Bible Females - Types

TYPES, TITLES AND WORDS FOR WOMEN -

MENTIONED IN SCRIPTURE

ADULTERESS :

1) Physical

2) Spiritual (James)

BEAUTIFUL : - versus spiritual woman

Spirituality, and a lack of beauty, are not necessarily synonymous

BETROTHED :

A woman who was married under old testament law, but whose marriage was not consummated yet, some believing a one year period needing to first be fulfilled.

BODY OF CHRIST :

female comparisons between women and the Body of Christ, the ecclesia (translated from Greek as church in English)

Psalm 45

Galatians 4 (as Sarah)

Eph 5:24

2 Cor 11:2

Mark 12:41 & Luke 21:2 - widows mite

Woman who found the coin

BRIDE OF CHRIST : - spiritual

BRIDE : - physical

BUSYBODY :

CONCUBINE :

in the Bible denotes a female conjugally united to a man, but in a relation inferior to that of a wife

Among the early Jews, from various causes, the difference between a wife and a concubine was less marked than it would be amongst us. The concubine was a wife of secondary rank. There are various laws recorded providing for their protection (Ex. 21:7; Deut. 21:10-14), and setting limits to the relation they sustained to the household to which they belonged (Gen. 21:14;25:6). They had no authority in the family, nor could they share in the household government.

The immediate cause of concubinage might be gathered from the conjugal histories of Abraham and Jacob (Gen. 16). But in process of time, the custom of concubinage degenerated, and laws were made to restrain and regulate it (Ex. 21:7-9).

Christianity has restored the sacred institution of marriage to its original character, and concubinage is ranked with the sins of fornication and adultery (Matt. 19:5-9; 1 Cor. 7:2).

ALSO SEE:

Marriage

Prostitute

Women of the Bible

Sex, Love & Relationships

CUSHITE:

Moses married a Cushite woman (Num. 12:1). From this circumstance some have supposed that Zipporah was meant, and hence that Midian was Cush.

(Cushite is mentioned 3 times in relation to men)

DAUGHTER:

This word, besides its natural and proper sense, is used to designate:

A niece or any female descendant (Gen. 20:12; 24:48; 28:6).

Women as natives of a place, or as professing the religion of a place; as, “the daughters of Zion” (Isa. 3:16), “daughters of the Philistines” (2 Sam. 1:20).

Small towns and villages lying around a city are its “daughters,” as related to the metropolis or mother city. Tyre is in this sense called the daughter of Sidon (Isa. 23:12).

The people of Jerusalem are spoken of as “the daughters of Zion” (Isa. 37:22).

The daughters of a tree are its boughs (Gen. 49:22).

The “daughters of music” (Eccl. 12:4) are singing women.

ALSO SEE:

Woman

Women

Son of man

DEACONESS:

See: Rom. 16:1, 3, 12; Phil. 4:2, 3; 1 Tim. 3:11; 5:9, 10; Titus 2:3,4

In these passages it is evident that females were then engaged in various Christian ministrations. Pliny makes mention of them also in his letter to Trajan (A.D. 110).

ALSO SEE:

Deacon

FAIR ONE:

type of Bride of Christ, separating herself from a sinful world

""My beloved spoke, and said to me: Rise up, my love, my fair one, And come away" Song of Solomon 2:10.

GENTILE:

GOSSIP:

scandalmonger

HANDMAID:

female servant (Gen. 16:1; Ruth 3:9; Luke 1:48)

It is probable that Hagar was Sarah’s personal attendant while she was in the house of Pharaoh, and was among those maid-servants whom Abram had brought from Egypt.

HARLOT:

Syonyms: prostitute, whore, camp follower, Cyprian, bawd

Hebrew: zonah (Gen. 34:31; 38:15). In verses 21-22 the Hebrew word used in kedeshah, i.e., a woman consecrated or devoted to prostitution in connection with the abominable worship of Asherah or Astarte, the Syrian Venus. This word is also used in Deut. 23:17; Hos. 4:14. Thus Tamar sat by the wayside as a consecrated kedeshah.

