How many Bible queens are you familiar with? Most likely you think of Queen Esther or Jezebel or Queen of Sheba. The Bible is filled with fascinating stories of kings and queens. Many of the queens are unnamed. Others are given names and descriptions.
When reading through genealogy lists in the Bible, we find the names of the kings, the name of their wives, and the names of their children. When the sons were themselves kings, we often see “and he did evil in the sight of the Lord” or “he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.” When these phrases follow his mother’s name, we can tell her influence on her son. If her name is mentioned and then we’re told he did evil, we know she was a influence in that direction. Unfortunately, many of these Bible queens did evil, negatively influencing both their husbands and their children.
Cozbi, Wife of Zimri
Meaning of Name Cozbi
Cozbi means “deceiver”.
Who Was Cozbi?
The Hebrew people settled awhile in Acacia Grove in Moab, and while they were there, the men began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab. The Moabite women invited the Hebrews to come make sacrifices to their gods, and they did.
One of these Moabite women was Cozbi, daughter of Zur, a Midian king. She married Zimri, son of Salu, a leader of a father’s house among the Simeonites. She was instrumental in luring the men away from their faith in the true God and leading them to engage in immorality and worship of Baal.
As a result of Israel’s harlotry, God’s anger was aroused, and He sent a great plague over the people of Israel.
God told Moses to have the leaders hang the offenders, so Moses sent out the judges of Israel, telling them to kill all those who had joined the Baal worshippers.
When Zimri showed up with Cozbi, Phinehas immediately acted on Moses’s instructions. He grabbed a javelin, went to the tent of Zimri and Cozbi, and killed them both. As a result, the plague was stopped among the children of Israel. We’re told, though, that twenty-four thousand Israelites died from the plague.
What Kind of Queen Was Cozbi?
Cozbi was daughter of a king. She was a princess who used her power over men to lure them away from God. It was no accident that she married an Israelite leader. It was a strategic plan to infiltrate the people of God and lead them idol worship.
The Bible is filled with women who used their beauty and powers of seduction to lure men away from God. Stories like this remind us of the responsibility we have as women of influence to draw others closer to God rather than lead them away.
Read About Cozbi in the Bible
Ahinoam, Wife of Saul
Meaning of Name Ahinoam
Ahinoam means “Brother of pleasantries”
Who Was Ahinoam?
In 1 Samuel 10 the prophet Samuel anointed Saul as the first king of the Israelites. The chapters that follow cover Saul’s political and spiritual battles.
Chapter 14 tells us that Saul established his sovereignty over Israel and fought against his enemies on every side. He fought Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, kings of Jobah, and the Philistines. He waged war against the Philistines all the days of his life, and when he saw any strong or valiant man, he took him for himself.
In the midst of these war accounts, we are introduced to Saul’s family including his wife Ahinoam and his daughters Merab and Michal as well as their. three sons – Jonathan, Jishui, and Malchishua.
We might assume that Ahinoam died an early death since there’s no mention of her after this point. In 1 Samuel 18 Saul offers his daughter Merab to David but then marries her off to another mother and then offers Michal, his younger daughter to him instead. I like to think if Ahinoam were still alive at this point, she would have tried to intervene and try to watch out for the interests of her girls. But nothing is said of her during these events, so either she wasn’t around to witness them or else she felt powerless to do anything to prevent them.
Did Ahinoam marry Saul before or after he took over as king? Did she have a clue the kind of man he would become? We’ll never know. But through her son Jonathan, she provided a light in their dark world.
What Kind of Queen Was Ahinoam?
Though the Bible provides us no details about Ahinoam, we see in her son Jonathan admirable characteristics that could be attributed to her pleasant personality. She didn’t, however, instill in her daughter Michal an appreciation or love of God.
Read About Ahinoam in the Bible
Jeroboam’s Wife
Who Was Jeroboam’s Wife?
King Jeroboam was an evil man. He brought idol worship to a new level. He made priests out of every class of people. Whoever wanted to be a priest, he consecrated, and he became one of the priests of the high places where they worshipped their idols. Then his son Abijah got sick.
