The Torah of Moses is the kernel of the Bible. Embedded throughout its passages are hundreds of grains, like seeds within the fruit, which gradually expand and bloom as the redemptive story unfolds. Some of these grains stand in stark relief, the “Hear, O Israel” cries of Divine self-revelation. Others are more obscure, awaiting a discerning heart to extract them from the seemingly tedious and mundane. In one such portion of Exodus, nestled between specifications for the construction of the altar and the tabernacle court, we find such a kernel:
And he made the laver of bronze, and its base of bronze, from the bronze mirrors of the serving women, who served at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.[1]
It’s just a half-verse, a sentence fragment, easily overlooked in a meticulous passage detailing the construction of God’s dwelling place. In a passing mention, we’re introduced to a troop of women. We aren’t granted an explanation for their assembly. We aren’t even given their names. All we know for certain is that they “served” at the door of the Mishkan, the Tent of Meeting, and that they willingly gifted mirrors of polished bronze to be fashioned by Bezalel and his skilled artisans into the laver for priestly washing.
Although not explicit, the text holds clues for us. The verb translated “served” is used twelve other times in the Hebrew scriptures. Nine times, it is used in reference to military service, in the context of assembling an army and deploying for war. It is used twice in reference to the Levites who ministered inside the Tent of Meeting, and it is used once in another reference to a later generation of these same “women at the door.” In modern versions, it is often translated “to assemble,” “to perform [service],” “to muster,” and “to go to war.” Therefore, these women assembled together in some sort of service to the Holy One of Israel, comparable to the service of both warriors and ministers. Since only the sons of Aaron were allowed to enter the Holy Place, these women would apparently position themselves behind the altar of sacrifice at the threshold of the sacred tent. It is possible that they performed some kind of practical service to the Levites and priests. As we will discover later, there is also reason to believe that they performed spiritual ministry in prayer, prophesy and worship. But in this verse, we learn three important things about the nature of their service:
A Egyptian bronze mirror from the Late Middle Kingdom, during which time the Hebrews were enslaved in Egypt. The circular sheet would have been polished to a high sheen, making it very reflective.
Their service is volitional. There are hundreds of commands in the Torah regarding the service of the male Levites and priests. But there is no command regarding the service of women in any capacity. These women assembled at the door of the Tent of Meeting because they desired to do so, not because they were commanded to do so.
Their service is passional. They are not described as the women who assembled around the Tabernacle, nor as the women who served in the court, but as the women who “served at the door.” That is to say, they eagerly approached the tent itself wherein dwelt the Shekinah - the glory of the presence of God. At its threshold, they were as close in proximity to the Holy Place as they could rightfully be. In their desire to perform their service, they drew near to the One whom they served.
Their service is sacrificial. The Exodus occurred at the height of the Bronze Age. Therefore, the bronze material which the women donated for the laver was highly valuable. Beyond the metal itself, bronze mirrors were often elaborately crafted, making them a coveted possession in antiquity. Considering their size and weight, they were likely the most valuable objects that these women possessed. They almost certainly received the mirrors from the Egyptians when they were freed from bonds of slavery to Pharaoh, and they willingly gave them up, having bound themselves in service to a new King. Jewish tradition holds that Moses was at first inclined to reject the gift of the mirrors as instruments of vanity, but the Lord instructed him to accept them, saying, “These are dearer to me than all the other contributions.”[2]
The seminal text of any Biblical revelation is often obscure. The Torah outlines a frame of vision. Over the centuries, the prophets, psalmists, apostles, and the Lord Himself progressively fill the frames, bringing their subjects into sharper and more-detailed focus. Such is the case with the serving women. They are mentioned by name only one other time in the Hebrew Scriptures, during the days of Eli the High Priest. But if we have eyes to see, we will find them all throughout the Great Book. Each successive passage traces the contours of what it means to be a woman at the door.
