Knowing characters in the Bible

[Martin]

Has anyone done any in depth study of Old Testament characters?
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[Sarah]

I’m doing some Bible study at the moment and have realized how little I know about the main characters in the Bible. I’ve found out about Isaiah and this is what I’ve found.

He is not mentioned anywhere outside the Bible, and although he is referred to in the books of Kings and Chronicles, it is only in material which is duplicated in his book. So effectively all we have to go on is contained in the one book - Isaiah.

From that book, we can suppose that he lived in Jerusalem; although of course other places are mentioned, Jerusalem is the only place where Isaiah himself is said to have been present (e.g. in the narratives in chapters 6-8, 20, and 36-39). What is more, he seems to have had easy access to the royal court (see especially chapter 7), and to be well informed about the affairs of state. It is therefore generally assumed that he came from a family that would have been included in the ruling classes; whether he was in fact related to the royal family in some way is possible, though entirely unknown.
From the way he writes we can see that he was well educated in the best traditions of the time. It is not just his fine use of language which impresses, but also the way that he incorporates insights from the distilled wisdom of the Israelite people. It is probable that such material will have formed an important part of the national curriculum of the time. Only a few families, whose children were destined to follow their fathers into the court bureaucracy or other positions of responsibility, will have received a formal education, including learning to read and write. It looks very much as though Isaiah should be included among them.

Interesting hey – certainly knowing this now will change my reading of Isaiah. That’s what I like about Bible Study so much.

[Rachel Chown]

Well I don't know if it's in-depth, but I've certainly read the book of Ruth many times. I'm intrigued by the story, as it's something no-one would have dreamt up to include in the Bible, apart from God's Holy Spirit!

I've found it interesting the way that God uses someone like Naomi. Interesting that it's Naomi's friends who give Obed (Ruth and Boaz's son) his name. As if they don't want her to make the same mistake as with her two sons, whose names have negative meanings (I think one of them is 'ailing').

This reply comes a long while after the original 'post' - hope it's still relevant!!