NOAH
Noah was a good man in a wicked world.
But unlike most of us, he was able to keep himself clear of the evil around
him. He was married, with three sons who were also married, and he and his
family lived somewhere in ancient Mesopotamia,
the Land of the Two Rivers.
Floods were
common, but there was one flood that was far worse than ever before, and most
of the people and animals were wiped out.
Noah and
his family were not - Noah had sensed that the flood was coming and had
gathered his family and many animals into a safe place, where they were able to
sit out the unprecedented storm and wait for the earth to return to normal.
When it
did, the first thing Noah and his family did was give thanks to God for saving
them. He and his family started afresh in a new, washed-clean world.
They became
tillers of the earth - farmers, in fact. Among other things, they grew grapes, and Noah
is credited with making the first wine. Unfortunately he misused this gift and
got drunk, making himself an object of ridicule to his family. Then when he
sobered up and realized what an idiot he had been, he cursed his son Ham, the
son who had laughed at him most, instead of admitting his own failing.
So although
Noah saved humans and animals during the great flood, he was also a very human
hero.
JOSEPH
Joseph was
the son of Jacob and Rachel.
He was his father's favorite, and as a mark of this favor Jacob gave him a
long-sleeved coat, a garment of multi-colored strips unsuitable for day-to-day
work. Joseph dreamt he would be greater than any of his
eleven older brothers, and when he told them this they were angry at what they
saw as his vanity.
One day
their anger spilt over into rage, and they trapped him and sold him to passing slave-traders.
He was taken to Egypt,
where he soon had great success, rising to the senior position in the house of
his Egyptian owner Potiphar.
Unfortunately
he attracted the attentions of his owner's wife, who took a passionate fancy to him - Joseph was also exceptionally handsome and attractive. When he rejected
her advances she accused him of trying to rape her, and Joseph was
imprisoned.
Even in
prison, however, his ability could not be hidden, and he succeeded in gaining
the trust and admiration of all around him. He was able to interpret the dreams
of fellow-prisoners, and one of them told Pharaoh about him. Since Pharaoh was
plagued by a recurring dream he sent for Joseph, who was able to tell him
exactly what the dream meant - that a terrible famine was coming. Pharaoh
decided to prepare for the famine, and put Joseph in charge of the task. Joseph
was of course successful, and saved Egypt from famine.
Meanwhile,
Joseph's family was also suffering from the famine. They decided to go down
into Egypt
to buy grain, and of course they met up with Joseph.
The irony
was that they did not recognize this Egyptianized official as the brother they
had sold long ago. But he recognized them, and played a rather cruel trick on
them.
In the end
he was reconciled with them all, and reunited with his father before the old
man died.
MOSES
Moses
established one of the central themes of Judaism: its concern for social
justice. This unique leader freed his people from slavery
in Egypt,
and led them to freedom, setting a template for later generations of
Jews.
Moses was
in effect the founder of a nation, and organizer, law-maker, and defender of
his people. Perhaps the most remarkable quality of this modest man was his
solicitude for his people, in spite of their failings and ingratitude.
Moses was
the greatest of the prophets, the only person in the Bible who spoke to God
face to face, in contrast to the other prophets to whom God spoke only in
visions and dreams.
But he was
also something of a tragic figure. He grew up in a foreign court and was
rejected at first by his own people when he tried to help them. He became a
fugitive when he intervened on behalf of a Hebrew slave and killed an Egyptian.
His own people complained when he tried to free them from Pharaoh and
slavery.
After they
escaped from Egypt,
the people constantly complained, and there was opposition from his brother and
sister, Aaron and Miriam, and attempts to dislodge him from his
position as leader.
After all
this, God did not allow Moses to enter the Promised Land when he finally arrived
there - he glimpsed it from Mount
Nebo, but did not live to
enter it.
He was, it
seems, quite sensible in being reluctant to take on the job in the first place
- see his hesitation in Exodus 3:11 - 4:16.
GIDEON
Gideon
developed a type of warfare that helped the Israelites gain control over land
dominated by the Canaanites, who were superior in number and technology, and
who seemed to be an unbeatable enemy.
He
introduced guerilla warfare, and is credited with being the military leader who
defeated the Midianites, one of Israel's
enemies at that time.
He was an
unlikely hero, a man from an obscure clan, and at first he doubted his ability
to win any battle at all. But God kept nudging him into action, and eventually
Gideon gathered quite a large group of soldiers to attack the enemy. He
thought that was the way to go. But it was not what God wanted.
'You've got it wrong' said God, 'There
are too many men in your army, making too much noise and needing too much
military equipment' - or words to that effect.
So Gideon
cut down the numbers until he had only a small force, and then he attacked at
night, surprising the enemy and panicking them so that they were easy to kill.
This became
the pattern of battle for the under-equipped and ill-trained Israelite soldiers
when they faced a superior enemy - and it worked well for them over and over.
They would attack when and where they were least expected, harassing the enemy
and then drawing back into the hills where a large army could not follow them.
Gideon had invented the military version of the David/Goliath strategy.
SAMSON
Samson was the son of conservative, godly parents, and was
consecrated as a Nazirite at his birth - which meant that he was dedicated to
God, would never drink alcohol and would always leave his hair uncut, to show
his calling. His parents knew he was special, since his birth had been heralded
by the appearance of an angel of Jahweh.
Samson grew
up to be an exceptionally strong man, but he was never a 'gentle giant'. Quite
the reverse. He never negotiated with an enemy when there was a chance of
fighting. He does not seem to have fought in the army, as other ancient heroes
like Achilles did, in the Iliad. Rather, he used his personal strength
to take on and vanquish an enemy, whoever they might be.
