Latest / The Living Freed Podcast / Women of the Bible
Transcript
- Serena: Welcome back to the Living Freed Podcast. I'm your host, Serena, and Hannah: And I'm Hannah Liz. Happy Thursday, everyone. I love to just hear about your day. Tell me, what did you do? Serena: man, it was full. I feel like honestly, I feel like I have slight dementia sometimes because thinking back just on the day or even the week sometimes I can't remember anything and I'm like, did I do anything? But I did a lot. So that being said, I don't remember my morning, but I do remember that by the time I left I did my copies, got work done, set up eleven appointments for the rest of the week. So I will be busy. That's for sure. Hannah: But Serena: All good. and then I held Helped Hugo with his budget, and that's fun. I love numbers, so I I think I've told you that before. I swim in count numbers, that's just how I am. Hannah: You are really good at numbers, I will say that. You definitely have a mind for it and an energy and attitude for it. I drew Nom like more math and I do math at work all day long. Serena: Do yeah, you have to. But shout out my mother because she was the mathematician in our family, and dang, she passed that one out. I was she used. Hannah: So good at math, bro. Your mom, yeah. She slays Well my day was chill. I worked, only had three clients. I've been fast we've been fasting today, and so I got to spend a lot of that time just focusing on what we were fasting about and also it was sunny. It's the first time we've had like true sunshine in what two weeks, I would Serena: Yeah, actually it was really hot. It was Hannah: Yeah. Serena: really hot. I walked out and I was sweating. I could feel it in my car. I don't think my car's been that hot. I learned that my car turns on on its own. Like I can turn it on from the key pod today. Hannah: Yeah, you could. I didn't know you didn't know that. I learned mind that though on accident. So Serena: I tried before, but it never worked, but continues. Hannah: so I went and sat on the terrace at work. Did I say that word right? Yeah. Yeah. I think and I sat in the sun and like I FaceTime Nikki. Love her. which is basically all I've done this week is like call people in Wilmington and catch up. If it's not my family, yeah, it's people from Wilmington. but it was great being out in the sunshine. I feel like I really needed it. It just recharged my battery. Serena: Yeah, that's awesome. Hannah: Yeah, but what I that's what I've been up to. I would say, did you see? Serena: No. Hannah: But they think that they found Noah's Ark. Serena: Is this a new discovery? 'Cause I feel like there there has been one where they thought it was Noah's Ark before and it's like the Hannah: This is like new. Like it just broke this week and they've started like doing the whatever it's called where they dig into the ground, the extravation. Yeah. and they're like we've already been able to map out like the rooms inside of whatever they think this are Serena: How big are they thinking it is? Because it's gotta be massive. Okay, yeah, that's what I was gonna say. What the Hannah: It is it's a mountain. Serena: what I've seen the pictures of for a while where it's supposed to it looks like a mountain. Hannah: Yeah, yeah. And so they've finally started the process and they're like, No, we're ninety nine percent sure we found Noah's Ark and it's vividly accurate. Serena: I would love to know where the arc is. Yeah. Hannah: the Ark of the Covenant of the Covenant. Inea Jones, baby. I'm just I I you know, I just been going through all of first Second Kings, first to Second Chronicles and it's like it was there and it was in the house of the Lord and then it got rampaged by the Babylonians and things got dispersed. So it's like we're in that yeah realm of things did it fall off? Did it disappear? Serena: We'll do some weird stuff, so you never know. But that being said, now that you mention that, have you ever heard of the underground people? Green people? Yes. It's very Hannah: Yes. Serena: interesting concept. Could be there. I haven't Hannah: Could be there. Serena: I haven't gone down that hole because honestly it's very creepy. And like Hannah: It is Serena: in the two kids that came out and everything that the two green ones, the little boy that died, I was like Hannah: You never know, bro. Serena: You never know. I mean it's it's not like I know p some people get upset and they're like, these things can't exist, not biblical. Well you you maybe you haven't dived into that dove into that part, or maybe it was mentioned and it Hannah: Yeah. Serena: got missed in missed in interpretation, which we will be talking about today. Hey, I'm so Hannah: Yes we will. Do you wanna catch them up on anything else going on in your Serena: like anything else going on. Well we just had the potluck. That went really well. I think Hannah: That was I really enjoyed it. Serena: it w I think it went great and I'm looking forward to the next ones. I've already had several people tell me that they can't wait to come and they're super excited that we're doing that. So love that. And I was thinking Mondays we should make more of it well, I'll talk to you about later. Actually I'll say you can cut out later. We should do more of the passing I think on Mondays. I feel like that's Hannah: I was thinking that too. Serena: was thinking I've also been thinking that we should with the subject of today put it out every once in a while and be like what's one that's been forgotten? Like