Women of Peace and Justice: Stories of Women in the Bible and History

By Mary Walker

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

--Matthew 5:9

The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.

--Psalm 33:5

People are longing for peace and justice. The women whose stories are in these pages followed the Lord Jesus Christ in his way of compassion and justice for the world. The Gospel message is better presented when Christians match their actions to their words in acts of mercy and love. These women pursued a God of peace and justice who respects all persons, especially the lowly, the weak, the forgotten, the marginalized, and the poor.

Lasting peace comes through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. True justice comes from God. "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ," (Romans 5:1-2). Justified women and men who have the peace, comfort, and assurance of God's forgiveness have the privilege and the responsibility to advance true justice as they spread the gospel of peace in word and deed. From Shiphrah and Puah to Dorothy Day, the women in these stories are a shining example for Christ's followers who have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to take the message of hope to a lost world.

"He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with hour God." (Micah 6:8)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Feb 9, 2022
• ISBN: 9781639030859

Book preview

Chapter 1

Shiphrah and Puah—God’s Justice for the Israelites

A Note about Obeying God rather than Men

It may seem obvious that we should obey God rather than men when there is a conflict between those two authorities. However, it is not always so easy when worldly authorities have the power to command our obedience and to punish us if we disobey them.

A familiar New Testament story involves the apostles Peter and John. The Jewish priests and Sadducees were angry when the apostles were preaching about Jesus and threw the disciples into prison. The next day when the rulers met, they questioned Peter and John. It was apparent that the rulers could not keep them in prison, so they let them go but admonished them to stop preaching in Jesus’s name. Peter and John replied, Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you or to him? You be the judges! (Acts 4:19).

The Jewish leaders saw themselves as the authorities in Israel. The apostles, however, said that God is a higher authority.

Let’s turn to Exodus chapter 1 and begin our stories on peace and justice by telling the story of Shiphrah and Puah, who fearlessly obeyed God in the face of death. It may seem unusual to begin our study with the stories of two women who seemingly broke God’s commandments by lying. Many people have learned the ten commandments as children and recite the ninth commandment as Thou shalt not lie. One might wonder how we can praise women who lied. But this story is actually very appropriate here because God has shown over and over again in his Word that he is concerned about justice. It is not about choosing between the lesser of two evils; it is about taking the higher path. God’s justice is the highest path, and we need to learn to be discerning.

The Background to Our Story

The book of Genesis gives us a history of God’s people up until the time of Joseph. We read that God had chosen a people for himself beginning with Abraham. Abraham and Sarah had Isaac. Isaac and Rebekah had Esau and Jacob. Jacob had twelve sons and one daughter. One of his sons, Joseph, was sold into slavery by the other brothers who were jealous. Joseph ended up in Egypt. Though Joseph would not understand the reason for his misfortune until later, God had intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives (Genesis 50:20). A severe famine had occurred in Egypt as well as Canaan. Helping Joseph to give miraculous interpretations of Pharaoh’s dreams, God raised Joseph to a prominent position. In his new powerful position, Joseph was able to invite his whole family, which had grown to nearly seventy people, to come to Egypt and live on the land. The Israelites gladly went to Egypt rather than starve in Canaan. They prospered. The wonderful details of how God took care of his people during the lifetime of Joseph can be found in the book of Genesis chapters 37–50. The book of Genesis ends with the death of Joseph.

In the second book of the Bible, Exodus, the story continues with events as time went on. God had blessed the Israelites while they were living in Egypt, and they continued to multiply in number until they filled the land where they lived. The new king of Egypt began to feel threatened:

Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them. Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. Look, he said to his people, the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.

So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites and worked them ruthlessly. They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.

The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live. The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?

The midwives answered Pharaoh, Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive. So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own. Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live. (Exodus 1: 6–22)

It is appropriate then that we begin our stories of women of peace and justice by talking about the two brave midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, who brought justice to the Israelites when they confronted Pharaoh in Egypt while the Israelites were in exile there. Let’s see how this came about.

