What You Didn't Learn in Sunday School

Women Who Didn't Shut Up and Sit Down

Atteberry

• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN: 9781621896548
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

In the last few years I've read rants against the evils of feminism from some of the top Evangelical and Fundamentalist Christian leaders who blame women wanting to go to work, go into ministry, and be equals to their husbands for all the social ills happening in our country. If women would just stay home divorce rates would plummet, no abortions would happen, public schools wouldn't be in trouble, and all the world's ills would come to an end.There's just one little problem: Does the Bible really say all of that?What You Didn't Learn in Sunday School will introduce you to women in the Bible who:Were religious leaders.Disobeyed their husbands to obey Godde.Had careers.Made their own decisions.And guess what? The world did not end.Eight verses have been used to make women second-class citizens, and at times, virtual slaves to their husbands. The rest of the Bible is full of stories of strong women who led their families, their people, and their countries.

Part 1

Women Who Didn’t Shut Up

Chapter 1

The Daughters of Zelophehad

Then the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph came forward. These are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. They stood at the door of the Tent of Meeting before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the leaders, and all the people, saying, “Our father died in the wilderness. He was not among the company of those who gathered together against Yahweh in the company of Korah, but he died in his own sin. He had no sons. Why should our father’s name be taken away from among his family, because he had no son? Give us a possession among the brothers of our father.”

Moses brought their cause before Yahweh. Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Zelophehad’s daughters are right in what they say. You will give them a possession of an inheritance among their father’s brothers. You will give their father’s inheritance to them. You will speak to the children of Israel and say, ‘If a man dies, and has no son, then you will give his inheritance to his daughter. If he has no daughter, then you shall give his inheritance to his brothers. If he has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to his father’s brothers. If his father has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to the closest relative in his family, and he shall possess it. This shall be a statute and ordinance for the children of Israel, as Yahweh commanded Moses.’”

—Numbers 27:1–11

In Numbers 26, land was apportioned out to the twelve tribes of Israel. After taking control of the land east of the Jordan, the Israelites were preparing to cross over the Jordan River to the western lands promised to their ancestors: Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Jacob, Leah, and Rachel. After taking a census, land was apportioned out to each clan and family. There was only one problem: only men could inherit land. The five daughters of Zelophehad had a problem with this. If only men inherited land, their father’s name and legacy would be lost. Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah did not sit idly by and blindly submit to the law (or Moses). They took their case to Moses. Since they had no brothers, they wished to inherit their father’s land, so Zelophehad’s name would remain in the tribe and Israel.

Moses did not have a ready answer for this, so he brought the sisters’ case to Yahweh. This is only one of four times in the Torah a legal situation calls for special revelation. Godde agreed with the sisters, and told Moses: “Zelophehad’s daughters are right in what they say. You will give them a possession of an inheritance among their father’s brothers” (Numbers 27:7). They would be place holders until they married and had children. Their sons would inherit the land.

1. What do the actions of Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah tell us about these sisters?

2. What do the sister’s actions say about how they see Godde?

The heads of the households of the children of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph came forward and spoke to Moses, the leaders, and the heads of the households of the children of Israel. They said, “Yahweh commanded my lord to give the land for inheritance by lot to the children of Israel. My lord was commanded by Yahweh to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters. If they marry men from other tribes of Israel then their inheritance will be taken away from the inheritance given to our ancestors, and will be added to the land of the tribe they marry into. It will be taken away from our inheritance. When the jubilee of the children of Israel happens, their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe they married into. So their inheritance will be taken away from the inheritance of our ancestor’s tribe.”

Moses commanded the children of Israel according to Yahweh’s word, saying, “The tribe of Joseph speaks correctly. Here is what Yahweh commands concerning Zelophehad’s daughters, ‘Let them be married to whom they think best; only they shall marry into the family of their father’s tribe. This way no inheritance of the children of Israel will move from tribe to tribe. The children of Israel shall all keep the inheritance of their ancestors’ tribes. Every daughter who possesses an inheritance in any of Israel’s tribes will marry a man from her father’s tribe that the children of Israel may each possess the inheritance of their ancestors, so no inheritance will move from one tribe to another tribe. The tribes of the children of Israel shall keep their own inheritance.’”

—Numbers 36:1–9

In Numbers 36 we encounter the five sisters again. This time the men of the tribe are afraid of losing part of their land if the sisters marry outside of the tribe. In the Bible a woman always went to live with her husband’s family, which meant her husband’s family would gain control of the inherited land, and the tribe of Manasseh might lose land given to it to another tribe. This time Moses did not consult Godde; he gave a ruling. He acknowledged the men of the tribe were right, and commanded the daughters of Zelophehad to marry within the tribe of Manasseh, so that the land would stay within their tribe. The sisters obeyed and married men of their tribe. I’m guessing at least one of their sons was named Zelophehad. The final passage in Joshua shows that Joshua fulfilled the oath given to the five daughters. After Israel took control of the land, Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah inherited their father’s land, and his name or legacy was not forgotten.

