The Stories of Women in the Bible
For the last seven months I have been telling the stories of women in the New Testament. From January 2014, through early May 2014 I posted stories of women who encountered Jesus. From May until Mid-July we encountered the stories of the women who are in the Book of Acts. The last few weeks we studied about many women who worked in the early Church, many of whom are commended personally by the apostle Paul in his epistles.
There are far more women in the Bible than most people realize. I only covered most of the women in the New Testament. Many more stories could be told of all of the women in the Old Testament as well.
I would like to recommend some great books that actually cover all of the women named in the Bible. Each of these is written with a different style and focus, but they definitely convey the idea that God has used women in His kingdom since Eve was created.
The Gospels, the book of Acts, and Paul’s epistles are the primary sources for the information in my blog posts.
The following books contain the historical details and other research that I relied on for the stories I posted. I used some details from each book, but all of the books taken together contain so much more in them about the women in the Bible.
The presentation of the stories of the women in the Old Testament, which I did not cover, will open your eyes to so much that God was doing that we don’t hear in our churches. You will be amazed and encouraged!
— Deen, Edith, All of the Women of the Bible, (Harper & Row Publishers, New York, 1955).
This book is divided into three sections, making it very helpful to read entire stories of named women in the Bible, or just look them up for quick reference.
In Part 1, “Searching Studies of Women in he Foreground”, Edith Deen begins with Eve and continues through the Old Testament covering all of the major figures, Eve, Sarah, Ruth, and many more. She covers the stories of many women you may never have heard of but they were very important – for example, Huldah the prophetess.
She continues through the New Testament with stories about women who met Jesus, women in the early Church and she again includes many little known women. Edith is an excellent storyteller and you will feel like you can put yourself in the picture with the women whose stories she is recreating. She includes enough background material so that you can really understand what it was like to be a woman living in the ancient cultures and times.
Part 2 is an alphabetical listing of all of the named women. There is only a sentence or two about some women, but there are several paragraphs about major figures in the Bible. This gives you a helpful short synopsis of the story. Listed also is the place to turn to in Part 1 for stories of the major women.
Part 3 is a chronological listing of all of the hundreds of unnamed women who are in the background in the Bible. There are forty references to “daughters” for example. Wives, mothers, widows and other unnamed women are all included. These women were important enough to God to put into His Word and they are important for us to study. Their lives have much to tell us.
Edith Deen’s work is a great reference book and a joy to read as a storybook.
— Richards, Sue and Lawrence, Every Woman in the Bible, Fully Illustrated, (Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1999).
Larry and Sue Richards do a great job of helping us understand what life was like for all of the women in the Bible. This 
book contains many charts, maps and other illustrations that help the reader to get a better picture of life in Bible times.
The book is basically chronological. Each section contains an overview of a particular time period and then covers the women in that period. For example, chapter 11 covers the Gospel period. The Richards’ explain what life was like in Jesus’ day. They cover cultural aspects, geography, and much more. Then they tell the stories of the women in that time period.
The Richards’ have an alphabetical listing of the named women in the Bible. They also have a very helpful expository index where you can look up a woman by topic.
Sue and Larry Richards are well-known Bible study teachers and scholars. I think you will appreciate the research and information in this book.
— Richards, Sue and Lawrence, Women of the Bible: The Life and Times of Every Woman in the Bible, (Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 2003)).
This second book by Sue and Larry Richards contains much of the same information as the previous book, but it is arranged differently.
Part 1 contains all of the women of the Bible arranged alphabetically. For those who want an excellent book on Bible women with short stories and background information, this is the one. Of course, some of the stories are shorter or longer than others depending on how much information is in the Bible.
Each story contains, first of all, the Scripture references. The time period of the story is listed. Very helpful is the correct pronunciation of the name. The historical significance of the women is often given as well.
Following this is the woman’s role in Scripture. The other people in the story are examined. For example, to know more about Ruth it is helpful to know something about Naomi and Boaz.
Each story ends with a “close-up” and a summary of how we can relate to this woman today. This part of each story would be an excellent start for a Bible study on the women in the Bible.
There is a “quick reference” guide to all of the women who are named.
Five Appendices give more helpful information and background material for the various sections of the Bible:
Appendix A: “Historical Panorama of Women in the Bible”
Appendix B: “Women of the Old Testament”
Appendix C: “Women of the New Testament”
Appendix D: “Paul’s Teaching on Women”
Appendix E: “Proverbs 31 Woman”
At the end of the book is an expository index and a Scripture index.
This book is very interesting to read. I highly recommend it.
— Tucker, Ruth, Dynamic Women of the Bible: What We Can Learn From Their Surprising Stories, (Baker Books, Grand Rapids, 2014).
Ruth Tucker is a well-known scholar and teacher. She has published many books on Church History. She is recognized as a
foremost authority on women in the Bible and in Church history.
In this, her latest book, Ruth covers the stories of over fifty incredible women in the Bible. She has arranged the stories in a very thought provoking way. For example she pairs Deborah and Jael so the reader can get the full story of these incredibly courageous women.
With sidebars full of interesting background material, and study questions at the end, this book has a wealth of scholarly material and would be a top choice for a serious Bible study.
Be warned however: some of the women in the Bible are controversial in churches today. Be ready to have some of your preconceived notions challenged. Ruth makes these women into real, flesh and blood, full dimensional characters. If you have read my blog posts on Phoebe and Junias for example, you will know that women did many more things for the Kingdom of God than what the ordinary fundamentalist church may have taught you.
Ruth Tucker is a great storyteller and you will enjoy this book very much while you are learning a great deal about the incredible women in God’s Word.
