Preaching the Women of the Old Testament

Who They Were and Why They Matter

Lynn Japinga

• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9780664259693
• eBook ISBN: 9781611647891
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

Take an in-depth look at over twenty fierce, faithful, and strong women featured in the Old Testament with Preaching the Women of the Old Testament. Inside this unique resource author Lynn Japinga interprets the stories of various biblical women, including Eve, Rebekah, Dinah, Tamar, Miriam, Deborah, Jael, Abigail, Bathsheba, and Vashti. Along with providing an interpretation, Japinga demonstrates how the character's story has been read in Christian tradition and offers sermon ideas that connect contemporary issues to each story. This book is ideal for pastors who want to know more about the many women of the Old Testament and learn how to better incorporate them into their sermons.

Chapter One

Eve

Eve appears in Genesis 2:18–4:2, and 4:25, although she is not named until 3:20. Parts of this story are used in the lectionary in Lent 1A, in 5/10B, and as the alternative reading in 22/27B.

Eve is second only to Mary the mother of Jesus as the most written about woman in the Bible, but authors come to radically different conclusions about her. She is described as both the culmination of creation and as an afterthought. She is portrayed as a flawed, stupid woman easily tricked by the serpent, as a seductive, conniving woman who tricked her innocent husband, and as an intelligent woman in search of wisdom.

The story of Eve is simple enough to be told in a children’s picture Bible, but complicated enough to mystify commentators and theologians. The simple story sounds like this: God created the first man, Adam, out of the dust. Adam was lonely, even after God created the animals for him, so God took one of Adam’s ribs and made a woman to be his helper. They lived happily until the serpent convinced her to eat the forbidden fruit, and she tricked Adam into sharing it. God drove them out of the Garden of Eden and cursed Adam with hard work and Eve with painful childbirth and subordination to Adam.

This version of the story has several errors, but it has still been used to define the roles of men and women in life, marriage, and the church. The author of 1 Timothy wrote: “I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor” (1 Tim. 2:12–14). In the second century the philosopher Tertullian warned young Christian women not to flaunt their beauty because it tempted men. He wrote: “Do you not know that you are [each] an Eve? You are the devil’s gateway: you are the unsealer of that [forbidden] tree. You destroyed so easily God’s image, man. On account of your desert—that is, death—even the Son of God had to die.”¹

These interpreters conclude that because Eve was second to be created and first to sin, all women are intellectually and spiritually inferior to men. Some feminists have told the story in the same literal way and concluded that the Bible cannot be a good book for women if it teaches that they are the “second sex.”

The story is actually more complex and nuanced. Genesis 1–3 is not intended to be a science textbook or a verbatim transcript of what actually occurred at the beginning of time. It is a story or poem that people recited to explain the origins of the world and humanity. In fact, Genesis 1–3 contains two different and conflicting creation stories. They should not be read as literally true in all their details.² Still, the details of the text should not be dismissed as irrelevant because the stories are embedded in our culture. Even people who do not read the Bible are vaguely aware of Adam and Eve and the apple.³

In a ground-breaking essay first published in 1972, Old Testament scholar Phyllis Trible offered a detailed retelling of the Genesis 2–3 story. She focused on the nuances of the Hebrew text itself, without the influence of the story that said women were secondary and sinful. She saw that God created a human being (adham), out of dust (adhamah). Later, after deciding that the “earth-creature” needed a partner, God put the adham to sleep, took out a rib, and built another human being. Both were made in God’s image. The woman was not fragile or weak or less intelligent than the adham. She was the culmination of creation, not an afterthought.⁴

Trible also noted that the relationship between the two was an equal partnership, not a leader and a follower or a master and a servant. The Hebrew word for help, ezer, usually refers to God’s strength and power, as in “Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth” (Ps. 124:8). If God was the help that was stronger than the adham, and animals were the help that was weaker, the woman was a help equal to him. She was not there to do his chores or raise his children, but to be an intimate partner, who saved him from loneliness. She was his equal, with the same mind, rationality, soul, spiritual sensitivity, and connection with the creator.⁵

The man delighted in the woman and they were naked, but not ashamed. They had a relationship of trust, openness, and mutuality. Whether Adam and Eve were real people or not, the author says that in the beginning, human bodies and sexuality were good and valued.

