THE SHUNAMMITE WOMAN – This notable, unnamed woman lived in the town of Shunem.  Her story is told in 2 Kings, chapter 4: 8-37 and continued in chapter 8: 1-6.  She and her husband were people of means, but were childless.  She was a hospitable woman, however, and convinced her husband to build and furnish a room and meals for God’s prophet Elisha, whenever he passed by.  In return for their generous hospitality, Elisha promised a son to her at the appointed time in the next year.  The child was born and grew.  A few years later, when her son sickened and died suddenly, she sent for a donkey and a servant that she might ride to Elisha and have him make the situation right.  This is her defining moment.  She is remembered for her unfailing faith, even in the face of death, that God would not give a gift only to snatch it away.  When Elisha returned to Shunem with her, he brought the boy back to life.  Her great faith in God through His instrument on earth, Elisha, was rewarded again years later, after a seven year famine.  Elisha had warned her to move her family wherever they could find food.  After a seven year absence, when she returned, her lands and former house were restored to her and her son by the king, along with all retroactive proceeds from the land for the seven years she had been gone.

RAHAB – Rahab’s story occurs in the Old Testament Book of Joshua, chapter 2, verses 1-24, and continues in chapter 7, verses 22-25. Rahab was a young prostitute in the city of Jericho. She and her entire city had heard of the fierceness of the Hebrew army which was conquering all the land promised to them by God. When two spies showed up at her door, she knew exactly who they were.  She  decided to cooperate with them because she realized none of her gods could save her or her city, but that the one true God was with the Hebrews. It was a life or death decision for her, because she also knew her king had spies everywhere, and if she was found out, she would be killed. That momentous decision was her defining moment. Later in the Bible, it is recorded that Rahab not only survived, but ended up marrying one of the young spies she had sheltered, and became the great-grandmother of King David!

ESTHER

ESTHER – Esther has her very own book in the Old Testament of our Bible.  Two generations previously, her forebears had been dragged off in captivity to Persia.  She was orphaned at a young age, and adopted by her cousin Mordecai, who brought her up as his own daughter.  They were part of the Jewish minority still living in Persia.  Esther was extremely beautiful, but lived in obscurity.  When the king threw a lavish party for all his generals and noblemen prior to a battle campaign coming up, and summoned his comely wife Vashti, to show her off to all his male guests, she refused to come.  She was, after all, hosting her own party for the women.  That notwithstanding, she was deposed as queen, and plans were made to implement a “beauty contest” among all the gorgeous virginal girls of the vast kingdom.  The king would decide whom he liked the best, and that lucky lady would become the next queen.  A few years later, after the battle campaign was completed, these plans were put into place, and Esther was chosen to become one of the “contestants”.  When it was her turn to come before the king, he was so impressed that he chose her. Consequently, she was crowned the new queen.  But there was evil afoot in the king’s court.  His second-in-command, Haman, was full of jealousy and hate.  He plotted to destroy all the Jews in the land.  No one knew Esther was Jewish, but that included her, too.  She risked her life to appear in the king’s court for an audience without being summoned.  If he chose not to extend his scepter to her, she would be killed.  Luckily for her, in her defining moment, he did.  From that point on, all sorts of machinations took place as Haman plotted, and Esther counter-plotted.  The story has more twists and turns as any good mystery thriller!  Esther handily overcame the evil, pathetic Hamman, exposing him for the low-life he was.  King Xerxes meted out justice, the Jews were allowed to live, and Esther, through her incredible courage and faith in God, saved the entire Jewish race from slaughter.

THE WOMAN WHO ANOINTED JESUS

THE WOMAN WHO ANOINTED JESUS – This nameless woman’s defining moment is mentioned in the bible in all four books of the gospel accounts.  First in Matthew 26: 6-13, second in Mark 14: 3-9, third in Luke 7:36-50, and finally in John 12: 1-8.  All account differ to some degree.  Some scholars believe that they may have been different accounts of similar circumstances, but all accounts have several things in common.  The woman had discerned that Jesus’ time on earth was very limited.  She felt compelled to honor Him in life for His impending death and burial.  He was at a dinner party.  She took her most precious possession, an alabaster flask of very expensive perfumed oil, came uninvited into the dinner gathering and anointed Him with it, weeping, washing His feet with her tears and wiping them with her beautiful, long hair.  The other guests were outraged at this woman crashing their party and such waste of precious oil, which could have been sold, with the money given to the poor.  But Jesus knew her heart.  He accepted her offering, and as a reward for her great love to honor Him in life before His death, He pronounced that as long as the gospel story is told, her story would be told as well, as a remembrance to her for her great love.  And so it is that her story is mentioned in one form or another in all four books of the gospels.