It has been attempted to show that Rahab, usually called a “harlot” (Josh. 2:1; 6:17; Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25), was only an innkeeper. This interpretation, however, cannot be maintained.

Jephthah’s mother is called a “strange woman” (Judg. 11:2). This, however, merely denotes that she was of foreign extraction.

In the time of Solomon, harlots appeared openly in the streets, and he solemnly warns against association with them (Prov. 7:12; 9:14. See also Jer. 3:2; Ezek. 16:24, 25, 31). The Revised Version, following the LXX., has “and the harlots washed,” etc., instead of the rendering of the Authorized Version, “now they washed,” of 1 Kings 22:38.

To commit fornication is metaphorically used for to practice idolatry (Jer. 3:1; Ezek. 16:15; Hos. throughout); hence Jerusalem is spoken of as a harlot (Isa. 1:21).

Hebrew: nokriyah, the “strange woman” (1 Kings 11:1; Prov. 5:20; 7:5; 23:27). Those so designated were Canaanites and other Gentiles (Josh. 23:13). To the same class belonged the “foolish,” i.e., the sinful, “woman.”

In the New Testament, the Greek pornai, plural, “harlots,” occurs in Matt. 21:31,32, where they are classed with publicans; Luke 15:30; 1 Cor. 6:15,16; Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25. It is used symbolically inRev. 17:1, 5, 15-16; 19:2.

ALSO SEE:

Aholibah

Rahab

Tamar

Women

HEIFER:

metaphorical for the voluptuous females of Samaria.

(if you had not ploughed with my heifer - Samson)

Hebrew: 'Eglah, (Deut. 21:4, 6; Jer. 46:20)

Untrained to the yoke (Hos. 10:11); giving milk (Isa. 7:21); ploughing (Judg. 14:18); treading out grain (Jer. 50:11); unsubdued to the yoke an emblem of Judah (Isa. 15:5; Jer. 48:34)

Hebrew: parah (Gen. 41:2; Num. 19:2)

Bearing the yoke (Hos. 4:16); “heifers of Bashan” (Amos 4:1), metaphorical for the voluptuous females of Samaria. The ordinance of sacrifice of the “red heifer” described in Num. 19:1-10; compare Hebrews 9:13.

HOLY WOMEN OF GOD:

ISRAEL: - Spiritual

1) The divorce issues, and denials, surround God's divorces, and the differences between the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah

2) The probable Israel figure of Revelation 12

Jer 6:2

JUDAH:

Jeremiah 3:7, 8, 10 (See data-bibleref="internal:Chapter 4. Symbolic and Representative Bible Women">SYMBOLIC AND REPRESENTATIVE BIBLE WOMEN)

JEWESS:

Meaning: a woman of Hebrew birth

as Eunice, the mother of Timothy (Acts 16:1; 2 Tim. 1:5), and Drusilla (Acts 24:24), wife of Felix, and daughter of Herod Agrippa I

LEWD: - see whorish

MAIDEN: - one who retains maidenhood

MIDWIFE:

The two midwives mentioned in Ex. 1:15 were probably the superintendents of the whole class.

ALSO SEE:

birth

babe, baby

PREGNANCY: —Life Before Birth

MOTHER: -

MOTHER - OF HARLOTS:

PROPHETESS:

Meaning: prophet’s wife or female prophet

Miriam (Ex. 15:20), Deborah (Judg. 4:4), Huldah (2 Kings 22:14) and Anna (Luke 2:36) are the only others who bear the title of “prophetess,” for the word in Isa. 8:3 means only the prophet’swife.

ALSO SEE:

prophet

prophecy

women of the Bible

PROSTITUTE:

ALSO SEE:

harlot

fornication

adultery

QUEEN:

meaning (Greek & Hebrew)

No explicit mention of queens is made till we read of the “queen of Sheba.” The wives of the kings of Israel are not so designated. In Ps. 45:9, the Hebrew for “queen” is not malkah, one actually ruling like the Queen of Sheba, but shegal, which simply means the king's wife.

