Getting a Clearer View of God: Notice Women in the Biblical Story

Written by Dr. Sandra Glahn

One of my doctoral studies professors described herself as a radical feminist. This scholar shattered most of the stereotypes I had of such women. She was kind, wore make-up, had a strong sense of fashion and liked to wear dresses. She spoke affectionately about her husband, and longed to become a mother. She also liked that Jesus traveled with and was bankrolled by female disciples. I found I really liked her, and—to my chagrin—I realized I had never even prayed for a feminist. I had certainly never listened to one. And listening did me good.  

Learning from Difficult Questions

The classroom where she taught was not at a faith-based school. Yet we talked about spiritual truth in her course. And hearing the questions and even accusations she and others raised led me to add commentaries by those who self-describe as feminists when I prepare to teach. Listening to them, I realized they had valid observations, concerns, and questions about the biblical text that no one in my circles was addressing. We might even wonder the same things but never ask. Such as...if Moses wrote most of the Pentateuch, why don’t we frame our telling of “the Exodus” as he did—by starting with the five women who saved Israel before there was a burning bush (the five being Shiphrah, Puah, Jochebed, Miriam, and Pharaoh’s daughter)? And why are so few women mentioned in Exodus—not to mention the rest of Scripture? Is the namelessness erasure, and if so, does women’s absence reflect the heart of God for them?  

A Broader View of God

I set out to find answers. And I found that sometimes the biblical writers use namelessness as a narrative device. For example, at the beginning of Exodus, we do find Hebrew males’ names—lots of them. But after “a new pharaoh arose who knew not Joseph” (Ex. 1:8), both male and female descendants of Abraham suffer from erasure. Interestingly, the exception to that rule is two females. Their names appear when all others have disappeared. Midwives Shiphrah and Puah, at great personal risk, defy Pharaoh’s orders, save Hebrew babies, and ultimately save the one who saves God’s people.  

Shiphrah and Puah are the only main characters whom the narrator names. In Moses’s birth narrative, we don’t learn his parents’ names nor that of the sister who protects him. We don’t even learn the name of the baby himself—until an unnamed Egyptian princess gives him a foreign name. We never do learn his Hebrew name.

Rather than signalling divine neglect, the absence of names in this text mirrors the bleak reality of systemic oppression. Even God remains unnamed in this dark chapter of His people’s history—perhaps in solidarity with His people. Yet, well over fifty years before Moses encountered the burning bush, an unseen hand was already orchestrating deliverance behind the scenes, relying not on the powerful and named, but on the radical, subversive faithfulness of women. 

If the narrator tells the story in such a way that the “exodus” from Egypt begins with five women saving Israel, why does most teaching I’ve heard on the subject begin with either the birth of Moses (the heading in my Bible) or the burning bush? In skipping this and other stories that include women, we miss both women’s justice work and God’s unseen hand answering prayers before they are ever offered.

Finding the answers to questions about women in Scripture has made me a better Bible student. And as a happy by-product of my research, I have come away with a greater view of God. If we want to better understand the whole counsel of God—and consequently God himself—we need to listen to those we have previously overlooked, including the women in the text.

Dr. Sandra Glahn is a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary and the author of multiple books. Her most recent, A Woman’s Place Is in the Story: Seeing Women in the Biblical Narrative is slated for release on August 25.