even the concept of today, subject of the today. Hannah: yes, yes. I like that. Serena: Name one that you feel like isn't mentioned or is commonly forgotten, kinda thing. Sorry. Hannah: No, you sorry. No, we're keeping all of that actually. I'm just kidding, we'll see. Serena: Even Hannah: No, I I was thinking that today. I was like, we should fast every Monday and then I was like, that would be a lot. I don't know if she would be down for that. No, and it's so funny because you and I have the same thoughts. Just yesterday in prayer in church, I was like, we should get prayed over and then I was like gonna start walking that way 'cause you were kind of walking, you're like, we should get prayed over and I like grabbed your elbow and I was like, That's what I was thinking. Serena: I literally thought I was like, I don't know if she'd be down for this or want it, but like I literally was gonna grab your arm and she'd be like, Okay, let's go. Hannah: Yeah. No and I was I was about I was hoping you're gonna walk in that direction. I could be like, let's go get prayed over. So it was perfect. okay, so something else I've been up to, which is gonna lead into what's in, what's out, is last Tuesday I went and watched the Hurricanes game with Maddie. And then there's another one tomorrow night at seven. So I think I'm gonna watch that then too. Nice. so what's in is hockey. Serena: I haven't even thought of mine, but I'm gonna think of one right now. Okay. Hannah: I'm gonna go ahead and jump into what's out. Remember the shoes I wore yesterday? The little black Serena: Which one? Hannah: kitten heel ones. Yeah. Those are out. My feet are blister. Y'all. I'm in so much pain right now. My feet as I'm sitting crisscross applesauce. I am in so much pain all day long. I even wore shoes that like wouldn't rub against them at work. I had to pick my whole outfit based off of my shoes for being at the salon because yeah, so those shoes, out. They're so cute and they look so good with the outfit, but too painful to wear for that long, especially going through Costco. Never again. yeah. Serena: That's a lot. That's a lot. Yeah. Let's see what's in. I think we'll go off one of my most recent staple pieces of my room that I'm really excited about. I bought a I've been waiting a long time to do this, by the way. It wasn't like a whim. It's been probably over a year I've wanted this. It's a six-foot-tall mirror. Over it's like three and a quarter feet wide. Huge. Hannah: It's Serena: It's massive and I love it and it's perfect. So that's what's in. What's out? What is out? Something is out. I saw some cats throwing up today. So maybe throwing up. Throwing up is out. And they I find that I s tend to be a sympathetic gagger now and I really was trying not to throw up as well so that's what's out. Hannah: What's out? Okay, well today we're talking about briefly women of the Bible and I think we're talking about our personal favorites, right? Kind of. Serena: I was going to talk about my personal favorite, but then I ended up on some research that took me elsewhere. Hannah: So we're gonna dive into this week's episode. Yeah. Yeah. Serena: Alright, Hannah Liz. Subject of the day is women of the Bible. So we all are favorites. We all have the ones we've forgotten. Who is the woman that you've chosen today? Hannah: This is shocking, I know, and anyone who's ever done a Bible study with me is shocked, I know. but it's actually Hannah. She's one of my top five. Serena: I have a comment on her actually later. Hannah: I have so many thoughts on her. I did bring my Bible out for this part. Crazy. Crazy. But I think I can tell you most of the things I love about her without my Bible. okay, so backstory. She was a a wife, obviously, but her husband had a second wife. She had no children. Her husband's other wife had lots or had children and would kind of just like harass her and be mean to her, kinda like you see with Jacob's wives with Leah. Serena: Sarah and Lance. Hannah: Yeah. Leah. Leah. Yeah, it was Rachel and Leah. Serena: yeah. What did I say? Sarah? I meant I definitely met Rachel. Sarah Hannah: Yeah. That's like in their lineage though. Serena: Sarah's beforehand. Hannah: Yeah. so she is like going with her husband and obviously his other wife and children and she's coming before the Lord and she's sobbing her heart out and I definitely skipped ahead a little bit and Eli is like why are you drunk in my temple right now, bro? Like what are you doing? And she's like, You don't understand, like I'm not drunk. I'm just pouring my heart out before God. I really want a son. And he was like, I basically he was like I can tell you really have like a love for God. And you're trying to honor him. And so I'm gonna read it anyways, actually. It's crazy. Because this just I think speaks to me so much in so many different ways. And I anyone who knows me knows I highlight anything I love and Either green or pink. So basically, chapter one, verse eleven, it goes, She vowed and said, O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head. Then she goes on to say, I've been pouring out my soul before the Lord. And then later it says, The Lord remembered her, and in due time she conceived, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Later on she gives Samuel. to God and I just think first the commitment like talk about being so committed to God in your promise like a promise keeper you're telling me you've been wanting a child God gives you Serena: And you're gonna give