Through My Eyes: Women of the Bible

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© 2015 DONNA HERBISON. All rights reserved.

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Published by AuthorHouse 04/14/2015

ISBN: 978-1-5049-0497-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5049-0496-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015905029

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Table of Contents

Eve

Awan

Azura

Emzara

Sitidos

Sarah

Hagar

Pheine’

Keturah

Rebekah

Leah

Rachel

Bilhah

Zilpah

Tamar bat Aaron

Dinah

Asenath

Jochebed

Zipporah

Miriam

Rahab

Mahlah

Deborah

Jael

Zeleponith

Delilah

Naomi

Orpah

Ruth

Peninnah

Hannah

Sedecla

Nitzevet

Michal

Abigail bath Caleb

Maacah bat Talmai

Bathsheba

Tamar bath David

Abigail bath Jesse

Tamar bath Absalom

Makeda

Sere

Susannah

Jezebel

Athaliah

Jehosheba

Gomer

Hadassah

Vashti

Elizabeth

Anna

Mary of Nazareth

Riva

Levona

Photina

Martha

Mary of Bethany

Joanna

Mary of Emmaus

Mary Magdalene

Salome of Capernaum

Veronica

Herodias

Salome Herodias

Claudia

Mary of Jerusalem

Sapphira

Tabitha

Lydia

Prisca

Phoebe

Eunice

Alexia Maria

Bernice

Eve

Looking back, it was all like a dream, though I know it all really happened that way. The first thing I remember was opening my eyes and seeing the most beautiful garden in the world. The greens were greener than anything I have seen since. Flowers were everywhere in every hue imaginable. The fruiting trees had both flowers and fruit at the same time. I knew the names of every single piece of vegetation, though I certainly can’t remember them now. There was a lot of vegetation that I haven’t seen since that awful day we left the garden, but I’ll tell of that day later. I heard the sweet song of birds singing and the murmur of the brooks. Here and there were some of the animals and I knew their names too.

I quickly became aware of the presence of the LORD God. I really can’t describe what he looks like and I’m sure I didn’t see him in all his glory; I just knew immediately who he was. I was able to carry on a conversation with him too.

Then he took me to Adam. He was different from the animals I had seen. He was standing upright like I was. He was the same but different, taller than I, with a slightly, but definitely, different shape. The first words out of his mouth were, This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; and she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. God had caused Adam to go into a deep sleep. He took one of Adam’s ribs and fashioned me from it, then filled the space in Adam’s side with flesh.

We were happy in those days. Yes, there were days, alternating periods of dark and light. There was a pleasant rhythm even of the temperatures, warm during daylight, somewhat cooler, but still comfortable, at night. Food was easy to get; we just walked up to the trees and helped ourselves to the fruits and nuts that grew there. Fruits and vegetables on bushes and vines were in their places and we knew where to dig for other varieties. There were fields rich with grain ready to pluck as we liked.

The animals too found their food easily. Many grazed on the grasses. Insects frequented the flowers, as did some of the birds. Other birds fed on the grains in the fields. Sometimes we would hand feed them. At that time we could get up close to all kinds of creatures, unlike now. Can you imagine trying, or even wanting, to get close to a lion these days?

The days were pleasant, every single one of them. Time existed but it wasn’t important. I don’t know how long our perfect life lasted, days or years or decades. But it was perfect, until THAT day.

Adam was in another part of the garden when the serpent approached me. He was different from the snakes we see today. For starters, there was no reason to fear him; he was a snake, no more, no less. I didn’t think anything of it when he spoke to me, though it would certainly freak me out if any animal talked to me today. And he had legs; he was standing right in front of me when he spoke. Little did I know that it was Satan speaking through him.

Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?’ he asked.

We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ That was my first mistake. God had said don’t eat of it but he didn’t say anything about not touching it.

You will not surely die, he said. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. Well, more knowledge sounded good to me. And the fruit did look tasty. So I tried some. Adam had just come over so I gave him some too.

Suddenly we were aware of our nakedness. Nothing was physically different; we had just not made anything of it before. We had more knowledge alright, but it was knowledge of things which we were better off not knowing. Trying to cover our nakedness, we sewed some fig leaves together and made loin cloths of them. It wasn’t very much of a cover, and we knew God would be angry for at us for disobeying him, so when we heard the LORD God walking in the garden, we tried to hide in the trees.

But there is no hiding from God. He knew where we were and what we had done. He called out, Where are you?