Since Jeroboam wasn’t exactly on the best of terms with God’s prophets, he told his wife to disguise herself and go to Shiloh to seek advice from the prophet Ahijah.
Jeroboam’s wife did as instructed, but God spoke to Ahijah and let him know that she was coming. As soon as she entered his house, he let her know he knew who she was, so why was she pretending to be someone else?
Ahijah gave her a message to deliver to Jeroboam. He shared that God had given him the kingdom from the house of David, but he’d been more evil than any who went before him. Because of his evil worship, God was cutting off from Jeroboam every male in Israel, bond and free. The dogs would eat the bodies of those who died in the cities. The birds would eat the bodies of those who died in the fields.
Ahijah told Jeroboam’s wife to return home, and when she entered the city gates, her son would die. And that’s what happened.
While that seems harsh, we’re told all of Israel mourned the death of Abijah because there was in him some good toward the Lord. God allowed him a dignified death to remove him from the evil that surrounded him in his family.
What Kind of Queen Was Jeroboam’s Wife?
Though we’re told the story of Jeroboam’s wife and her interaction with the prophet Ahijah, we’re not told about her character. We can tell, however, that she was a devoted wife to her evil husband. Also, all of Israel mourned the death of Abijah, her son, so he had redeeming qualities that didn’t come from his father.
Read About Jeroboam’s Wife in the Bible
Naamah, Wife of Solomon
Meaning of Name Naamah
Naamah means “Pleasant or sweetness”
Who Was Naamah?
King Rehoboam was the son of Solomon and Naamah. Naamah was one of Solomon’s many wives who drew him away from the true God and led him to evil idol worship.
1 Kings 14:21-22 let’s us know that not only did Naamah influence Solomon, but their son Rehoboam as well.
2 Chronicles 12:13-14 reiterates that Rehoboam was the son of Naamah, “and he did evil, for he did not set his heart to seek the Lord.”
What Kind of Queen Was Naamah?
While Rehoboam reigned, Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, more evil than their fathers before them. They build idol altars on every hill and under every tree. They had male cult prostitutes. They followed all the abominations of the pagan nations.
In the fifth year of Rehoboam’s reign, the king of Egypt came and stole the treasures from the Lord’s house as well as the treasures of the king’s house. He took away the shields of gold that Solomon had made, and King Rehoboam made in their place shields of bronze. He gave them to the palace guards.
Throughout Rehoboam’s reign, there was war between him and Jeroboam. In verse 31, which recounts his death, we’re reminded again that his mother’s name was Naamah, the Ammonite. The Bible authors wanted us to know the son did evil in the sight of the Lord like his mother.
Let us never underestimate the power a mother exercises over her family.
Read About Naamah in the Bible
Maacah
Meaning of Name Maacah
Maacah means “Oppression or depression”
Who Was Maacah?
King Rehoboam married eighteen wives and sixty concubines, but of all King Rehoboam’s wives and concubines, he loved Maacah the most. Though she was not his first, she was his favorite.
Rehoboam fathered twenty eight sons and sixty daughters. He decided that Maachah’s son Abijam should be his successor, even though Abijam was not the firstborn. Rehoboam appointed Abijam as chief prince among his brothers.
What Kind of Queen Was Maacah?
Abijam reigned as king of Judah for three years. In 1 Kings 15:2-3, we’re told that his mother’s name was Maacah, “and he walked in all the sins that his father did before him, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father.”
If we continue reading, however, we learn that when Abijam died, his son Asa took over the kingdom. King Asa reigned for forty-one years. Verse 10 says that Asa’s mother’s name was Maacah. Bible scholars conclude that his mother must have died at a young age, so his grandmother Maacah raised him and took the role of queen mother.
Maacah’s influence on Asa, however, was limited. King Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. He got rid of the male cult prostitutes and removed the idols his father had made. He also removed Maacah from being queen mother because she’d made an abominable imager for Asherah.