that. Hannah: it and y I would be like actually I break my promise. I was Serena: But like how a vow is so serious and she took a vow and still upheld her her vow. Which is crazy. Hannah: I would I don't I would like to think I could be that type of character to be like be like I promised you this so you can have it but part of me knows like I'd be like no this is my child like I know I promised him so Serena: Well no act. Hannah: Yeah she's like but he's mine but no she was like okay once I wean him like I'm fully committing him to God it wasn't like I'm still gonna come and visit him and like take care of him and wean him she was like no I'm going to wean him so I'm not going back before God until this is accomplished. Yeah and then he is fully God's and I yeah I just think one, she knew God saw her. She poured out her heart to God. God filled her heart with this promise and understanding and knowing. And then she fulfilled, which I love. And then I've written in my notes somewhere. Because I would I love a note. Which was Hannah was fulfilled beginning to end with God. She could have chosen to keep Samuel. Hannah set Samuel up for success with the Lord. Her faithfulness transformed or transformed. So anyways, that's why I love Hannah. I just think that she and also if you ever read her prayer, it's such a she just she knew God. She saw God. Her prayer is so deep and I think that she's not talked about enough. Serena: Probably not. There's I can say there's a handful of w more than a handful of women. They're not talked about enough. Not I I wouldn't say in the Bible, but like outside of the Bible. So it's Hannah: Yeah. Serena: very easy to forget. I mean we were talking earlier about how many women are actually mentioned, how many by name, how many women are in the Bible. And the numbers yeah, they're kinda crazy. Hannah: Yeah. I was re sorry. I was reading this thing today too and it was like Hannah recognized that God had given her the son and she gave him back. But then it said, But Eve said like I have received this. Like I've done this. It wasn't like a God has done this for me. Yeah. And just that heart posture is so different. Serena: Yeah. Well actually on that women were like meant to have a certain kind of wisdom with things and a completion of a completion of certain prophecies or a lot of prophecies. And I feel like Hannah really stepped into that because she wasn't foolish in denying her vow and she was wise in continuing to uphold that. She had more kids after that, right? Yeah, that's I thought. Blessed after that one. Hannah: Woohoo. So So no that's all I have on handout, but I wanna know who are your favorite or who's your favorite. Serena: My favorite or the one that I would identify with the most would be a popular one I think is Ruth for many reasons. My mom and I have discussed this multiple times too and and how we tend to find I think we talked about this as well, the the Psalms thirty one woman tends to be glorified and honestly mis probably misused and idolized a bit. Yeah. And seemed to be soft when a soft in not a biblical way in a in a world. Way that I I wouldn't agree with. But that being said, I always identified with Ruth and my mom, JayL. And I have a love for JL, and not only because of the story that she plays, but because of how my mom is, I would agree that it's definitely characterizes her. But with Ruth, there's so many good things to say about her. Like, as a new, almost like a new Christian, she embodies like a masterclass of how you should be as a new Christian. There are a lot of Christians that like to be loud, new one. are like you know loud and and there is a boldness that you know a boldness that is great and of the Lord and we've had sermons on that recently of boldness and how it can be used properly and unproperly but even Paul will talk about how you need to sometimes hold back the tongue and not look like the world in your loudness but with her she listens to mentors she is wants to know the Lord more follow the Lord's law be loyal Teachable. and she not that I am perfect or anything like that, but I just when I see her or how she was, that's always how I wanted to be. And when I think about how I want it to be in the future, there's so many times where God's given me the opportunity for that. I literally when I had heard I'm trying to remember. There was a certain prophecy I felt like God gave me and I was like, I'm not supposed to speak on it unless I get a Ruth moment where God like told her she can where was it? I think she was at the foot of Boaz. Mm-hmm. And he told her not to say I don't remember the exact moment, Hannah: being at the foot of Balast, did you know that in that t day and time that was basically her proposing to him? It was very Serena: Yeah, it's very bold. Hannah: bold. Could you imagine like you're not even dating this man now that they dated back then? But like she she was bold to do that. That's a crazy that's it that'd be like me asking a guy out. I don't I've never asked a man out and I don't plan on plan to. Serena: Yeah. Either way I felt that moment too where it was like where I felt like I had a Ruth moment where I could finally say something to somebody about the prophecy and ever since then it kinda like unfolded perfectly. But I love Ruth. On that, Naomi. Hannah: Mm-hmm. Serena: I have a hot take on Naomi. Okay. A lot of people want to see her as this faithful, super faithful person. I do think sometimes some of the things people thought were kind from her, I do