Category: Biblical People

Short bios of people in the Bible

Biblical People: Mary (4) the Mother of James and Joseph

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date September 12, 2021

There are many women named Mary in the New Testament of the Bible. One is identified by the names of her boys: Mary, the mother of James and Joseph. This Mary is one of a handful of women noted for following Jesus and caring for his needs. Like Salome, Joanna, and Susanna, we acknowledge Mary’s key role in Jesus’s ministry.

Referring to her as Mary the mother of James and Joseph may clarify her to first-century audiences, but it doesn’t help us much today, as we can only speculate who her sons are. However, it’s reasonable to assume her sons are noteworthy in the early church, which is commendable to her for raising godly boys.

Our children may be our biggest and most important legacy. May we do everything possible to raise them into godly men and women.

[Discover more about this Mary in Matthew 27:55–56, Mark 15:40–41, Mark 16:1, and Luke 24:1–11.]

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: Salome

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date September 11, 2021

Salome is a follower of Jesus, one of several women who help support him and his ministry.

She’s also one of a small group of women who are brave enough to attempt to embalm Jesus’s body after he’s crucified. But they don’t get to do this because he’s already risen from the dead by the time they arrive at his tomb.

Of the four biographers of Jesus, only Mark mentions Salome, though Luke may implicitly include her with the phrase “and many others.” What is clear is that a group of women provide key assistance to Jesus and his squad, offering both money and food.

Salome, one of these women, receives only one brief mention of her critical involvement in Jesus’s work here on earth and for her desire to respect his body after his execution.

Receiving minimal recognition, however, doesn’t diminish the key role she plays.

We may not receive credit here on earth for the things we do for Jesus, but that doesn’t make our actions and sacrifices any less significant.

[Discover more about Salome in Mark 15:40–41, Mark 16:1, and Luke 8:3.]

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

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Biblical People

Biblical People: The Wife of Pilate

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date September 11, 2021

A key player in Jesus’s execution is the governor, Pilate. The religious leaders, jealous because of Jesus’s growing popularity and his influence over the people, take him to Pilate. They ask for his approval to kill Jesus.

Pilate, aware of their motives, wants to free Jesus, but the leaders stir up the crowd and a riot threatens to erupt. As Pilate considers what to do, his wife sends him a cryptic message, confirming Jesus’s innocence and warning Pilate to not have anything to do with him. She implies Pilate will endure great personal suffering if he isn’t careful.

Unable to control the crowd and unwilling to stand up to them, Pilate dismisses his wife’s sage warning and agrees to let them kill Jesus. He could have stopped them, but he didn’t.

Our spouses, family, and close friends can help us avoid trouble and not make wrong decisions. Are we willing to listen?

[Discover more about Pilate’s wife in Matthew 27:11–26.]

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

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Biblical People

Biblical People: The Woman at the Well

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date September 11, 2021

The Jews dismiss Samaritans as half-breed misfits. They refuse to associate with them. Even talking to one is social suicide. Yet Jesus defies convention and purposefully travels to their town and even rests there. While he waits at the local well, he sends his disciples into town to buy food.

At noon, a Samaritan woman comes to draw water. She may pick this time of day to avoid being there with the other women of the village. Her life choices make her an outcast. She’s an outcast among outcasts.

Jesus surprises her by asking for a drink of water. She’s shocked. Not only is he breaking conventions in talking with a detested Samaritan and a woman, but he asks for a favor. If she gives him water, he will need to drink from her cup, another thing completely unacceptable to Jews.

Jesus, however, doesn’t care what others think. He cares for her.

He also knows about her past, that she’s been married five times and isn’t married to the guy she’s living with. Amazed that he knows her secrets, she affirms him as a prophet and later learns he is the Messiah everyone has been waiting for.

She goes and tells the villagers what Jesus said. Based on her testimony, they come out to meet him and believe in him. They ask him to hang out with them and he stays for two days.

When we tell others about Jesus, is our story compelling enough for them to seriously consider him?

