Women of Valor
275 | “Women Like to Be Fed”
Reclaim the Valor of Proverbs 31
We're coming to on location (and a little disoriented) from the Pondering Studio in Plainfield, Indiana! Ever felt like Proverbs 31 was just a crushing checklist of impossible standards? We’re reclaiming that famous passage and looking at the "valiant warrior" heart behind the "excellent wife" persona. We also dive into the high-stakes drama of Exodus 1-2, where God used a bunch of courageous daughters to totally flip the script on Pharaoh’s murderous plot. Since when does a tyrant get outmaneuvered by a few midwives and a baby in a basket? Join us as we celebrate how daily diligence and quiet strength are actually God’s chosen weapons.
Takeaways
The Big Idea: Scripture celebrates “women of valor” whose daily diligence and quiet strength become God’s chosen weapons to transform their communities.
This Week's Challenge: Find a way to honor a woman in your life that reminds you of the Proverbs 31 woman.
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Episode 275
Welcome to the Show!
Ryan: I'll tell you how my wife wants to be honored. She just texted me three seconds ago. Don't forget.
Women like to be fed.
Bryan: Ah, yes.
Well, hello everyone and welcome to the Biblegeeks.fm Podcast. I'm Brian Sheeley.
Ryan: I'm Ryan Joy,
Bryan: and thanks so much everyone for tuning in.
Bracket and Theme
Bryan: The Bible bracket for our favorite Bible women is live.
So while the voting still comes in, we'll have some conversations today inspired by the four regionals. And so today we're talking about the favorite. Women of valor from that regional.
Ryan: Yeah. And that we're gonna go back to the passage, famous passage that that comes from Proverbs 31.
Bryan: So the Bible's portrait of an excellent woman here is what we'll consider or more literally a valiant woman.
It's not just a crushing checklist like we may have been led to believe. It is a celebration of courage and competence and really wisdom, I think.
Ryan: Yeah, that's, that's at the heart of this. It is Proverbs. So we'll also dive into a story though, where God flips Pharaoh's plot against Israel's sons using a bunch of daughters, a bunch of women of valor that are gonna show us what this looks like in a, in a, in action, I guess.
So it's our way of appreciating the brave, the godly women who impact our faith.
Studio Road Trip
Bryan: Welcome to the Playing Field Ponderings podcast recording room. What on earth are we doing here? we we're in the ponder studio. The Ponder studio. Yeah. Um, so Allen Greeley gave us permission to use his office. So this is cool. Um, this is a, a pretty sweet setup here in, uh, in playing field Indiana.
I don't, why am I in Indiana?
Ryan: Yeah.
Bryan: Not that I'm asking you. I know why. I'm enjoying
Ryan: enjoying the snow that we're having here in, uh, dude, mid-March, um, with the gospel meeting that Brian is, is doing here.
Bryan: Yeah. So I got invited to come and to visit and you decided to drive down from Fort Wayne. So that's, uh, it's been great to have.
Pretty much all my favorite people in one place.
Yeah.
And we all get to hang out And, uh, so here we are recording in the studio and this is, uh, right in the middle of the very first round of our Bible bracket. So we figured we would take a whole episode and really tackle. These women of Valor, no, we're not gonna tackle the Women of Valor.
Ryan: Yeah. Yeah. So each of the regionals has a different group that we're we, we drafted and put together. Yeah. And we're gonna try to loosely let these next four episodes, including this one, be inspired by those four regional themes.
Women of Valor Defined
Ryan: And this one we're gonna take that term Women of Valor and like, where does that come from?
Well. That is a phrase in, uh, in our bibles in Proverbs 31, though it's not usually translated that way.
Bryan: I was just gonna say when I was like, you had, you had pitched the idea of starting with Proverbs 31, and I'm scratching my head because I'm like searching for the word valor or women of valor, and I'm like, it's not in Proverbs 31.
And then I'm starting to see, okay, the translation is different. So where is this word here showing up in Proverbs 31.
Ryan: The first here in verse 10, the beginning of that great poem about what we usually call like the excellent woman, or sometimes it's even the excellent wife, people will say, and that word can mean wife and this woman, this portrait is of a wife, but.
You see that? I, I think it's, I think woman is a better translation for that part because it's about like all the facets of her life, her children, her community, her fear of God and relationship with God and her relationship with her husband. So, but that word excellent or virtuous in some old translations,
Bryan: right,
Ryan: is this word that actually usually is translated like valor, valiant or valor, or like courageous.
Like the men of Valor.
Bryan: I was just gonna say the like David's mighty men Exactly. Of valor. Right. So, which is not a comparison I would have made. Right? Yeah.
