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It Is Written

John Bradshaw

Five Women Who Changed the World

Coming up next, please stay tuned for It Is Written, presented by Pastor John Bradshaw.

For Mother's Day, instead of talking about the 7 traits of a godly mother or examples of saintly mothers in the Bible.

I want to look with you at 4 women, all mothers, who had something in common, in fact, a lot in common.

You could describe them all as broken women, I think, damaged women.

They simply were women who endured trauma and who were victimized, who were in many senses outcasts.

And yet these 4 women are remembered today with honor and dignity.

I'm not going to tell you how just yet, but there's a good chance you'll figure it out along the way.

4 outcasts, women who were on the margins, and yet 4 women who were ultimately spiritual giants.

4 women who against the odds became historical figures.

The first 1 was a professional, we'll say, at least temporarily.

Now, without wanting to come off as judgmental, remembering that Jesus died for everyone, I think we can admit that prostitution is a dangerous and damaging business.

Families are harmed, individuals are harmed.

The women themselves are often viewed with contempt.

They are often subject to physical harm and abuse.

And the industry itself is responsible for a lot of hurt and a lot of pain.

No woman is happy to learn her husband has been using those services.

Families fall apart over this issue all the time.

But the first of the 4 women we're looking at dipped her toe in that particular pond before becoming, against the odds, a spiritual giant, an historical figure.

Now, don't confuse her with David's daughter Tamar.

The 2 Tamars lived 500 or so years apart.

This Tamar's story happened because she was wronged.

Genesis 38 and verse 6, Judah took a wife for Ur, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.

He was literally 1 of the children of Israel.

He was the 1 who suggested that they not kill Joseph, their little brother, but sell him instead.

And what he's about to do here is shameful.

Tamar married Ur, Judah's son, but Ur died due to his own wickedness.

So, according to the custom of the day, Temah then married Ur's brother, Onan.

This was a levirat marriage, from the Latin levir, which means brother-in-law.

See an example of this talked about in the Synoptic Gospels.

Sadducees, trying to paint Jesus into a corner, told him a story about a woman who married a man who died, and then 1 by 1 she married all 6 of his brothers, and they died too.

So Onan married Tamar, and Onan died as well.

Both of Tamar's husbands were scoundrels, dishonorable men.

So Judah, the son of Jacob, says, "'Remain a widow in your father's house till my son Shelah is grown.' She would marry yet another brother, except that after she had waited years, Judah did not have her marry Shelah.

Society was patriarchal back then, and that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

The men were to do the backbreaking work and provide for and defend their families.

Women raised the children and ran the household.

Keep in mind, a woman wasn't going to become a trial attorney or a dental hygienist or a cybersecurity specialist because those professions didn't exist.

There was no microwave, there were no disposable diapers, there were not vacuum cleaners.

Running a household was nothing like it is today.

And getting it right was a matter of survival.

This division of responsibilities was appropriate, and it worked well.

When it worked well, men were to work hard and lead with love, and families and children would be safe and secure.

But what it needed was for every party to be responsible and act with integrity.

Men were to treat women with dignity and respect.

Yet just like today there were times when they did not.

So Tamar took matters into her own hands.

I'm not going to suggest that what she did was right.

But she was desperate and felt like she'd been left with no choice.

She took off her widow's garments, covered herself with a veil and wrapped herself, and sat in an open place which was on the way to Timnah.

For she saw that Shelah was grown, and she was not given to him as a wife." To cut a short story shorter, Tamar posed as a prostitute in order to get close to Judah without him knowing and have his child.

When Judah was told Tamar had sold herself, he was furious and intended to have her put to death.

I know, I know, the hypocrisy is terrible.

Tamar conceived and had twins, Perez and Zerah.

Now later in the Bible, the women of Bethlehem said in celebration, May your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah." So somehow this worked out.

Tamar would be recognized by future generations as a spiritual giant.

Now let's look at the second of these 4 women.

We find her in a Canaanite city, just as God's people have entered the Promised Land.

They're now about to take the city of Jericho where this woman lives.

Joshua sends 2 spies ahead on a reconnaissance mission to search out the land.

Joshua 2 verse 1 says, "...so they went and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab and lodged there.

The king of Jericho learns of this and demands that Rahab bring the men out, but she hid them, saved their lives, and they escaped to safety.

Before they left, she told them that the people of Jericho had heard that God had opened up the Red Sea, and how Israel had defeated kings, and how the hearts of the people of Jericho melted when they learned what God had done.

She said, "'I know that the Lord has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are faint-hearted because of you." It's Joshua 2 verse 9.

Rahab, delicately referred to as a harlot, begged the men to save her and her family in what she knew was going to be a devastating attack on the city.

Rahab the harlot was saved along with her family.

And Rahab moved to Israel, where she married a Jewish man named Salmon.

Now, why did Rahab do what she did for a living?

Perhaps her occupation was connected with the worship at Canaanite temples where no shortage of revolting things happened.

But despite her background, Rahab is 1 of only 2 women included in Hebrews 11, the Hall of Faith chapter.

By faith, the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace.

So why is it that the Bible doesn't condemn Rahab?

And 2, as a Canaanite, she didn't have the same moral compass that an Israelite had.

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Five Women Who Changed the World

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