“Unveiled: Women Erased from the Bible” by Shelly Eshkoli

If I were asked to name women in the Bible, my answer would come out rather perfunctory. Other than Eve, my answer would gravitate to the New Testament. Mary. Mary Magdalene. Martha. The woman at the well. Priscilla, friend of Paul. The woman who touched Jesus’s robe. All people from the New Testament. 

I have to think harder about the Old Testament. Then they surface. Sarah. Pharoah’s daughter. Rachel and Leah. Rebecca. There are more. They all have stories, some short and some longer. But there are also women who appear and then almost vanish.

 

Writer Shelly Eshkoli aims to correct that with Unveiled: Women Erased from the Bible. She features 10 women from the Old Testament, some named and some nameless, who appear in the accounts and then almost vanish, or as Eshkoli might say, almost erased.

 

Shelly Eshkoli

The 10 women are Zipporah, the wife of Moses; the daughter of Jephthah in the Book of Judges; Hagar, the maidservant of Sarah; Lot’s wife; Jael, the woman known for a mallet and nail; Tamar, the daughter-in-law of Judah; Athaliah, the murderous daughter of Jezebel; Esther, the queen of Persia who saved the people of Israel; the Queen of Sheba; and the witch of Endor, consulted by Saul and supposedly summoning the ghost of the prophet Samuel.

 

Eshkoli begins each account with a fictional “scroll,” allowing each woman to tell her story in her own words. Then a solid, well-researched account follows. Eshkoli sifts through history, archaeology. Linguistics, and other sources to draw a picture of each woman and the times in which she lived. What emerges is a nuanced, thoughtful discussion which brings depth to the story of each woman.

 

The author is a well-known and highly regard tour guide and group leader in Jerusalem and the Biblical lands of Israel. She holds an M.A. degree in Biblical Studies and is also a lecturer and teacher, bringing in-depth knowledge of the life and culture of the ancient Near East to her work.

 

Unveiled is an engaging look at 10 women of the Bible we know little about. Eshkoli brings them alive on the page, and we can see the vital role they played in the Bible story.

 

Some Monday Readings

 

America at 250: Teaching with Honesty and Gratitude – Janie Cheaney at Redeemed Reader.

 

The Sad Death of Tabloid English – Christopher Gage at Oxford Sour.

 

The Siege of Basing House – A London Inheritance.

 

Spring Blossoms and Untimely Reflections – K.S. Bernstein at Apple Blossoms in a Mournful Wood on Prince Andrei and War and Peace.

Broadcast news

After Luke 24:1-12 

The women return, murmuring

among themselves, grappling

with the shock of the stone

rolled away, an empty tomb,

dazzling messengers saying

he was not there but risen.

They speak the news, meet

denial (what do women know?),

find accusations of idle talk,

fake news, ridiculed

in disbelief of what they say,

what they say they’ve seen.

Except for one, only one 

who runs to see, to prove

one way or the other, and

he finds the broadcast news

to be good.

 

Photograph by Kane Reinholdtsen via Unsplash. Used with permission.

The tomb cut in stone

After Luke 23:50-56 

A new tomb, cut in stone,

previously unoccupied,

a clean and silent place,

is the site they bring

the body, taken down

and wrapped in linen

strips, to prepare 

for burial. The women

came and saw the body

taken to the tomb, so

they would know where

to come with the spices

and ointments after

the day of rest. 

They made note 

of the place, the tomb,

the place to return

for final preparation,

the final ritual of life,

the preparation for

burial and sealing

of the stone.

 

Photograph by Kiwi Thompson via Unsplash. Used with permission.

The last prophecy

After Luke 23:26-31 

The women weep

to see him dragged

through dusty streets,

bearing the cross

upon his back 

until he can bear

no more; Simon

of Cyrene is

made to bear it,

as the one is

dragged to the hill.

The women weep;

he says to them

don’t weep for me,

weep for yourselves

for you children,

the days will come

when women weep,

when women wish

they never gave birth,

or nursed children,

asking mountains

to fall on them

and asking hills

to cover them.

Weep for that time;

don’t weep for me.

 

Photograph by Birmingham Museums Trust via Unsplash. Used with permission.

“Everbloom: Stories of Deeply Rooted and Transformed Lives”

Forty-one members of the Redbud Writers Guild have come together to provide stories of hope and redemption, often from very deep and very dark holes. Editors Shayne Moore and Margaret Ann Philbrick have assembled these 41 stories into Everbloom:Stories of Deeply Rooted and Transformed Lives.

Organized into four sections – “Roots,” “Trunk,” “Branches,” and “Blossoms,” Everbloom is filled with a broad diversity of stories and poems – nothing seems similar or repetitive. These accounts do have one thing in common – they are riveting accounts of scenes, issues, events, tragedies, and triumphs in the lives of Christian women.

A missionary kid watches a local man beat his wife, and sees her father unable to do anything about it.

An old tree is cut down.

A career move takes away everything and everyone who is familiar.

From childhood, a woman lives with fear of abduction.

A much-wanted baby is lost in miscarriage.

A young woman is gang-raped.

A brother kills himself.

A short-term missionary trip becomes an introduction to AIDS in Africa.

A woman who can’t stop bleeding.

A pastor who becomes an activist for ageism – when her professor husband is told by his Christian college that they have to let him go for budget reasons, and, oh, by the way, could he train his younger replacement?

And more. A lot more.

These stories are the stuff of real experience and real life. But they’re more than stories – they’re lessons we can all apply.

Each story and poem has a prayer and a writing prompt, so the book becomes more than a collection. It’s an invitation to consider your own life and your own experiences.

I’m not familiar with all of the writers and poets included in the book, but I do follow the writing of several, including April Yamasaki, Leslie Leyland Fields, and Sarah Rennicke. That’s the other benefit of the book – to find new people to read and follow.

Everbloom is moving, and often heart wrenching, but it always about hope.

Top photograph by Rostislav Kralik via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.

Poetic Voices: Kelly Hansen Maher and Heather Derr-Smith

In new collections, poets Kelly Hansen Maher and Heather Derr-Smith write about lives as women, Hansen Maher speaking to the pain of repeated miscarriages and Derr-Smith exploring relationships and female sexuality. Oddly enough (for me, not the poets), as I read these collections, I found myself considering recurring images of end-times.

Perhaps this isn’t so odd: miscarriages are about endings, accompanied by heartbreak and pain; and what Derr-Smith describes suggests, in part, the pain land loss of endings that can be accompanied by violence. Of course, my images of end-times could be nothing more than reflections of my own anxieties about the presidential election.

To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.