WOMEN AT THE DOOR RECEIVE A POSSESSION
As Israel’s forty-year wandering drew to a close, the children of the Exodus had risen to lead the nation. Faithless fathers who had fallen in the desert were replaced by sons who would claim the Land of Promise and divide it by tribe, clan and family. One man of Manasseh named Zelophehad had “died for his own sin” and left behind five daughters, but no son. [3] The implications in such a scenario were obvious. Without the protection and provision of a father or brothers, these women would be expected to marry as soon as possible. The land that should have borne their family name would instead be called by the name of their husbands’ families. Because of their father’s seeming failure to bear a son, his name would disappear in Israel. It would have been understandable, even laudable, for these women to adhere to custom and mores by trading their family inheritance for the security of marriage and child-rearing.
Surprisingly, the daughters of Zelophehad chose a different course. The five sisters approached Moses, Eliezer the high priest, and “the chiefs and all the congregation” of Israel “at the door of the tent of meeting.” There they pled their case to keep their father’s allotment.
Why should the name of our father be taken away from his clan because he had no son? Give to us a possession among our father's brothers.[4]
In a public show of courage, they risked appearing troublesome, undomesticated, even countercultural. And their courage was rewarded.
Moses brought their case before the Lord. And the Lord said to Moses, ‘The daughters of Zelophehad are right. You shall give them possession of an inheritance among their father's brothers and transfer the inheritance of their father to them. And you shall speak to the people of Israel, saying, ‘If a man dies and has no son, then you shall transfer his inheritance to his daughter.’[5]
It was a stunning decision. The sisters would receive an allotment beside their tribal brothers. Not only this, but having adjudicated their case before the highest court in Israel, the judgement became precedent for all women throughout the nation for all generations. It was a lasting possession granted by the Lord Himself, and He gave it to women who were bold enough to stand at the door.
THEY RECEIVE VINDICATION
Four hundred years later, the Israelites were settled in the Land of Promise, having weathered the storms of idolatrous backsliding, tribal division, and pagan oppression. The high priest was Eli, who judged Israel from the tabernacle at Shiloh. Although Eli was a faithful man, his sons were not. Functioning as the priests at the altar, Hophni and Phineas demanded the Lord’s portion of the burnt offerings from the people, and threatened any who would not comply. Beyond this brazen act of sacrilege, their defilement of Israel’s worship sank even deeper. In 1 Samuel 2, Eli confronts his sons after hearing reports of their outrageous behavior.
Into the Wilderness, by Edwin Longsden Long, 1886.
Now Eli was very old, and he kept hearing all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who served at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. And he said to them, ‘Why do you do such things?…If someone sins against a man, God will mediate for him, but if someone sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?’[6]
Once again, in passing mention, we are reintroduced to the women who serve at the door. Once again, they are nameless. Somehow, their ministry had continued through the periods of Israelite conquest, anarchy, oppression and deliverance. However, the sons of Aaron were no longer sanctifying the offerings of the women at the door. Instead, they were violating their bodies. Not only were Hophni and Phineas stealing the holy portions of bulls and goats set apart unto the Lord, they were also stealing the “holy portion” of the women who were set apart unto the Lord’s service. Eli’s rhetorical question clarifies the Lord’s perspective. His sons were not just sinning against the women at the door in their lustful offense. They were sinning against the Lord Himself, and there would be none to intercede.
Indeed, it would not be long before the sons of Eli would consummate their iniquity by wielding the Ark of God like an ornament, carrying it into an ill-advised battle with the Philistines, where they were both struck down. That day, the Lord proved He not only receives the service of the women at the door, but He is also jealous for it. Those men who abuse their sacred office to violate the sanctity of the serving women will be met with Divine scorn.
THEY ARE RECEIVED AS AN OFFERING
In the days of Moses, the serving women at the door laid down their costly possessions. By the days of Eli, it appears they also laid down the mantles of marriage and motherhood. The flagrant transgression of Hophni and Phineas in the physical exploitation of these women suggests that they were unmarried—set apart in chastity to their service at the door. It’s not clear when this practice began, but the intervening era of the Judges may hold a clue.
