Women of the Bible Part 6

How could I forget our years in Egypt, the cries of the mothers whose children were murdered or the moans of our brothers as they worked themselves to death? I have only to shut my eyes and see - the wall of water, the soldiers chasing us through the sea, the sounds of their noisy drowning, and, finally, the silence and the peace. How I miss the singing of the women I led that day, dancing at the sea's edge, praising G.o.d for hurling our enemies into the deep waters, certain we would never see them again.

But we did see them again-our enemies, though not the Egyptians. We let ingrat.i.tude stalk and rob us of our blessings. We preferred the garlic and leeks of Egypt, the food of our slavery, to the manna the good G.o.d gave us. Enslaved to fear, we refused to enter the land of promise.

Time and again Moses and Aaron and I exhorted the people to stand firm, to have faith, to obey G.o.d. But there came a day when Aaron and I could stand with our brother no longer. Instead we spoke against him and his Cus.h.i.+te wife. What part did she, a foreigner to our suffering, have in the promise? So we challenged Moses. Had the Lord spoken only through him? All Israel knew better. We deserved an equal share in his authority, an equal say in how to lead the people.

But the Lord who speaks also heard our complaint and summoned the three of us to stand before him at the Tent of Meeting. He addressed Aaron and me with terrible words.

When the cloud of his presence finally lifted, I was a leper. I could see the horror on every face turned toward me. Aaron begged Moses to forgive us both. And Moses cried out to the Lord to heal me.

The Lord replied, "If her father had spit in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Confine her outside the camp for seven days; after that she can be brought back." Then at least I knew my banishment was temporary; my disease would be healed.

Now I see that my enemies were not merely buried in the sea but in my own heart as well. Still, G.o.d has let me live, and I believe he will heal me. Though he brings grief, he will yet show compa.s.sion. One thing I know, he has hurled my pride into the sea and for that I will also sing his praises.

Though Scripture doesn't reveal Miriam's thoughts or the att.i.tude of her heart after she was chastened for complaining about Moses, it is not unreasonable to think she repented during the seven days of her banishment. After all, it's not easy for a person of faith, however flawed, to hear G.o.d speaking as though he were spitting on her and still to hold fast to her error.

Perhaps Miriam, and the nation itself, needed a shocking rebuke in order to recognize the seriousness of a sin that threatened the unity of G.o.d's people.

Why, you might ask, wasn't Aaron similarly afflicted for his sin? Perhaps because Miriam seemed to be the ringleader. Perhaps, also, because G.o.d didn't want the wors.h.i.+p of the tabernacle to be disrupted by Aaron's absence as high priest.

The last we hear of Miriam is that she died and was buried in Kadesh Barnea, not all that far from where Hagar, another slave woman, had encountered an angel in the wilderness so many years earlier. Like her brothers Moses and Aaron, Miriam died shortly before the Israelites ended their forty-year sojourn in the desert. She, too, was prevented from entering the Promised Land.

Still, like them, Miriam is one of the great heroes of our faith. As a young girl, she helped save the infant Moses, Israel's future deliverer. Herself a prophetess, she exhorted and encouraged G.o.d's people and led the singing of the first psalm ever recorded in Scripture. Yet, strong though she was, she, like all of us, sinned against G.o.d and suffered a punishment designed to bring her to repentance.

Tuesday HER LIFE AND TIMES.

DANCING.

In biblical times, people danced to celebrate happy events and to praise G.o.d. Dancing in Scripture is always linked to joy and happiness. The presence of mourning means the absence of dancing (Lamentations 5:15), and there is a time for both (Ecclesiastes 3:4).

The very first mention of dancing in Scripture is when Miriam led the Israelite women in a dance that celebrated G.o.d's miraculous defeat of the Egyptians at the Red Sea. Imagine, if you can, the emotions of these women as they walked (perhaps ran?) between the walls of water of the Red Sea, Egyptian chariots right behind them. Fearful for their lives, they breathlessly reached the eastern sh.o.r.e, turning around to see the waters come cras.h.i.+ng in to drown the Egyptians and their horses - a narrow, frightening escape.

Then, quickly, fear gave way to a thrill of excitement. They were free! When Miriam went by with a tambourine, singing a song of praise to G.o.d, the women's feet moved to her rhythm, their voices joined her song, and they danced!

