This book takes 31 women from the Bible and introduces them to you in a way you may not have ever thought before. Each chapter tells you of a woman and some of the important things you might not have thought of. But it also contains some interesting questions at the end that make you think and wonder and ponder and possibly do a bit of praying as well.

I can only hope and pray that I would react as some of these wonderful women did when adversity comes my way.

Not all of these women are women that I actually remember having read of in the Bible so it was fun to find the scriptures about them and have a read.

I'm not sure how these women were chosen or why some other notable women were not chosen. I like to think maybe the authors wanted to introduce some of the overlooked women of the Bible to us.

Great read and I do recommend it.

I have voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from NetGalley. All views expressed are only my honest opinion. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC regulations.

I stumbled across this book last fall and knew it was something I was interested in reading. I mean, let's face it, depending on the denomination of Christianity you practice determines the role that women play in your faith and in your church. Some churches are more conservative where women don't hold positions of power while other's embrace women ministers. I'm not open to debating which is right or wrong so there's that. The thing is, women do hold a place in our faith. God used women, sometimes in large roles (Deborah as an Old Testament Judge) or Mary (mother of Jesus), and sometimes in lesser roles such as many women who carried great significance but yet we never learn their names. As a female, regardless of my personal belief system, at the end of the day it doesn't matter if I am a great leader in my faith or a footnote in the path of someone else's faith, my contribution matters; sometimes more than a males.

My desire, need, to read this book clashed with my ability to read this book. I started reading so many times for something to come up to prevent me from getting more than a chapter in. It became a frustration that eventually I just back burner-ed the book thinking I'd get to it. . .eventually. Perhaps it was a gentle 'meant to be' moment more than a failure on my part to invest in this book. Perhaps I needed to read about the importance of women in the Bible to remind me of my importance in the now, not a year ago but now while I am struggling. I took solace in the women who are never named for their contribution to my faith. I felt pride at the way that women, who had so much less opportunities then than we do now, made the most of their position and lead others forward toward God. I felt strengthened and somewhat redeemed as I buried myself into the faith and belief of those who have gone before me. I believe those false starts at reading this book were meant to be and that now was the right time. Yes, it might have sat on my Net Galley shelf for entirely too long but I think there is reason for that so I can't find it in my heart to apologize for that.

The only drawback for this book for me was probably minor but for me it was distracting. Each woman was given with her biography, her role in redemption, by the numbers, and things we wondered scattered with commentary of other great Biblical scholars and historians. Sometimes I got bogged down in too much, what felt to me, irrelevant information in the first two sections. Other times, I wish there was more. The by the numbers was interesting. Sometimes they made me smile (like Eve with the number of talking snakes encountered) and other times I found myself skipping them as they felt redundant and/or irrelevant. I could add a question or two to the things we wondered section but I really enjoyed that as well. All in all I truly enjoyed this book, this journey to learn more about 31 women that had a significant role in my faith and the Bible; even if they may have only garnered a verse or two. This list of women is not all inclusive but it is all empowering.

I was provided a complimentary copy of this book by NetGalley. I was not compensated for this review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. I was not required to write a positive review.

The Most Important Women of the Bible: Remarkable Stories of God's Love and Redemption is a non-fiction Christian book by Aaron and Elaina Sharp. As the title suggests, the book focuses on the women the authors deem the most important in the Bible along with the reasons why they believe this.

Each chapter is focused on a particular woman. The chapters can each be outlined in this order: the woman's name, a quote about them, verses which reference them, a Biblical biography about them, their impact/reason for importance, controversies about them, numbers that are featured in their stories (number of children, miles between cities, etc.), and unanswered questions of the authors.

The book was informative, featuring thirty-one women and a description of their part in the overall Biblical story. It was interesting to see the diversity of these women; they were everything from prophetesses to harlots, mothers to queens. Many of them were in the lineage of Jesus himself, and others played key roles in the overall Biblical story, in the Old Testament and the New.

This book is not at the level of a serious Bible scholar, with difficult technical language. Instead, anyone can pick up this book and gain a better understanding of the roles of these key women in the Bible. However, because it is not such a deep study, there is a lot more that can be said about each of the women. Still, the book does a good job giving an overview of the women's stories and summarizing some of the controversies about unrecorded details of their lives.

The Most Important Women of the Bible was an informative book that any interested person can easily pick up and read.

I received a complementary copy of this book. All opinions are my own, and I was not compensated for sharing them.

Interesting read! Great look at the women of the bible.

I like the little details from this book, it is short and easy to read, i plan on studying a woman a week and this book is a great tool in my study. It offers Bible references, important details that people may look over when reading the Bible, the book covers most of the womens in the Bible, over 30.

No what I expected but a very good read. As I am growing stronger in my faith this is a good book to use for reference.

Aaron and Elaina Sharp have compiled a study selecting 31 women of the Bible; from the well known Eve and Esther to the lesser known Jochebed and Zipporah. Each chapter or study begins with a quote and the scripture reference for the woman of the study. You then will read a biography and learn more about that particular woman of the Bible and her key role. At the end of every chapter, you will find questions that the authors have thought of for you to answer.
This is a well written and informative study that could be used alone or in a group setting for a women's Bible study.
I liked that each chapter is a different woman of the Bible. I also liked the fact that they chose some of the "unknowns" of the Bible with the in-depth biographies of each one.

