50 Bible People...or something like that

I am, as you probably know, at home this summer doing much of nothing. But recently, a job unexpectedly fell into my lap--the perfect job for right now. My uncle makes websites for people, and two random Christian guys--not even an organization--want to make a Christian website. My uncle described them as "one is pretty religious, and the other is a born-again-type." They want to have all sorts of resources and prayer cards on the website. And they also want a section for kids, with 50 people-from-the-Bible-you-should-know. Each of the 50 people will have a notecard size bio. My uncle said they were trying to think of someone who knew something about "youth religion", and he remembered me. So I got asked to choose the 50 people and write their bios! I was thrilled to be thought of, to have something to do that is so up my alley, and to even get paid for it!

Then I sat down to work on this project. Choosing 50 important people from the Bible proved difficult. First, there's the title issue--what do I title my Word document? I refuse to call them characters--they were real people. But 50 Bible People is pretty lacking. 50 People You Should Know, Who Happen to Be From the Bible? 50 People from the Hall of Faith? Everything sounds cheesy and like a storybook. I don't want these people to sound like made-up-characters. If you have any ideas, please, help me out. You don't want these people to be discredited, either, do you now?

After the title-not yet solidified-I started on the list. Of course I have to put the obvious people. My uncle said "you should probably start with Adam and Eve..." So they were the first two. And I couldn't leave out Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob...or Moses and David...or the typical kid favorites like Jonah and Daniel...had to put in Paul, and Mary the mother of Jesus...oh yeah, and Jesus himself. Why are these always the first people to come to mind, the case studies in Sunday School and VBS? Are they more important than the others, more faithful? Or just easier to tell stories about and put on a felt board? What does God think of me picking and choosing from among his saints? What about Ezra, Micah, Nicodemus, all the "no-name" people of the Bible? Should I put in Ahab or Samson or "bad" Bible people who displayed less admirable characteristics? Not many people think of Thomas, because he supposedly doubted so much. But Peter, who denied knowing Jesus, always makes the cut. And where on earth are all the ladies???

The last question was the easiest to solve. I am, I admit it, a feminist (of sorts). So I wanted to make a special point to put in women from the Bible. There's Eve, and Mary. Sarah, Rebecca, wives of the patriarchs. Also Ruth, Naomi, Esther, Mary Magdalene, Mary and Martha, Lydia who sells purple cloth, and Priscila married to Aquila. Those women are fairly admirable (minus the foreigners, demon-possessed, and house-work-obsessed traits). Then we move on to Rachel and Leah, who fought over everything from who would sleep with Jacob to their sons' mandrakes (mandrakes?! I thought those were only in Harry Potter...)...not to mention that Rachel stole her father's gold. Rahab was a prostitute, Bathsheba was an adulterer, and Tamar masqueraded as a prostitute in order to commit incest and keep the family line going--nice list of role models for my little girls. And those last three women are all in the ancestry of Jesus! Though the men are just as sketchy, the minimal mention of women in the Bible makes them look incredibly racy. The only five women mentioned in Jesus' ancestry are Tamar, Rabab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary: incest, prostitution, lies, adultery, foreign blood, and a pristine virgin. How exactly did Mary make it in?

So my list of women came together quickly, though I had to decide who to omit in order to keep the website G-rated. See you later, Tamar...for more on her, we have to read Francine Rivers. http://www.amazon.com/Unveiled-Unashamed-Unshaken-Unspoken-Bathsheba/dp/0842371109

I sound as if I am boasting about the failings and offenses of these women. And, to a certain extent, I am. I wish there were more of the pristine virgins, I really do. But how many girls and women actually have that life, or feel they could attain it? Women like Bathsheba, Rahab, even Tamar, are an incredible encouragement to me. They messed up. A lot. Even after they were included in the covenant community. But God welcomes in all...the foreigners, the outcasts of religious society, the sexually broken, the liars, the jealous, the overworked who believe they have no value apart from work, the ones who laugh at God's promises, those who don't really trust anyone, those who get plenty of hard knocks from life...all those, right along with the pristine girl, who, we rarely realize, feels guilty or has a secret no one knows. Mary fits right in with the rest of us. God chooses them, and uses them, and lets their names be placed in the lineage of the Messiah. So I am proud of these women. I claim their heritage as messed-up people who are redeemed, bought back for a ransom.

As for the men, I'm still working on them. :) A roughly chronological, rough draft list follows...
And let me know--who do you think of when you think of people from the Bible?

1. Adam
2. Eve
3. Abraham
4. Sarah
5. Noah
6. Isaac
7. Rebecca
8. Jacob
9. Rachel
10. Leah
11. Joseph
12. Moses
13. Aaron
14. Joshua
15. Rahab
16. Deborah
17. Ruth
18. Hannah
19. Samuel
20. Saul
21. David
22. Bathsheba
23. Jonathan
24. Solomon
25. Job
26. Elijah
27. Joash
28. Hosea
29. Jonah
30. Isaiah
31. Jeremiah
32. Esther
33. Daniel
34. Nehemiah
35. Ezra
36. Elizabeth
37. Mary the mother of Jesus
38. Jesus
39. John the Baptist
40. Nicodemus
41. Peter
42. John the beloved
43. Thomas
44. Andrew
45. Mary Magdalene
46. Mary
47. Martha
48. James the leader of Jerusalem church
49. Paul
50. Philip the evangelist
51. Stephen the Martyr
52. Luke the physician
53. Timothy
54. Lydia the seller of purple cloth
55. Priscilla