not believe were kind at all, actually. And this is when she was in with the Moabites. So it was her, Ruth, and you say Orpah? Orpah? Is that how you say it? That's how I Hannah: So I Serena: say it. So I'm assume that's how you say it. both Moabite women that married her sons. Her son. Died, her husband dies. She's gonna she hears that God's now feeding the Israelites. now she's gonna go back. Hannah: Yeah. Serena: Awesome. I'm glad you're going back. Go back to your people. But she encourages both women to go back to their own people. A lot of people are like, you know, it's the safety of the Mobites. They can marry again. She has no other people to marry. But this is the only thing that's always crossed my mind and I always always felt bad about not being her biggest fan in this moment. Was because she's encouraging them to go back to a godless people, a people of other gods, and not to towards truth. Even though truth is not comfortable, she wants them to go towards comfort. Yeah. And I found that to be not kind at all. I don't I don't see how that's kind when you're pushing somebody away from the Lord. So in that, her kindness I think was a miss. But she goes back. That being said, she was a great mentor and very caring towards Ruth. So I feel like she also shows that sh she was still human. She wasn't gonna make perfect things. I just think a lot of people believe that she was so faithful and kind in all the things that she did. And I think she was actually example in somewhat of a cowardiceness or pushing someone to comfort versus truth in her grieving. Hannah: Yeah, I was gonna say through her grieving heart. Yeah. She was grieving interesting. Yeah. Serena: Yeah, so I guess cowardice could be kind of a harsh way of putting it. But when you're coward Yeah, short sighted. Hannah: Yeah, yeah. Serena: I think so. I think people do make easy mistakes when they're grieving, but that's a kind of a big one. When you have two women looking up to you and you're pushing them towards un like false gods versus the truth, even though it's uncomfortable. Hannah: No, I agree. Do you think back to boldness really quick, when it comes to like mm for the new Christians and non new Christians, do you think boldness happens mostly through in excitement for the Lord or do you think it's happening like how do I want to say this? Like or the difference between that or boldness through wisdom? Like how would that look different? Serena: I think boldness through wisdom because sometimes boldness is actually staying silent. Hannah: Yeah. Serena: Yeah, like you wanna you wanna speak up but you also have to be bold that the Holy Spirit is going to fulfill what he says he's going to or protect you or deal with things that are outside of your hands and you wanna you wanna put your hands in the bowl and try to fix it yourself. Hannah: Yeah. Serena: That's not being bold because you're not in the Holy Spirit where the Holy Spirit's telling you, I got you. Be bold in that. Sit back. I feel like we've been dealing with that lately. Hannah: We have been dealing with that a lot lately. So Yeah, no, I love that. I definitely feel like you are a good representation of Ruth. I know I said that to you the other day. She was like out there hustling, working your little butt off. And I was saying like you are Ruth in this moment. You're going through the field, you're gleaning, you're picking up, you're working, but God's hand is also still in it and on you through that. And so so much that happened, what was that Saturday? Mm-hmm. Was it from your work? Yes, but was it also from God? Serena: Yeah. I Hannah: Yeah. Serena: didn't have to work Saturday. That was a long day. Hannah: Yeah. That was a long day for you for sure. Serena: But it's funny that you said like 'cause you're talking about Hannah's story and I was literally picking things from your life. I was like, Wow, this you you're not you're not married or anything but still there were so many moments there. I'm like, wow, we could literally fit this perfectly into your life now. Hannah: Yeah. So I feel like there's definitely things from Hannah that you could change the subject on of like her sister wife. Which Serena: I guess I'm Hannah: also they will even say like her husband was in sin for having two wives, because people use that as an example, but even then it doesn't glorify him having two wives. It actually s like talks about the strife that it causes. but how like she has children and she has this. And it's like you kinda do you do sit there in this day and age and you watch people have things or do things and get to experience things that you don't and you're like, okay, but am I gonna cry my heart out before the Lord? Because also once you do that, there's a peace that follows. Like once you give your heart, soul, whatever's been grieving you to God, there's a peace that comes with it right after. And you just have to trust that He is gonna do what He does and fulfill in the end of the like in the long run. Yeah. You just won't know when. Like it literally said he remembered. No it was like Yeah. And then he remembered her and in due time Serena: no, yeah. Hannah: she conceived. Serena: I do think it's funny how people use those examples to be like, well I can have multiple wives like because David did or Solomon did. Let's be clear, God told them what they should and shouldn't do and they went against that anyways because they're human beings and they they're not gonna be perfect. But people will pick those people