Susanna

One lady by this name is found in Scriptures, while another is well known in Christian tradition.

1. One of Jesus' disciples who travelled with him as he "went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God" (Lk 8:1-3). In this passage Susanna is listed together with Joanna, "the wife of Herod's steward Chuza and many others, who provided for them out of their resources." The "idea of Jewish women becoming students of a prominent rabbi or teacher was unknown and unacceptable prior to and during Jesus' era" (Ben Witherington, III). Though the number of women specially mentioned as such followers of Jesus may be counted on the fingers of our hands, they nonetheless point to the revolutionary consequences of Jesus' preaching of the kingdom of God.

2. The main character in the book of Susanna, one of the apocryphal books included in the Septuagint. Susanna was the daughter of a wealthy Jew living in Babylon, who became the love interest of two 'elders,' who hid in the garden where she was about to have her bath. Once she had dismissed her maids, they appeared and propositioned her to have sex with them. If she refused, they said, they would accuse her of adultery with a young man. She refused, and the testimonies of the two men were, by their influence in the assembly, accepted without Susanna's testimony being called. As she was led away to her death, God sent Daniel to rescue her. Daniel asked for the two men to be cross-examined independently. Alone, Daniel asked one under which tree Susanna had committed her adultery. One gave one answer, and the other another. Thus did Daniel discredit their testimony, upon which Susanna was freed, and Daniel emerged a hero.