After Joseph died, the Israelites stayed on in Egypt and increased in numbers greatly. After many generations went by, it is estimated that there were about two million Israelites in Egypt. When a new king came to the throne, he was worried about how many of them there were and felt that they were a threat to the security of his nation. So he began to oppress them. We all learned these stories in our Sunday school classes as kids. The Israelites had to make bricks for the cities that the king was building. They were virtually treated like slaves, but it seems the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied. Their taskmasters laid so many burdens on them that they labored continuously, making bricks and working in the fields. Still God blessed them, and they increased in number and began to spread out throughout the land.

We do not know if Shiphrah and Puah were the only two midwives for hundreds of thousands of Hebrew women. Perhaps there were more midwives, but these two women were especially gifted and known as leaders as they helped Israelite women to have their babies successfully. Even with God’s blessings, life was hard for these women as for all of God’s children. As the midwives went about their duties, they would have witnessed the effects of the tyranny of the Egyptians. The people were overworked and probably underfed. This would make it more difficult for women to deliver their babies, but God blessed the Israelite women, and they had many children.

Pharaoh became alarmed and devised a plan to reduce the number of children being born. He summoned these two Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, and told them to kill the baby boys. He said that the girls could live, but not the boys. It was common practice in Egypt’s history to place the daughters of slaves in Egyptian harems and thus absorb their progeny into Egypt. Pharaoh thought he had a good plan, but he did not reckon with the integrity of the midwives.

Shiphrah and Puah did not do as the king commanded them. They let the babies live. They violated his law, and then when he questioned them, they gave him an evasive answer. They told him that the Hebrew women were not like Egyptian women. Hebrew women were vigorous and gave birth before the midwife could get there.

Some people have said that this answer was just a lie. However, it is actually possible that what the midwives said was essentially true. It is well known that in cultures where women work in the fields all day, they are able to stop their work, have their baby, bundle it up, and go back to work. We must also remember that at this time God was especially blessing the Israelites and helping them to multiply in number. He would have given the women extra strength to have healthy babies. As an aside, this would also explain why there were only two midwives for several hundred thousand women if that indeed was the case. The Hebrew women were mainly healthy and just didn’t need many midwives.

In any event, the midwives put their lives on the line by disobeying Pharaoh. They must have trembled in fear as they approached Pharaoh on his throne. But the women were focused on God and his righteousness and knew that they could have no part in killing babies. They boldly gave Pharaoh an evasive answer, and he let them go. Shiphrah and Puah knew that God had protected them.

As they went about their work, Shiphrah and Puah alerted the Israelites to the wicked plans of Pharaoh. The mothers then hid their children from the soldiers. Because the midwives spared the babies, God blessed them and gave them large households of their own.

Shiphrah and Puah were very special women. I don’t think they knew that they were at the time. They were only midwives doing their job for a hated group of people. But those who put God first and are faithful to do his will may be used mightily by him. Pharaoh expected to be obeyed. He had the power of an absolute ruler, but he was thwarted by two humble, courageous women. Because these women feared God more than the king, the baby Moses was saved. This baby would grow up and lead the people away from Egypt. Truly these women were used by God to bring his justice to his people.

Application

Many people wonder how God could bless the midwives when they lied. Isn’t lying a sin? Theologians talk about this moral dilemma and take sides on the issue. On one side, some say that lying is always a sin and no one should ever tell a lie no matter what the circumstances. They believe that it is better to take whatever punishment is coming to you or to the person you are trying to protect.

On the other side, some say that there are degrees of bad things, and we must weigh up the options and choose the lesser of two evils. It is true that sometimes, as seen in our story, for example, a choice must be made. A problem with this view is that the person making the choice has her own set of values and may not know which choice would be the one that God wants. This was not a problem for the midwives who not only knew what God wanted but feared him more than they did Pharaoh.

Trying to decide whether or not to be deceitful can be a dilemma, and many others have faced it. We need discernment to see what the higher path is. There are other stories of God’s servants in the Bible who chose the higher path though it involved deceiving the ones in authority. Rahab protected the Israelites from the king of Jericho (Joshua 2:1–22; 6:15–27), and Jonathan protected David from Saul (1 Samuel 20:1–42), to name several.

