Later in this blog I want to look at what the differences are between masculinity and femininity, and about how we can live into our true femininity as twenty-first-century women. However, issues of gender have become so confused in our broken world that I’m very cautious of getting distracted by stereotypes rather than seeing the reality that lies beneath them. I think it’s important to ground our ideas in something. Since I’m a Christian, I want to make sure that I’m learning God’s definition of femininity, and the Bible is the best place to do this.
There are so many fascinating women in the Bible who express their femininity in vibrant, diverse, individual ways. They range from the gentle, trusting Mary who became the mother of Jesus, to the strong-minded, laughing Sarah who became the first matriarch of the Jewish people. From the glamorous, courageous Queen Esther who saved her people from genocide, to the bold judge Deborah who rescued her people through battle, and the humble yet daring Ruth who saw God at work in her everyday life. There’s Mary Magdalene who was among the first to see Jesus after he had risen from the dead, affluent businesswoman Lydia and church leader Phoebe who each furthered the spread of the gospel, and the faithful grandmother Lois who taught her children well. There’s Rehab who was a prostitute before she came to know God, anonymous midwives who conspired against the pharaoh to save the lives of persecuted Jewish babies, the singing prophetess Miriam, and Naomi who changed her name to Mara (meaning ‘bitter’) as a sign of mourning. And these are just a few of the many, many women to be found in the Bible.
There are too many women to look at in one go, so for now we’ll just be focusing on some of the most significant women in Genesis. Genesis is the first book in the Bible and its name means ‘beginnings’ as it sets the scene for what God’s plan is for humanity. Each blog post in this series will include Bible verse references so you can read along – and I’d encourage you to join in with this, even if you aren’t Christian, as there are some amazing stories. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the Bible, the references take the form of ‘John 3:16’. This means the book of John (the Bible is a library of 66 books), chapter three, verse 16. These numbers will be printed in your Bible to make it easy to find – or you can easily find the Bible free online or in free Bible apps.
I’m excited for this series! I hope you will enjoy learning about these amazing biblical women too. Below I’ve included a list of all the women who are mentioned in Genesis, with those I plan to write a more detailed blog post on in bold.
List of Women in Genesis
- Eve
- Cain’s wife
- Adah (1)
- Zillah
- Naamah
- Daughters of Adam
- Daughters of Seth
- Daughters of Enos
- Daughters of Cainan
- Daughters of Mahalaleel
- Daughters of Jared
- Daughters of Enoch
- Daughters of Methuselah
- Daughters of Lamech
- Daughters of men
- Noah’s wife
- Noah’s sons’ wives
- Daughters of Shem
- Daughters of Arphaxad
- Daughters of Salah
- Daughters of Eber
- Daughters of Peleg
- Daughters of Reu
- Daughters of Serug
- Daughters of Nahor
- Sarai/Sarah
- Milcah
- Iscah
- Captive women
- Hagar
- Lot’s two daughters
- Lot’s wife
- Women servants from Abimelech
- Abimelech’s wife
- Abimelech’s maidservants
- Ishmael’s wife
- Rebekah
- Reumah
- Daughters of the Canaanites
- Abraham’s maidservants
- Rebekah’s nurse Deborah
- Rebekah’s damsels
- Keturah
- Abraham’s concubines
- Judith
- Bashemath (1)
- Daughters of Heth
- Mahalath
- Rachel
- Leah
- Zilpah
- Bilhah
- Dinah
- Daughters of the land of Shechem
- Adah (2)
- Aholibamah
- Anah
- Bashemath (2)
- Esau’s daughters
- Timna
- Mehetabel
- Matred
- Daughter of Shuah
- Tamar
- Tamar’s midwife
- Potiphar’s wife
- Asenath
- Jacob’s daughters
- Jacob’s sons’ daughters
- Jacob’s sons’ wives
Feminine Finishing School 