. 6When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him. ‘This must be one of the Hebrews’ children,’ she said. 7Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?’8Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Yes.’ So the girl went and called the child’s mother. 9Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages.’ So the woman took the child and nursed it. 10When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and she took him as her son. She named him Moses, ‘because’, she said, ‘I drew him out of the water.’

Numbers 26:59

The name of Amram’s wife was Jochebed daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt; and she bore to Amram: Aaron, Moses, and their sister Miriam.

Meditation on Jochebed

Jochebed lives during the time when the Hebrew people are enslaved in Egypt. Afraid of the Hebrews’ growing population, Pharaoh had commanded that all baby boys born to them should be killed. Jochebed gives birth to a boy. Her emotions must have been so mixed: joy over the baby and fear for his life. What is she to do?

In the end, Jochebed is motivated by love and faith.

Her love makes her decide to keep and hide the baby. For three months, she conceals his existence. Picture in your mind the small windowless mud huts the Hebrew slaves were living in. And then think about the last time you were around a newborn. Can you imagine trying to keep a baby quiet for three months? It must have taken an immense effort. This shows Jochebed’s deep love for her son.

Eventually, she can hide him no longer. So she comes up with a new plan: She takes a basket and waterproofs it and places the boy inside; and then she hides him in the reeds along the Nile.

Along comes Pharaoh’s daughter, finds the baby, and decides to keep him and name him Moses. It’s hard for me wrap my head around this sense of entitlement – to just keep someone’s baby.

This is where the miracle happens: Pharaoh’s daughter needs a wet nurse for the baby. Moses’ sister Miriam just happens to know a woman who could serve in this capacity: Moses’ mother. And so Pharoah’s daughter sends Moses home with his mother and even pays her to nurse him and take care of him. Amazing, isn’t it?

Jochebed is one of those women who seems so average; just a mother and wife. And yet, with her fierce motherly love, she has not only saved her baby boy Moses, but also affected the lives of countless people. Jochebed is the mother of three children: Moses, who would lead the Hebrews out of slavery and introduce them to God’s law; Aaron, who would become Israel’s first high priest; and Miriam, who would become a prophetess and the singer of the very first psalm in the Bible.

This says a lot about Jochebed and her faith. All three children grow up devoted to God and God’s people. Jochebed installed that faith in them. Through her children, she blessed generations of people.

One of the challenges Jochebed faced was having to let go of Moses – twice. First when she placed him in the basket, and again when he was weaned and she had to return him to Pharaoh’s daughter. That’s one of the hardest things we parents have to do, isn’t it? Letting go of our children? Realizing that we can no longer keep them home, keep them safe. As a woman of faith, I am sure Jochebed prayed for her children all the time, just like we all do for ours. I imagine that her trust in God helped her let go, a trust that was strengthened by the signs of God’s grace, such as when she was allowed to nurse her baby boy.

I am closing this meditation with these words from a blog post: “Women of influential faith, women who are affecting their world, their family, their workplace, their friends for good for God, have open hands. They hold on to things and people with open hands; like Jochebed, they know when to release and let go and trust God.”

Second Reading: Judges 4:17-23; 5:24-26, 31

The Israelite army under General Barak is fighting against the Canaanites under General Sisera. The Canaanites are losing, and General Sisera flees the battlefield and arrives at the tent of Jael.

17 Now Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of Jael wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between King Jabin of Hazor and the clan of Heber the Kenite. 18Jael came out to meet Sisera, and said to him, ‘Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; have no fear.’ So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. 19Then he said to her, ‘Please give me a little water to drink; for I am thirsty.’ So she opened a skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered him. 20He said to her, ‘Stand at the entrance of the tent, and if anybody comes and asks you, “Is anyone here?” say, “No.” ’ 21But Jael wife of Heber took a tent-peg, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, until it went down into the ground—he was lying fast asleep from weariness—and he died. 22Then, as Barak came in pursuit of Sisera, Jael went out to meet him, and said to him, ‘Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.’ So he went into her tent; and there was Sisera lying dead, with the tent-peg in his temple. 23 So on that day God subdued King Jabin of Canaan before the Israelites.

Then Deborah […] sang on that day, saying: 

24 ‘Most blessed of women be Jael,
   the wife of Heber the Kenite,
   of tent-dwelling women most blessed. 
25 He asked water and she gave him milk,
   she brought him curds in a lordly bowl. 
26 She put her hand to the tent-peg
   and her right hand to the workmen’s mallet;
she struck Sisera a blow,
   she crushed his head,
   she shattered and pierced his temple. 

31 ‘So perish all your enemies, O Lord!
   But may your friends be like the sun as it rises in its might.’ 

And the land had rest for forty years.

Meditation on Jael

Opinions about Jael are quite divided among commentators and theologians.

Let’s try and understand her situation. Canaanites and Israelites are at war with each other. Jael’s tribe is neutral in this struggle, but now war has come to her doorstep – or tent flap. The Canaanites are losing the battle and their general Sisera flees and seeks to hide in Jael’s tent. She lets him in, gives him something to drink, and covers him with a rug. Once he is asleep, she takes a tent peg and hammer and kills him. When the pursuing Israelites come to her tent, she can present the dead general and thus curry favor with the winning army.