Rahab and Jonathan seem to have one thing in common with the midwives—they were protecting the lives of others. They brought God’s justice to his people. We can say that they did practice righteousness because God blessed all of these people for lying.

It is also interesting to note that they did not break the common definition of the ninth commandment. What is that? you ask. I thought the ninth commandment says, ‘You shall not lie.’ Actually, the ninth commandment says, You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. The purpose of the ninth commandment is justice. To aid Pharaoh or other wicked rulers in their murderous schemes is assisting evil. That is the opposite of justice. Shiphrah, Puah, Rahab, and Jonathan would not be accessories to their crimes. They did not believe that they owed the truth to a ruler who planned to use it for evil. Their allegiance was to God.

God must have agreed since he blessed Shiphrah and Puah. He blessed Rahab by protecting her and her family and even gave her the privilege of being an ancestress of Jesus (Matthew 1:5). God protected Jonathan and David from Saul. That God blessed these people must not be taken as a justification for lying. We must be cautious before telling a lie or being deceitful. Shiphrah and Puah knew God’s will. We often do not and should never second-guess God.

Questions for Discussion

How did Shiphrah and Puah fit into God’s plan of redemption for his people?

Why did the Israelites keep multiplying as a people in spite of their harsh treatment by the Egyptians?

How might this story set the stage for forty years later when Moses would go before Pharaoh and demand that the king let the Israelites go?

Were Shiphrah and Puah morally justified for lying to Pharaoh? Why? Can you recall a time when you felt that even a little white lie was justified? What happened?

If you would do something different now, what would it be?

Chapter 2

Rahab—Defender of God’s Justice

In this second story in our book about women of peace and justice, we come across another woman who obeyed God rather than men at the risk of her own life. There are stories of many courageous women in the Bible. We think of Ruth, Naomi, Miriam, Mary, and Esther, to name a few. We admire the courage of Esther as she risked her life to approach King Ahasuerus and plead for her people. But this story is about woman in the Scriptures who owed her allegiance to her king but chose to disobey and to lie to her king. That woman was Rahab.

The background to our story

Before we continue, let’s take a quick trip through Old Testament history. The book of Genesis ended with the death of Joseph. Then the Israelites continued to live in Egypt for nearly four hundred years as slaves to the Egyptians. In our last story, we saw how God used two righteous women to spare his children from destruction. One of those children was Moses.

Moses led a privileged life but got into trouble. He avoided punishment by escaping to Midian where he lived for many years (Exodus 2:11–23). He met God at Mount Horeb. The Lord told him to return to Egypt to lead his people out of slavery. The Israelites traveled to the Promised Land. Due to disobedience, it took them forty years to get there. Finally, the day came when they approached the land of Canaan. In Numbers 13, we read that Moses sent twelve spies to search out the land and decide on the best way to enter. Ten of the twelve spies gave a fearful report of the land and its inhabitants. The Israelites’ hearts melted at the report of the ten spies. Moses pled with the people to trust God, but they refused to enter the land.

The ten spies believed that entering the land would bring death and destruction to everyone. Only Joshua and Caleb trusted God to take them all the way to victory. For the disbelief and disobedience of the majority, God caused the Israelites to wander for forty years in the wilderness.

In Deuteronomy 2:25 we read that while the Israelites were wandering through the wilderness, God assured them, This very day I will begin to put the terror and fear of you on all the nations under heaven. They will hear reports of you and will tremble and be in anguish because of you. Hold this thought for later in our story!

While in the desert wandering, the Israelites did miraculously defeat their enemies during the next forty years. Eventually, all of the original generation of adult unbelievers died except for Joshua and Caleb and Moses.

At the end of the forty years, Moses transferred his leadership to Joshua. The Israelites had come near to the land of Canaan again. Moses gave some final instructions and then died. God himself buried Moses (Deuteronomy 34:6).