in the Bible. Well God favored them and it was fine. It wasn't fine. They were sinning. Hannah: They're setting up the Serena: But th th he they're not Jesus. They're not gonna have a perfect example in the Bible of any of these people except for Jesus. Exactly. Hannah: Exactly. Serena: So some people use the Bible to justify their wrongdoings. Not great. Leaning on your own understanding for sure. Never a good move. Hannah: Never a good move. Not once. Serena: But another woman that I wanted to mention was the very first woman. yes. Hannah: Eve. Serena: First Lady. I wanted to talk about her because I learned some things today that I thought were very interesting. Hannah: Hey sure. Tell the class. Serena: Tell the class. Okay, so let's start out. When we think of Adam and Eve, a lot of times we really think on the Western story that we've been told or taught, and that's great. It's usually the serpent came to Eve. Eve took the fruit, ate the fruit, went to went to her husband who was with her but in a different area and tempted him and was the cause of him. You know, she made him shoved it down his throat, whatever. And then she's like the main cause of it. And then he blames her, right? But I had seen a a passage like this before and I started digging into it where it said Eve was with her husband. And in Western writing, with is not as deep as it would be in Greek or Hebrew. Yeah. So if you go into Greek or Hebrew, not only can you see whether it's masculine, female, or if it's plural or singular, you can't see that in classic English Western writing. So I went into Hebrew and Greek and it specifically says the way that serpent is talking to her, he's not just talking to her, she's talking to both of them. Yeah. When they say with in Greek or in Hebrew both of them it is plural and sorry not with what with is where he's right present with her right beside her and when they're talking when he's talking to them it's a plural masculine term which Hannah: Mm-hmm. Serena: we we don't use masculine terms in that way but it says you all in masculine hollow wood almost in Spanish yeah and so you know that Adam's with her because that is How he's Hannah: Yeah. Serena: talking. And now you have a whole different picture of Adam being there and passive and not doing anything. And then still tries to blame Eve, even though Eve wasn't given the the same direction or guidance that Adam was. And Adam was told specifically what to do, and he was supposed to be a guardian of the structure that that God had placed there. That being said, it doesn't mean Eve was out without fault. Obviously, she's meant to be an equal parts, a guide, a a wise woman and she faltered there obviously but he definitely didn't step up in that leadership and was passive and completely silent. That that's a moment where we probably shouldn't stay silent when truth is being lied against Hannah: Yeah. So well I was listening to a couple of sermons on that like a year or two ago and it was talking about the first thing being like Adam, saying like Adam was there and I was going through the freedom group too, like last this year. That's crazy, I've lived so many lives this year. And I was talking about how Adam's first sin was being passive. Mm-hmm. And Eve's first sin was not obeying God. But like man's first crime against woman was like being passive and not protecting her. But then the other conversation which we were having last week, which was like, Do you know God's voice? Is like you just said, Eve didn't have the instructions. Nowhere in the Bible does it say God said this to Eve. Mm-hmm. We only know we only know that he said to Adam. So that's not to say that he didn't say it to Eve. We just don't see that. I feel like it would have said that. And she's giving this information back to a sermon. She sermon to s the snake. Yes, serpent. The serpent. And Adam doesn't step and correct her, but she never looks at him and she's like, That's right, right? That's correct. She's speaking Serena: Yeah. Hannah: it like it's fact with a misunderstanding of who and what God said and is and then she's not being corrected for speaking it like it's fact. Serena: To me it's clear that they both wanted something that wasn't theirs. Yes. And she was justifying it in her head and out loud. Mm-hmm. And he was letting her do it first so that he could shift the blame. It's like it's like you're with your friends and you're like, Well, if they do it first, yeah, it's fine. Or someone your sister goes in the cookie jar and your parents told you you can't like you're not supposed to, but they didn't say anything to her and she's like, It's fine, it's fine, like you can eat it. Yeah. And but Hannah: And you one, it's fine. Serena: and now you justify and you blame it on them because Yeah. They did it first. That's what I see. It's very childish to be honest. Hannah: Childish, but she gets so much heat when it's like was literally Serena: It was an equal thing to be honest. Hannah: equal, like they both sinned. Serena: I think that's also the start of where you see where people make their them sorry male and female inequal in their ways. They both have their parts to play. And sometimes a male will fulfill a prophecy, sometimes a female will, sometimes someone steps up in a way that you would expect the other to. But they both have an equal platform that God has given them, but different parts to play, I guess. There was something specific I was gonna say about that. That's such a what I just said I feel