WIVES

The words “wife” or “wives” appears in the Bible close to 400 times. Among the most evil wives are Potiphar’s wife, who tried to tempt Joseph; Lot’s wife, who looked back on the iniquity of Sodom and was turned to a pillar of salt; Ahab’s wife, Jezebel, who brought her pagan worship into Samaria; and Herod’s wife, Herodias, who brought about the beheading of John the Baptist.

The men of Israel were forbidden to covet a neighbor’s wife (Exod. 20:17). In the New Testament a man was told to have his own wife (I Cor. 7:2).

The wife was bound by the law as long as her husband lived, but if he died she was at liberty to be married again (I Cor. 7:39). One of the most important chapters regarding wives appears in I Corinthians 7.

In I Timothy 3:11 we learn that wives must be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. In I Peter 3:1-6 we also have some rules of behavior for wives. The relationship of husbands and wives is discussed in Ephesians 5:21-33.

In Psalm 128:3 we are told a wife “shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house.”

CAIN’S WIFE

Cain’s wife (Gen. 4:17). “And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch.”

NOAH’S WIFE

Noah’s wife (Gen. 6:18; 7:7, 13; 8:16, 18), in the five times that she is mentioned, is merely among those present, with the sons and sons’ wives of Noah. In the first three instances, the sons come first, but in the last two the wife is listed first. There is no record of her, except that as the wife of the hero of the flood, she went with him into the ark made of gopher wood covered inside and out with pitch.

Noah’s wife became the first woman on record to make a home on a houseboat in the midst of flood waters. Like her husband, who was a just man and walked with God, probably she too had a deep consciousness of God. Her character is reflected in her family line, which continued strong for 350 years after the flood.

It is interesting to note that Noah’s wife played no part in his experience when he discovered the art of making wine and became drunk. He was found drunk by his sons. Probably his wife, had she been living, could have saved him this embarrassment, for this is the only blot on Noah’s career.

NOAH’S SONS’ WIVES

Noah’s sons’ wives (Gen. 7:7, 13; 8:18). Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, all had wives who went with Noah and his wife into the ark, where they dwelt during the flood along with their mother-in-law. These wives and their mother-in-law are the only women of whom we have any record who survived the flood. After that had subsided, the wives went with their husbands and their mother-in-law to the spot where Noah had built an altar unto the Lord. These wives are the mothers of the descendants of Noah mentioned in Genesis 10.

LOT’S WIFE

Lot’s wife (Gen. 19:26; Luke 17:32). (See Section I, “Searching Studies.”)

JUDAH’S WIFE

Judah’s wife (Gen. 38:2-5, 12), a daughter of a Canaanite, Shuah of Adullam, bore her husband three sons, Er, Onan and Shelah. Her two elder sons, Onan and Er, both of whom had been married to Tamar, were slain by divine judgment for their sins. When Tamar later heard of the death of her mother-in-law, Judah’s wife, she disguised herself and stood by the road at sheep-shearing season, and Judah went in unto her and had twins by her.

POTIPHAR’S WIFE

Potiphar’s wife (Gen. 39:7, 8, 9, 12, 19). (See Section I, “Searching Studies.”)

ETHIOPIAN WIFE OF MOSES

The Ethiopian woman (Num. 12:1) was the second wife of Moses. Because she was of a different race his sister Miriam and his brother Aaron rebelled against Moses. A few scholars regard this as referring to his first wife Zipporah, daughter of the Midian priest Jethro.

GIDEON’S WIVES

Gideon’s wives (Judg. 8:30) were many, for he sired seventy sons, it is recorded. This remarkable military leader of about 1256 B.C., who delivered Israel from Midian, was succeeded not by a son of his wives but by Abimelech, a son of his concubine from Shechem.

GILEAD’S WIFE

Gilead’s wife (Judg. 11:2) is mentioned in the narrative of Jephthah, who was not her son but the son of a harlot. She bore Gilead several sons, and when they grew up, they thrust Jephthah out and told him that he could not inherit in their father’s house because he was born of a “strange woman.”

MANOAH’S WIFE

Manoah’s wife (Judg. 13:2, n, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23) was Samson’s mother. She bore no name of her own in the record but is introduced as the wife of a certain Manoah of Zorah, of the family of Danites, and seems to have been a stronger character than her husband. The remarkable thing about her life is that she was told not to drink wine or any strong drink or to eat any unclean thing, for her child would be dedicated to the sacred calling of a Nazarite.

