Mandel - The Ultimate Who’s Who in the Bible

Alachua, Florida: Bridge-Logos, 2007. – 716 p.

ISBN 978-0-88270-9727

 

The Bible is today, and has been since two thousand years ago, the cardinal text for Judaism and Christianity. Its stories and characters have greatly influenced Western culture and civilization.

 

Many of the elements of a specific biography are widely separated in the Bible, distributed across great stretches of the text. This book brings together in a narrative format all the information and references about each character, which are scattered in the different Bible books, and presents the biography of each person as a coherent and continuous story. For the purposes of the book, it is not important if each person in the Bible really existed in historical fact, or only in folk mythology, or as fictional characters in tales written for moral purposes.

 

Unavoidably, there is some redundancy in the narrations, because many of the biographies share the same events. The author has strived in each case to present the events from the point of view of the specific individual, so that, ideally, each biography should stand independently on its own.

 

The Ultimate Who’s Who in the Bible differs from comparable volumes in having only the Bible text as its source. The book is based solely on the biblical text as it is commonly understood, without extra-biblical legends, theological interpretations, or other additions.

 

The book does not have a theological approach to the Bible. It is based on a literal reading of the biblical text, treating the text as a historical document. However, the author considers that many of the biographies, long or short, of the three thousand persons who inhabit the biblical text, convey the profound truths of the Bible. It is his hope that the user should find these biographies instructive, enjoyable, and interesting to read and, at the same time, gain new insights, as a study of characters to be learned from, as examples to be emulated or avoided.

 

The Ultimate Who’s Who in the Bible is an authoritative and comprehensive reference for a wide audience, including scholars and general readers; students and teachers in high school, religious institutions, colleges, and seminaries; rabbis, ministers, and religious educators; and participants in religious education and Bible study programs. It can be read by people of all ages for information and enjoyment, and at the same time, it can be used as an indispensable reference by Bible students, scholars, researchers, teachers, and clergy persons.

 

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Barsabas

[Bahr-sahb-uhs]

 

(Greek form of the Hebrew origin: Son of Sabas or Son of the Sabbath)

 

(Acts of the Apostles 1:23). A.D. 1st century. Joseph Barsabas, also called Justus, was one of the two candidates to replace Judas as the twelfth apostle. The apostles chose by lot Matthias, the other candidate.

 

(Acts of the Apostles 15:22). A.D. 1st century. Judas Barsabas and Silas, two prophets, were sent by the Jerusalem church, together with Paul and Barnabas, to Antioch, carrying a letter from the Jerusalem church to the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia, exonerating them of the need for circumcision, and asking them to abstain from food offered to idols, from blood, from eating strangled animals, and from sexual immorality.

 

In Antioch, they gathered the congregation and read the letter. Barsabas and Silas spoke a long time with the believers and gave them encouragement. Barsabas then returned to Jerusalem, but Silas stayed in Antioch for a while.