Old Testament Sinners and Saints

Discover What These 100 Colorful Bible Characters Can Teach Us Today

Peter DeHaan

• Publisher: PublishDrive
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781948082730
• Topic: Teología y religión
• Subtopic: Biografía bíblica

How are the Old Testament characters applicable to your life today?

Find out in this devotional Bible study on 100 compelling Biblical men and women from the Old Testament.

The Old Testament is filled with inspiring stories, influential heroes, and impressive triumphs. But it's also woven with the stories of broken people who make mistakes and suffer disappointments. Through an array of colorful and awe-inspiring stories, we can learn much about ourselves and our powerful God in this devotional Bible study on 100 Biblical men and women.

Filled with familiar and eclectic names of sinners and saints, you'll uncover how their stories from thousands of years ago apply to our personal struggles today. Pour through 100 characters who compel you to live differently and help you see your life and faith from an entirely new perspective.

In Old Testament Sinners and Saints, you will:

- Uncover how the Old Testament can transform your life

- Learn from the mistakes and triumphs of these characters

- Gain a fresh perspective on familiar Biblical stories

- Discover how to deepen your faith

- Embrace the timeless message of hope found in the Old Testament

Join Peter DeHaan, Bible teacher and author, in this study on 100 Old Testament men and women whose stories offer us hope, assurance, and abundant lessons on who God is and his limitless power over history.

This devotional for women and men is ideal for individuals, small groups, and Bible studies. Each day's study includes a short reading, a thought-provoking question and additional Bible readings to go deeper with the lesson.

If you've ever wondered if the Old Testament stories apply to your life, then start with the Old Testament Sinners and Saints and discover what 100 intriguing Bible men and women can teach you today.

The succinct readings give a brief but impactful overview of the Old Testament characters while showing you how to trust in God's plan even when you don't know what the future holds. These lessons will not only take you on a journey through the Old Testament with Bible heroes like Abraham, Moses, Ruth and David, but will also strengthen your faith.

Get Old Testament Sinners and Saints and see how these rich, amazing stories can transform your life today and draw you closer to Jesus.

Part 1: Adam and Eve

 

Our story begins at creation, where God created man and woman in his own image. From them, all humanity follows. After beginning with creation’s first couple and their family, we’ll consider Noah and then Job, preparing us to move into the second section about Father Abraham and his family.

Adam

 

The first person we encounter in the Bible is Adam. And the first couple we see is Adam and Eve. Though we usually think of them as a pair, let’s for a moment look at just Adam.

In the beginning, God creates us in his image, male and female. This means that Adam, as the first person, exists in God’s image. So do we. Think about that.

God places Adam in the garden of Eden. It’s an idyllic paradise, yet it’s not an idle existence. That would be boring. Instead, God gives Adam work to do. He’s to care for God’s garden. By extension, we, too, should care for God’s garden—his creation—today.

Yet Adam is also alone.

God, who exists in community—as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—knows the importance of Adam having someone to spend time with, someone to journey with through life. So God creates Eve—also made in his image—as a counterpart to Adam.

Though many versions of the Bible refer to Eve as Adam’s helper, I appreciate the translations which use words such as “partner,” “companion,” “complement,” and “counterpart.” In these we see a matched pair, equal to each other.

God gives Adam and Eve one rule: to not eat from one tree. All the rest of the garden’s produce is for them to enjoy, all except for this one plant. This is because its fruit contains special power. It possesses the ability for the people who eat it to know right from wrong, to discern between good and evil.

One simple rule.

Yet Adam and Eve do the one thing God told them not to do. Enticed by the crafty serpent, they eat from the one tree—the only tree—God instructed them to not touch. Yet the ripened produce looks so good. Eve picks some and eats it. She gives some to Adam. They both eat the forbidden fruit.

When God confronts Adam, he blames Eve. Eve in turn blames the serpent. Yet each played a role, and God punishes all three.

Scripture later holds Adam accountable—mostly. It is through him that sin entered our world. It’s because of him that we face death.

And this is where Jesus comes in. Because of Adam’s sin we will die. Because of Jesus’s sacrifice we can live.

 

Who do we blame more in this story, Adam, Eve, or the serpent? Does it matter whose fault it is?

Do you believe you can live because of Jesus? Do you have eternal life through him? (See John 3:14–17 for details.)

 

[Read Adam’s story in Genesis 2–3. Discover more in 1 Corinthians 15:22.]