Some people accuse her of being a traitor. Some say she betrayed the laws of hospitality that demand she would protect her guest. They have a point.

On the other hand, she is caught up in a war that has nothing to do with her. When Sisera enters her tent, she is drawn into this conflict, into a deadly war. She needs to decide how she can survive.

One commentator shared his experience of reading this story with Korean women who remembered being occupied by Japan. They immediately picked up on the threat of violence hanging over Jael. Had she been raped? Would she be raped as soon as Sisera woke up? These Korean women saw Jael’s actions as self-defense. The commentator wondered if we would read this story differently if we were French resistance fighters under Nazi occupation, or Anglo-Saxons facing marauding Vikings, or living as refugees in a camp in Africa or South America.

Jael was in a very dangerous position. So she grabbed the tools she was familiar with: tent peg and hammer. In her time, pitching tents was women’s work. Jael used her womanly skills and womanly tools to defend herself. She used womanly skills and womanly tools to do something not at all considered womanly.

Might that be part of the criticism Jael has received over the centuries? Would these actions have been judged differently if she had been a man?

We read part of Deborah’s song about what happened. In it, she praises Jael as a warrior and compares her to Shamgar, a contemporary military leader who helped Israel win a battle against the Philistines. Deborah has absolutely no problems with Jael’s actions.

In the last line in our reading today, the storyteller says: “And the land had rest for forty years.” What Jael did helped bring about a peace that lasted 40 years. Now that is amazing!

Jael used womanly skills and tools to do a manly thing. Maybe it’s time to drop such classifications. What would the world be like if we all used the skills and passions and tools at our disposal to work for peace?

In closing, here are the thoughts of one commentator: “Jael was not expecting to be a warrior; she found herself in an extreme situation and her gut response was not to wait for someone to rescue her, but to defend herself and others. Jael inspires me to be ready, just in case God gives me the opportunity to do something remarkable, unusual, unlady-like, for his kingdom. How about you?”

 Third Reading: Acts 9:36-42

The name Dorcas is a Greek translation of the Aramaic name Tabitha, meaning "gazelle". One species of gazelle is now known as the Dorcas gazelle. Dorcas is the first Greek name of a female in the New Testament.

36 Now in Joppa there was a disciple whose name was Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was devoted to good works and acts of charity. 37At that time she became ill and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in a room upstairs. 38Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, who heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him with the request, ‘Please come to us without delay.’ 39So Peter got up and went with them; and when he arrived, they took him to the room upstairs. All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was with them. 40Peter put all of them outside, and then he knelt down and prayed. He turned to the body and said, ‘Tabitha, get up.’ Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up. 41He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then calling the saints and widows, he showed her to be alive. 42This became known throughout Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.

Meditation on Dorcas

Dorcas is an active member of the very early church. She is one of the first converts in the city of Joppa, is the first woman with a Greek name in the New Testament, and is called a “disciple”. This is the only place in the whole New Testament where the female form of the word for “disciple” is used. She must have been an amazing woman of faith.

There are other signs in the story that point to Dorcas being a strong and faithful believer.

When she dies, a community of widows surrounds her and cares for her. They wash her body and cry over her and then they decide to call Peter to come.

The fact that they dare ask Peter to make a special trip for Dorcas demonstrates their love for her. The fact that Peter immediately comes demonstrates that he, too, knows and values Dorcas.

What endeared her so much to the members of the early church were her acts of charity and good works. It’s not her wealth; it’s not her ability to preach or lead. It is her sewing skills. When Peter gets to Joppa, the widows surrounding Dorcas all show him the garments she had made for them.

Widows were desperately poor in those days. It would appear that Dorcas noticed their ratty clothing and decided to do something about it. She got fabric and set to sewing them decent outfits. Isn’t that ever so loving? She provided these poor women with dignity. She made it possible for them to walk through the city’s streets without shame. With something as humble as sewing, Dorcas made a huge difference in these widows’ lives.

John Chrysostom, a famous preacher of the early church, said this about Dorcas: “It was not her house that proclaimed her wealth, but the bodies of widows furnished with dress, and their tears that were shed.”

The value of Dorcas as a person was demonstrated not in money or power, but in the love and devotion of the women whose lives she had touched, the grief and sorrow they expressed over her death. Through her compassion and generosity and skills, Dorcas built up a community of care.

That community of care ends up making a huge difference in Dorcas’ life: It is the members of this community who call for Peter. Without them, Peter wouldn’t have known, wouldn’t have come, and wouldn’t have revived Dorcas. The faith and love of the community helped save Dorcas.

Pastor Robert Wall uses a powerful phrase to describe the attitude of the widows calling for Peter: an optimism of grace. I love that phrase. An optimism of grace. Dorcas lives in optimism of grace when she shares her faith, love, and resources with the poor; the widows live in optimism of grace when they care for Dorcas and bring help when she needs it; Peter lives in optimism of grace when he makes the trip and dares to pray for revival.

Optimism of grace leads to healing and joy and hope, and many people come to believe in Jesus.

We are still in the Easter season. This is the season that more than any other calls us to live in the optimism of grace. What healing and joy might we experience when we put our optimism of grace into action like Dorcas and her community?