“Most Blessed” Women in the Bible

By Libby Backfish, Ph.D., M.A.

The Bible has been called a “man’s book,” and Christianity a “masculine religion.” Nothing could be further from the truth. Women are significant in the biblical story because women are significant to God. Even when cultural norms can diminish their value, God consistently pushes against these norms to show the love and honor that women deserve.

The opening pages of Scripture scream of the goodness of women. The first woman, Eve, is equally bestowed with the status of being God’s image and representation in creation: “God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27, NRSV).” And though both woman and man sinned, both are equally redeemed in Christ (Galatians 3:28) and equally conformed into the image of Christ (Romans 8:29).

We meet many such redeemed image-bearers throughout the pages of Scripture, and in the upcoming blog posts, some of my students will be sharing essays highlighting their favorites and what we can all learn from them. Here are some things that I have learned about the way God values women:

God values the leadership of women. Of course, history has not always concurred, so we see far fewer examples of women leaders in Scripture than men. But when we do see them, they are outstanding! Just think of Deborah, who led Israel during one of the darkest periods of Israel’s history when people were too frightened to even go out in public (Judges 5:6). She was a judge, a prophetess and helped to lead a successful military campaign against the armies of Jabin, securing peace in Israel for forty years. Or consider the leadership in the early church of deacons like Phoebe or apostles like Junia, who helped to lead the early church amidst persecution.

Speaking of persecution, let’s think about the many other women in Scripture who chose to be faithful in the hardest of circumstances. The Egyptian slave Hagar, for example, who was forced to sleep with her master and bear his child. When she fled to the wilderness to escape her abuse, God met her there and revealed his plan and his love for her. She believed him, and she was the first person in Scripture to name him: El-roi, “the God who sees” (Genesis 16:13). Likewise, there are the Hebrew midwives who risked their lives to protect the baby boys that Pharaoh ordered them to kill (Exodus 1:17). Or the Moabite widow, Ruth, who gave up everything she knew to live a life of poverty with her mother-in-law in a foreign land. Or Esther who, after having been essentially sex-trafficked and chosen as the new Persian queen, stood up against the powers of oppression to save her people from destruction. Or, finally, consider the women who stayed at the cross of Jesus when everyone else had fled.

We could also think of the many women in Scripture who were honored for their wisdom. Women like Jael, who was celebrated as “most blessed” for her cunning defeat of Israel’s enemy (using a tent peg and hammer no less!). Or the prophet Huldah, whom Josiah trusted to advise him during one of the most pivotal moments in Judah’s history (2 Kings 22). Or Priscilla, who (along with her husband) taught Apollos, who was already a “learned man,” “the way of God more adequately” (Acts 18:26).

We also learn from Scripture that God values the faithfulness of women. Women like Hannah who patiently prayed for a child and whose prayer of thanksgiving proclaims the counter-cultural and upside-down nature of God’s kingdom (1 Samuel 2). And women like Mary, who was faithful and “most blessed” to receive the honor of carrying God Himself in her body and nurturing, teaching , raising and eventually mourning Him.

None of these women were perfect, and of course the Bible has its share of Jezebels as it has its share of Judases. But God perfectly valued them with love so persistent and forgiveness so transformative that they became exemplary instruments of his kingdom. At Jessup, we try to be Christ-like in the way that we value women and prepare them to serve in all areas of God’s kingdom. Please pray that we would remain faithful to that calling!