No part of the Bible is of greater value as an educator than its biographies. These biographies differ from all others in that they are absolutely true to life. Only He who reads the heart, who discerns the secret springs of motive and action, can with absolute truth delineate character or give a faithful picture of a human life. In God's Word alone is found such delineation.
The Bible clearly teaches that what we do is the result of what we are. To a great degree the experiences of life are the fruit of our own thoughts and deeds. "A curse without cause shall not alight." Proverbs 26:2. "Hear, O earth! Behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people, even the fruit of their thoughts." Jeremiah 6:19.
Terrible is this truth, and deeply should it be impressed. Every deed reacts upon the doer. Human beings may recognize in the evils that curse their lives the fruitage of their own sowing. Nevertheless, we are not without hope.
Jacob Was Transformed
To gain the birthright that was already his by God's promise, Jacob resorted to fraud, and he reaped the harvest in the hatred of Esau, his brother. Through twenty years of exile he was himself wronged and defrauded, and at last was forced to find safety in flight. And he reaped a second harvest as the evils of his own character were seen to crop out in his sons--all too true a picture of the retributions of human life.
But God says, "I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry; for the spirit would fail before Me, and the souls which I have made. For the iniquity of his covetousness I was angry and struck him; I hid and was angry, and he went on backsliding in the way of his heart. I have seen his ways, and will heal him; I will also lead him, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners. ... Peace, peace to him that is far off and to him who is near, says the Lord; and I will heal him." Isaiah 57:16-19.
Jacob in his distress was not overwhelmed. He had repented, he had endeavored to atone for the wrong to his brother. And when threatened with death through the wrath of Esau, he looked to God for help. "And He blessed him there." Genesis 32:29. In the power of His might the forgiven one stood up, no longer the supplanter but a prince with God. He had gained not merely deliverance from his outraged brother, but deliverance from himself. The power of evil in his own nature was broken; his character was transformed. In reviewing his life-history Jacob recognized the sustaining power of God.
The Sons of Jacob
The same experience is repeated in the history of Jacob's sons. God does not annul His laws. He does not work contrary to them. He does not undo the work of sin. But He transforms. Through His grace the curse results in blessing.
Of the sons of Jacob, Levi was one of the most cruel and vindictive, one of the two most guilty in the treacherous murder of the Shechemites. Levi's characteristics, reflected in his descendants, incurred for them the decree from God, "I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel." Genesis 49:7. But repentance produced reformation, and by their faithfulness to God amidst the apostasy of the other tribes, the curse was transformed into a token of highest honor.
"The Lord separated the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister to Him and to bless in His name." Deuteronomy 10:8.
As the appointed ministers of the sanctuary, the Levites received no landed inheritance. They lived together in cities set apart for their use, and received their support from the tithes, gifts, and offerings devoted to God's service. They were the teachers of the people, guests at all their festivities, and everywhere honored as servants and representatives of God. To the whole nation was given the command, "Take heed to yourself that you do not forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land." "Levi has no portion nor inheritance with his brethren; the Lord is his inheritance." Deuteronomy 12:19; 10:9.
By Faith to Conquest
The truth that as a person "thinks in his heart, so is he" (Proverbs 23:7), finds another illustration in Israel's experience. On the borders of Canaan the spies, having returned from searching the country, made their report. The beauty and fruitfulness of the land were lost sight of through fear of the difficulties they perceived. The walled cities, the giant warriors, the iron chariots, daunted their faith. Leaving God out of the question, the multitude echoed the decision of the unbelieving spies, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we." Numbers 13:31.
Two, however, of the twelve who had viewed the land, reasoned otherwise. "We are well able to overcome it" (vs. 30), they urged, counting God's promise superior to giants, walled cities, or chariots of iron. Though they shared the forty years' wandering with the doubters, Caleb and Joshua entered the Land of Promise. As courageous of heart as when he set out from Egypt, Caleb asked for and received as his portion the stronghold of the giants. In God's strength he drove out the Canaanites, and their vineyards and olive groves became his possession. Though the cowards and rebels perished in the wilderness, the men of faith--Caleb and Joshua--ate of the grapes of Eschol.
No truth does the Bible set forth in clearer light than the peril of even one departure from right--peril both to the wrongdoer and to all whom his influence shall reach. Example has wonderful power, and when cast on the side of the evil tendencies of our nature, it becomes well-nigh irresistible.