Eve

 

Eve is a well-known biblical figure. Surprisingly, she’s only mentioned by name four times in the Bible, twice in Genesis and twice in the New Testament. Her name may mean “living,” and we see her as the mother of humanity, with all future generations coming from her. But Eve is best known for picking the fruit God specifically prohibited and giving some to her husband. As a result of their sin, God expels them from the garden of Eden.

Though most of Scripture places the blame on Adam’s shoulders, in one place Paul does implicate Eve (2 Corinthians 11:3), though we must be careful to not take this verse out of context.

Despite this, Eve often receives the harshest criticism for disobeying God. Adam, however, is equally guilty. He could have—and should have—put a stop to eating the forbidden fruit. He knew better. More contemptible is the serpent, who lied to seduce Eve into disobeying God. Because of their actions, all three—Adam, Eve, and the serpent—suffer consequences, which they pass on to future generations. This includes us.

Eve receives three punishments for her disobedience: pain in childbirth, a desire to control her husband, and him ruling over her. This suggests that before Adam and Eve messed up, we can assume things would have been the opposite for women: childbirth would have been easy, women would not seek to control their husbands, and men would not try to rule over their wives.

The judgment Eve receives transfers forward to future generations, with women trying to control men and men wanting to rule women. However, in the beginning there was neither controlling nor ruling. There is equality, with God intending that men and women live as equals.

In marriage, this doesn’t mean wives merely helping their husbands but more so functioning as partners, companions, complements, and counterparts to each other.

We’ll do well to apply this mindset to all our interactions with others, both male and female.

 

Do we try to control those around us? Do we let others rule over us? How might God want us to change?

 

[Read Eve’s story in Genesis 2:18–4:1. Discover more in 1 Timothy 2:13–14.]

Cain

 

After Adam and Eve leave the garden of Eden, they have Cain. The Bible doesn’t specifically say he’s their firstborn, but he is the first of their offspring we read about in Scripture. Eve praises God for his role in this, the miracle of birth.

Later, Eve gives birth to Cain’s younger brother, Abel. The boys grow up and begin to work: Cain as a farmer, Abel as a shepherd.

Cain and Abel both give the results of their labors as an offering to God. We don’t know why they do this because the Almighty hadn’t asked them to. This is well before Moses commands the people to give God offerings and sacrifices. Nevertheless, the boys desire to give back to God.

Perhaps Cain decides to go first, and Abel simply follows his older brother’s example.

God accepts Abel’s gift but not Cain’s. We don’t know why.

One thought is that while Cain offered some of his crops to God, Abel offered the firstborn from his flock, the best. Another idea is that this foreshadows the law of Moses and ultimately the sacrifice of Jesus, which requires the shedding of blood (Hebrews 9:22). Abel’s offering could accomplish this; Cain’s could not. Or there may be another explanation we’re unaware of.

Regardless, God affirms Abel but not Cain. Imagine giving something to God and having him reject it. We can understand why Cain was angry and upset.

Still, God speaks to Cain and encourages him to do what is right. Sin knocks on Cain’s door. It desires to control him. God tells Cain to rule over the temptation.

As you may know, Cain doesn’t.

He invites his brother out into the field. There he attacks his younger sibling and kills him. We don’t know if Cain intended to murder his brother, but the story does read as though Cain premeditated the attack. The outcome of death may have been deliberate or accidental.

Either way, Abel dies. And Cain is the world’s first murderer.

God punishes Cain for his sin and drives him away.

Two brothers. One dead and the other exiled. What a sad outcome for creation’s first family.

 

What can we do to get along better with our brothers and sisters? When we face the temptation to sin, what must we do to control it and not give in to it?

 

[Read Cain’s story in Genesis 4:1–24. Discover more in Hebrews 11:4 and 1 John 3:12.]

Abel

 

Having discussed Cain, we now know the story of Abel, Adam and Eve’s second child. To recap, Abel and Cain give gifts to God. The Almighty accepts Abel’s gift but not Cain’s. Cain is angry and kills Abel.

Though we can speculate why God approved Abel’s offering and not Cain’s, we don’t know for sure—at least not from the account in Genesis.

The book of Hebrews, however, gives us a clue. One passage outlines the faith of many of the Bible’s heroes. Among them we read of Abel.

Hebrews says that by faith Abel offered a better sacrifice than Cain. Furthermore, it says that because of faith, God praised his gift and affirmed Abel as righteous. The implication is that Abel received God’s affirmation with a humble spirit and didn’t let it go to his head. In short, Abel kept his ego in check.

Though we might expect God to then protect Abel for his noteworthy faith, remember that Cain had the ability to determine his actions. The only way for God to stop Cain would be to take away his free will.

