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00:01Lust. Greed. Jealousy.
00:09Despite its nuanced portraits of all too human women,
00:13the Bible draws a mysterious line between the villains and the heroines.
00:21The female heroines are full characters.
00:25And so, as full characters, they have aspects that we just want to reach out and hug,
00:32and they have aspects that we just want to reach out and shake.
00:38Why has the matriarch Sarah long been considered a heroine,
00:41even though she banishes a woman and child to almost certain death in the desert?
00:49And why does the Bible lavish praise on an Israelite murderess?
00:55Or on a Jewish queen who masters the arts of love and seduction in a royal Persian harem?
01:02Women in the Hebrew Bible can become heroines despite very odd circumstances.
01:08How could these women possibly be heroines?
01:14Can scholars find the real flesh-and-blood women behind the biblical stories?
01:19Will ancient heroines still appear heroic under contemporary scrutiny?
01:25These are but a few of the mysteries of the Bible.
01:29in Sweden of the Hebrews SpaceweThat
01:30and Christians have notice ofwiąعل.
01:35Have a good life for the Bible.
01:37And let us so far know why we exist.
01:38Some people tell you on the right side of the Bible.
01:42But we've already 30th and completed.
01:44And Ikka from The End
02:16Sarah, Miriam, Ruth, Deborah, Esther.
02:46For countless generations, women have patterned their lives after these heroines of the Hebrew
02:51Bible, looking to them for inspiration and examples of virtue.
02:58The way in which Christian and rabbinic interpretation of women in the Bible has shaped our culture
03:04is by giving us models and creating in us aspirations of what sort of people we want to grow up to be.
03:13All we need to do is remember how many women we know who are named Ruth or Sarah.
03:24Despite the Bible's defining role in the lives of Western women, for 2,000 years, no women's voices
03:31were heard in the houses of biblical study until now.
03:38There has been a tremendous sea change in biblical scholarship and in biblical understanding
03:44on the role of women in the Bible.
03:46One of the most obvious reasons for that is that we simply have more female scholars.
03:51Some of our most important biblical scholars today are women.
03:56And because of that, some of them have chosen to look at questions that male scholars have simply ignored.
04:07One of the pressing questions on this new frontier of biblical research
04:11is the nature of female heroism in the Bible.
04:18Some of the most compelling mysteries revolve around Sarah, the great matriarch of the Hebrew people.
04:30For centuries, all eyes have been on her husband, the patriarch Abraham.
04:35Knife in hand, ready to obey God's seemingly unfathomable command
04:40to slay their son, Isaac.
04:44But today, as scholars take a second look at the women of the Bible,
04:48it is Sarah's mysterious moral choices that spark intense debate.
04:56It is more than 1,800 years before the birth of Jesus
05:00when Abraham leaves his home to begin a spiritual journey that will change the world.
05:06He is not alone.
05:10At his side is Sarah, his wife and partner in a revolutionary belief in one God
05:17and in that God's extraordinary promise to Abraham.
05:24Abraham was given a three-fold promise of land, descendants, and a great name.
05:28And where women fit into that promise is in the part about descendants.
05:35Women received their honor and prestige in that society by giving birth to these sons.
05:42During a vast expanse of years at his side, Sarah is consistently loyal to Abraham and to his God.
05:52Yet tragically, she remains barren in a world where infertility is seen as a sign of divine disfavor.
05:59At 76 years of age, Sarah gives up hope of becoming a mother and makes a life-altering decision.
06:09Abraham will father a child with Sarah's Egyptian slave, Hagar.
06:15She will act as a surrogate mother.
06:17I think one of Sarah's major acts of heroism is, in fact, by suggesting to Abraham that he conceive a child with Sarah's handmaiden, Hagar.
06:28Sarah knows the promise to Abraham, but she doesn't know exactly the means by which this promise will be accomplished.
06:35Surrogate motherhood was a well-established custom in the ancient Near East.
06:42Yet when Hagar becomes pregnant with Abraham's child, the Bible gives a rare glimpse of its agonizing emotional cost.
06:53As the child grows within her, Hagar becomes contemptuous of the barren Sarah.
06:58And Sarah, no longer Abraham's sole confidant and companion, sees her world crumble.
07:11Sarah said to Abraham,
07:13It's all your fault.
07:15I placed my slave in your arms.
07:17Now that she sees herself pregnant, she looks at me with disrespect.
