Women Of The OT 4
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PRESENTATION OUTLINE
WOMEN OF ISRAEL’S EARLY TRIBES
OPENING PRAYER
Lord, help me to be ready so that any moment I am equipped to stand against the enemy and even deal a decisive blow in battle. Give me courage, discernment, and wisdom and help me to stay close to you in the midst of the fray.
WOMEN OF ISRAEL’S EARLY TRIBES
- Book of Judges: Deborah & Jael, Jephthah’s Daughter, Samson’s Mother, Wife & Delilah
- Book of Ruth: Ruth, Naomi, & Orpah
- 1 Samuel: Hannah & Peninnah
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BOOK OF JUDGES
- Hero stories from Israel’s frontier period 1240-1050 BC
- Time from entering promised land to time of United kingdom
- 12 tribes of Israel coexisted with pagan tribes. Disunity and conflict.
- Cyclical pattern of sin and rescue
12 Judges of Israel: Heroic and Flawed
12 Tribes
of
Israel
during
Conquest
of
Promised
Land
THE CYCLE OF THE JUDGES
- Israel offends God
- God is angry. Conquered by enemies.
- Israelites cry out to the Lord.
- God sends a judge to save them.
- The land has rest for a number of years.
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Deborah is one of the twelve judges. She is a hero and a prophet, speaking the word of God. She is in the more traditional role of judging rather than military hero.
PROPHET AND JUDGE
DEBORAH AND BARAK (JUDGES 4 & 5)
JUDGE AND GENERAL
DEBORAH AND JAEL
- Jabin: Canaanite king
- Sisera: General of Jabin’s army
- Deborah: Prophet, Judge of Israel
- Barak: Israelite military general
- Heber the Kenite: nomad living peacefully with Canaanites
- Jael: Wife of Heber, assassin of Sisera
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She had Barak summoned... She said to him, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, commands...”
Judges 4:6
“I will certainly go with you,” she replied, “but you will not gain glory for the expedition on which you are setting out, for it is into a woman’s power that the Lord is going to sell Sisera.” 4:9
Israelites win the battle.
Sisera flees!
“TURN ASIDE MY LORD, TURN ASIDE WITH ME; DO NOT BE AFRAID.”
JAEL AND SISERA
When Sisera was in a deep sleep from exhaustion, she approached him stealthily and drove the peg through his temple and down into the ground, and he died. Judges 4:22
“COME I WILL SHOW YOU THE MAN YOU ARE LOOKING FOR.”
JAEL AND BARAK
DEBORAH, JAEL AND BARAK
VICTORY TO A WOMAN: JAEL
Leadership of Deborah:
Accompanied Barak
Mustered six tribes
Predicted success of woman
Trusted in God
SONG OF DEBORAH: JUDGES 5
HEBREW POETRY (CHAPTER 5)
- Song of Deborah: Based on rhythm rather than rhyme
- Use of parallelism where second line repeats or contrasts, e.g. verse 5:19 or 5:31
- Older version of story.
Most blessed of women is Jael...Blessed among the tent-dwelling women. Judges 5:24
Two other women called “blessed among women”: Judith (Judith 13:18) and Mary (Luke 1:42).
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JEPHTHAH, ONE OF THE JUDGES OF ISRAEL
JEPHTHAH, JUDGE OF ISRAEL
- Son of prostitute
- Sent away by his half brothers
- Called back to fight Ammonites
- Promised leadership if he won.
- Defeated Ammonites.
Jephthah’s Vow
The spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah... he crossed over against the Ammonites. Jephthah made a vow to the Lord. “If you deliver the Ammonites into my power,” he said, “whoever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return from the Ammonites in peace shall belong to the Lord. I shall offer him up as a burnt offering.” Judges 11:29-31
When Jephthah returned to his house in Mizpah, it was his daughter who came out to meet him, with tambourine-playing and dancing. She was his only child: he had neither son nor daughter besides her. Judges 11:34
When he saw her, he tore his garments and said, “Ah, my daughter! You have struck me down and brought calamity upon me. For I have made a vow to the Lord and I cannot take it back.” Judges11:35
“Father”, she replied, “you have made a vow to the Lord. Do with me as you have vowed, because the Lord has taken vengeance for you against your enemies the Ammonites.” 11:36
Then she said to her father, “ Let me have this favor. Do nothing for two months, that I and my companions may go wander in the mountains to weep for my virginity.” Judges 11:37
At the end of the two months she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. She had not had relations with any man.
Judges 11:39
It became a custom in Israel for Israelite women to go yearly to mourn the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite for four days of the year. Judges 11:40
Did Jephthah sacrifice his daughter?
