Bible Characters

Abraham lived over 3,000 years ago. He was married to Sarah, and is often thought of as the Father of all Jewish people. He was a man of great faith. God asked him to leave his home and travel hundreds of miles away to a new home. When he started the journey he didn’t know where he was going but he trusted God to lead him.

On another occasion, he was asked to choose between his love for his son and obedience to God. He chose to obey God even though it meant his son could be killed. At the last minute his son was saved! Abraham was happy because he had obeyed God and kept his son safe – his faith was rewarded. It was especially hard because his son was a fantastic gift from God in the first place.

Sarah did not think she would be able to have children because she was very old but, amazingly, even though people thought it was impossible, she did have a baby. The thought of having a little baby even though she was an old lady amused her so much that the boy was called Isaac – which means ‘laughter’.

Abraham had so much courage and faith that even many years later he had a special place in people’s hearts. In James 2:23, which is a book in the New Testament part of the Bible we read these words, “And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: ‘Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.’ He was even called the friend of God.” (New Living Translation)

Joseph’s parents were called Jacob and Rachel. They had many children but Joseph was the one like liked best.

Joseph was given a really nice coat by his dad, but it made his brothers jealous! They tried to get rid of him and he ended up in another country. After a few adventures – including being thrown into prison for something he didn’t do! – he got a job working for the King (Pharaoh) because he was able to explain what some very strange dreams the King was having meant. Genesis 41:39 says, “Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has revealed the meaning of the dreams to you, clearly no one else is as intelligent or wise as you are.”” (New Living Translation)

Joseph was wise and brave, he helped the whole country get ready for a time when there was very little food. God had put him in the right place, at the right time. He ended up helping his own brothers – even though they had not been very nice to him.

His brothers didn’t have any food in their own country either; so they came to see if Egypt, where Joseph was, had any food to share with them. Joseph had grown up so much that they didn’t know who he was… and they would never have imagined that he would be the Prime Minister! He could have had them thrown out of the country or sent to jail, but instead he invited the whole family to move to Egypt. This meant that they would never have to worry about not having enough food again.

Joseph had a strong faith in God. A number of people tried to harm him but God always turned it round and brought good out of it. Joseph trusted God even when nothing seemed to go right. And when he had the chance to hurt people who had hurt him – he did the right thing!

Moses was born well over a thousand years before Jesus arrived. When he was three months old he was put into a waterproof basket on the River Nile so that he would not be harmed. Moses was a Jew, and the king of Egypt wanted to stop the Jewish nation from growing too large and powerful – so he ordered all the Jewish baby boys to be killed! God kept Moses safe, and even arranged for the king’s daughter to find Moses on the river and bring him up as her own child.

We can read about Moses in Acts 7:20-22, “At that time Moses was born – a beautiful child in God’s eyes. His parents cared for him at home for three months. When they had to abandon him, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and raised him as her own son. Moses was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful both in speech and action.” (New Living Translation)

When Moses grew up he lived in the palace, but was very sad because his people (the Jews) were treated like slaves. He had to run away when he killed an Egyptian slave-master, and lived in the Midian desert for 40 years. This gave him plenty of time to get married and start a family!

One day God spoke to him from a bush that seemed to be on fire… and sent him right back to Egypt to help set his people free. Unfortunately, the king did not want to let God’s people go, and so many terrible things (called ‘the 10 plagues’) happened to the Egyptian people before the king finally gave in. Moses led the Israelites, which is another name for the Jews, out into the desert – they were not slaves any more – they were free!

Moses did not really want the job of setting his people free. He didn’t think he was a very good speaker, he was afraid of the king, and he generally worried about not being up to the challenge. God had to keep reminding him that He was more powerful than any king and would help Moses do the job he had asked him to do!

Ruth was born in Moab, a country just across the Dead Sea from where the Jews lived. Her husband died and she decided to go back to Israel with her mother-in-law, Naomi, who had also lost her husband.