In 1 Kings 11:19, Pharaoh's wife is called “the queen,” but the Hebrew word so rendered (g'birah is simply a title of honor, denoting a royal lady, used sometimes for “queen-mother” (1 Kings 15:13; 2 Chron. 15:16). In Song of Songs 6:8, 9, the king's wives are styled “queens” (Hebrew: melakhoth).

In the New Testament we read of the “queen of the south”, i.e., Southern Arabia, Sheba (Matt. 12:42; Luke 11:31) and the “queen of the Ethiopians” (Acts 8:27),

The Three Types Of Queens In the Bible.

The Queens Who Were Rulers

1) The Queen of Sheba (1 Kings 10:1-13)

2) Candace, Queen Of The Ethiopians (Acts 8:26-40)

The Wives Of The Kings

1) Bathsheba (2 Samuel 12:24)

2) Jezebel (1 Kings 16:31)

3) Queen Tahpenes (1 Kings 11:19)

4) Queen Esther

5) Queen Vashti

Queen Mothers There are so many here are just a few:

1) Azubah (1 King 22:42) mother of Jehoshaphat

2) Jehoaddan (2 Chronicles 25:1)

3) Jekoliah (2 Chronicles 26:3) mother of Uzziah

4) Nehushta (2 Kings 24:8) mother of Jehoiachin

5) Zibiah (2 Chronicles 24:1) mother of Joash

also Grandmothers, eg:

1) Maakah (Grandmother) (1 King 15:13)

Candace.

Queens in the Bible

Queen of Sheba

Candace

Abihail

Azubah

Bathshua

Esther

Jecoliah

Jehoaddan

Jehoahaz

Jezebel

Michaiah

Nehushta

Vashti

Zibiah

QUEEN OF HEAVEN:

the moon, worshipped by the Assyrians as the receptive power in nature (Jer. 7:18; 44:17, 25)

Author: Matthew G. Easton.

See: Ishtar

SARAH versus HAGAR:

Galatians 4 allegory

SHULAMITE:

SPOUSE:

(Song of Songs 4:8-12; Hos. 4:13, 14)

may denote either husband or wife, but in the Scriptures it denotes only the latter

SYROPHENICIAN:

a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation” (Mark 7:26), i.e., a Gentile born in the Phoenician part of Syria (See Phenicia)

When our Lord retired into the borderland of Tyre and Sidon (Matt. 15:21), a Syro-phoenician woman came to him, and earnestly besought him, in behalf of her daughter, who was grievously afflicted with a demon. Her faith in him was severely tested by his silence (Matt. 15:23), refusal (24), and seeming reproach that it was not meet to cast the children's bread to dogs (26). But it stood the test, and her petition was graciously granted, because of the greatness of her faith (28).

UNNAMED WIVES:

like Mrs Noah

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_names_for_the_biblical_nameless

VIRGIN: - Physical virgins

1 Cor 7

Matthew 5:32 & Matthew 19:9 - note: the word "poeneia" in Greek, translated correctly in the KJV as "fornication" indicates that virginity should be kept before marriage, not that adultery is a cause for divorce.

VIRGIN: -

Mary

Spiritual,

WISE AND FOOLISH

Spiritual - Matthew 25

Also Revelation 14, that is, the word used is "human beings" in Greek, not "men", and the reference to "not defiled by women" and "they are virgins" could perhaps be argued to be not defiled by the spiritual influences of evil forces described as women, such as the spirit of Jezebel, the spirit of the Whore of Babylon, of Hagar etc. In other words it can be successfully suggested that some of the 14,000 may be women, perhaps even 50% of them. "Virgins" after all is a word normally associated with women.

VIRTUOUS WOMAN: - Proverbs 31

10 Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. Prov 31:10

29 Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. Prov 31:29

WHORE:

spiritual -

physical -

comparative - see whorish

see harlot.