DIFFERENT EXPLANATIONS OFFERED
- Lack of trust in God
- Prefigurement of Christ’s sacrifice
- Living among pagan culture
- Lawlessness in the land
- Violence against women
- Woman coming of age
- Daughter dedicated to God
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SAMSON, JUDGE OF ISRAEL
- Philistines were Israel’s greatest enemy in battle for land
- Samson from tribe of Dan
- A giant of great strength
- “Judge” of Israel (no army)
- Violent anger and lusts
- Saving instrument through which God delivers his people from Philistines
PARENTS OF SAMSON
MANOAH (TRIBE OF DAN) AND BARREN WIFE
Birth Announcement
An angel of the Lord appeared to the woman...you will conceive and bear a son...the boy is to be a nazirite for God from the womb...he will begin to save Israel from the power of the Philistines. Judges 13:3-5
NAZIRITE VOW
While Manoah and his wife were looking on as the flame rose to the heavens from the altar, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar.
(Judges 13:20)
The woman bore a son and named him Samson, and when the boy grew up the Lord blessed him.
(Judges 13:24)
REFLECTIONS ON SAMSON’S MOTHER
- Primary recipient of birth announcement
- Faith: willing to be a channel of God’s care for his people.
- Barren wife
- Recognizes angel and understands the message
SAMSON FINDS A PHILISTINE WOMAN FOR A WIFE
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Now his father and mother did not know that this had been brought about by the Lord, who was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines; for at that time they ruled over Israel.
Judges 14:4
SAMSON, THE LION AND THE RIDDLE
JUDGES 14:5-20
...”Trick your husband into solving the riddle for us, or we will burn you and your family...”Judges 14:15
“If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have solved my riddle.” Judges 14:18
SAMSON’S RESPONSE
- Killed 30 Philistines
- Gave garments to those who solved riddle
- Went home to family in anger
- Samson’s wife married to another. Samson returns to claim her.
- Samson destroys Philistine crops who take revenge by killing his wife and her family
SAMSON DESTROYS PHILISTINE’S CROPS
PHILISTINES KILL SAMSON’S WIFE AND HER FAMILY
DELILAH
Samson fell in love with Delilah. The Philistines offer her money to discover how Samson gets his great strength. He finally tells her after four attempts.
Samson’s hair is cut, he is blinded, imprisoned and loses his strength. He did not realize that the Lord had left him (16:20).
THE DEATH OF SAMSON
JUDGES 16:28-30
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BOOK OF RUTH
- Classic short story
- Story of faithful woman from time of Judges
- Story of deep loyalty, love and respect of in-laws
- Favorable to foreigners
- Message of true faith in God
STORY OF NAOMI
- Wife of Elimelech from Bethlehem of Judah
- Two sons: Mahlon & Chilion
- Famine in Judah
- Move to land of Moab
- Sons marry Moabite women
- Her husband and sons die
- Returns to Bethlehem
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“...Go back, each of you to your mother’s house. May the Lord show you the same kindness as you have shown to the deceased and to me. May the Lord guide each of you to find a husband and a home in which you will be at rest.” She kissed them goodbye, but they wept aloud.
(Ruth 1:7-9)
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Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “I would like to go and glean grain in the field of anyone who will allow me.” (Ruth 2:2)
BOAZ (REDEEMER) AND RUTH (MOABITE)
A LOVE STORY WITH NAOMI’S HELP
A HAPPY ENDING
SON IS OBED, THE FATHER OF JESSE, THE FATHER OF DAVID
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SAMUEL
- Pivotal figure
- Bridges gap between the period of the Judges and the Monarchy
- Guides Israel’s transition to kingship.
- Reluctant kingmaker (Saul, David)
Elkanah and his family at Shiloh: He had two wives, one named Hannah, the other Peninnah; Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. (1 Samuel 1:2)
SHE DISAPPEARS AFTER THE INITIAL SCENE
Elkanah, her husband would say to her; “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why are you not eating? Why are you so miserable? Am I not better for you than ten sons?”
1 Samuel 1:8
Hannah...presented herself to the Lord; at the time Eli the priest was sitting on a chair near the doorpost of the Lord’s temple.
(1 Samuel 1:9)
Hannah’s Vow
In her bitterness she prayed to the Lord, weeping freely, and made this vow: “O Lord of hosts, If you look with pity on the hardship of your servant, if you remember me and do not forget me, if you give your handmaiden a male child, I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life. No razor shall ever touch his head.”
(1 Samuel 1:11)
She conceived and at the end of her pregnancy, bore a son whom she named Samuel. “Because I asked the Lord for him.”
(1 Samuel 1:20)
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HYMN OF HANNAH (1 SAMUEL 2:1-10)
- Prayer of Thanksgiving
- Reminiscent of Mary’s Magnificat
- Voice of praise like Miriam and Deborah
- Theme of God’s preference for the poor and powerless
HANNAH
- Faith filled woman
- Private prayer of petition and thanksgiving
- Dedicated her son to the temple
- Love and sacrifice of a mother