Jephthah the Gileadite was one of the bravest and shrewdest judges in Israel.[7] Born of a prostitute and banished by his half-brothers, Jephthah wandered east of the Sea of Galilee, training in a company of “vain” warriors, until he was called upon by the elders of Gilead to aid them against the tyranny of the Ammonites. The Spirit of the Most High came upon Jephthah as he mustered his army for war from among the men of Manasseh. In his zeal, he swore to that Lord that in return for victory against the Ammonites, he would dedicate the first thing that came through his doors as an oleh, or burnt offering, upon his return home.
The Lord honored Jephthah’s vow, and the Manassites struck Ammon “with a mighty blow” from twenty cities.[8] But the price of victory would be greater than Jephthah could imagine. As Israel’s deliverer returned home, it was not a calf that came through his door first, nor an ewe, nor a ram. The first to meet him was his only child, his daughter. She came with tambourines and dancing, unaware of the sentence that awaited her. Jephthah cried out, tearing his robes in grief, recounting his vow to his only begotten. But this woman, standing “at the door” of her father’s house, did not shrink back. Rather, she embraced the tragedy thrust upon her.
My father, you have opened your mouth to the Lord; do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, now that the Lord has avenged you on your enemies, on the Ammonites.[9]
For her willing submission to her unchosen fate, she made one request: “Let this thing be done for me: leave me alone two months, that I may go up and down on the mountains and weep for my virginity, I and my companions.”[10]
Rembrand’s “The Prophetess Anna in the Temple,” 1650
Jephthah consented to his daughter’s request, and for two months, she wandered in mourning with her companions in the hills of Gilead, east of the Jordan. Then she returned to her father, “who did with her according to his vow that he had made.”[11] It is often assumed by commentators that Jephthah kept his vow by burning his daughter to death as an oleh. The tragic episode is therefore regarded as yet another bloody chapter in the ungodly era of the Judges. But this is unlikely. The text isn’t explicit about how Jephthah fulfilled his vow, and being a man of God who was anointed by the Spirit, he would have certainly been familiar with Moses’ words to the Israelites in the Torah:
You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the Lord hates they [the other nations] have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.[12]
Instead of offering his daughter on the altar, Jephthah likely offered her in service to the altar as a woman at the door of the tabernacle.
Therefore, Jephthah’s daughter did not mourn the loss of her virginity in bodily death. Rather, she mourned her virginity in the death of the expectation of all Israelite women. She would take no husband. She would bear no children. Her service to the Lord at the door would require a life that would not allow for the “divided interests” of marriage and motherhood.[13] Like those who came before her, she was unnamed and unsung. Unlike her paternal grandmother, she would not give her body in the carnal service of mortal men. Rather, she gave her body in the spiritual service of the Creator of man. From the doorway of her earthly father, to the doorway of her Heavenly Father, she was a serving woman at the door.
AT THE DOOR OF THE TEMPLE
After the days of Eli, the Scriptures are silent about the women at the door of the tabernacle. The latter books of the Hebrew Bible mention female singers in the royal choirs, but nothing about those who served between the altar and the Holy Place.[14] It would seem that their ministry was eventually retired. By the Second Temple period, female worshippers were relegated to the Ezrat HaNashim, the Court of Women, on the eastern edges of Herod’s temple complex.
