Women in the Bible

Quick—name three women who were prominent in the early days of American history and three who have been prominent in the modern era. From the early days we might note Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, and Betsy Ross. (Can you name more? See the 2008 book by an influential female journalist, Cokie Roberts, Ladies of Liberty: The Women Who Shaped Our Nation). From the modern era, let’s list Sandra Day O’Connor, Madeleine Albright, and Condoleezza Rice.

Here’s my guess: You could probably name more influential men than women from both periods of history. (Why is that?) And I’m guessing the same would be true if I asked you to name a short list of influential people from the Bible. You would probably come up with more male than female names.

When it comes to women in the Bible, our minds run immediately to some favorites: Eve, Sarah, Leah, Rachel, Rebekah, Miriam, Esther, Ruth, several “Marys,” Elizabeth, Martha, and a few others. But what if I told you there are nearly 150 women mentioned by name in Scripture? If you saw a list of their names, how many do you think you could identify?

We’re going to take a needed step in the direction of recognizing the women God chose to include in His story of redemption. Like the men in the Bible, not every woman played a role we would choose to imitate (Jezebel, Sapphira). But it is past time that we become more familiar with the women of the Bible.

Just to blow your mind right at the start, here they are. For fun, pick out some names you’ve never heard of and look them up in your Bible (use your concordance) to learn more about them.