RUTH

RUTH – Ruth like Esther, has her very own book in the Bible.  Ruth lived in a very dark, turbulent period of time before there were kings in Israel.  Law and justice were administered through a series of judges, and there was much strife and confusion after their principal leader, Joshua, had died.  During this time, a man, Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and their two sons, left Bethlehem and journeyed to Moab to wait out a famine in their own land.  While there, Elimelech died.  The two sons married Moabite girls, Orpa and Ruth, and lived on in Moab for another ten years.  The sons also died, leaving all three women widows.  Naomi had heard the famine was over in Israel.  She decided to return, whereupon her daughters-in-law wanted to go with her.  Naomi entreated them not to come, but remain in their own land where they would find husbands among their own people, have children and a future.  Orpa did return, but Ruth would have none of it.  She knew Naomi needed someone to look after her, and she loved her mother-in-law.  Her declaration of loyalty and faithfulness to Naomi is renowned.  The two of them journeyed on to Bethlehem.  Once there, Ruth set out to find work gleaning in fields, since it was barley harvest time.  She gained permission to glean in the fields of one Boaz, who happened to be a kinsman of Naomi’s late husband, and who happened also to be an eligible bachelor.  She worked hard, never slacked, and gleaned enough over time to be able to take care of herself and Naomi.  Boaz also helped her along by leaving extra grain where she was gleaning, and making sure she ate with the rest of his crew.  He also provided protection for her, since she was a lone woman out working in the fields.  He clearly had taken a liking to her, so Naomi gave Ruth a set of instructions for how to ask Boaz for the redemption of her late father-in-law’s lands and possessions, which also included her.  Boaz went through the proper channels of other relatives, and finding no takers, he redeemed all of Elimelech’s lands and possessions, including Ruth, whom he also married.  She presented him with a son, whom they named Obed.  Obed grew up and fathered Jesse, who fathered David, who became the King of all Israel.  Naomi, who had been bitter and sad over losing her husband and both her sons, felt redeemed by God for having her late husband’s lineage continued through Ruth and Boaz.  The family name would not be snuffed out!  Her honor was restored.  Ruth, who was a pagan, had declared loyalty to Naomi’s God as well as Naomi herself, thereby making her redeemed by God as well.  She and Boaz became the great-grandparents of King David, cementing themselves into the lineage of Christ.

Pharaoh’s Daughter

PHARAOH’S DAUGHTER – It is not known definitively who she was, but many scholars believe she was Hatshepsut, daughter of Thutmose I.  Her time table closely aligns with Moses’ time.  She lived in the upper region of the Nile River valley near the present day border of Sudan, and was buried in the ancient Valley of the Kings.  During the terrible period of Hebrew infanticide carried out by her father, she found a baby in a basket set adrift in the river by Hebrew parents trying to save their infant son.  Overcome with compassion, she decided to save this child and raise him as her own son, since she had no son.  But someone had to nurse that child, and since the baby’s sister was hiding nearby, she fetched the child’s mother, who nursed him, and then gave him up to Pharaoh’s daughter when he was weaned.  Sad, but much better than death!  Moses, so named because she (Hatshepsut) “drew him out of the water,” grew up to become the leader of his enslaved people, bringing them out of Egypt after a four hundred year captivity.  There are hints that she might have converted to Judaism during her contact with Moses’ family, but that is unknown with any certainty, just as her identity is.  She (Hatshepsut) is famous in her own right as an Egyptian queen and then Pharaoh, but her defining moment was saving a helpless infant floating along in the river, where she had gone to bathe.  By so doing, she saved the Hebrew race and changed the history of the world.