Holy Mothers (and One Unholy Grandmother) –

Women in Charge

Miriam the Prophetess
Numbers 26:59; Exodus 2:1-10, Miriam tends her baby brother.
Exodus 15, Miriam leads the chorus.
Numbers 12, Sibling rivalry; Numbers 20:1, Death of Miriam.

Deborah, Judge over Israel
Judges 4, Deborah and Barak
Judges 5, The Song of Deborah

Queen Athaliah, An Unholy Grandmother
2 Kings 8:24-29, Alliance
2 Kings 11, Queen Athaliah

Queen Esther of Persia
Esther 1-2:4, Queen Vashti loses her position.
Esther 2:5-23, Esther becomes queen.
Esther 3:1-15, Haman’s plot against the Jews.
Random Walk in a Gallery of Religious Art, Step 64: Esther 4:1 – 5:3, Esther and Ahasuerus
Esther, Part 2

Other Mothers

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Miriam the Prophetess

Numbers 26:59; Exodus 2:1-10, Miriam tends her baby brother.

So far we have seen that Sarah, Rebecca, Leah, and Rachel were founders of the nation of Israel. Sarah was a co-recipient of the promise, Rebecca ensured that the Covenant was inherited by the appropriate son, and Leah and Rachel built the house of Israel. Now we will see that women have also filled the role of prophet. The rabbis officially recognize seven women as prophetesses: Sarah, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Abigail (I Sam. 25:28-31), Huldah (II Kings 22:14, 20), and Esther.

Miriam was the sister of Moses and an important figure of the Exodus. Compared with the vast majority of people named in the Bible, we know quite a bit about her childhood -little as it is.

By the way, Miriam’s mother Jochebed is the aunt of her father Amram. This is not on the chart, so I just thought I’d throw it in.

Exodus 15, Miriam leads the chorus.

My brother-in-law was a jazz pianist. About 20 musicians played in various combos at the celebration of his life. Eventually they played “When the Saints Go Marching In.” A couple of women got up and started dancing around the room in a line, then a few other women joined. Then my sister-in-law joined. They got napkins and waved them in time to the music. Then men joined. Soon about 50 or 60 people were dancing around the room in a long line, waving napkins over their heads and celebrating. It was great!

After the LORD’s victory over the Egyptian army at the Red Sea, Moses got up to sing a song. It was roughly the Hebrew version of “When the Saints Go Marching In,” but with more complicated lyrics. Pretty soon Miriam got up to lead the dance, and all the women joined her, dancing in a line and waving timbrels over their heads and celebrating. It was great!

Numbers 12, Sibling rivalry; Numbers 20:1, Death of Miriam.

Only two people in the Bible are called meek: Moses and Jesus. Moses is a mighty figure, but his brother Aaron and sister Miriam knew him when he was a kid, so they didn’t have proper respect. God punished them for their treatment of Moses by not allowing them to enter the tent, by leaving before they have a chance to answer his question, and by giving Miriam leprosy.

It isn’t clear why Miriam alone got leprosy. Wesley suggests that it was either because “she was chief in the transgression or because God would not have his worship interrupted or dishonoured, which it must have been if Aaron had been leprous.” (A leper couldn’t serve as a priest.) Even sins that we would consider to be “minor” are major in the eyes of God, and it doesn’t matter who you are, your sins will be punished. Miriam was put outside the camp for a week, but she wasn’t put outside the community, which was a more severe punishment that was roughly equivalent to a death sentence. The Israelites waited for her before moving on, and it was quite some time later that she died.

Deborah, Judge over Israel

Judges 4, Deborah and Barak (6/25/2008)

You know from reading Ruth that Ruth lived “during the time of the judges.” This was a period of about 400 years after the death of Joshua and before the anointing of Saul as king over Israel. There was no central government during the time of the judges; instead, each tribe was ruled by its own elders. This was fine as long as the tribe or tribes obeyed God and worshipped him, but periodically one or more tribes would fall away, worship other gods, and be oppressed by other nations. Eventually they would figure out the connection between apostasy and oppression, and then they would repent and cry to God for rescue. God would call up a Judge for them – a charismatic leader who typically would raise an army, throw off the oppressors, and then continue to judge the tribe or tribes for the rest of his or her life. We know about thirteen judges, six of whom we have histories for.

