One of the wonderful mysteries of this world is why God created man and woman – two beings which can be fundamentally the identical, but additionally unique and distinct. He gave them similar but different roles and purposes. Navigating what it means to be a godly man and a godly woman, and the way best to live out that a part of one’s calling, has been something people have wrestled with for generations.
How does one best honor God in a single’s sex? Women have had particular struggles on this realm, as many cultures have tried to limit what it means to live appropriately in a female body, including whether or not it is acceptable for a girl to have a job and work outside of the house.
When considering what the Bible says explicitly, in addition to examples in each the Old and New Testaments, we are able to see that God didn’t expect women to only remain in the house. Nowhere does God forbid women to work outside the house, and in truth we see many examples of godly and righteous women industriously employed within the marketplace.
Does the Bible Say Whether or Not Women Can Work Outside the Home?
When God made man and woman, He gave them distinct roles in certain arenas. Women carry children through pregnancy, and are sometimes more inclined by nature to nurture them. They are sometimes gifted otherwise, and men and ladies definitely have other ways of experiencing the world. In marriage, God does instruct women to undergo their husbands, and to respect them. What the Bible doesn’t address – either directly or not directly – is whether or not or not women can find employment outside the house.
Often where the Bible is silent in direct commands or instruction, it is necessary to take a look at biblical examples. While there are lots of women who’re moms within the Word of God, there are also examples of working women, corresponding to Moses’ wife who was a shepherdess of Midian before they got married. Whether they exit to work to survive, because their husbands are negligent, or for some unspoken reason, they do have employment outside the house. The Bible is usually silent as regards to commerce and income beyond making it clear that Christians should behave in a Christ-like manner in all things, including in business, and that believers mustn’t be focused an excessive amount of on the things of this world, like money.
Modern Examples of Godly Working Women
If women are usually not purported to work outside the house, it might also develop into needed to sentence women like Amy Carmichael, Lottie and Edmonia Moon, Elizabeth Elliot, and Gladys Aylward. These women all went to work outside the house within the mission field in an effort to serve God. The Lord has a purpose and a call for all and sundry, and it will not be for people to dictate what another person’s calling should appear like; also they are purported to submit their will to God for their very own calling, and be open to nevertheless He calls them.
Because the Bible doesn’t say that God forbids women from entering the economy and dealing outside the domestic sphere, it’s fully conceivable and probable that He will call some women to the workforce for His glory, and to call others to remain at home for His glory.
Perhaps the strongest case that ladies can work outside the house in a way that’s God-honoring is the proven fact that a handful of ladies often provided for Jesus and His ministry.
“And the twelve were with him, and likewise some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager, and Susanna, and lots of others, who provided for them out of their means” (Luke 8:1b-3).
Some of those women had means through their husbands’ income, but others may not have. They had their very own ways of supporting themselves and gave to the ministry of their Lord.
Examples of Working Women within the Bible
Deborah
God used each men and ladies to speak His will, calling them in a singular way into His service. Deborah is introduced within the Bible with the next description,
“Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at the moment. She used to sit down under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel within the hill country of Ephraim, and the people of Israel got here as much as her for judgment” (Judges 4:4-5).
She was a wife, but God called her to have a job in ministry where she had to depart the house and render judgments in various matters. She was consulted by men, including Barak, a commander of Israel. In fact, when he went to battle, she went with him! It doesn’t mention whether or not her husband went along with her; the Bible is silent on that matter.
Deborah was a singular figure as a female prophet of the Lord, but her example shows that God can call a girl to step into male-dominated spaces to serve in special ways.
Read Deobrah’s full story in Judges 4.
Ruth
When the Israelite Naomi lost her husband and each her sons while living within the land of Moab, she thought God had abandoned her. One daughter-in-law, Ruth, was willing to return to Bethlehem along with her. Upon arrival, each women were in a precarious situation, as widows had little or no economic mobility and power in that point.
The industrious Ruth went out to gather grain for each women to eat, and distinguished herself for her labor. Boaz, the owner of the fields by which she gleaned, had employees who said of her, “She got here into the sector and has remained here from morning till now, apart from a brief rest within the shelter” (Ruth 2:7b).