07:23Genesis 16, 5.
07:28Eventually, the emotional upheaval in the household subsides.
07:36Hagar gives birth to a child she names Ishmael.
07:41All is well until one day three angels appear.
07:47They tell Abraham of a miraculous event soon to unfold.
07:52God will bless Sarah, and she too will bear a son.
07:58If I was 90 years old, and I was told that I was going to have a child,
08:11and I was told that I might have some sexual pleasure in having this child,
08:16well, I would laugh too.
08:18I would laugh too.
08:19So I see that reaction not as a problem, but as a wonderful glimpse of Sarah's humanity.
08:27Sarah gives birth to a son, whom Abraham names Isaac, which in Hebrew means he laughed.
08:37But the joy is short-lived.
08:39In an incident deeply cloaked in mystery, Sarah sees Hagar's son Ishmael perform an act against Isaac.
08:52The nature of the offense is not made clear in the biblical text,
08:56but one legend suggests that Ishmael was trying to coax Isaac into playing dangerous games
09:01in which he might be killed.
09:05Sarah's reaction is swift and sure.
09:08She said to Abraham,
09:13Drive away this slave together with her son.
09:17The son of this slave will not share the inheritance with my son Isaac.
09:23Genesis 21.10
09:25At Sarah's bidding, Abraham banishes Hagar and their son Ishmael into the perilous desert wilderness,
09:36with only morsels of bread and a few drops of water to sustain them.
09:42Sarah's first loyalty is to her child.
09:48Hagar's child presents a threat to Sarah's child because they are the issues of who's going to really inherit.
09:58As Ishmael lies close to death from thirst, Hagar cries out to God.
10:08The Almighty responds to her.
10:12Hagar opens her eyes and sees a life-saving well in the distance.
10:17Mother and son will survive.
10:19Today, the one billion Muslims of the world honor Ishmael as the patriarch of the Arab nations.
10:40Some contemporary biblical interpreters believe it is his mother Hagar who may be the true heroine of the story.
10:48Yet what is Sarah's true place among the biblical heroines?
10:59Just as Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac, the miraculous child of their old age,
11:05was Sarah also obeying an agonizing command when she banished Hagar and Ishmael into the desert?
11:12The mystery of what was in Sarah's heart remains buried with her in an ancient cave outside of Hebron,
11:22where, according to legend, she was laid to rest by Abraham.
11:31But just outside the sacred tomb, here in one of the most violent flashpoints in the Middle East,
11:38one can ponder perhaps a greater mystery.
11:42Do the sons of Ishmael and Isaac remain locked in deadly conflict as punishment for their mother's sins?
11:52Do the sons of Ishmael and Isaac remain locked in deadly conflict as punishment for their mother's sins?
12:12With every passing generation, the bondage of the Israelites in Egypt had increased in harshness and bitterness.
12:25But no vicious whip of the overseer's lash cut as deeply as Pharaoh's decree to slay all male Hebrew children at birth.
12:34Upon the birth of her brother, a humble slave girl named Miriam makes a fateful decision.
12:47She will risk her own life in order to save the child.
12:50The first light of dawn illuminates the Nile as Miriam runs along the shore to keep pace with a basket of reeds drifting precariously on the current.
13:09Inside the basket is her infant brother, who will be given the name Moses.
13:16As Pharaoh's childless daughter steps into the Nile nearby to bathe, Miriam ducks into the reeds to keep out of sight.
13:27Pharaoh's daughter saw the basket in the rushes and sent her slave girl to fetch it.
13:37Opening the basket, she saw the boy.
13:40The infant began to cry, and she had pity on it.
13:45Exodus 2, 5
13:48She was responsible for saving Moses' life.
13:54So, in fact, Miriam is one of the unsung heroes of the Bible, male or female, in that, if it wasn't for Miriam, we may not have even had an exodus.
14:07When Moses is brought into the royal palace and raised as the princess's own son, Miriam mysteriously disappears from the biblical text.
14:15And when Moses kills a man and must flee Egypt, we learn nothing of Miriam's passage from childhood to womanhood in slavery.
14:29Forty years pass before Moses returns to Egypt.
14:35What he does, it is with a message that will forever change the course of history.
14:44Time and time again, Moses stands before Pharaoh and demands freedom for the Hebrew slaves.
14:51But Pharaoh refuses to let them go.