How hard it must’ve been for God to not intervene and prevent Cain from killing his brother. Yet it’s not in his nature to stop us from doing something we want to do—even if it’s something quite terrible. This is a result from living in a sin-filled world.

Though Cain cuts Abel’s life short, we can expect Abel’s faith brings him into God’s presence right away. What a wonderful outcome.

 

How strong is our faith? Does God commend us for giving him our best, through faith? Do we respond with a faith-driven humility when he affirms us?

 

[Read about Abel in Genesis 4:1–24. Discover more in Hebrews 11:4.]

Noah (1)

Following the biblical story arc, we move forward several generations. Sin entered the world through Adam, found its expression in Cain, and, over the following centuries, chaos prevails. The world becomes corrupt, filled with violence.

God decides to wipe away humanity’s rampant evil.

The rest of God’s creation can stay, but he decides to do away with people—all except for Noah and his family. The Bible calls Noah righteous. This means he lives rightly, even though God has not yet defined what that means. Noah is blameless in his life and walks faithfully with God.

Scripture doesn’t tell us the spiritual condition of Noah’s family: his wife, his three sons, and their wives. These seven may be righteous like Noah, but the Bible doesn’t say that. Regardless, God plans to save all eight. A better understanding is that they will live not because of their own merit but because of Noah’s. So it is with us and Jesus.

God plans to send a massive flood to destroy the world. Only these eight people will survive. Everyone else will die. Most land animals will perish as innocent victims in all this. Then God will allow humanity to start anew, through Noah. It’s a massive do-over, Creation 2.0.

To accomplish this, God tells Noah to build an ark, a huge boat, one big enough to carry a representative pair of each species and seven pairs of clean animals—along with enough food for all.

Noah obeys.

People back then lived for several centuries, and it takes Noah and his family one hundred years to complete this massive project. Building an ark doesn’t make sense and requires years of backbreaking work. Yet they persist, no doubt enduring the ridicule of those around them and making many sacrifices as they build God’s boat, all the while attending to the daily needs of living.

When the rains come and the floodwaters rise, Noah, his family, and the animals God sends to them board the ark. God seals them inside and they survive the great deluge.

When the waters recede, eight pe...

Table of contents

• Celebrating the Old Testament
• Part 1: Adam and Eve
• Adam
• Eve
• Cain
• Abel
• Noah (1)
• Shem
• Ham
• Japheth
• Job
• Eliphaz (1)
• Bildad
• Zophar
• Elihu (1)
• Job’s Daughters
• Part 2: Father Abraham
• Terah
• Abram/Abraham
• Lot
• Sarai/Sarah (1)
• Hagar
• Ishmael (1)
• Isaac
• Rebekah
• Esau
• Laban
• Jacob
• Rachel
• Leah
• Bilhah
• Zilpah
• Reuben
• Simeon (1)
• Levi (1)
• Judah
• Tamar (1)
• Dan
• Naphtali
• Gad (1)
• Asher
• Issachar
• Zebulun
• Dinah
• Joseph (1)
• Benjamin (1)
• Part 3: Moses and the Law
• Jochebed
• Moses
• Aaron
• Miriam (1)
• Caleb (1)
• Joshua (1)
• Balak
• Balaam
• Rahab
• Deborah (2)
• Barak
• Jael
• Gideon
• Samson
• Delilah
• Elimelek
• Naomi
• Orpah
• Ruth
• Boaz
• Samuel (1)
• Part 4: David, a Man after God’s Own Heart
• Saul (1)
• Jonathan (3)
• David (1)
• Abigail (2)
• Bathsheba
• Uriah (1)
• Mephibosheth
• Absalom
• Solomon
• Ahab (1)
• Jezebel (1)
• Jehoshaphat (3)
• Elijah (2)
• Elisha
• Naaman (3)
• Jonah (1)
• Athaliah (2)
• Jehosheba
• Joash (7)
• Hezekiah (1)
• Isaiah
• Jeremiah (6)
• Baruch (1)
• Ezekiel
• Part 5: Daniel, Prophet and Dream Interpreter
• Daniel (2)
• Ezra
• Nehemiah
• Sanballat
• Tobiah (2)
• Geshem
• Vashti
• Mordecai (2)
• Esther
• Hegai
• Haman
• Zeresh
• Jesus
• Sinners, Saints, and Us
• Bonus Content: Duplicate Names
• For Small Groups, Sunday Schools, and Classrooms
• If You’re New to the Bible
• Acknowledgments
• About Peter DeHaan
• Peter DeHaan’s Books