Tag: Biblical Characters

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Biblical People

Biblical People: Judith (2)

Judith

Judith (2) is a widow whose wealthy husband left her well provided for. Though quite beautiful, she hides her good looks under the garb of mourning. A righteous woman, she fasts regularly and conducts herself beyond reproach. All people esteem her.

With Judith’s city, Bethulia, under siege, food is scarce, and water is rationed. The mayor promises to surrender in five days, hoping God will miraculously save them by then. But Judith chastises him for his willingness to give up.

She has a plan, a bold strategy, to save them, but she won’t tell anyone what it is.

She cleans up and replaces her widow’s clothing with festive attire, complete with perfume, jewelry, and a tiara. It’s her most alluring look. The people can’t believe the transformation. Then she and her maid leave the city and allow themselves to be captured. 

Promising to aid the enemy, Judith is taken to their commander, Holofernes. Weaving partial truth into her ruse, Judith unveils her proposal of how she will advise him in taking the city without any loss of life.

Enthralled by her beauty, Holofernes believes every word she says. Besides, he also wants to sleep with her. 

After a couple of days and willing to wait no longer, he summons her to join him in his tent for dinner. They eat, and he drinks—too much. He sends everyone away so he can seduce her.

But he passes out instead, with Judith’s virtue still intact. Judith grabs his sword, prays for supernatural strength, and decapitates him with two blows.

Judith and her maid sneak off before anyone knows what happened, carrying his severed head with them. Arriving home, the people celebrate as she tells them what happened and holds up the proof.

When the soldiers find the body of their headless leader, they’re thrown into a panic and flee. The Jews in Bethulia summon their countrymen throughout Israel to give chase, slaughtering their enemy and enjoying the spoils. The people celebrate Judith for her heroic exploit.

Taking much risk, Judith daringly delivers her people from their enemies, using her beauty to entice, while remaining pure.

Great results often require great risk. How much are we willing to risk to do what God calls us to do?

[Discover more about Judith in Judith 8–16 in The New Jerusalem Bible, Common English Bible (CEB), and New American Bible (NAB). For more information, see “Bonus Material: The Full Picture.”]

Learn about other biblical women in Women of the Bible, available in audiobook, e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Biblical People

Biblical People: Sarah (2)

Sarah

Sarah is sensible, brave, and beautiful. She’s been married seven times and is also seven times a widow, for each time on her wedding night, a demon kills her new husband. When falsely accused of murdering all seven, she plans to commit suicide.

However, wishing to spare her father the grief, she doesn’t. Instead, she prays, giving God the option to take her life if he is displeased with her conduct.

God hears her prayer but has another solution in mind. He sets in motion the events to rescue her.

Meanwhile, Tobias embarks on a quest of epic scope. At the prompting of an angel, he stops by to ask Sarah’s father for permission to marry her. Though he’s never met her, he’s her closest living relative and next in line to marry her, according to Jewish custom.

When Tobias finally meets her, it’s love at first sight. Despite the risk of the demon-killing him on their wedding night too, Tobias still wants her. Sarah’s father agrees. They sign the wedding contract.

That night Tobias mixes a potion and burns it. The smell chases away the demon. Then Tobias and Sarah ask God to protect them through the night. He does. For the first time in eight tries, Sarah’s husband is still alive at daybreak.

Sarah’s family then celebrates for two weeks before the happy couple leaves. When they reach Tobias’s home, there’s a grand reunion and another weeklong wedding celebration.

Sarah’s life was a mess and her future, bleak. No one could fault her for giving up. But instead of suicide, she sought God. He rescued her, removing the curse and protecting her new husband.

When life overwhelms us, do we quit or seek God?

[Discover more about Sarah in Tobit 3:7–16, Tobit 6:10–18, Tobit 7:9–16, Tobit 8:1–21, Tobit 10:10–13, and Tobit 11:15–18 in The New Jerusalem Bible, Common English Bible (CEB), and New American Bible (NAB). For more information, see “Bonus Material: The Full Picture.”]