14:53Locusts, darkness, boils, nine plagues in all descend upon the land.
15:06But with the tenth and most devastating plague, the slaying of the Egyptian firstborn, Pharaoh relents.
15:14The Hebrews escape in haste, yet when they reach the seemingly impassable Red Sea, Egyptian chariots bear down upon them.
15:26Moses miraculously parts the waters.
15:31Just as the last Hebrew slave crosses to safety, the sea walls close, drowning the entire pursuing Egyptian army.
15:39Safe on the far shore, a woman begins a song of praise.
15:51It is Miriam, Moses' sister.
15:56Stepping out of the shadows after more than 40 years, she begins to lead a group of women in song.
16:02Most scholars believe that the oldest version of the great praise of God for their salvation
16:32at the exodus, most scholars believe that it was Miriam who initiated that.
16:38It's not enough that something happens.
16:41It only has power when it's remembered.
16:45Without Miriam, it's not remembered.
16:49After the Red Sea crossing, Miriam disappears once again from the text,
16:54except for one fleeting and mysterious moment.
16:57One day, she approaches Moses and expresses her disapproval of his marriage to a foreign woman.
17:09This act of challenging Moses' authority so angers God that he instantly strikes Miriam with leprosy.
17:16There are a couple of mysteries involved with Miriam being struck by leprosy.
17:28The Bible describes the wife as a Cushite.
17:32The Cushites are often thought to be those people living in the southern part of Egypt with particularly dark skin.
17:41And it is, in some sense, ironic that she is given a disease that causes her skin to turn white and flake off.
17:51Moses cries out to God to heal his sister's leprosy.
17:56Miraculously, Miriam is healed.
17:59But is it possible that what was really ailing Miriam was the exclusivity of the relationship between God and Moses,
18:07and not with her?
18:08Miriam went on to say,
18:13Is it only to Moses exclusively that God speaks?
18:17Doesn't he also speak to us?
18:20Numbers 12, 1
18:23Does God only speak through Moses?
18:29It's a very powerful question, not just for her time, but for our time as well.
18:34I think Miriam knew her answer.
18:35Her answer was, No, God does not only speak through Moses.
18:40God does not only speak through men.
18:43Although Miriam's role in the saga of the Hebrew Exodus may never be fully revealed,
18:49the Bible does honor her as a prophet, as one through whom God actually spoke.
18:54In the years to come, other leaders will arise.
19:03The year is 1150 before the common era in the promised land.
19:21The time of desert wandering by 12 Hebrew tribes unified under the leadership of Moses are in the past.
19:30The glories of kings and the establishment of their capital in Jerusalem lie in the unseen future.
19:42The tribes have split into warring camps.
19:48Weakened by this conflict, the Israelites have fallen under the domination of a powerful Canaanite king and his army with 900 chariots.
19:56In the rugged hill country near Galilee, where the Canaanite chariots are relatively useless against them,
20:08the Israelites have maintained a degree of freedom.
20:14It is here that a prophet and judge sits under a lone palm tree.
20:18Her name is Deborah.
20:27From far and wide, people come to her seeking judgment and to hear the word of God.
20:35Her prophetic songs awaken courage and hopes of freedom.
20:39Deborah is now called to rise up and lead the Israelites into battle.
20:54It is very unusual to find a woman given the role of both judge and prophetess in the Hebrew Bible.
21:03These positions of judge were usually filled by men.
21:07So when God speaks with Deborah and tells her to gather an army against the Canaanites,
21:12this really is quite unusual in the Hebrew Bible.
21:13Deborah summons Barak, a Hebrew leader, and commands him to muster 10,000 troops.
21:26After months of secret military preparations, God reveals that the moment for war has come.
21:32Deborah issues orders to march against the Canaanite general, Sisera.
21:47But mysteriously, Barak hesitates.
21:53Barak said to her,
21:55If you will go with me, I will go.
21:58But if you will not go with me, I will not go.
22:02Judges 4, 8.
22:07Many people wonder why Barak says to Deborah,
22:09I won't go into battle unless you do,
22:11and they say, well, he's just timid or scared.
22:13But in fact, I think that he's questioning Deborah's authority.
22:18Could Barak's hesitation reveal less about him
22:21than about how the biblical authors felt about Deborah,
22:25a powerful woman in a society where women's roles
22:29were mainly restricted to wife, mother, and daughter?
22:32These women in the Bible come to us through the eyes
22:41of male elite scribes and writers.