When the angel appeared before her, she was reverent and silent and obedient to the voice and filled with faith, but her husband became fearful and pessimistic, saying, “We shall surely die, because we have seen God” (Judg. 13:22). But Manoah’s wife remained unshaken in her faith. Together, however, they offered up a burnt sacrifice to God in grateful praise. She taught her son that no intoxicating drink should enter his lips and no razor should touch his head, for his long-grown locks would speak outwardly of his sacred vow to God.

Manoah’s wife is typical of the wife who has a simple, trusting confidence in God and of the mother who is willing to consecrate herself to all that is good. We can be sure she lived closely to God, for the angel of the Lord appeared both times to her, and each time she made haste and told her husband.

Manoah’s wife appears twice in the narrative after Samson is grown. First she and Manoah are protesting because their son has chosen for his wife a woman in Timnath, of the daughter of the Philistines, out of whose hands, it had been foretold before his birth, he would begin to deliver the Israelites. But Samson informed his mother and father that this Philistine woman “pleaseth me well” (Judg. 14:3). But they knew their son’s marriage was not of the Lord.

Manoah’s wife last appears on her way to Timnath to see her son married to the woman to whom she had objected (Judg. 14:5). The marriage turned out badly, as Manoah and his wife had predicted.

Though Samson was weak where women were concerned, he became one of the most eminent of the Hebrew “Judges.” Can we not believe that it was to his mother’s love and prayers, her dedication of her son to God even before his birth, that he owed his true greatness?

Was it not the godliness he had inherited from his mother that triumphed in the end? For even at the eleventh hour, when he tore the pillars from their position and brought down the roof upon his foes, the Philistines, did he not atone for all his wasted years? Despite his weakness in character, the New Testament named him one of those Hebrew heroes whose animating principle was faith, a faith such as his godly mother had possessed before her child was born (Heb. 11:32).

SAMSON’S WIFE

Samson’s wife (Judg. 14:15, 16, 20; 15:1, 6) tried to entice her husband by weeping and in reality opened doors that ultimately led to his ruin. Samson met her at Timnath, several miles from Zorah, his birthplace, and came back and told his parents, “Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well” (Judg. 14:3). In these ancient times parents usually negotiated the marriage alliances of their sons. But Samson’s parents, a godly pair, felt that the marriage of their son, an Israelite, with a Philistine was not of the Lord. Their son, a “Nazarite from the womb,” was set apart from other men for a religious mission.

On his way to visit this Philistine girl at Timnath, Samson met a lion which he slew without a weapon. (This part of the story, as well as some other parts, belongs to what many scholars regard as folk tale.) About a year later Samson went down again, for the seven-day feast which preceded the actual marriage ceremony, and he saw that honeybees had gathered in the carcass of the animal he had slain. As riddles were popular entertainment at such marriage feasts, he made up one based on one of his own recent experiences, saying, “Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness” (Judg. 14:14).

After the guests had sought the answer and failed, they threatened to burn Samson’s wife if she would not obtain an answer. With tears, she tried to entice her husband; on the seventh day of the feast he told her the answer. She immediately revealed it to her banqueting Philistine friends.

Just before the sun went down, when the seven days of betrothal would have ended in a formal marriage ceremony, the Philistines revealed to Samson the answer to his riddle. He was so angered that he went out and slew thirty men and took their coats and gave them to the friends of his wife who had expounded the riddle. Then he returned to his father’s house.

To avoid embarrassment, Samson’s parents-in-law gave their daughter to Samson’s best man. But later Samson decided to return to his father-in-law’s house to be with his wife; and he took along with him a kid, the usual gift. From his father-in-law, Samson learned that because of his angry withdrawal at the betrothal ceremonies, his betrothed wife had been given to another. Her younger sister was now offered to him instead.

Samson was so incensed that he caught 300 foxes, divided them into pairs, and tied the tails of each pair together with slow-burning firebrands. Then he turned the foxes loose in cornfields of the Philistines, who were so angered that they went to the house of Samson’s wife and burned her and her father to death.

Infuriated, Samson entered upon an even greater slaughter of the Philistines.

Though Samson’s wife’s story has some crude and confusing angles, it furnishes an excellent example of what happens to a man when he chooses a wife from a godless people. This Philistine wife’s unprincipled conduct was what actually started the young Samson on the path to disaster.

