I always like to learn by studying the charcaters of various people mentioned in the Bible.

Today, I would like to share my learnings from a few women in the Bible and how they contribted to the fate of a family, a kingdom or a nation.

Power of a woman in the family

A woman who was created by the hands of God, to be a helper/ companion of man in Genesis 2: 18, was given same blessings and power as that of man. Is that true? No, she, indeed was given more power when God said “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh (v24)” Oh! Then she gets it, she gets the power to hold/ control a man, she becomes the reason for him to leave his mother and father. This is a great power, which she has all freedom to use/ misuse.

See what Eve did with this, she made her husband fall into sin, he just couldn’t deny his wife to have that fruit. She asked him and he just had it. It is written “she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate”(Genesis 3: 6) That’s it, there is absolutely no mention of any argument that Adam made before he decided to eat it. “She gave and he ate”. This is the power of a woman that I am talking about.

But there is a mention of argument between Satan and Eve. God has given her wisdom to think what’s correct and what’s wrong for her family and then choose, she did think about it and argued with Satan but fell prey and chose to do evil. But Adam simply believed in his helper/ companion that God had given him or rather he loved her so much there is no question at all or he trusts her so much that there is absolutely no need for any argument, no need for him to raise one single question “she gave and he ate”. This is the power of a woman, she can choose good/ evil to bless/ destroy her family. Eve chose evil and brought so many curses for her family and generations, she could have chosen good and brought blessings for her family and generations.

A woman, therefore, needs to be very very careful with this power. God has given her power as well as freedom to use/ misuse that power. She must always think in prayer, about the man and the family that is given to her, about the generations that are to come from her. Is this step, going to get blessings/ curses for her family? Is this, what she has decided to do, is good/ evil? This is because she has the power.

Let’s read about another woman in the Bible, who brought destruction for an entire kingdom, Athaliah.

Jehoram (king of Judah) married Athaliah, daughter of Ahab (the king of Israel) and it is written in 2 Chronicles 21:6 “And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife. And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.”

We can see the misuse of the power that this woman is doing here.

Athaliah brought curses for her husband, his people, sons and his possessions. She and her decision to choose evil brought great destruction for her husband and future generations. God cursed her husband (v14) saying there will be great plague on your people, your children, your wives and all your possessions and you will suffer with a severe disease of bowels and the same happened with him and his people.

Lord stirred up (v 16-17) the anger of Philistines and Arabians and they invaded Judah and carried away all the possessions of the king, his sons and his wives. He died and his people made no fire in his honour (v19), he was buried in the city of David but not in the tombs of the kings (v20).

After Jehoram, his son Ahaizah became the king and 2 Chronicles 22: 3 says “He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother was his counsellor in doing wickedly”. This brought destruction for him as well. Ultimately we read in v10 how Athaliah, after seeing her son dead, destroyed all the royal families of the house of Judah so that she could reign over the land.

God, also, describes, in Proverbs chapter 31, the chracteristics of a woman or specifically a wife:

"An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels.

The heart of her husband trusts in her, And he will have no lack of gain.

She does him good and not evil, All the days of her life....."