This is a very in-depth look at 31 women of the BIble and their life and their change. I found this book very inspriational and interesting. Along with the women being profiled, bible verses are provided as well as things about the women you may or may not know. Another great feature of this book is the Number reference. This was very captivating and informative. I read this book from cover to cover and was constantly amazed. I for one hope the author will do more book such as this. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC of this book in return for my honest review.

The Most Important Women of the Bible is magnificent. As a woman I couldn't wait for a book like this to come out to read up more on - the women in the Bible – the good and the bad – starting of course with Eve. It gives you the Scripture verses first to look up, then it gives you their biography and boy did they tell you a lot of information that I didn't know on some of these women. Then they tell you their role in redemption next after that the authors go into the "numbers" for instance – for Eve – they say "quote Bible verses that name Eve by name – 4 " then they go into "things we Wonder "– IE "what did Adam and Eve sew the fig leaves together with ?". Now isn't that awesome ? – You should get this book, it is very interesting and worthwhile.

This book focuses on the stories of 31 women in the Bible and the role they played in God's redemptive plan. This book didn't quite hit the mark for me in terms of depth but it does give a great overview of both well know and lesser known woman in the bible. It is good for both private and group bible study.

I received a free copy of this book from Bethany House Publishing in exchange for an honest review. A favourable review was not required and all opinions expressed here are my own.

I have mixed feelings about this book. A lot of research was evidently put into the book, but I also think maybe some embellishments. The What we wondered section I don't believe added anything. Some questions were silly. This is an interesting book and may make a good Bible study. I can almost hear the lively discussions.

This was a very informative and interesting read. It has great insight into the Bible itself and especially highlighting the women who are in it. Every Christian should read it!

[Note:  This book was provided free of charge by Bethany House Publishing.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.]

For the most part, this book lives up to its title.  I have a few quibbles with some of the important biblical women this book does not include (Miriam, Rebekah, Rachel and Leah, and Abigail come to mind here, as well as more obscure names like Huldah), but there is no question that the women included in this book are worth remembering.  As someone who reads a lot of books about women in the Bible [1], there is always something worth wondering in what a particular book brings to the conversation.  Clearly, there is a great interest in writing about the women of the Bible, presumably for a female audience.  It would be a shame, though, if only women read this book.  Although many of the names chosen for these books show significant overlap, this book does a good job at showing what other writers (including some heavyweights like Calvin) have said about the particular women chosen as well as giving some amusing facts about the women and asking some thoughtful questions that the biblical texts do not explicitly answer about these women and their stories.

The version I read of this book was 115 pages long, certainly not too much space that plenty more important women had to be left out because of space considerations.  As it is, the book includes 31, perhaps as a nod to Proverbs 31 as containing both the wisdom of Lemuel's mother (another woman not included here) as well as the ode to the virtuous (or multuous) woman [2].  At any rate, there are plenty more worthy women that could have been included.  The women included, though, are a worthy list:  Eve, Sarah, Tamar, Jochebed, Zipporah, Rahab, Deborah, Ruth, Naomi, Hannah, Bathsheba, the widow of Zerephath, the woman of Shunem, Esther, Gomer, Mary (the mother of Christ), Elizabeth, Anna, Mary Magdelene, Mary and Martha, the woman at the well, the bleeding woman, the Syrophonecian woman, the widow with two mites, the widow of Nain, the woman sinner (not very specific, I know), Tabitha, Phoebe, Lois and Eunice, Lydia, and Priscilla.  The authors take a lot of effort at putting these women in the contexts of their own time as well as in their role in providing encouragement to (mostly) women today.

It is easy to imagine this book finding an appreciative audience among many women, as well as being the sort of book that encourages women's ministries and bible studies and the like.  It would be a shame, though, if this book was only read by women.  The serious and thought-provoking questions asked in this book are of interest to both men and women, as some of them deal with the question of God interaction with humankind and about questions of divine providence as well as what God thinks about the way that people respond to the problems of this world.  Many of the women in these biblical stories suffered with grave difficulties including illness, injustice, poverty, and childlessness, and not all of them handled their difficulties well, yet all were participants or observers of God's involvement with humanity.  The stories of these women, and many others, demonstrate the way that the Bible is a far more complicated and nuanced book when it comes to the role of women than is recognized by many, and the way that it speaks not only about long gone times but also speaks to contemporary concerns.

[1] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015/10/30/book-review-wicked-women-of-the-bible/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017/01/17/book-review-all-the-women-of-the-bible/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2013/08/03/book-review-what-about-women/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017/03/27/book-review-twelve-extraordinary-women/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017/03/27/book-review-miriams-well/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017/03/27/book-review-ten-women-of-the-bible/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017/03/29/book-review-lost-women-of-the-bible/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017/03/29/book-review-women-in-the-bible-for-dummies/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017/04/21/book-review-and-still-she-laughs/

[2] The word multuous is a bit of an inside joke with a friend of mine, who coined the term, I believe, from the Latin referring to the feminine form of virtue, since properly speaking, virtus (or virtue) refers to men, and multuous refers, in contrast, to women.

