Sounds Like Jesus – Luke 3:10-14. John’s ethical teachings about sharing clothing, food, robbery, violence, dishonesty parallel Jesus’ teachings in both content and vocabulary.
From Claude.ai on 5/1/2026 for potential use as CU SS Devotionals. Below that response is ChatGPT’s response, and below that are some of the 10 Weird Animal Stories of the Bible.
Here is a collection of unusual and little-known biblical stories that have attracted significant interest from critical biblical scholars:
1. The “Sons of God” and the Nephilim (Genesis 6:1–4)
This cryptic two-verse passage describes divine beings interbreeding with human women to produce a race of giants. Scholars at the Biblical Archaeology Society note that the original audience of Genesis would have understood the “sons of God” to be members of the divine assembly familiar from ancient Near Eastern literature — comparable to figures from Ugaritic texts like Baal and Anath — rather than simply pious men. The Nephilim’s identity, origin, and role have been the subject of extensive debate, and the meaning of the term itself remains uncertain — many translations render it as “giants,” following the Greek Septuagint, though this may reflect an interpretive tradition rather than the word’s literal meaning. Scholars find this passage remarkable because it appears to be a fragment of a much older mythological tradition that was never fully integrated or explained in the biblical narrative.
2. Ehud’s Assassination of King Eglon (Judges 3:12–30)
This story of the left-handed judge Ehud, who stabbed the obese Moabite king Eglon, has attracted intense scholarly interest for its sophisticated literary humor. A study published in the Journal of Biblical Literature (2023) used archaeological remains of ancient Judahite toilets — including an eighth-century BCE gate at Lachish — to illuminate obscure elements of the story, supporting what many scholars have long argued: that the narrative is deliberately humorous and scatological. Many scholars insist the story was originally meant to be funny, contending that the text casts Eglon — whose name likely means “Little Calf” — humorously as a slaughtered bovine, arguing the story represents political satire using caricature, animal imagery, and exaggeration characteristic of ancient Near Eastern comic traditions. Scholars note that the king is so fat the sword disappears entirely into the wound, releasing what Eglon had been seeking to eliminate from another direction — a joke that would have landed clearly for the ancient audience.
3. Jephthah’s Daughter (Judges 11:29–40)
Jephthah vows to sacrifice the first thing that emerges from his house if God grants him victory, and it turns out to be his only daughter. Judges 11 is often identified by scholars as a unique biblical example of human sacrifice, and critics have noted that Jephthah’s daughter shares the company of two other women in the Hebrew Bible — the Levite’s concubine in Judges 19 and Cozbi the Midianite in Numbers 25 — whose violent deaths are described using language otherwise exclusively associated with sacrifice. Since the early twenty-first century, feminist and trauma-studies scholars have pushed Hebrew Bible exegesis in new directions with this text, framing it as a narrative of sexual violence inflicted on a teenage girl and engaging it through the lens of “cultural trauma.” What makes the story particularly puzzling to scholars is that the daughter is never even named.
4. Judah and Tamar (Genesis 38)
Sandwiched within the Joseph narrative, this story of Tamar disguising herself as a prostitute to trick her father-in-law Judah into fathering her children has long puzzled readers. Scholars reading it intertextually have observed that Genesis 38 appears to invert key elements of the rape of Dinah in Genesis 34, with Tamar acting as an agent — she speaks, conspires, challenges — where Dinah did not act at all but was acted upon, suggesting Genesis 38 may function as a deliberate narrative correction of the earlier story. Scholars engaged in narrative analysis have explored the conflicting interpretations of Judah’s and Tamar’s characterizations across various critical approaches, concluding that Tamar’s subversion of patriarchal norms by securing her own fate challenges traditional gender roles and highlights the complexity of female agency in the ancient Near Eastern context.
5. The Levite’s Concubine (Judges 19–21)
This extraordinarily disturbing story — in which a concubine is thrown out to a mob, gang-raped all night, found dying on a doorstep, and then dismembered by her husband — has generated an enormous amount of scholarly commentary. Scholars at the Jewish Women’s Archive describe it as one of the most disturbing texts in the entire Hebrew Bible, and note that the precise nature of the relationship between the Levite and his pilegesh (concubine) is itself uncertain, with the Hebrew text saying she “prostituted herself against” the Levite, while certain Greek translations say she “became angry” with him. Scholar Heidi Szpek of Central Washington University draws on Martin Buber’s observation that the story has an “ahistorical and atypical” nature, and notes the remarkable near-silence of rabbinic sources and Church Fathers about this tale until the Medieval period, which itself creates an aura of suspicion suggesting possible re-interpretation of the text as metaphor.
