The Bible is a collection of the accounts of many people who lived in various places at different times with varying outcomes. This article explores some Old Testament characters who have contributed significantly to the biblical story of salvation and human history.
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1. God
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1).
The Christian God is called Yahweh. He is the chief biblical character, the glue holding other Bible characters together. He is singled out as the creator and sustainer of the universe and everything in it. The unseen cause has divine attributes that set Him apart. God’s call to all human beings is to worship him alone.
The patriarchs
2. Adam
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,Then the Lord God formed a manAdam was the first man God created. God would later give him a wife called Even, and they lived in the Garden of Eden. When they ate from the forbidden fruit, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, sin came to the world through them. They had two sons, Cain and Abel.
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This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God (Genesis 6:9).
Noah lived when there was a population explosion and increased wickedness. God gave man 120 years to repent, but when they didn’t, He set to annihilate the then-world.
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Noah, a righteous and blameless man, obeyed God and built an ark, which God used to save him, his family, and two of every creature from the foods that destroyed the world. Afterward, God used him to repopulate the human race.
4. Abraham
Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6).
No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations (Genesis 17:5).
Abraham is one of the main characters. He is mainly known for obeying God by leaving his native land -the Ur of the Chaldeans- and moving to the promised land. This earned him the title of the father of faith.
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God honors him for his obedience and promises him many descendants, earning him another title: father of many nations. He waited long for a child and eventually got his first son, Ishmael, with the servant girl Hagar. Later, God gave him a second son, a child of promise called Isaac.
5. Isaac
Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him.Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him (Genesis 21:1-3).
Isaac was a product of God’s promise to Abraham’s wife, Sarah, and the patriarch Abraham. The son of Abraham married Rebekah, and they had two sons, Esau and Jacob, who are also notable Old Testament characters. God instructed Abraham to offer Isaac as a sacrifice to test his faith.
6. Jacob
The biblical figure Jacob had twelve sons.
The sons of Leah: Reuben the firstborn of Jacob, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulun. The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. The sons of Rachel’s servant Bilhah: Dan and Naphtali. The sons of Leah’s servant Zilpah: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan Aram (Genesis 35:23-26).
Jacob was the son of Isaac. He is known for stealing his brother Esau’s birthright, an account that teaches us many Bible lessons.
More significantly, he had 12 sons who became the founders of the tribes of Israel, making him the father of the nation of Israel. These founders became key figures in the Biblical narrative and shaped the history of the world, which spilled to the New Testament and our lives today.
7. Joseph
But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God?You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them (Genesis 50:19-21).
Joseph, a favorite son of Jacob, was set up for greatness. From an early age, his star began to shine. Jealous of him, his older brothers sold him to slavery in Egypt. The change of location did not dim his light.
God’s favor was upon him, and he later became the second in command in the foreign. Later, he would reunite with his family and save them from imminent starvation. His tribulations were part of God’s plan to save Israel.
Lawgivers
8. Moses
The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.” (Exodus 24:12)
Moses holds a unique position in the Old Testament as a mediator. That is, he transmitted God’s law to God’s people. God called him up to Sinai and gave him the Ten Commandments, which he gave to the Israelites.
Many miracles also characterized Moses’ leadership. God used him to perform many miracles, like the Ten Plagues, partying the Red Sea, bringing manna, getting water from a rock, etc., to show His power.
9. Aaron
Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you. You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him (Exodus 4:14-16).
Aaron was Moses’ brother and the first high priest of the nation of Israel. He was essential in Moses’ leadership as a spokesperson and an assistant. His undoing was that he was a people pleaser and let the Israelites indulge in idolatry when Moses tarried with God during one of his visits to Sinai.
10. Joshua
After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites (Joshua 1:1-2).
At the time of his call, Joshua was a young man who feared God and served him by assisting Moses. We see him accompany Moses on some of his Sinai visits and remain in God’s presence long after others have left. God tagged him as Moses’ successor, who ultimately led the children of Israel into the promised land.
Kings and Judges
11. Saul
They ran and brought him out, and as he stood among the people he was a head taller than any of the others. Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the man the Lord has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people.” Then the people shouted, “Long live the king!” (1 Samuel 10:23-24).
Saul was the first king of Israel. As the first king, he had all the opportunities to set a good precedent but failed terribly. He started well but faltered later on in his reign. King Saul committed two grave sins that made God reject him and cost him the kingdom.
That is, he grew impatient and offered a sacrifice instead of waiting for the prophet of God, Samuel, and partially obeyed the command to destroy Ammalek.
12. David
But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.” (1 Samuel 13:14)
King David was one of the most prominent Old Testament characters. Despite King Saul’s opposition and schemes, he ascended the throne as the second king of Israel. He was one of the most consequential kings in the ancient past. He conquered his enemies and established Jerusalem as a significant capital.
Perhaps his most notable act was the killing of Goliath, a fete that earned him much recognition and a royal marriage with Michal. Besides this great man’s wife, Michal, David had many wives in his harem.
David was not a perfect man, but he loved God—so much that he would repent quickly whenever he sinned and make things right with God. This earned him the title of a man after God’s own heart.
13. Solomon
The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this.So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice,I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be.Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both wealth and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings (1 Kings 3:10-13).
