What do you know about these characters from the bible?

Question

Herod
Adam
Nimrod
Joseph
Maria
Lazarus
Barabas
King David
Solomon
Nabuchodonosor
The magician in Paul's letters
Alexander the Great

Answer 1

Here are a few comments:
Herod: name of a family of kings ruling over Jerusalem and Israel during Roman times. There were several named "Herod", such as Herod Agrippa, and so on. You could go to http://www.ccel.org to search for Herod and you'll find lots of references. Ditto for http:www.blueletterbible.org for more of the same. Bottom line, there was more than one Herod so you would need to sift through this carefully.

Adam: the first human being and the only one made directly from the dust of the earth. You can read about him in the first chapters of Genesis, or the computer searches listed.

Nimrod: great-grandson of Noah, also in Genesis. According to Alexander Hislop's book, "The Two Babylons", Nimrod's name means "we will rebel". Humorously, there was a leading figure in early American life who named his horse, Nimrod (Aaron Burr, Sr., from Elizabeth Dodd's book about Jonathan Edwards, "Marriage to a Difficult Man")!

There were several men named Joseph. One, and the earliest I find record of, was the son of Jacob. You can read about him in Genesis, too. There was another, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a secret disciple of Jesus. The third was the earthly foster father of The Lord Jesus Christ. Of course, Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, and had no human father, but Joseph had the greatest challenge in history: taking care of the Son of God!

No one named "Maria" is in the Bible. But there were several named Mary, too many to list here! You would get a better list from ccel or blueletterbible. The most important Mary was the mother of Jesus!

Lazarus: a friend of Jesus who died, but later came back to life when Jesus raised him from the dead. See John 11.

Barabbas: not much is known about him except that he was a criminal. He was going to be crucified, but the people demanded Barabbas be released and Jesus to be crucified.

King David: a lot of material in the Old Testament. One of Israel's greatest kings. He did a lot of good, but committed several sins, one of the worst being his affair with Bathsheba, another man's wife. God forgave him, though, and David went to be with God when his earthly life ended.

Solomon: one of David's sons, and the one selected to reign in David's place. He was the wisest man in human history, but he too made some big mistakes.

Nebuchadnezzar: a king of Babylon (and you should have seen my first few attempts to spell his name, too!) He was the king who conquered Jerusalem about 588 B.C. The Book of Daniel has many references to him.

Nebuzaradan (not in your list, but some confuse him with the other Nebu-fellow!) was a high-ranking officer in Babylon's army. He was very gracious and kind to Jeremiah and others after the fall of Jerusalem.

The magician in Paul's letters--I don't know to whom you're referring. There were indeed two magicians mentioned by name in the book of Acts: one was named Simon, in Acts 8, but Paul didn't have anything to do with him; and there was another named Elymas or Bar-Jesus in Acts 13. Read the chapter and see what happened.

Alexander the Great isn't mentioned by name in the Bible at all. He lived after the Old Testament was complete. But some think the book of Daniel has prophecy about him (chapter 8 of Daniel, for one thing). There is also a tradition, and nobody can say how reliable that is, that when Alexander came to Jerusalem, the leaders and maybe the priests, too, came out to meet him and showed him a passage from the Book of Daniel that they felt applied to Alexander. He was so impressed that he let the Jewish people alone!

You asked about a lot of people, so it does take a while to provide the info I think you're looking for. One thing that will help a lot--it did for me!--is a good Bible dictionary, and maybe a church history book too. Thanks for asking, glad to help, and I wish you and all of yours a wonderful Christmas!

Answer 2

I'm new at being Christian so I might not get all these right... The ones I flat out don't know yet, I'm leaving as is....

Herod- King threatened by the coming Messiah
Adam- First man, expelled from Eden
Nimrod- Strong warrior?
Joseph- a) Jesus's earthly "father" or b) the beautiful coat-guy who was sold into slavery by his brothers
Lazarus- raised from the dead by Jesus
Barabas- convict freed instead of Jesus
King David- wrote a lot of Psalms
Solomon- wise and wrote a lot of proverbs
Alexander the Great- was, um, Great..... I can't remember what role he played in the Bible

As for Maria (unless you mean Mary), Nabuchodonosor, and the magician, don't know. Sorry.

EDIT: Thanks Ms Sta!! :) I couldn't think of how else to put it!!

Answer 3

Sometimes, letting go seems like the easiest thing to do. But think about this: you've invested so much of your time and energy into another person; you've made a solemn promise; and you still know there's love, even if it's hiding underneath the surface. This website will show you how to save a marriage and avoid divorce, even if you're the only one trying https://tr.im/Hh72O

Answer 4

Jael Heber's wife. Judges 4:19-21

Answer 5

EDIT

1. Alexander the Great, son of Philip II of Macedonia and his wife Olympias, born at Pella in 356 B.C.E. Although not mentioned by name in the Bible, his rule of the fifth world empire was foretold two centuries before his birth.—Da 8:5-7, 20, 21.

In his early 20’s, two years after ascending the throne following the assassination of his father, Alexander set out to conquer the world. (Da 8:5) This dashing young military strategist deployed his comparatively small army in deep-ranked phalanx formation, a tactic that was introduced by his father and that Alexander developed to a high degree of efficiency.

Instead of pursuing the fleeing Persians after two decisive victories in Asia Minor (the first at the Granicus River; the second on the Plain of Issus, where a great Persian army estimated at half a million met utter defeat), Alexander turned his attention to the island city of Tyre. Centuries earlier it had been foretold that the walls, towers, houses, and the very dust of Tyre would be pitched into the sea. (Eze 26:4, 12) It is, therefore, quite significant that Alexander took the rubble of the old mainland city destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar some years before and built with it an 800-m (0.5 mi) causeway out to the island city. The pounding by his navy and engines of war destroyed that proud mistress of the sea in July 332 B.C.E.

Jerusalem, on the other hand, opened its gates in surrender, and according to Josephus (Jewish Antiquities, XI, 337 [viii, 5]), Alexander was shown the book of Daniel’s prophecy, presumably chapter 8, where a mighty Greek king would subdue and conquer the Persian Empire. Thereupon, Alexander spared Jerusalem and pushed S into Egypt, where he was greeted as a deliverer. There he founded the city of Alexandria, the seat of learning where the Greek Septuagint was made. Looking eastward, Alexander returned from Egypt through Palestine, and with 47,000 men, overpowered a reorganized Persian army of 1,000,000 near Gaugamela. In quick succession Darius III was murdered by onetime friends, Babylon surrendered, and Alexander pushed on to secure Susa and Persepolis. From there he continued his campaign into India before looking westward again.

Answer 6

Are we playing which one doesn't belong?
Whats Alexander doing in there?
Or did I miss that chapter....lol

-and i'm still laughing over Joseph - the beautiful coat guy.....that was cute !

Answer 7

Probably all fictitious...not necessarily the persons, but the context that they are in. I say this because the bible is not a credible secondary, primary, or anything source. It is incredibly biased.

Answer 8

Whoa! You ought to go to a lecture series.

Answer 9

You spelled Nebuchadnezzar wrong.

Answer 10

Somewhat, why?