Warrior Language in Proverbs
Bryan: Like Mighty Men of Valor have this sense to me that like they're big and strong and beefy and they can, you know, fight in the battle. Right. But I don't necessarily consider that same quality right off the bat, like
Ryan: Yeah.
Bryan: About women and that. That is why I think this, this kickoff to this incredible poem is like so powerful because it's, it flips upside down your expectations of what a woman is in her community and, and that courage, that warrior mentality is like not the domestic stereotype I know. I normally think about right away.
Ryan: Yeah. And the, it's not like this in this portrait, she's. Slaying Goliath or anything. But it is interesting that if you trace some of the other words in here, like there's the word, it's not translated this, but the word that's often translated spoils is in here. And, and like there's another word, uh, in here for.
Um, you know, so there's the valiant word and then there's another word for, uh, strength that is used here. And so there's like this picture of these words that are often used for all of the heroes in judges like Samson and
Bryan: yeah.
Ryan: And in first Samuel, second Samuel, and, you know, all of these great. Mighty Israelite heroes.
It's putting this woman in that pantheon, if you will, of the, the great heroes and saying This is the kind of person that holds up Wisdom, of course, is is the main thing of theme of Proverbs, but holds up a community and bravely brings a kind of maybe quiet strength. That allows this community to thrive.
Bryan: Yeah. And and you were saying like, verse 10 pulls out this word, um, for valor here. Mm-hmm. Um, but then in verse 29, kind of near the end of this proverb, but many women have done excellently, but use surpassed them all. Mm-hmm. I think that's the same word there. Yeah. That we're talking about. And so it's like, you know, you kick off the conversation with valor and strength and courage and like this warrior.
A spirit that we're, we're sort of talking about and it ends that way too. So I, you can definitely, you're convincing me that Proverbs 31 really has this, uh, this women of valor kind of language to it. 'cause it doesn't immediately pop off the page in the English, but if you look at the translation, that's really what he's talking
Ryan: Yeah.
And it's a different kind of valor than we would think of. Right, right. And it's, it's, it's a very feminine picture, which is beautiful of a woman who is, is. Taking care of her family who is taking care of the, those who have needs in her community, who trusts in God who isn't worried. But I love the picture.
She laughs at the future, like, you know, whenever trouble's gonna come, she can just have this kind of ease and confidence, not twisted up in anxiety because this is the kind of valor she has. Not strengthen herself, but trust in the Lord
Wisdom Bookends
Bryan: A study of Proverbs really does see the female presence throughout it.
Right? Like the, the woman, um, who is personified as wisdom.
Ryan: Yes.
Bryan: Right. So it's not like it's, it's not like it just shows up at the end. I think it, you know, sometimes we picture Proverbs 31 as like this. Oh. And by the way, asterisk at the end of Proverbs. Yeah. But it's, it's almost like it's been building to this moment.
Throughout the whole, the whole book really, when it begins with talking about wisdom personified as as a woman,
Ryan: it becomes like a bookend of wisdom personified in Proverbs eight, and then. What this looks like practically, when wisdom like rolls up its sleeves and gets down to work at the end,
Bryan: that's a preacher trick, right?
It's like, okay, I'm gonna tell you some vague information about it, right? Yeah. And I'll give you the, the sort of core tenets behind it, and then we'll get to the practical application like at the end of it. Is that kinda where you're
Ryan: Yeah, yeah,
Bryan: yeah,
Ryan: yeah. I mean, it's, it's, and it's cool too. This is, I think that this is a continuation of where Proverbs 31 starts.
Which is King Le Mule has an oracle that his mother taught him. Yeah. And so this, it's interesting the idea that this is coming from the wisdom of a woman. Obviously it's inspired and, and he's collected these things as with all of these proverbs. But the first nine verses tells him basically like how to be a king.
And then from verse 10 to 31, it's like, okay, here's the kind of woman you want. To be your partner. Here's how to find the, you know, here is what it starts with. A question, an excellent wife and a shail who can find, yeah. Like this is a treasure to go hunting for son.
Bryan: Yeah.
Ryan: She is far more precious than Jules.
And so it, it kind of reminds me of Genesis one and like the ruler picture. Here's man, you're gonna be king.
Bryan: Right?
Ryan: You know, Adam
Bryan: have dominion over
Ryan: over that
Bryan: language,
Ryan: right? Subdue, yes guard, you know, all bring flourishing as God's image bearer. And then what? And you're not gonna do that alone. There's these two parts to humanity that are going to coru over this world as God's representative.
Uh. You know, image bearing airs. And, and so then we see, uh, what that looks like with this wisdom picture here at the end of the book.