Joshua assumed command. As the Israelites neared the entrance to Canaan, he sent two more spies in to view the land starting in Jericho. This time he was expecting a successful mission. When the pair of spies arrived in Jericho, they went to the house of Rahab, a harlot.

Turn to Joshua 2:1–6 for this story:

Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. Go, look over the land, he said, especially Jericho. So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.

The king of Jericho was told, Look, some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land. So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.

But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, they left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them.

(But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.)

The king of Jericho heard that spies had entered the land and heard that they had gone to Rahab’s house. The king thought that Rahab would help him capture these spies, but Rahab helped the spies instead.

What Rahab was doing was treason, and she could have been put to death for such an act. Why in the world would Rahab help the enemy? To understand what motivated Rahab, let’s pause for a moment and talk about Rahab’s background and life.

Rahab is one of those characters from the Old Testament, though while familiar to us, is a person that most of us don’t quite know what to do with, and so we may overlook her and not appreciate her enough. Also, many Christians can’t understand how God could use and esteem someone like a liar and a harlot.

How can Rahab be a hero when she lived such a sinful life? What are we to do with this woman? How are we to understand her place in the history of God’s people? How are we to understand the fact that she is given a place of honor in God’s Word in three places in the New Testament?

First, in Hebrews 11:31, Rahab is listed with the other saints in the honor roll of the faithful where we read, By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.

Secondly, Rahab’s faith is commended to us in James 2:25, where we read In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?

And third, Rahab is even included in the lineage of God’s Son in Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 1 verse 5. We read, Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David.

Okay, so let’s take a look at this fascinating woman that is praised in many places in God’s Word.

At the time of this story, Rahab was a young woman living by herself in her own house. This in itself was unusual in her culture and indicated some measure of wealth and independence. She did have family who lived nearby, however. She had been a harlot, and her reputation had followed her; and she still wore that label. Her house was situated on the wall of the city and was probably near the main gate as that would be a help to her in her occupation as a prostitute.

But something had changed in her life. She seemed to have given up the life of a harlot and was now a manufacturer and dyer of linen. We know this is so by the fact that she had flax drying on her rooftop and had a stock of crimson or scarlet cord in her house. So we can see that she was now engaged in a new line of work as an industrious, intelligent, and probably well-connected woman in the city.

She was also very well informed with regard to historical as well as current events. She knew all about the events of the Exodus, the crossing of the Red Sea, and the utter destruction of Og and Sihon, pagan kings who lived south and west of Canaan. Her parents must have told her the story of how the Israelites got very close to Canaan once before—about forty years before this, in fact. They must have wondered why the Israelites suddenly left and did not return for many years.

During her life, she would have followed the relentless advance of the Israelites toward Canaan this second time, and so she was not taken by surprise when the Israelite spies turned up in Jericho. Something in her knowledge of events had prepared her for their arrival and how she would deal with them. She may have already started formulating a plan in her mind at this point.

Actually, how these men ended up at her house is a matter of some speculation. Some commentators have said they had heard of her reputation as a harlot and so came to her house thinking that they would be inconspicuous there. Others have speculated that she was also an innkeeper, and so they came looking for a room in her house—but inns were not a part of this time and culture. Some have suggested that the change she underwent in her life was what caused her to go to the gate and watch for strangers to offer them a safe and hospitable place for the night.

I think that this last explanation is the best. I think that Rahab may have been watching and hoping. Not only had Rahab undergone a change in her life, but she must have realized what the encampment of Israelites across the Jordan river meant. Rahab chose to put her faith in God. She did not melt at the report of the Israelite army; she saw a way of salvation for herself and her family. That is why she said, "I know that the Lord hath given you the land." Her words to the spies are proof of this.

Let’s return to Joshua chapter 2 and begin with verse 7:

So the men set out in pursuit of the spies on the road that leads to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut.

Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof and said to them, I know that the LORD has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. We have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. (Joshua 2:7–11)

After the soldiers had left and the city gates had been shut, Rahab went up on her roof, where she had hidden the spies. The spies must have been quite relieved to find that Rahab had a true understanding of who God is and that she had determined to help them. They must have thought that it was nothing