Description
This is a book of biographical sketches of the more famous women of Israel. The author believes the women of the Bible have not received the honor and recognition they deserve and she has attempted in this historical study to help the reader of the Bible to realize that the women of both the Old and New Testaments were characters worthy of our highest esteem. Mrs. Elder portrays her characters with feelings and thoughts much like our own and paints a vivid picture of the manners and customs of those times. Back in the earliest of biblical times the woman was the equal of man in every respect. She had an independence in patriarchal times surpassing even today and was entrusted with the administration of her husband’s property as well as her own. The women of heathen nations were the first to lose this independence which was retained by the women of Israel until the captivities. With the return of the captives from Babylon to Palestine a marked change is obvious and family life was never the same again. The women of both Houses of Israel had become degraded to the level of the women of their captors and a woman was viewed by her husband as a mere chattel and his slave. The author shows how women began to regain their previous status with the appearance of Christ and his positive attitude toward them as he encouraged them to speak by addressing them and conversing with them in public. Although the journey back to the level of equality formerly enjoyed by those earliest women of the Bible has been slow and arduous it has finally ended today with her ancient independence restored. In this special work the author reveals little known aspects of these wonderful ‘foremothers’…from Sarah to Claudia… and in so doing has not only made a significant contribution to our knowledge but has rejected by positive statement the negative criticisms which have unfortunately been so long extant.