Chapter 2

The Wise Woman of Abel

There happened to be a scoundrel whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite. He blew the trumpet and said, “We have no portion in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse. Everyone to their tents, Israel!” So all the people of Israel stopped following David and followed Sheba the son of Bichri. But the people of Judah joined with their king, from the Jordan even to Jerusalem.

—2 Samuel 20:1–2

Sheba passed through all the tribes of Israel to Abel of Beth Maacah with all the Berites. They were gathered together in the city. Joab and his forces came and besieged them in Abel of Beth Maacah, and they built siege ramps against the city. All the people who were with Joab battered the wall, to throw it down. Then a wise woman cried out of the city, “Listen, listen! Please say to Joab, ‘Come near here, that I may speak with you.’” He came near to her, and the woman said, “Are you Joab?”

He answered, “I am.”

Then she said to him, “Listen to the words of your servant.”

He answered, “I’m listening.”

Then she spoke, “They used to say in old times, ‘Let them ask counsel at Abel,’ and so they settled a matter. I am among those who are peaceful and faithful in Israel. You seek to destroy a city and a mother in Israel. Why will you swallow up Yahweh’s inheritance?”

Joab answered, “Far be it from me, far be it, that I should swallow up or destroy. This is not the case. But a man of the hill country of Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, has lifted up his hand against the king, against David. Just deliver him, and I will depart from the city.”

The woman said to Joab, “His head will be thrown to you over the wall.”

Then the woman went to all the people in her wisdom. They cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and threw it out to Joab. He blew the trumpet, and they left the city, everyone to their tents. Then Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king.

—2 Samuel 20:14–22

After instigating a rebellion against King David, the traitor Sheba fled to Abel. David’s general, Joab, followed Sheba and besieged the city. A Wise Woman of the town called out to Joab and wanted to know why Joab was attacking her city.

1. Do you find it odd that a woman is the one who asks a general why he’s attacking her city?

2. Does Joab act like it is odd for this woman to be representing her city and apparently is one of its leaders?

When the Wise Woman called Joab to the wall for parlay, Joab treated her as an equal. We should note it didn’t faze him that he was negotiating with a woman. He didn’t act like this was unusual. This Wise Woman held political power in this town, and it didn’t seem out of the ordinary, which tells us being wise didn’t just mean she was smart: Wise Woman was a leadership and political position like that of town elder.1

The Wise Woman wanted to know why Joab was attacking a city who was “a mother in Israel.” We learn from this woman Abel was a city known for its wisdom in settling matters between conflicting parties. There are only two places in the Bible where the “mother in Israel” metaphor is used. One is here in 2 Samuel 20:19 describing the city of Abel of Beth-maacah, and the other is in Judges 5:7 where Deborah is called a mother in Israel. In both of these instances a woman is a leader who saves her people. What does “mother of Israel” mean? I think the woman goes on to explain the metaphor: in the past it was said, “Let them ask counsel at Abel” (2 Sam. 20:18). Abel was renown for its ability to resolve conflicts. Just as people came to Moses, Samuel, and Deborah to help them resolve their conflicts, they came to Abel for their differences to be reconciled and peace restored. It was a peace-making city, faithful in Israel–a description which the woman may have intended to emphasize its support of David–which happened to have a traitor within its walls.

The Wise Woman also told Joab that Abel was “Yahweh’s inheritance” (v. 19). Earlier in 1 Samuel when the mother of Tekoa (another Wise Woman) pled her case to David, she called her son “the inheritance of Godde” (2 Sam 14:16). In the previous chapter we saw the inheritance of land was referred to as Yahweh’s inheritance. Yahweh’s inheritance was something Yahweh gave to the people whether children or land. This inheritance was viewed as worth fighting for. “A mother in Israel” was a city or person who was renown ...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Acknowledgments
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Part One: Women Who Didn’t Shut Up
• Chapter 1: The Daughters of Zelophehad
• Chapter 2: The Wise Woman of Abel
• Chapter 3: The Syro-Phoenician Woman
• Part Two: Women Who Didn’t Submit
• Chapter 4: Tamar
• Chapter 5: Abigail
• Chapter 6: Priscilla
• Part Three: Women in Authority (Even over Men)
• Chapter 7: Deborah
• Chapter 8: Huldah
• Chapter 9: Phoebe
• Preface to Chapters 10 & 11
• Chapter 10: The Corinthian Church
• Chapter 11: The Ephesian Church
• Appendix 1: Bringing the Women of the Bible Out from the Shadows
• Appendix 2: Bringing the Women of the Bible Out from the Shadows Cheat Sheet
• Bible Study Helps
• Works Cited
• About Shawna R. B. Atteberry