Unfortunately, this openness and mutuality did not last. A serpent, one of God’s own creatures, suddenly appeared and engaged in a conversation about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The woman said they would die if they ate from the tree. The serpent assured her that they would not die, but the tree would make them wise. She wanted to be wise, and the fruit was appealing; so she ate it and gave some to the man.

Some commentators conclude that Eve was gullible, stupid, naive, and easily seduced by the serpent. Ironically, they also say she was smart enough to trick Adam into eating the fruit since he was not present for the conversation with the serpent. Perhaps he was pulling weeds somewhere else in the garden. If he had been there, he would have nipped that conversation in the bud and saved Eve from a major mistake.

This is a popular interpretation, but it is not supported by the text. Eve gave the fruit to her husband who was with her (3:6). If Adam was intellectually and spiritually superior to Eve, why didn’t he challenge the serpent? Why didn’t he refuse to eat the fruit? Phyllis Trible pointed out that the man does not appear very intelligent or spiritually discerning in this story.⁶ The woman was thinking, questioning, and wrestling with the meaning of God’s command. Adam said nothing, and when she gave him the fruit, he ate it without question.

Why was this so sinful? Were they disobedient? Arrogant? Proud? Or were they more like toddlers who were irresistibly drawn to touch the forbidden object? Was God an angry tyrant who set them up for failure?

These questions have intrigued theologians for millennia, but the text does not answer them. The point of the story is that everything changed. Adam and Eve obtained knowledge, but it was not what they expected. The first thing they knew was that the nakedness that once delighted them now made them ashamed. They feared the judgment of God and each other, so they sewed fig leaves together in a pitiful and itchy attempt to cover themselves.

Their fear of exposure involved more than their bodies. They no longer felt comfortable encountering God in an easy, familiar way, so they hid. God came looking for them, saw their fear and shame, and asked if they had eaten from the tree. The man blamed the woman and indirectly the God who had given her to him. She was no longer a partner; rather, she was the source of his downfall. The woman blamed the serpent.

The consequences were devastating. To the woman, God said, “‘I will greatly increase your pangs in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you’” (Gen. 3:16). This verse has been used to justify male dominance, privilege, and even violence toward women. It has been used to exclude women from leadership in church or government, because they must be subordinate to all men, not just their husbands. Women have been denied the right to vote, speak, and to be educated because of this verse.

Again, it is important to read the text carefully. The “curse of Eve” has been used to describe menstrual pain, labor pains, and the subordination of women, but God does not actually curse her. Still, life for women will change. They will experience painful labor, multiple pregnancies, and death in childbirth, but instead of refusing the sexual contact that produces pregnancy, they will desire men. This desire will cause emotional pain as well as physical. How often does a woman love a man who does not love her in return or is abusive to her?

The man experienced consequences in his vocation. The ground was cursed (though not the man), so the gardening that was originally pleasurable would be compromised by drought, tornados, and insects. Work would be hard.

Both shared equally in the most damaging effect of the fall. They lost the mutuality they shared in the beginning. All their relationships were distorted: with God, with their work, with their bodies, and with each other.

The creation that was so good in the beginning was now compromised by sin and brokenness. The two humans did not die immediately, but their lives were different and difficult. Adam and Eve experienced pain and loss. Their son Abel would be murdered by his brother Cain, who was then banished. They would never know the same kind of intimacy with God or each other as they had known in the garden. But there would be children, work, and a future of sorts. God would not abandon them. Life would continue in a different way.

Preaching

This text is challenging to preach for a number of reasons. At best it is overly familiar. What can be said that is fresh and interesting? At worst, the story carries a lot of baggage. It has been used to tell women that they are inferior beings who brought sin into the world. It has been used to promote a hierarchical (complementarian) view of marriage, which severely restricts women’s roles. In recent years, the trite phrase “God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve” has been used to dismiss homosexuality as unbiblical. Reading this text in worship might provide evidence to skeptical listeners that the Bible is outdated, irrelevant, and even foolish. These are valid concerns, but there are a number of ways to approach the text that listeners might find more helpful.

