As I’ve mentioned on here before, I’m in the midst of doing the Bible-in-a-year schedule…which I started in July. So I’m still in Kings and Chronicles (it’s the chronological Bible, so things are mixed up.)
I’ve read the Old Testament several times in my life, but it’s been a while since I read all the way through it, and this being me, I usually read a story and think, “But what about…?” which leads me to wondering. About things like the unnamed, unmentioned characters obviously present.
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| Samuel Blesses Saul – from Doré’s English Bible, 1866 |
Like when Samuel was a young man, not yet a prophet, a “righteous man of Israel” came and prophesied against Eli and his sons. Insert Roseanna going, “What, no name? Come on! Who was it?? Do we ever see him again? Had he been wronged by those evil sons? How?”
Then many chapters later, after Samuel is grown, we read that his sons weren’t so righteous either. At which point Roseanna goes, “So…when did Samuel get married? To whom??”
I know, I know–those little details aren’t often important in the Old Testament. But still, they make me ask questions. And sometimes surprise me with what information they do offer. (Like how many wives Gideon had–yowza! So didn’t remember that part from my previous reads…)
And since these are the kids of things that inspire me to write, we’ll just keep the questions coming. 😉
Are there any biblical stories that made you pause to wonder about the people missing in the account, but who were obviously there?
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.
I've always wondered what happened to Joseph, who married Mary the mother of Jesus. Was that little tidbit in there and I just missed it? I'd say it's a possibility.
Great insight, Roseanna!
Blessings,
Andrea
LOL, we bib-fic writers all rub our hands together at this sort of thing, don't we? So much fun!
Gotta love those nameless biblical characters, eh? Job's wife, Solomon's shepherdess, we could go on and on, couldn't we? What great fodder for us biblical fiction junkies! 😉 I'm gonna have to go check out Gideon's wives now!
Oo, yes, that one struck me too! In Francine Rivers's novella series, I believe she interpreted it as Salmon being one of the spies, yes. But who knows? =)
I've long had some curiosity about Salmon (he at least has a name), the man who married Rahab and begot Boaz. What was the story there? Was he one of the spies hidden in her house? All the other women mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus in Matt 1 have the story told of how their children came to be (Tamar, Ruth, Bathsheba, Mary) – why do we miss out on potentially the most romantic one?
So I guess in this case we know the people involved; we're just missing the story.
LOL. And yeah, I was thinking of you as I wrote this post. 😉
As a matter of fact, yes! As in Hidden Faces: Portraits of Nameless Women in the Gospels series which WhiteFire is in the process of publishing … ahem, ahem. 🙂