EPHRAIM LEVITT’S CONCUBINE

The Ephraim Levite’s concubine (Judg. 19, 20) was the secondary wife of a priest living near Mount Ephraim, but her position was sanctioned according to the customs of the time. Some trouble arose between the concubine and her husband and she went home to her father’s house in Beth-lehem and remained there four months. At length her husband came to Beth-lehem for her, and after being hospitably received, he departed with his concubine.

At nightfall they reached Gibeah, a town in the territory belonging to the tribe of Benjamin. There they were invited to lodge for the night at the house of an old man whom they met coming in from the fields. During the night a terrible crime was commited by “certain sons of Belial” (Judg. 19:22) against the Levite’s concubine.

In order to spread the news of the outrage far and wide through-out Israel, the Levite took the dead body of his concubine and cut it in twelve pieces and sent them to all the tribes. Everyone that heard of the crime said, “There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day” (Judg. 19:30).

A fierce and bloody war was waged against the tribe of Benjamin to avenge the outrage against the Ephraim Levite’s concubine.

FOUR HUNDRED YOUNG WIVES

Four hundred young virgins from Jabesh-Gilead (Judg. 21:12-23) were brought into the camp at Shiloh and given as wives to the defeated Benjamites. This incident followed the war started over the Ephraim Levite’s concubine, who had been ill-treated by the wicked Sons of Benjamin, who had no wives.

Grieved that the tribe of Benjamites was now nearly destroyed, the Israelites received them into their favor and found them wives from among their own daughters. After the Benjamites received the four hundred young virgins as wives, they went and repaired their cities and dwelt in them.

Here is a striking example of how good wives can be the civilizers of men, thus influencing them away from evil into that which is good.

DAVID’S TEN CONCUBINES

David’s ten concubines (II Sam. 15:16; 16:22; 20:3) were left in charge of his household in Jerusalem when he and his servants fled from the city. Absalom, the son of King David, had rebelled against his father and induced a great portion of the Israelites to flock to his standard.

The new master of Jerusalem was Absalom. Ahithophel, David’s counselor, whose wisdom was highly rated, but who was disloyal to him during the revolt of his son Absalom, said unto Absalom,

“Go in unto they father’s concubines, which he hath left to keep the house; and all Israel shall hear that thou art abhorred of thy father: then shall the hands of all that are with thee be strong.

“So they spread Absalom a tent upon the top of the house; and Absalom went in unto his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel” (II Sam. 16:21,22).

Absalom was ultimately slain by Joab and his followers were dispersed. When David returned to Jerusalem, he placed the concubines in custody, supplied them with food, but went not in unto them. “So they were shut up unto the day of their death, living in widow-hood” (II Sam. 20:3).

SOLOMON’S WIVES

Solomon’s wives (I Kings 3:1; 7:8; 11:1-8) numbered 700. Solomon also had 300 concubines. His first wife was the daughter of Pharaoh, whom he married during the early part of his reign. At this time her country of Egypt was the wealthiest and most powerful in the world.

Solomon’s marriage with the princess from such a country doubtless was a great event and probably took place after he had been crowned. Through this marriage with Pharaoh’s daughter, Solomon won the Canaanitish city of Gezer, about midway between Jerusalem and Joppa.

For Pharaoh’s daughter Solomon built a house in his palace court, immediately behind his magnificent royal palace. Like the latter, it was fashioned of costly dressed stones, and the foundation also was of huge costly stones. The large court around it was of hewed stones and a row of cedar beams (I Kings 7:8-12).

After this Solomon loved many foreign wives, Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite, all from nations with which he probably had entered into political alliances. In his marriages with many women, Solomon broke the Deuteronomic Code (Deut. 17:17).

His many foreign wives were his undoing. In his later years, they turned his heart away to other gods. He began to worship Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the “Abomination of the Ammonites.” Blessed with great material possessions, Solomon had felt rich enough to patronize these gods of his foreign wives.

Doubtless all Solomon’s wives lived in great luxury, for Solomon had 40,000 stalls of horses, countless chariots, an endless array of servants and cupbearers, and a rich cuisine; his drinking vessels were of gold. His splendor eclipsed that of all other potentates of the earth. His wives evidently were women who placed high value on his riches. There is no record of any one of them turning to the God of his father David.

