Wicked Women and Wicked Good Women of the Bible

Women helped to form the Judeo-Christian culture, and the Bible is filled with their stories, both good and bad. (Wicked can mean both very bad and very good. Sometimes that's confusing.) However, in the stories from the Bible there's no confusion about who was evil and who was good. The stories range from Eve in the Garden of Eden and Jezebel, the wicked queen, to Deborah, Ruth and Esther.

The author tells the stories in narrative form giving thoughts and actions to the characters. Of course, no one can know today what these women thought, but reading the stories like a novel is fun, and it makes you wonder about the underlying basis of the stories. I couldn't help thinking about the role Adam played in getting them expelled from Eden.

At the end of each story the author goes into a short description of the culture of the times. I found these very interesting, and they added depth to my understanding of the context of the Bible stories. There is also a section giving questions that can be used in group Bible study. However, reading and thinking about these questions can also provide greater depth to the stories, even if you're doing it on your own.

I highly recommend this book. The stories are well chosen to display the importance of women in the Bible, and the narrative presentation is easy to read plus it raises additional questions about these women and their role in the Bible.

I reviewed this book for BookLook Bloggers.