6. The Witch of Endor (1 Samuel 28:3–25)
King Saul, having banned all necromancers from Israel, secretly visits one to summon the dead prophet Samuel. Scholars note that considering the brevity of the encounter, it is remarkable how much resonance the narrative has had from antiquity to the present day, and trace the transformation of the unnamed “woman of Endor” into a full-blown “witch” to the era of European witch trials in the early modern period, when the story became deeply cemented in Western popular culture. Academic critics argue that one of the narrator’s hidden agendas is a sophisticated parody: having established Saul as a “prophetic figure” at the opening of 1 Samuel, the author then uses the same tradition against itself by portraying the same character as a patron of witchcraft, completing a full tragic arc from prophecy to divination. The theological debate over whether Samuel actually appeared — or whether it was a demon or illusion — has also never been settled by scholars.
7. The Naked Young Man in Mark (Mark 14:51–52)
Only two verses long and found in no other Gospel, this episode describes an unnamed young man who follows Jesus after his arrest, then flees naked when soldiers grab him. Scholars have described the passage as strange, bizarre, confusing, enigmatic, and whimsical, but note it must have been included for a reason — it doesn’t advance the plot at all. Most critical scholars and exegetes today hold that the young man is Mark himself, treating the detail as a kind of personal signature — an author painting himself into a corner of his canvas. Others have noted that the Greek word for linen cloth used here (sindon) appears exactly four times in the New Testament — three times describing the cloth wrapped around Jesus’s dead body, and once for this fleeing figure — suggesting the passage may encode baptismal theology rather than a historical curiosity.
8. The Abrupt Ending of Mark’s Gospel (Mark 16:1–8)
Many scholars believe Mark is the oldest Gospel, composed around 70 CE. It ends with Mary Magdalene and two other women finding the empty tomb, being told by a young man in white that Jesus has risen, and then — in the oldest manuscripts — the women fleeing in fear and telling no one. That is the last line of the Gospel, and why it ends so abruptly has long been a mystery. Critical scholars are fascinated because this ending — so unlike the triumphant resurrection appearances in the other Gospels — raises fundamental questions about what the original author intended and whether the longer endings now found in most Bibles were added by later scribes uncomfortable with the silence.
9. Zipporah’s Emergency Circumcision (Exodus 4:24–26)
Just after God has commissioned Moses at the burning bush and sent him to liberate Israel from Egypt, the text suddenly reports that God — without explanation — tries to kill Moses at a roadside inn. Moses’ Midianite wife Zipporah grabs a flint, circumcises her son, touches Moses’ “feet” with the foreskin, and pronounces him “a bridegroom of blood,” after which God relents. Scholars have offered many interpretations of this passage, and the diversity of those interpretations is reflected in how differently it appears across major modern Bible translations. Scholars debate whether “feet” is a euphemism for Moses’ genitals — a usage attested elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible — and whether Zipporah is performing a vicarious circumcision, transferring the rite from their son to Moses himself, who may have been uncircumcised as someone raised as an Egyptian. The story is prized by scholars precisely because it is so compressed: no motive is given for the divine attack, no explanation for why the ritual works, and no commentary offered on what Zipporah’s enigmatic phrase means.
10. Elijah Mocks Baal at Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:27)
In the famous contest between Elijah and the prophets of Baal, Elijah taunts the rival prophets at noon with a series of suggestions for why their god isn’t responding. Most English translations soften this passage considerably, but scholars have identified a scatological pun at its center. Leading academic study Bibles are clear about this: the New Oxford Annotated Bible (NRSV) footnotes the key phrase as “a disrespectful euphemism meaning that Baal has to relieve himself,” and the HarperCollins Study Bible agrees, noting it may mean Baal is “taking care of bodily functions.” Cornell University scholar Gary Rendsburg, in a published analysis of the Hebrew, argues the passage does indeed refer to excretion, representing one of the sharpest anti-pagan satires in the entire biblical corpus. Critics find this passage fascinating as evidence that ancient biblical authors used humor — including crude humor — as a deliberate theological weapon against rival religions.
