No Ordinary People: The Unknown Men and Women of the Bible Devotional

America.

INTRODUCTION

The followers of Christ are, of course, no ordinary people, but sometimes it seems like we have to live up to the examples set by the extra-ordinary role models in the Bible—kings and queens, miracle workers, the Son of God!

Of course, we should aspire to the highest of standards. It’s just not always the easiest thing for flawed humans to do. So, if we are daunted by the prospect of following the examples set by David, Paul, Esther, and other major characters in the Bible, should we look elsewhere for role models?

No. There are plenty of ordinary people in the Bible, as well, and their very inclusion in the Good Book means they have a purpose to serve. Whether good, bad, or accidentally passing by, they are in the Bible because they have a message to share. They are no ordinary people.

Too often they get passed over in favor of more famous names. So here, for perhaps the first time, those anonymous men and women come to the forefront. Let’s walk with them and talk with them and learn how we, as supposedly ordinary people ourselves, might also play important roles in God’s plan.

POTIPHAR’S WIFE—

The Attraction of Purity

No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God? And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.

GENESIS 39:9–10 NIV

As the wife of the captain of Pharaoh’s guard, Potiphar’s wife was in a privileged position—or was she?

Surely, when it came to food, fine clothes, and material goods, she would have been the envy of much of Egypt, but she seems to have been lacking in one very important thing. Her husband’s love. No doubt he was a busy man. Serving Pharaoh (who was as close to being a pagan god as was possible for a human to be in those days) must have been his first priority and would have taken almost all his time.

Lord, help us aspire to purity. Let us not be distracted along the way by the wiles of the world. And when we are attacked for our desire to be more like You—as we undoubtedly will be—help us understand that those who attack us are not role models to be followed but suffering souls who need Your love. May we be able to help them without following them. In Your mercy, amen.

So, in her loneliness or self-indulgence, she offered herself to Joseph, the head of her household slaves. No doubt Joseph was a handsome young man, but what probably attracted her to him the most—and what eventually infuriated her—was his purity. He could have settled for the easy life and kept his mistress happy, but as a faithful man of God, that was never going to happen. So, she accused him of rape and had him imprisoned. Which, of course, put him where God wanted him—where he would come to the attention of Pharaoh.

But what of Potiphar’s wife? Did she do what she did because she was simply wicked? Well, wickedness does have a penchant for purity. It will try, first, to corrupt it and then to destroy it. But there is a deeper level to that terrible attraction. Beneath the decadent, idolatrous lifestyle was a soul that longed to know God. Joseph would have been the closest thing to the true God in her world. But his purity shone a light on the lack of God and the lack of love in her life. It would have been in pain, wearing the mask of hate, that she lashed out.

What did Potiphar’s wife really want? Not Joseph (although she was used by God to further his wonderful story). What she wanted was to know God’s love as expressed on this earth by her husband’s love for her. But he was busy serving an earthly god, and that’s never the way to achieve lasting happiness, marital or otherwise.

MOSES’ ETHIOPIAN WIFE—

An Excuse for Jealousy?

And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman. And they said, Hath the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the LORD heard it.

NUMBERS 12:1–2 KJV

The identity of Moses’ Ethiopian (or Cushite) wife is an open subject for scholarly debate—but not really the point of her inclusion in the Bible.

The Cushites were regarded as descendants of Noah but not children of Abraham, so such a marriage may have been cause for antagonism. The Bible does not mention when Moses married her. The Romano-Jewish historian Josephus refers to the Cushite woman as someone Moses married while in Egypt. Perhaps she was left in Egypt, perhaps she died there, or perhaps Moses took her as his wife at the time when he appeared to have sent Zipporah (his recognized wife and mother of his children) away. None of these are really the reason for mentioning her.

Lord, we are prideful creatures. Even when desiring to do Your bidding, we like to think that we can do it better than anyone else. Lord, we might hope You put it down to an excess of zeal and turn a blind eye, but You do us a greater service when You sweep such conceits away. Keep us ever aware that You can raise servants from the rocks on the ground. In our humility may we better serve You.

Miriam and Aaron, Moses’ sister and brother, weren’t happy with him, so they raised the issue of the Cushite marriage. Isn’t it interesting how we use past or minor antagonisms to disguise our present, larger pains?

Miriam went directly from criticizing the Cushite marriage to revealing the real reason for her unhappiness. God was working directly with Moses and not her. These days we might sympathize with that stance, but God Himself said He operates in different ways at different times. Sometimes He appeared to prophets in dreams, but at that moment, He was working through Moses. Who was Miriam to argue against that?

A leprous face (which we assume was cured after a period of cleansing) was her reminder that God will do what God will do.

What role the Cushite woman played in Moses’ day-to-day life goes unrecorded, but her inclusion in this incident should remind us of two things. Firstly, sins (if this marriage was in any way sinful) once forgiven are forgotten by God. We ought to strive to do likewise and not resurrect old sins for our own selfish purposes. And, secondly, if someone is doing the work of God, then we ought to look for ways to build them up rather than find excuses to tear them down. If they are truly walking with God—as Moses undoubtedly was—then it’s up to us to get alongside them and help rather than complain because God hasn’t asked us to do what they are already doing.

THE WITCH OF ENDOR—

Saul Seeks God via the Devil

When Saul saw the Philistine army, he was afraid; terror filled his heart. He inquired of the LORD, but the LORD did not answer him by dreams or Urim or prophets. Saul then said to his attendants, Find me a woman who is a medium, so I may go and inquire of her.

