Women in Battle. Peggy Scarborough

tion>

      Dedication

      Dedication

      

       To Dr. Marion Spellman, a general among women in God's army; founder and director of Peniel Ministries, whose warring has brought deliverance and healing to thousands of hurting and drug-addicted people. Her story is nothing short of amazing, continually unfolding as God just keeps expanding her borders. I couldn't choose a more worthy person to whom to dedicate a book all about strong, mighty women of God...she is my sister and friend, and I love her dearly!

      WOMEN OF THE BIBLE IN BATTLE

      It has been evident from the beginning of time that Satan has hated women. When God said to the serpent, "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel" (Gen. 3: 15), it became evident that war was on between woman and Satan. Nevertheless, God has always raised up women who knew how to fight the enemy.

      Women in the Bible were strong women. They were nurses, midwives, gleaners (Ruth), shepherds (Jethro's daughters), designers and supervisors of the building of cities (Sherah, I Ch. 7:24), workers on the wall in Nehemiah's day, diplomats (Queen of Sheba), tentmakers (Priscilla), prophetesses and preachers (Huldah), national leaders (Miriam, Deborah, and Esther) and served in many other positions of leadership.

      There are so many women warriors in the Bible that we will not be able to cover them all in detail in this book. However, we do need to mention a few who will not be covered later. There was Anna, a praying warrior "who departed not from the temple." She warred and believed, waiting for the redeemer. Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, is another praying warrior who also inspired Mary in the Magnificant and her husband Zacharias to write the Benedictus.

      In this chapter we will review some of the Bible female warriors in battle. The remainder of the book will deal with how you are to become a warrior in every area of your life.

      Jochebed, a Warring Mother

      Jochebed was a warring mother. When she gave birth to Moses, Pharoah had ordered the midwives to kill all Hebrew male children at birth. They were throwing the boy babies to the crocodiles. Jochebed said, "No crocodile will get my son." She began to war.

      She hid Moses for a long time. It could have been in a storage room where she stored foods. When she could no longer hide him, she bravely made an ark of bulrushes out of the long stems of the papyrus bush. She carefully wove it, plastered it with clay on the inside and bitumen on the outside to make it smooth and watertight.

      She and her daughter Miriam placed the baby in the water near where Pharaoh's daughter came daily to bathe. Jochebed and Miriam stood nearby, now warring in prayer. When Pharaoh's daughter saw the beautiful baby, she loved him and said, "This is one of the Hebrews' children."

      Miriam who was standing guard said, "Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?" Pharaoh's daughter said, "Yes. Get me someone who can nurse him and care for him for me." So Jochebed got to nurse her own child until he was seven, even though the Pharaoh's daughter adopted him. You can believe that it was Jochebed, a warring mother, who taught Moses how to war for a nation.

      You, too, will need to learn to war for your children--their very lives, their safety, their grades in school, their relationships. Just as God gave Jochebed a plan for saving Moses' life, which saved a man for the deliverance of the children of Israel, He will give you a plan for your child. God has given many who will read this book a special child. Study carefully the chapter on Warring for Your Family.

      Miriam Wars with a Tambourine

      Miriam perhaps learned warfare from her mother. When the Hebrews departed from Egypt for Canaan. she became a prophetess. When the people were safe across the Red Sea and Pharaoh's horsemen were drowned, we see Miriam leading the people in worship--playing on a tambourine and dancing joyfully as she led the song. "Sing ye unto the Lord for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea." (Ex 15:21) She was probably the first person to teach praise and worship as a means of warfare.

      Even our tambourines and musical instruments can become weapons of war. Isaiah 30:31, 32 tells us: "The voice of the Lord will shatter Assyria; with his scepter he will strike them down. Every stroke the Lord lays on them will be to the music of tambourines and harps as he fights them in battle" (NIV).

      Praise and worship are actually weapons of warfare. "From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise. because of your enemies. to silence the foe and the avenger" (Ps 8:2. NIV). When we spend an hour just praising and worshiping. we do great damage to Satan's kingdom. We thereby stop Satan's attack against us.

      Praise and worship are weapons against the New Age movement, the Occult, Satanism, witchcraft, and all the establishments Satan is using today. Psalm 149:6-9 tells us: "Let the high praises of God be in their mouth. and a two-edged sword in their hand; to execute vengeance upon the heathen. and punishments upon the people; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute upon them the judgment written: this honor have all his saints. Praise ye the Lord."

      Daughters War for Their Inheritance

      The five daughters of Zelophehad were also warriors. Up until the time that Mahlan, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah-daughters of Zelophehad-went to battle, women had no property rights. If the father of the family died and had no sons, his daughters did not inherit what he left. Zelophehad was of the tribe of Manasseh.

      These girls rose up and said, "This is not fair. Our father was not of the rebellious group who rebelled against Moses. Therefore we have a right to our inheritance."

      Their father had probably been a man of wealth, so they marched right in to Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the congregation and declared "Why should the name of our father be done away with from among his family because he hath no son? Give unto us a possession among the brethren of our father." (Num. 27:4).

      This was a new problem--women demanding their rights. So Moses went before God. Then he came back with God's report. God said that the women were right and they were to be given their father's inheritance. Moses then wrote a new law stating that "If a man die, and have no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter." (Num. 27:8). These women of battle won for the rest of us a court decision that legal courts accept as law to this day. They left us an example of how to must contend for our inheritance.

      Far too long women have sat back and not gone to war for the inheritance that God has given us and our families. Rise up, 0 Daughter! This is the day for battle.

      Rahab, a Warring Prostitute

      Rahab was a prostitute living in a cursed city, Jericho. She had heard about the Israelites crossing the Red Sea and of the victories over the Amorites. When the spies came in, she said to them. "I know that the lord hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you" (Josh. 2:9).

      So she hid the two spies on her roof top then let them down from the outside wall by a scarlet rope of linen she had woven herself. She broke the curse over her and her family by aiding the spies. She made an agreement that when the battle began, this same red cord would designate her house to the army of Joshua and guarantee them protection. It was agreed that all her family would remain inside with her during the attack to be safe. Rahab and her entire family were saved because she was willing to be a warrior.

      Some women allow their past to hold them back from being all that God wants them to be. No matter who you have been before, God wants you, like Rahab, to rise up and become a great warrior for Him. Rahab may have been a prostitute living in a cursed city, but her name is listed in Hebrews 11:31 with the great faith people of the Bible. God has a great plan for your life.