Strong Women in the Bible Trivia Quiz

Answer: Sarah

Sarah was the wife of Abraham and one of the matriarchs of the Jewish nation, along with Rebekah, Leah, Rachel, and others. There is a misconception that Sarah was the mother of many nations, but she wasn't. Abraham was the father of many nations, but other women, such as Hagar and Keturah were the mothers. In addition to the Israelites (Jacob's descendants) Abraham fathered the Ishmaelites, the Midianites, etc.

In Genesis 3, after Adam ate the fruit that Eve offered him, God rebuked Adam for listening to his wife. However, Sarah told Abraham to have a child, Ishmael, with Sarah's maid Hagar. She told him to kick Hagar out when Hagar and Ishmael began to disrespect Sarah and Isaac. The fact that God told Abraham to listen to his wife is evidence that Eve's gender wasn't the problem, but what she was saying was the problem.

Answer: Rebekah

Genesis 25 states that Isaac favored Esau, while Rebekah favored Jacob. Esau was hairy while Jacob was smooth-skinned. Genesis 27 states that Rebekah helped Jacob to deceive Isaac so that he gave Esau's blessing to Jacob. Although this seems like an immoral action at first glance, God must have approved of Jacob receiving the blessing, otherwise He would have punished Rebekah and Jacob and wouldn't have used Jacob to be the ancestor of the twelve tribes of Israel.

In the book of Romans, the apostle Paul implies that God favored Jacob over Esau.

The Hebrew God described Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to Moses and a woman helped form the covenant.

Answer: Miriam

Miriam wasn't just a strong woman; she was a strong girl. According to Exodus, Miriam stood watch to make sure that her infant brother Moses would be safe. Their mother had placed him in a basket and sent him across the river to try and save his life, because the Egyptians were murdering Hebrew boys. Miriam saw that the Pharaoh's daughter wanted to adopt him, but wanted someone to nurse him, so Miriam suggested their own mother. Miriam was also one of several prophetesses in the Bible.

In addition to Miriam, their mother Jochebed as well as two Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, were also strong. Jochebed tried to save her child and the midwives refused to follow the command of the Pharaoh and let the baby boys live. It seems that after the Hebrew midwives refused to murder the babies, the Pharaoh then commanded that the Egyptians drown the babies in the Nile.

Answer: Tamar

Tamar was married to Judah's son Er, but he was evil, so God took his life. It doesn't say what Er did. Jewish law required that when a man died without children, his brother (or if he didn't have brothers, then another male relative) needed to marry the widow and provide her a child. However, Onan refused to give Tamar a child, so God took his life also. Judah was worried that if he let his other son Shelah marry Tamar, he might die too, as if any of their deaths were her fault. Like, really, Judah?

When Tamar saw that Judah wasn't going to allow Shelah to marry her, she dressed as a prostitute to lure Judah into impregnating her. I personally find it very hypocritical and misogynistic that Judah said that Tamar needed to be burned for playing the harlot, yet he himself visited a harlot. However, when he learned that he was the father of Tamar's twins, he admitted, "she is more righteous than I, inasmuch that I did not give her to my son Shelah" (verse 26, NASB).

Answer: Deborah

When people discuss strong women in the Bible, Deborah is often one of the first, if not the first. Although she bears the title of "judge," she was actually more than the common understanding of a judge. She was also a military leader and essentially a queen without the title. Of course, even if she was only a judge, that still would have been a prominent position for a woman in her culture/time period.

I had an argument with my boyfriend about women leaders and he was opposed to the idea of a female president of the United States. He still doesn't believe that women should be senior pastors, but he ultimately said, "You're right. If a woman could be ruler of Israel, then a woman can be president of another nation."

Answer: Jael

Ah yes, Jael, the woman who stuck a tent peg with a hammer into Israel's enemy's head and killed him. Who says fighting like a girl is a bad thing? She may not have been in the actual military, but what Jael did wasn't mere self-defense either.

"Then Barak said to her, 'If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.' She said, 'I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the honor shall not be yours on the journey that you are about to take, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hands of a woman.' Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh, and ten thousand men went up with him; Deborah also went up with him" (Judges 4:8-10, NASB).

Deborah correctly prophesied that the honor of killing the enemy would fall on a woman. Deborah then called Jael one of the most blessed women in her song in chapter 5.

Answer: Zipporah

Zipporah was a daughter of a Midianite priest. According to the Bible, the Midianites were the descendants of Midian, a son of Abraham and his second wife Keturah. Moses married her in the wilderness after he fled from Egypt. Believing in women's rights and being a decent person, Moses rescued Zipporah and her sisters from shepherds who were trying to hurt them.

