Knowledge Library

Biblical People

The men and women of Scripture, told from the passages that carry them.

Scripture first

Hebrews 11:39-40 · Romans 15:4

Whatever was written before was written for our learning. The lives in Scripture are recorded neither as heroes to copy nor as curiosities, but as part of one story that reaches its end in Christ.

What this shelf holds

  • Named people traced through every passage that mentions them, with their place in the story of promise.
  • Genealogy and family line where the Bible makes it matter.

How to use it

  • Read the whole arc before drawing a lesson. Scripture reports failure in its best people without excusing it.
  • Ask what God is doing in the life, not only what the person did.

What this cannot settle

Where Scripture is silent about motive or later life, we say so. Filling the silence with a plausible story is the oldest way to lose the text.

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5 entries on these shelves

Reference works

Each of these is named so you can open it and check us. Each carries what it is good for and what it cannot decide.

Every entry below is labelled with the kind of evidence it is, so a lexicon is never mistaken for the text and a commentary is never mistaken for a conclusion Scripture has drawn.

  • Easton's Bible Dictionary

    Scholarly referenceSupports the text, never settles it · Matthew George Easton, 1893 · Public domain

    Short entries on nearly every name, place, object and term in the English Bible.

    Use forA quick, sober orientation to a word or name before you go back to the passage.

    CautionWritten for readers of a century ago. Its geography and dating have been overtaken in places by later excavation, and its theological asides are Reformed and nineteenth century, not neutral.

  • Smith's Bible Dictionary

    Scholarly referenceSupports the text, never settles it · William Smith, 1863 · Public domain

    Fuller entries than Easton, with the biblical references gathered under each heading.

    Use forSeeing every passage that mentions a person, place or practice in one list.

    CautionIts identifications of sites and its chronology predate modern archaeology and should not be quoted as settled.

  • Antiquities of the Jews and The Wars of the Jews

    Historical and cultural backgroundSupports the text, never settles it · Flavius Josephus, translated by William Whiston, First century, translation 1737 · Primary source

    Jewish history from creation to the fall of Jerusalem, by a participant in the war.

    Use forNamed rulers, buildings, movements and events that touch the biblical record.

    CautionJosephus writes for Roman patrons and for his own reputation. He inflates numbers, flatters where it serves him, and is not an inspired witness.

  • International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

    Scholarly referenceSupports the text, never settles it · James Orr, editor, 1915 · Public domain

    Long, signed articles on books, doctrines, peoples, languages and customs.

    Use forWorking through a subject at length when a dictionary entry is too thin.

    CautionArticles differ in quality and outlook because they have different authors. Where one contributor states a critical theory, that is his judgement, not a finding.

Back to Scripture

The order of authority

Scripture · Biblical cross references · Original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek · Historical, cultural, geographical and archaeological background · Trusted biblical reference works · Explanation and application

Read how Audela weighs each rung

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