It was a brave thing to do – leaving the place of your birth – going to a place where the customs and people would be very different to what you had grown up with. But Ruth had seen something special in Naomi – her belief and trust in God. She did not want to lose this opportunity to find out more about Naomi’s faith, so went back with her to Israel. Ruth has a whole book in the Old Testament named after her and in Ruth 1:16 we read, “Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people shall be my people, and your God will be my God.” (New Living Translation)

Back in Israel, these two women were very poor and struggled to feed themselves. Ruth got some food by harvesting at the edges of fields after the farmers had cleared the main ground. One of the farmers, Boaz, was really kind and invited Ruth to come back to his fields whenever she wanted. He even told his helpers to drop extra bits of grain on purpose, so she could collect as much as she needed.

Boaz was very impressed with Ruth. No doubt he liked the look of her, but he also really respected the way she had cared for Naomi; making sure that she was looked after in her old age. He was so attracted to her that he married her! He also made sure that Naomi had a good home as well.

Ruth’s love for God and her affection for Naomi had led her to risk everything she had known growing up. God blessed this, and provided her with a husband and then a son, Obed. Years later Obed also had a son, Jesse, who was the father of the most famous king Israel ever had – King David! Even more exciting, over 1,000 years later, Jesus was born in Bethlehem from the same family!

Before Saul came along the Jewish people were led by ‘judges’. They came to a point where they thought that they would prefer to be like other countries and have a king of their own. Samuel (the last ‘judge’) was told by God to find the right person to be king.

King Saul was chosen by Samuel. He was a tall, handsome man, who was a natural leader. He was humble enough to ask for advice, and strong enough to attract lots of people to follow his lead.

Saul was the first king of Israel. His reign started well but soon things began to go wrong. He was very jealous of a young man called David (who went on to become the next king!) and he forgot to obey God and his commands. His envy of David, his bad decisions, and the growing strength of his enemies, caused Saul to become depressed. His troubled mind made him ill and his ability to rule over Israel started to desert him. In 1 Samuel 15:11 we can read about how unhappy God was with Saul – this is what he said to Samuel about him, “I am grieved that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” (New Living Translation)

Saul even went so far as to try and have David killed, but David ran away. When the tables were turned and David had a chance to kill Saul – he wouldn’t do it. David knew it would be wrong to kill the king.

Saul’s life ended in a sad way – he was defeated by the Philistines, the sworn enemies of Israel. Saul was a man who started very well but, sadly, ended very badly indeed!

David started life as a shepherd-boy. He quickly grew into a brave teenager who protected his flock from hungry lions. His great skill with a catapult helped him defeat a giant called Goliath even when all the King’s soldiers were too scared to fight.

He was very musical, playing a harp, the nearest thing they had in those days to a guitar. He wrote poems and songs and some of them are still read and sung today! You can find them in an Old Testament book of the Bible called Psalms.

David was best friends with the King’s son Jonathan, even though the King didn’t like him, and was kind and respectful to the King (Saul) even when Saul attacked him!

Even though he was young and not very tall, God could see that on the inside he was bold and full of faith. So he was chosen to be the King of Israel.

When he became King he worked hard to make the country safe for his people by defeating their enemies. In 2 Samuel 8:15 in the Old Testament part of the Bible it says, “So David reigned over all Israel and did what was just and right for all his people.” (New Living Translation)

David’s family was quite big and – hundreds of years later – Jesus was born into David’s family.

David did a great deal of planning to build a temple to worship God. The project was completed by his son, Solomon, when he became King.

David made some big mistakes in his life, but he knew how to say sorry and put things right. He became the most famous King that Israel ever had!

Elijah was a prophet with a rugged look and a blunt way of speaking. He was never afraid to tell even kings and queens when he felt they were behaving badly! Sometimes this got him into trouble, but he always wanted to tell the truth.

One of the best known stories about Elijah happened when he challenged 450 false prophets to set fire to a bonfire without any matches! They couldn’t do it, but God answered Elijah’s prayer and his sacrifices (a bonfire with special meaning) burst into flame. The evil King Ahab and Queen Jezebel were angry because their false god had been defeated. You can find the story about Elijah and the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18.

