All of the Women of the Bible by Edith Deen
"The idea for this book sprang from a story I wrote on Lydia, the businesswoman described in Acts ... The Lydia story brought letters from readers, who suggested a series on women of the Bible. This idea challenged me. Today the Bible, churches and religion have become big news.In our regional libraries I found many books on women of the Bible, but none was comprehensive. The demand for these books was great, for I saw that many were well-worn; others, though written decades earlier, were still in use." -- All of the Women of the Bible, "Preface"
When I saw this book in the library I had to snap it up, and I'm so glad I did. Edith Deen has written a wonderful guide to all of the women mentioned in the Bible, both named and unnamed. Each entry in Section I opens with the name of the woman, the verses where her story is located, and a brief description of the Bible passage before launching into an in-depth view of the woman and her life. Section II has an alphabetical listing of the named women, along with the verses in the Bible where she is found and a description. Section III is a chronological listing of nameless women, again with the verses where she is found and a description. This last section is divided into "Daughters", "Wives", "Mothers", "Widows", and "Other Unnamed Women." The very end of the book has a comprehensive index to make it easy to find a specific woman.
I adore this book. I learned a lot from it, from small details about well-known women to a host of things when taking a closer look at a lesser-known woman. For instance, I've seen plenty of books, articles, etc. on Jacob's wife Rachel, the preferred wife, but very little on her sister, Jacob's other wife Leah. Edith Deen obviously took her time researching to be able to paint such an interesting and informative picture of the less-favored Leah. My favorite part of the book was the extra details that were put in -- I'm a sucker for little facts and information. Page 20, discussing Lot's wife, gives archaeological evidence for the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and how Lot's wife may have become a pillar of salt, while page 84, discussing Ruth, reveals that explorations of the plains of ancient Moab have confirmed their fertility during the devastating famine in Judah and imply a close association between the Hebrews and the Moabites.
The descriptions in the book are sometimes a bit much for my tastes, but I absolutely loved it and I will definitely be needing a copy of my own for my personal library.
5/5
DISCLOSURE: I borrowed this book from the library where I work and received no compensation for this review.
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