There are strange women in the Bible whose actions, deeds and attributes didn’t depict the image of Christ as expected from Christian women, because of their actions, they’re viewed as “strange women”.
The scripture talks about the purposeful and virtuous woman of Proverbs 31 woman, also, some women lacked the attributes of the virtuous woman in the Bible, hence, they are considered strange women as a result of their characters.
Strange Women in the Bible
Jezebel, Delilah Sampson’s wife, Potiphar’s wife, Herodias – the mother of the Biblical dancer, the woman at the well with seven husbands and lots of other women were considered strange women in the Bible.
In this piece, I will be discussing 14 strange women in the Bible, the roles they played, their actions and how their lives ended, according to the scripture.
1. Potiphar’s Wife
Genesis 39:7, 10, 12
7. “And after a time his master’s wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, “Lie with me.”
10. “And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her”.
12. “she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house”.
Genesis 39:7, 10-14 (ESV)
Potiphar’s wife was a strange woman in the Bible. Although she was married to a wealthy man, she reduced her self-worth and condescended to the level of seduction with her house help, Joseph.
Unlike the virtuous woman that builds her house, she exhibited a habit that could have led to the destruction of her marital home if she didn’t succeed in passing the blame on Joseph, which leads to his imprisonment.
2. Jezebel
1 kings 21:7
“And Jezebel his wife said to him, “Do you now govern Israel? Arise and eat bread and let your heart be cheerful; I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.”
1 kings 21:7 (ESV)
Jezebel is one of the examples of a strange woman in the Bible. Jezebel encouraged her husband to perpetuate evil instead of dissuading him from such an act.
She encouraged the husband on taking over a poor subject’s inheritance and that leads to the destruction of her home.
3. Sampson’s wife (Delilah)
Judges 16:15-16
15. “And she said to him, How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and you have not told me where your great strength lies.”
16. “And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day and urged him, his soul was vexed to death”.
Judges 16:15-16 (ESV)
Delilah was a strange woman in the Bible. She married Sampson with anterior motives of betraying him for destruction to her people, the Philistines. Her marriage with Sampson wasn’t out of love not genuine intentions.
She persuaded her husband Sampson on several occasions to reveal the secrets behind his power. When Sampson fell for her tricks, she sold him out to his enemies, Sampson’s hair was barbed, and he was tortured, and blinded, but his hair grew back and he destroyed thousands.
4. Herodias, Mother of the Biblical Dancer
Matthew 14:7-8
7. “So that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask”.8. “Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.”
Matthew 14:7-8 (ESV)
Herodias’ was the mother of the Biblical dancer. Her daughter danced to the admission of the King and the King allowed her to request anything of her choice, even including half of his kingdom.
The little girl ran to the mother for guidance, and Herodias advised her to request the head of John the Baptist. The King granted her request. John the Baptist was beheaded and handed over to the girl in a tray.
She used that opportunity to execute her wickedness on the man of God, because of her deep hatred for him. By implication, Herodias was a murderer.
5. The Woman with the Issue of Blood
Matthew 5:25-29
25. “And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, 26. And who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse”.
27 “She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. 28. For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.”
29. “Immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease”.
Matthew 5:25-29 (ESV)
The woman with the issue of blood was regarded as a strange woman by her family, friends and loved ones. The above scripture said for 12 years she suffered a haemorrhage for good twelve years.
Medical treatment failed her and she took a strange position when she heard about Jesus and his healing powers. She believed in her heart if she touches the hem of Jesus’ garment, she will be made whole.
As heard about Jesus passing by, she pushed forward through the crowd, touched the hem of Jesus’ garment and her blood dried up. Jesus acknowledged something had left him and the woman accepted touching him with faith. She had a strange faith and got healed.
6. The Woman at the Well with Jesus (The first Evangelist)
John 4:11-18
11 “The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water”?
12 “Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again.”
14 “But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
15 “The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”
17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”
John 4:11-18 (ESV)
The woman who was at the well with Jesus was regarded as a strange woman by her community until the day she met Jesus. She had had five husbands before she met Jesus at the well.
She was hospitable and Jesus asked for a drink from her water pot. She became an evangelist when she realised she was in an interface with Jesus Christ. She ran back to her community and asked others to come to meet the Lord.