WHORISH:

Secular dictionaries define the word whorish as "characteristic of a prostitute" but not necessarily a prostitute, rather like or resembling a prostitute. As far as my research goes the first known use in English was in 1535, but this is translating ancient Hebrew. With moral standards going into a free fall in society, calling a female "whorish" for fornicating many times, but without being paid for this, would be less socially acceptable than it was hundreds of years ago. But what is the biblical standard on the use of this word? The King James Version also uses the expressing "lewd women" but I have not presently researched if the same word is involved. (Ezekiel 16:30, Ezekiel 23:44, Proverbs 6:26, Jeremiah 3:3,). Indeed it could be argued Israel was behaving like a double whore in Ezek 16:30-34 as she paid others to commit spiritual whoredom, instead of receiving pay, so, is that even worse than being a whore?? A negative concept it nevertheless has a positive side in trying to prevent sex before marriage, unwanted pregnancy, abortion and venereal disease. It is only fornicators and adulterers who ever are infected with stds.

WIDOWS:

The Bible demands that widows be treated with kindness (Ex. 22:22; Deut. 14:29; 16:11, 14; 24:17, 19-21; 26:12; 27:19, etc.).

In the New Testament, the same tender regard for them is inculcated (Acts 6:1-6; 1 Tim. 5:3-16) and exhibited.

WIFE:

The ordinance of marriage was sanctioned in Paradise (Gen. 2:24; Matt. 19:4-6). Monogamy was the original law under which man lived, but polygamy early commenced (Gen. 4:19), and continued to prevail all down through Jewish history. The law of Moses regulated but did not prohibit polygamy. A man might have a plurality of wives, but a wife could have only one husband,

A wife's legal rights (Ex. 21:10) and her duties (Prov. 31:10-31; 1 Tim. 5:14) are specified. She could be divorced in special cases (Deut. 22:13-21), but could not divorce her husband. Divorce was restricted by our Lord to the single case of adultery (Matt. 19:3-9).

The duties of husbands and wives in their relations to each other are distinctly set forth in the New Testament (1 Cor. 7:2-5; Eph. 5:22-33; Col. 3:18,19; 1 Pet. 3:1-7).

WITCH:

This word occurs only in Ex. 22:18, as the rendering of mekhashshepheh, the feminine form of the word, meaning “enchantress” (Revised Version, “sorceress”), and in Deut. 18:10, as the rendering of mekhashshepheth, the masculine form of the word, meaning “enchanter.”

ALSO SEE:

enchantments

divination

seer

necromancer

witchcraft

Endor

sorcerer

magic

magicians

Chaldea

familiar spirit

WITNESSES:

of the resurrection

WOMAN:

Woman was “taken out of man” (Gen. 2:23), and therefore the man has the preeminence. “The head of the woman is the man;” but yet honor is to be shown to the wife, “as unto the weaker vessel” (1 Cor. 11:3, 8, 9; 1 Pet. 3:7).

Prophetesses

Several women are mentioned in Scripture as having been endowed with prophetic gifts, as Miriam (Ex. 15:20), Deborah (Judg. 4:4, 5), Huldah (2 Kings 22:14), Noadiah (Neh. 6:14), Anna (Luke 2:36, 37), and the daughters of Philip the evangelist (Acts 21:8, 9).

Hebrew traditions for women

Among the Hebrews it devolved upon women to prepare the meals for the household (Gen. 18:6; 2 Sam. 13:8), to attend to the work of spinning (Ex. 35:26; Prov. 31:19), and making clothes (1 Sam. 2:19; Prov. 31:21), to bring water from the well (Gen. 24:15; 1 Sam. 9:11), and to care for the flocks (Gen. 29:6; Ex. 2:16).

The word “woman,” as used in Matt. 15:28, John 2:4 and 20:13, 15, implies tenderness and courtesy and not disrespect. Only where revelation is known has woman her due place of honor assigned to her.