Not a Checklist
Bryan: Do you think when we get to Proverbs 31, I, I feel like, and maybe this is just my perception, but I feel like this is such a topic of like women's classes and anytime ladies get together and like have a, have a Bible study, do you.
Do you sense that this becomes more of like a to-do list for, for, you know, ladies who are really trying to like, apply these things? Or is this, is that what the intention is here? I guess because you're saying like, as you start out, like search for a woman who is like this search for a virtuous, you know, uh, warrior strong woman.
Um, but it, this almost could feel like a like, don't know, a difficult standard to live up
Ryan: stick that you like, hold everybody to this perfection. Yeah. I've had, I've had friends tell me that, that, you know, like every lady study we have seems like we come back around to this and it, the way they are experiencing it, being taught, it feels to them like, like a suffocating, exhausting, impossible standard.
Sometimes. I'm not saying everybody feels that way, but I've talked to. More than two or three women I think, that have kind of brought that up about this. And I think it's a, it's just not at all what this text is doing, right. The only command, I think.
Praise and Recognition
Ryan: Is like a directive at the end for the community to praise her.
Bryan: No. Right, right. Yeah.
Ryan: You know, give her the fruit of her hands.
Bryan: Yeah.
Ryan: Let the, her works praise her. In the gate charms deceitful. Beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Her children rise up and call her. Blessed her husband also and he praise her. It's like a time of recognition. Um, and you know, there's a Hebrew tradition, I don't know when it started, but a, a Jewish tradition of.
Of like reciting or even singing this Oh, yeah. On like the beginning of the Sabbath Friday night before the Sabbath meal. And it's just such a cool way of like, so my wife is a big recognition person, like words of affirmation.
Bryan: We're talking love languages
Ryan: here. Love languages. Okay. Yes, I got you.
She, she. She, she doesn't need to be the star of the show or anything, but when she's working hard, she wants to know that at least her husband, you know, and maybe her kids and you know, that she's just, that's being seen all that she's doing and doesn't mean everybody wants the spotlight, but it's really important to notice, to value, to appreciate, give thanks to God because you know, you and I have had.
These kinda women in our life, all our lives, all our, that have shaped us.
Bryan: Yeah.
Ryan: And it's, it's like the woman of Valor who can find, and then you read it and it's like, that is amazing. But also I can find it all over. That's the kinda life I've had.
Bryan: Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's
Ryan: a Proverbs 31 woman, there's a proverb, you know, like,
Bryan: yeah,
Ryan: what a gift.
Bryan: And maybe not, you know, maybe not in its entirety, maybe not like knocking off every single part of this quote unquote checklist, which I don't think this is, but absolutely. You can see. I can see echoes of this picture of this persona here.
Ryan: Mm-hmm.
Bryan: All throughout my life. Like you're saying. And I love the point that you're making there at the end of this, like the directive is not that the woman live up to this standard necessarily, but that we as the community, women, men alike.
Ryan: Yeah.
Bryan: That we honor and, and hold up these women and appreciate them in the way that they deserve. Because this is, you know. Half of the image bearing community is, you know, is this type of of woman we're looking for. That's, that's who we want them to be.
Ryan: And not just on Mother's Day,
Bryan: boy, you
Ryan: know, Valentine's, whatever.
Like
Bryan: yeah.
Ryan: Like it's not a holiday thing. This is a, this is our way of life is we notice and we hold up, um, this, this different kind because. We all just like, we get it on about masculinity, what a man looks like, but women are getting it about like, what a woman, you know, like the, our culture has a mirror and our daughters, see this is what is valued by people in the world of, of woman.
This is what femininity looks like. And the Bible is constantly saying, no, no, no. There is a, you know, think of one Timothy two and one Peter three and, and this passage really beautifully says, here's what. Here's what strength, beauty, um, what is precious in, in a woman is, uh, you know, the, the fear of God and the way that she, uh, works hard and looks after people and, and just is.
Is going about doing her, her, her life with strength and dignity as her clothing.
Bryan: Yeah.
Ryan: You know?
Modern Takeaways
Bryan: Well, it's interesting, right? Like we talk about this proverb, and I think there's some stuff here that really just stand out, like in our modern world. Mm-hmm.
That
are not. It's not common, or like, maybe it's become more common.
Like I think of the, uh, cons. She considers a field and buys it.
Mm.
You know, that would've been like, I feel like maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like at the time when this was written, that would've been in sort of a counter-cultural idea that this, this woman is out there like doing, you know, this kind of big business, right?
Like for her family. You would maybe imagine that in the husband's role more, but I think there are things here. That even today in our modern culture, like I see as, as so important and stands out.
