Worthy, p.10
Worthy, page 10
The End of the Law
What that means is that all of those laws about food and drink, festivals or Sabbaths, only Levites being called to serve God, are no longer in effect (See Colossians 2:16). These laws were just “a shadow of the things to come” (Colossians 2:17) and “pointed to a future reality that was fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ.”10
The Mosaic Law continually reminded the people of their sin but offered no lasting cleansing. Even if you tried really hard to please God and avoid anything that would make you unclean, you would eventually fail—your body would betray you. No matter how careful you were to eat in a certain way or celebrate yearly feasts, no one was able to do so flawlessly. Sacrifices and offerings to cover sin had to be offered over and over, and yet the people were never free of guilt because just as soon as one offering had been made, another would be necessary. All Christians, both women and men, can rejoice that they are no longer under the Mosaic covenant. Indeed, we have something so much better. We have been given perfection, and all without our law-keeping.
For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. . . . For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
Hebrews 10:1, 14
Christians are now freed from the law as a way to appease or earn merit from God. We are completely forgiven and counted completely righteous because of the perfect law-keeping and substitutionary death of Jesus. That truth applies to both women and men. In the same way that we have been equally created in God’s image, we are now equally saved, forgiven, and adopted into his family. This is great news. We are brothers and sisters equal in his sight, heirs with one another of the “grace of life” (1 Peter 3:7).
Sisters, I hope that you’ve learned now how to read the Old Testament in light of what Jesus has done. The rules there are not meant to confuse or condemn you. Rather, they are there to help you see what Jesus has done for you. They are there to help you see how beloved and protected you are and how, like a strong older brother, Jesus protected women from every form of misogyny. He is the True Israelite, the One who fulfilled all that the Law called God’s people to be. Yes, he calls us to live lives in dedicated service to him, but he also understands our weaknesses and sin. You can rejoice in him and trust his love.
My brothers, I trust that you’ve come to see how Jesus cared for women in his day—women who were powerless and in need of protection. Jesus grew up under the Law, learned the Law, embodied the Law and that means that he protected and cared for women (as the Law did). The ultimate evidence that the Law was not misogynistic is the fact that Jesus, who fulfilled the Law, was no misogynist. I hope that you have seen how he comforted an unclean and an immoral woman, and how he didn’t automatically support the religious leaders in their quest to twist the Law and shame a woman. And I hope that you have seen how the ministry of our faithful High Priest has abrogated all the Mosaic Law and thrown the doors open for women to serve alongside you in the proclamation of this great Good News. How might you respond?
DISCOVERING A WOMAN’S WORTH
Have you ever felt confused or uncomfortable with the Mosaic Law? If so, how?
What does the story of the woman with a bleeding disorder teach you? How did Jesus uphold the Law while showing us its true purpose?
What does the law on jealousy teach you about God? Can you see how this is actually a positive?
What does the story of the adulterous woman teach you? How did Jesus uphold the Law while showing us its true purpose?
How does Jesus’ genealogy teach us about the better covenant God has made with us? How is that good news?
Summarize what you have learned in this chapter in three or four sentences.
DIGGING DEEPER
Read Leviticus 27:3–4. Does this strike you as denigrating to a woman’s worth? Why or why not?
Read Exodus 21:7–11. Explain how this law actually protects women.
Read Deuteronomy 24:1–4. How do these laws about divorce protect women?
Read Ezekiel 16. Although this is a chapter about an adulterous woman, how should we read it today? Was it actually aimed at casting aspersions on women in general? Who was it aimed at?
SIX
The Worth of Women in Israel’s Worship
And Miriam sang to them:
“Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”
Exodus 15:21
Ah. At last. My (Elyse’s) favorite time in the worship service. Time for the bread and the wine. The pastor broke the bread and poured the wine and reminded us that because Jesus’ body and blood were broken and poured out for us, we were welcomed at his table. The song leader began playing Sandra McCracken’s hymn, “We Will Feast in the House of Zion,”1 and I started to weep. “This is his body broken for you.” Take the cup. Go back to your seat and wait while everyone is served. I watched as the young, tatted, and broken congregation filed up to receive this best of all gifts and I couldn’t control my joy. Yes, I too will feast at the House of Zion. I will sing with my heart restored. “He has done great things. . . . We will sing and weep no more.” I’m his. I’m theirs. He’s mine.
There have been many times over the nearly five decades that I’ve been a Christian that I’ve been overwhelmed by Christ’s nearness and love. I frequently lift my hands in worship—because I can’t fly around the room . . . yet. I know what it is to rejoice and to be shocked at the truth that I’m invited to that table, where I’ll feast with sisters and brothers—and One Brother in particular—forever! I know what it is to dance (at least in my heart) because he’s delivered me from my soul’s enemies. I’ll bet you do too.
