Villains of the Bible

From Cain, who killed his own brother (Genesis 4:8), to the armies of Gog and Magog, which attack “the beloved city” (Revelation 20:7-9) at the end of the Millennium, Scripture is filled with the stories of wicked men and women. Why?

Is it worth our time to study the villains of the Bible? What can we learn from them?

Space devoted to the villains of the Bible

Several extended passages in Scripture spend as much time describing the villains as they do portraying the godly people they oppress. Egypt’s Pharaoh, for example, is mentioned more than 100 times in the first 15 chapters of Exodus.

Only Moses has more coverage within the same passage, being named slightly more often. Aaron, however, is named just half as often as Pharaoh.

In the case of Cain and Abel, the biblical account in Genesis mentions the villain, Cain, more than it mentions the victim, righteous Abel.

We know that “Scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Timothy 3:16). God, then, must see value in our studying the villains of the Bible.

What biblical villains tell us about ourselves

The Bible says that all of us are sinners (Romans 3:23), and therefore, all of us have broken God’s law (1 John 3:4). All of us have rebelled against God’s authority. In one sense, every one of us has been a villain at some point.

Fortunately, God has made our salvation possible. In what may be the most-cited verse in the Bible, we learn that “He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

That’s not the end of the Christian journey—it’s the beginning. When we go before God’s throne to ask for forgiveness, committing our lives to serve Him, we also commit ourselves to change. This turning away from sin and turning toward God is true repentance.

For repentance to occur, then, we must know not only what it means to turn toward God, but also what it means to turn from the path we’ve been on. Just as studying biblical heroes gives us insight into what it means to turn toward God, studying the villains of the Bible helps us see what we must leave behind.

If we look hard enough at the lives of the villains of the Bible, we’ll see reflections of our own thoughts and feelings and deeds. All the people of the Bible, good and bad, are like a mirror through which we see our own hearts.

The archvillain of the Bible

Lurking in the shadows, tempting all of us, is an archvillain. We see that archvillain from Genesis to Revelation.

He appeared in the Garden of Eden as “the serpent” (Genesis 3:1). It was the serpent who deceived Eve, convincing her to disobey God (verses 2-6).

This archvillain has been tempting and harassing humans for thousands of years. Called Satan, or “the adversary,” he was the one behind Job’s severe trials (Job 1:6-12; 2:1-7).

He even tried to lead Jesus into sin but failed (Matthew 4:1-11). And he will continue to resist God and attempt to motivate others to rebel against God, until he is restrained (Revelation 20:1-3, 7-8, 10).

Until then, this archvillain “walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). With God’s help, though, we can “resist the devil and he will flee” (James 4:7).

What makes someone a villain of the Bible?

As noted above, all of us have sinned (Romans 3:23). We have all been sinners deserving of death. There is a difference, however, between people who struggle against sin and those who embrace it.

God’s people are called to resist Satan and the temptations he puts before us. This is not a one-time choice, but a lifelong effort to choose the narrow gate and difficult path (Matthew 7:14).

The worst biblical villains, however, don’t resist. They allow Satan to use his devices to guide them into lives of rebellion against their Creator.

Villains of the Bible take on the devil’s characteristics. He is full of hatred and deception, which is why Jesus called Satan “a murderer from the beginning” and “the father” of lies (John 8:44).

Looking at these villains and what motivated them will help us understand sin more clearly. A divinely inspired lament attributes the downfall of the king of Tyre (Satan) to his pride: “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor” (Ezekiel 28:17).

The villains of the Bible were characterized by the same attitudes. Many were driven by pride, hatred, bitterness and envy. They used deception and violence to achieve their selfish goals.

Any mindset that does not demonstrate love toward God and fellow humans is sinful. The villains of the Bible embraced these sinful thoughts and feelings.

From biblical villain to Christian example

But things are not hopeless. Our merciful God recorded for us the story of a villain who was transformed by God’s calling and help into an example of living Christianity for us all.

When we first meet Saul, he is consenting to the stoning of Stephen, a godly Christian who was innocent before God (Acts 7:58-59; 22:20). Following this, Saul “made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison” (Acts 8:3). He later admitted, “I persecuted this Way to the death” (Acts 22:4).

Saul was greatly feared by members of the New Testament Church.

Yet our merciful God had other plans for this villain, as He desires all people to repent and be saved (2 Peter 3:9; 1 Timothy 2:4).

