Women For His Work

By Lena Carroll

God "can and does" use Women for His Work. The Bible mentions the name "Mary" in 51 passages, more frequently than any other woman's name in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, it is not used at all, though the sister of Moses and Aaron was named Mariam, which is the old form for Mary.

The New Testament Marys - all six of them, represented love and faithfulness:

(1) Mary: Mother of Jesus

(2) Mary: of Bethany - who annointed Christ

(3) Mary Magdalene: First to proclaim resurrection

(4) Mary: Wife of Cleophas, Mother of James and Joses (Joseph)

(5) Mary: Mother of John Mark

(6) Mary: (Romans 16:6) bestowed much labour (Paul singled her out for praise)

When Edith Deon finished her book in May 1955, and saw it published, she had worked many years researching 'women of the Bible.' She was aided at times by Dr. L. R. Elliott, librarian at Southwestern Baptist Seminary. She got help from the library at Pacific School of Religion and at Texas State college for Women where she was a member of the board of regents.

She was attempting to discover the source of their faith - and their relationship with God - and what women menat to God and His work. Even with such as Jezebel, Patiphar's wife, or Herodias as their very lack of faith was important and significant to the events of the time.

The lives of the women of the Bible make patterns of light and dark. As we women of today make different colored threads in the tapestry of life.

Dr. Elton Trueblood, an eminent Quaker philosopher, said to Edith, "watch for the phrase in Kings and Chronicles, 'and his mother was --' for this is usually followed by the phrase 'and he did that which was good in the sight of the Lord' -- or 'and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.'" In placing the name of a King's mother and the evaluation of his reign side by side, the Hebrews showed how powerful they regarded the role of a mother.

Edith Deon did searching studies of 59 women after she visited the Holy Land in 1934. Listed in the Bible are: 190 named women; 307 daughters; 322 wives; 338 mothers; 350 widows; and 356 other un-named women. She first did a series called "From a Woman's Corner" and gave an article on each of 25 prominent women. It was considered to be the first series on this supject to appea in any American newspaper.

The response was so great, "not from women especially, but from ministers and teachers and many from appreciative husbands" that she realized people in general were interested in the Bible and in woman's place and purpose in God's work.

Alice Parmelee - author of "A Guidebook to the Bible" wrote that Dr. William L. Reed, of Texas Christian University, one of the best Old Testament scholars in the United States was a great help to Edith Deon. The story of the first woman begins with Eve in the Garden of Eden - where she first discovered that she bore a unique relationship to God, the Supreme Power in the universe. The great reality is not that she came from the rib of Adam, but that God created her and brought her womanly nature into being.

The divine purpose relative to woman is found in the first part of the first story of the Creation: "So God created man in His own image, in the image of God, created He him; male and female, created He them" Gen 1:27

Here we have warranty for Woman's dominion. The fact that God did not give man dominion until he had woman standing beside him is evidence enough of her exalted place in the Creation. All the great epochs in a woman's life, her marriage, mating and motherhood, all unfold in all their completeness in the Genesis account of Eve.

The family too, with all its joys and heartaches, comes into being with Eve at the center of it. In Eve, all the elemental questions of life, birth and death, even sin and temptation are shown in their human dimensions. In the beginning woman had a center place - and today, as women - either wives, mothers, widows, sisters, and daughters, we have the right of decision as to what we will be in God's Kingdom. Will we (each one has a choice) be a thread of light and beauty, or a dark thread of sin and pain?