Potiphar’s Wife

• First sensualist of Biblical women• Portrait of a spoilt, rich and beautiful woman,

the product of a luxurious and licentious civilization

• Literally tears Joseph’s clothing off as he runs away

• First false rape accusation

Asenath, Daughter of Potipherah, High Priest of On

• Pharaoh marries her off to a foreign, nomadic herdsman previously accused of rape

• Some versions claim she renounced her false idols before marriage, some do not

• Bears two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim

Jochebed, The Woman Whose Children Became Great

• Married her nephew (not uncommon at the time)

• Mother of Miriam, Aaron, and Moses• Puts baby Moses in a basket on the Nile,

nurses him for Pharaoh’s daughter, and promptly disappears from the story

Pharaoh’s Daughter

• Thermuthis? Myrrina? Mercis?• Defies her father and saves Hebrew foundling• Savior of Israel, not mentioned again (was she

still alive when Moses returned to free his people?)

Miriam, Whose Jealously Brought Judgment

• Guards Moses in his basket• Offers Hebrew wet nurse to Pharaoh (Jochebed

nurses own son)• Gifted poetess and prophetess, referred to by

name and as sister of Aaron (never marries?)• First of the sweet singer of Israel• Did not approve of Moses’ foreign wives

(Midianite and Cushite)• Speaks against Moses, given leprosy for a week• Dies before the entrance to Canaan

Zipporah, a Midianite

• Eldest of Jethro’s daughters• Marries Moses, bears two sons, Gershom and

Eliezer• Saves Moses that time that God decides to kill

him (???)• Disappears from the story soon after Moses

becomes the law-giver

Rahab, Who God Took From the Dunghill

• One of four foreign women listed by Matthew in Jesus’ genealogy

• A ‘Harlot’• Helps, hides the Hebrew spies Joshua sends,

recognizes them as men of God• She and her family is spared when Jericho is

destroyed

Deborah, Who Was A Fearless Patriot

• Wife of Lapidoth• Prophetess, Agitator, Ruler, Warrior• 5th Judge of Israel• Told Barak (military leader) what to do• Poetess (even better than Miriam?)• No children?, mother to all Israel

Jael, Who Killed A Man While He Slept

• Breaks rules of hospitality, kills Israel’s enemy• Tent peg to the head• Deborah praised her: Blessed above women

shall be Jael

Jephthah’s Daughter, Who Was Sacrificed For An Oath

• Dad vows to sacrifice first thing out of the door of his house to meet him if given victory over enemy

• “My father, if thou hast made this promise to the Lord, do to me according to the promise.”

• Two months to ‘bewail her virginity’• Human sacrifice vs. vestal virgin theory

Delilah, Who Betrayed Her Husband For Silver

• Philistine courtesan• 1,100 pieces of silver• Samson can’t stand to see a woman cry• Crushed when Samson brings down the

Temple (in some versions she disappears after collecting her reward)

Naomi, Who Tasted The Cup of Bitterness

• Husband decides to move to Moab during famine

• Sons marry foreign women• Men promptly die• Returns to Bethlehem with Ruth, who will not

leave her• Finds Ruth a nice, Jewish husband

Ruth, Who Rose From Obscurity To Riches

• Moabite• Young widow• Faithful daughter-in-law• Determined convert• Humble gleaner• Proposes to Boaz (after hanky-panky?)• Mother of Obed

Michal, Who Tricked Her Father

• Younger daughter of Saul, Israel’s first king• Loved David• Married David, despite Saul’s best attempts to

kill him• Helped David escape through a window when

dad tried to kill him again• Married someone else, returned to David• No children, lived apart from David, died

Witch of Endor

• This story is crazy• Samuel is dead but appears anyway• Witch is not a villain, just a messenger• Saul is informed of his coming death

Rizpah, Who Guarded Her Dead

• Concubine of Saul• Her two sons and five other sons of Saul are

hanged for Saul’s sin against the Gibeonites• Guards bodies from carrion eaters until rain

ends the famine punishment of God and is finally allowed to bury them

• Foreshadowing Golgotha?

Bathsheba, Whose Beauty Resulted In Adultery and Murder

• Wife of Uriah, David’s most loyal soldier• David “did that which was right in the eyes of

the lord… save only in the matter of Uriah”• David peeps her bathing, begins affair, gets

her pregnant, sends her husband to the front to get killed

• Child dies in infancy, has four more sons• Mother of Solomon, not mentioned after

Two Harlot Mothers

• Live together, give birth three days apart• One child dies• Both claim living child• Solomon decides to cut baby in half• Actual mother would rather give living child to

other woman than have the child die

Queen of Sheba, Who Loved Wisdom

• Comes to see this Solomon guy for herself• Ethiopian?• Returned to Sheba with a son?• Concerned about sea trade (Solomon's control

of the head of the Gulf of Aqabah)?• Is the Song of Solomon about her?• Jesus’ queen of the south?

Jezebel, Who Was A She-Devil

• Name means “chaste, free from carnal connection”

• Marries Ahab, King of Northern Israel• Continues to worship Baal• Does hair and makeup before facing her

prophesied doom• Defenestrated, torn apart by dogs