Strong Women of the Bible – Celebrating International Women’s Day
I am so Thankful for the Strong Women of God that I have met and aligned with along my journey…
Women who love and support each other…
Women you can depend on…
Women who actually follow through with what they say they will do…
Women who are committed to help each other GROW and succeed in all you do…
Women who don’t fight, condemn, or degrade each other…
Women who are not selfish, underhanded or condescending…
Who who TRULY seek to feed and uplift each other through God’s Word…
Through the Holy Spirit 🙌🏻
I start each day with God and reading His Word in my Women’s Bible Study…
FEAR INTO FAITH ✝️
I attend a weekly morning prayer call in another one of my Christian Women Mentorship communities, including this morning, where we sow into each other, pray together and over each other…
A GIRL POWER ALLIANCE ⚔️🛡
THEN, after arming and equipping myself for the day, I will dive into fulfilling MY PURPOSE, by helping to equip others with tools and Biblical principles to:
🙉CRUSH the lies from the enemy
🙊SPEAK LIFE, not death, over yourself and your life
🙈OPEN YOUR EYES to the truth of all that you are…
To who GOD says you are…
To find YOUR purpose
To take ACTION and step into it…
The Hannahs, the Deborahs, the Esthers….
FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS!! 🔥
✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨
There Are Some Powerful Stories of Strong Women in the Bible
They teach us MANY important lessons and are sadly, not often given as much attention as that of the men’s.
When you think of the great teachers in the Bible, those that come to mind are probably some of the many holy and righteous men found within it’s pages.
Again, this isn’t necessarily surprising.
You have a variety of sinners and saints to learn from, as well as, Christ Himself, to emulate.
There seems to be an abundance of holy men in the Bible, and many people struggle to find a similar crop of holy women to learn from within its pages.
While there are MANY great male teachers and role models in the Bible, there are MANY women, as well.
True, that there may be fewer women mentioned in the Bible, and not many of them are the main focus of a specific chapter or book, but their backgrounds or short roles can carry just as an important lesson and impact, as any of the longer ones about the men.
God made sure to include them and highlight their significance.
To learn about 18 of the strong women in the Bible, continue reading…you won’t be sorry!!
There, you will find powerful lessons you can learn from these amazing Biblical women, some of whom you may have forgotten about.
Trust in God – Sarah
Without question, Sarah holds a special place in redemptive history and is remembered as one of the great women in the Bible. Chosen by God to become a mother of nations -kings would be her descendants and ultimately the Messiah would come from her family tree.
Sarah is the only woman renamed by God in the Bible. Sarah means “princess.” Her obedience to her husband Abraham and to God, is a model for Christian woman.
When Sarah was told in her old age that she would give birth to a son, she had perhaps the most human reaction of any of the woman in the Bible. She laughed. The idea of conceiving and giving birth at her age would make most people laugh. That being said, she saw later, that God told the absolute truth, when she gave birth to Isaac. Sarah’s life shows that you should always trust God. His ways are mysterious, and His promises may even seem impossible, but He does not promise what He will not deliver. His promises are true!!
Like Sarah, Elizabeth was far too old to conceive a son.
However, God made it possible for her to bear a child.
She would go on to conceive and give birth to John the Baptist, the last “Old Testament” prophet who would bear direct witness to the divinity and messianic authority of Jesus Christ.
Elizabeth’s faithfulness is meant to draw our minds back to Sarah and the thousands of years during which Israel waited for the Messiah to come.
Elizabeth in the Bible:
“And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit” (Luke 1:41)
Obedience – Mary of Nazareth
Mary’s significant role in Scripture is widely known: Mary of Nazareth is the mother of Jesus.
She gave birth to the Savior of the world when she was just a teenager.
The angel Gabriel told her of the unique role she would play in God’s story and, while this certainly was frightening, Mary bravely embraced her calling and bore for all of humanity the Savior of the world
Scripture on the life of Mary:
“Six months after Elizabeth knew she was to become a mother, Gabriel was sent from God to Nazareth. Nazareth was a town in the country of Galilee. He went to a woman who had never had a man.
She was promised in marriage to a man named Joseph. Joseph was also of the lineage of David. The angel came to her and said, ‘You are honored very much. You are a favored woman. The Lord is with you. You are chosen from among many women.’ When she saw the angel, she was troubled at his words. She thought about what had been said.
The angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid. You have found favor with God. See! You are to become a mother and have a Son. You are to give Him the name Jesus. He will be great. He will be called the Son of the Most High.
The Lord God will give Him the place where His early father David sat. He will be King over the family of Jacob forever and His nation will have no end.’” (Luke 1:26-33)
Mary’s obedience is an example of bravery and sacrifice. She not only risked losing her future husband, but public ridicule and possibly even death for not being believed that she was indeed the vessel of immaculate conception. She also knew the child she would bear was here for one reason and his life would end with her watching him suffer and die a horrible death, here on earth. In spite of it all, she honored her mission, and trusted God in His infinite mercy, wisdom, and promises.
Prayer, Humility, Boldness, Sacrificial Love – Hannah
Hannah was also initially baron, and prayed desperately for a son.
She made a promise to God that if he permitted her to bear a son, she would devote him to God.
When God fulfilled this request, she faithfully kept her word. She left her son, Samuel, to be raised in the temple of the Lord, while continuing to provide him guidance and mentorship along the way.
Hannah’s faithfulness was never in question.
Samuel, her son, would go on to rescue Israel from centuries of slavery to the Canaanites and idolatry to Baal by anointing King David, whose heart was fully devoted to the Lord and who gifted God’s people with most of the Psalms, which the church uses on a daily basis as a source of strength, encouragement, and worship, both through seasons of blessing and tribulation.
Hannah in the Bible:
“It is not by strength that one prevails; those who oppose the Lord will be broken. The Most High will thunder from heaven; the Lord will judge the ends of the earth” (1 Sam. 2:10)
Never Doubt God’s Promises – Hagar
Who among us has not doubted God’s promises? Who among us has not felt contempt for another person or suffered in some seemingly hopeless circumstance?
Hagar, a non-Israelite, a woman with no power or status, is the first person in Scripture to be visited by an angel and the only person in Scripture to give God a name—El Roi, “the God who sees me.” In the midst of her pain and struggle, Hagar receives God’s blessing and promises.
This is all good news for those of us who are less than perfect, who wander in desert places, who weep over the consequences of our own decisions, and who are victims of abuse or rejection. It is among those such as Hagar that Jesus is to be found, ready to meet us at the place of despair when it seems that God is absent or that God’s promises are false. God comes to us in wilderness places. Hagar, as much as Abraham and Sarah, is a model of faith that we can learn from. She shows us where to find God.
Leadership – Priscilla
Priscilla was a powerful church leader and ran a tent making business with her husband in the book of Acts. They meet the apostle Paul in Corinth. The three of them bond over the trade they all do as a main job (Priscilla and Aquila) and a side hustle (Paul): tent making. They make tents together, or, as this article argues, they more likely worked with leather.
Later, they set sail together toward a place called Antioch (Acts 18:18), and continue with Paul to Ephesus.
She and her husband, Aquila, led the church in maintaining theological purity, love for the poor, and mentorship of young, charismatic leaders, such as the apostle Apollos, who were still figuring out how Jesus fit into God’s story of redemption.
Priscilla represents God’s counter-cultural insistence upon the dignity of women in church leadership and the power he plans to accomplish through them to revolutionize what it means to belong in the people of God and what women can do to lead by example in faithfulness and hospitality.
Priscilla in the Bible:
“He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately” (Acts 18:26)
Women in Authority – Deborah
The season of the judges was a tumultuous time for Israel.
After Moses led Israel out of the land of Egypt and Joshua had led Israel into the land promised to Abraham to conquer the Canaanites, Israel fell into cycles of disobedience that prompted God’s wrath to fall on Israel in the form of slavery to the Canaanites.
In this time, God raised up judges to redeem Israel from political slavery and give them an opportunity to repent. Israel often did repent for a single generation, but fell back into idolatry and disobedience, prompting once again God’s wrath.
Deborah was the only named female judge during this time.
She aggressively pulled on the moral bridle of Israel to return to worship of the one true God, and ruthlessly purified the nation of those evil actors who were interested in keeping Israel spiritually complacent and under slavery to the Canaanites.
The top Bible verse about Deborah:
“Certainly I will go with you,” said Deborah. “But because of the course you are taking, the honor will not be yours, for the Lord will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman” (Judges 4:9).
Stand Up While You Can – Esther
Esther is one of the bravest characters in all the pages of the Bible.
She lived during a time when women had no social standing and were considered the property of their husband, father, brothers and even sons.
