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Visit our new blog. It lists all the new things that we are doing and what new material has been added to our site. We even list new missionaries who sign up with us for technical support so you can pray for them. FCM News

Great People of the Bible

By Brad Anderson

Romans 15:4  For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

1 Corinthians 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

As the above verses suggest, we can learn a lot from studying the lives of biblical characters. Old Testament events displayed the saving work of God in the life of ancient Israel. But they also provide princi­ples, pictures, and illustrations that form warnings and teach us practical truths for the believer’s life in Christ today. They form fascinating and instructive parallels and analogies to the believer’s life in Christ as he faces a hostile and contrary world.*1
In this series we will be looking at several key characters from the Bible, both Old and New Testaments. We’ll find both good and bad examples to learn from. The Bible presents people in all their fallen humanity–warts and weaknesses, strengths and struggles. Our goal is to learn from these examples and apply important lessons to our own lives.
Series Contents:
Lesson 1:            Noah – Embarks on an Ark
Lesson 2:            Abraham – Father of Multitudes
Lesson 3:            Joseph – From Slave to Sovereign
Lesson 4:            Moses – The Great Deliverer
Lesson 5:            Joshua – God’s General
Lesson 6:            Ruth – A Faithful Woman
Lesson 7:            Samson – A Strong Weakling
Lesson 8:            David – A Man After God’s Own Heart
Lesson 9:            Solomon – A Very Wise Guy
Lesson 10:            Esther – For Such a Time as This
Lesson 11:            John the Baptist – A Burning and Shining Light
Lesson 12:            Peter – The Rock
Lesson 13:            Paul – Persecutor Turned Preacher

Resources:
Some of this material is based on the work of Pastor Scott Estell, associate pastor at Tri-Lakes Baptist Church, Brighton, Michigan.
Great Men of the Bible by F. B. Meyer (Zondervan, 1981)
Expositor’s Bible Commentary
Following God: Learning Life Principles from the Personalities in the Old Testament by Wayne Barber, et al. (AMG 1998)
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
Easton’s Bible Dictionary

Bible Time Line

It’s easy to get confused as to when the characters of the Bible lived. The below time line should help you place the characters into their historical contexts.

Interpretive Issues

Unfortunately, interpretive errors are common when trying to learn from biblical characters. Before we begin our study of Bible characters and try to learn from their examples, we should discuss some important principles of Bible interpretation.

Common Interpretive Errors:

1. Confusing description with prescription. Narratives (i.e., stories) describe the actions of biblical characters. That is, such texts tell us what happened. They do not prescribe actions for us. That is, they don’t necessarily tell us what to do. The fact that a Bible character did (or did not do) something does not necessarily teach us to do (or not do) the same thing. For example, the fact that Noah built an ark does not mean that we should all build arks. The fact that Jacob tricked his brother Esau does not imply that we should do the same.
2. Spiritualization. Perhaps the most common error that occurs when studying biblical characters is spiritualization (or allegorization) of the text. In an effort to find personal applications of the text, students tend to pull out principles where none exist. For example, in the story of David and Goliath, the text does not really say anything about defeating our own personal “Goliaths” like fear, bitterness, or envy.
3. Failure to account for direct revelation. We find men like Adam, Noah, Abraham and Moses hearing messages from the Lord directly and probably audibly. Today the canon of Scripture is closed. We should not expect to hear the audible voice of the Lord telling us to do something. The Bible is our source of direct revelation from God. Bible characters often acted in response to the direct word of God to them. We must be careful not to draw a parallel between ourselves and a biblical character under the influence of direct, personal revelation. We don’t receive direct, personal revelation like Abraham and Moses did.
4. Failure to consider context. Many of the characters we’ll be studying lived before or during the time the Law of Moses was in place. Today we live in the church age and are not directly under the Law. Many of the circumstances surrounding the lives of biblical characters are dependent upon life under the Law. We must be careful not to transfer principles of life under the Law to principles of life under grace. For example, the Jews could not eat certain kinds of foods. We are not under any dietary restrictions.
5. Failure to note the progressive nature of revelation. Adam and Eve had a limited amount of information. Noah had more, Abraham had even more, Moses received more, and today we have much more than any OT believer had. The point is that biblical characters were behaving according to the information that they had at the time. For example, there was no law prohibiting Noah from making wine or getting drunk. We have many texts telling us not to get drunk; Noah didn’t.

Correct Interpretive Principles:

1. Look for the underlying general principles–in other words, principlize. What we want to get out of narrative texts are the underlying, timeless principles or teachings. Look for the moral of the story. These narratives have a goal or purpose. They communicate timeless truths. Ask questions of the text. What do we learn about the character of God and/or the nature of man? How can we follow a good example or avoid following a bad one? In the story of David and Goliath, some valid underlying principles are trusting God, stepping out on faith, standing up for your faith, and zeal in service.
2. Seek the author’s intended meaning. A text will not mean to us what the original author did not intend for it to mean. Most narratives tell what happened and also show how God’s plan was being fulfilled by the events described. Don’t import ideas into the text that are not there already. For example, in the story of Samson, the author did not intend to say anything about the seven deadly sins when he talked about the seven locks of Samson’s hair.
3. Compare Scripture with Scripture. This is one of the most basic and important rules of interpretation. Because God is the ultimate author of the whole Bible, all the parts of the Bible fit together without genuine contradiction. One part doesn’t conflict with what is found in another part. Thus, the principles you find must be consistent with the rest of the Bible.
4. Avoid the temptation to directly apply narrative. In application, we answer the question “How should I respond to this text?” Applications for us must be based on the underlying principles we find. We can’t just imitate what these characters did–build an ark, move to Egypt, be a shepherd, marry 700 wives, marry a farmer, become queen, become a slave, kill our enemies, etc. Nor should we say, “Moses (or David or Ruth or Peter) did this, so I should, too.” Instead, we must try to find the general truths underlying the stories and seek to believe and apply them.

The Bible is full of narrative literature. Make sure you avoid the above errors and strive for correct interpretations and applications of such texts.