According to one author who wrote on all the women in the Bible, the named and unnamed women in Scripture are over 1,700 in number. The insights into the individual lives and influences of these biblical women reveal to us how absolutely remarkable some of them were in their love, faithfulness, obedience, courage and innocence. Others are truly bad women -- utterly heinous, ruthless, scandalous, vicious and treacherous in their behavior and their relationship with others.

Every woman in the Bible had her own unique set of problems, struggles and challenges. It is how they chose to confront them that makes all the difference in their influence on us. For those who followed God, their complete dependence on him was at the root of their victories! For those who did not, they ultimately met with grief, horror and loss.

We, too, as women can learn from their examples. We can learn that we need to establish a spiritual context to go through life's situations in order to be filled with the knowledge of God's will. We can also learn that disobedience and disdain for God leads to our failure and destruction.

Below are listed just a few of the biblical women and the influence they continue to have in our lives for good or evil.

Eve -- The woman who lost her paradise home through the cruelest deception possible (Genesis 3).

Noah's wife -- The woman who watched the whole world ignore the warnings from God of their impending destruction (Genesis 6 & 7).

Sarah -- The woman who had to wait for years to see a promise God had made fulfilled (Genesis 21).

Keturah -- The woman who bore Abraham six sons (Genesis 25).

Dinah -- The woman whose sightseeing had fatal results (Genesis 34).

Cozbi -- The woman whose attempt to corrupt Israel failed (Numbers 25).

Rahab -- The woman who changed her allegiance and bargained for the lives of herself and her entire family as they faced disaster (Joshua 2).

Jael -- The woman who killed a man while he slept (Judges 4).

Ruth -- The woman who left her family and homeland for a future in another country that was completely unknown to her (Ruth 1).

Woman of Abel -- The woman who saved a city from a traitor (2 Samuel 20).

Abigail -- The woman who had beauty and brains (2 Samuel 25).

Esther -- The woman who saved an entire nation from genocide (Esther 7).

Gomer -- The woman infamous for her harlotry (Hosea 1-3).

Herodias -- The woman who took revenge on John the Baptist by asking for his head on a platter (Matthew 14).

Pilate's wife -- The woman who suffered many things in a dream because of Christ (Matthew 27).

The Syro-Phoenician woman -- The woman who appealed to Christ (Mark 7).

Mary Magdalene -- The woman to whom Jesus first appeared after his resurrection (Mark 16).

Elizabeth -- The woman well advanced in years who became the mother of John the Baptist (Luke 1).

Mary -- The woman highly favored by God and chosen to be the mother of his son (Luke 1).

Anna -- The woman who did not leave the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day (Luke 3).

Joanna -- The woman who provided for Jesus from her substance (Luke 8).

Martha -- The woman Christ told she was worried and troubled about many things (Luke 10).

Dorcas -- The woman who was full of good works and charitable deeds (Acts 9).

Lydia -- The woman who was a seller of purple whose heart the Lord opened to heed the things spoken by Paul (Acts 16).

Priscilla -- The woman whose work in the church was noted (Acts 18).

God intended for women of all ages to read and learn from the lives of these women and all other women in Scripture. These examples can strengthen our character and resolve in the choices that we make. "For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope" (Romans 15:4).