Are all the ‘bad women’ of the Bible really bad?

Elaine Storkey unpacks the story of Queen Vashti, to show how our views of some of the women in the Bible have been influenced far more by legend than truth

Study passage: Esther 1

Stories of the legendary ‘bad women’ in the Bible have been passed down through history. Most of the women are famous for sabotaging the lives of innocent men. Potiphar’s wife (Genesis 39) falsely accused Joseph when he refused her sexual advances, resulting in his unjust imprisonment. Delilah (Judges 16) betrayed her lover, Samson, having discovered that the secret of his strength was in his long hair. She cut it off, handing him over to his Philistine enemies. Queen Jezebel (1 Kings 16-22 and 2 Kings 9), wife of Ahab, encouraged idolatry and built temples to Baal, persecuting God’s prophets and plotting the death of Naboth. In the New Testament, Herodias (Matthew 14) used her dancing daughter to have John the Baptist beheaded, getting her revenge after he denounced her unlawful marriage to Herod Antipas. Warnings about the dangers of bad women are not just found in the biblical narratives. The book of Proverbs cautions young men about women seducers, adulterers and flatterers who would destroy their lives (Proverbs 7).