TAHPENES’ SISTER, HADAD’S WIFE

The sister of Tahpenes (I Kings 11:19, 20) was the wife of Hadad, son of the king of Edom. Tahpenes was queen consort of Pharaoh of Egypt and a contemporary of Solomon, king of Israel. Scripture tells us that when David and Joab were at Edom, every male Edomite was slain except a youth named Hadad and some of his father’s servants. The young Hadad fled to Egypt, where he was favorably received by Pharaoh, who gave him the sister of his wife in marriage. She gave birth to Genubath, who was brought up by Tahpenes among Pharaoh’s children. It might be inferred that this sister died in childbirth.

JEROBOAM’S WIFE

Jeroboam’s wife (I Kings 14:2, 4, 5, 6, 17) was the queen who went to the prophet Ahijah to inquire whether her sick son would recover. Her husband, Jeroboam, first king of the northern kingdom of Israel, was an apostate who had led his people away from the faith and worship of their fathers. He had calf shrines built for heathen worship, but when his son became ill, he longed for help in his son’s healing.

Guilty because of his treatment of the priests of the Lord, Jeroboam told his wife to disguise herself in the dress of an ordinary woman when she went to see the prophet. Jeroboam also directed his wife to take the sort of gifts that an ordinary woman might offer, such as ten loaves and cracknels (crisp biscuits and pork crisply fried) and a cruse of honey, for it was customary to take a gift, however small, when advice or God’s word was sought from a prophet.

The queen did disguise herself, as her husband had advised, and went to Shiloh, but when she arrived there, the aged and blind prophet, forewarned by the Lord of her coming, said, “Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam; why feignest thou thyself to be another? for I am sent to thee with heavy tidings” (I Kings 14:6). He then proceeded to tell her to go back and tell her husband that, because he had made other gods and molten images, he had provoked God, and his house would be visited with evil.

The prophet further prophesied to Jeroboam’s wife that when she returned home her child would die, but all Israel would mourn him. Her child would be the only one of the house, however, to be laid in a grave, because there was some good “toward the Lord” in him. Others of the house of Jeroboam would be eaten by dogs or by fowls of the air. Jeroboam’s wife arose and departed and when she came to her threshold her child died, and they buried him, and all Israel mourned.

NAAMAN’S WIFE

Naaman’s wife (II Kings 5:2) had waiting on her a little Israelite maid, who had been captured in a border skirmish. Though Naaman was the successful commander-in-chief of Ben-hadad and had received many military honors and known much good fortune, he was now afflicted with leprosy. Through the maid’s sympathetic interest in Naaman’s condition he learned of Elisha’s healing power. She probably told Naaman’s wife, who carried the information to her husband, after which he went to Elisha, and was healed, and accepted the God of Israel as the “only God in all the earth.”

Though Naaman’s wife is the background figure in the incident, at least she became a channel for God’s healing, because she had the faith to listen to a little maid in her household, insignificant though she was.

MACHIR’S WIFE

Machir’s wife (I Chron. 7:15) was in the line of Zelophehad, who had the five distinguished daughters who declared their property rights.

ARTAXERXES’ QUEEN

The queen who sat beside Artaxerxes (Neh. 2:6) is only briefly mentioned when Nehemiah came before the king to ask for the commission to build again the wall of Jerusalem.

JOB’S WIFE

Job’s wife (Job 2:9; 19:17; 31:10) has been called everything from the “adjutant of the devil” (St. Augustine) to the “faithful attendant upon her husband’s misery” (William Blake). She is introduced after Job, one of the richest and greatest men of his time, has been bereft of his cattle, flocks, camels, and all his children. Moreover, he is suffering from a loathsome disease, probably leprosy.

As he sat on an ashheap outside the city walls, Job still did not blame God. His wife, probably not so faithful and certainly not so patient, cried out, “Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God, and die” (Job 2:9). No doubt Job’s wife regarded a quick death as better than long-drawn-out suffering. In those days sudden death was supposed to result from cursing God.

In this statement we see Job’s wife as an ordinary, normal woman. Though a dutiful wife, she probably failed to suffer with her husband in his hour of agony and consequently failed to share with him the marvelous victory of trusting God in spite of not understanding Him.

There is another side, however, to Job’s wife. She had endured her husband’s affliction, even the loss of all their children and all their material possessions, and had survived these trials. Like her husband, she was bewildered amid so much calamity. Such a piece of advice as she gave him in his affliction could have been inspired by sympathy and love. Probably she would rather have seen him die than endure such great suffering.

In the next scene where she is depicted, we find her turning from her husband (Job 19:17), because his breath is so offensive on account of the disease from which he suffered.