I Kings 18:21 says, “Then Elijah stood in front of them (the prophets) and said, ‘How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!'”(New Living Translation)

Despite his bravery, Elijah could get very discouraged just like an ordinary person. Once, he ran away from all the stress of being a prophet! God had to remind him that he was not alone. God would never leave him and he had 7,000 friends he didn’t know about, who were still faithful to God.

Elijah also played a part in the lives of ordinary people, not just kings and queens and prophets. Once, when he was quite a long way from home, he helped feed a single mum and her child… even praying for the boy to be brought back to life when he had tragically died.

There was nothing boring about Elijah. Even the way he died was spectacular! God sent a chariot of fire, pulled by horses of fire, and Elijah disappeared in a blaze of flame and wind. An exciting life, brought to an end in an exciting way!

Elisha lived almost 3,000 years ago and became a prophet through Elijah, who asked him to become part of his ‘prophetic team’. A prophet is someone who God has asked to let people know what he is going to do in the future.

Elisha was especially blessed by God. No Old Testament character did more miracles, except Moses. Elijah was so impressed with the young Elisha that he thought Elisha would make twice as much impact on Israel as he had done! 2 Kings 2:15 tells us what some other prophets thought about Elisha, “Elijah’s spirit rests upon Elisha!” (New Living Translation)

Elisha is often confused with Elijah, because their names look and sound very similar. Also they did many of the same things – crossing the river Jordan on dry ground, feeding a widow, raising sons from the dead, telling kings to ‘get right with God’! But they were also different. Elisha seemed less likely to get discouraged, never complained nor ran away when the going got tough.

Elisha is probably most famous for healing a Syrian general called Naaman of a terrible skin condition. He asked him to wash seven times in the river Jordan as a test of his faith. Naaman thought this was a bit strange and decided to give up and go back home. Fortunately his servants persuaded him to give it a go – so he swallowed his pride and ducked under the water seven times. He was completely cured!

This incident led Naaman to a strong faith in God… and confirmed what a great prophet Elisha was. To the very end of his life, Elisha was doing God’s work. Nearly 1,000 years later, Jesus was still talking about Elisha and his amazing life of faith!

Esther was a girl that God used to help His people in a very special way. She was a Jew, living a very long way from home, in a country where the Jews were looked at with suspicion. She lived almost 500 years before Jesus was on earth, in Persia (the country we now call Iran.)

Esther didn’t have the easiest start to her life – she was an orphan who was raised by a kind uncle (Mordecai). He would have taught her about her place among God’s chosen people, the Jews, and all that used to happen in the temple, back in Jerusalem, when he was a boy. She grew up to be a beautiful young woman, with a good character and quick mind.

Esther and her uncle lived near the king’s palace, and her good looks caught the attention of the king’s advisors. They thought that she would make a good wife for the king. But she was in competition with many other girls, because whoever became the king’s wife also became queen. The king liked Esther better than anyone else, so she became the queen of the Persian empire!

Not long after this, one of the king’s advisors decided to make life very difficult for the Jewish people. No-one could approach the king to try to help them – except Esther. She was very scared because even the queen could not go to see the king without a special invitation; she could even have been killed for doing it!

But thousands of lives were at risk, so she plucked up the courage to go and see the king, to ask him to save the Jewish people. Her courage was rewarded! The king stopped the people from being killed, and punished the bad advisor who hated God’s people.

Queen Esther was in the right place, at the right time – put there by God – to save her people. In Esther 4:14, a book in the Old Testament, we read this about Esther, “Yet who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?” (New Living Translation)

An orphan girl who became queen, turned out to be one of the best heroes ever!

Jesus was born in Bethlehem, a few miles away from Jerusalem, the capital city of Israel. He grew up with Mary and Joseph as his parents, working as a carpenter in Joseph’s workshop. When he was about 30 years old he gathered together a team of friends who became known as his disciples and travelled around Israel, telling people about God’s love and doing amazing things – like making sick people better!