I was too nervous and ashamed to speak. Adam replied, I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.

Who told you that you were naked? said the LORD. Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?

Adam put the blame on me, and blamed God for bringing me to him. The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.

I was too vain to accept the blame. The serpent deceived me, and I ate.

The LORD said to the serpent, Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.

To me he said, I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing, in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.

Finally, he turned to Adam. Because you listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust and to dust you shall return. Then the Lord God made us more appropriate clothing out of animal skins. That was the first time something had to die for our sake.

We didn’t die right away, but we no longer had the assurance of life going on as it had been. That was the end of our time in the garden. To make sure we didn’t eat of the tree of life and live forever in our misery, we were sent away. God set cherubim with a flaming sword at the entrance to the garden which prevented us, or anyone later, from ever entering the garden again. Without God doing something spectacular, our souls would die, and we would miss out on the glory of God and would be punished forever for our sin. I don’t think you can quite understand what a tragedy that would be since you never had the opportunity to walk and talk with God like we did in that garden. Adam and I have lived every day remembering and longing for that closeness.

Fortunately for us, God still loved us and had a plan for us to be reunited with him after passing from this earth. That’s what he was talking about when he addressed the serpent. I would have a descendent who would destroy Satan’s power over us even though it would cost that descendent dearly. I didn’t fully understand this, and still don’t, but I do believe it and count on it.

We settled into our new life outside the garden. It was no longer so easy to get food. We had to sow and harvest. The fruit still grew on trees and bushes, but only for part of the year. Much of what was produced was destroyed by insects and disease and it got worse every year. And the weeds! It seemed like we were out there every day pulling those things. Some of them, what God had called thorns and thistles, poked at our skin and at times even caused bleeding. God had said that Adam would produce our food by the sweat of your face and boy did Adam sweat! What a smell!

I soon found out what God had meant when he said I would bring forth children in pain. I was sick for months, unable to keep anything down. It did get better after a while, but the real pain came at the end of the pregnancy. I labored for so long, longer than with any other of my children. When at last Cain was born, I said I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord. I was under the mistaken idea that this was the descendent God had promised in the garden. We certainly found that wasn’t the case.

Next to be born was Abel. Those boys were as different from each other as could possibly be. Cain had quite a temper while Abel was always quiet and gentle. They even looked very different from each other. As they grew, Cain was drawn to field work while Abel was more of a shepherd. We loved them equally, fervently, just differently. We went on to have many other sons and daughters. I didn’t know I could hold so much love in my heart for these children. Eventually most of them paired up and had children of their own.

We had brought them up to know the LORD God, even though he was no longer appearing to us regularly. We told every child of the promise he had made to us to send that descendant who was going to save us and showed them how to honor God and that promise with sacrifices on the altar. At first they made those sacrifices with Adam, but eventually they were to bring sacrifices of their own.

Working the fields, Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground. Abel brought his offering from the firstborn of the flock. One day, neither one of them came home. I wasn’t worried at first because they would often be gone for days at a time, tending to their fields and flocks. When some of their brothers returned a few days later, we found out what had happened.

Cain and Abel had each made their sacrifices. The smoke went straight up to heaven from Abel’s offering, but just kind of floated there above Cain’s. This made Cain very angry. He later complained to his brother, Jared, that God had chastised him. God had said to Cain, Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you but you must rule over it.

Despite this warning, Cain had approached Abel and got in to a fight. Things got physical and Cain had risen up against Abel and killed him. Jared told us about the conversation Cain reported having with the LORD God after that.

The Lord said to Cain, Where is Abel your brother? Cain replied, I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?

But just as the LORD God knew when we had eaten that forbidden fruit, he knew what had happened between the two brothers. What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.

This was too much for Cain. It appeared to Jared that Cain was not sorry for what he had done, but only worried about the consequences. Even though Jared was listening patiently to him, Cain figured some of the other brothers would be after him for revenge. He had said to the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me. (By this time, many of our children had already married and had children and had spread out away from the homestead.)

Then the LORD said to him, Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him. And Cain, my firstborn son, went from the presence of the LORD and headed east toward the land of Nod. I never saw him again.

When I had another son, I considered him a replacement of sorts for Abel, though no one would ever quite fill that hole in my heart. But I did say, God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him. We named our newborn, Seth, which means appointed. Adam and I were then 130 years old, and we continued to have sons and daughters. Childbirth became easier the more often I went through it, but it never became pain free. This was a reminder of our great disobedience many years before.