Mm-hmm.
Um, you know, like her children rise up and call her, blessed her husband also and he praises her. Like that's again, sort of on the outside looking in, but she has, she has a family who sees her value and I don't know that that always kinda like the conversation we were just having.
I don't know that families all have that, that value anymore. Like, you know, yeah. Your parents are almost the people that like you want to put down here because you know you want to exceed them or go above them or, or go beyond them in some way, but like for your kids to know that. You gave everything for them and they, they honor that in you.
Ryan: Yeah. Sometimes it takes a while, like you have to age into and you shouldn't. And this is, I think, where a father can re reinforce, Hey, you know, you need to thank your mother for this and let's, let's show her respect and that kind of thing, because, you know, as a, as, as a wife does for her husband too.
'cause it is easy. We are easy to take for granted because they know we love them and we are gonna keep taking care of them. And it's great that we're safe for them to like, occasionally show some, some, you know, process their emotions. But they, but the, the appreciation and the respect and the honor is just, it's so important because it's based in This character that's just being held up as beautiful. Yeah.
Bryan: And
Ryan: as wonderful. And that's, it's not about idealizing, like you said, about not taking every one of these as a piece of it. There was a movie years ago, did you ever see it? Um, Kate Blanchet was in it, it is called an Ideal husband.
Bryan: I did not.
Ryan: It's, it's good. I like it. It's, I'm,
episode_275-leveled: I'm
Bryan: not in the romcom thing
Ryan: either, but it's like, yeah. And it's like an old timey Okay. Periody thing. So it's not really a, Hey, this is, this is a, a Women of Valor, women's Bible character bracket. We can go to a to a rom-com type thing, but it's a, um. It's based on an old play, um, by Oscar Wilde.
Bryan: Okay.
Ryan: And she holds up her husband, it's called an ideal husband. She holds up her husband in at this level of perfection.
Bryan: Mm-hmm.
Ryan: That she discovers that, you know, something happened in his youth, he did a business deal or something he shouldn't have. And it's like she is. Crumbled. He has fallen off of his big white horse.
Bryan: Right.
Ryan: And like the whole thing is crushed. And, and we've been in these grace conversations and these conversations about you're, you're teaching a this, this meeting about how God continues to transform us from glory to glory, one degree of glory to another. And we're all a work in progress.
Bryan: Yes.
Ryan: It's not about saying.
Boom, be perfect all the time. Right? But it's about holding up that there are righteous people all around us that are doing well. And if you look around, you can find them. And when you do, what this is saying is appreciate it.
Bryan: Yeah.
Ryan: Teach others to look at that example, teach others to tune in and listen.
To their wisdom, their, because from her mouth comes wisdom as talks about.
Bryan: Yeah.
Ryan: You know, and, and then to praise pritz them.
Bryan: Yeah. And, and not that, you know, maybe to put, put a bow on this, not that the praise is what motivates them or no. Or is why that they do these things, right. There's a, there's a deeper reason behind it all.
But like, boy, isn't it so true for like you and me. When somebody comes up and just says like, thank you for that, or they express gratitude in some way, or they acknowledge something like all of us, everyone appreciates that.
Ryan: Yeah. It makes a huge difference.
Bryan: It does, and it's, it is motivating. It propels you to keep going.
It makes it feel like the things you're doing matter and And
Ryan: the opposite. Yeah. It can be very discouraging when you're just killing yourself, you know, spending yourself Yeah. In the service of others, you know, the Lord sees. And you try to hold onto that, but you know, if you're never seen and noticed and appreciated, that's, that's really an, an issue.
Everyday Valor Examples
Bryan: I met a lot of people this week here at the gospel meeting that I'm doing, and I'm, I'm talking to people and I'm getting to know them and I'm like, one of my big questions is like, what do you do? Like, what's your thing? What, what do you love to do? What do you do for work? Um, and I've, I've met a handful of, of women who say, well, I just stay at home.
The kids. And I like, I have made the comment at least three times so far. There is no just in that like you, that is not a just thing like that is, that is absolutely boy a job in and of itself, boy is it. And so I, I try to make that point, but I feel like that even still, you know, doesn't get acknowledged as much.
Being with the family. Not that that's the, the entire picture of Proverbs 31 is like this a hundred percent domestic, you know, focused woman. It's, it's a woman of strength. She's doing business, she's doing business. She's, she has all of these irons in the fire that she's doing. And, uh, boy, that is not a just kind of thing.
I, I think,
Ryan: yeah. Yeah. It's like, take it as a holistic picture and, you know, like. Here's another illustration. Shocking. So, um, I read about the guy who designed the Statue of Liberty,
Bryan: okay?