1 SAMUEL 28:5–7 NIV

In his last days, Saul had become increasingly separated from the Lord. He knew it and it upset him. In his madness, he sought God by doing something God was sure to disapprove of. He sought out a witch.

Jewish law specifically forbade witches from living among the people of God, and in more faithful days, Saul had banished them from the country. In a desperate attempt to be reassured he was still doing the right thing, he decided to raise the spirit of the high priest Samuel from the dead.

A medium who could do this was found in Endor, known historically as a difficult place for the laws of Israel to be enforced.

Dear Lord, the temptation to do wrong in Your eyes in order to save what we have in this world can sometimes be overpowering. Let us instead be overpowered by You, knowing that even if we lose everything, we gain beyond all expectation if we only stand on Your Word.

The witch never seemed to feel she was doing wrong even though she was well aware it would be dangerous to be caught doing it. She warned Saul that what he was asking was illegal; she worked her dark arts, and afterward she showed concern for his health and baked bread to feed him. Her identity as a witch seemed firmly fixed in her own mind and caused her little personal concern. But she heard the word of God as Samuel spoke it against Saul, and she would have heard of Saul’s death the next day. Hopefully, she reconsidered her own position as one whom God had spoken against.

Perhaps the real evil in this story goes back to the source of all evil. Saul wanted to be right. He also wanted God on his side. But the two things weren’t compatible. Instead of taking time for contemplation, instead of adjusting his position to one that was more in agreement with God’s wishes, he went to extreme lengths in the hope of getting God to agree with him. That kind of madness is inspired by the devil. It plays on our need for God and can only end in death.

The same voice that convinced Saul it was okay to seek out one whom God forbade would also have convinced the witch that her skills did not meddle in God’s domain and were perfectly acceptable.

There is only one voice worth listening to and it’s not the one that contradicts scripture. Saul died for listening to the other voice. We can only hope his example was not lost on the witch of Endor.

CAIN’S WIFE—

Redeemer or Co-Conspirator?

And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.

GENESIS 4:16–17 KJV

The wife of Cain remains forever in the shadow of her husband’s violent act—the first murder. So, we can only wonder about her.

The Bible doesn’t tell us whether Cain married her before or after his banishment. The timing would be significant. If she married him before he killed his brother, she may have contributed to the bitterness that distanced him from God. If she married him afterward, she must have had a very big heart indeed.

We are not told what it was that God disapproved of in Cain’s offering. But it is likely the offering reflected the attitude with which he offered it. Had someone—his wife perhaps—been filling his head with notions of unworthiness? Was she a woman for whom her man could never do enough? Did she think she deserved better? Does that sound at all familiar as you look around today?

Father, when Cain killed the firstborn of Your Creation You did not strike him down as would have seemed fair. You sent him away from the people he hurt and provided a wife, a child, and a home. From the beginning of time Your mercy has been beyond comprehension. Take our hand and guide us gently through our losses and pains, teaching us how to respond in love. Perhaps then we might do the same for others.

The rest of the story—God’s disapproval, Abel’s death, his parents’ grief, and Cain’s exile—show just how insidious and damaging such ingratitude can be.

On the other hand, she may have married him after the infamous event. That would have taken a very special woman indeed. But wouldn’t it be just like God to provide a means of redemption even to one who had committed such a terrible crime? Perhaps Cain’s wife was chosen as a subtle way to work on his heart, to turn him back toward his Creator.

Does the Bible offer us any clues? Only the one. Cursed to wander the earth, Cain seems to have defied—or been forgiven—that instruction and settled down instead. He and his wife had a son they called Enoch. Cain founded a city, which he named after his son.

What does Enoch mean? It means dedicated. Could it be that Cain repented of the anger in his heart? Did he regret slaying his brother? Did he dedicate his firstborn son and the world’s first city to the God he’d wronged so grievously?

What would cause such a thing to happen? Man, being a stubborn creature, might defy an all-powerful God yet be more amenable to a woman who loves him and sees beyond his obvious flaws.

THE WISE WOMAN OF TEKOA—

Teaching the King His Own Lesson

Then the woman said, Let your servant speak a word to my lord the king. Speak, he replied. The woman said, Why then have you devised a thing like this against the people of God? When the king says this, does he not convict himself, for the king has not brought back his banished son? Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But that is not what God desires; rather, he devises ways so that a banished person does not remain banished from him.

2 SAMUEL 14:12–14 NIV

King David, perhaps because of the chaotic nature of his family, found himself in a situation echoing that of Adam. One of his sons had killed the other. Absalom killed Amnon after Amnon raped Absalom’s sister.

As the king was grieving his dead son, the living one ran into exile, doubling the loss.

The unnamed wise woman from Tekoa arrived at court and gave quite a performance. Dressed in rags, she threw herself down in front of the king and told a tale of woe wherein one of her sons had killed the other. The people, she said, now wanted to kill her remaining son. If the king allowed it to happen, she would be left destitute and would surely die.

Grief scares us, Lord. It leaves us feeling impotent and unable to help. This, in turn, leaves the grieving feeling even more isolated. You, though, have provided the teachings that can prevent such loss and pain from becoming a downward, self-perpetuating spiral. Give us the awareness to see that and the courage to take Your words to where they will do the greatest good.

Actually, what she did was recount the tale of Cain and Abel, down to the details of the murder taking place in a field and Cain needing protection from God so he wouldn’t be killed in revenge.

She was