7. Zeresh Haman’s Wife
Esther 5:14
14. “Then wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Let a gallows fifty cubits high be made, and in the morning tell the king to have Mordecai hanged upon it. Then go joyfully with the king to the feast.” This idea pleased Haman, and he had the gallows made”.
Esther 5:14 (ESV)
Esther 6:13
13. And Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then his wise men and his wife Zeresh said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of the Jewish people, you will not overcome him but will surely fall before him.”
Esther 6:13 (ESV)
Hanna’s wife encouraged the husband to prepare a gallow to kill Mordecai Queen Esther’s mentor in the mother. Her advice was strange from the biblical example of a Christian Wife.
But God turned things around, Mordecai was rather honored by the King while Haman was hung up on the same gallow he prepared for Mordecai.
Haman’s wife was regarded as a strange woman because of the decision she made with her husband although she later changed her mind the husband couldn’t go back on his plans.
8. King Solomon’s Wives
1 Kings 11:1-4
1. “Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women”
“2. From the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love”.
3. “He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart”.
4. “When Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father”.
1 Kings 11:1-4 (ESV)
Solomon was married to strange women and they influenced him to turn away from God to idol worshipping.
Solomon had seven hundred wives and 300 concubines. They all came from different tribes and nations and brought along their strange gods into the kingdom and turned Solomon away from the one true God.
9. Sapphira, the Wife of Ananias
Acts 5:1-2
1. But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, 2. And with his wife’s knowledge, he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet”.
Acts 5:1-2(ESV)
Sapphira is recorded as one of the strange women because of how she convinced her husband to tell lies before the Apostles which led to their untimely deaths.
Her connivance with her husband led to their sudden death in the house of God.
10. Gomer
Hosea 1:2-3
2 “When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the LORD.”
“3 So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son”.
Hosea 1:2-3 (ESV)
Gomer is one of the strange women in the Bible because of the name they attach to her; whore although she later married Hosea. In the early days of Christianity, believers strived to live a holy life following the law of Moses.
It was strange to find a woman who could be tagged along as a whore, yet, God ordered Hosea to pick her up as a wife.
11. Lot’s Wife
Genesis 19:26
26 “But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt”.
Genesis 19:26 (ESV)
Lot’s wife is one of the strange women in the Bible. She valued her wealth above God’s instructions and directions.
Up until today, she remains a pillar of salt when she turned back in remembrance of her wealth in Sodom and Gomorrah.
12. The Witch of Endor
1 Samuel 28:6-7
6. “And when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD did not answer him, either by dreams, or by Urim, or by prophets”.
7. “Then Saul said to his servants, “Seek out for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her.” And his servants said to him, “Behold, there is a medium at En-dor.”
1 Samuel 28:6-7 (ESV)
In the era that witchcraft was banned from the land of Israel, the witch of Endor still practiced witchcraft and she was banished from the land.
13. Athaliah (The Wife of King Judah)
2 Kings 11:1
1. Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal family.
2 Kings 11:1 (ESV)
Athaliah is regarded as a strange woman because of her act of destruction of lives and wickedness. She lacked the virtues of a purposeful woman who is expected to stay calm and rely on God for comfort in times of distress.
14. Eve
Genesis 3:6
“So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate”.
Genesis 3:6 (ESV)
Eve, the first woman on Earth according to the story of creation is regarded as a strange woman because she disobeys God and persuades Adam to join in disobedience to God’s instructions.
She was deceived by the serpent to test the tree of knowledge of good and evil. She equally gave the fruit to her husband, Adam, and through this act, evil, death, pains, and sorrows entered the earth.
But through the mercies of God, the second Adam who is Jesus Christ was sent by the father to come into the world and save mankind from all forms of pain and heavy burdens.
Conclusion
The opposite of a virtuous woman is a strange woman. A virtuous woman builds her house but a strange woman scatters her house with her hands.
The few strange women in the Bible made life miserable for their people, they destroyed instead of building their families. Potiphar’s wife, Jezebel, Delilah, the Witch of Endor and other strange women I mentioned and discussed in this piece, are an example of negative influence every godly woman should avoid.
As we continue in our pursuit to live a Christian life, I pray God keeps us within his plan and guide our steps every passing day to the end of our heavenly race here on earth.