Ryan: Whenever he was trying to figure out what to make this statue, what to, he was told by someone, Hey, just think of the, the people, the figures.
And, and in your mind. And so he made her look like his mom.
Bryan: That's awesome.
Ryan: And
Bryan: I didn't know that.
Ryan: That's so cool. Right? And so you sometimes, and that's what I think this poem is doing, is like mm-hmm. You might think, oh, you know, e even among women, like Deborah is the Elle comes to, you know, these women of valor, which we are holding up pointy two.
But like true valor usually looks like this. Looks like Mom, whenever she was taking care of this guy who's making the Statue of Liberty, you
Bryan: know?
Ryan: Yeah.
Bryan: Yeah. I think it's helpful.
Bracket to Exodus Women
Bryan: And, and all throughout the Bible really, this is not the only moment where women are held up. Right. And Proverbs 31 is, is a great woman of valor, anchor point that we, we start this conversation off with, but I mean, according to our list of the women of Valor, Rahab, Abigail, Deborah, Naomi, Hagar, Jaed, like all these women, um.
Boy, they are just sprinkled throughout the entirety of scripture. Yeah. And you almost don't get a few chapters in to reading and not bump into one of them.
Ryan: So I'm pulling up our bracket here because you stopped at Jocked.
Bryan: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ryan: But if you keep going, yes. You start to see there is a theme for a few of these.
Ed. Number six, Puah number seven. Number eight, Shira. Um, and then we've got number 11 is Pharaoh's daughter.
Zipporah Enters List
Ryan: Number 10 is Zipporah. All of these women in Exodus one and two.
Bryan: That's true.
Ryan: So that's another anchor point we wanna go to here is, um, all of these women are gonna be rep, be represented in a little, here's the story segment on how Moses was delivered, and Pharaoh was defeated in a surprising way.
Bryan: I think we're playing a song right now anyway. Okay. So, uh, in Exodus one, Exodus two. Right.
Pharaoh Fears Israel
Bryan: We've got Pharaoh in this story. Um, and he is, he is up to no good.
Yeah,
right. He, he's a different pharaoh or a different leader of Egypt. Mm-hmm. Probably the Pharaoh, but a different Pharaoh
mm-hmm.
Than what the people had known for years before that.
And now, uh, the people are starting to grow in number and they're now intimidating. To Pharaoh and he thinks, look, I've gotta put these guys under my thumb. So that they don't grow up and take me over. Right? Yeah.
Oppression Then Infanticide
Bryan: So his first response there is to decide to kill all of the babies.
Ryan: Well, his first response is to put them into slavery.
Bryan: True.
Ryan: Right? So like work 'em to the bone. We're gonna oppress them. Afflict them with heavy burdens, which ruthlessly, Exodus one, 11 to 14, made the people of Israel work as slaves and made their lives bitter. That backfired, they multiply even more. And then phase two,
Bryan: and then he goes on to killing the baby boys, which is like.
As I'm thinking about it now, we don't have time to talk about this, but this is kind of a theme throughout Scripture is like this,
Ryan: it gets echoed in
Bryan: Jesus story. It gets echoed in Jesus story. Right? Yeah. So, so that's not the only time we've read about this part of it, but, um, so to kill the baby boys, um, he's not going to do it.
Midwives Defy Pharaoh
Bryan: He's commissioning what the midwives mm-hmm. To do it. And these are apparently the Egyptian midwives. Probably, maybe also Hebrews, but it sounds like they're, they're more the Egyptian midwives here in these
Ryan: Yeah, probably. That's, that's the, I It doesn't really specify, I don't think.
Bryan: Well, and they're, when, when they use the example of, or when they try to defend themselves when they don't
Ryan: Oh,
Bryan: right.
They say these Hebrew women. These Hebrew women. Right. Yeah,
Ryan: you're right. That's, that's a good clue.
Bryan: So it kind of gives you the indication that they're not among the Hebrews. Why have they decided to have such courage in, in the face of, of the
Ryan: leader of Egypt? Yeah. They, it says they feared God. Yeah. Um, chapter one, verses 17 to 21, it comes up in, um, you know, elsewhere, but the, the midwives feared God and saved the babies and.
Finally, Pharaoh is like, well, that's not working either. So there's like a phase three. Okay. Like anybody who sees a Hebrew baby boy, basically,
Bryan: yeah,
Ryan: throw 'em in the river. Let the Nile, you know, and the Nile is like one of their gods, right? Let Yeah.
Bryan: Yeah.
