Women in white raiment

by John Lemley

Euodias (or rather Eudia) and Syntyche, deaconesses in the church at Philippi. These women afforded Paul active co-operation under difficult circumstance, and in them, as well as other women of the same class, is an illustration of what the gospel, in the Apostolic times, did for women, and also what the women did for the gospel, for the Apostle expressly states that these women labored with him in the gospel, besides many other elect women, the detailed mention of whom fills nearly all of the last chapter of the epistle to the Romans, whose history, if known, would doubtless be as interesting as the history of those whose names and acts have been preserved to us for our study and comfort.

And then there are a host of women whose names are not mentioned, but who, we have every reason to believe, were numbered with the Princesses of God, women whose faith and patience in labor clothed them in White Raiment. Of such we note a few: Noah’s wife and her three daughters-in-law, who must have exercised the same faith as their husbands, and who must have been in full sympathy with their labors; the host of Israelitish women led by Miriam in their song of triumph over the Lord’s deliverance from Pharaoh’s army; the wife of Manoah, the mother of Samson, who was twice visited by the angel of the Lord; Hulda, the prophetess, who lived in the time of King Josiah, to whom Hilkiah, the high priest, had recourse, when the book of the law was found, to procure an authoritative opinion, for, doubtless, in her time she was the most distinguished person for prophetic gifts in Jerusalem; the captive Hebrew maid in the house of Naaman, the Syrian general, who knew all about the prophet in Samaria, and had faith to believe that Elisha would heal him of his leprosy, even though captive as she was, and in a strange land; in the days of Saul and David, when returning from the conquests, “the women” who “came out of all the cities of Israel” to welcome, with tabrets and song, the deliverers of God’s people.

Perhaps we should not fail to briefly mention Tamar, the daughter of David, for she was not only a chaste virgin, but was also remarkable for her extraordinary beauty. Her high sense of honor must ever stand as a memorial of her virtue, especially when we take into account the low standard of morality which prevailed in her time.

Added to her beauty, she had domestic accomplishments. It would almost seem that Tamar was supposed, at least by her perfidious brother Amnon, to have a peculiar art in baking palatable cakes.

With no suspicion of any wicked design, this beautiful princess, at her father’s request, goes to the house of her supposed sick brother to prepare the food she was assured he would relish. So she took the dough and kneaded it, and then in his presence (for this was a part of his fancy, as though there was something exquisite in the manner of performing the work), kneaded it a second time into the form of cakes.

After the cakes were baked, she took them, fresh and crisp, to Amnon to eat. When she fully realized his wicked designs, she touchingly remonstrated, and held up to him the infamy of such a crime “in Israel,” and appealed to his sense of honor, saying, “As for thee, thou shalt be as one of the fools in Israel.” Her indignation after his unnatural designs were accomplished, and she had been thrust out, was even more heroic than her protests. In her agony she snatched a handful of ashes and threw them on her beautiful hair, then tore her royal gown, and, clasping her hands upon her head, rushed to and fro through the streets crying.

While this is one of the most pathetically sad scenes recorded in Bible history, yet it brings out in a remarkable manner, the virtue and high honor of womanhood in those rude ages of the world.

But over against this dark background of Amnon’s conduct the careful home-training of Timothy, under the moulding influence of his mother Eunice, and his grandmother Lois, shines with a brightness that reflects great credit. And if such careful home-training was so far-reaching in its results as to cause Paul, in later years, to remind Timothy of this training as an inspiration to stir up the gift of God in him, what shall be said of motherhood and wifehood of the many noble characters found in the Sacred record? It is a fact that women have great influence in shaping the lives of men. Who can tell how greatly womanhood influenced the lives of such men as Enoch, who walked with God; Noah, whose faith led him to the building of the ark; Abraham, whose wonderful life of trust has made him the father of the faithful in all generations of men; Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of the most high God; Job, whom adversity could not shake, and who, in the midst of his calamities, exclaimed, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him;” Caleb and Joshua, whose confidence in God’s ability to lead the host of Israel into the promised land, was unwavering under most trying circumstances; Elijah and Elisha, who stood as the defences of God’s people amid idolatrous times; the good King Hezekiah, and his ever faithful counselor, Isaiah, who went up into the Temple and spread out the insulting letter of Sennacherib, and “prayed and cried to heaven;” Daniel and his companions, who walked through the fire and the den of lions, and thus proved their fidelity to truth and righteousness; Nehemiah, who, by moonlight, viewed the ruins of the city of his fathers, and then, with wonderful courage, repaired its broken-down walls and set up its gates that had been burned with fire; and the great host of women mentioned by Paul, who, through faith, “received their dead raised to life again,” and others who “were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.” Surely such mothers and wives would raise up heroic men. The Spartan mother told her son, when he started for the war, “to return with his shield, or upon it.” But the Hebrew women led armies, subdued kingdoms, and turned to flight the armies of the aliens.

Such is the womanhood of the Bible, and while with her companion, man, she inherited the infirmities brought upon the race in the transgression, yet she is infinitely in advance of the women living in lands where the Bible is unknown. Indeed, the condition of Hebrew women has always presented a marked contrast with heathen women, and for the reason, while the Bible seeks to elevate them, heathendom has sought to degrade them. Heathen oppression of womanhood rests upon the nations where the Bible is not known, like the mountain upon Typho’s heart. Buddhism presents no personal god. He is “eyeless, handless, never sad and never glad.” For sinning man there is no pity, for of all his hundreds of names there is no “Father.” Confucianism, with its backward gaze, teaches no sin, no Saviour, and only China for heaven. Mohammedanism has its creeds, prayers, alms, fastings and pilgrimages. But its creeds were partly written on human bones, its pilgrimages are corrupt and its formal prayers are to “Allah,” who bears little resemblance to the Christian’s God. Not censure, but pity, hovers over these classic religions and the millions who are under the pall of paganism.

Hark! From far distances voices are calling;