Deborah was a judge prior to taking military action. (She was also a prophet.) In this particular case, the Israelites already had a military leader, Barak. He knew that he should go out and fight the oppressor’s army; however, he wasn’t willing to go anywhere unless the Judge, Deborah, would come along. It’s never been clear to me whether the death of the opposing general, Sisera, at the hands of a woman, Jael, resulted from Barak’s refusal to act on his own or just worked out that way.

Judges 5, The Song of Deborah (6/26/2008)

Do you remember Jimmy Horton’s hit song, “The Battle of New Orleans”? (In 1814, we took a little trip/ Along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississip ...) It’s a lively, upbeat, boasting, exaggerating, sneering victory song. Today’s reading is the same song, different battle. (In the Hebrew Bible, it’s written out as poetry, just like lyrics should be, but it’s usually impossible for us to see this in translation.) Many scholars, even most, believe that the Song of Deborah is the oldest written piece of scripture that we have.

Queen Athaliah, An Unholy Grandmother

Who is the worst grandma in the Bible? Assassination wins Queen Athaliah the crown.

2 Kings 8:24-29, Alliance

For forty years after the division of the Davidic kingdom into Israel and Judah, the two kingdoms were at war. King Jehoshaphat of Judah and King Omri of Israel, Ahab’s father, made peace. They cemented the treaty with the marriage of Jehoshaphat’s grandson Ahaziah to Omri’s daughter Athaliah. So Jehoshaphat and Omri’s son Ahab were kinsmen and allies.

Now, I need to add something here. In the original email, and for about a year on this website, I said that Ahaziah was Jehoshaphat’s son, not his grandson. You need to read the scripture for yourself. Don’t take my word for what it says, because I make mistakes.

2 Kings 11, Queen Athaliah (6/27/2008)

Last quarter we learned that one of the standard methods of succession to the throne of the Kingdom of Israel was assassination. In contrast, the heirs to the throne of Judah always waited for the old king to die on his own. There was only one exception to this rule: Athaliah.

Athaliah was the Queen Mother during the reign of King Ahaziah of Judah. She was from the royal family of Israel, however, so she had some funny ideas about succession. When her son died, she decided to take over for herself, and she ordered the assassinations of everyone else in the family who might be in line to inherit, including her own children and grandchildren. (She did miss one grandson, who succeeded to the throne at the age of seven after the death of Athaliah.) Clearly Athaliah was a bad grandma, although scripture doesn’t comment on whether she was a good ruler or a bad ruler. The fact remains that for six years she was Queen and sole ruler of the Kingdom of Judah.

Queen Esther of Persia

Beautiful, brave, and a wonderful hostess, Queen Esther saves her people from destruction.

A friend once asked me what book I would take if I were stranded on a desert island. He said, “And don’t just say you’d take a Bible. Everyone says that.” I replied that my first choice would be “How to Survive on a Desert Island.” But my second choice would be the Bible. Actually, that’s cheating, because the Bible is a library, not a book. It contains 66 books, covering the entire literary map. There’s history, political analysis, fiction, poetry, an almanac, family and local histories, fables, songs, theological works, pithy sayings, and just about every other literary form known to man, including a “short story” about Ruth. The only form I know of that isn’t represented is the novel, which is a recent invention.

Nevertheless, the book of Esther comes close to being a “novel” in form. I’m not saying it isn’t true – I’m just saying that the writer had an excellent grasp of plot development and characterization. In a few strokes, he shows us the pride and beauty of Queen Vashti and the impulsiveness of King Ahasuerus (A-has-you-EE-russ), a mighty king who ruled all the Medes and Persians during the Exile of the Jews but was having a little trouble ruling his own household. The writer quickly foreshadows later trouble by telling us that a law, once enacted, could never be repealed. He could have told the story in the form of a straight history, like the readings we did from Kings, but instead he chose to let us live the lives of Esther and Mordecai. Once you start reading this book, you don’t want to put it down. As a matter of fact, the Jews read it in one sitting at the feast of Purim.