Though Asa didn’t remove the high places, still, he was true to the Lord all of his days.
What an interesting woman Maacah must have been. Loved by her evil husband, followed by her wicked son, rejected by her godly grandson.
Read About Maacah in the Bible
Abi, Wife of King Ahaz
Meaning of Name
“My Father is Jehovah” or “The Will of God”.
Who was Abi?
She was the daughter of Zechariah, the wife of King Ahaz, and the mother of King Hezekiah.
What Kind of Queen Was She?
According to 2 Chronicles 28:2, King Ahaz, the husband of Abi, “did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David had done, but he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. He even made metal images for the Baals, and he made offerings in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom and burned his sons as an offering, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. And he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.”
Her son Hezekiah, on the other hand, “…did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done.” (2 Chronicles 29:2) He began his reign as king by opening the doors of the house of the Lord and repairing them. He restored temple worship. He kept the Passover. He brought reform to the nation.
Though the Bible gives us no details about Abi’s life, we witness much about her character through the actions of her son. She provided a godly heritage which allowed her son to overcome the wicked influence of his father. What a powerful testimony of Abi’s faith.
Read About Abi in the Bible
Nehushta, Wife of Jehoiakim
Meaning of Name Nehushta
Nehushta means “made of brass, bronze, or serpentine”
Who Was Nehushta?
Nehushta was the daughter of Elnathan from Jerusalem. She became the wife of Jehoiakim, a wicked king of Judah, and they had a son named Jehoiachin, also known as Coniah, who reigned as king after the death of his father.
Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king. He only reigned for three months, but 2 Kings 24:8-9 lets us know “His mother’s name was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father had done.”
Before Jehoiachin could do much evil as king, however, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, besieged the city of Jerusalem and took as prisoners Jehoiachin, his mother, their servants, and the palace officials.
Nebuchadnezzar carried off all the treasures from the temple and the palace and broke up all the vessels of gold in the Lord’s temple, He carried away all Jerusalem, the officials, the mighty men of valor, the craftsmen, and the smiths. He took everyone except the poorest of the poor.
Jehoiachin, his wives, Nehushta, and all the chief men of Jerusalem were taken into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.
The capture of Jehoiachin and Nehushta fulfilled a prophecy by Jeremiah in Jeremiah 22:26 when he predicted that Jehoichin, called Coniah, would be cast out of Jerusalem along with his mother, and they would die in a foreign country.
What Kind of Queen Was Nehushta?
The Bible authors made a point to repeatedly include Nehushta when mentioning Jehoiachin, his wicked reign as king, and this captivity. We can assume that the two were in evil harmony together.
Read About Nehushta in the Bible
Belshazzar’s Mother, Wife of King Nebuchadnezzar
Who Was Belshazzar’s Mother?
King Belshazzar held a great feast for a thousand of her lords. In order to impress his guests, he decided to serve the wine in gold and silver goblets his father had taken out of Jerusalem’s temple. They were having a wild time drinking and praising the gods of gold, silver, iron, wood, and stone, but then something strange happened.
The fingers of a human hand appeared and began writing on the wall of the king’s palace. King Belshazzar was terrified. He called in all the wise men of Babylon and promised a great reward to whoever could read and interpret the writing on the wall. Unfortunately, none of them had a clue what it meant. The king was even more alarmed.
Then the queen mother came into the banquet hall and told him who to call.
“There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy gods. In the days of your father, light and understanding and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods were found in him, and King Nebuchadnezzar, your father—your father the king—made him chief of the magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans, and astrologers, because an excellent spirit, knowledge, and understanding to interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve problems were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation.” (Daniel 5:11-12)
What Kind of Queen Was She?
Though others had forgotten Daniel, this Babylonian queen had not. She knew that he had something the magicians and astrologers lacked. She may not have understood Daniel nor known much about his God, but she knew he was the one to call in time of trouble.
Read About Belshazzar’s Mother in the Bible
How many of these Bible queens were you familiar with?
What other Bible queens can you name?
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