Learn about other biblical women in Women of the Bible, available in audiobook, e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Biblical People

Biblical People: Deborah (3)

Deborah

Deborah is the grandmother of Tobit. She raises him after his parents die. She teaches him about their faith, training him in the regulations Moses received from God and taught to the people.

She also instills in him a deep generosity. Not only does he give what is required to the temple, priests, and Levites, but at her encouragement, he also gives 10 percent of his income to poor people in Jerusalem and another 10 percent to orphans, widows, and converts to Judaism. 

Thanks to his grandma’s influence, Tobit has a heart to help others. While most grandparents don’t have to raise their grandkids, most every grandparent can influence them. 

How can we be sure to make the most of our opportunities to inspire others?

[Discover more about Deborah in Tobit 1:6–8 in The New Jerusalem Bible, Common English Bible (CEB), and New American Bible (NAB). For more information, see “Bonus Material: The Full Picture.”]

Learn about other biblical women in Women of the Bible, available in audiobook, e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Biblical People

Biblical People: Susanna (1)

Susana 1

Susanna lives in exile in Babylon. She is known for her great beauty and deep reverence for God. Her parents are moral folks, conducting themselves with virtue, which they instill in their daughter.

Susanna’s husband is rich and respected by the people. The leading Jews hang out at his house. Aside from being displaced from her homeland, Susanna enjoys an idyllic life.

However, two of the elders, appointed as judges, are obsessed with Susanna. They lust for her. This is consistent with their corrupt behavior as immoral judges. They could have looked away, but they choose not to.

Conspiring to rape her, they hide in her private garden and ogle her. When she is alone, they reveal themselves and solicit her. If she refuses, they threaten to tell everyone they caught her cheating on her husband with another man. The penalty for adultery is death.

Trapped in a no-win situation, Susanna decides to act morally. She turns them down and screams for help.

When people come running, the judges lie, “We caught her having sex with this guy. We tried to stop him, but he got away.” Because of their position, everyone believes them and sentences Susanna to death. 

No one asks for her side of the story.

As they haul her off for execution, the Holy Spirit reveals the truth to the young prophet Daniel. He yells out that she’s innocent.

Separating the two men, Daniel cross-examines them and they contradict each other, proving they gave false testimony against Susanna. The perverted men are convicted, and the righteous Susanna is freed, with her reputation restored.

Susanna faced a terrible choice: have sex with two men and live or be wrongly convicted of adultery and die. It may have seemed best to give in, but Susanna did the right thing and trusted God to vindicate her. He came through.

How willing are we to do what’s right despite the risk?

[Discover more about Susanna in Daniel 13 in The New Jerusalem Bible and NAB (also known as the book of Susanna in the CEB). For more information, see “Bonus Material: The Full Picture.”]

Learn about other biblical women in Women of the Bible, available in audiobook, e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Biblical People

Biblical People: Foreign Women

foreign woman

Throughout the history of the nation of Israel and Judah, a recurring theme is Hebrew men marrying foreign women. This is something God forbids. It isn’t that God hates other ethnicities. They are part of his creation too. 

Instead, he gives his people this restriction because he knows if the men involve themselves with women who hold other beliefs, the men’s attention will turn from him to other gods and from holy practices to unholy behaviors. God wants his people to worship him only, to do so with purity and purpose. He desires them to raise their children to do the same.

Throughout the Old Testament, when the men stray from God’s command and give their physical affections to women of other faiths, they also end up giving their spiritual attention to other gods. Disaster results.

Later Paul commands the people in the Corinthian church to not yoke themselves with unbelievers. In explaining such a pairing, he uses two contrasting sets of words: righteousness and wickedness, light and darkness. While this instruction to not be unequally paired with others can apply to close friendships and business partnerships, the most critical application is marriage. 

Starting in the Old Testament and continuing into the New Testament, we’re encouraged to marry people who share our faith. Failing to do so will only cause problems.

This is a great lesson for those not yet married and a comfort to those married to someone who shares their essential beliefs, but what about those who are married to an unbeliever? 

