Bible Characters
Because there are so many people referenced in both the Old Testament and New Testament this section focuse primarily on the people of the bible who have sinned and have been forgiven or not. For example the book "Women of the Bible" (Edith Deen, Castle Books, 1955) contains 316 biographies. Most of the character references here have been taken from "The New International Encyclopedia of Bible Characters: The Complete Who's Who in the Bible" (Zondervan's Understand the Bible Reference Series) and "The Story Bible" (Pearl S. Buck, Random House, 1971). Other Biblical characters can be found in the "The Bible" section under "Who Wrote the Old and New Testaments.".
Anyone approaching the Bible for the first time cannot fail to see that the Bible is not just a theoretical book about God. This book is about God and his relationship with people. We learn about God as we see him revealing himself to real men and women. God speaks to them, works with them, encourages them, disciplines them, loves them and judges them. It at once becomes clear that God has some sort of relationship with every single human being. The relationship may be one of love and fellowship or it may be one in which a person rebels against God, but the Creator God is always there and sovereignly sustains this world for as long as he chooses.
As we see him in relationship with people of different races, backgrounds, culture and beliefs, we see the weakest of people who trust in him and worship him being used by God in the most difficult and dangerous of situations. We see the strongest of the world's leaders who do not trust in him and worship him being torn from their thrones as God exercises his universal sovereignty. We see the most sinful of people being forgiven as they turn in faith to a loving God who cares for his people, and we see others being judged as they refuse even to listen to the warnings of judgment God gives.
As we look at people in the Bible we learn about how sin entered the world and how it has affected every part of every human being. We see this even in the so-called 'heroes' of the faith. In the biblical revelation there are no perfect leaders (until Christ himself). Abraham, Moses, David and other great leaders are seen to be God's people but are also seen to be sinners who need God's forgiveness.
As we read of the sin of men and women we can immediately recognize that these people are like us. But we also see God who forgave those who turned to him and so we see hope for ourselves if we too will trust in his salvation and forgiveness. As we look at our world and the horror of so much that is going on around us, we see that others have lived in times that were at least as bad or worse (look at the time of the Judges), and we take heart that God was sovereign then and remains the same today. We see the struggles of a faithful man like David asking 'Why do the wicked prosper?' We relate to his emotions; we ask God the same questions and we learn of God as we see his answers to David and others down through history.
New International Encyclopedia of Bible Characters: The Complete Who's Who in the Bible (pp. 7-8).
​