Personalities of the Bible

Personalities of the Bible

Balaam the Prophet

The infamous story of the prophet with the talking donkey demonstrates the Bible's awareness that powers of divination were not limited to Israelite seers.

Personalities of the Bible

Elijah the Prophet

As the herald of the messianic age and a recurring figure in Jewish folklore, Elijah's legacy surpasses that of virtually all the other prophets of Israel.

Personalities of the Bible

Deutero-Isaiah: A Prophet of Comfort

After first Isaiah’s message of rebuke, another writing under his name came to comfort Israel with immortal poetry.

Amos: Channeling the Wrath of God’s Justice

Amos' prophecy shows that God's wrath blazes so fiercely precisely because of God's compassion for the weak and the marginalized.

Ezekiel: Prophecy as Performance Art

The fourth chapter of the Book of Ezekiel finds God instructing the prophet to perform a series of bizarre tasks.

Nathan the Prophet

Best-known to us as King David's prophet, Nathan should perhaps better be known as the man who ensures Solomon's rise to the throne of Israel.

Fourteen Things You Need to Know About King David

The mighty warrior and sweet singer slew Goliath, stole the throne, and conquered Jerusalem—and that’s just a start!

The Shunamite Woman: A Model of Radical Empathy

Because she had a special relationship with the prophet Elisha, her child was miraculously conceived and miraculously resurrected.

Vashti: The Forgotten Queen of Persia

The rabbis imagined the Bible's Vashti as both evil villain and tragic heroine.

Job

A book that challenges the rest of the Bible by asking how a good God can permit so much suffering.

Deborah

A warrior and prophetess, she's the only woman in the Hebrew Bible with hard political power who is portrayed positively.

Rebecca the Superheroine

Isaac's wife and Jacob's mother, the second matriarch survived a difficult pregnancy and engineered the future of the Jewish people.

Jonah

A story about prophecy and repentance—but not in the way you think.

Samson

He could kill a lion or topple a temple with his bare hands, but succumbed to the love of a treacherous woman. Many wild traditions circulated about the first Jewish superhero.

How Jacob Healed His Family

Israel’s third patriarch was born into great dysfunction, but found ways to create the first cohesive family in the Bible.