like can be taken out of context so easily. Hannah: No, I don't think so. I think that you made a really good point. Like that's where we start to see 'cause we obviously that's the that's the fall, but that's also where the divide is. Yeah. Serena: Where women are seen as lesser than, when it wasn't meant for them to be lesser than, they just have a difference different skills or tendencies that God has given them that are supposed to be able to allow us both to. Hannah: Well let's see. Yeah, let's go back to that not lesser than like when God created Eve, what did he introduce her as to Adam? Serena: A helper. Hannah: Yeah, help me. Yeah. And if you go to the Hebrew, which is the Old Testament language, versus the New Testament being Greek, what is that equivalent to to God? The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is referred to in that way. It's the same word just in different languages. And it's like who is is the Holy Spirit less than God? It's the three and one, right? Like women are equal to men. We are just different. Just like you would say, the Holy Spirit is still different from God even though he is God. And I feel like that's Serena: Yeah. Hannah: where things get like so misconstrued. Where it's like I'm a helpmate, I'm just here to serve and it's like, No. Serena: Well, a lot of people also wanna think of it as you're being submissive, but they use submissive wrong, I believe. Hannah: Yeah. Serena: But also you have men that wanna be tyrants and they're like, Well, I meant to be the head of the household and they use that incorrectly and then you see Jesus being the epitome of what a a male's supposed to do or as the head of the household supposed to do and he's constantly serving. He is not a tyrant in any way. Hannah: Yeah. Serena: he does get righteously angry. But it's literally righteous. Hannah: Righteous. Serena: It's like how many times do I have to tell you or are you to Hannah: Lines. Serena: like continue to make a fool out of Hannah: Yeah. Serena: this place? It's crazy. Hannah: Another thing I do love about Eve is like, okay, God created the world. Then he created all the plants and all the animals that were within it. And then he created Adam. And God was like, it's good. It's good. Everything is good. But he was like, something is still missing. Yeah. And the very last thing he created was woman. Serena: Yeah. Hannah: And he said, Now I'm done. Yeah. That is the last puzzle to the piece. That was the last bit of creation. He created woman. He was like, Now it's complete. Yeah. I think that's powerful that God looked at the world and with man and was like no we need a female counterpart yeah to be a part of this. It's not it's not complete until then. Serena: I think I also am not a big fan of a lot of the jokes degrading women, even though it's a joke, because I think those things being said out loud is not it's not good for all ears because not all ears are gonna take it the right way. You know, and what you what you take in definitely matters. And the same thing for men. We should I don't think talking negatively about them is very helpful. So Hannah: Yeah. It's not edifying. Serena: It's not edifying and I don't think you don't see very many good examples of women that talk about their husbands in a negative way in the Bible. You see some examples, definitely not good examples. It's definitely Hannah: Yeah, that's Serena: not your Psalm thirty one woman. Hannah: No. It's not your judges, woman either. No. It's neither. Serena: at all. So there's those. I I'm gonna honestly, because I feel like there are so many good notes that I had earlier. I'm gonna pull some. Hannah: Yeah, pull up your notes. Serena: Okay. So that's not the notes I was looking for. my notebook. If you guys don't know, I love notes. The notes app is my number one app that I use in my phone. Is it really? Hannah: There is Serena: Yeah. Over texting, over literally anything, even social media. This is not the right one. Okay. Okay. Hannah: Okay. Serena: I wanna go with some stats first or or numbers since we talked about this earlier. Hannah: Yeah. Serena: There were a hundred and fifty women explicitly named in the Bible. Ninety-three are recorded as having spoken dialogue in the text, forty-nine of whom are named. Please be quiet. between six hundred to over eight hundred individual women explicitly highlighted across biblical text. And then named women make up less than fifty percent of fifteen sorry percent of all named characters in scripture. Many of them played massive heroic roles, but are frequently overlooked in standard teaching. So that's I thought that was really I Hannah: Yeah. So cool. Yeah. So interesting. Serena: think yeah, women It's I don't think it's that they mean to be overlooked or forgotten. It just happened. It is fifteen percent. There's so many other huge stories that do it. Hannah: Yeah. Well that was like I've had a couple of people reach out since the last few episodes that we've done focused on women or with the genealogy of Jesus and all of this stuff and they don't realize how many hidden stories there are for women in the Bible. And there's a lot. There's a lot of women that did some really cool amazing things that would really blow your mind until you look like once you look into it, you're like, no way. I can't believe someone did that or she did that or a misunderstood like I feel like the woman at the well is a hugely misunderstood Bible story. Serena: I think there's a lot of I would say even