5 Women Who Outsmarted Men in the Bible

Let’s be honest. The Bible has a whole bunch of weird stories in it. And, on the surface, it doesn’t seem to be very pro-woman, but when you really pay attention there are lots of stories about powerful and exceptional women like Hagar, Deborah, Priscilla, Mary, and Junia. But this isn’t about any of them.

This is about women who outsmarted the men in their lives and changed history forever. These women had the courage, fortitude, and wisdom to act justly and shrewdly even when they were offending and trapping very powerful men in their lives.

 

Tamar Outsmarts Judah

“Judah recognized them immediately and said, “She is more righteous than I am…”

The Background: There’s a bunch of family drama about husbands and sons dying, but the important part is that Judah lied to Tamar about giving her a husband. So Tamar hatches a plan: She decides if Judah won’t provide the husband he promised, then she would just go ahead and trick him into giving her an heir. That’s right, Tamar tricked her father-in-law into having sex with her by pretending to be a prostitute.

The Trick: That wasn’t Tamar’s big trick, though. She knew that she could be killed for having sex with a man she wasn’t married to, so she kept Judah’s personal seal as insurance. When it was revealed that she was pregnant several months later, Judah was livid and wanted to kill her (because he didn’t recognize her when he got know her “Biblically”). When they threaten to burn her she revealed Judah’s seal

The Hebrew Midwives Play Into Pharaoh’s Ignorance
Exodus 1

Jael Fools & Assassinates Sisera
Judges 5

Bathsheba Outmaneuvers Adonijah
1 Kings 2

Pilate’s Wife Tries to Convince Pilate to Let Jesus Go
Matthew 27:19