God’s Purpose for Women
What is God’s purpose for women and why were the chosen ones, chosen? God created woman to act as a supporter, a strong counterpart, and source of power for her husband. In the Old Testament, He chose four women to be the strongholds of the Hebrew lineage. These women had a purpose and it was through the struggle of infertility that bound them together in their darkest struggle. The fulfillment of their purpose in Gods time brought both joy and triumph to their existence. Each had a tragic flaw that created unnecessary pain and torment to their lives. Sarah doubted God, Rebekah took on a role that she should not be in, Rachel was wildly jealous and Hannah did not trust her husbands’ love. Through their lives, we are able to discover the depths of their sacrifice, the honesty of their choices and the flaws that made them imperfect women.
First, God created women for a purpose. When God created Adam from His image, God determined that he needed a partner. So the Lord “formed out of the earth all the wild beasts and all of the birds in the sky… but no fitting helper was found” (Genesis 2:18-20). Secondly, God created woman in His image. Genesis 1:27 says, “And God created man in His image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” God formed Eve from Adam’s rib.
From that beginning, women’s role began as a helper and a partner to their husbands, equal but with different responsibilities and tasks. In fact, according to R. David Freedman in his article “Woman, a Power Equal to Man,” the word “helper” does not adequately demonstrate the meaning and depth of the translated word. Instead, the word, “ezer” means strength or power, not helper. This is because of the words association with God as an “ezer to human beings” (Freedman). There were two roots of this word; ‘-z-r’ and ‘g-z-r’. The pronunciation determines the meaning. Freedman says that the root meanings in the ancient Hebrew are to save, or rescue and to be strong. The word “ezer,” was mentioned twenty-one times in the Old Testament, usually in association with God. Most often, Freedman believes the word indicates power and strength. Based on the evidence, Genesis 2:18 therefore should be translated as “I will make a power [or strength] corresponding to man” (Freedman).
While the weaker vessel, woman was to be a partner to a man, to be his equal. Unfortunately, after the Fall (of man), the role of women began to slowly spiral downward beginning with Adam blaming Eve for his own sin. After Eve ate of the fruit, she gave it to her husband. He took it willingly. The blame should lay with both: Eve for disobeying God’s command and Adam for not having the strength of character to refuse his wife (Custis James).
When God questioned both Adam and Eve, Adam blamed God first, then Eve immediately for giving him the fruit. Genesis 3:12: “The man said, ‘The woman You put at my side – she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” This begins the downslide of the role of women from supporter, source of strength and power to one of submission, dominion, and inequality.
However, despite Eve’s legacy, four women fulfilled their roles as an equal to their husbands. They understood that they had value and worth within their relationship with God but also in their relationship with their husbands. Nevertheless, the relationship with God sustains them through their deepest and darkest trials.
These women, (Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, and Hannah) were chosen by God to fulfill a specific role. They were the mothers of the Matriarchs, the cornerstone of Jewish heritage. Individually their characteristics are many and diversified. Each one struggles with defeat, distraction, hopelessness, desperation, impatience, torment, sexual assault, and sacrifice. Collectively, they share much more, such as years of infertility, and the silence of God.
Each woman experienced a great love – Sarah and Abraham, Rebekah and Isaac, Rachel and Jacob, and Hannah and Elkanah. Regardless of their mistakes, it is clear that these men were devoted to their wives. They loved them, in spite of their biggest hurdle – the infertility that ravaged each one. The infertile womb was not what made these women so special; it was how each reacted to her plight.
Sarah and Abraham are the two most iconic figures in the Old Testament due to the covenant that God makes with Abraham: “Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house… I will make of you a great nation… for I will make you the father of a multitude of nations” (Genesis 12:1-2, 17:5). Sarah had already been subjected to sexual assault by Pharoah (Genesis 12:19) and was aware of her great responsibility to produce offspring for Abraham. Instead of having patience and trust in God’s plan, Sarah was defeated by her circumstances and distracted from her purpose by her inability to bear children. She became increasingly frantic and desperate as she took matters into her own hands by giving Hagar to Abraham to have sexual relations. She believed this would relieve her anxiousness but instead, increased it. Instead of turning the blame inward, Sarah lashed at Abraham who was weak in his own faith.
Sarah allowed her identity as a woman to be obscured by her desperate desire to give Abraham children. She stumbled in her faith and fell into the trap of listening to the voice of her culture. God was silent for Sarah. He only spoke to Abraham throughout this journey. She doubted God’s provision and laughed when she finally heard His promise to her: Sarah would conceive and birth a child. The child born to her was Isaac, the son of promise. He marked the fulfillment of God’s covenant with Abraham and the restoration of Sarah’s place within her family.
