"Courageous
Women"
a condensed version of the
sermon delivered by Rev. Kirk Moore on Sunday, August 24, 2008 a the annual picnic for Union Congregational Church, United Church of
Christ, in Somonauk, Illinois. We worshipped at Sannauk Forest Preserve!
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5 Heroes
Let’s shout out the names!
Why, of 5 of the most important women in the Bible, must I search in hopes of finding some of their names?
Why does Moses get not only a name, but also a Hebrew word that associates it with his beginning (not to mention a really important Egyptian term too?)
Shiphrah, Puah, Jochebed, Miriam and Bathia are heroes. They saw opportunities, took risks and made it possible, ultimately, for the Israelites to be delivered out of slavery in Egypt.
I wish we had more written about these heroes. I wish we would never forget their names, either
Shiphrah, Puah, Jochebed, Miriam and Bathia.
5 heroes.
But they’re not the only heroes in the Bible who are women.
Listen to some of these little known heroes of the Bible:
They successfully argued to Moses and other leaders of wandering Israelites, that they had the rights to inherit the property rights of their father. Even in their circumstances (Their father died leaving no male heir) their request would have been thought to be unheard of. Numbers 27:2-4
She convinced Joab, one of King David’s commanders, not to come in and destroy an entire city looking for one enemy. She convinced him to wait while they captured the enemy. She offered an alternative to destruction and victory at any cost. 2 Samuel 20:1-22
She invited a fleeing general (Sisera) into her tent, hid him, got him to go to sleep and then hammered a tent peg into his skull. The Israelites defeated King Jabin because Jael defeated Jabin’s general. Judges 4
She found Jesus while he was resting and she asked him to heal her daughter. He, knowing that she was not Jewish, told her that he had to take care of the Jewish people first – he had to help the children – not the dogs. She stood up to Jesus – she confronted the racism in his comment when she said, "Even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs." Mark 7:24-30
Jesus healed her daughter – and learned something too.
Heroes – every one of these women I’ve mentioned.
Shiphrah, Puah, Jochebed, Miriam, Bathia, Tirzah, Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, The Wise Woman Of Abel, Jael and the Syro-Phoenician woman. And there are many others.
But we started today with the heroes at the beginning of Moses’ life. Earlier I mentioned that Bathia gave Moses his name. She gave the baby she found in the bullrushes the name Moses – she said that it meant "Drawn out" because she drew him out of the water. And Moses’ name does sound a lot like "Mosheh" – "drawn out"
Moses name sounds more like the Egyptian word for "son of" MSS – Ramses was the son of Ra. Moses was the son of . . . someone unknown to Pharaoh. It could be that Bathia was not only brave, she was really brave – letting her father know that she was caring for a child with a secret parent.
Bold – brave – heroic.
And what can we learn from the story of all of these heroes? What can we learn by examining the extraordinary stories of women heroes?
God is working through the ones that society treats as unimportant. God is caring for the ones who are on the fringe. God is working outside of those considered powerful by our standards.
We don’t have to aspire to be great and powerful. We can live by the examples of these women I’ve talked about today. We can be ready to nurture. We can continue to be faithful. We can offer compassion and love. We can be brave.
And we can expect that God is continuing to work in our lives – just as he did in the lives of these courageous women.
Close with prayer.
© 2008 Union Congregational Church, All Rights Reserved