11. Elisha, the Mocking Children, and Two Bears (2 Kings 2:23–25)
In one of the most theologically troubling passages in the Bible, the prophet Elisha is mocked by a group of young people who call him “Baldy!” — and he responds by cursing them in the name of God, whereupon two bears emerge from the woods and maul forty-two of them. A study published in the Tyndale Bulletin (2016) argues that the curse Elisha utters is a formal covenant curse based on Leviticus 26:22, intended not as personal revenge but as a prophetic warning to all of Israel about what awaits if the nation disregards the prophetic word. Scholars at BYU have also argued that the Hebrew word qērēaḥ (“baldhead”) was being used figuratively to accuse Elisha of being a usurper of Elijah’s authority — making the taunt not about hair loss but a serious challenge to prophetic succession, comparable to the rebellion of Korah in Numbers 16. The story is so disturbing it has been a favorite target of critics of the Bible since antiquity, and the scholarly literature defending and attacking it is immense.
12. Saul Strips Naked and Prophesies (1 Samuel 19:18–24)
Attempting to capture David, King Saul sends three successive groups of soldiers to arrest him — but each group instead falls into an ecstatic prophetic frenzy. When Saul himself goes, the same thing happens: he strips off his royal garments and lies naked on the ground prophesying all day and all night. A study in academic anthropology of religion notes that 1 Samuel twice asks “Is Saul also among the prophets?” and that both times the question is tied to a narrative about Saul’s physical body — first his frenzy, then his naked paralysis — suggesting the text is exploring what it means for the Spirit to possess a human being, drawing on three distinct ancient traditions of spirit possession simultaneously. Critical scholars have identified a sophisticated masked polemic in the text, with one scholar noting that the narrative “refers critically and almost ironically to the ecstatic of someone who pretends to be driven by a prophetic spirit,” making the whole episode a literary parody of Saul’s kingship.
13. Jacob Wrestles God at the Jabbok (Genesis 32:22–32)
In the dead of night, alone and frightened before his reunion with his estranged brother Esau, Jacob is attacked by a mysterious figure who wrestles him until dawn, wrenches his hip from its socket, refuses to give his name, and then blesses him and renames him “Israel.” Anthropologically oriented scholars have interpreted the figure as the demonic guardian spirit of the river Jacob was about to cross — a concept well attested in ancient Near Eastern religion — while others see the episode as Jacob wrestling his own conscience, emerging as a fundamentally changed person who “contends with God and people instead of avoiding or manipulating them.” Literary scholars have noted that the episode is cloaked throughout in deliberate ambiguity — the opponent’s identity is obscured, his name is withheld, he attacks from the darkness — and that the metaphors of the name, the wound, the face, and the crossing function simultaneously on multiple levels within the larger Jacob narrative. The story is particularly interesting to scholars because it appears to preserve traces of a much older, pre-Israelite combat myth that the biblical author has absorbed and reframed.
14. Lot’s Daughters (Genesis 19:30–38)
After the destruction of Sodom, Lot and his two daughters hide in a cave. The daughters, believing the world has been destroyed, get their father drunk on successive nights and sleep with him to ensure human survival. Each becomes pregnant, giving birth to the founders of Moab and Ammon. Scholars at Bible Odyssey classify this as an etiological myth — a story that explains the origin of something — and note that as Israel had a long history of hostile relations with the Moabites and Ammonites, it is unsurprising that biblical authors would take a jab at those nations by tracing their origins to incest. Critical scholars have also identified deliberate satirical wordplay in the Hebrew: the verb phrases used when the daughters “go in” to Lot and Lot “does not know” them are the same Hebrew terms used throughout the Bible for sexual intercourse, making Lot’s unknowing a grim inversion of the very act he nearly forced upon his guests in Sodom. What fascinates scholars is that the text offers no moral judgment — it simply ends with the births and the two nations’ names.
15. Ananias and Sapphira Drop Dead (Acts 5:1–11)
A married couple in the early Jerusalem church sell their property, secretly keep part of the proceeds, and claim to have donated the full amount. Peter confronts each in turn — and each immediately drops dead. Critical scholars have argued that the fundamental transgression is not greed but identity fraud: the couple are “counterfeit community members” who are still operating according to the Roman patronage system — seeking personal honor — while pretending to have converted to the early Christian ethic of neighbor-love, and their deaths mark them as outsiders rather than genuine members of the community. A 2025 academic study published in the Journal for the Study of the New Testament reads the episode alongside Adam and Eve, noting that Luke inverts the gendered dynamic of the Eden story: whereas Eve ate first in Genesis, here Ananias lies first, complicating simple readings of the story’s gender politics. The story troubles scholars because it seems wildly disproportionate, and because — unlike Old Testament divine judgments — it occurs within the community that is supposed to embody grace.
