Anji Russell
Poetry and Design

These narrative poems are written in celebration not only of God’s wisdom, intervention and mercy in critical moments in history, but also in celebration of the many strong women whose stories are found in the Old Testament and who were part of such moments. Many were entrusted, by God, to play vital roles in the history of Israel. These women have very different stories, however there are many similarities between how their lives were lived.

 

“The women we are presented within the Hebrew Bible and beyond, into rabbinic literature, are complicated human beings, imperfections and all. Few of them are presented as perfect paragons of humanity. Biblical women were often jealous, competitive baby-makers, abused, gossips and manipulators and yet they accomplished much in their lifetime. Their lives remind us that we too, in all our imperfection, might be able to make a contribution in the world. Women with particularly important roles to play in the narrative of the Torah often remain unnamed." (Young-Somers, 2019.) Examples include, King David’s mother and Samson’s mother who both stand by their sons in their darkest moments, Pharaoh’s daughter who rescues Moses and The Wise Woman of Abel-Beth-Maacah, a wise and well respected woman who protects her community.

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Some of these Old Testament women are recognised as biblical matriarchs. Others took centre stage as prophets, warriors, intercessors, judges and mothers. Many of the women did not know the impact their lives had, neither did they always know the importance of the child they carried. Jochebed the mother of Moses, for example, may or may not have known this when he was placed on the river. Nor at times did they know what their sons accomplished in their lifetime. Some died before they saw the great achievements of their children, for example Rachel who never knew what Joseph had done. The names of many of these women, Eve, Sarah, Hagar, Rebekah, Leah and more, have lived on long after they were first written down more than two and a half millennia ago.  

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Some of the poems are about women who were chosen to be part of the lineage of Jesus, the ‘Golden Thread’ as I have called it. These included Eve, Rebekah, Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba and more. God chose these women for this very important role regardless of their position or their failings. They played a vital role in the redemption of mankind. The ‘Golden Thread’, the bloodline of Jesus, is a line that weaves these women together from Eve to Mary. As was so often the case, some of these women were flawed, some momentarily barren, and yet God chose to use them. Neither were all these important women Jewish, for example Rahab and Ruth. In the poems about women who were part of the ‘Golden Thread’, not only have I mentioned it in the narrative, but I have also used a strong line of gold in the background design to represent their part in this amazing lineage. Other poems are written in celebration of the many women in the Old Testament who were not chosen to be part of the lineage of Jesus. but who played very important roles in the history of the Jewish people and of Israel, women such as Jael, Tirzah and Naomi.

 

The themes running through these poems relate to the women’s roles as ‘ezer-kenegdo’, their voices and agency in a patriarchal society, and their struggles in their own wilderness.