In order to survive, God led Ruth to do physical labor within the fields alongside men and ladies. God’s will was for her to marry Boaz and have a family that may develop into a component of the road of the Messiah, but He called her to work outside of the house as a pathway to satisfy her future husband.
Read about Ruth’s labor within the fields in Ruth 2.
The Widow Who Helped Elisha
God’s prophets suffered tremendously within the records of the Old Testament, and there are transient glimpses into the struggles their families endured. When Elisha was serving as a prophet in Israel, the daughter-in-law of a fellow prophet was left widowed. She approached him, asking for help for the sake of herself and her two children. She was left with heavy debts, and the kids would have develop into slaves.
To help, Elisha encouraged her to gather jars from all her neighbors, and to pour the little little bit of oil she owned into those jars. By a miracle, God allowed all of the jars to be filled. When they were full, Elisha said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts, and also you and your sons can live to tell the tale the remaining” (2 Kings 4:7b). As a practical matter, once her husband was deceased, the widow needed some technique to earn a living. While the oil was provided miraculously, she still needed to exit and do the labor of selling the oil as a component of the local economy.
Read the total account of the widow in 2 Kings 4:1-7.
Lydia
When a girl is called within the New Testament, she is commonly a noteworthy individual. When Luke recorded the acts of the early church, he made sure to say one Greek convert specifically. He described Lydia as, “a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God” (Acts 16:14b).
She was a business owner, and a successful one at that if she was selling expensive materials made with purple dye. Purple was a color for the rich and powerful. She got here to faith, after which hosted Luke and Paul in her home, something she could only do due to the success of her business.
Her whole household got here to faith. God used her success to maintain Paul and Luke, and to bring the various individuals who worked for her and her family to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.
Read about Lydia in Acts 16:11-15.
The Industrious Woman of Proverbs 31
Solomon wrote a poetic ideal of a virtuous woman who embodied wisdom. She is a wonderful template of industry and style for each men and ladies to check.
Notably, the Proverbs 31 woman is a tough employee, not only in her home, but outside of it. She tends to fields, but she also purchases them. She has profitable merchandise, and ensures that her whole household is fed. She works each inside and outdoors the home.
“She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands. She is just like the ships of the merchant; she brings her food from afar. She rises while it’s yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens. She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard. She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong. She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp doesn’t exit at night” (Proverbs 31:13-18).
Some of her responsibilities are domestic, while others are economic and mercantile. In verse 23, it says, “Her husband is understood within the gates when he sits among the many elders of the land.” Sitting on the gate and being an elder was a position of honor and responsibility. The implication here is that she will not be working due to failures on the a part of her spouse. It also says “Her children stand up and call her blessed” (verse 28a), so it might be reasonably deduced she is paying enough attention to her children, and mothering them well.
If the Holy Spirit directed Solomon to personify a virtuous woman in this fashion, it is necessary for believers to embrace all of her characteristics, not only those which can be about keeping house and being a wife and mother.
Just as each man has his own relationship with the Lord, so too should each woman. As she develops her relationship with the Lord, He will direct her steps. That could also be toward singleness, toward ministry, toward marriage but without children, toward marriage with children, or anything that God chooses. It is between a girl and the Lord – and if she is married, her husband – to find out what’s best for her situation. But nowhere within the Bible does it condemn a girl who seeks employment or labor outside the domestic sphere.
Sources
Lockyer, Herbert. All of the Women of the Bible. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1967.
Sharp, Aaron & Elaine. The Most Important Women of the Bible. Bloomington: Bethany House Publishers, 2017.
Walvoord, John F. and Roy B. Zuck. The Bible Knowledge Commentary An Exposition of the Scriptures by Dallas Seminary Old Testament and New Testament. United States of America: Victor Books, 1987.
Wilmington, H.L. Wilmington’s Guide to the Bible. Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, 1981.
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Ryan McVay
Bethany Verrett is a contract author who uses her passion for God, reading, and writing to glorify God. She and her husband have lived all around the country serving their Lord and Savior in ministry. She has a blog on graceandgrowing.com.
