THE BIBLE WOMEN WE LOVE THE MOST (PART 2)

Last time, we looked at three Bible women I chose as my faves— Mary of Nazareth, Naomi and Rachel. Now, in THE BIBLE WOMEN WE LOVE THE MOST, PART 2, we are looking at the stories of three of your choices— Noadiah, Abigail and The Daughters of Zelophehad.

My choices were because these women were, in my view, the most transformed through what happened to them. I have included the reasons for your choices, too.  

NOADIAH

(Nehemiah 6:14)

I admit I had ‘No Idea’ (ha-ha) when Jane M suggested Noadiah, because, she says, “I felt sorry for her.”

Noadiah is recorded in the Book of Nehemiah as a troublemaker who didn’t help God rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

“I suppose I am thinking of how things are now, too ,” says Jane. “The silence in the churches, the lack of support or understanding for Israel.”

Noadiah had an important role in opposing Nehemiah’s political and religious work— his mission to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. She is singled out as an influential prophetess among prophets who wanted to intimidate Nehemiah and make him fear for his life.

Bible scholar Wilda Gafney (wilgafney.com) suggests that the real reason for Noadiah’s opposition to Nehemiah would be his continuation of Ezra’s policy of rejection of non-Jewish wives and children. Possibly, she was a prophetess who took the side of the women who had to leave their husbands due to religious intolerance.

ABIGAIL

(1 Sam. 25)

Heather chose Abigail because she was, “wise and sensible as well as beautiful.”

When Abigail heard that her husband had insulted King David she gathered bread, wine, mutton, raisin cakes and pressed fig cakes and loaded them on donkeys for David’s men.  She herself climbed on a donkey and arrived before David soon after these gifts at the very women that David was vowing to kill her husband, Nabal, and all his followers.

Abigail bowed low before him and apologized for her husband. She invited God to bless David and his men. David relented.

Soon after this, Nabal died, (apparently of natural causes) and David married Abigail.

THE DAUGHTERS OF ZELOPHEHAD

(Numbers 27)

Zola chose the daughters of Zelophehad for “their boldness as trailblazers who contributed to new laws regarding a daughter’s inheritance when a father dies without a son.”

Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah were of the Tribe of Menasseh, the son of Joseph. They approached Eliezer, the Priest, and Moses before the whole assembly outside of the Tabernacle and told them that their father’s name should continue, even though he had died in the wilderness, for he was a good man but he had no son to inherit from him.

Moses prayed about the situation and God told him that Zelophehad’s daughters were right. A father’s inheritance should go to a man’s daughter(s), if he lacked sons.

Please send me your fave Bible woman and the reason why you have picked her.

Next time, we shall be looking at some more of your choices: Ruth, Deborah and Jael. Also, lined up are Esther,  Jochebed, the Woman with the Discharge of Blood, the Woman who wiped her tears on Jesus’ feet and Joanna Chuza.

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