For millennia, women have been rejoicing at the goodness of God. We’re not the first ones and we won’t be the last. In the new earth, we will spend forever dancing and singing for joy. Yes, we will sing, and weep no more! Imagine that! We are safe. Our deliverance has been accomplished. It’s done!
The Worshiping Women
But life was different for the Israelites in Egypt. It had been centuries since they had known a day without master or whip. They had experienced decades of want, pain, and despair. They were slaves who had watched as their infant sons were devoured by crocodiles. They had felt the flesh-mutilating lash of their harsh masters. Deliverance was a pipe dream. Nothing ever changed. The promise of a deliverer still wasn’t fulfilled. Slaves they were born. Slaves they would die. There was no hope. God had forgotten them, it seemed. Their cries for help went nowhere. They were alone.
Then, after 400 years of silence, a deliverer finally arrived proclaiming that God had heard them. They would be safe. They would be free. They followed Moses as he led them out into their new life. But then they were backed up against the Red Sea. What had seemed like answered prayer started to look more like a cruel trick. Had their hope been in vain? Had God forgotten them again? Would they despair forever? After a terrifying night caught between their enemy and the sea, a way of escape was opened and “the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left” (Exodus 14:29). The water, the very source of their terror, became subservient to their deliverance. They had been remembered after all.
And from the shore they watched with incredulous joy as their Savior delivered them and annihilated their enemy (Jude 1:5). As the bodies of the Egyptians washed up at their feet, the women could no longer control their emotion. After all, they had sobbed for their lost sons and their husbands’ wounds every night. Their dark days had turned into years as whole generations of women prayed and prayed for fulfillment of the promise and now, finally, the Lord had answered them. God had heard their cries for help (Exodus 3:7–9). They were free! The tables were turned! Their enemy lay dead at their feet! In response, Moses led all the people in a song of praise,
I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
the horse and the rider he has thrown in the sea.
The Lord is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation;
this is my God, and I will praise him. . . .
The Lord is a man of war;
the Lord is his name.
Exodus 15:1–3
And then, in great joy and overwhelming gratitude, Miriam picked up a tambourine and started to dance. And,
All the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing. And Miriam sang to them:
“Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”
Exodus 15:20–21
Miriam, a woman who had shepherded her baby brother down the Nile, lost him to Pharaoh’s court and the wilderness, and had stood by while her parents and all whom she loved broke under the brutal rule of the Egyptians, did something that we have no record of before this time. She was so overjoyed, she couldn’t stand still. Moses’ song was good, but singing, even joyful singing couldn’t capture her exuberance. So she led her newly freed sisters in a dance. Of course she did. Who could stand still and merely sing piously at a time like this? God hadn’t forgotten them! The deliverer had come! They were finally free!
This is the first dance of worship in the Bible.
And it was led by a woman.
Are you surprised by Miriam’s display of joy and gratitude? I’m not. Over the years, I’ve watched women declare devotion and love through more than softly spoken words because words simply weren’t sufficient. I’ve seen them weep for joy as they sang words of praise. Other times they have lifted their hands and sung boldly with all their hearts. We read of other women who anointed the One they loved with kisses and perfume (Matthew 26:6–13; John 12:1–3; Luke 7:36–38). Perhaps because they feel their devotion so keenly or maybe because they are not trying to prove that they’re in control (and not emotional), women in both the Old and the New Testament are known for extravagant acts of worship. Hannah for one.
A Woman Who Excelled in Prayer and Song
First Samuel opens with the well-known story of Hannah. Like other women we’ve talked about, Hannah’s identity was wrapped up in her ability to give birth to the promised son. And like Sarah before her, she’d failed. Of course, she also longed to bear sons who would carry on her husband’s name and thereby ensure the family’s inheritance. So in light of the family’s need, Hannah’s husband, Elkanah, had taken another wife. Elkanah’s unlawful,2 though pragmatic, marriage to Peninnah wasn’t meant to hurt her, although every time she saw one of Peninnah’s children playing on her husband’s knee, she was deeply wounded. No, Elkanah did love her, even though he idiotically overestimated the value of his love and underestimated her devastation (1 Samuel 1:8). Peninnah was able to give birth to many children, and if that wasn’t enough to crush Hannah’s heart, she loved to rub Hannah’s face in it (vv. 6–7). Perhaps Peninnah mourned her loveless marriage and lashed out at Hannah because of it. In any case, Hannah’s heart was broken, but still she persevered on in faith.