Liberating Eve. A sermon might simply tell the story and note the misreadings of the text. Despite what many people have heard all their lives, this text does not say that women are secondary, inferior, or the cause of sin. The preacher might invite people to tell a new story about Adam and Eve that is more rooted in the text itself. It is also true, however, that the story that has been told about Adam and Eve is often influenced by deep (and not necessarily rational) fear about the power of women.⁷

Very good and very broken. This story illustrates the reality that the world and human beings were created to be very good. A sermon might explore what it means to be created in God’s image, and whether that image is the same for men and women. Glimpses of that original goodness still exist, but all of creation has been bent or damaged. A sermon might explore the meaning of sin and the fall, although neither word appears in the text. Such a sermon could help people see themselves more clearly as capable of both wondrous good and horrifying evil.⁸

Ah, the humanity. Rather than emphasize the poles of good or evil, a sermon might focus on what it means to be human. We are limited, and much is beyond our control. We live with fear and doubt. We are lonely, sometimes in the midst of relationships. We have deep longings, for intimacy, for achievement, for clarity, for belonging. We want to make a difference. We want to be valued and appreciated. We want to be remembered. As we age, we realize our humanity and mortality in different ways. We get sick. We lose some of our abilities. We feel life closing in rather than opening up.⁹ The realities of fear, loneliness, and loss are often labeled as sinful attitudes that religious people must rise above, but they are not sinful so much as they are part of being human. A sermon offering grace rather than shame for being human would be a great gift.

Flesh of my flesh. The story demonstrates the power of intimate relationships rooted in commitment, trust, and vulnerability. We experience such joy when we find a person with whom we can be fully ourselves. To be naked with a partner and confident of being loved, admired, and respected is all too rare in a society that often shames people both for being sexual and for their imperfect and inadequate bodies. Marriage and family can be a place to celebrate the goodness of love and relationships.

Marriage can also be the place where human brokenness is most profoundly evident. Intimate relationships are hard work, and they require a high degree of vulnerability and trust. It can be terrifying to be so close to another person, in part because our own fears and flaws become so evident. The preacher might use this story to reflect honestly about the joys and struggles of marriage. The text does not give advice about specific gender roles, but it raises broader questions of how flawed people live together. What are realistic expectations of marriage?

Adam and Steve. As churches debate the issue of same-sex marriage, it may be helpful to turn to this text. This story speaks of a man and a woman, but the dynamics of relationship are also true for two men or two women. It is human nature to long for a person with whom we can have a ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1. Eve
• 2. Sarah and Hagar
• 3. Lot’s Wife and Daughters
• 4. Rebekah
• 5. Rachel and Leah
• 6. Dinah
• 7. Tamar (Genesis)
• 8. Potiphar’s Wife
• 9. The Women Who Kept Moses Alive
• 10. Miriam
• 11. Zipporah
• 12. The Daughters of Zelophehad
• 13. Rahab
• 14. Achsah
• 15. Deborah
• 16. Jael
• 17. Jephthah’s Daughter
• 18. Samson’s Mother / Manoah’s Wife
• 19. Delilah
• 20. The Levite’s Concubine
• 21. Ruth and Naomi
• 22. Hannah
• 23. Michal
• 24. Abigail
• 25. The Medium at Endor
• 26. Bathsheba
• 27. Tamar (2 Samuel)
• 28. Rizpah
• 29. The Queen of Sheba
• 30. Jezebel
• 31. The Widow of Zarephath
• 32. The Widow with the Oil
• 33. The Shunammite Woman
• 34. The Maid of Naaman’s Wife
• 35. Huldah
• 36. Vashti
• 37. Esther
• 38. Job’s Wife
• 39. The Woman of Substance in Proverbs 31
• 40. Gomer
• Appendix: Suggestions for Sermon Series
• Notes
• Index of Scripture
• Index of Names
• Excerpt from Women’s Bible Commentary, Third Edition edited by Carol A. Newsom, Sharon H. Ringe, and Jacqueline E. Lapsley