revolutionists that they see as women because how culture was it was definitely male dominant. Yeah. But one of the stories I think I'm gonna go off next time is the five sisters that approached Moses. Hannah: Mm, that's a good one. Serena: And they're like, just because my dad didn't have any sons doesn't mean all of his property should go from his family. Yeah. And they stood up and I thought that was you know, it's an awesome story. Hannah: Yeah. Yeah. That is a good one. Okay, well let's do that one next time. Yeah we definitely Serena: Let's see here. says men in the Bible are frequently called away. yes, this is what I was gonna talk about with Hannah. Okay. So we've talked about this too before where men are a lot of times called away to go to God. Mm-hmm. While God tends to come to women in their daily tasks. And there's many reasons why. It's not like women were better than men. It was literally that in certain cultures, women didn't have the freedom to go away. Yeah. They didn't have the freedom to leave their daily duties while men had that freedom and so they went. And Hannah is not one of those people. She actually went after God. She went to God and not and he didn't come to her. Which Hannah: Yeah. Serena: I thought was a very interesting story. And I actually wrote that down as Hannah is an exception to this. Yeah this rule. This is something that you see happen many times. It doesn't happen every time obviously, but she was an exception to that rule. Hannah: She was the majority of the time. God met women where they were. Yeah. and she was one of the very few that went and found him. Yeah. Which I always think is cool. And especially at a time where there was a lot of corruption happening in leadership. Yeah. Because there were no kings yet. That was still during during the time of judges. And the prophets, the head prophets, the head priests were like seen once again like as a judge. So there's a lot of corruption happening. Like you look at Eli and his sons and she brought Samuel into this world and her faithfulness was used through that with Samuel and God then called him, which we've talked about and what God speaks, right? Yeah. And it's just so cool to see like how you can set the next generation up for success and how we see that with so many of the women in the Bible that just get undermined Serena: Yeah. Hannah: or pushed aside or like just not thought enough about when they're actually really cool. Serena: Super great stories. And there's so many that fulfill so many either prophecies or they bring something to an end or start some bloom something new. It's it's definitely worth researching the women. One other thing that I saw today that I almost forgot about is that God said that the seed of a woman, the woman, would be the one that crushed the serpent's head. And if we're gonna think of it biologically, that's not typically a woman. The seed comes from the man. Hannah: Yeah. Serena: And God fulfilled that through Mary by literally having the seed come from a woman. And I it just never really crossed my mind that 'cause they always say, you know, the the seed of the king and like all these generations and then the seed of the woman, literally just it was Mary and the Holy Spirit. Hannah: Mm-hmm. Serena: kinda blew my mind today. I was like, my gosh. It's the seed of the woman. That's that's literally happened. And then Jesus was born and crushed this serpent and death and everything that included it in there. Hannah: Yeah. It's we talk about that kinda at the beginning of the genealogy of Jesus where how like God started this prophecy and fulfillment from day one. Eve. Yeah. Yeah. With yeah. He knew. Yeah. Serena: Yeah, lit literally day one. Yeah. Hannah: Yeah, but he knew. I was someone said to me recently, they were like, I struggle with Christianity because they don't like women. And then I was talking to my mom and my grandma one day and they're like, you know, you find the most random women in the Bible to talk about when you've been going over the genealogy of Jesus and you just see how much God loves women. Yeah. And it goes back to what you're saying, like they don't really speak out about women a lot in church, except for like the not great ones, which is like they always talk about Eve sinning and then the woman at the well and the women caught in adultery which again I think the w Women at the Well hot take on that one I have that we can talk about another day. But like if you dive into it you see one, how much God uses woman women, but also how much he loves them. Serena: Yeah, even I'm going through Deuteronomy right now and I'm not gonna lie, sometimes it's hard to read some of these passages about women, but all I know is that things are lost in translation so easily that there's something I'm missing and that it's like you have to dive deeper into these passages sometimes more than others because it does sometimes sound very Hannah: Yeah, hateful horror. Serena: towards women. Some of the the expectations and examples that women have to bring forward that men do not is a little crazy. But I also know that God is a God of he knows the circumstances going on and he he also tries to provide ways for women to do things safely during those times. Hannah: Well, I always look at it as he gives all those very distinct, hard instructions for women to follow because he knows if he didn't, men would never take anything they had to say. It reminds me of Jesus when he was asked about divorce. Mm-hmm. At the time there