16. The “Bloodbath” Origin of Moab and Ammon / Lot’s Daughters in Reverse — Tamar and Judah (revisited as Etiological pair)
(Elijah’s Depression and the Angel’s Food, 1 Kings 19:1–9)
After his extraordinary triumph over the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, Elijah receives a death threat from Queen Jezebel and immediately flees into the wilderness in suicidal despair, crying out to God: “It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors” (1 Kgs 19:4, ASV). He falls asleep under a broom tree and an angel appears — not with a vision or a commission, but simply with food. He eats, sleeps again, and the angel comes a second time and says the journey is too great for him. Scholars are fascinated by this passage for several reasons. It presents one of the Bible’s most psychologically realistic portraits of a prophet experiencing what would today be recognized as a depressive episode — coming immediately after his greatest spiritual victory, a pattern clinicians call “post-achievement depression.” It is also remarkable that God’s response to the prophet’s despair is not a theological rebuke but a practical one: the angel makes him eat and rest before anything else. Critical scholars in the field of psychology of religion cite this passage as one of the earliest recorded accounts in religious literature of burnout and the therapeutic importance of basic physical care, and it continues to generate significant academic commentary on the relationship between prophetic experience and mental health.
These stories collectively illustrate why critical biblical scholarship is such a rich field: the Bible’s most unsettling, strange, or seemingly peripheral texts often turn out to be the most theologically complex and literarily sophisticated.
From ChatGPT
Below is a curated list of unusual or little-known biblical narratives that critical Bible scholars frequently discuss, along with why they consider them significant or puzzling. I’ve avoided devotional interpretations and focused on historical-critical, literary, and anthropological reasoning. All sources are cited inline as requested.
1. The “Bridegroom of Blood” (Exodus 4:24–26)
Story: God seeks to kill Moses on the way to Egypt; Zipporah circumcises their son and touches Moses’ feet with the foreskin.
Why scholars find it interesting:
- The episode is abrupt, unexplained, and contextually disjointed, suggesting it may be a fragment of an older tradition inserted into the narrative.
- Scholars often view it as evidence of early Israelite ritual practices tied to circumcision and divine appeasement, possibly reflecting pre-Priestly traditions.
- It is frequently cited as an example of textual layering/redaction in the Pentateuch.
Source: Discussions of “bizarre” and unexplained passages in biblical scholarship emphasize such abrupt narratives as evidence of composite texts (Live Science).
2. Balaam and the Talking Donkey (Numbers 22)
Story: A prophet’s donkey sees an angel and speaks to warn him.
Why scholars find it interesting:
- Often analyzed as satire or prophetic irony—a “seer” who cannot see, while an animal can.
- Some scholars argue it reflects non-Israelite prophetic traditions incorporated into Israelite literature.
- Demonstrates how divine communication is portrayed in unconventional ways in ancient Near Eastern contexts.
Source: The story is widely noted for its strangeness and theological messaging through unexpected agents (Bible Study Tools).
MORE – Balaam’s Talking Donkey (Numbers 22)
As the Israelites neared their Promised Land, they got close to the land of Moab—a little too close if you were to ask King Balak. So, he sent his messengers to Balaam, a local prophet who meddled in sorcery, requesting that he put a curse on the encroaching Israelites. Though he didn’t say yes right away, Balaam saddled-up his donkey and set out with the Moabite officials.
Along the way, a superhero-esque angel of the Lord blocked the road, complete with drawn sword in hand. It was a frightening scene only the donkey saw, making her bolt into a field, which prompted a beating from Balaam. Then after the angel’s third appearance—after the donkey’s third beating from Balaam—”the Lord gave the donkey the ability to speak. ‘What have I done to you that deserves your beating me three times?’”
That’s not all. Balaam and his donkey proceeded to have an actual conversation—an argument of sorts—which ended when God opened Balaam’s eyes to see the angel of the Lord standing in the road. And, of course, he did what any smart person would do in his shoes: he fell face down.