Esther 1-2:4, Queen Vashti loses her position. (6/30/2008)

The Jews are in exile in Persia (which has conquered Babylon). The story begins at a huge party thrown by Ahasuerus. Queen Vashti embarrasses King Ahasuerus in front of his guests, so his advisors suggest that he remove her from being queen and get somebody else.

Esther 2:5-2:23, Esther becomes queen. (7/1/2008)

King Ahasuerus holds what amounts to a gigantic, long-term beauty contest to replace Queen Vashti. Each girl gets one chance at pleasing the king, and then it’s off to the concubines’ harem with her. Esther is a nice Jewish girl from the suburbs, beautiful and full of grace. She is the younger cousin of an exile named Mordecai (MORE-de-kai), who took her in when her parents died. Mordecai enters Esther in the contest, probably because, to be honest, being one of the king’s junior wives provides comfortable life-long security for an orphan. Mordecai instructs her not to tell anyone she is Jewish.

Now, back when I was taking Hebrew, my classmate was concerned that this was a bit hard on Esther, and he wondered why Mordecai would let Esther become what my classmate obviously viewed as a high-priced call girl. I don’t see it that way at all (and for what it’s worth, neither did my Hebrew teacher). Mordecai is clearly older than Esther, who has no other family. Concubine to the king was a good, honorable position with long-term benefits, one of which, in this case, was the outside chance of becoming queen. I believe Mordecai was doing the best he could to ensure that Esther was provided for.

Amazingly enough, the king chooses Esther as his Queen! Mordecai and Esther keep in touch, and when Mordecai hears about a plot to assassinate the king, and he tells Esther (by sending messages through the eunuchs – the first email). She tells the king, and the plot is foiled.

Esther 3:1-15, Haman’s plot against the Jews. (7/2/2008)

All good stories have a villain or a terrible problem, and the story of Esther has both. Haman is an arrogant, powerful, wealthy advisor to the king. Possibly he has some insecurities, because when Mordecai won’t bow down to him, his response is completely out of proportion to the situation. Not only does he build a gallows for Mordecai, he gets the king to sign a decree that on a certain day, anybody in the kingdom can kill his Jewish neighbors and take everything they own. Mordecai reports to Esther what is going on and urges her to discuss the matter with the king. This will put Esther in considerable danger – yes, she’s the queen, but if she goes to the king without being summoned, she may be executed.

The book of Esther never mentions God. Nevertheless, there is an important theological (and practical) statement in vss. 4:13-14. Mordecai says to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

We must never keep silent in the face of injustice. God’s justice will somehow prevail in the long run, but it is always possible that God has put us here in this place and time in order to bring about his justice in the short run.

Note: In the original email, I said that Esther is the only book of the Bible that doesn’t mention God. Shame on me! I took the word of commentaries, when I should have read the scripture for myself. An alert reader immediately pointed out that Song of Solomon doesn’t mention God, either. I went through the Song twice, and by golly, he was right. The commentaries I read are wrong, and I was wrong! Always read the scripture for yourself.

Random Walk in a Gallery of Religious Art, Step 64: Esther 4:1 – 5:3, Esther and Ahasuerus (8/27/15)

Queen Esther was so brave! Her people are in trouble, and her uncle Mordecai wants her to go to the king. The only problem is, the king hasn’t sent for her, and appearing before the king without a summons could lead to a death penalty. But Esther gathers up her support group and her courage and approaches the throne. The king welcomes her – whew! what a relief! – and asks what she has on her mind. Esther and Ahasuerus, by Bernardo Cavallino, shows Esther talking to the king right after he has welcomed her into his presence. By the way, your paper Bible may have the king’s name as Xerxes. Same guy.

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