In one of my previous posts I referred to the concept that women in the Bible can be representatives or types of the Church. But I did not explain where I got it from. Now, of course, this does not include those women who personify evil like Jezebel and the witch of Endor. That would be ridiculous. I was first introduced to the idea that women in the Bible might symbolic of the Church by a gentleman by the name of Stan Harman. He told a story of when he was serving in the Army as part of his National Service. This was either during WW2 or just after. He was serving in Northern Ireland near the border with what was then the Irish Free State. This was long before the more recent ‘troubles.’ As well as witnessing to his fellow servicemen he was also in contact with local civilian believers. It was suggested to him along with a couple of his fellow servicemen that he should visit an old man who lived in an isolated part of the Mourne Mountains. They were told he was a believer. They were expecting to share their faith with him. But instead of the old man being on the receiving end of their wisdom, he told them to sit down and listen to what the Lord had been showing him. Because he lived by himself he had a lot of time to read the Bible. One of the things that had struck him the most as he read the Scriptures was that when he came across a female Bible character he found that she symbolised the Church. And continued to expound his point. Now Stan was due to preach again after he returned that night and he had chosen the parable of the woman with the lost coin as he subject. He was intending explain this parable as referring to the lost coin as an unsaved person. If the old man was right then it must refer to a backsliding Christian instead. On that occasion he decided to carry on with the version he had prepared, but now many years later he had come to agree with the old man.

David Rose, 2017.