[Discover more about the Samaritan woman in John 4:5–42.]

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

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Biblical People

Biblical People: Mary (3), Martha and Lazarus’s Sister

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date September 5, 2021

Mary is the sister of Martha and Lazarus. The Bible includes two stories about her that cause me to label her as irresponsible. Jesus, however, has a different perspective.

In the first story, Mary sits at the feet of Jesus, taking in all he says and basking in his presence while her sister, Martha, toils in the kitchen. Martha complains about Mary’s laziness, but Jesus puts Martha in her place, and he affirms Mary for making the better choice.

In the second story, Mary uses some expensive perfume, which she pours on Jesus’s feet and wipes them with her hair, to show her love to him and symbolically prepare him for burial.

Judas criticizes her wasteful ways. He claims the perfume is worth one year’s salary. Instead of pouring it on Jesus, a better use would have been to sell it and use the proceeds to help the poor. But Jesus rebuffs Judas, saying Mary did the right thing with her perfume, the thing she was meant to do.

Mary first faces criticism for being lazy and later for being wasteful. But Jesus commends both her choices.

Do we ever judge others from a human standpoint and completely miss God’s perspective?

[Discover more about Mary in Luke 10:38–42 and John 12:2–7. See “The Women Who Anoint Jesus.”]

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

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Biblical People

Biblical People: Martha

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date September 5, 2021

Martha is the sister of Mary and Lazarus, whom Jesus raises from the dead. Though Jesus loves all people, the Bible specifically mentions that he loves Martha and her two siblings.

In reading what Luke and John write about Martha, we can draw several conclusions: She owns her own home. She likes to entertain and has the gift of hospitality. Her love language is acts of service. And she may be older than her brother and sister.

Scripture shares two stories about Martha. In one, she offers the most profound, faith-filled testimony about Jesus: “I believe you’re the Messiah, the Son of God, who has come into the world.”

Her boldness and confidence are inspiring. She declares this shortly before Jesus faces his execution. Unfortunately, this is not what we best remember Martha for.

The other story happens earlier in her life. She invites Jesus and his friends over for a meal. Amid her busy preparations, she complains to Jesus that her sister, Mary, isn’t helping to get the food ready. Instead, Mary is hanging out with Jesus.

In Jesus’s surprising response, he affirms Mary as doing the best thing she can do and tells Martha she needs to calm down. This perplexes me because if Martha followed her sister’s example, no one would have anything to eat.

Another consideration, however, is Martha’s misguided assumption that Mary should go along with her plans to feed Jesus. It is Martha’s choice to invite Jesus over.

Mary doesn’t make that offer and has no obligation to help. Both sisters show their commitment to Jesus. They just do it differently.

How often do we expect others to automatically go along with our grand ideas or commitments? Do we get mad when they don’t help us as we think they should?

[Discover more about Martha in Luke 10:38–42, John 11:5–44, and John 12:2–7.]

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

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Biblical People

Biblical People: Mary (2) Magdalene

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date September 5, 2021

Recent public opinion about Mary Magdalene has not been kind, with people making unfounded assumptions about her. Some think she’s a prostitute or accuses her of an immoral lifestyle, but we don’t find that in the Bible.

What Scripture does say is that Jesus cast seven demons out of her. Regardless of how we understand this, we know that Jesus makes her life much better.

In response, Mary Magdalene shows her gratitude by following Jesus and helping to support him financially. She’s also there, along with a few other women, when Jesus dies and later when he’s buried.

The next day, Mary Magdalene leads a group to his tomb to properly prepare his body, according to the customs of the day.

Of course, they can’t do this because Jesus isn’t there. Angels at the grave tell her Jesus has risen from the dead, that he is alive. Later Jesus appears to her and tells her to let the disciples know.

This is significant, as two thousand years ago a woman’s testimony wasn’t legally accepted, but to underscore God’s affirmation of women, he has them deliver the breaking news of the most significant event in human history. This makes a female the first apostle after Jesus’s death.