She was a Hebrew woman, living under Persian rule. As a member of an oppressed race, she had fewer rights than even the average Persian woman, and Persian women were told things like, to be grateful even if their husbands had them leave the room before raping the servant girls.
Esther married into a household where Queen Vashti had been dismissed after refusing to risk her safety amongst drunk men, who were, in all likelihood, already abusing the servant girls.
Esther was constantly in danger of abuse and death, yet when her people needed her, she did not hesitate to step up. She knew that failure could mean worse than death for her, but she still spoke up when her people needed her to. She showed the sort of courage that is always needed in the world, and had she stayed silent, she herself would likely have been safe. Despite that, she could not bring herself to turn a blind eye to others’ suffering simply because it would not touch her.
As Martin Niemoller said in his famous poem, “First They Came,” if one does not stand up for others when they have the chance, eventually there will be no one left to stand up for them when they need help.
The Trusting Mother – Jochebed
Jochebed is a name that is only mentions briefly in Exodus 6:20. She was the daughter of Levi, third of Jacob’s sons. She was born just as Jacob and his family entered Egypt, where they were destined to be cruelly enslaved. She married Amram and became the mother of Moses, Aaron and Miriam.
When Pharaoh ordered that all of the male babies be tossed into the Nile River and killed, she took a risk that put not only herself, but her whole family in danger, if she was found out. She placed Moses in a sealed woven basket in hopes to keep him safe from the evil decree. Pharaoh’s daughter saw the basket and had her handmaiden retrieve the basket, discovering baby Moses inside, and decided to raise him as her own, keeping him safe from death.
Jochebed had trusted God to protect her son, and He did.
Never Give Up Hope – Miriam
Miriam is one of the women in the Bible who has sadly become nothing but a mere footnote in history.
As mentioned above, she was the sister daughter of Jochebed, and the sister of Moses and Aaron.
The Bible describes her as being a prophet in her own right. She, however, is forever overshadowed by Aaron and Moses.
Her show of bravery begins when she watches over Moses, after their mother, Jochebed, put him in the basket into the river to save him from being killed, and approaches the princess who finds him, to offer to take him to be nursed by his own people until he is weaned, allowing his own mother to nurse him, while still keeping him safe from being put to death. Miriam also devoted herself to Pharaoh’s daughter in order to help raise him, so that they could remain together.
Moses and Aaron both have a great deal to teach people, but the lessons that Miriam’s life illuminates are often forgotten. At the very least, she is mostly left out of them. While Moses and Aaron were at the forefront of the Exodus, Miriam was the one who never gave up hope. As a woman and a slave, her life would have been brutal in ancient Egypt. Yet, Miriam kept her faith and was chosen as one of God’s prophets when He led His people out of Egypt to rescue them.
Miriam was a prophetess, as well as, Moses and Aaron’s older sister.
We can credit Miriam with instilling Moses with a devotion to the Lord that manifested itself in later days, which enabled his openness to divine encounter with the one true God and his moral conscience that guided Israel all the way to the promised land.
Her contribution to the survival of her family and her people is in no way a small one….she is a Mighty Daughter of the King.
Listen When God Speaks to You – The Unnamed Samaritan Woman
Some of the Bible’s most important characters are actually never given names. Among those important souls whose names are lost forever, is the Samaritan woman by the well in the New Testament.
To modern eyes, she is interesting but only of marginal importance, but her role in the ancient world, cannot be underestimated.
While Jesus’ own people reject him, the Samaritan woman, a member of the group that had an all but declared blood feud with the Jews, stops and listens to this strange Jewish man at Jacob’s well.
Christ, in turn, gives her a one on one lesson for the short time they are at the well together, and reveals that He intentionally came there to meet her, proceeding to tell her about her entire life and revealing to her, what he had not publicly revealed to anyone up until then, that He was indeed the Messiah.
The Samaritan woman, a person who would have been loathed by the Apostles, received one of the most important messages from Jesus there was….with instruction for her to tell everyone.
He CHOSE her!!
This message would put into motion the fulfillment of the last phase of prophecy He came here to carry out….His reveal to the world, and His eminent death and resurrection.
She was a sign that anyone can hear God, that He loves us all and has an important message, so when He stops to speak to you, you need to listen, and take in all there is to learn.
Repentance and Restoration – Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene is often misunderstood.
She was a faithful follower of Jesus.
After Jesus healed her, she ventured alongside him in his ministry, meeting His needs and encouraging the disciples, eventually bearing witness to his crucifixion and burial.
