Week 2: Reading Diary: Bible Women

This post is over the second half of Bible Women. Just like in the first part of the reading, I barely knew any of the women on this list, so I'm interested in reading more about these women.

The Witch of Endor: This is the witch that King Saul, who was no longer worthy in God's eyes went to visit, even though he was the one to outlaw it in the first place. Since he outlawed witchcraft, and knew that the witch would be scared, he had to dress in disguise. He was worried about his upcoming battle with Philistine and wanted to know what she saw for his future. He asked her to make Samuel appear and he eased his worries about the battle.

Bathsheba: I've read about Bathsheba before, but I was really interested in learning more about her. King David, who replaced Saul, was a married man. He saw Bathsheba, however, and fell in love and had a child with her, but their first child didn't survive.

(Esther)

Esther: King Ahasuerus chose Esther to be his new queen after his previous wife had made him angry. Many people liked Esther because she was so kind and she received lots of favors and gifts from the king. She was actually the king's favorite wife.

Esther (continued): There was a plot to kill the Jewish people, and Mordecai asked Esther to represent the king and find peace among the two groups. Esther was only allowed to speak to the king when she was summoned, but hadn't been summoned in a long time. He finally allowed her to speak to him and she requested that he and the Haman join her for a royal feast.

Esther (conclusion): The king and Haman joined Esther for the feast. Esther told the king about how evil Haman was, and he was eventually killed. She became the king's favorite wife once again, and is known as a heroine in the Jewish religion. 

Susannah: Susannah was a woman that the Elders tried to take advantage of and blackmail. When she refused, they requested she be put to death. God knew that Susannah had done nothing wrong and sends a message through Daniel. The elders are found guilty of lying and are put to death. 

Mary and Elizabeth: Mary is the mother of Jesus and Elizabeth is the mother of John the Baptist. Mary was told by Gabriel that she would become pregnant with a son, and his name was to be Jesus. Elizabeth had the Holy Spirit fill her and she and Mary lived together for about three months. 

Mary and Anna: Mary goes to Bethlehem to give birth to Jesus and Anna was an extremely old prophetess who prophesied about Jesus while she was in the temple. 

Herodias: John the Baptist said it wasn't lawful for Herod to have Phillip's wife, and Herodias, angered by this, wanted to kill John. John was eventually killed and the king allowed Herodias to have his head. 

Martha and Mary: These sisters had Jesus visit their home. Their brother had just died and Mary believed that he would have survived had Jesus come to their house earlier. They took him to the tomb and he resurrected Lazarus.

Each of these stories were very good to read. Like I said in the last post, the language made it hard to understand some of it, but it was very interesting to read about how each of these women played a role in the different events throughout the bible.