Although their access had been further restricted, the zeal of the serving women was undiminished. As the parents of Messiah arrived at the temple to circumcise their son into the covenant of Israel, they encountered a “prophetess” from the tribe of Asher. She was an elderly widow who “did not depart from the temple” but persisted in “worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day.”[15] Like the women of the door before her, Anna foreswore marriage and motherhood for a life of unbroken prayer, fasting and prophecy. And like the persistent widow before the judge, her zeal was eventually rewarded with a glimpse of the newborn High Priest as he passed by. All of the serving women before her had watched as the sons of Aaron strode past them into the Holy Place. But Anna’s joy was for the priest of a Better Covenant —the Priest of the Order of Melchidezek.[16] As the daughters of Zelophehad stood before the people to plead for their father’s inheritance, so too did Anna stand before those “waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem,” and told them of the one who will one day restore the inheritance of all Israel.[17]
AT THE DOOR OF THE CROSS
As Jesus began His earthly ministry, He attracted female disciples. As before, the men were appointed to their offices, serving in an apostolic priesthood, [18] but the women still served volitionally. And their service was no less passional or sacrificial than those women who served at the door of the Tent of Meeting. Besides “the twelve [who] were with Him,” there was also with Messiah:
…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 many others who provided for them out of their means.[19]
The service of the women at the door was reestablished, not at the tabernacle built by hands, but before the One who tabernacled in flesh. In the spirit of their ancient sisterhood, the women of Jesus’ ministry drew near to the Holy One, standing at the threshold of the temple that would be torn down and raised three days later. [20] Like the women who laid down their bronze mirrors, these women laid down their gold and silver coins, financing the ministry of the Son of God. Like the ones who laid down their articles of vanity at the feet of the priests, so too would Mary of Bethany pour out her costly fragrance on the feet and hair of the Great High Priest, “like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron's beard, down on the collar of his robe.”[21]
After the men had forsaken their Master “in the hour when darkness reigned,”[22] the ministering women remained. At the intersection of grace and wrath, when the One who loved them was lifted up, they stood again at the door:
There were also many women there, looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to Him, among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.[23]
There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. When He was in Galilee, they followed Him and ministered to Him, and there were also many other women who came up with Him to Jerusalem.[24]
And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for Him…And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed Him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things.[25]
…but standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.[26]
It is one of the few aspects of the crucifixion mentioned in all four gospel accounts. The women who followed Him, who supported Him, and even the one who bore Him, stood and served in tears at the door of mercy, the ladder of life, where “heaven opened, and the angels of God ascended and descended on the Son of Man.”[27] The daughters of Zelophehad stood at the door of the tabernacle on account of a father who had “died for his own sin.” The women at the door of the Cross stood on account of the One who “died for our sins.”[28]
AT THE DOOR OF THE TOMB
Even after the death of their King and High Priest, the serving women continued their ministry:
The women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.[29]
While the twelve were still cloistered behind locked doors, “at early dawn…while it was still dark,” the women of Galilee set out to serve at Joseph’s tomb, “taking the spices they had prepared.”[30] Beyond any commandment or expectation, they brought a freewill offering to anoint the slaughtered Lamb. It would not be their last act of service in His Name.
Mary Magdalene on Christ’s Tomb, Giuseppe Cali (Italian, 1846–1930)
Mary Magdalene reached the tomb first to find the stone rolled away.[31] Without an angelic announcement, she assumed the worst and ran back to the twelve. “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him!”[32] As Peter and John raced back to investigate, Mary followed. As the men entered the tomb to find empty graveclothes, the woman “stood weeping outside.” In other words, Mary stood “at the door.” In that moment, she embodied every serving woman of Israel who had ever stood outside the Tent of Meeting, yearning to stand in the presence of the Ark of God. But they could not. She could not. Once again, the Ark appeared to be somewhere beyond her sight, and she wept.
But this time, it would go differently. As the Lord said, “Your sorrow will turn to joy.”[33]
He waited until the men left. And then, He came to the woman standing at the door. At first, she is nameless, like the serving women who came before her from the time of Aaron to Eli.
“Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?”[34]
And at first, she does not recognize Him, pleading,
“Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.”[35]
She would go to Him. She would take Him. Mary would return the Ark to its rightful place. Without instruction or compulsion, she would willingly serve. And for this, she received her reward.
“Mary.”[36]
The woman who served anonymously at the door finally heard her name, and when she did, she turned to the voice that spoke and saw the One whom the generations of serving women before her had longed to see.
“Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord’—and that He had said these things to her.”[37]
“Do not cling to me…but go to my brothers…” The woman has seen, but the men have not. Mary Magdalene becomes the apostola apostolorum, the apostle to the apostles. And so, the ministry of the serving women continued.
It continued in the Upper Room when the Spirit rushed in.