Like Mary Magdalene, people sometimes think or say things about us that aren’t true. While this can hurt deeply, it’s God’s opinion that counts.

What people say about us shouldn’t matter, but does it? Is our conscience clear before God?

[Discover more about Mary Magdalene in Matthew 27:55–28:10, Luke 8:1–3, Luke 24:1–10, John 19:25, and John 20:1–18.]

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

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Biblical People

Biblical People: The Adulterous Woman

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date September 4, 2021

Jesus’s detractors drag a woman caught in the act of adultery before him. The religious leaders who present her care nothing about her, what she did, or justice. If they have true concern for the law they claim to uphold, they would have likewise offered up her adulterous partner along with her.

Instead, they are exploiting her to try to trap Jesus into saying something they can use against him. Being knowledgeable about Scripture, as well as their made-up rules about religion, they are sure they can twist whatever Jesus says to ruin him.

The woman is merely their pawn.

Jesus refuses to take sides, something her accusers had not considered. Had he either upheld the law or offered her mercy, they could have used it against him. Instead, he thwarts their devious scheme. Without pronouncing judgment, he allows anyone who is perfect to begin the prescribed punishment of execution by stoning. The person who is without sin may throw the first rock. No one qualifies, and they slink away.

Once they all leave, Jesus offers the woman mercy and lets her go. He encourages her to change her behavior.

Too often, well-meaning religious leaders are quick to condemn others when they should extend love and encouragement.

Is it our nature to judge others or offer them love and mercy? What would Jesus do?

[Discover more about this woman in John 8:1–11.]

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

Tags adulterous woman, Biblical Characters

Biblical People

Biblical People: The Canaanite Woman

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date September 4, 2021

Jesus hangs out in Tyre, trying to rest, but folks track him down. One of the people who comes to him for help is a foreign woman. While Matthew states she is from Canaan, Mark says she is a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. Some people call her a Syrophoenician.

Regardless of where she’s from, the key point is that she isn’t Jewish.

She has a little girl with a big issue. The girl’s possessed by an impure spirit. The mom begs Jesus to heal her daughter by driving out the demon within her.

Jesus dismisses the woman. He says what the people expect, insinuating he came only to help Jewish people, not foreigners. In doing so, he implies she’s a dog, trying to eat the children’s food. What he’s really doing is creating a teachable moment.

She does not accept his rebuff.

His apparent ethnic judgment doesn’t offend her. She is quick to counter, noting that even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the children’s table.

Jesus affirms her wise reply. He pronounces the little girl healed. Now the people should realize that Jesus is here for both Jews and Gentiles. But they don’t.

When Mom gets home, her daughter is resting in bed. The demon is gone.

When we encounter a rebuff, do we accept it and give up or try even harder to achieve our goal? When God doesn’t seem to listen to our pleas for help, do we stop asking or persist?

[Discover more about this woman in Matthew 15:21–28 and Mark 7:24–30.]

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

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Biblical People

Biblical People: The Poor Widow and Her Offering

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date September 4, 2021

Jesus and his disciples stand near the temple as people come to give their money. They’re people watching. One poor woman drops two small copper coins into the temple treasury. Her offering is so small. Surely it will do no good, unlike the considerable gifts of all the others.

Jesus sees things differently.

He pronounces her gift, though numerically small, as greater than everyone else’s. “She put in more than all of them.” Then Jesus explains. “They gave out of their abundance. She gave out of her poverty.” He pauses and looks at his followers. “It was all she had to live on.”

Imagine the penniless widow as she shuffles home. She just gave the last of her money to the church. What will she eat? How will she live? Perhaps giving her last few cents was an impulse that she now regrets. Or maybe it was an intentional sacrifice that’s still giving her joy. Regardless, what will tomorrow bring?

We don’t know if God provides for her after she gives everything to him, but what we do know is that God doesn’t consider the size of the gift as much as the heart of the giver.

How does God look upon our gifts? Do we give from our abundance or our poverty?

[Discover more about the poor widow in Mark 12:41–44 and Luke 21:1–4.]

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

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