Solomon was the son of David, born with Bathsheba, the woman she had taken from Uriah. He is known mainly for his wisdom. At the start of his rule, God asked him what he wanted. Of all the things he could have asked for, Solomon asked for wisdom.
God gave him vast wisdom (and wealth), so incredible that rulers of other countries would come to check him out. His undoing, however, was the many wives, including foreign women he married, who derailed him from God’s ways.
Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him.He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him (1 Kings 17:30-31).
Ahab and his wife Jezebel did evil in Israel and championed Baal worship. The epitome was snatching Naboth’s vineyard and plotting his killing. They died miserable deaths, an anticlimax of their stature in Israel.
Prophets
Another significant cadre of Old Testament characters are the prophets (major and minor). Let’s examine some major and minor prophets.
15. Elijah
Get two bulls for us. Let Baal’s prophets choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it.Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire—he is God.” Then all the people said, “What you say is good. (1 Kings 18:23-24)
Elijah boldly and fiercely defended Yahweh in his time, culminating in the contest at Mount Carmel, where he faced off with the prophets of Baal. Yahweh answered by fire, exposing Baal’s powerlessness. God worked great miracles through him. Notably, he is one of the few human beings who did not die. God took him to heaven in a chariot of fire.
16. Elisha
When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?” “Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,” Elisha replied.“You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah said, “yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours—otherwise, it will not.” (2 Kings 2:9-10)
Elijah succeeded Elijah and continued the legacy of fidelity to the worship of Yahweh. He continued in the miraculous and did great exploits for God, the most notable being the healing of Naaman and raising the dead.
If you do a close Bible study, it is said he did many more miracles than Elijah, which shows he received the double portion of anointing he asked of Elijah before God took him to heaven.
17. Jeremiah
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11).
Jeremiah was one of the major prophets in the Hebrew Bible. He prophesied passionately about Jerusalem’s fall due to its sinful tendencies, earning him the title of the weeping prophet for his constant grief over the impending fall. He also offered hope that the Israelites would eventually return to the promised land.
18. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter.If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve can deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” (Daniel 3:16-18)
The trio are significant Old Testament characters usually mentioned together because of a bold faith that brought them together. King Nebuchadnezzar made a golden idol and instructed everyone to bow and worship it. Anyone who defied would be thrown in a fiery furnace.
The three Hebrew boys would not comply because they worshipped God alone. As warned, the king had them thrown in the fire. Miraculously, the fire did not consume them. Instead, a fourth man appeared in the fiery furnace with them. It ended up pointing the king and his people to Yahweh.
19. Jonah
The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” (Jonah 1:1-2)
God sent Jonah to Nineveh to warn them of impending judgment. Unwilling to see the cruel Assyrians saved, he took another direction to Harshish. God sent a big fish that swallowed him and delivered him on the shores of Nineveh. When he warned them, they repented, and there was a great revival in Nineveh. Jesus Christ used this story to illustrate his death and resurrection.
Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living (Genesis 3:20).
Eve was the first woman on the earth. God created her as Adam’s helper, and together they bore Cain, Abel, and later Seth, through whom she became the mother of all living things.
21. Sarah
Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” (Genesis 18:13-14)
Abraham and his wife Sarah were bearers of God’s promise. When God called Abraham, by extension, Sarah was part of the call. She waited alongside Abraham for the promise of a son despite being barren.
Though she faltered and attempted to help God by seeking to get a child through Hagar and, at some point, laughed at the promise, she lived to see the promise. So, just as Abraham was the father of many nations, we can safely say she was the mother of many nations.
22. Ruth
But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” (Ruth 1:16-17)
The matriarch Ruth stands out among Old Testament characters. She was the great-grandmother of Jesus. She stuck with his mother-in-law, Naomi, through whom she met Boaz. They bore Obed, King David’s grandfather. This secured her place in Jesus Christ’s genealogy.
23. Deborah
Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time (Judges 4:4)
Deborah stands out as a brave warrior who ruled Israel after Eliud. She led a charge against Sisera, Jabin’s commander.
24. Esther
Now the king was attracted to Esther more than to any of the other women, and she won his favor and approval more than any of the other virgins. So he set a royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti (Esther 2:17)
As we conclude our biblical character studies, let’s consider Esther. The Bible verses show that she rose to queenship when Vashti absconded her duties. Queen Esther is mainly known for her role in saving her people, the Jews, when Haman plotted to destroy them.
Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. “Go, look over the land,” he said, “especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there (Joshua 2:1)
A close look at the entire Bible shows many role models. Unlike many women in the Bible who lived seemingly remarkable lives, Rahab was a prostitute. Yet she acted in faith and helped the spies Joshua had sent. This act saved her and her family. She went on to feature in Jesus’ genealogy. Her story is an epitome of grace.
Kendrick Ong'anya is a freelance Christian writer based in Nairobi, Kenya. As a believer in Christ, he is passionate about writing Christian content to deepen believers' faith, even while drawing those who are yet to believe into the fold. He is open to collaborating with individuals and organisations to curate blog posts, articles, devotionals, prayer guides, verse/ chapter commentary, and e-books, among other Christian content. You can follow Kendrick on Facebook.
