The Great Role of Women in Sharing the Good News

In one of my lunch meeting, Marketplace Pastor James Lee shared on Ps 68:11, pointing out the great role the large number of women are playing in His Kingdom business. He said that the word women is missing in the popular English translation but only appear in the Chinese Translation. So we checked it out during the lunch and found it true enough --- it is not in the KJV version but it is there in the Chinese CUV using the Bible in our phones - Andriod and iPhone etc. Now that I am home with access to my PC loaded with eSword with many translations of the Bible, here is what I found.

The Translations without Women are:

(KJV)  The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it.
(ERV)  My Lord gave the command, and many people went to tell the good news:

and [LITV], [MJKV], [NLT], [Wesbter]

The Translations with Women mentioned in Ps 68:11 are:

(CUV-S)   主发命令，传好信息的妇女成了大群。
(ASV)  The Lord giveth the word: The women that publish the tidings are a great host.
(BBE)  The Lord gives the word; great is the number of the women who make it public.
(CEV)  You gave the command, and a chorus of women told what had happened:
(CJB)  Adonai gives the command; the women with the good news are a mighty army.
(ESV)  The Lord gives the word; the women who announce the news are a great host:
(GNB)  The Lord gave the command, and many women carried the news:
(NASB)  The Lord gives the command; The women who proclaim the good tidings are a great host: 
(RV)  The Lord giveth the word: the women that publish the tidings are a great host.
(YLT)  The Lord doth give the saying, The female proclaimers are a numerous host.

The Lord gave & great number of women responded - Where are the men?
To answer this, we need to read the Ps in context. It is about the restoration (or some say about the possession of the promised land). It is about the Lord executing the justice and blessings - blessing the righteous and deprived and removing the evil doers. It is about the establishment of God's Kingdom on earth. Beside v11, v12 is also related. So let show them together:

Taking from GW translation:
Psa 68:11  The Lord gives instructions. The women who announce the good news are a large army.
Psa 68:12  They say, "The kings of the armies flee; they run away. The women who remained at home will divide the goods.


Here are the key learning points:

1. The starting point of any work or project must be from the Lord. (The Lord gives the command/instruction/word).
2. The women responded in great number. 
3. They proclaim the good news - defeat of the enemy, victory of God's people.
4. They who remained at home divide the spoils. 
5. Who did the chasing? I can only say it is likely to be the men. The women could and probably have joined in the chase as well.
6. Those whose stay and those who go shares in the blessings - divided goods. (See 1Sa 30:24  ... Certainly, the share of those who go into battle must be like the share of those who stay with the supplies. They will all share alike." )

We see the women taking the lead, and in great number, in proclaiming the His Kingdom on earth. They shall be greatly bless. We would likewise wish to encourage the men to respond to the Lord in great number too.

Lim Liat copyrighted 4 Oct 2011