Women in the Old Testament, Part One

Irene Nowell, OSB, is a Benedictine of Mount St. Scholastica in Atchison, Kansas. An accomplished theologian and biblical scholar, Nowell is a past president of the Catholic Biblical Association and the author of numerous volumes in the New Collegeville Bible Commentary series; author of the Sarah and Hagar volume in the Alive in the Word series; Sing a New Song: The Psalms in the Sunday Lectionary; and Pleading, Cursing, Praising all published by Liturgical Press. She is also a contributor to the Little Rock Catholic Study Bible and she is a member of the editorial board of Give Us This Day (Liturgical Press).Jaime L. Waters, author of Jeremiah in the Wisdom Commentary series (Liturgical Press), is associate professor of Old Testament at the Boston College Clough School of Theology and Ministry. She holds degrees from Boston College, Yale Divinity School, and Johns Hopkins University. Waters also contributes to Give Us This Day and America Magazine.

• TABLE OF CONTENTSWelcome   7What materials will you use?   8How will you use these materials?   8Lesson One  Introduction and Women of Israel’s Beginnings   11Sarah, HagarLesson Two  More Women of Israel’s Beginnings   31Rebekah, Leah, Rachel, Bilhah, Zilpah, Dinah, TamarLesson Three  Women of Israel’s Passover   53Shiphrah, Puah, Moses’ Mother, Pharaoh’s Daughter, Miriam, ZipporahLesson Four  Women of Israel’s Early Tribes   67Rahab, Deborah, Jael, Jephthah’s Daughter, Samson’s Mother, Samson’s Wife, DelilahLesson Five  More Women of Israel’s Early Tribes   91Ruth, Naomi, Orpah, Hannah, PeninnahEndnotes   108Bibliography   109Praying with Your Group   110Reflecting on Scripture   112

“Solid scholarship, readable text, and compelling stories about women of the Bible—heroes chosen by God to be instruments of deliverance and blessing for God’s people.”Stephen J. Picard, Bible Ministry Coordinator, St. Jerome Parish, Los Angeles