Exodus 4 suggests that Zipporah probably didn't want their son to be circumcised, and while her "wearing the pants in the relationship" caused Moses to break God's covenant sign for males, she later made it right. After she cut their son, she threw the skin at Moses' feet and said that he was a bridegroom of blood to her. Zipporah comes across as not only a strong (instead of a weak, scared, and passive woman) but a sassy one too.

"Now it came about at the lodging place on the way that the Lord met him and sought to put him to death. Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son's foreskin and threw it at Moses' feet, and she said, 'You are indeed a bridegroom of blood to me.' So He let him alone. At that time she said, 'You are a bridegroom of blood'-because of the circumcision."
- Exodus 4:24-26, NASB

Answer: Huldah

By declaring the word of the Lord that He spoke to her to deliver to the priest and king about the future of the Jews, Huldah had just as much prominence as Jeremiah or any other male prophet. Furthermore, she wasn't preaching to other women.

While there are no female priests in the Hebrew Bible (I personally wouldn't want to slaughter an animal on the altar anyway), there are several prophetesses. Huldah was just one of them. Being a prophetess is being a strong woman. Prophets, including the female ones, not only spoke the word of the Lord, but they also did so sometimes in a political way; they tried to influence people outside of just the temple. However, in the Gospel of Luke, Anna was a prophetess who worked and lived inside the temple, and Paul wrote about women prophesying inside the Christian church in 1 Corinthians.

A Jewish priest and a Christian pastor aren't the same thing. There's also a distinction between a priest, a pastor, and a prophet. (A rabbi is like a Jewish pastor, but rabbis didn't appear in the Hebrew Bible and were a later invention). It's interesting to note that even though the Hebrew Bible seems largely patriarchal, there are definitely some strong women in it as well as some pro-female laws, such as rape being a serious crime. The writings of Paul in the New Testament seem to have more explicit verses about women being submissive than the Hebrew Bible does and certainly more than the Gospels do. Many Pentecostals believe that much of what Paul wrote about women was cultural and if women could speak the oral word of God, then why can't they teach the written word? As such, they ordain women to be pastors. They also believe that whatever patriarchy there was in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) was also cultural and a result of the sin of Adam and Eve; not God's original intention for women. Most Christians, whether they believe in ordaining women or not, agree that Jesus elevated women in His culture, but they disagree to the extent.
Many (not all) Christians who don't believe in women pastors don't believe in modern-day prophecy, and so, Biblical prophetesses may not be relevant to their argument and interpretation. Yes, Paul wrote about women prophesying but that apparently was before the canon of scripture was closed (the belief is that the book of Revelation was the end of prophecy). Pentecostals will cite Joel 2:28 as argument that in the last days before Christ's return, sons and daughters will prophesy.

Answer: Vashti

Many people consider Vashti to be an ancient feminist. According to the text, King Ahasuerus of Persia asked his wife to display "her royal crown in order to display her beauty to the people and the princes, for she was beautiful" (Esther 1: 11, NASB).

The people here were really just men because it explains that Vashti had her own banquet for the women. But the king invited many men to his banquet and they all were extremely drunk. It is often believed that "her royal crown" was a euphemism for dancing naked. When Vashti refused to come to the king and his friends, he became enraged and she lost her title as queen. She was probably executed, but possibly banished.

"Queen Vashti has wronged not only the king but also all the princes and all the peoples who are in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus. For the queen's conduct will become known to all the women causing them to look with contempt on their husbands by saying, 'King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought in to his presence, but she did not come'" (verses 16-18, NASB).

Answer: Hadassah

"Hadassah" is Esther's original Hebrew name. "Esther" is her Persian name. Considering that the bulk of the book of Esther is about her, rather than a small portion, I decided not to cite a chapter in the question. Obviously, if the answer was "Esther" it would have been a giveaway.

Like Deborah, Esther is often considered first during discussions of strong women in the Bible. While the book of Esther doesn't mention the word "God", many believe that God is implied. They believe that God called Esther to defeat Haman and save her people. Despite Mordecai telling her to save the Jews, Esther was naturally scared. There was a law that anybody who approached the king without being asked would be sentenced to death unless he spared him/her. The holiday Purim celebrates this young woman's (eventual) bravery and leadership.

"Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, 'Do not imagine that you in the king's palace can escape any more than all the Jews. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?'"
- Esther 4:13-14

"So Mordecai went away and did just as Esther had commanded him" (chapter 4, verse 17, NASB).

In between verses 14 and 17, Esther gained courage.