The Hebrews danced in wors.h.i.+p, often in praise of G.o.d for his deliverance from enemies (1 Samuel 18:6; Psalm 149:3). They danced to celebrate happy events, like weddings and the return of loved ones (Luke 15:25). Hebrew men and women didn't dance together. The men usually danced alone, as David did before the ark (2 Samuel 6:14), while the women danced together.

There is some evidence that dancing was a part of the wors.h.i.+p of the early Christian church. But according to several early Christian writers, it soon degenerated and no longer expressed a pure praise of the Lord. Before long it was banned.

Just as Miriam and the women couldn't help but dance with joy, so when G.o.d does a wonderful work in our lives we sometimes respond in much the same manner: Our faces break into smiles, our hands are lifted up, and our feet can't remain still! Certainly the G.o.d who created the human body delights in the pure use of that beautiful instrument to offer praise to him.

Wednesday HER LEGACY IN SCRIPTURE.

Read Exodus 15:19 - 21.

1. Describe what you think Miriam and the other women of Israel were thinking and feeling as they walked through the Red Sea. Why did they dance?

2. Have you ever been that joyful? If so, when? How did you express your joy? If not, why do you suppose that's the case?

Read Numbers 12:1 - 15.

3. Why do you think Miriam and Aaron attacked Moses? What other issues did they have besides his Cus.h.i.+te (non-Hebrew) wife?

4. What do you think Miriam was thinking and feeling when she was outside the camp for those seven days? What would go through your mind in that situation?

5. Even when we are forgiven, we sometimes have to pay a price for our sin. What sin have you had to pay a penalty for? How do you feel about that situation now: Forgiven? Still guilty? Angry?

Thursday HER PROMISE.

Miriam's story offers an extraordinary example of G.o.d's willingness to forgive those who sin. Though she had to pay the consequences for her actions-seven days of exclusion from the camp and from all those who loved her-she reentered the camp a forgiven woman. Hundreds of years later, she is remembered by the prophet Micah as a leader of Israel with Moses and Aaron (Micah 6:4).

Such liberating forgiveness is available to us as well as to Miriam. G.o.d looks with judgment at our sin, waits patiently for our repentance, and then eagerly offers his forgiveness and acceptance. We reenter fellows.h.i.+p with him renewed and clean and forgiven. Our repentance turns a legacy of judgment and punishment into a legacy of forgiveness and worthiness before G.o.d.

Promises in Scripture Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits- who forgives all your sins.

-Psalm 103:2 - 3 Who is a G.o.d like you, who pardons sin and forgives transgression?

-Micah 7:18 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

- i John 1:9 Friday HER LEGACY OF PRAYER.

Sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted.

The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea.

-Exodus 15:21 Reflect On: Numbers 12:1 - 15.

Praise G.o.d: That he disciplines those he loves, every child who belongs to him.

Offer Thanks: That G.o.d's anger lasts only for a moment but his favor lasts forever.

Confess: Any arrogance that may have crept into your heart, especially as it relates to your role at church or at work.

Ask G.o.d: To help you remember that discipline is an expression of his love for his children.

Lift Your Heart If a woman like Miriam could act in a way so displeasing to G.o.d, certainly we, too, are capable of sinning, no matter what we have done for him in the past. Take time this week to do some honest soul-searching. If you discover anything displeasing to G.o.d, ask for his forgiveness. Don't just whisper a quick prayer and be done with it; let him know your repentance is sincere. Consider collecting a few small stones and then driving to the nearest river, lake, or pond. Take a leisurely walk along the water and tell G.o.d again of your sorrow. Then deliberately hurl each stone into the water, remembering Miriam's song of praise. Thank G.o.d for delivering you from your sins just as he delivered the Israelites from Pharaoh's pursuing army.

Father, thank you for the times you've brought me up short, for loving me enough to discipline me. Help me to be quick to repent, to see my sin so that you needn't rub my face in it. Then let me experience the joy that comes from receiving your forgiveness.

Rahab.

HER NAME MEANS.

"Storm," "Arrogance," "Broad," or "s.p.a.cious'

Her Character: Rahab was both clever and wise. She saw judgment coming and was able to devise an escape plan for herself and her family. As soon as she heard what G.o.d had done for the Israelites, she cast her lot with his people, risking her life in an act of faith.

Her Sorrow: To see her own people destroyed and her city demolished.