Abraham did not want his son, Isaac to choose a wife from the Caananites, so he sent a servant to his native land where the servant encountered Rebekah. She was a woman of great kindness and beauty and demonstrated that kindness when she encountered Abraham’s servant at the well. She offered him and the camels water and lodging for the night. This was the response the servant had been told to seek. After meeting with her family, the servant brought Rebekah to Abraham’s house. After meeting Isaac, the writer of Genesis tells us that she brought him comfort after his mother’s death and that Isaac loved her.
Rebekah was barren for twenty years, but there was little said about her infertility. The writer of Genesis does not give us an account of the twenty years, only that Isaac “pleaded with the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was barren; and the Lord responded to his plea, and his wife Rebekah conceived” (Genesis 25:21). Unlike Sarah, there is not much known about Rebekah. There was virtually nothing said about her from when she arrived in Canaan until twenty years had passed. She does not plead with God for children. She does not cry out in prayer or give her husband to another woman. We can assume that she felt shame or forgotten by God, but nothing that we read indicates this.
It was only after her conception of twins when a clearer picture of Rebekah emerged. As the twins fought in her womb, she sought counsel from the Lord about her children. He told her, “Two nations are in your womb, two separate peoples shall issue from your body; one people shall be mightier than the other, and the older shall serve the younger” (Genesis 25:23). Isaac was weak in his role as head of the family because he displayed his favoritism for Esau over Jacob. Genesis 25:28 says, “Now Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for game, but Rebekah loved Jacob” (NASB). Isaac disobeyed God by determining that Esau would get the birthright. He fell victim to the desires of his flesh and did not trust God to provide for both his sons. This caused a domino effect in the family. Rebekah, took the role of spiritual leader, one she was not equipped to do. Jacob became a deceiver. There is alienation between the family members, pitting husband against wife, mother against son, father against son and brother against brother. None of this would have occurred if, beginning with Isaac, the family trusted God.
Rachel, daughter of Laban, was also beautiful. She loved Jacob and he loved her, enough to work seven years to have her as his wife. He was willing to work for her father for that amount of time, which showed his dedication to her. Rachel, like Sarah and Rebekah, was infertile. In addition, she was jealous of her rival and sister, Leah. Out of jealousy, Rachel gave her handmaid to Jacob. He conceived with her (and others), producing ten children. When Rachel finally conceived, it was after seven years of infertility. She gave birth to Joseph, Jacob’s favorite son.
As with the other women, we can only assume that in addition to her jealousy, Rachel felt disgrace, shame, maybe desperation and perhaps forgotten. God was, again, silent, as with Sarah and Rebekah. She was wildly jealous of her sister. Her inability to trust God and His provision caused pain in her life.
Finally, the great love that Hannah and Elkanah experience provided Hannah with knowledge that though the Lord had deliberately closed her womb, Elkanah’s love for her did not change. This knowledge came with a price. Hannah had difficulty trusting Elkanah’s love, due to his procreation of many children with Peninnah. The text implies Elkanah loved Hannah deeply. 1 Samuel 1:8 says “Hannah, why are you crying and why aren’t you eating? Why are you so sad? Am I not more devoted to you than ten sons?” Elkanah simply could not understand why Hannah was so desperate for a child. He could not understand why his love simply was not enough. Frankly, Elkanah was not able to understand Hannah’s desperation because he was a man. Hannah’s infertility was caused because her womb was closed deliberately. In her mind, she was the one who was unable to give Elkanah children. This produced feelings of inadequacy, bitterness, and depression perpetuated by the mocking and belittling treatment Hannah received from Peninnah and the constant reminder of Peninnah’s many children. Even though Elkanah loved Hannah deeply, she still felt forgotten by God.
Hannah had a job to do: produce a male heir so she would feel vindicated. Moreover, Hannah was a woman who had a fierce love for her God and wanted Him to vindicate himself to the naysayers around her. This love for God, demonstrated by her remarkably relentless faith and through her prayers to Him, shows the depth of her character. Even though God was silent, as with the other women, Hannah never gave up hope that she would have a son. It was her greatest desire. Instead of turning away from God, like Sarah and Rachel, Hannah turned to Him.
Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, and Hannah were created for a purpose; helpers and strong partners for their husbands, but also chosen to sustain and continue the Hebrew legacy; Abraham’s heritage. Their sons (Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Samuel) were some of the greatest men in the history of the Old Testament, matriarchs of the Jewish people. They were born only through tremendous trials and strife, victory and triumph over infertility and dissention. The four women provide examples of strength, pillars withstanding tests. They provide lessons for believers to learn from and follow. So many times, we forget to simply wait and trust God in His provision for our lives. As believers, but sinful beings, it is easy to succumb to the desires of the flesh to grow impatient and desperate, often feeling forgotten and lost. God listens, even when He is silent. These are teachings from the lives of Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, and Hannah. Their purpose was fulfilled. They struggled and fought. Each had flaws; none of them perfect. It is through their lives that we are able to use their inabilities and shortcomings to learn from and are able to see that God did not create women to be lesser beings than men, but rather given different tasks with tremendously different responsibilities.