The political and religious leaders didn’t really like him, and tried to get rid of him. They made bad things up about him, gave him an unfair trial, and had him executed like a common criminal.

He died in his early thirties, less than ten miles from where he was born… but that was not the end of the story!

Jesus – The special one

In many ways, Jesus was just like any other Jewish person born a long time ago. He ate and drank, got tired after a hard day’s work, was sometimes tempted to do bad things (though he never gave in!) and slept like a log even in a boat on rough seas.

But in many other ways he was different. Angels sang when he was born and his mum was clear that his real father was God, not Joseph! Hundreds of sick people were made well – even a few dead people were brought back to life. Most people swam in the sea but Jesus showed he could walk on top of it!

His teaching was amazingly wise and millions of people are still following it 2,000 years later! He claimed to be the only way to discover what God was like.

Many of his friends thought he was so special they believed that not only was he a very wonderful human being… but actually God himself!

Jesus – What he said

Jesus was sometimes called ‘Rabbi’, which means teacher, because of the way he spoke about things which were important to people. He taught like someone who knew his subject well and really believed in what he was saying. Jesus often used ‘parables’, which are stories with a meaning, to get his message across. He could be funny, blunt and surprising – he was a brilliant communicator.

He often took ‘the kingdom of God’ as his theme. Jesus told those who would listen, that God wants what he says to affect every area of our lives. Our families, our attitudes, our priorities… nothing in our lives should be outside what God wants for us.

Jesus saved some of his strongest teaching for those who he felt were pretending – he hated it when people only wanted to look good to others! He saved some of his kindest words for those who were sad, sick and rejected.

His teaching still affects millions of people all over the world.

Jesus – At the end of his life

Two very important events took place at the end of Jesus’s life. He died as a criminal when he was executed by the Roman authorities… and three days later came back to life!

Christians celebrate these two events at Easter – Good Friday when he died, and Easter Sunday when he came back to life. Jesus’s death had a special purpose – he gave his life to show us how much God loves us.

Jesus died with two thieves, and was buried in a tomb borrowed from somebody else. His family and friends were very sad.

But, after three days of being dead, he came back to life again! Many people saw him alive – he was a real person, not a ghost. And he is still alive today! Making a difference in the lives of all those who love and trust him; those who have asked Jesus to become their friend.

Becoming a friend of Jesus!

Jesus is still changing people today – 2000 years after he lived on earth. His message of love and hope still gets people excited today, just as it did when he first told people how much God loves them. He had close friends when he was here – people like Peter, James and John – and many people have become friends with him since.

You can find out more about becoming a friend of Jesus by reading the Bible, going to church and talking to someone who is a friend of Jesus. Perhaps you could pray, which just means talking to Jesus, asking to be his friend, saying you are sorry for the wrong things you have done. Tell him you want to be his friend now and always.

Don’t worry about the fact that you can’t see him! You can’t see the air you breathe but it is real. In fact, Jesus is more real than anyone, or anything, else.

Mary was chosen by God to be the mother of Jesus. When she was a teenager, just about old enough to be married, she had a visit from an angel. This was God’s messenger, telling her that she was going to have a baby boy – and he would be God’s son! Mary was shocked and surprised, but wanted to please God so she agreed to this wonderful plan. In Luke 1:38 we can read what Mary said, “Mary responded ‘I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true’. And then the angel left her.” (New Living Translation)

She even managed to convince her husband-to-be (well, actually, an angel helped!) that this was a good idea. So she and Joseph stayed together and travelled down to Bethlehem to have the baby.

Sadly, all the hotels were full when they got there, but a kind man lent them his stable for the night. Jesus was born, and everyone was excited. Shepherds came in from the fields to say hello, the angels formed a choir to sing a welcome to Jesus, and later some rich men came from miles away to see the young boy! Mary was thrilled that the angel’s promise had come true. Jesus, God’s son, had arrived.

But not everyone was excited. King Herod was scared that baby Jesus would grow up and be an even more powerful king than he was – so he tried to find him and kill him! Mary and Joseph ran away to safety before the king could take his life.

