By Daisy Torres
The oceans part. The Earth (or whatever your fictional world is) quakes.
The people stare in awe as your head-strong, snarky Female Protagonist walks through the sea, draped in an ethereal, bubbling dress of water.
She’s here. She’s sarcastic. She’s gorgeous. She can throw a mean punch at anyone who dares disrespect her. She’s a strong female character.
People are catching on now. Mean ‘pseudo-strong’ characters aren’t what we actually want when we think, “I want to write a strong female character!”
We get that characters don’t need to be mean to be strong, females don’t need to act like a man to change their situation, and your protagonist can paint her nails and still know how to change a tire.
So this won’t be another post talking about how you need to make sure you make your female characters have a vulnerable, soft, dorky, or even humorous side.
This post is delving into the best book of all, written by the Ultimate Author: The Bible. I mean, when you think about it, what better source to look for writing advice at than the very book inspired by God Himself?
Character Study One:
Hadassah
First off, let me just say I am a HUGE fan of Hadassah/Esther.
She was one of the bravest women in the Bible, was raised an orphan, became the Queen of one of the most powerful nations, was the most beautiful maiden in the land, and won the King’s heart! Who wouldn’t love her?
Well, I guess Haaman didn’t care for her much, but that’s besides the point.
Hadassah/Esther knew one thing: She had to step out of her comfort zone to save her people. And she needed help.
Esther is such a strong woman of God, and yet she couldn’t pull off what she needed to do alone. She had to ask her uncle Mordecai to have the entire Hebrew people fast and pray before she could face the king--her husband!--and ask for help.
And even then, she still couldn’t do it.
We had to watch her not once, but twice as she went before her husband to accuse his closest servant of trying to persecute her and her family--all while hiding the fact that she herself was a Jew.
Esther had troubles. She was afraid. She didn’t have the nerve to go through with her plan--even though she had already risked being killed by the king if he didn’t accept her in his courts--to save her family.
But she’s one of the first women we think of when someone asks us to name a strong woman in the Bible.
What does this teach us?
Character Study Two:
Deborah
Deborah was a Prophetess who was one of the Judges of Israel--a position normally taken by men--and helped keep Israel under the law of God.
Now tell me that already isn’t a feat?
To top it off, she was responsible for guiding an army to defeat Sisera and prophesying from the start that Sisera himself would be delivered into the hand of a woman, not Barak, who was a General of Israel.
Sisera was no easy foe to defeat.
The Bible says he had 900 chariots of iron in his possession. That’s not even counting his actual men. And yet God used Jael Heber’s wife--thus fulfilling Deborah’s Prophecy--to kill him and save Israel.
What does this teach us?
Character Study Number Three:
Ruth
Ruth is the second woman in the Bible to have a book named after her--the other being Esther. And you know what? She totally deserved it!
Ruth was a Moabite whose husband died. However, instead of leaving her Hebrew Mother-in-law to fend for herself on her journey back to Israel, she went with her. She didn’t have to, and in fact, her mother-in-law protested this action.
That act of love and loyalty was absolutely beautiful, and in the end, it was that love and loyalty that won the heart of Boaz.
When Ruth left Moab, she also left behind the gods of her family. This is shown when she tells her mother-in-law that she will worship Who she worships. That’s how great her devotion was. And she was rewarded by becoming the great-grandmother of King David! And, eventually, Jesus, her very Saviour.
What does this teach us?
Character Study Four:
Hannah
Hannah was the mother of the prophet Samuel.
She couldn’t have children, which she wanted dearly. Imagine the pressure she felt from the other women--specifically her husband’s other wife, who had two sons and constantly put Hannah down--in her town who had children and picked on her for not doing the same.
Even though her husband assured her that he still loved her even without children, she was still desperate.
So she prayed.
She humbled herself before God and silently pleaded with HIm to bless her with a child. The priest thought she was drunk for her pleading and silent tears, but of course, she was not. When the priest--named Eli--realized this, he told her God had heard her prayers. Hannah’s prayers were heard by God and she was given a son.
She promised God that the moment her son Samuel was weaned, she would give him back to God by letting him serve Eli in the temple.
What does this teach us?
Character Study Five:
Sarah
Like Hannah, Sarah could not have children. She was old and barren. When Jesus Himself--amidst two Angels--came to Abraham and Sarah, she laughed.
This was known as her weakness.
But her strength is mentioned in Hebrews 11, which is also known as The Faith Chapter.
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
For by it the elders obtained a good testimony..."
Hebrews 11: 1
She still had faith, even if she did laugh at first. This faith went on to make her the Mother of Israel.
What does this teach us?
Character Study Six:
Jochebed
I’m just going to pause for a moment and applaud this amazing Mama.
*moment of applause*
This amazing mother saved baby Moses’ life by hiding him from the Egyptian guards.
She then made a basket waterproof enough to hold an infant and sent him on his way down the Nile. After the Egyptian Princess found him, Moses’ sister (another strong character, but that’s a tale for another day) got their mother to act as a nurse for Moses until he was old enough to be weaned.
During that time, I can easily imagine Jochebed telling her baby stories of his family, of his people, in hopes that someday he would remember. That maybe someday, he would come back to her.
What does this teach us?
The Bible tells of so many more powerful women, but this article would be way too long, so I’m afraid I’m cutting it off here.
I hope you enjoyed this list of powerful Biblical women, and maybe even found some ideas to strengthen your own characters!
Who is another example of a powerful woman in the Bible? Are there any others you really love reading about? Let me know in the comments!
With love,
Daisy <3
Become an Unstoppable Writer!
Awesome! I enjoyed this article, and I’ll probably use it when developing my own female characters.
I’m so glad to hear that, Keilah!! Thanks <3
You’re welcome!
The concept of strength in silence was really intriguing to me. Most of my heroines need to speak up more than stay silent, but I hadn’t thought of that idea in that light before.
Haha honestly same, but as I was researching this article, that stood out to me and I couldn’t help but add it XD Thanks for reading <3
Great article! A few other women that come to mind are Jael, who fought for the Lord, Priscilla, who faithfully served Christ by her husband’s side, Sheerah, who built three cities, and Mary Magdalene, who found the courage to bow before Jesus. Thanks for the reminder; you gave me an idea for a new character! 🙂
It’s so cool seeing all these people listed out like this with their strengths highlighted so I can easily see how I can apply them to my characters. It really shows how there is so much more to strength than meets the eye!
This was an amazing article!
I also really like Judith from the Book of Judith, I think it took a lot of courage to do what she did.
thanks daisy for the article!
Wow, this was not the cliche article about emulating Biblical characters I was expecting!
I especially love Ruth’s story. Being me, I might have bucked Naomi at the sheer idea of going to inform a rich guy ten or twenty years older that he’s supposed to marry me. No siree, I’d rather stay single. But she went and obeyed, and I’m glad she did!
One of my favorite concepts is “strength in weakness.” Not only do I, like almost every author, like to see things turned on their traditional heads, but I also relate most to weakness. Sure, there are times when stories of daring and raw determination appeal to me, but characters who aren’t strong and yet somehow accomplish great things give *me* the courage to look up and do things that don’t come naturally. They’re so much more inspiring to me than the heroines most modern authors like to conjure up.
I’ve tried to write “strong” female characters, and all I’ve come up with is girls who have swords. Yet they never seemed quite right. This will really help me with my character development. Thanks so much 🙂