The strongest bulwark of vice in our world is not the iniquitous life of the abandoned sinner or the degraded outcast; it is that life which otherwise appears virtuous, honorable, and noble, but in which one sin is fostered, one vice indulged. To a soul struggling in secret against some giant temptation, trembling upon the very verge of the precipice, such an example is one of the most powerful enticements to sin. People who, endowed with high conceptions of life, truth, and honor, willfully transgress one precept of God's holy law, have perverted their noble gifts into a lure to sin. Genius, talent, sympathy, even generous and kindly deeds, may thus become decoys of Satan to entice souls over the precipice of ruin.
This is why God has given so many examples showing the results of even one wrong act. From the sad story of that one sin which "brought death into the world and all our woe, with loss of Eden," to the record of him who for thirty pieces of silver sold the Lord of glory, Bible biography abounds in these examples that are set up as beacons of warning.
Elijah's Failure of Faith
There is warning also in noting the results of yielding even once to human weakness and error, the fruit of letting go of faith.
By one failure of his faith, Elijah cut short his lifework. Heavy was the burden that he had borne in behalf of Israel, faithful had been his warnings against the national idolatry, and deep was his solicitude as during three-and-a-half years of famine he watched and waited for some token of repentance. Alone he stood for God on Mount Carmel. Through the power of faith, idolatry was cast down and the blessed rain testified to the showers of blessing waiting to be poured upon Israel. Then in his weariness and weakness he fled before the threats of Jezebel, and alone in the desert prayed that he might die. His faith had failed. He was not to complete the work he had begun. God told him to anoint another as prophet in his stead.
But God had marked the heart service of His servant. Elijah was not to perish in discouragement and solitude in the wilderness. Not for him the descent to the tomb, but the ascent with God's angels to the presence of His glory.
These life records declare what every human being will one day understand--that sin can bring only shame and loss; that unbelief means failure; but that God's mercy reaches to the deepest depths, and that faith lifts up the repenting soul to share adoption as a son or daughter of God.
The Discipline of Suffering
All who in this world render true service to God or to one another receive a preparatory training in the school of sorrow. The weightier the trust and the higher the service, the closer is the test and the more severe the discipline.
Study the experiences of Joseph and Moses, of Daniel and David. Compare the early history of David with the history of Solomon, and consider the results.
In his youth David was intimately associated with Saul, and his stay at court and his connection with the king's household gave him an insight into the cares and sorrows and perplexities concealed by the glitter and pomp of royalty. He saw how little human glory is worth in bringing peace to the soul. With relief and gladness he returned from the king's court to the sheepfolds and the flocks.
When the jealousy of Saul drove David into the wilderness as a fugitive, cut off from human support, he leaned more heavily upon God. The uncertainty and unrest of the wilderness life, its unceasing peril, its necessity for frequent flight, the character of the men who joined him there, all made stern self-discipline essential. These experiences aroused and developed power to deal with men, sympathy for the oppressed, and hatred of injustice. Through years of waiting and danger, David learned to find in God his comfort, his support, his life. He learned that only by God's power could he be given the throne, only in His wisdom could he rule wisely. It was through training in the school of hardship and sorrow that David was able to make the record--though afterward marred with his great sin--that he "administered judgment and justice to all his people." 2 Samuel 8:15.
The discipline of David's early experience was lacking in that of Solomon. In circumstances, in character, and in life, he seemed favored above all others. Noble in youth, noble in manhood, beloved of his God, Solomon entered on a reign that gave high promise of prosperity and honor. Nations marveled at the knowledge and insight of the man to whom God had given wisdom. But the pride of prosperity brought separation from God. From the joy of divine communion Solomon turned to find satisfaction in the pleasures of sense. Of this experience he says:
"I made my works great, I built myself houses, and planted myself vineyards. I made myself gardens and orchards. ... I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the special treasure of kings. ... So I became great, and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. ... Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done, and on the labor in which I had toiled; and indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun. ... I hated life. ... I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun." Ecclesiastes 2:4-11, 17, 18.
By his own bitter experience Solomon learned the emptiness of a life that seeks its highest good in earthly things. He built altars to heathen gods, only to learn how vain is their promise of rest to the soul. In his later years, wearied and thirsting from earth's broken cisterns, Solomon returned to drink at the fountain of life. By the Spirit of inspiration he recorded the history of his wasted years, with their lessons of warning. And thus, although the seed of his sowing was reaped by his people in harvests of evil, the lifework of Solomon was not wholly lost. For him at last the discipline of suffering accomplished its work.