To those already in marriages with unbelievers, Paul offers some practical advice. He says if the unbelieving spouse is willing to stay in the marriage, do not seek divorce. The nonbelieving partner will receive blessings through his or her spouse and their children are likewise set apart for God. In time, the unbelieving spouse may one day believe in God, but this is not a guarantee, just a possibility. However, if the unbelieving spouse wants to leave, Paul allows it. 

The main principle is to seek to live in peace. Paul ends his teaching by saying we should remain faithful to our beliefs whatever our situation. 

Whether in marriage, business, or key friendships, we should seek godly partners in all situations. And if we are unequally yoked, we should hold to our faith and be an example, pointing others to Jesus.

In what ways might we be unequally yoked? How have we allowed others to distract us from God?

[Discover more about foreign women in Exodus 34:11–16, Deuteronomy 7:1–4, 1 Kings 11:1, Ezra 9:2, Ezra 10:2–44, Nehemiah 13:26–27, Malachi 2:11, 1 Corinthians 7:12–17, and 2 Corinthians 6:14.]

Learn about other biblical women in Women of the Bible, available in audiobook, e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Biblical People

Biblical People: Zeresh

Zeresh

Zeresh is the wife of the anti-Semitic Haman. 

Enraged that Mordecai, a Jew, slighted him, Haman plots the annihilation of all Jewish people scattered throughout the Persian Empire. Later, when complaining about Mordecai to his family and friends, Zeresh recommends he erect a seventy-five-foot pole and seek the king’s permission to impale Mordecai on it.

Haman delights in this suggestion and follows his wife’s advice. 

His plan is foiled, however, when the king has a different idea. Instead of executing his nemesis, the king commands Haman to honor Mordecai.

Completing this distasteful task, the mortified Haman returns home in humiliation. Then Zeresh predicts Haman’s downfall. Since Mordecai is a Jew, she says, Haman doesn’t stand a chance. 

She’s correct. 

A few days later Haman is impaled on the same pole he constructed for Mordecai’s execution. Zeresh’s initial advice to her husband becomes the tool for his death.

Zeresh gave her husband the guidance he wanted to hear. What if she had counseled him differently, instead encouraging him to rise above his vendetta and not seek revenge?

When we give advice to others, do we offer them the easy answer or the right one?

[Discover more about Zeresh in Esther 5:9–14 and Esther 6:12–14.]

Learn about other biblical women in Women of the Bible, available in audiobook, e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Biblical People

Biblical People: Queen Esther

Queen Esther

After King Xerxes banishes Queen Vashti from his presence, he regrets his irrevocable edict. His aides suggest a plan to find a replacement. Their proposal is to round up the most beautiful virgins in the land for the king to try out. Yes, it is as bad as it sounds. 

The most pleasing one will be crowned queen. This isn’t a voluntary beauty pageant. This is conscripted service that forces the selected women into a harem.

They effectively become well-cared-for sex slaves. Esther (Hadassah) is rounded up in their dragnet. She waits at least four years for her assigned time to sleep with the king.

Finally, it’s her turn. Though inexperienced, Esther’s night with the king must have been most pleasing to him, because the next morning, he proclaims her queen. This, however, is not a Cinderella story where she lives happily ever after.

In the expanded version of this story, found in some Bibles, Esther says she abhors sleeping with the king. As an uncircumcised foreigner, he repulses her.

She finds no joy in her position as queen. However, aside from involuntary sex with the king, she keeps herself true to her upbringing. 

Later, when Haman plots the Jews’ extermination, Esther is challenged by Mordecai, her cousin who adopted her, to intervene with the king on the Jews’ behalf. She balks.

It’s been a month since she’s seen the king and she risks immediate execution by appearing before him without being summoned. Mordecai begs Esther to take the risk, saying, “What if God put you in this position so you could address this situation?”

Eventually, she agrees: “If I die, then I die.” In preparation, Esther fasts for three days and asks others to fast with her.

When she approaches the king, he spares her life. However, instead of directly appealing to him, she invites him and Haman to a private banquet with her.

She then requests they come a second evening and at that time she reveals Haman’s plot, appealing to the king for justice. Because of her actions, Haman is executed, and the Jews are spared. The Purim celebrates Esther and her heroics in saving the people.