22:45We always have to figure out
22:48how does this woman serve the male interests of the story?
22:54Deborah functions in the story to shame the men who surround her.
23:07Deborah agrees to march into battle with Barak,
23:10but she also makes a startling prophecy.
23:13And she said, I will surely go with you.
23:22Nevertheless, the road on which you are going
23:25will not lead to your glory,
23:27for the Lord will see Sisera into the hand of a woman.
23:33Judges 4, 9.
23:35A fierce battle ensues.
23:56Finally, God intervenes with a sheet of rain
23:59that blinds the Canaanite troops
24:01and immobilizes their chariots in mud.
24:08Flush with victory,
24:09Barak pursues Sisera for a final coup,
24:12but the Canaanite general escapes
24:14over the bodies of his dead men.
24:23Exhausted, Sisera finds refuge
24:25in the tent of a mysterious woman named Ja'el.
24:33She offers him warm milk
24:35and watches over him as he drifts off to sleep.
24:39Then Ja'el suddenly wields a hammer
24:41and drives a tent stick
24:43through the sleeping man's head.
24:49The text does not tell us
24:51why Ja'el killed Sisera, the enemy general.
24:54Ja'el is a Freudian nightmare.
24:57We don't know what motivates her,
24:59but she makes us very, very nervous.
25:02Ja'el in the story is also used
25:04to shame the men around her.
25:07Sisera, this macho male,
25:09gets down off of his chariot,
25:12which was the symbol of his male prestige,
25:14runs to a woman's tent,
25:16and instead of dying valiantly,
25:18he gets killed by a woman.
25:21The final glory of the victory
25:26over the Canaanites goes not to Barak,
25:29but to Ja'el, a woman.
25:34Deborah's prophecy has been fulfilled.
25:43Deborah, the judge and prophet,
25:45has led the Israelites to victory
25:47against foreign domination.
25:53Although the sphere of her authority
25:55is unusual in the Hebrew Bible,
25:57her courage and resolve are not.
25:591,200 years before the birth of Jesus,
26:21famine strikes the Hebrew city of Bethlehem.
26:24But in Moab, on the other side of the Jordan River,
26:28food is plentiful.
26:29Although Moab has long been an enemy nation,
26:36Naomi, a young Hebrew wife and mother,
26:39journeys there with her family
26:40in search of sustenance.
26:45But not long after settling in Moab,
26:47her life takes a tragic turn.
26:49The husband of Naomi died,
26:55and she was left with her two sons.
26:59These took Moabite wives.
27:01The name of one was Oppa,
27:03and the name of the other, Ruth.
27:06When they had lived there about ten years,
27:09both her sons also died.
27:13Ruth, one, three.
27:15Naomi has precious little time to grieve.
27:22She faces the difficult task of finding a way to provide
27:26for herself and her widowed daughters-in-law.
27:29One of the things we have to remember
27:33is that this is a time before welfare.
27:36This was a time when an unattached woman
27:39had almost no rights, privileges,
27:43and clearly no means of support.
27:48Naomi decides to return with her small household to Bethlehem.
27:52But somewhere, at a remote crossroads
28:05between Moab and Bethlehem,
28:07she realizes that it would be a tragic mistake
28:10for her daughters-in-law to stay with her.
28:13Although she is old, they are still young.
28:16It is not too late for Ruth and Orpah to remarry
28:19if they return to their own people.
28:22Orpah weeps openly, but turns for home.
28:30Then, in one of the great mysteries of the Bible,
28:33Ruth refuses to follow.
28:36Instead, she clings to the old woman, Naomi,
28:39who has nothing to offer her
28:41except a bleak and uncertain future.
28:45Where you go, I will go.
28:48Where you lodge, I will lodge.
28:50Your people shall be my people,
28:54and your God, my God.
28:57Ruth 1, 16.
29:00Ruth's attachment to Naomi is a sign of courage and loyalty on her part.
29:04She's willing to give up her land,
29:06her culture, her mother's home,
29:09everything that she's known
29:10in order to accompany a very embittered older woman
29:14back to a country, Bethlehem,
29:16a town, Bethlehem,
29:18where Ruth may, in fact, not be welcome.
29:23Although Naomi's husband was a man of property,
29:26in ancient Israelite society,
29:28women cannot inherit.
29:31Naomi and Ruth return penniless to Bethlehem.
