Bible Characters, Vol. 2
Overview
Alexander Whyte’s Bible Characters are exciting evocations of both prominent and little-known personalities in the Old and New Testaments. Whyte, a minister in the Free Church of Scotland in the late nineteenth century, dedicated the majority of his literary career studying various figures contained in the Bible. Drawing directly from the Bible, but also referencing the work of other notable scholars, Whyte’s skillful rendering of these men and women is informative and illuminating.
Characters included:
- Gideon
- Jephthah and His Daughter
- Samson
- Rut
- Hannah
- Eli
- Samuel
- Saul
- David—in His Virtues
- David—in His Vices
- David—in His Graces
- David—in His Services
- Jonathan
- Nabal
- Michal, Saul’s Daughter
- Solomon
- The Queen of Sheba
- Shimei
- Joab
- Absalom
Top Highlights
“You have had Michal’s heart in yourselves, in your measure, on some Sabbath-day when you remained at home for some wrong reason, and when your husband came home with his face shining.” (Pages 174–175)
“Had David not been so unequally yoked, Michal would have put on David’s shoulder that day an ephod that she had worked for that day with her own hands; and as she put it on him she would have sung and said, I will clothe her priests with salvation, and her saints shall shout aloud for joy. And then all that day in Jerusalem it would have been as it was at the Red Sea when Miriam the prophetess took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went after her with timbrels and with dances.” (Page 173)
“Michal’s ear had never been opened to the music of the ark.” (Page 172)
“You must understand all that the ark of God was to David, and the home-bringing of the ark, before you can fully understand the whole catastrophe of that day. It would take me till midnight to tell you all that was in David’s heart as he sacrificed oxen and fatlings at six paces, and leaped and danced before the ark of God all the way up to the city of David.” (Pages 171–172)
“No ambitious woman, and least of all Saul’s royal-hearted daughter, could have seen assembled Israel that day without being swept into sympathy with the scene. But Michal lost her last opportunity that morning.” (Page 174)
Praise for the Print Edition
No one takes a stronger grip on us—mind and very soul—in his expounding of Bible characters than Dr. Whyte
—The Presbyterian Review
We know of no writer who can make more real the personalities of these Bible characters, or can bring home more vividly or helpfully the lessons of their words and deeds.
—Christian Guardian
Each subject is handled with originality, freshness, skill, and sanctified scholarship.
—English Churchman
Terse, strong, epigrammatic in his style, he penetrates to the core of character, and expounds it, and all the lessons it teaches, in fine English.
—The N.Y. Observer
Product Details
- Title: Bible Characters, Vol. 2
- Author: Alexander Whyte
- Publisher: Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier
- Publication Date: 1896
- Pages: 268
Alexander Whyte (1836–1921) was a popular preacher and writer. He attended the University of Aberdeen and New College in Edinburgh. Whyte served as an assistant minister at Free St. Johns in Glasgow. Following that, he was a colleague at Free St. George’s in Edinburgh. Whyte has written several books including the six-volume Bible Characters series and Samuel Rutherford Collection.