While most of the best-known Bible characters are men, there are many outstanding women who stood out from the crowd and changed history for the better. Following is a peek into the lives of five trailblazing women that are well worth getting acquainted with.
Deborah
Deborah is the first woman prophetess mentioned in the Bible. She is also the only woman to have ever been a judge of Israel. As a married woman, it would have been expected that she would have a servile relationship with her husband and focus on performing tasks such as spinning, weaving and washing her husband’s hands and feet; however, God saw fit to set Deborah over the entire nation of Israel and she even led the country in a successful battle against Jabin, a Canaanite king who had oppressed the country for twenty years.
Ruth
While most people who know the story of Ruth know that she was a Moabite, many do not realize the disdain the Israelites held for the nation of Moab. They were incestuous descendants of Lot and his daughter and God told the Israelites that Moabites were not allowed into the Lord’s temple, not even in the tenth generation. However, Ruth not only went on to settle in Israel and marry a prominent Israelite but even became an ancestress of Jesus. She is one of only three women in the Bible who are mentioned in listings of Jesus’ genealogy.
Mary Magdalene
The fact that women followed Jesus just as His 12 disciples did is worthy of note, as it was a totally uncommon practice at that time for rabbis to have female disciples. Even so, Mary Magdalene stands out from the others as she is typically the first women mentioned in the list of women who followed Jesus.
Furthermore, she is mentioned by name more often than most of Jesus’ other 12 disciples. The Bible notes that she, unlike nearly all of Jesus’ male disciples, was present at the crucifixion. She was also the first disciple to see Jesus after He rose from the dead.
Martha
Martha is perhaps best known for her insistence that Jesus ask her sister Mary to help with the housework instead of sitting at His feet and listening to His words. However, it should also be noted that Martha was one of the first followers of Jesus to truly understand who He was. Shortly after Martha’s brother Lazarus died, Jesus arrived in Bethany where Martha lived and Martha proclaims, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” (John 11:27). Her proclamation ranks with Peter’s well known statement to Jesus that “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” in Matthew chapter 16.
Lydia
Lydia is the first person in Europe mentioned by name as having come to faith in Jesus. The book of Acts goes on to mention that her household was baptized with her and she invited the disciples to stay in her home. These passages would indicate that she was the head of the household and owned her own house, both of which were uncommon in the first century.
These are far from being the only noteworthy, trailblazing women of the Bible. Sara, Abraham’s wife, is the only woman to have her age of death recorded in the Bible as a unique sign of respect for being the mother of the Israelite nation.
Rahab is the only woman mentioned in Hebrews 11’s hall of fame even though she was a prostitute from a foreign nation that God called the Israelites to destroy.
Mary, Jesus mother, was not only blessed by God to become the earthly mother of the Son of God but was also one of the 120 disciples in the upper room who were filled with the Holy Spirit.
Some of the many other women who are worthy of note include Miriam, Hannah, Huldah, Esther, Elizabeth, The woman at the well and the woman at the temple who offered up all the money she had in Jesus’ presence.
These women lived centuries apart from each other. They came from different countries and spoke different languages. The only similarity between them is that God used their words and actions to impact Christians over the course of hundreds of years.
As the Bible makes plain from the examples of these and other women of faith, God is truly no respecter of persons. He gives spiritual and physical gifts to men and women alike and then holds each individual accountable for how these gifts are used.
~ Christian Patriot Daily