Ryan: You know, maybe the Nile will save them. Leave it up to the fate of the, the God of the Nile kind of thing, maybe.
Sure. But like throw him in to the Nile and.
Moses Hidden In Reeds
Ryan: You know, so then we have this story that many of us are more familiar with whenever, um, Moses put in this basket, and I always thought of, of it as sending him down the river.
Bryan: I did too. Yeah. And as you start to dig into it though, it's not that, it's not quite that way, right?
Ryan: Not really. No. It's more like he is, it, it looks like what's happening is. The basket is floated out. It's put in the reeds where it could be hidden and Miriam is close by. So that she can keep watch. She keeps kind of coming and she knows her baby brother's hiding over here until whatever mom needs to nurse him or whatever.
And so it, I don't, I don't know that this is like a sacrifice him, send him down. We'll see what happens,
Bryan: right?
Ryan: But then Pharaoh's daughter does hear him and, you know, finds him.
God Uses Daughters
Ryan: And so now we have all of these, here's the, the big twist right in the, in the text pH. What's Pharaoh trying to do?
Bryan: Kill all the baby boys.
Ryan: So all the sons that will make them weak. If we kill all the sons. What does God do?
Bryan: He uses all the daughter. Yeah. 'cause there's a high concentration of the word daughter here in these two chapters. Exodus one and two and
Ryan: 11 times.
Bryan: Yeah, 11 times. He is using this word. And you know, of course like if God, if God isn't able to use the, the men, he's gonna use the women.
And it's like. Of course God's will is gonna be done, and it's gonna take a lot of courageous women to stand up against, you know, the king of Egypt. And for them to, to do this, they're risking their life. That Yeah, that's absolutely, and, and I love the, like when you get to Shipra and Pu. Their name means beautiful and splendid.
Ryan: Oh, I didn't know that.
Bryan: And so like, so deeply ironic that you have these beautiful and splendid women like standing up to the most powerful ugly tyrant of the time.
Ryan: Mm-hmm. Right? Yes. Yeah. And it's cool that the twist at the end of the Shira and Pua story, the the midwife story is it says that God blessed them and because they feared him.
He gives them a family of their own.
Bryan: Yeah.
Ryan: And that's like a result of this stand of faith that they had. And then we see the daughter of, it doesn't say in our, most of our translations, the daughter of Levi, but that's the literal translation. In verse one and chapter two, there was a daughter of Levi.
Bryan: Mm-hmm.
Ryan: That's the first of our daughter references of our 11 references. And that's Jaed Moses' mom. He has, she has this baby. We read in later on in Hebrews that Hebrews 11, the Hall of Faith that, you know, gibe and her husband, by faith risked everything to, to raise up Moses, to stand up to Pharaoh, Miriam.
Is there being a good sister watching, you know, Hey, big sisters, listen up. Yeah. Big sisters are important.
Bryan: Exactly.
Ryan: And then Moses has a second mom, like an adopted mom. So, you know, we, we all, we know a lot of people that have adopted kids.
Bryan: Mm-hmm.
Ryan: Think about the specialness of this relationship that starts to happen as she's able to save his life.
So a daughter of Pharaoh, a daughter of Levi, a daughter of Miriam, later on at the end of this story. Moses is taken in after he runs off to Midian by the daughters of Jethro. That's
Bryan: right.
Ryan: Yeah. And brought to safety. And then the very end of what I would call this whole arc is at the end of chapter two, Moses and Zipporah, the daughter of Jethro have a son.
Bryan: Yeah.
Ryan: So it's like Pharaoh is totally thwarted in every way the the Israelite. Leader, who God is gonna use to deliver the people has been saved. But also all of these sons are being saved through all of these daughters. And God, God loves to kind of flip things to where the Pharaoh has this twisted view of God and of his people and of what strength looks like and, and all of this.
And in his insecurity and his fear and his paranoia, he's trying all these crazy. Like a, like a psychopath really. I mean, just so crazy. He's killing all of these babies and God still finds a way to deliver his people.
Bryan: And I think, you know, from, we, we see all these stories about God and deliverance and all these things, and boy, isn't it interesting how, you know, God is, is almost just like laughing in Pharaoh's face by making Moses.
Grow up in his own house. Yeah. Right, right. Like his Pharaoh's own daughter is the one who is taking care of Moses and like Pharaoh's money and his resources and his own family are going towards his own destruction. He doesn't even know it. It's awesome. Right? Isn't that so cool? It's
Ryan: so good, but it's really powerful.