He caused mayhem on numerous occasions. Some of his feats
include:
·
the
killing of thirty Philistines who bribed/bullied his new wife into telling them
the answer to a riddle Samson had composed
·
the
burning of Philistine wheat fields just before harvest, as revenge when his
wife-to-be was given in marriage to his best man at the cancelled wedding; he
lit the tails of 300 unfortunate foxes and released them among the wheat
·
his
final escapades with Delilah,
who deceived him so that she could learn the secret of his strength.
When the Philistines finally learned the reason behind his
prodigious strength, they captured Samson and put out his eyes making him, they
thought, utterly helpless. He was led into the temple of Dagon
and made sport of as part of the entertainment.
But unnoticed by the Philistines, his hair had begun to grow back.
Thus, in one last effort, he pulled the two supporting pillars of the temple
down and destroyed himself and up to three thousand Philistines as it
collapsed.
DAVID
David is talked about as the ideal king and man, and his story is
one of the great sagas of the ancient world. But if you read the story itself
instead of relying on commentaries, you find a very different character.
David has a
lot in common with flawed heroes like Achilles in the Iliad, or Lancelot
in the Arthurian legends. He is one of the most remarkable personalities in the
Bible, a man with outstanding ability and also very human failings.
He was a brave fighter, a wily politician, a gifted musician and
poet.
He was also sexually unrestrained and the head of a tragically
dysfunctional family whom he made little effort to control. The Bible describes
David as a good-looking man, red-headed and with beautiful eyes, and he
certainly could charm and manipulate people.
With David, the two words that spring to mind are
'unscrupulous', and 'charismatic'.
He had relatively obscure beginnings, but by the end of his life he had
established a monarchy that united the twelve tribes of Israel under
one leader. He captured the fortress of Jebus then made it his capital, Jerusalem. He
founded a dynasty that lasted for four hundred years and created a sense of
national identity for the Jewish people, that has lasted to today.
The
David and Goliath story has an enduring fascination for people everywhere.
MORDECAI
Mordecai was a descendent of King Saul, but he lived far away from
Israel - in Shushan (Susa), the capital of the Persian
Empire, during the Exile.
He had a young cousin, an orphan, whom he looked after. Her name
was Esther, and she was
unusually beautiful and intelligent. When she was chosen to be the new wife of
King Ahasuerus, the Persian king, he advised her not to tell people she was
Jewish. She took his advice.
Mordecai was instrumental in foiling a plot to assassinate the
king, and this was duly noted. He also made a dangerous enemy in Haman, the
king's top minister, who became obsessed with hatred not only for Mordecai, but
for the whole Jewish population. Haman did not know that Esther was Jewish.
Eventually Haman persuaded King Ahasuerus to conduct a nation-wide
pogrom against the Jewish people. This would have gone ahead had not Mordecia
suggested a way that Esther could save her people. It was a dangerous plan but
it worked, and Haman was defeated and hanged on the very gallows he had erected
for Mordecai - as were his ten sons.
Mordecai became the king's chief minister, and the events are
celebrated each year at the festival of Purim.
JOSEPH OF NAZARETH
Joseph of Nazareth was an unlikely hero, an ordinary man from an
obscure village in rural Galilee. He could
never have guessed how many millions of people would know about his life and
speak of him with respect and affection.
He remains the model of the ideal husband and father - though
given the time and place, it cannot have been easy for him. He lived in a
society that demanded virginity in a bride, and yet he was prepared to marry a
girl who was already with child, a child whom he knew was not his. Someone who
is never mentioned in the story is Joseph's mother: being a traditional Jewish
mother, one wonders what she said about Joseph's marriage to Mary, a girl who was clearly
no longer a virgin.
Joseph
believed in his dreams, but perhaps family disapproval was also part of the
reason that Joseph took his wife and child and moved to Egypt for a
time. Perhaps there was also more work there.
But when he
returned he settled down in Nazareth
to supporting and looking after his little family. He may have found work at
the nearby town of Sepphoris,
which was being rebuilt by the ruler of the area, Herod Antipas. If
that was so, he probably took the boy Jesus along to learn
the trade of carpentry/building.
Nothing is
known of his later life or eventual death, but he has been revered through the
centuries for the quiet devotion he showed to Mary and Jesus, and has been seen
as a role model for husbands and fathers everywhere.
PAUL
Paul
was a fierce, passionate man. His dominant characteristic must have been
courage, both intellectual and physical, since he never hesitated to stand up
for his beliefs, no matter who or what opposed him. It is because of his
dedication that Christianity found a foothold in the ancient world and
eventually grow into a religion that changed the world.
Paul never met Jesus face to
face, but he believed he had seen Jesus in a vision (see right), and so knew
his Savior at a deeper, truer level. This idea, that Jesus was Savior, took
hold of Paul, so that he saw it as an overpowering mission to tell other people
about Jesus.
Paul
was a doer, and an organizer, and he travelled around from city to city,
talking to whomever would listen. The people he talked to were not always
hospitable to Paul's new ideas, and he often ended up in trouble - serious
trouble. But he also had an growing band of followers and supporters, and he
did not allow himself to be dispirited by setbacks.
His
novel idea was that Jesus had come not just to the Jewish people, but to
everyone, or every social level, religious background or nationality. This
meant he clashed with the more traditionally-minded Jerusalem Christians, and
on several occasions Paul was arrested and imprisoned. None of this fazed him.
Paul was a man with a vision of how the world could be, and he gave his life to
making this vision come true.
