This Isn’t Another Cinderella Story I’ve always liked the story of Esther. She was a peasant girl who won a national beauty pageant and became queen. In my imagination, I’ve given this tale a Cinderella-like grandness, with Esther and the king, falling in love and living happily ever after. Alas, the story doesn’t mention love […]
Nimrod is the son of Cush, the son of Ham. Since Cush and Canaan are brothers, this means Nimrod is Canaan’s nephew. The biblical text tells us little about Nimrod. What we do know is he’s a “mighty hunter before the Lord” (Genesis 10:8–9). Though this is curious wording, we can understand “before the Lord” […]
Orpah Begins a Journey but Returns Home Orpah is the widowed daughter-in-law of Naomi and sister-in-law to Ruth. When Naomi decides to return to Judah, her daughters-in-law start out with her, but Naomi releases them. She encourages them to return to their mothers and find new husbands. Though Ruth stubbornly refuses, Orpah does the smart […]
Canaan is the son of Ham and the grandson of Noah. The story of Canaan is perplexing. When Noah’s son Ham finds his father drunk, he acts disrespectfully. His two brothers act appropriately. When Noah discovers what his sons did when he was inebriated, he explicitly blames Ham’s son Canaan. This is despite Canaan not […]
Peninnah is an unfamiliar Bible character. Hare you ever heard of her? She’s a co-wife with Hannah (the mother of Samuel). Their husband is Elkanah. Having two wives is never a good idea. Conflict ensues. In a tale reminiscent of Jacob and his two wives, Rebecca and Leah, we have the story of Elkanah and […]
Methuselah is Enoch’s son. Aside from being Noah’s grandfather, the other notable fact about Methuselah is that he has the longest recorded life in the Bible, standing at an amazing 969 years. The Bible records many people at that time as living hundreds of years, but Methuselah’s life is the longest. Yet as we move […]
When Barak and the Israelite army routes Sisera’s army, Sisera escapes and takes refuge with Jael. He seeks her because her clan has a favorable history with his country. Pretending to protect him, Jael takes him in, attends to his needs, and then slays him by bashing in his scull while he sleeps. Though a […]
As we already noted, Enoch (1) is a descendant of Cain, whereas Enoch (2) is a descendant of Seth. To give us some historical perspective, here are the world’s first nine generations, from Adam to Noah: As we can see, Enoch is the great-grandfather of Noah, as well as six generations removed from Adam. Scripture […]
Elisha travels to the city of Shunem, and a wealthy woman urges him to stay for a meal. From then on, whenever he’s in the area, he stops by. Realizing he’s a man of God, she makes a room for him to stay when he’s in town. Grateful, Elisha wants to do something nice for […]
The Bible tells us that Adam has many sons and daughters, but it only lists three sons by name. They are Cain, Abel, and Seth. Most people know about Cain and Abel, with Cain killing Abel out of jealousy. He then flees his family to live in the land of Nod. As a result, Adam […]