Underdog Theology
Bryan: I mean, you think about the way that God works, he's going to work through whoever and he does not always work through the men and I Maybe that may be the. The big overarching, you know, conversation here to have is that God is going to always work through whoever he, whoever he can use. And whether that's a, um, a man of courage or a woman of courage like Rahab and, you know, these other people that we have in our bracket.
Ryan: Mm-hmm.
Bryan: Um, it's, it's not just a, it's not just a boys club, right. This is, this is all across the board.
Ryan: Yeah. And, and First Corinthians one, the end of that chapter talks about. How it's, his preference is actually, if somebody is being overlooked and thought of yes, as not particularly Yep. Uh, valued or strong.
That's, that's who he wants to use. That's who he wants
Bryan: to use.
Ryan: Yeah. And the idea is as we lower ourselves, as we understand our weakness, or think of second Corinthians 12, you know, in our weakness, um, we're made strong and his grace is sufficient and it helps us to see. The Lord is who we boast in. And all of us, we, the Lord, wants to work with all of us, in all of us, through all of us, in all of our different ways and our, our gifts to bring about His glory and his purposes.
And, and that's what we do here. I mean, if I, what, what else should we take from a story like this? What do we learn about God? What do we learn about? His, the way he works.
Bryan: I what? What you were just saying and thinking about the way God works just makes me totally realize how he loves the underdog.
Ryan: Yeah.
Bryan: You know, like, like you were saying, he uses the one you know, the people he uses, the circumstances that you would just never picture as success. And I think like I just cannot help but think about Jesus and the cross. Right. You look at the cross and you look at. Christ's death on the cross. And that is like failure in, in the, in the, mm-hmm.
In the eyes of everyone at the time. That should absolutely have been failure.
Ryan: The might of Rome has like
Bryan: Yeah.
Ryan: Crushed it.
Bryan: And, and the, and the, you know, powers
Ryan: of darkness.
Bryan: The holiness the of, of, of the Hebrews at the time.
Ryan: Yeah.
Bryan: You know, thinking that they were standing up for God and all of these things.
Um, you know that God's going to use that moment. Of what looks like utter weakness, which is what I think, you know, Paul is talking about.
Yes.
In one Corinthians is that idea that, you know, what you think of as failure and weakness and smallness. Um, God sees as courage and valor and strength as yes. Like boy, don't count the underdog down.
And I'm not saying that women are viewed as underdogs, but like. I have seen it that, that that does happen.
Ryan: Absolutely. And historically, I mean particularly in the time that this was written about, that the story of Exodus is clearly what Pharaoh's thinking. And Yeah. I mean that's the passage, the first Corinthians one passage there is where he says, the weakness of God is stronger than men.
Yes. The power of this, the foolishness of God is wiser. The men, you know, um, and it's in the foolishness of the message preached that he'll save. Those who trust in him.
Praise Her In Public
Bryan: What do you think, what do you think it looks like for us to, you know, we talked about in from Proverbs 31, we talked about like, um, praising her in her, in the gates.
Right. What do you think that looks like for us as we think about using that as an opportunity? Is that just like, you know, patting your wife on the, on the back or like, you know. Speaking those, uh, love language kinds of things to her? Or is that, like, is there something more than that we can do, um, that would be a, a benefit to, to women?
Ryan: Yeah.
Bryan: Those, especially those women of courage.
Ryan: So like praising her in the gates, you think of the, like the elders of the city would gather in the gates. And this is like a, a, a place where the community. It's, it's a center point for community,
Bryan: right?
Ryan: And so this is as public as it can get whenever you go there,
Bryan: right?
Ryan: And you say, let me tell you about my wife. You know, and just like it matters to say to other people when she's not around.
Bryan: Yeah,
Ryan: man, she is so great at this. I'm so blessed, you know? And it, it is a powerful thing to just, it just I think, puts life into any of us.
Bryan: Yeah.
Ryan: Whenever that we are being built up.
And this is, this is edification, right? It's really what we're talking about. It's not really about Yeah. Like empty compliments. It's about edification building each other up.
Bryan: I, I agree with that. And I think, I think the, at the gates part of it, like you're highlighting. Public is, there's something about public, right?
Yeah. There's something about saying that to other people and you know, that is, it's, it's so nice to hear something like that behind closed doors, but boy, it's even greater to hear that when other people are involved. I mean, you know, that's something that we can give a gift, that we can give, you know, to be able to tell other people, and that's.
I don't know. I also think about that as like modeling that for other people.
Ryan: Yes.
Bryan: Um, that it's not, it's not always something we see and I don't know, maybe it's generational, maybe looking back, like wasn't, wasn't always super aware of other people doing that when I was growing up. But I want to see that in my own life and be able to model that for the generation behind me so that they can know that, that this is normative.