Her Joy: That G.o.d had given her, an idolater and prost.i.tute, the opportunity to know him and belong to his people.

Key Scriptures: Joshua 2:1 - 21; 6:17 - 25; Matthew 1:5; Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25 Monday HER STORY.

Jericho may be the world's oldest city. Established nearly six thousand years before Miriam and Moses completed their desert wanderings, its ancient ruins can be found just seventeen miles northeast of Jerusalem. Gateway to Canaan, it was also the home of a prost.i.tute named Rahab, whose house nestled snugly into its thick surrounding walls.

As well as entertaining locals, Rahab welcomed guests from various caravans whose routes crisscrossed Jericho. Men from all over the East brought news of a swarm of people encamped east of the Jordan. Rahab heard marvelous stories about the exploits of the G.o.d of the Israelites-how he had dried up the Red Sea so they could escape their Egyptian slave masters, and how he had given them victory in battle against Sihon and Og, two kings of the Amorites. For forty years the G.o.d of the Israelites had trained and toughened them in the desert. Such rumors spread fear in Jericho.

While men talked, another man planned. Moses was dead, and Joshua, son of Nun, had been appointed leader of the Israelites. Nearly forty years earlier Joshua had spied out the land along with Caleb and a group of others, urging the Israelites to take hold of the land of promise. This time there would be no shrinking back. Once the Israelites crossed the Jordan River and destroyed Jericho, the land would open like a melon with the rind peeled back. He could taste the victory.

Joshua sent two spies to Jericho to probe its secrets. The spies soon made their way to Rahab's house, where she hid them beneath stalks of flax drying on the roof. Later that day, Rahab received a message from the king of Jericho, asking her about the spies who had taken refuge in her house.

"Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from," she lied to the king's messenger. "At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, the men left. I don't know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them."

As soon as the king's men left, she hurried to the roof, quickly warning her two guests: "I know that the Lord has given this land to you and that a great fear of you has fallen on us. . . . The Lord your G.o.d is G.o.d in heaven above and on the earth below. Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and that you will save us from death."

To this remarkable statement of faith, the men replied: "Our lives for your lives!" thus sealing the bargain.

Quickly, the two spies handed Rahab a scarlet cord, instructing her to tie it in the window on the side of the house built into the city wall. The invading Israelites would see it and spare everyone inside. Then Rahab instructed the men to hide themselves in the hills for three days until their pursuers abandoned the chase. With that, they slipped out the window and scrambled down the walls of Jericho.

Joshua was smiling long after the spies had left him with their good report. Now was the time to move. He marshaled the people and led them across the Jordan. Though the river was at flood stage, a ma.s.sive army of Israelites crossed on dry ground. G.o.d was with them just as he had been when they left Egypt. Only this time, no one was chasing them-Israel had become the pursuing army, ready for battle!

The news that the waters of the River Jordan had parted for the Israelites terrified the inhabitants of Jericho. Rahab watched anxiously from her window in the wall as the Israelites gathered around the city like a growing storm. Would these fierce warriors with their powerful G.o.d remember the scarlet cord? For the thousandth time she reminded her family, especially the little ones, not to take even one step outside the house, lest they perish.

That first day Rahab watched as seven priests carrying an ark led thousands of men around the city. She braced herself, but nothing happened. The next day and the next, for five more days it continued. Then, as the sun was rising on the seventh day, the men of Israel marched again, encircling Jericho seven times. Suddenly, she heard the ram's horn sound and then a thunderous cry, loud enough to split a mountain. The city walls shattered and the Israelites rushed in. Rahab tried to plug her ears to the mayhem outside her home. When the battle of Jericho was over, Rahab and those she loved were spared. Her faith had saved not only herself but her entire household from the terrible judgment decreed for her city.

Jericho's end reminds us of Sodom's. In Sodom, Lot and his daughters were spared; in Jericho, it was Rahab and her family who were spared. But unlike Lot or his wife, Rahab never once hesitated. She is the only woman singled out by name and commended for her faith as part of the great "cloud of witnesses" mentioned in the book of Hebrews. A prost.i.tute living in the midst of an idolatrous people, Rahab was like a brand plucked from the fire. Her own people destroyed, she left everything behind, becoming an ancestor of King David and, therefore, one of Jesus' ancestors as well.