God gave Saul a wake-up call when he was on his way to Damascus to imprison the Christians there.

“As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’

“And he said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’

“Then the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads’” (Acts 9:3-5). A goad was a sharp stick used to prod cattle. Jesus was telling him it was foolish to resist like a stubborn ox.

God blinded Saul physically, but for the first time he could really see. God brought Saul to deep repentance, then transformed him into a powerful tool for doing God’s work.

Saul the persecutor became Paul the apostle to the gentiles. He became an imitator of Christ and an example for all of us (1 Corinthians 11:1).

This story provides more lessons from the villains of the Bible. Our sins made all of us villains, but no one is irredeemable. No one can understand God’s way before God calls him or her, and we shouldn’t think of ourselves as better than those who have not yet been called.

Our merciful God desires for all to be saved—even the ones we might call villains.

Some notable villains of the Bible

Here are brief descriptions of some of the more significant villains of the Bible:

• Pharaoh: As the rulers of the most powerful nation in the Mediterranean world at the time leading up to the Exodus, the Egyptian pharaohs were accustomed to unquestioning obedience. According to Encyclopedia of the Bible on BibleGateway.com, the pharaoh was “a god among men and a man among the gods, the human holder of a divine office.” The pharaoh who opposed Moses was characterized by arrogance, a sense of entitlement and willingness to use violence.
• Korah: This Levite, together with three Reubenites (Dathan, Abiram and On) and 250 unnamed tribal leaders, rebelled against Moses, claiming he had assumed too much authority over Israel. They argued that the whole congregation was holy, suggesting that they should share in the priestly duties (Numbers 16:1-3, 8-10). Envy was a key component of their character.
• Balaam: Well-known as a diviner, this individual was summoned from Mesopotamia by Balak, the king of Moab, to curse the tribes of Israel (Numbers 22:2-6). Though Balaam understood that it was impossible for him to place a curse on the people of God (verses 13, 18), the offer of great wealth enticed him to travel to Moab anyway. Greed was a primary motivation for Balaam.
• Delilah: Offered a large sum of money by the Philistine lords to discover the secret of Samson’s strength, she set about to trick Samson into divulging the source of his phenomenal power (Judges 16:4-6). She played on his emotions by asking, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me?” (verse 15). Then she kept pestering him daily “so that his soul was vexed to death” (verse 16). Deceitfulness was a major aspect of her character.
• Jezebel: This foreign-born princess married Ahab, king of the northern kingdom of Israel. She not only worked to establish the worship of Baal and Asherah in Israel but also killed the true prophets of God. Her influence on her husband was so great that the Bible holds her partly responsible for Ahab’s great sins (1 Kings 21:25). She was characterized by pride, and she used violence to achieve her ends.
• Haman: After King Ahasuerus of Persia promoted Haman, he commanded all his servants to bow before this arrogant man and to pay him homage (Esther 3:1-2). When God’s servant Mordecai refused to treat Haman like a god, Haman set about to destroy all the Jews living within the Persian Empire (verses 2-6). Like Jezebel, Haman was both proud and willing to resort to great violence.
• Herod the Great: As an old man, this king of Judea committed one of the greatest atrocities recorded in Scripture. When he heard about the birth of the Messiah in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:1-2), King Herod considered it a threat to his power and ordered his men to kill all the male children up to 2 years of age in the area of Bethlehem (verse 16). Deceitfulness, pride and willingness to resort to violence characterized Herod the Great.
• Judas Iscariot: Chosen by Jesus as one of His original 12 disciples, Judas could have had a bright future. During the ministry of Christ, he was the one responsible for the “money box” (John 13:29). However, Judas succumbed to greed, stealing from the box entrusted to him (John 12:6). This same greed played into his arrangement to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver (Matthew 26:14-16). As such, he fulfilled his role as “the son of perdition” (John 17:12).

Christians and the villains of the Bible

The preceding bullet list is not exhaustive, but it does provide a glimpse into some of the reasons people make themselves into enemies of God. We are all different, but no human being is without sin, and no Christian should expect to live a life without tests and trials.

Looking at these villains and what motivated them will help us understand sin more clearly. With this knowledge, we will be better prepared to avoid much of “the sin which so easily ensnares us” (Hebrews 12:1) and to seek God’s help to continue our transformation from villains to men and women of faith.