Mary and Joseph did their best to raise Jesus in a good home, where he would learn all about the faith of his people, the Jews. Mary did not understand everything her son said and did during his life but she always loved him. She was present at his death, as she had been at his birth. Always a faithful mother.

Mary’s love and obedience to God have been an inspiration to millions of people all over the world.

Peter was one of the first people to become a friend of Jesus. He was a fisherman on the Sea of Galilee when he met Jesus. He was impetuous – which means sometimes he rushed into things (and said things) before thinking about them!

Peter was introduced to Jesus by his brother, Andrew. He followed Jesus around the country for three years. He saw Jesus do many miracles and heard him say some amazing things about life and God. He was in a little group of friends who were very special to Jesus. They became known as ‘the Apostles’. In Matthew 16:18 Jesus said these words to Peter, “Now I say that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.” (New Living Translation)

When Jesus went to heaven, Peter was given the job of ‘spokesman’ for the Friends of Jesus – he was a brave and strong leader. He helped many people to become Friends of Jesus.

Peter was a bold speaker; confident enough to talk to crowds of 3,000 people from all over the world. He made sick men and women better – just as he had seen Jesus doing. Not everyone liked what Peter and his friends were doing, but he would not stop even though bad people told him to be quiet, and tried to put him in prison. He wrote down some of what he learnt from Jesus and the two books which bear his name, 1 Peter and 2 Peter, appear towards the end of the Bible in the New Testament.

John was one of the twelve original friends of Jesus (sometimes called ‘the Disciples’). He came from a family that owned a fishing business on a lake in the northern part of Israel. Jesus saw him working as a fisherman and invited John and his brother to join him – this time ‘catching’ people not fish!

John was one of Jesus’ closest friends – along with Peter and James – and he got to share in some of the most important moments of Jesus’ life.

John wrote some of the books in the New Testament and passed on to us many of the things he had seen Jesus do and heard him say. We think he spent many of his later years on a Greek island called Patmos, and then died in the city of Ephesus in Turkey.

John was a leading figure among the early Friends of Jesus. But it took some time before he really understood the full meaning of the teaching of Jesus. When some people were slow to welcome Jesus, John was angry and only too quick to reject them. He also hoped Jesus would treat him better than the other disciples. Sometimes John could be selfish and quick-tempered!

But over time John came to understand that the message of Jesus was about putting other people first, and mostly about the importance of love. His books talk a lot about loving God and loving other people, so it seems as though he grew into a changed and better person.

John changed so much that when Jesus was dying he chose John to take care of his mother (Mary) when he was gone. A fiery fisherman became a close friend!

We read this about John in Acts 4: 13, “The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus.” (New Living Tanslation)

Paul was a really important person among the first Friends of Jesus. He wrote many books about being a Christian which are found in the Bible. He travelled all over the ancient world telling people about Jesus. No other person wrote more of the New Testament than Paul, told more people about Jesus, or started more churches!

But it wasn’t always like this. Paul began life called ‘Saul’. He hated the friends of Jesus, and did his best to stop them telling other people about Jesus. He got them thrown in jail and forced many to run away to other cities. One day he went after the Christians who had gone to Damascus, the capital of Syria. On the way he had an amazing experience – he was blinded by a bright light and heard a voice which told him that what he was doing was wrong, and where to find help. His life started again in a completely new way, and he gave himself a new name, Paul, to celebrate the fact that he had now become a friend of Jesus!

After this there was no stopping Paul. He went on three long trips, by land and sea, to tell anyone who would listen about Jesus. Paul wanted everyone to hear the good news that Jesus loves them – old and young, men and women, every race, religion, nationality – no-one was left out when Paul was speaking!

Finally he was arrested, and sent to the Emperor in Rome for trial. We think he died in Rome, but he never lost his enthusiasm for telling the truth about Jesus. In 2 Timothy 4:7 Paul wrote these words about himself, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful.” (New Living Translation)