The LORD God made known to us that the promised descendent would come from Seth. He married his younger sister, Azura. When Seth was 105, he and Azura had a son they named Enosh. Enosh had a son he named Kenan, who fathered Mahalalel, who fathered Jared, who had a son he named Enoch, who fathered Methuselah, who had Lamech.

The LORD God said to be fruitful and multiply and we certainly have done that. We have so many descendants that I cannot remember all their names. I remember the names of the sons of Seth because these stayed close by, not moving far away, and because this is the line of the promised one.

And now I am old. It has been many years since our last child was born. It is getting difficult to get around. I will die soon, but I will be raised again to live with God as we were meant to do all those years ago. I pray that the children do not forget him.

Awan

My life has not been pleasant. Oh, the first years were. But then my husband did something stupid and we have been wandering ever since.

Cain was the oldest of many, many children. I came some years later. Now, after hundreds of years, people don’t marry their siblings. When we were young, there wasn’t any choice; except for our parents, we were all siblings. God said to be fruitful and multiply, and that is what we all did. Our parents were still having children long after we started having children and when our children were having children.

Our parents told us about their life in the garden, before they disobeyed God and were evicted from Eden. Life became harder for them after that. Mother suffered from pain when each of us was born. Father had to deal with thorns and thistles while trying to grow our food. They, and all of us who came after, were condemned to die.

God had promised to send a descendant to battle Satan so our death would only be a separation from this life as we knew it instead of eternal death. When Cain was born, Mother thought he was the one who was promised. He wasn’t. Hundreds of years, and thousands of people later¸ we are still waiting for the rescue of our souls.

Life may have been harder than it was for our parents when they lived in the garden, but it wasn’t too bad. There was a lot of love to go around. Some of us, including Cain, became farmers; some became herdsmen. We used the milk from the sheep and goats for food and their wool to make clothes. Larger animals, like the oxen, were used for tilling the soil. We also used some of the animals for sacrifices to thank God for providing for us.

Then came the day that changed everything for Cain and me. Actually, it changed the world for everybody. Cain and our brother, Abel, had brought sacrifices on the same day. Abel was a shepherd and brought a perfect sheep. Cain, being a farmer, brought some of his crop. The smoke from Abel’s sacrifice ascended straight up to heaven. The smoke from Cain’s just kind of drifted away. Cain returned home in a horrible mood, knowing that his sacrifice had not been accepted by God.

Cain was angry, and I could understand why. He told me that God had appeared to him on his way home and spoken to him. He asked, Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well¸ will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.

How I wish Cain would have heeded this warning. When he went out in the morning, he was still angry at Abel, not admitting that the fault was his own. He had brought produce for the sacrifice that was less than perfect. Worse, he knew it and he didn’t care. His sacrifice was unacceptable because he did not bring it out of love for God.

Cain looked even worse when he came home that day, earlier than usual. When he told me what had happened and told me to pack up our belongings, I was stunned. He had taken Abel out into the field on the pretext of showing him a new hybrid of barley he had been working on. He picked up a rock and hit him on the head. When Abel didn’t stir, Cain knew he had done a new thing, something that had never been done before. He had murdered his brother. Cain quickly dug a hole and placed Abel’s body into it, trying to hide what he had done.

There were no people around to witness any of this, but God saw. He asked Cain where Abel was. Cain, trying to cover up his deed, denied knowing and asked, Am I my brother’s keeper? But God knew; he had seen it all.

What have you done? God said. The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. And then came this curse: When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. Cain said the punishment was more than he could bear. He was afraid that any man he met, whether brother, nephew, whatever, would try to kill him and avenge Abel. Then Cain showed me the mark God had put on him. It was to prevent anyone from taking Cain’s life.

Cain had run into Jared on his way home. The two of them had always been close and Cain told Jared what had happened. Jared seemed to be understanding, but Cain was afraid some of our other relatives would be after his blood for revenge.

So we packed up and left. Cain tried farming, but true to God’s word, nothing would grow. Cain had been a farmer all his life, so he didn’t know anything about raising animals. Neither did I. That left us to forage. We gleaned from the edges of the fields we passed. We picked nuts and berries and the green plants that grew on their own where no people yet lived. And when there was not enough of that, Cain would break into encampments and steal food. We were not welcome anywhere.