Rahab's story is a dramatic one. It shows us that G.o.d's grace accepts no boundaries. The red cord that saved Rahab and her family reminds us of the red blood of Jesus, who still saves us today, and of Isaiah's words, that "though your sins may be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." Rahab put her faith in the G.o.d of Israel and was not disappointed.

Tuesday HER LIFE AND TIMES.

CITY WALLS.

Jericho is probably best known today for its enormous walls, walls that fell because of the faith of the people of Israel (Hebrews 11:30). A wall around a city was its chief distinguis.h.i.+ng mark. Anything without a wall was merely a village whose inhabitants would run to the nearest walled city for protection during a battle or war.

Rahab lived in a house on the wall of Jericho. She probably had a view not only of the city itself but also of the area outside of the protective walls. This view, which gave her the perfect vantage point for spotting potential customers as they entered and left Jericho, may have given her an advantage in running her business of prost.i.tution.

Homes, businesses, watchtowers, archer positions - all could be built on top of or within walls that were as much as twenty to thirty feet thick. The stronger the system of walls around a city (some cities had both an inner and an outer wall), the more defensible the city was against invaders who came across the plains.

Most walls of major cities were built of huge stones and mortar. Some stones of the wall of the temple in Jerusalem still exist. Their dimensions: thirty feet long, eight feet wide, and three and a half feet high. Each stone weighs an unbelievable eighty tons!

But no stone was large enough to protect the city of Jericho from the power of G.o.d through his people; no battering rams were needed to breach its walls. All that was necessary was the faith of G.o.d's people in what he said he would do. And the walls came tumbling down!

Wednesday HER LEGACY IN SCRIPTURE.

Read Joshua 2:1 - 21.

1. G.o.d commanded the complete destruction of Jericho and other Canaanite cities because of their extreme sins, including child sacrifice, shrine prost.i.tution, and injustice of the powerful against the weak. What does it say about him, then, that out of the whole city he spared a prost.i.tute and her family?

2. Rahab betrayed her city. What reasons did she give for doing this? Can you think of any additional reasons she might have had?

3. Why do you think the spies made a deal with her?

Read James 2:25 - 26.

4. James said Rahab was an example of the principle that real faith is linked to action. How did she demonstrate this?

5. What risks have you been willing to take for your faith? What risks haven't you been willing to take for your faith? Why?

Thursday HER PROMISE.

The story of Rahab reveals again G.o.d's willingness to use the less than perfect, the outcast, what we might see as the unsuitable to accomplish his holy purposes. Throughout Scripture, with what can almost be seen as divine humor, G.o.d chooses a stutterer to speak for him (Moses), an infertile woman to be the mother of a nation (Sarah), a weakling to defend him (Gideon), a forgettable youngest son to be the most unforgettable king of his people (David), an unknown youngster to be the mother of his son (Mary), and a persecutor to take the gospel to the nations (Paul).

G.o.d doesn't wait for us to become spotlessly clean or totally mature in our faith in order to use us. Instead, he takes ordinary, willing people and accomplishes the extraordinary, both in their lives and in the lives of those around them. As he did with Rahab, he promises to use us, and through that experience to perfect us.

Promises in Scripture He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

- Isaiah 40:29 - 31 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.

-Acts 4:13 When I am weak, then I am strong.

-2 Corinthians 12:10 Friday HER LEGACY OF PRAYER.

I know that the Lord has given this land to you and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt.... Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you.

-Joshua 2:9 - 10,12 Reflect On: Joshua 2:1-21.

Praise G.o.d: For giving women key roles in his plan of salvation.

Offer Thanks: That no one, including ourselves, is beyond the reach of grace.

Confess: Any unwillingness to take risks in order to follow G.o.d.

Ask G.o.d: To increase your awe of him.

Lift Your Heart Use a small red ribbon as a bookmark, tie a red ribbon around 1/1/ the pot of a favorite plant, or place some decorative red roping around a dried floral arrangement to remind you of the vital importance of living by faith. Each time you notice your scarlet cord, let it remind you of the lengths Jesus went to rescue you. Ask him, as Rahab asked the Israelites, to watch over and protect every member of your family. Say a silent prayer, asking G.o.d to increase your faith. Faith, after all, is what your life and the vitality of your relations.h.i.+p with G.o.d depend on.

Father, I praise you for the wonderful and unexpected ways you have acted in my life. Let the knowledge of your faithfulness increase my courage to take the risks that faith demands.