More Than Cameos: Rethinking How We Read Biblical Women

by Sandra Glahn

For much of my Bible education, I learned men’s history first—Adam, Abraham, David, Jesus, Paul—and only later filled in with stories of women like Esther, Ruth, and Mary Magdalene. Even after earning a bachelor’s degree in Bible, I had never studied the daughters of Zelophehad or heard a sermon that included Tamar, Judah’s daughter-in-law. Yet the latter is essential to Judah’s about-face, going from trafficking his half-brother Joseph to offering his life in exchange for that of his half-brother Benjamin. Between these two events we find a shocking encounter between Judah and Tamar, who makes him see himself as he is, motivating him to change.

But that’s not how I learned the story. In my education, we treated the “Tamar story” as a detour off the main narrative, which was the story about Joseph being sold into slavery and ending up as a ruler in Egypt who saves his family. Yet lest we forget, Judah is the son through whom Messiah will come.

I learned to see Tamar as a detour, Esther as the star of a romance, Bathsheba as a seductress, Mary Magdalene as a harlot, and the woman at the well as morally compromised. In Exodus, we rushed past the heroic midwives, sister, mother and princess and went straight to the burning bush. And what did we lose in the process? We failed to see that multiple women saved Israel through their civil disobedience long before the eighty-year-old Moses demanded that Pharaoh “let my people go!” In the process, we missed that God was at work to save Israel long before He called Moses.

Even today, sermons tend to emphasize men, reflecting both the Bible’s historical context and the contemporary predominance of male commentators. When it comes to the women in the text, speakers often either ignore them, cameo them, or vilify them. Yet none of these approaches encounters biblical women naturally as they appear in the text.

Ignoring women. Ironically, sometimes ignoring women in the biblical text means we miss the narrator’s subtle arguments against misogyny. Consider the unnamed and unquoted concubine described in Judges 19: Evil men abuse her all night and leave her to die. Her common-law husband then cuts her into twelve pieces and sends her body parts to the twelve tribes of Israel. Does the fact that she is never named nor even quoted mean the narrator is “erasing” her? No. The silence, omission, and sparing detail communicate literary and theological points: “Erasing her” is what the guilty parties in the story do. The fact that the narrator gives the woman no name or words serves as an indictment against the evildoers—specifically the men from the tribe of Benjamin. They have stooped so low as to have utter disregard for human life. Paying careful attention to the narrator’s choices when women are included in the story helps us see that God sees all people as possessing dignity.

Cameoing women. When they cameo women, speakers may highlight select characters as if their stories are sidebars rather than integral to the narrative. Such an approach, while helping us gain at least some familiarity with a few choice women, fragments their significance. New Testament scholar Holly Carey observes that while people have published helpful studies on select Bible women, such approaches have often addressed their subjects “individually, in relative isolation from each other”—an approach that often lacks cohesiveness, neglecting the women’s impact as followers of God and how their actions function in the larger story.

Vilifying women. Another common approach is to vilify women. Sometimes speakers do this with Matthew’s inclusion of women in Jesus’s genealogy. They see the women’s presence as a demonstration of how God uses “great sexual sinners.” Ironically, the focus never turns to Solomon or David, men on the list who could make the same point. Matthew does not need to add Tamar, Rahab, Bathsheba, or Ruth to emphasize that God forgives sinners. Rather, the Gospel writer wants his readers to see how God regards the faith of the “outsider.”

Behind all of these approaches is a tendency to fragment Scripture. Readers often focus on parts, but in the process we risk fragmenting the whole story. Consequently, we may come to think of the Bible as a book of quotes or a collection of short stories like Aesop’s Fables. But Scripture tells a true, grand narrative of creation, fall, redemption, and restoration. From the Garden of Eden to the empty tomb to the New Jerusalem, God’s promise unfolds through a people. Within this story, women play essential roles.

Going back and seeing the women in the story is more than a trend; it’s a course correction. Approaches such as Bible-storying and narrative-focused seminar courses help readers see Scripture’s grand arc. The context in which women’s stories appear provides clues that direct readers to faithful interpretation and meaningful application. So, seeing women as they appear in the story—rather than skipping them, cameoing them, or vilifying them—leads to clearer understanding of Scripture and ultimately a fuller picture of God.

Often we start with men’s history. Then we add women by creating cameos of them. Isn’t it time to fully integrate narratives? Women belong in the story. Seeing them is essential to Scripture’s messaging, demonstrating God’s faithfulness, wisdom, and redemptive plan. Ignoring or distorting them impoverishes our understanding. Yet observing women as we encounter them in the narrative—seeing what they do, how they function, and how the narrator presents them—allows us to interpret Scripture more faithfully. As a result, we can apply God’s word more meaningfully, and ultimately behold God more fully.

Dr. Sandra Glahn is a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary and the author or coauthor of more than twenty-five books. Her most recent release is A Woman’s Place Is in the Story: Seeing Women in the Biblical Text (IVP Academic). Follow her on Instagram at @sandraglahnauthor and Substack at https://substack.com/@sandraglahn