We eventually reached an unpopulated area east of Eden, the garden our parents had first lived in. Because we were wanderers, we came to call the place Nod, which is another word for wanderer. It was in this area that I became pregnant and bore our firstborn, a son we named Enoch. When Enoch and some of his brothers were grown, Cain built a city with their help and named it after our son, the city of Enoch.

Cain was bitter and became more so every day. After he’d killed Abel, he no longer bothered to make any sacrifices at all. And he forbade me to even speak of God in his presence. When he wasn’t around, I tried to teach the children about God. Most of them ignored me as they got older, choosing instead to follow their father’s example.

In the course of time, Enoch had sons and daughters. His first was Irad. Irad had a son named Mehujael and Mehujael had a son named Lamech. Lamech was more wicked than anyone before him. At least Cain knew what he had done was wrong. One woman wasn’t enough for Lamech. He married two, Adah and Oholibamah. When he murdered he bragged to his wives about it. He killed people just for injuring him, even if it was done accidentally.

Children are supposed to be a blessing. Some of my children remained godly, most did not. Each generation is more evil and further away from God than the last. How long will God put up with this? How long must we wait until he sends the promised one?

Azura

I think my parents did a pretty good job of raising us. There was always a lot of love shown, despite the fact that there were so many of us. They said they were trying to show us the love that they had been shown by God. They told us about how they had lived in a garden, which was called Eden, and how they used to speak with God on a daily basis. That doesn’t happen very often these days. At that time they didn’t have a worry in the world.

Our parents, Adam and Eve, were understanding when we didn’t follow all the rules. After all, they had only one rule in the garden and they couldn’t keep that one. Of all the fruit trees in the garden, Mother just had to eat from the one that was forbidden. And she gave some of the fruit to Father too.

Other than losing their innocence and being dismissed from the garden, I think the hardest thing for them was when my brother, Cain, killed my brother, Abel. That happened before I was born, but we still heard the story. I have never seen Cain. He was banished from our part of the world.

My husband, Seth, was also born after the murder. In fact, Mother told us that she gave him that name because she saw him as a replacement for my brother, Abel. She also said that Seth was the one to be the ancestor of the promised one who was to save us from an eternal death. I was born four years after Seth, but I was certainly not the youngest. My grandchildren were fully grown before my mother stopped having children.

We have many children also. Our oldest is Enosh. When Enosh grew to manhood, he made it his mission to tell others about the promise God had made to send someone to save us from that eternal death. There were a lot of people in the world by then. Many of them had forgotten. Enosh called this promised one the Messiah, or anointed one. We didn’t know exactly how that was going to work out; we just believed it because God said it. Unfortunately, not everyone else believed it.

Our first grandchild is Kenan and our first great-grandson is Mahalalel. Mahalalel named his son Jared. I have the names of all our children and grandchildren and their children written down. But there are so many and some have moved so far away that I can’t keep track of all of them.

Let me tell you about my husband. I believe he was Mother’s favorite child. That’s not to say she didn’t love all of us. There was just something special about her feelings for Seth. I asked her about it once. She said that when they lived in the garden and broke that one rule God had given them, they were condemned to death. Death would not just be dying from this life. It meant the eternal death of our souls. But God was gracious. In cursing the serpent who was the embodiment of the deceiver, he also made a promise to mankind.

He’d said to the serpent, I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and their offspring; he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. Our parents didn’t know exactly what that meant, but they did know that God would send a descendent to deal with the deceiver and rescue us from that eternal death. He would be our Redeemer. When Cain was born, Mother thought he was that descendent. Couldn’t have been further from the truth. As I said, he turned out to be a murderer, allied with the deceiver and not fulfilling God’s promise.

Mother had many more children after that and not one of them was the Promised One. When Seth came along after Abel’s death, Mother was told that the Promised One would come from his descendants. That means me too. I am so honored, not by anything I’ve done, but by the grace of God. And that is why I remember the names of the firstborns so easily. It is from them that the Redeemer will come.

I have seen many types of people. Some have very good natures, some not so good. But Seth? He is the kindest, most compassionate man you could ever hope to meet. I’m sure it is because he loves God so very much and tries to express God’s love to others.

Once he came in from the pastures to find a man in the barn, trying to take away one of the new lambs and its mother. The man was ragged and apparently hadn’t eaten for a while. Seth could have demanded some kind of restitution. Instead, he took that same lamb, made a thank offering to God, and shared the feast with the would-be thief. The heart of the man was turned and he praised God. Abel then offered him a position as one of his shepherds. We found out later that he was one of Cain’s grandsons. Lehabim