29:34Fortunately, when the weary travelers arrive at the gates of the city,
29:41it is harvest time.
29:43In accordance with the ancient Israelite code of social justice,
29:48farmers must leave some of their grain in the field
29:50for widows and the poor to glean.
29:53Ruth and Naomi will not starve.
29:56At daybreak, Ruth heads for the fields
30:02and, without realizing it,
30:04gleans in the field of Boaz,
30:06a relative of Naomi's dead husband.
30:16Word of Ruth's loving kindness toward Naomi precedes her,
30:20and Boaz is immediately taken with a beautiful young woman.
30:23He instructs his field hands
30:26to leave extra grain behind for her to gather.
30:33That night, when Ruth returns with arms full of wheat,
30:38Naomi realizes that what her daughter-in-law has harvested
30:41may actually sustain them not for a day or a week,
30:45but for the rest of their lives.
30:46Because Boaz is a relative,
30:55according to Hebrew law,
30:56he may have a legal responsibility
30:58to his two female relatives.
31:06When a woman's husband dies,
31:09should the woman not have a child,
31:10it becomes the responsibility of the dead husband's brother,
31:13or, in some cases, a near-male relative,
31:17to impregnate the woman.
31:19The child which is conceived and born
31:21thereby becomes the heir of the dead husband.
31:26Naomi is too old to remarry and bear children,
31:29but Ruth is still young.
31:35A son born to Boaz and Ruth
31:37would be able to inherit the family property
31:39that, as women, Ruth and Naomi would not be entitled to.
31:44This son would be expected to use his inheritance
31:47to provide for both Ruth and Naomi.
31:56But in a mysterious prohibition
31:59deeply rooted in the book of Genesis,
32:01there is a seemingly insurmountable obstacle
32:04to a marriage between Boaz and Ruth.
32:09Clues to the mystery
32:11can be found in the destruction
32:12of the biblical cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.
32:20According to legend,
32:22only Lot and his two daughters
32:23survive the devastation.
32:26Believing their father
32:27to be the last man left on earth,
32:30Lot's daughters make their father drunk
32:32and seduce him in order to bear a child.
32:35The fruit of this incestuous union is Moab.
32:44His descendants are known as Moabites,
32:47the only group whom the Israelites
32:49are specifically forbidden to marry.
32:53Ruth is one of them.
32:57Naomi devises a daring plan
32:59to encourage Boaz to marry Ruth
33:01despite her heritage.
33:03Naomi tells Ruth to dress in her best clothes
33:06and go to the threshing room
33:08where Boaz will sleep that night
33:10after winnowing his grain.
33:17But do not make yourself known to the man
33:19until he has finished eating and drinking.
33:22When he lies down,
33:26observe the place where he lies,
33:28then go and uncover his feet.
33:32Ruth 3, 3.
33:38Boaz wakes up and he's very surprised.
33:41Why?
33:41He's not surprised only because
33:43there's a woman lying down next to him.
33:45He's surprised because in biblical Hebrew
33:48the word for feet means genitals.
33:50When Ruth uncovers Boaz's feet,
33:56he is in effect sexually exposed to her.
34:01How can Ruth and Naomi's heroine status
34:04be reconciled with this sexual intrigue?
34:12Sexual trickery or trickery of any sort
34:14in the Hebrew Bible is usually an heroic act.
34:17For the ancient Israelites who for the most part
34:21had very little power.
34:24Since trickery is the device of power
34:27for those who are powerless,
34:29women as more powerless than men
34:31not surprisingly use trickery
34:33and sometimes sexual trickery
34:35in order to accomplish their goals.
34:40Boaz falls in love with Ruth
34:42and takes her to be his wife.
34:45Not long after they are married,
34:47Ruth conceives and gives birth to a son
34:50whom she names Obed.
34:53As a symbol of his redeeming role
34:55in both their lives,
34:57Ruth places the child
34:59in the old woman Naomi's arms.
35:01In an ironic twist,
35:05Obed, the child of Ruth the Moabite,
35:08will one day be the grandfather
35:10of none other than King David,
35:12Israel's greatest and most beloved king.
35:17This Moabite woman,
35:19this woman from a hated, despised race,
35:22as a direct result of her courage
35:24comes David the king.
35:26No stronger statement could be made
35:29of her importance in the Bible.
35:34Admiration for Ruth spills over
35:35into the New Testament
35:37where she is given the ultimate honor.