Three days later, she would be the first witness of the empty tomb of Christ and one of the core critical eye-witnesses to his resurrection that would later resource the gospel writers to give the church historical credibility.
Mary Magdalene in the Bible:
“After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; He has risen, just as He said! Come, see the place where He lay Then go quickly and tell His disciples, ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him.’ See, I have told you.
So they hurried away from the tomb in fear and great joy, and ran to tell His disciples. Suddenly, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” They came to Him, grasped His feet, and worshiped Him. “Do not be afraid,” said Jesus. “Go and tell My brothers to go to Galilee. There they will see Me.”
Mary is another prime example that we are all deserving of redemption, are worthy, and that our Redeemer loves and values His daughters so much.
Think For Yourself – Eve
Sinners have as much to teach as saints, but many people are reluctant to discuss them. It is as if they think that the only thing people will really learn from a sinner’s story is how to sin. Mistakes, however, are often better teachers than success.
Besides, one of the Bible’s central themes is that of redemption, and many famous sinners still have important lessons to teach.
Eve is considered to be the original sinner. She was the first to take a bite of the infamous forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. In doing so, however, she passes on a valuable lesson.
Eve fell victim to the very human tendency to simply believe either what you are told last or what you want to believe.
Eve was warned not to eat from the tree, but she chose to listen to the lies of the serpent, either because she wanted an excuse to eat from the forbidden tree or simply because the snake was the last one to speak to her.
Had she simply waited and asked God about the odd serpent, mankind would still be living in paradise.
While people today are unlikely to deal with a talking reptile in a tree, Satan does constantly whisper his lies into our ears to tickle them with the things we want to hear, and sadly, many people have a tendency to not bother confirming if what they hear is true. They simply agree with one side of the story and never bother to wait to learn the other side. This leads to unnecessary divisions and dangerous territories that can change the course of their life.
Satan seeks to destroy. We must learn God’s TRUTH and stop the lies of the enemy dead in it’s tracks.
The Importance of Being Loyal – Ruth and Naomi
The Book of Ruth relates to the devoted relationship between Naomi and her daughter in law, Ruth.
Ruth was a woman of Moab, who had married one of the sons of Naomi and Elimelech, Judeans who had settled in Moab to escape the famine in Judah. Orpah, another Moab woman, was married to Naomi and Elimelech’s other son.
The husbands of all three women die, and Naomi plans to return to her native Bethlehem. She urges her daughters-in-law to return to their own families, as well. Orpah does so, but Ruth refuses to leave Naomi, declaring (Ruth 1:16–17), “Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die—there will I be buried.”
Ruth accompanies Naomi to Bethlehem and later marries Boaz, a wealthy distant relative of her late father-in-law, with whom she bore a son, Obed. According to the end of the book of Ruth, Obed is the grandfather of King David, putting her also in the bloodline of Christ.
Ruth’s story is celebrated during the Jewish festival of Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, 50 days after Passover.
Ruth is a symbol of abiding loyalty and devotion.
Take Responsibility For Your Own Life – Tamar
Many of the Bible’s greatest heroes and heroines are those who are upright and strong. They may show moments of cleverness, but they are largely known for their strength, both physically and in God.
Tamar, on the other hand, is one of the handful of tricksters in the Bible.
She is small and, at first, known only for having cruel husbands. She develops, however, into a cunning woman who uses guile and illusions to get what she wants…what is owed to her.
Thankfully for both Tamar and Judah, all Tamar wants is for Judah to fulfill his responsibilities as head of the household and do what is right, to take care of his sons (yes, plural) widow. Because he refuses to do so, Tamar takes matters into her own hands and disguises herself as a prostitute and sleeps with Judah, becoming impregnated with his offspring.
If you remember, Judah is the same brother that convinces his other brothers not to kill Joseph, but to instead sell him to the Ishmaelites. Yes, the famous Joseph of the technicolor dreamcoat, who gains favor with Pharaoh and saves the people, including his brothers and family, from famine.
Judah then chose to separate himself from his family and went on to marry a Canaanonite woman and began having children. Interestingly, it is Judah who shows up in Christ’s bloodline, not Joseph, so by Tamar having a child with Judah, she also continues the bloodline of Christ through their son, Perez. (Matthew 1:1-3)
Tamar often gets a bad rap from Christians, despite the fact that the Bible specifically states that she was a righteous woman, and she teaches incredibly valuable lessons.
