But I Never Heard of Her at VBS!

Yesterday we looked at the role of women in the life of Israel. We learned that within the pages of the Old Testament there are several examples of women who played pivotal roles in the history of our faith. There were also some who served in prominent leadership capacities. It’s just that we didn’t hear much about them in Vacation Bible School.

VBS was a week long feast of red fruit punch, vanilla creme cookies, puppets, crafts, silly songs and flannelboard Jesus. It was the one time of the year where shouting, stomping, clapping and maybe a little dancing (ala "Father Abraham") was allowed in the auditorium. By the time I reached puberty I was the veteran of many a VBS. I still have fond memories of Cordell Hull moving the cars in the great "attendance race" or Yogie Spears falling off the stage during "Only A Little Boy David." But I digress.

In VBS we learned all about the great Bible characters and heros of our faith. Almost all of them were male. Granted, most of the characters mentioned in the Old Testament are male. It was a patriarchal society and men filled the majority of leadership roles. However, there were some notable exceptions...

Miriam. In Exodus 15:20ff it tells how Miriam led God's people in worship after the parting of the Red Sea. She was the sister of Moses and Aaron and served as a prophetess. Micah 6:4 refers to her as a leader alongside her brothers. Of course, Moses was the primary leader of God's people during that time but Miriam still played a significant role.

Deborah. She was a prophetess and judge (the only female judge in Israel's history). Her story is found in Judges 4:4ff. It tells of how she sat under a palm tree and people came to her for judgements. There's also an interesting story about the military leader Barak who wouldn't go into battle without Deborah by his side.

Huldah. She played a pivotal role in King Josiah's reforms. You can read about her in 2nd Kings 22:14ff. Huldah was a prophetess who was consulted by King Josiah's men after they found the Book of Law. She pronounced judgements and prophecies concerning the book and sent a word from God to the King.

There are was also Sarah, the wife of Abraham, who was mentioned as an example of faith in Hebrews 11 alongside men like Abraham, Moses, Joseph, etc. Then there was Ruth and Esther who have entire books dedicated to their stories. At birth of Jesus there was a prophetess named Anna who prayed over Jesus at the temple and Luke 2:38 says she “continued to speak of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.”

What are we to make of all these examples? Why haven't we heard more about these women? What, if any, effect has that had on our views of women's roles in the church? Those are all questions that have been rumbling around in my mind. Apparently there was significant freedom for Israel's daughters in regards to leadership roles. Have things now changed? Does the New Testament put tighter restrictions on women or does it provide more freedom? What exactly can women do and not do within the New Testament church?

Those are some of the questions I'm preparing to tackle in the coming weeks. If you live in Columbia, we'd love to you have you join us!

A footnote...in the sermon I concluded that women were free to serve in any of the leadership roles within Israel save one. Women were not allowed to serve as priests. This was the central leadership post within the faith community and it was reserved for Aaron and his male descendents. Is that significant? I think so. I think it points back to the created order and the principle of male headship. That still leaves me squarely in the complementarian camp, but I'm not sure we've applied that principle very consistently in the modern church. More later.