According to The Jewish Women’s Archive, Sarah is the “ancestress of all Israel.” She is the mother of the promised son, Isaac. It is important to recognize how God chooses to bring forth the promise through the womb of Sarah, which harkens back to the words of God spoken to Eve after the fall in Genesis 3. She was revered within the lineage of Jesus, because it was women God would choose to bring forth the fruit of divine promise. 

Yet her “barrenness,” according to Lisa F. Cunning, “is an archetype of the point where hopelessness meets hope.” She had lost hope that she would have a child, so she offered her servant, Hagar, to her husband, Abraham, as essentially a surrogate. At that point Sarah became despised in the eyes of Hagar, and “Sara[h] dealt harshly with her” (Genesis 16:6 NKJV) and placed the blame on Abraham in the previous verse, even though she had been the one to encourage this act. 

Naomi Steinberg, associate professor of religious studies at DePaul University, states that Hagar did not give consent to this decision, and this becomes an issue of “upper classes exploiting those with fewer options” (via U.S. News & World Report). Her choice in this moment becomes an origin for many of the problems within Israeli/Palestinian and Christian/Muslim conflicts seen today.

Isaac’s son Jacob would come to be known as the father of the 12 tribes of Israel named after his sons (Genesis 49:1-28 NKJV) and the only character in the Bible to wrestle with God or an angel of God (Genesis 32:22-32). Eventually these tribes would form the nation of Israel, which would divide and unite numerous times throughout history. It is not fully agreed upon within scholarship how these divisions came about or how consolidation took place, according to The Jewish Virtual Library. Yet it is this nation of people that becomes the people of God, the Hebrews, a central collective identity within the scope of the whole Bible. 

However, Jacob was far from a saint at any point in his life. He was overly controlled by his mother Rebekah, who viewed Jacob as her favorite son even though their oldest was Esau (via Herbert Lockyer). He was quite selfish even though he was faithful to God unlike Esau. He would not give Esau food without negotiating for Esau’s birthright, as well as stealing Esau’s blessing by falsely acting as his brother (at the behest of his mother) before a blind Isaac. According to Theology of Work Project, “Courageous and astute decisions that result in success may be rightly praised for their sheer effectiveness. But when profit comes at the expense of exploiting and deceiving others, something is wrong.” Jacob was often looking for the best way to exploit a situation. 

Aaron, Moses’ brother and spokesperson for most of their time in the wilderness, was the first priest along with his sons. He became another “type” of Christ, a version of a mediator Christ (via Herbert Lockyer). Aaron is the first physical representation of this reality, something that Jesus would perfectly fulfill in his own time. The image of mediation is significant within the scope of the Bible. According to International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, “it has reference to the method by which God and man are reconciled through the instrumentality of some intervening process, act or person, and especially through the atoning work of Jesus Christ.”

Yet Aaron mislead the people as a priest while Moses went up on Mt. Sinai to commune with God. The people grew impatient and started to grumble, so Aaron made a Golden calf for the people to worship. Aaron, the mediator between God and people and between Moses and the people, caused them to worship a false god, a god that was man-made, thereby causing the anger of Moses and God (Exodus 32 NKJV). 

King Solomon, the son of King David and Bathsheba, was given great wisdom by God due to his request in 1 Kings 3 for guidance in governing God’s people. He was a great judge and leader. “The Bible says that Israel grew prosperous under Solomon, and indeed there is evidence that the Levant was experiencing strong eco­nomic growth as regional trade increased in the region. Wealth poured into his treasury, allowing Solomon to fulfill God’s promise to David: to build a temple to house the Ark of the Covenant” (via National Geographic).

Yet Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines in his harem. These wives were probably not all for pleasure but a type of business transaction to gain land, resources, and more, notes the  Jewish Women’s Archive. Nonetheless, God spelled out clearly in Deuteronomy 17:17 that man should not have more than one wife. According to Herbert Lockyer’s “All the Women of the Bible,” “[Solomon] loved many ‘strange women, that is, women of different nationalities, apart from Israel. … His wives turned his heart toward other gods, and because of his idolatry accruing from such a strong female influence, God said that at his death He would rend Solomon’s magnificent kingdom in two.” Not to mention his devotion or care for any one of the 1,000 women was probably nonexistent at best. His drive for power and greed overcame his faithfulness to God and respect for others.

Like Elisha, Jonah was called by God to be a prophet to Ninevah. He was one of the many prophets to have their own book, and it is perhaps one of the most memorable stories of all of the biblical prophets. Jonah being in the belly of a fish for three days and three nights is itself an allusion to Jesus being in the tomb for three days and three nights, notes Christianity.com. However, Jonah is known for being the reluctant prophet even though he maintains the esteem that comes with being a prophet of God. 

Robin Payne from the Expository Times maintains that Jonah becomes a caricature of a prophet in that he runs away from his calling to preach and warn the people of Ninevah of God’s judgment. When he prays he is praying for himself and not others. He is deeply self-centered and actively wants Ninevah to be destroyed. Yet, according to 2 Kings in the Bible, Jonah did preach the words to other people and places. According to the Matthew Henry Commentary, it “is recorded chiefly for the sake of Christ, of whom Jonah was a type; it contains also very remarkable instances of human infirmity in Jonah, and of God’s mercy both in pardoning repenting sinners, witness Nineveh, and in bearing with repining saints, witness Jonah.”

Paul, once called Saul, became the central author of most of the New Testament epistles and remains one of the most influential saints of the universal Christian church. His theological connections and reflections continue to give anew to followers of Jesus throughout history and even today. Yet Paul was notoriously self-reflective and self-deprecating about what he did before his major conversion on the road to Damascus (Acts 9 NKJV). 

The Catholic Exchange puts Paul’s acts prior to conversion this way: “Saul, a young Pharisee consumed by zeal, pursued a program to purge Jerusalem — and every Jewish community — of any trace of Jesus’ teaching or influence.” Similarly, Herbert Lockyer describes Paul this way: “Enthusiastically Paul endeavored to stamp out the Christian faith. There is no evidence, however, that he himself killed anyone.” While it wasn’t violent persecution of the Christian church, he had a clear disdain for the followers of Jesus, which makes his conversion all the more surprising and his legacy even more intriguing. Few characters in the Bible show the mercy of God more effectively.