It continued in the ministry of Lydia, the “one who worshipped God” and who sheltered the Apostle Paul. [38]
It continued in Phoebe, the “servant [Greek: diakonos, or deacon] of the church of Cenchreae,” whom Paul commended to the church in Rome. [39]
It continued with Priscilla, wife of Aquilla, “the fellow-worker” who hosted the worship of the saints in her home. [40]
It continued with Junia, Paul’s “fellow-prisoner,” who was well-known to the apostles. [41]
It continued in Mary, Tryphena, Tryphosa, and Persis, who “worked hard” in the Lord for the saints. [42]
It continued in the unnamed mother of Rufus, who had also been a mother to Paul. [43]
It continued with Euodia and Syntyche, Paul’s “co-laborers” who “contended at [his] side in the cause of the gospel.” [44]
It continued in Felicitas, who watched her seven sons martyred in Rome rather than recant her love for the Risen One, finally embracing her own martyrdom.
It continued in Cecilia, who led 400 to the mercy seat before finally bowing her neck to the Roman executioner.
It continued in Perpetua, a newborn in Christ yet unbaptized, who was trampled in the Carthaginian arena before pulling the gladiator’s sword to her neck.
It continued in Narcissa Prentiss Whitman, who became the first woman to travel to the Oregon territory in the early nineteenth century. She and her husband brought Good News to the Nez Perce for 11 years before giving the ultimate testimony.
It continued in Lottie Moon, who served at the door in China for 40 years, and with Amy Carmichael, who ministered between the altar and the tent in India for 55 years without a furlough.
It continues today, in traditionally Christian nations, where women are more likely to pray daily than men, more likely to attend weekly worship services than men, and where 80-85% of single missionaries sent to foreign fields are women.[45]
It continues today in the Iranian and Afghan churches, where the majority of those who lead underground home gatherings are women.
These are the serving ones, who are free from command, and yet who willingly seek, serve, and submit, that they might set their eyes on the Teacher.
Ladies, to be a wife and a mother is a great calling, but a temporal one. Marriage and motherhood are images of the eternal seen “in a mirror dimly.”[46] Like the first generation of the women at the door, someday you will lay those mirrors down. “When the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.”[47]
But what you do to minister between the altar and the Holy Place will last forever, whether in marriage like Priscilla, in widowhood like Anna, or as an oleh like the daughter of Jephthah.
So be a woman at the door.
Gabe Caligiuri is a regular contributor to the FAI Wire publication and podcast, as well as an occasional contributor to other FAI digital content on the subjects of history and geopolitics as they relate to the Great Commission. Gabe and his family live in California.
[1] Exodus 38:8
[2] Rashi’s commentary on Exodus 38:8 https://www.sefaria.org/Rashi_on_Exodus.38.8?lang=bi
[3] Numbers 27:1-3
[4] Numbers 27:4
[5] Numbers 27:5-11
[6] 1 Samuel 2:22-25a
[7] Jephthah’s story is told in Judges 11 and 12
[8] Judges 11:33
[9] Judges 11:36
[10] Judges 11:37
[11] Judges 11:39
[12] Deuteronomy 12:31
[13] 1 Corinthians 7:34
[14] 2 Chronicles 35:25, Ecclesiastes 2:8, Nehemiah 7:67
[15] Luke 2:36-38
[16] Hebrews 7:11
[17] Luke 2:38
[18] Romans 15:14-16
[19] Luke 8:2-3
[20] John 2:18-21
[21] John 12:1-8, Psalm 133:2
[22] Luke 22:53
[23] Matthew 27:55-56
[24] Mark 15:40-41
[25] Luke 23:27, 49
[26] John 19:25
[27] John 1:51
[28] 1 Corinthians 15:3
[29] Luke 23:55-56
[30] John 20:1
[31] John 20:1
[32] John 20:2
[33] John 16:20
[34] John 20:2
[35] John 20:2
[36] John 20:16
[37] John 20:16-17
[38] Acts 16:14-15
[39] Romans 16:1
[40] Romans 16:3
[41] Romans 16:7
[42] Romans 16:6,12
[43] Romans 16:13
[44] Philippians 4:2
[45] https://www.pewforum.org/2016/03/22/the-gender-gap-in-religion-around-the-world/, https://www.mnnonline.org/news/new-statistics-on-single-men-in-missions/
[46] 1 Corinthians 13:12
[47] 1 Corinthians 13:10