First, she shows the importance of stepping up to do what is right. Technically, it was not Tamar’s job to correct Judah’s wrong. Judah should have done it himself, or Tamar’s father should have intervened to right the wrong Judah had done to his daughter.
When no one else interceded, Tamar could have simply languished in her misery. Instead, she risked her life to do what was right.
The other major lesson that Tamar teaches is reflected in her actions. In fact, the lesson is that she took action at all. Tamar could easily have simply sat back and lamented her misery and remained a victim. She was not, however, content with that. Rather than simply waiting around for someone else to either fix things or just bemoaning her misfortune, Tamar went out and created the life she was entitled to live with a little out of the box thinking.
Tamar’s story is just one thread woven into the dramatic story of humanity. It reveals the redemptive and compassionate heart of God. Tamar, like Ruth, was not one of God’s chosen people. Yet, she is one out of four women mentioned in Jesus’ genealogy. She was not only a Gentile, but a woman.
We are all made in His image and God does not play favorites. Jesus came to save us all. Our sinfulness is never a surprise to the Sovereign Father and Savior of the world. We live in a fallen world, and though we are far removed from Tamar and the ancient people in her story, we live through our own drama and bear deep scars from the consequences … some at our own hands and some at the hands of others.
Always Show Kindness – Rahab
Rahab tends to be one of those biblical characters who is either reviled or adored. In reality, she was a much more complicated person. As a prostitute, she was a sinner, but she was also a believer in God and His works as shown by her knowledgeable discussion with the Israelite spies who saw to it that she survived.
When Rahab hid the spies, however, she had no way of knowing if they would spare her family or simply murder her in advance of the invasion to keep her quiet. Despite that, she hid them anyway. She is a reminder that even in times of turmoil and terror, there is a need for kindness. It was not Rahab’s knowledge that ended up saving her life. Instead, it was her kindness that spared her.
Step Up To Do What is Right – Jehosheba
Jehosheba was the daughter of King Joram.
She is known for saving her nephew while he was an infant.
Her nephew was the prince Joash, who was to be massacred by the Queen Mother. Joash’s survival enabled the line of David, and consequently the line of the Messiah, to endure.
Jehosheba’s bravery played a critical role in the possibility of the coming of Christ, and God’s working through her faithful devotion to his purposes is difficult to underestimate.
Jehosheba in the Bible:
“But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram and sister of Ahaziah, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the royal princes, who were about to be murdered. She put him and his nurse in a bedroom to hide him from Athaliah; so he was not killed.” (2 Kings 11:2).
Fight Your Own Battles – Jael
Jael is a woman that seems to have been all but forgotten by most Christians, and it really is unfortunate. She is one of the woman who killed the leaders of invading armies and saved the Israelites.
Jael, uses her husband’s relationship with King Jabin to convince the king to let down his guard when he is fleeing from the Israelite army and took advantage of the king’s trust in order to kill him.
Jael took matters into her own hands when she needed to do so. She was not convinced of her own helplessness or that she was doomed, nor was she content to let others fight her battles for her. Instead, she ended up striking the decisive blow, and helped save her people.
Now, It’s Over To You…
These are but a few of the amazing women in the Bible who played significant roles in history.
Will you to follow the example of these women?
These strong women held the line of faithfulness when many men in Israel were satisfied to capitulate to the paganism of Canaan, Persia, and Greece.
These biblical women represent not only the kind of bravery to which all Christians are called to in the face of suffering, but represent a uniquely powerful purpose which God has designated for women to achieve God’s plan, which would otherwise be impossible.
I hope you will share these powerful women in the Bible with someone else, and dig into the Word to learn more.
There may be fewer women mentioned in the Bible than men, but that does not negate all they have to teach us.
From reminders of the power of hope, to the importance of using the brain God has given you, biblical women teach us very unique lessons.
Being few and mighty only makes the lessons they have to teach that much more important.
After all, a single powerful quote can do more than any number of half-hearted pages.
It is said that in the last days, women will be the ones that will rise up and lead….
Will YOU stand up and lead like these incredible Biblical women….
“For Such a Time As This”?
If you would like to join me and other strong women of God in community support, please connect with me!
Be sure to visit my blog often to find other powerful stories of faith, encouragement, and valuable information.
Lori Jorgensen is a Kingdom Mindset Transformational Coach.
If you are in need of guidance, mentorship and transformation, you can find more information here.