had been two different prophets and speakers talking about one was saying, You can divorce any woman at any time. It's fine. You don't have to have any rhyme or reason, essentially. And the other one was like, You can never divorce a woman under any circumstance. And that's why they brought to Jesus was like a test to be like which side do you Agree with. Yeah. And Jesus was saying, like, only through adultery or whatever, but he was speaking to the men because men were divorcing women left and right. Think about the woman at the well. She was divorced and left again and again and again to a point where she was like, Fine, I'll take anyone who will take me, even if he won't marry me. And God was creating, like, not God, Jesus, even God was creating that safe space of being like, you can only divorce a woman on XYZ because if they did, they were left helpless. They were left vulnerable. They were left unwanted. And he, people were like, Well, Jesus only said divorce is okay because of this and he's like, Yeah, but also because there were things happening behind the scenes that culturally we don't know a lot about because it doesn't get talked about in our Bible. He was making a point to like protect them. Serena: That's such a great Yeah. I think it's really interesting too how many times in like history where when women were misused or put down as if they were lesser than, he used them more in those times to be a witness a heroine Hannah: Yes. Serena: or a defeater of evil in in so many ways. even in that time where they were witnesses to Jesus, they're the ones that were not taken seriously as witnesses, yet he used them for Hannah: Yes. Serena: Which is awesome, yeah. Yeah. And we see obviously the woman with the bleeding problem when she touched Hannah: Yeah. Serena: and she's like just had the faith to touch his garment. And people were telling you know, trying to push her away from that. Yeah. And she had a lot of faith in it. Hannah: Little tidbit on that that I learned is you know, like she touched the wing of his garment because those things had like tassels on them, so they're called wings. If you go all the way back to Handy Dandy Bible, let me find it. It's literally like the almost the last verse in the Old Testament. It's so crazy. This blew my mind when I was reading it and was doing this study. Okay, it says, behold, I will send you a light wait, is that the right one? No, that's John the Baptist. Okay. Sorry. It is okay, chapter four, it's verse two. It says, The sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. Wow. Yes, the sun being God, rising, and then she touched the wing of his garment, and she was healed. Serena: Awesome. Isn't that cool? You know what I was just thinking is like what in her really was telling her, like, you have to touch him. You know, like we we d are told all we all the time feel like God's speaking to us. And so we're like, we have to do this, like have faith, do it whether it seems embarrassing or or such. I wonder, you know, you look back and you think all all these people aren't the same as us, but they had the personalities, characteristics, they were human, but wonder what was going through her head at that moment was she feeling God's God telling her, You need to touch me. If you want to be healed, have faith enough to go do it whether everyone else is in the way or anything like that. Because he said your faith has made you well. And Hannah: Yeah. Serena: how many times like if you step out into faith, it doesn't feel comfortable a lot of times. And that was never most definitely not comfortable for her. And she did it anyways. Hannah: Yeah. You do have to wonder what was going on. Yeah. I don't know if you really Serena: Think about that, like really what what like Hannah: We forget that they're pushed her to do that. Like we when we were talking last time about like Paul and Jesus and Samuel and everybody where I'm like they're sassy. Like they have a personality. These women have personalities, y'all. Like they do. Esther had a personality. yeah. You know, like every sing E I can assure you had a personality, but the how she was handling a speaking snake, the girl had a personality. These people had personalities, but I feel like we forget that when we're reading these stories. Yeah. Serena: However you've feared, however you've second guessed, they may have had something right in front of them, but I guarantee you've had something right in front of you at some point and completely said, Nope, that's not true. You know? So Hannah: Yeah, yeah. Serena: as much as it seems simple just reading it, it's definitely way more detail or way more going on in those moments than I think we assume. Hannah: I agree. Well, that's all I have to say. Do you have anything else? Yeah, Serena: Not on these women. I'm excited for the next ones though. Hannah: for real. All right. Well, that's all we have for you today. go ahead and hit that subscribe button, like it, leave a comment, leave a review, anything that's five stars. If you didn't like it, just email us. you Serena: Yeah. Hannah: can follow us on Instagram at what is it? Serena: Living Freed Podcast. Hannah: Okay. And then you can email us at Livingfried Pod at gmail dot Serena: And let us know a woman that you feel is often forgotten. Send us a message. Hannah: Yeah, or leave it in a comment and we will talk about it. I can almost promise. Yeah. Serena: Try to stump us. I'd love to research someone new. Adios. Hannah: Yeah. All right. Bye y'all.