Famous but Nameless: Lessons and Inspiration from the Bible’S Anonymous Characters

By Mark W. Hendrickson

Unique and intriguing, Famous but Nameless focuses on the Bibles anonymous supporting cast, highlighting important character strengths expressed in their words and deeds.

Author Mark Hendricksons studies of lesser-known individuals from the Old and New Testaments offer tales rich with lessons that can instruct, inspire, or guide. Optional questions for discussion follow each story, suitable for Sunday school classes, Bible study groups, or personal reflection.

Including figures as diverse as Samsons mother, the crew on Jonahs boat, Pilates wife, and Pauls jailer, this collection revisits forty-five Bible episodes from a fresh, insightful perspective. Although written from a Christian perspective, Famous but Nameless highlights character attributes that anyone can admire.

What a great expression of love! [It] will bring blessings to each one who reads it. Rev. Larry Bernard, OFM ... inspiring stories with lessons in moral character to teach our children. Cheri Hollenbaugh, veteran home-schooling mom. ...understandable...engaging ...Mark has lifted up the unnamed of long ago and in so doing helps to lift us up as well. Rev. Dr. Gary F. Lewis

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Nov 23, 2011
• ISBN: 9781462055111

Mark W. Hendrickson

Mark W. Hendrickson, Ph.D., is Adjunct Professor of Economics and Fellow for Economic and Social Policy with the Center for Vision & Values at Grove City College. He has done graduate work in law, literature, education, and economics, but his great love—Bible study—has been a daily, independent practice for the last four decades. This book is a product of those thousands of hours of study. A native of Detroit, he now resides in Amish country in western Pennsylvania with his wife, Eileen. The Hendricksons have a grown daughter, Karin.

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2. The Pharaoh Who Promoted Joseph

(Genesis 41:1-43)

A study in wise leadership

The Old Testament has several accounts of mighty kings who, although they were not Israelites, honored the Hebrews’ God in various ways and appointed wise Jews to high office. King Ahasuerus promoted Mordecai to be his second-in-command;⁵ King Nebuchadnezzar decreed the death penalty for any of his subjects who bad-mouthed the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego;⁶ King Darius decreed that throughout his kingdom everyone should fear and reverence the God of Daniel. For he is the living and eternal God… and his power shall be for ever.⁷

Similar in stature to these monarchs whose names the Bible records for posterity is the man who was Egypt’s pharaoh at the time when Jacob’s son Joseph was in jail after having been falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife. The Bible doesn’t identify this ruler by name, and modern scholars haven’t been able to determine with certainty which pharaoh this was. His name is irrelevant to us. What matters are the choices he made and the qualities he expressed.

When Pharaoh asked Joseph to interpret his dreams, he discerned that Joseph was an honest man, not a charlatan trying to trick him with a made-up interpretation. Pharaoh sensed that God really had revealed the future of the next fourteen years to Joseph. So sure was Pharaoh that Joseph’s words were true that he immediately promoted him to be the governor over all of Egypt’s affairs, second to Pharaoh himself only in the throne.⁸

This ruler was bold and courageous. He was a true leader. It didn’t matter to him if some of his deputies and advisors thought it scandalous, reckless, or improper for him to bestow such broad powers on a foreigner—especially one just plucked from prison! He trusted his own inner voice, the intuitive sense that told him to trust Joseph’s interpretation of his dreams.

It was a gutsy call to elevate this stranger to chief administrator of all Egypt immediately—even before Joseph’s predictions for seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine had begun to be fulfilled. Only years later was Pharaoh’s elevation of Joseph spectacularly vindicated when events played out exactly as Joseph had foretold, and Egypt prospered under his guidance.

In addition to having spiritual intuition, the courage of his convictions, and the ability to make executive decisions promptly and decisively, this pharaoh possessed the admirable quality of gratitude. Pharaoh was deeply grateful for Joseph’s role in saving Egypt from disaster—so much so that when Joseph’s family came to Egypt in a desperate search for food, Pharaoh treated them with great generosity. To Joseph’s family, Pharaoh declared, the best of everything in Egypt is yours⁹ and to Joseph himself he said, have your father and your brothers live in the best part of the land.¹⁰

Future pharaohs would deal harshly with the Hebrews, reducing them to captives and slaves, but this enlightened pharaoh, like Kings Ahasuerus, Nebuchadnezzar, and Darius, rose above nationalistic prejudice. All of these wise biblical rulers were willing to trust and promote those who were honest, helpful, and wise, regardless of whether they were outsiders.

How many managers, executives, political leaders, etc., today are willing to promote outsiders—the employee who didn’t attend the right schools or the right church or who wasn’t part of the old-boy network—on the basis of merit rather than on pedigree or prestigious connections? The man the Bible refers to simply as pharaoh showed that enlightened and successful leadership consists of choosing one’s lieutenants on the pragmatic basis of who can get results. He ran Egypt like a meritocracy, and his country was blessed as a result.

This pharaoh had the ability to discern character, the willingness to trust his instincts, the decisiveness to act accordingly, and the graciousness and magnanimity to give generous rewards for services well rendered. Pharaohs are usually thought of as bad guys, but the pharaoh who promoted Joseph had admirable qualities that would have attained success in any age.