35:40By virtue of her lineage
35:41connecting her to King David,
35:44Ruth will become an ancestor of Jesus.
35:48Where you go, I will go.
35:51Where you lodge, I will lodge.
35:53Your people shall be my people
35:55and your God, my God.
35:58To this day, Ruth's words to Naomi
36:00at the crossroads between Bethlehem and Moab
36:03remain the most famous words
36:05of love and devotion ever spoken.
36:21The story of Esther begins
36:23in the year 500 B.C.E.
36:28Ahasuerus, the king of Persia,
36:30sends out a royal decree
36:31to all the remote corners of his kingdom,
36:34which stretches from India to Ethiopia.
36:36Esther 2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-
37:06of beautiful young women who are brought into the harem
37:09to learn the arts of love and seduction.
37:18Each of the virgins will spend only one night with the king.
37:24The one who pleases him most will become the new queen.
37:27Finally, it is Esther's turn to be brought to the royal bedchamber,
37:37but the Bible drops a discreet veil over this now legendary encounter.
37:43Esther is crowned queen of all Persia the very next day,
37:51but she has a secret, one that could easily cost her her life.
37:57Esther is a descendant of the Israelites,
38:03driven out of Jerusalem after the destruction of the Holy Temple in 586 BCE.
38:09As a powerless minority, the Jews of Persia are in a precarious position.
38:21Deep within the walls of the palace,
38:23Esther may be in the most perilous position of all,
38:27for she has hidden her Jewish identity from the Persian court.
38:31The danger is made palpable when one day
38:33a messenger arrives at the palace with terrible news.
38:40Esther learns that Haman, the king's vizier,
38:43has ordered the massacre of all the Jews of Persia.
38:49Although she could easily continue to keep her secret,
38:51Esther resolves to reveal her Jewish identity, thereby risking her life.
38:59In the African-American community, we had a time when people could pass.
39:05That is to say, they were light-skinned enough that they didn't look like they were African-American.
39:11Esther could pass and chose not to.
39:15And at that point, she becomes a heroine.
39:19As soon as the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court,
39:27she won his favor,
39:29and he held out to her the golden scepter that was in his hand.
39:33The king said to her,
39:35What is it, Queen Esther?
39:37What is your request?
39:39It shall be given you even to the half of my kingdom.
39:43Esther 5-2
39:51Esther exposes Haman's cruel plot to kill the Jews.
39:55In doing so, she reveals her own Jewish identity
39:59and begs the king to spare her people.
40:05The king, outraged by Haman's genocidal plan,
40:09orders Haman hanged.
40:11The Jews are saved.
40:17Despite this positive outcome for the Jewish people,
40:20controversy has mysteriously swirled around Esther for over a thousand years.
40:29Why was the story of a Jewish queen who saves her people from genocide
40:35the only book of the Bible excluded from the Dead Sea Scrolls?
40:42Why was it banished from the biblical canon for hundreds of years?
40:46Is it possible that clues to this mystery
40:49can be found in the complete absence of the word God in the book of Esther?
40:54God is embodied by the people who take heart, who don't give up hope,
41:03and particularly God is embodied in the person of Esther,
41:06who risks her life in order to save the lives of her people.
41:12Not all scholars believe that Esther's heroism bears contemporary scrutiny.
41:17Can a woman whose power is derived from her beauty and seductive talents
41:22be considered a heroine?
41:27Now, Esther has received a lot of negative criticism
41:30because it's construed as a beauty pageant.
41:35And Esther's obviously just a pretty face.
41:39But that is really to miss the way the story's constructed.
41:42It's to miss the sort of cunning that Esther brings to her task.
41:49If Esther would have been queen and done nothing for her people,
41:53we would not be reading the story.
41:55In times to come, will our children still be reading the story of Esther
42:08and the other heroines of the Hebrew Bible for a source of inspiration?
42:12Will their children be named Miriam, Ruth, Sarah, and Deborah?
42:18The mysteries of the biblical heroines may never be fully revealed.
42:27After all, they are embedded in one of the most mysterious tales ever told,
42:32the chronicle of the Jewish people,
42:35who endured by virtue of unflinching courage and faith in God,
42:40rather than in military might.
42:41The women of the Bible exemplify this message.
42:49They survived against overwhelming odds.
42:53They lost their thoughts.
42:54They lost their thoughts.