On their yearly trip to worship in Shiloh, we get to see Hannah’s heart of worship. Unlike the priests who ministered there, Hannah had come to give herself wholly to prayer and willing sacrifice. Eli, the head priest at the time, had turned the service of the temple over to his two debased, gluttonous, and drunkard sons, who sexually molested the women who had come to serve at the gates of God’s house. The Bible calls them “worthless men” who “did not know the Lord” (1 Samuel 2:12). Into this cesspool of externally religious immorality, a broken and barren woman of faith came. Hannah was
deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. And she vowed a vow 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, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life.”
1 Samuel 1:10–11
As an aside, it’s important to note that Hannah’s addressing God as the “Lord of hosts” (1:11) is the “first time this particular title is found in a prayer in Scripture.”3 In doing so, she’s indicating her trust in the power and dominion of God over every created force.
Hannah’s pious prayer was observed and misinterpreted by Eli, who saw her mouth moving but didn’t hear her words. He assumed that she was drunk and rebuked her. But unlike his sons, she wasn’t drunk.
Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord. Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman [like his sons], for all along I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation.”
1 Samuel 1:15–16
Hannah’s devotion stands in stark contrast to Eli’s failure. He refused to rebuke his sons and honored them above the Lord, seeking rather to please them and keep their good will. Hannah, out of her brokenness and devastation, was willing to give up the very thing that she most desired out of a love for and trust in God. Hannah’s prayer was answered and, “the Lord remembered her. And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel” (1 Samuel 1:19–20) whose name means “heard of God.”4 God heard this worthy woman’s prayer. He hears our prayer, too.
Hannah’s Song
Hannah not only shines as an example of prayer in a time of religious darkness, her song is a beautiful example of a woman’s calling to worship God for his kindness in exalting both her and his kingdom. Like Mary’s song of rejoicing at the conception of her Messiah (Luke 1:46–55), Hannah worships the “God who reverses human fortunes by his mighty power . . . who protects the faithful.”5 And along with David’s prayer, which together bookend First and Second Samuel, Hannah’s lyric of praise rejoices in God for his holiness, faithfulness, protection, and strength. Hannah is definitely rejoicing in the answer to her prayer and the lifting of her shame, but she’s also demonstrating deep theological acumen and gifting as a writer of divine poetry. She uses the answer to her personal prayer to “rejoice in the triumph of God for all his people.”6 And her song was inscripturated for both men and women to read and learn from. As Jerram Barrs writes, “There is no notice at the head of the song: ‘For women and children only.’”7 Women should feel encouraged to use all of God’s kindnesses to us as spurs to both public and private worship.
Brothers, are you asking the Lord to help the women in your care to express their faith in the Lord and the songs he’s given them publicly? May it never be said that any pastor or elder would denigrate a woman’s song or testimony, when offered in faith. Do you make a place for women to pray publicly?
Deborah’s Song
Like Miriam before her, the prophetess Deborah led Barak and probably other warriors in a post-war song of deliverance (see Judges 5). “So may all your enemies, perish, O Lord!” she sang, “But your friends be like the sun as he rises in his might” (Judges 5:31). Deborah knew that Jehovah was her mighty friend, so she sang. That Deborah led this time of worship is shown by the fact that the Hebrew word for “sang” here is a “feminine singular form.”8 That means the song was hers, and that Barak (and probably other warriors) just joined it. She is the first person to employ prophetic language about the stars fighting for Israel. Deborah led this time of worship because she could not restrain her joy and relief at her nation’s deliverance. The Bible doesn’t say that Deborah danced, like Miriam, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she did. Would you? Singing and dancing before the Lord is part of Jeremiah’s prophesied response to God’s salvation,
For the Lord has ransomed Jacob
and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him.
They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion,
and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord . . .
their life shall be like a watered garden,
and they shall languish no more.
Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance,
and the young men and the old shall be merry.
Jeremiah 31:11–13, emphasis added
Women Have Always Worshiped
It would be easy to read the Bible, especially the Old Testament and miss the impact women had in the worship life of God’s chosen people. Have you ever had such good news that it made you jump up and down for joy? Have you ever just broken out in song because the event you’ve been hoping for finally happened, or deliverance was yours at last? I have. I’ve had times of worship when I was so overwhelmed by some precious truth or the nearness of the Lord that I’ve lifted my hands and wept for joy. I’ve heard the same thing from women who worship their Lord on the way to work—some of them to a job they love, others to one that wasn’t their choice. And yet, he is there with them, stuck in traffic, stuck in mundanity or purpose, consigned to a life that may be something different than the one they dreamed about as a young girl or the very thing they’ve always dreamed of.
