Created for God's Glory: The Women of God's Word

By L. J. Broderick

This study offers a makeup-free, hair-let-down overview of the women described in the Bible. Some you would want to take home with you, while others you would never want to meet. See what God has said about notable women over the span of centuries.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Dec 16, 2013
• ISBN: 9781490818016

L. J. Broderick

L. J. Broderick is a retired biblical counselor who lives with her husband of thirty-five years in Oklahoma City. She is mother of two surviving adult children. Jesus took her middle son home in 2012 at the age of thirty. She has also served in AIDS ministry; she currently teaches the Bible and mentors women. “As a dear friend, Lynn’s heart for the women of the Bible has been on her mind … This book will be a joy and blessing to read.” —Doris Craddock, women’s ministry and biblical counselor, Global Training Network; thirty-five years at Scope Ministries

Book preview

Copyright © 2013 L. J. Broderick.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by

any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying,

recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system

without the written permission of the publisher except in the case

of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

All Scripture references are from the New International Version of the Bible

Other reference materials used are: The complete Word Study of the

Old Testament by Spiros Zodhiates; The Complete Word Study of

the New Testament by Spiros Zodhiates; James Strongs Complete

Exhaustive Concordance of The Bible with Brief Dictionaries of

The Hebrew and Greek Words Of The Original With Reference To

the English Words; and Flavius Josephus’s Jewish Antiquities.

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ISBN: 978-1-4908-1800-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-1801-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013921716

WestBow Press rev. date: 09/05/2013

CONTENTS

Introduction

Part I - The Women Of The Old Testament

Chapter 1   In the Beginning

Chapter 2   The Women of the Patriarchs

Chapter 3   The Women of the Sons of Israel

Chapter 4   The Women of the Exodus

Chapter 5   Women of the Conquest

Chapter 6   A Change of Seasons

Chapter 7   Women in King David’s Life

Chapter 8   Women of the Kingdom

Chapter 9   The Daughters of the Captivity

Part II - The Women Of The New Testament

Chapter 10   The Gospels

Chapter 11   The Early Church

Addendum

Glossary

I offer my special thanks to those, both departed and those who remain, who have influenced this work.

First I must thank my husband James, my daughter Stephanie and sons, Ian and Kevin. I want to thank the wonderful Bible teachers I have had all my life: Dr J Vernon McGee; Dr Robert Thieme Jr; the wonderful men who taught in the Greater Los Angeles Prophecy Conferences of the 1960’s (I do not remember all of your names); Jim and Peggy Klubnik, who always encouraged me to walk by faith; William F. Munnerlyn Jr and Floyd Police, who encouraged me to write; friends and co-laborers, James and Doris Craddock; my wonderful mentor and teacher, Doris Gleason; my wonderful friends who encouraged me all along the way, Andrea Hart, Sherry Jordan, Janae Nelson, Polly Baker and Ruby Leighton; and my wonderful small group for their prayers and encouragement, Vernon and Deby Justus, Dennis and Naomi Haikin, Mark and Laura Leigh Stanlake, Trish Shockency. Many others have encouraged me and prayed for me. Thank you one and all.

INTRODUCTION

On a recent morning talk show, there was a story about women firefighters, and the statement was made that women are finally learning their own strength. The truth is there have been women who have always gone beyond what we today consider the traditional roles of women. The world’s view of women and girls is the result of sin, not the intention of God. This book looks at the women God chose to put in His word. Some of those women were wonderful examples. Others were very wicked women with evil intents. God does not soften the actions of mankind in His word. He reveals the good, the bad and the ugly in no uncertain terms.

Anything written about The Book will be somewhat lacking, focused on only a small part of the total revelation. The revealed word of God has been given to man to introduce him to his Creator. The Word deals for the most part to God’s relationship to men, but He also reveals some of the women who played an intricate part of His story. These women were real women with real problems, who had to choose to walk with God or in opposition to Him. From beginning to end, the Bible is God’s ever-lasting love story.

During the years I worked in Biblical Counseling ministry, I worked with women who felt like victims, who thought God hated them or who were angry with God for not rescuing them from the troubles they faced. The women they saw in the Word tended to reinforce their opinion. What I discovered was they did not really know what God’s word had to say or even the true character of God. In this work, it is my desire and prayer that women will see 1) there is nothing new under the sun; 2) we do have a choice in facing life with God; 3) God loves women just as He loves men and has provided an escape for all of us. The one woman not included in this writing is the Proverbs 31 woman, but all the other women are included. I will be giving the Scripture references. Please read them carefully as you read about each of these women.

THE WOMEN OF THE

OLD TESTAMENT

CHAPTER ONE

IN THE BEGINNING

Genesis 1-4

Awaking this morning to the melody of a songbird in my yard, my first thoughts were of God and the care He took in creating a world in which His people were to live. From the very beginning, God prepared the world for mankind. He created everything in divine order and then finally created mankind in His own image. Genesis 2 tells us God created man (adam) and placed him in the garden. He gave him a job to care for the garden, and God told him he could eat of every tree except one, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for in the day Adam disobeyed he would die. We do not know how long Adam was in the garden before God told him to name the animals. In naming them, God revealed to Adam that they each had something he did not. They were each male and female. Adam needed a mate (one suited to his need). God then put the man to sleep and made for him a mate from his rib. God made a beautiful woman for the man. Adam named the woman, Eve.

The man and the woman lived in the garden taking care of it and walking with God in the cool of the evening. I can well imagine the woman skipping and frolicking through the garden, smelling the flowers and tasting the various fruits, like a small child discovering for the first time all the wonders of the world. Then one day the woman met a beautiful creature who talked to her. It was Satan in the body of a serpent. The serpent asked Eve if they could eat of all the trees. Eve answered yes, but she also revealed her ignorance when she said they were not to touch the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Satan then created doubt in her mind about God’s motives, as if God were withholding something desirable from her. She took from the tree and ate the fruit, giving some also to Adam who was with her (Genesis 3:6).

Now we do not know who told the woman