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 […]
The widow of one of Elisha’s followers comes to him for help. Her husband left her with an outstanding debt, Since she has no means to pay off the debt, the creditor demands her two sons become his slaves. Elisha asks what resources she has. “Nothing,” she replies, “except for a small jar of olive […]
The Bible lists no genealogy for Abel, so we can guess that he died before he had any children. Scripture focuses on the descendants of Seth but gives a short recitation of Cain’s genealogy first (in Genesis 4). We must be careful in reading these names in Cain’s line, since two names also appear in […]
A Good Mother Can Make All the Difference The Egyptians fear the mushrooming population of the enslaved Israelites. They command all the Israelite baby boys be thrown into the Nile River. However, one mother sees something special in her baby and hides him for several months. When she can conceal him no longer, she does […]
Hannah longs to have children but is childless. Adding to her misery, she’s harassed by everyone around her. Though, she is her husband’s (Elkanah) favorite wife he dismisses her infertility and fails to protect her from verbal assaults from his other wife, Peninnah, who endlessly torments her. Then, when she prays in earnest, Eli, the […]
Athaliah is an evil woman. She encourages her son, the king, to act wickedly. He does and is soon assassinated. Then Athaliah seizes control and asserts herself as queen. Her lust for power is so great, she kills all the members of the royal family, including her own grandchildren. One baby, however, is rescued by […]
Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and Leah, is the central character of Genesis 34. Though we know what happened to her and because of her, we know nothing about what she said, did, or thought. Her story begins tragically. She is raped by Shechem. Yet after his act of lust, he falls in love with […]