The Women of the Bible
I would like to end Women’s History Month by demonstrating the need to stop reducing the women in the bible them to morality lessons and start recognizing them as strategists, leaders, financiers, judges, prophets, disruptors, and witnesses.
Every year, when biblical women are discussed, the same stories surface.
The woman who washed Jesus’ feet.
The “prostitute.”
The obedient wife.
The silent supporter.
Why are women so often summarized by one moment, usually a moment tied to shame, sexuality, or submission, when their actual roles were strategic, political, courageous, and history-shifting?
Men in scripture are remembered as kings, prophets, disciples, and builders. Women are remembered as “the one who…”
We can do better.
Let’s look again.
1. Deborah: A Judge and Military Leader
Before kings ruled Israel, judges did, and one of them was Deborah.
Deborah was not a side character. In Judges Chapter 4-5, she was called a prophetess, the only female judge, the highest civic and spiritual authority in Israel at the time. She delivered messages from God and judged disputes for the Israelites, sitting under a palm tree. She and Barak led 10,000 men to defeat the army of Sisera and she said, “for the Lord will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman.”
She advised the general. She gave the strategy. She went to the battlefield.
Lesson:
Leadership is not gendered. Authority is not accidental. Wisdom does not require apology.
Some women aren’t called to assist power. They are called to be it.
2. Esther (Hadassah): Political Strategy and Calculated Risk
Esther is often reduced to beauty because King Xerxes was attracted to her and made her Queen.
But her story is political intelligence.
She understood timing.
She understood influence.
She understood risk.
Esther learned that the King was going to kill all the Jews (the King didn’t realize she was a Jew), but approaching the king uninvited could mean death. She didn’t rush. She prepared. She fasted. She hosted strategic dinners before making her ask.
She didn’t just “speak up.”
She positioned herself and said, “If I perish, I perish.”
Lesson:
Courage isn’t reckless. It is prepared.
There is power in understanding rooms, systems, and timing, especially when the stakes are high.
3. Mary Magdalene: First Witness
Mary Magdalene had seven demons caste out, but has been mislabeled for centuries as a prostitute (though the Bible never says that).
What it does say (Luke 8:2):
She was present.
She was loyal.
She financially supported Jesus’ ministry (along with several other women: Joanna, Susanna)
And she was the first to witness the resurrection.
Let’s pause there.
The first person entrusted with announcing the most pivotal event in Christianity was a woman.
Lesson:
History may mislabel you. Truth outlives the label.
4. Mary of Bethany: The Woman Who Anointed Jesus
This woman is often described by what people assumed about her.
But her action (John 12):
She entered a room where she was not socially welcomed.
She disrupted the atmosphere.
She spent what scholars estimate could have been a year’s wages on perfume.
And while others criticized her, Jesus defended her. He said she was preparing him for burial.
In other words, she understood what others missed.
Lesson:
Discernment doesn’t always look respectable.
Sometimes the person judged as emotional or inappropriate is actually spiritually perceptive.
5. Ruth: Economic Strategy and Loyalty
Ruth is often framed as romantic and a childless widow.
But she was widowed, vulnerable, and economically at risk.
She left her people and her pagan gods and decided to follow Naomi’s God.
She did hard labor and married Boaz.
She followed Naomi’s strategic instructions regarding Boaz.
Ruth wasn’t passive. She navigated survival within a system she did not create.
Lesson:
Loyalty and strategy can coexist. Faith and practicality are not opposites.
There are so many other women like (Joshua 2) Rahab, the prostitute, who hid the spies in Jericho and was actually the mother of Boaz.
The midwives (Exodus 1:15) Shiphrah and Puah, who refused the king of Egypt’s orders to kill the baby boys.
Miriam (Exodus 2), who not only watched her brother Moses get to safety, but she hid his true identity as he rose up to be an Egyptian.
Countless more, yet the stories that get highlighted are HIS-story.
Why This Matters Now
Women are still reduced.
At work.
In church.
In politics.
Online.
Reduced to:
The emotional one.
The pretty one.
The angry one.
The single mom.
The wife.
The “difficult” one.
The pattern hasn’t changed much.
But neither has the truth.
Women have always:
Led nations.
Funded movements.
Influenced policy.
Preserved communities.
Spoken truth when silence was safer.
The difference is who tells the story.
Lessons We Can Carry Forward
Don’t accept one-sentence summaries of your life.
Study the system you’re in.
Move strategically, not reactively.
Support other women without reducing them.
Correct narratives when they’re incomplete.
And perhaps most importantly:
Stop repeating stories about women that center shame instead of substance.
If we’re going to talk about biblical women, and women in general, let’s talk about them as whole.
Not warnings.
Not scandals.
Not footnotes.
But who they really are…strategic leaders.