But with such a dawning, how glorious might have been his life's day had Solomon in his youth learned the lesson that suffering had taught in other lives!
The Testing of Job
For those who love God, those who are "the called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28), Bible biography teaches an even higher lesson of the ministry of sorrow. "You are My witnesses, says the Lord, that I am God" (Isaiah 43:12)--witnesses that He is good, and that goodness is supreme.
Unselfishness, the principle of God's kingdom, is the principle that Satan hates. He denies its very existence. From the beginning of the great controversy he has endeavored to prove God's principles of action to be selfish, and he deals in the same way with all who serve God. It is the work of Christ and of all who bear His name to disprove Satan's claim.
It was to give an illustration of unselfishness in His own life that Jesus came in the form of humanity. All who accept this principle are to be workers together with Him in demonstrating it in practical life. To choose the right because it is right, to stand for truth at the cost of suffering and sacrifice--"this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from Me, says the Lord." Isaiah 54:17.
Very early in the history of the world is given the life record of one over whom this controversy of Satan's was waged.
Of Job the testimony of the Searcher of hearts was, "There is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and shuns evil." Against this man Satan brought the scornful charge: "Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge around him, and around his household, and around all that he has on every side? ... But stretch out Your hand now and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!"
The Lord said unto Satan, "All that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person." Job 1:9-12. "Behold he is in your hand, but spare his life." Job 2:6.
Thus permitted, Satan swept away all that Job possessed--flocks and herds, menservants and maidens, sons and daughters--and he "struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head." Job 2:7.
Still another element of bitterness was added to his cup. His friends, seeing in adversity only the retribution of sin, pressed on his bruised and burdened spirit their accusations of wrongdoing.
Seemingly forsaken of heaven and earth, yet holding fast his faith in God and his consciousness of integrity, in anguish and perplexity he cried: "My soul loathes my life." "O that You would hide me in the grave, that You would conceal me, until Your wrath is past, that You would appoint me a set time, and remember me!" Job 10:1; 14:13. "Even though He slay me, yet will I trust Him." Job 13:15. "I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last upon the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another." Job 19:25-27. See also Job 19:7-21; 23:3-10.
"When He has tested me," Job said, "I shall come forth as gold." Job 23:10. According to his faith, so it came to pass. By his patient endurance he vindicated his own character and thus the character of Him whose representative he was. And "the Lord restored Job's losses. ... Indeed the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. ... The Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning." Job 42:10-12.
Jonathan and John the Baptist
The names of Jonathan and of John the Baptist stand with those who through self-sacrifice entered into the fellowship of Christ's sufferings.
Jonathan was by birth heir to the throne, although he knew he had been set aside by the divine decree. He was a most tender and faithful friend to his rival, David, shielding his life at the peril of his own. He also
stood steadfast at his father's side through the dark days of his declining power, and at the end fell at his side. The name of Jonathan is treasured in heaven, and on earth it is a witness to the existence and power of unselfish love.
John the Baptist at his appearance as the Messiah's herald, stirred the nation. From place to place his steps were followed by vast throngs of people of every rank and station. But all was changed when the One came to whom he had borne witness. The crowds followed Jesus, and John's work seemed fast closing. Yet there was no wavering of his faith. "He must increase," he said, "but I must decrease." John 3:30.
Time passed, and the kingdom that John had confidently expected was not established. In Herod's dungeon, cut off from life-giving air and the desert freedom, he waited and watched.
There was no display of swords, no rending of prison doors; but the healing of the sick, the preaching of the gospel, the uplifting of human souls, testified to Christ's mission.
Alone in the dungeon, seeing the direction his path, like his Master's, tended, John accepted the trust--fellowship with Christ in sacrifice. Heaven's messengers ministered to him as he went to the grave. The intelligences of the universe, fallen and unfallen, witnessed his vindication of unselfish service.
And in all the generations that have passed since then, suffering souls have been sustained by the testimony of John's life. In the dungeon, on the scaffold, in the flames, men and women through centuries of darkness have been strengthened by the memory of him of whom Christ declared, "Among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist." Matthew 11:11.