Optional Exercises

1. Review: List the positive character traits that this pharaoh expressed.

2. (For Bible study groups and Sunday schools): What other characters in the Bible expressed some of the same qualities?

3. Self-examination: How do you rate yourself in terms of the positive character traits in this episode? If you need to improve, how can you go about it?

4. Questions for group or class discussion:

A. Can you think of other examples from history (either biblical or non-biblical) when a wise leader appointed someone he outranked to make important decisions?

B. How practical is it to delegate the most important decisions to a subordinate?

C. What enabled Joseph to correctly foretell the future? Who else in the Bible did this?

D. What qualities should a great leader have? What kind of person should hold leadership positions?

E. How do you measure success for a leader?

3. Pharaoh’s Daughter

(Exodus 2:1-10)

A compassionate heart

Throughout the Bible, the dark forces of evil conspired to kill God’s prophets and blot out the spiritual light that God’s appointed messengers brought to the human race.

The New Testament tells about the slaughter of male children ordered by King Herod in his failed attempt to snuff out the life of the Savior—the prophesied king whose kingdom, unbeknownst to the paranoid Herod, was not of this world.

Moses, too, was born under similar circumstances. Egypt’s pharaoh at that time was dismayed at the rapid multiplication of the Hebrew people, so he hatched a cruel plan to shrink the Hebrew population. He issued a decree ordering all Hebrew midwives to kill newborn Hebrew males. Heroically, courageous midwives such as Shiphrah and Puah undermined Pharaoh’s murderous policy. They defied his order, placing obedience to God above obedience to a mortal ruler.¹¹

Many of us learned in Sunday school that Moses’ mother laid her three-month-old son, Moses, in a little ark that she had fashioned, setting it in the reeds by the bank of the river. Providentially, Pharaoh’s daughter, accompanied by her maids, came down to the river to wash. Spotting the ark, she commanded a maid to bring it to her. When she opened the ark and little Moses started to cry, she had compassion on him.¹² Even though she recognized the infant as a male Hebrew child, she decided to care for him.

That is when Moses’ sister, who had been lingering in the area to see what would become of Moses, stepped forth and offered to find a Hebrew nurse for the child. One suspects that Pharaoh’s daughter could see through the coincidence of this young Hebrew girl just happening to be there and knowing of a Hebrew woman who could nurse the babe. She would have to have been pretty dense not to put two and two together. It was compassion, not dullness, that impelled Pharaoh’s daughter to arrange for Moses’ mother to nurse her own son and then, after he was weaned, to raise him as her adopted son.

Thus it came to pass that Moses’ great career was jump-started by the kindness and compassion of a woman with a tender heart. We don’t know if Pharaoh’s daughter was haughty or vain in her dealings with others, but she understood the universal language of love. When given the choice, she chose life for Moses, shielding him from her father’s heartless decree. She might have been what we call a pagan, but she was merciful and compassionate. She saved Moses and the world was blessed as a result. Hats off to Pharaoh’s daughter! She knew the right thing to do, and she did it.

Optional Exercises

1. Review: List the positive character traits that Pharaoh’s daughter expressed.

2. (For Bible study groups and Sunday schools): What other characters in the Bible expressed some of the same qualities?

3. Self-examination: How do you rate yourself in terms of the positive character traits in this episode? If you need to improve, how can you go about it?

4. Questions for group or class discussion:

A. Can you think of other cases in which someone defied the authorities to extend mercy and compassion to someone?

B. One label that gets attached to some people is that they are accidents—their parents didn’t want to have a child, but they arrived on the scene anyhow. Are they really accidents, or could it be that God wanted them to be born and He has a purpose for them?

C. Did Pharaoh’s daughter commit an act of civil disobedience? When should we disobey the laws of government or the rules of a business or organization to which we belong?

D. This woman disobeyed not only the ruler of her country, but her own father. When should someone disobey a parent?

4. Joshua’s Troops at Jericho

(Joshua 6:1-20)

The genius of discipline

Joshua’s exploits give Christians lots to think about. Unlike the Bible’s second Joshua (Yeshua or Jesus, the Prince of Peace) the Bible’s first Joshua was a mighty warrior who wiped out whatever pagans and pagan beliefs stood in the way of the Israelites as they advanced toward their God-appointed destiny.

The Old Testament Joshua must have been a spiritual giant, closely aligned with God, for how else could he have stopped the sun and moon’s arc across the sky?¹³

One of Joshua’s most famous victories was the conquest of Jericho. After marching his troops across the river Jordan, the waters of which had receded before the Ark of the Covenant, much as the Red Sea had parted at Moses’ command, Joshua issued some of the most unusual instructions ever given to an army preparing to capture a city. For seven days, the troops were to maintain a strict silence while they marched around the perimeter of Jericho’s walls. On the first six days, they were to march around the city once, and on the seventh and final day, seven times, all without uttering a syllable.

If you stop to think about it, having a whole army remain completely mum is a lot harder than it seems. Try going for a lengthy walk with a crowd of friends and see if you can maintain total silence the whole time. When a tragic accident happens in front of a crowd—for example, when it appears a professional football player may be paralyzed as a result of an awkward collision—a crowd of thousands may fall silent for a few moments. But for an hour or two and without any startling event to shock you into silence? That’s another matter