Though she needed to think about it and took time to fast, Esther bravely set her own safety aside and risked her life to save others.

Are we willing to save lives regardless of the risk?

[Discover more about Queen Esther in Esther 2:7–17, 4:1–17, 5:1–7, 7:1–10, and 9:12–15. For more information, see “Bonus Material: The Full Picture.”]

Learn about other biblical women in Women of the Bible, available in audiobook, e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Biblical People

Biblical People: Queen Vashti

Queen Vashti

Queen Vashti, wife of the mighty Persian King Xerxes, gives a weeklong party for the women in the palace. At the same time, her husband throws his own celebration, complete with an open bar.

On day seven, an intoxicated Xerxes commands the beautiful Vashti to parade herself before his drunken guests. When the chaste Vashti refuses to debase herself and be subjected to their ogling eyes, the king is furious.

Embarrassed, the enraged ruler asks his advisors what to do. Their answer is unequivocal: depose Vashti and forever bar her from his presence. The king does as they suggest, issuing an irrevocable edict. 

Though Queen Vashti acts with virtue and refuses to stoop to the king’s drunken depravity, she pays a heavy price for maintaining her integrity. Sometimes there are consequences for doing what is right. May we hold to our principles and persevere despite the outcome.

How much value do we place on our integrity? How much will we risk to do what’s right?

[Discover more about Queen Vashti in Esther 1:7–20.]

Learn about other biblical women in Women of the Bible, available in audiobook, e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Biblical People

Biblical People: Noadiah

Noadiah

Noadiah is a prophetess during the time of Nehemiah when he leads the people in rebuilding the wall in Jerusalem. There is opposition to Nehemiah and his mission from some of the local people. They merely seem to want to stir up trouble. 

His chief opponents are Tobiah and Sanballat. They also enlist the help of a few others, including Geshem and Shemaiah. Tobiah and Sanballat pay Shemaiah to give Nehemiah bad advice, but Nehemiah discerns Shemaiah’s duplicity, accusing Shemaiah of prophesying against him.

Immediately after this, Nehemiah turns his detractors over to God for punishment. He lists Tobiah and Sanballat by name, but not Geshem and Shemaiah. He does, however, mention another person, the prophetess Noadiah. He says she and the rest of the prophets tried to intimidate him. 

While several chapters in the Bible detail the efforts of Tobiah and Sanballat to derail Nehemiah’s mission, this is the first we hear about Noadiah, her efforts to intimidate, and her misguided influence over the other prophets.

We don’t know the details of what she did or why Nehemiah was so vexed with her, but we do know that after Tobiah and Sanballat, Nehemiah views her as his third biggest nemesis.

Noadiah could have used her status as prophetess for good or for bad. She chose wrong.

How can we best use our position, skills, and abilities to support God’s purpose and not oppose him?

[Discover more about Noadiah in Nehemiah 6:14.]

Learn about other biblical women in Women of the Bible, available in audiobook, e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Biblical People

Biblical People: Lo-Ruhamah

Lo-Ruhamah

Lo-Ruhamah is the daughter of Gomer, the product of an affair. Her mom, a former prostitute, cheats on her husband and hooks up with someone more appealing. Understandably, the child’s stepdad, Hosea, rejects his wife’s daughter.

To make sure everyone knows he’s not the dad, he names her Lo-Ruhamah, which means no pity or not loved. 

What a terrible way to begin life. What a condemning legacy to carry. Each time someone calls her name, it serves as a painful reminder to Lo-Ruhamah of being rejected by the only man in her life.

Eventually Hosea reconciles with his wife. He accepts Lo-Ruhamah as his daughter and loves her. We wonder how Lo-Ruhamah responds. Does she rise above the conditions of her birth or does she remain forever wounded? 

Though all parents fall short in childrearing, that’s not an excuse for not making the best of our lives. We don’t get to choose our parents, but we can choose how we respond to their mistakes in raising us. 

How can we best react to the situation we find ourselves in?

[Discover more about Lo-Ruhamah in Hosea 1:6 and Hosea 2:23.]

Learn about other biblical women in Women of the Bible, available in audiobook, e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.