The Most Important Women of the Bible
Remarkable Stories of God's Love and Redemption
by Aaron and Elaina Sharp

Bethany House

Bethany House Publishers
Christian

Pub Date 17 Oct 2017

I am reviewing a copy of The Most Important Women Of the Bible through Bethany House Publishers and Netgalley:

In this book we learn about women in the Bible and the role they played in God’s redemption of humanity.

We learn Of Eve the first women, and the first sinner, and of Sarah, as Abraham’s wife God included Sarah in his promises intending that she be the mother of his descendants.

We learn too of Tamar the jilted daughter in law. As a Canaanite she seems to be an unlikely tool. And we learn of Jochebed the disobedient slave. She was the mother of Moses

Zipphorah was the wife who saved her family. Zipphorah was one of seven daughters called Jethro who was also called Reuel. Jethro was a shepherd and a priest of Miriam as well as a Cushite. He was a spiritual leader of the branch of the Midianites.

We learn to of Rahab, a prostitute in the city of Jericho. Instead of turning the spies that were staying at her inn over to the king she helped them. Despite the fact that Rahab was a prostitute and a Caanite, God used her.

Deborah was a strong and faithful women, who wore many different hats, she was a prophetess, a judge, a poet, a military leader, a judge and a historian. We learn to Of Ruth, a faithful foreigner. She was known for her loyalty and kindness. After the death of her husband she stuck by her Mother in law. Naomi was looked at as the bitter mother in law. Despite the hardships and bitterness God blessed Naomi.

Hannah was an infertile woman. But after praying to God she conceived and bore a son named Samuel. We learn to Of Bathsheba the adulteress. Bathsheba was torn between her husband and her king.

The Widow Of Zarepath, The widow announces to Elijah of her belief in the living God. We learn to of The Women Of Shunem. She lived during the time of Jehoram King of Israel which was around 850 B.C.

We learn to of Queen Esther, she was a beautiful and desirable woman. Esther had been raised by her cousin Mordecai. She found favor with the king despite being a Jew and married him, allowing her to help save her people. Gomer was a Harlot, the wife of a prophet had become an adulteress.

Mary the Mother Of Jesus, of course was used by the Holy Spirit to bring Jesus in the world. Elizabeth was the Mother Of John the Baptist, Jesus cousin, and forerunner to Christ. Elizabeth was the wife of a righteous man but was righteous as herself as well.

Anna was a prophetess. The daughter of phanuel of the tribe of Asher. Anna was an older women and a widow.

Mary Magdalene is mentioned several times in the Bible, but not much is known about her. Magdalene most likely refers to her home town of Magdala, located on the west side of the Sea of Galilee. Mary was known to travel with Jesus.

Mary and Martha were sisters. While Martha did all the serving, Mary spent the time with Jesus which made Martha mad, but Jesus tells that Mary is doing the right thing by listening to Jesus.

We learn to of the women at the well. We learn that the woman had an immoral lifestyle but she took the time to offer Jesus water from the well. We learn too of the bleeding women who was healed by simply touching the edge of Jesus robes. It was her faith that allowed healing.

We learn too of The Syrophoenician woman, she is not one of the most popular women in the Bible, so not much is known about her accept that she was a beggar. We are reminded too of the poor widow who gave all she had two mites.

The Widow Of Nain who lost her husband as well as her son. We learn too of the woman sinner, a woman forgiven of many sins. And we learn too of Tabitha the resurrected women. When Tabitha died her family washed her body and laid it in an upper room and Jesus was able to come and resurrect her. Phoebe was a generous servant, she was the servant of a church in Corinth.

Lois and Eunice were women of sincere faith. We learn about them in a roundabout way through the Apostle Paul. We learn to Of Lydia the women who planted churches. And of Priscilla the apologist, she along with her husband Aquila are mentioned six times in the New Testament, in four Different books.

I give The Most Important Woman Of the Bible, five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!

I received a free ARC from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was excited to receive an advanced copy of Ms Sharp's book because I was looking for more information and study regarding the women featured in the Bible. She does a good job of covering a wide range of women both in the Old and New Testaments and well-known women to small characters featured in a couple of verses. Each chapter is dedicated to a specific woman with a description of her story, an account of their "role in redemption" concluding with a "by the numbers" and questions the author wonders about.

I enjoyed the descriptions of each woman's story and I liked the concept of their story being a part of God's road to redemption. Although, I found some of the argument's made for some of the women to be a bit far fetched or forced. I understand the authors end goal but some of women chosen didn't convince me. Parts were very repetitive and a lot of generalizations and assumptions were made like what people were thinking or feeling. I did not like the by the numbers section at the end, it was a clever idea at first but became monotonous as the book moved forward. I also was not a fan of the end questions...how is wondering how Moses' mother accounted for extra laundry relevant? I appreciate the effort and the author's understanding of the scripture.