Though Job’s wife is not mentioned in the closing chapters, we learn in 42:14 that three daughters, Jemima, Kezia, and Keren-happuch, as well as sons, were later born to him. Probably Job’s wife arose to new joy, just as he did, and regretted her own lack of faith when she had advised him to “curse God, and die.”

ISAIAH’S WIFE

Isaiah’s wife (Isa. 8:3). In the entire period of political decline which preceded the fall of Samaria in 722 B.C. and of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. only two prophetesses appear in the record: Huldah, and Isaiah’s wife, whom he speaks of as a prophetess. In the case of Isaiah’s wife, she was probably called a prophetess because she was the wife of a prophet, rather than one who prophesied herself.

Isaiah tells that he went unto her and she conceived. Their son was Maher-shalal-hash-baz, meaning “Hasten the spoil, rush on the prey.” In Isaiah 7:3 another son of Isaiah is mentioned. He is Shear-jashub, and his name means “A remnant returns.” The names stand for two of Isaiah’s prophecies concerning Jerusalem.

WIVES WHO BURNED INCENSE TO GODS

Wives who burned incense to other gods (Jer. 44:15) were Hebrew women who had left Judah and had fled to Pathros, a province of the land of Egypt. They were rebuked by Jeremiah for their idolatrous worship. He forewarned them of the dreadful evils that would befall them if they persisted in their false worship.

These women presumptuously declared it was their intention to continue in the same course, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, as their fathers had done before them. They saw no evil in such a practice (Jer. 44:19).

EZEKIEL’S WIFE

Ezekiel’s wife (Ezek. 24:16, 17, 18) is referred to as the desire of his eyes. The wife of this prophet-priest of the sixth century B.C. was taken quite suddenly with a stroke. Ezekiel was warned that this would happen but was forbidden to perform the customary mourning rites.

He restrained his tears and went forth to preach, probably the morning after he had been told that he would lose his wife. In the evening she died. But that morning he spoke to his people on the coming destruction of Jerusalem, when they also would lose loved ones, but he told them that they too must abstain from any outward signs of mourning. Ezekiel’s own great grief, only a few hours away, enabled him to speak with greater conviction to those who looked to him for spiritual guidance.

Doubtless Ezekiel’s wife was a godly woman who had helped him serve his small, remote congregation. Their home was a little mud-brick house in a colony of exiles at Tel-abib on the Chebar, an important canal in the Euphrates irrigation system (Ezek. 3:15).

PETER’S WIFE

Peter’s wife (Matt. 8:14; Mark 1:30; Luke 4:38; I Cor. 9:5) no doubt witnessed her mother’s healing. Since Jesus probably used Peter’s home as headquarters when in Capernaum his wife must have seen Jesus often. She is referred to as Simon’s or Cephas’ wife. She traveled with him as did the wives of other apostles.

WIFE WHO WAS TO BE SOLD FOR DEBT

The wife who was to be sold for debt (Matt. 18:25) appears in Jesus’ parable of the unforgiving servant and illustrates the principle of the Lord’s Prayer, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”

Here Jesus is comparing our heavenly Father to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. One was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents (approximately ten million dollars). When the servant could not pay, the king ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had. The servant begged the king to have patience with him, and the king, moved with compassion, loosed his servant and let him go.

But the servant went forth and cast into prison a fellow servant who owed him a very small debt. Then the king called back the servant he had forgiven of his large debt and asked why he had not showed the same compassion to his fellow servant that had been shown to him. The man was then jailed until he should pay all that he owed.

Jesus, concluding the parable, said, “So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses” (Matt. 18:35).

The Old Testament tells of selling people into slavery to pay a debt (Amos 2:6; 8:6; Neh. 5:4, 5), but this is the only reference of a woman’s being sold, along with her children, to pay a debt.

PILATE’S WIFE

Pilate’s Wife (Matt. 27:19). (See Section I, “Searching Studies.”)

THE UNBELIEVING WIFE

The unbelieving wife (I Cor. 7:14), says Paul to the Corinthians, is sanctified by her husband. Though he is a Christian and she is not, his belief sanctifies the union. Paul goes on to say that the faith of one Christian parent gives to the children a near relationship to the Church, just as if both parents were Christians. The children are regarded not as aliens to the Christian faith but as sharers in it. Paul presumed that the believing parent will rear the child in the Christian principles.

He makes the same point in regard to husbands, saying that “The unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife.”