50. Where are women mentioned in the Bible?

In Genesis the first woman, Eve was ‘taken out of man’ (Genesis 2:23), and therefore the man has the pre-eminence. ‘The head of the woman is the man’; yet honour is to be shown to the wife, ‘as unto the weaker vessel (1 Corinthians 11:3; 1 Corinthians 11:8; 1 Corinthians 11:9; 1 Peter 3:7). Several women are mentioned in Scripture as having been endowed with prophetic gifts such as Miriam (Exodus 15:20), Deborah (Judges 4:4 Judges 4:5), Huldah (2 Kings 22:14), Noadiah (Nehemiah 6:14), Anna (Luke 2:36 Luke 2:37), and the daughters of Philip the evangelist (Acts 21:8; Acts 21:9). Among the Hebrews it devolved upon women to prepare the meals for the household (Genesis 18:6; 2 Sam 13:8), to attend to the work of spinning (Exodus 35:26; Proverbs 31:19), and making clothes (1 Samuel 2:19; Proverbs 31:21), to bring water from the well (Genesis 24:15; 1 Samuel 9:11), and to care for the flocks (Genesis 29:6 ; Exodus 2:16).

In Ephesians 5 verse 25 it states: ‘For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the Church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead she will be holy and without fault. In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who shows love for his wife actually shows love for himself.’

The word ‘woman,’ as used in Matthew 15:28, John 2:4, John 20:13 and John 20:15, implies tenderness, compassion, purity, courtesy and not disrespect. Only where Biblical revelation is known has a woman her due place of honour assigned to her. Proverbs 18 verse 22 states: ‘He who finds a wife finds a good thing.’