Jacob’s eleven sons and daughter Dinah are all born while he works for his uncle Laban. After twenty years, God sends Jacob and his family back to Canaan. This is where Jacob’s twelfth and final son, Benjamin, is born. His arrival marks a bittersweet moment, however, for Jacob’s beloved wife Rachel dies during childbirth. In […]
Levi is the third son of Jacob and Leah. Scripture shares only one story about Levi, an account of something he and his brother Simeon do. Their younger sister Dinah is raped by Shechem, who then wants to marry her. When Jacob hears of this, he does nothing, for his sons are out in the […]
After Paul and Silas’s encounter with Lydia, the fortune-teller, and the jailer, they leave Philippi and head for Thessalonica. As is Paul’s practice, he heads to the local synagogue. For three Sabbaths, he tells the Jews about Jesus. Some decide to follow Jesus, including some God-fearing Greeks and women of influence. But as is the […]
After the Jewish leaders martyr Stephen for his faith, the Pharisee Saul goes on a rampage. He seeks to arrest Jesus’s followers and threatens to kill them. To avoid persecution, Jesus’s squad scatters. Saul chases them. He goes to Damascus with authorization to seek out people who follow Jesus, both men and women, and drag […]
The day after Jesus calls Peter and Andrew to follow him, Jesus sees Philip and tells him to “follow me.” Then Philip goes and finds his buddy, Nathanael, and tells him about Jesus. The next time we see Philip is at the miracle feeding of 5,000 men (plus women and children), and then he’s in […]
Andrew, another of Jesus’s disciples, is Peter’s brother, presumably his younger brother. They’re fishermen. When Jesus asks them to be his disciples, he tells them that going forward, they’ll fish for people. While the Bible talks about Peter a lot, Andrew receives only a few mentions. And when his name does occur, it’s usually along […]
Two of Jesus’s disciples are James and John. Their mother comes to Jesus, making an audacious request for her boys. She asks that Jesus honor them by letting them sit on his right and his left in his kingdom. Jesus is direct. “You don’t realize what you’re asking.” Eventually he says only his Father can […]
We are One Through Jesus, Neither Male nor Female When God prompted me to write about the women in the Bible, I was excited and began work on it immediately. Much of my life, it seems, had brought me to the place to explore the amazing women found throughout the pages of Scripture. In short, […]
The church in Thyatira has a problem. It’s not a thing but a person. Her name is Jezebel. Though she calls herself a prophet, she misleads people. That makes her a bad prophet. She encourages the church to engage in immoral behavior and unholy actions. She even promotes what Jesus calls “Satan’s so-called deep secrets.” […]
John’s Second Letter In John’s second letter he writes to the chosen lady and her kids. Some people assume John is employing an intimate metaphor to reference the church (the chosen lady) and its members (her children). But this interpretation falls apart because the New Testament considers the people as the church, not as two […]