This is like what we do
Ryan: as, as
Bryan: people.
Ryan: Yeah. I mean. Uh, just honestly there, I think that there have been times when, uh, I won't say invisible, but, um, many of the women who are working so hard, just as hard as, as men who are teaching a class in the church or
Bryan: yeah,
Ryan: leading singing or whatever, aren't being noticed.
Recognized as much, and I just, I, I think that I, I brought up my wife, but speaking, um, appreciation into all of these ladies around us, just specifically since that's what we're talking about, but all the people around us, and especially someone that maybe you see is not maybe. Getting as much recognition I think is important.
And it says her works. Praise her.
Bryan: Yeah.
Ryan: Like,
Bryan: yeah,
Ryan: love that. Like notice what she's doing because the works themselves are doing the job. If you don't say it, notice the work, because the work is awesome. Look at these kids she's raising. Look at the,
Bryan: yeah.
Ryan: You know, whatever it is that's happening
Bryan: it. Yeah, it's like.
It's like these stones would praise him, right? Like it's
Ryan: Yeah.
Bryan: You know? Yeah. There, there's it. The praise is gonna be there and you just need to join the party. Yes. And, and, you know, say the same things that even their works are showing.
Ryan: Give her her Do. I love that. Like, like this is what she's owed. And, and so that's, I think that's one.
Make Space To Listen
Ryan: I think listening is an important one. You know, she opens her mouth, verse 26, with wisdom.
Bryan: Yeah.
Ryan: And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue, you know? making sure that even the very shy lady among us that's more introverted, that that, that she knows you have a voice that matters. Yeah. And I know you've got something off for this conversation and creating that space.
You know, I have a big personality. I'm a preacher. I'm a man, I'm an extrovert. You know, I'm, I'm gonna make my way into a conversation. Often.
Bryan: Yes,
Ryan: as you know,
Bryan: I do.
Ryan: I didn't have enough. I just had to have a podcast with you. And, you know, that's great for all the other conversations. But like somebody like me needs to make spa a big space and an invitation.
I can be a quarterback to bring in the voices and, hey. Have you asked this person about what she thinks about it? Because I, I bet she has something that could really contribute.
Bryan: Yeah. I, I wanna just because we're in the playing field's Ponderings podcast room here, uh, I wanna bring up, uh, an episode and we'll link it in the show notes that Alan did recently on First Timothy talking about women.
Ryan: Yeah, yeah. I listened to that.
Bryan: And such a, you know, such a helpful perspective on. What it would've meant for women to learn at the time when, when Paul is saying that
Ryan: let her learn,
Bryan: let her learn. And like that is like, like you're saying, it reminds me that like they are welcome to the party. And anytime that I get a perspective on something coming from somebody who doesn't typically give their perspective, I'm almost always blown away.
Ryan: Yeah.
Bryan: Like there's almost always some insightfulness there that I was missing and. You know, something that got added to the conversation
Ryan: Yeah.
Bryan: When they were able to come and, and share that. So I think this is all helpful.
Challenge And Farewell
Bryan: Um, I love Proverbs 31. I love the conversations that we've had about women of valor.
And I'm feeling like right now, it's a, it's a moment for all of us to kind of maybe take on the challenge
Ryan: Yes.
Bryan: Of, of finding a way to honor a woman in your life that reminds you of this Proverbs 31 woman.
Ryan: I'll tell you how my wife wants to be honored. She just texted me three seconds ago. Don't forget.
Women like to be fed.
Bryan: Ah, yes.
Ryan: It's about lunchtime here. It is
Bryan: about lunchtime here,
Ryan: and our wives are visiting at each other at, at home. So that's a way to honor a wife. It's just bring, you know, you take care of the food.
Bryan: Exactly.
Ryan: You know what? I'm bringing dinner home.
Bryan: That's how we're, that's how we're doing it.
I mean, there's all sorts of ways and, uh, those love languagey kinds of things Yes. Can always be a, a help. So, um, this has been good conversation and really appreciated. Uh, Alan again for giving us this space. Yeah. Um, awesome. It's super wonderful. Um, thank you for tuning in to the Biblegeeks.fm podcast.
You can find us on our website at biblegeeks.fm. You can find show notes for this episode in your podcast player or at Biblegeeks.fm as well. Um, go vote. Uh, we are getting into round two of the voting here as this episode drops. So round two of the voting. If you already voted last time, thank you so much.
Uh, but go do it again. And so we'll, we'll be voting again for another week in round two of our favorite Bible women draft this year in 2026. And until next episode of everyone, may the Lord bless you and keep you.
Ryan: Shalom.