Editor’s Note: This series on the Bible is from the book Catholicism & Scripture. Please feel free to use the series for high schoolers or adults. We will continue to welcome your questions for the column as well.
Special Course On Catholicism And Scripture (Chapter 10)
There are many heroes and heroines in the Bible, but we are singling out just a few of them for their significant role in salvation history. Not all of their actions were admirable, but we can learn many lessons from them.
We know what a key role Joseph played in the history of Israel, but he would not have had the opportunity were it not for his brother Judah. The other brothers wanted to leave Joseph to die at the bottom of a well, but Judah persuaded them to sell Joseph to some Ishmaelites on their way to Egypt, saying, “After all, he is our brother, our own flesh” (Gen. 37:27). Later, when Joseph threatened to keep his brother Benjamin as his slave, Judah offered to become Joseph’s slave in place of Benjamin. Joseph then told the brothers that he was their long-lost sibling.
While the Book of Tobit focuses mostly on the exploits of the son Tobiah, his father Tobit should not be overlooked. He was a model of patience and trust in God, even after he became blind. He performed many charitable deeds and told Tobiah not to hesitate to give alms since he would be “storing up a goodly treasury for yourself” and making “a worthy offering in the sight of the Most High” (Tobit 4:9, 11). He even anticipated the “Golden Rule” of Jesus (“Do to others whatever you would have them do to you”) when he said, “Do to no one what you yourself dislike” (Tobit 4:15). As his life was nearing its end, Tobit admonished his grandsons to “serve God faithfully and do what is right before him” (14:9).
At the time of the Judges, a Gentile woman named Ruth accompanied her mother-in-law Naomi to Bethlehem, saying that “wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God” (Ruth 1:16). Ruth eventually married a man named Boaz and they had a son named Obed, who became the father of Jesse and the grandfather of David.
When Esther became a Persian queen, her husband King Ahasuerus did not know that she was Jewish. She learned of a plot by one of the king’s advisors to exterminate all the Jews in the land and, after praying and fasting for three days, summoned the courage to ask the king to spare her people. He treated her gently, promised to grant her request, and punished the man who had prompted the original order to kill all Jews. As a result, “many of the peoples of the land embraced Judaism” (Esther 8:17).
When the elders of her city were considering surrendering to the Assyrian army, a beautiful and holy young widow named Judith asked them to give her five days to persuade the Lord to intervene. She dressed in her finest clothes, went to the camp of their enemy, and asked to see their leader, General Holofernes. He invited Judith to dine with him and, after he drank himself into a stupor, Judith cut off his head. She brought the head back to her city, where the elder Uzziah praised her, saying, “Blessed are you, daughter, by the Most High God, above all the women on earth” (Judith 13:18). Similar words would be spoken to the Virgin Mary when she visited her relative Elizabeth (cf. Luke 1:42). When Judith’s people attacked the Assyrian camp, the Assyrians discovered that Holofernes was dead and were routed by the Israelites.
One of the most inspiring heroes of the Old Testament is Eleazar, a 90-year-old scribe who chose to be killed rather than break Jewish dietary laws against eating pork. When a soldier suggested that Eleazar only pretend to eat pork, the scribe refused, saying that his bad example would lead others astray and bring “shame and dishonor on my old age” (2 Macc. 6:25).
Shortly after Jesus began His public life, a prominent Pharisee named Nicodemus visited Jesus secretly at night. It was to him that Jesus said that “no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit” (John 3:5). The Lord was talking about the Sacrament of Baptism, about the pouring of water and the coming of the Holy Spirit to take away Original Sin. Nicodemus would later provide burial spices to anoint the body of Jesus on Good Friday.
Thomas was the Apostle who was missing when Jesus first appeared to the others on Easter Sunday night. He said later that he would not believe that Jesus had risen unless he could put his hands into the nail marks. A week later, Jesus appeared to the Apostles again and invited Thomas to touch His wounds, but all Thomas could do was fall to his knees and proclaim, “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28).
The first person to see Jesus publicly after His Resurrection was Mary Magdalene, the woman out of whom Jesus had cast seven demons (cf. Luke 8:2). She told the Apostles that Jesus was alive, but no one believed her at first.
Two of St. Paul’s disciples, who shared his trade of tentmaking, were a couple named Aquila and Priscilla. They had been expelled from Rome and met Paul in Corinth. He converted them to Christianity, and they devoted the rest of their lives to bringing people to Jesus.
List Of Answers:
AQUILA
ELEAZAR
ESTHER
GOLDEN
JUDAH
JUDITH
MAGDALENE
NICODEMUS
PRISCILLA
RUTH
THOMAS
TOBIT
UZZIAH
Quiz:
1 .____________ played a key role in convincing his brothers not to let Joseph die.
Powered by WPtouch Mobile Suite for WordPress