Princesses . . . in the Bible! Quiz

Answer: Pharaoh's daughter

In Exodus 2, an Egyptian princess discovered baby Moses in the Nile after his mother put him in a basket. Although Exodus doesn't include her name, the Jewish Women's Archive website states that the Jewish Midrash suggests that her name was Bithiah.

Answer: Esther

The Persian king, Ahasuerus (or Xerxes), loved Esther and married her, but he didn't know that she was a Hebrew at the time. Esther's other name is Hadassah. In my opinion, Esther tells somewhat of a Cinderella story, because she went from being an orphan to being royalty.

Answer: Michal

1 Samuel 18 provides the story of Princess Michal. She fell in love with David, but the Scriptures don't state that David loved her back. Nonetheless, Saul "gave" Michal to him after David killed a hundred Philistines.

Answer: Tamar

In 2 Samuel 13, King David's son, Amnon, had a sick obsession with his half-sister, Tamar, and raped her. Tamar's mother was Maacah, who was a princess in her own right. Maachah's father was King Talmai of Geshur. Geshur was near Israel.

Answer: Cozbi

Numbers 25:16-18 state, "Be hostile to the Midianites and strike them; for they have been hostile to you with their tricks, with which they have deceived you in the affair of Peor and in the affair of Cozbi, the daughter of the leader of Midian, their sister who was slain on the day of the plague because of Peor" (New American Standard Bible).

The verses call her the daughter of a Midianite leader, which could make her like a princess, because a leader is similar to a king or other ruler.

God punished Cozbi, among other Midianites, because they worshipped other gods and led some Israelites astray.

Answer: Salome

Salome is a princess, but a naughty one. Her story can be found in Mark 6:14-29. She was King Antipas's step-daughter and Queen Herodias's daughter from her previous marriage. Guided by her mother, Herodias, Salome asked for John the Baptist to be beheaded.

The Bible actually doesn't mention "Salome" as the girl's name, but many people believe that this was her name. As Wikipedia states, Josephus wrote about the princess and mentioned her name as Salome as well.

Answer: Sarah

According to Genesis, Sarah was Abraham's wife and Isaac's mother. Behind the Name.com lists these meanings for her name. In addition, her other name, "Saraļ," means "my princess". Given that Sarah was the mother of many nations, she was a special lady indeed.

Answer: Asenath

In Genesis 41, Asenath was Joseph's Egyptian wife. Her father was Potiphera, a priest, but according to Wikipedia, some believe that he was also a prince. If he was a prince, then she would be a princess. However, Joseph was already a ruler over Egypt when he married Asenath. By being the ruler's wife, she would be like a princess for that reason alone.

Answer: Shulammite woman

Song of Solomon 7:1-2 states, "How beautiful are your feet in sandals,
O prince's daughter!" (New American Standard Bible). Here, King Solomon compliments his bride by calling her beautiful. He also references her as a prince's daughter (a princess).

Regarding her title "Shulammite," it is either a reference to her being from Shulem, or it is a real name. Interestingly, both "Solomon" and "Shulammite" mean "peace".

Answer: Mary

Mary is not really described as a princess or even a queen in the Bible, but because of the descriptions about her son, Jesus, being the ultimate Prince and King, one could see how Mary could be considered royalty. In addition, there is a possibility that she came from the line of King David (Luke 3:23-38).

Many Catholics refer to Mary as the "Queen of Heaven". Protestants typically don't view her as such (nor do Protestants believe in the Catholic doctrine of her everlasting virginity), but we do believe that Mary was very favored; perhaps the most favored woman of all time. Again, her special situations could make her like a princess.