Photo Courtesy: Mona EEndra/Unsplash
3. Ehud and the Assassination of Eglon (Judges 3:12–30)
Story: A left-handed judge assassinates a king in a graphic, almost comedic narrative.
Why scholars find it interesting:
- Seen as political satire or subversive storytelling, possibly mocking foreign rulers.
- Reflects oral storytelling traditions with grotesque humor, uncommon in later biblical texts.
- Highlights the Deuteronomistic theme of deliverance through unlikely heroes.
Source: Scholars note its unusual tone and vivid detail compared to other biblical narratives (Bible Study Tools).
4. Jael and the Tent Peg (Judges 4–5)
Story: Jael kills Sisera by driving a tent peg through his skull.
Why scholars find it interesting:
- Interpreted as gender-role reversal in ancient warfare narratives.
- The poetic version (Judges 5) differs from the prose version, suggesting multiple traditions preserved side-by-side.
- Raises questions about violence, heroism, and divine endorsement.
Source: Often grouped among “strange” or violent narratives that challenge modern expectations (Crosswalk.com).
5. Jephthah’s Daughter (Judges 11)
Story: Jephthah vows to sacrifice whatever greets him; it is his daughter.
Why scholars find it interesting:
- Considered a “text of terror” in modern scholarship.
- Raises the issue of whether human sacrifice was practiced or polemicized in early Israel.
- Some scholars see it as a critique of rash vows and syncretistic religion.
Source: Identified in scholarly discussion as one of the most troubling and debated narratives (Reddit).
6. The Levite’s Concubine (Judges 19)
Story: A woman is abused, killed, and dismembered; her body is sent throughout Israel.
Why scholars find it interesting:
- A central example in feminist and critical scholarship of extreme narrative violence (“texts of terror”).
- Functions as a political allegory for Israel’s moral collapse (“no king in Israel”).
- Shows how biblical texts preserve uncomfortable social realities without explicit moral commentary.
Source: Frequently cited in academic discussions as one of the most disturbing passages (Reddit).
7. Elisha and the Bears (2 Kings 2:23–24)
Story: Youths mock a prophet; bears maul 42 of them.
Why scholars find it interesting:
- Interpreted as a story about prophetic authority and social order, not merely punishment.
- Some scholars argue the “children” may actually be young men or a hostile group, affecting interpretation.
- Highlights how ancient honor/shame dynamics operate in biblical narratives.
Source: Listed among unusual stories that provoke interpretive debate (Tiffy Taffy).
8. The Ritual of the Suspected Adulteress (Numbers 5:11–31)
Story: A woman drinks a “bitter water” ordeal to determine guilt.
Why scholars find it interesting:
- Seen as evidence of trial-by-ordeal practices in the ancient Near East.
- Raises issues of gender, legal procedure, and priestly authority.
- Scholars analyze it as part of Priestly legal traditions with ritualized justice.
Source: Noted by scholars as a “weird” but important legal ritual reflecting ancient culture (Reddit).
9. Jacob Wrestling with God (Genesis 32:22–32)
Story: Jacob wrestles a mysterious figure (God/angel/man).
Why scholars find it interesting:
- Ambiguity of the opponent suggests mythological or folkloric origins.
- Often linked to etiological explanations (e.g., Israel’s name, dietary taboos).
- Seen as a fusion of older traditions into patriarchal narratives.
Source: Scholars often point to such narratives as abrupt and contextually puzzling (Reddit).
10. The Prophet Lying Spirit (1 Kings 22:19–23)
Story: God sends a “lying spirit” to deceive King Ahab’s prophets.
Why scholars find it interesting:
- Challenges later theological assumptions about divine truthfulness.
- Reflects an older worldview where God presides over a divine council with subordinate spirits.
- Important for understanding ancient Israelite cosmology and theology.
Source: Scholars highlight such passages as revealing complex ancient beliefs about divine agency (Live Science).
11. Ezekiel’s Symbolic Acts (e.g., Ezekiel 4–5; 23)
Story: Ezekiel performs bizarre symbolic actions (lying on sides for months, cooking over dung, graphic allegories).
Why scholars find it interesting:
- Seen as prophetic sign-acts typical of ancient Near Eastern prophets.
- The extreme imagery (especially Ezekiel 23) suggests shock rhetoric intended to provoke repentance.
- Raises questions about literary genre and psychological interpretation of prophets.
Source: Scholars often cite Ezekiel’s imagery as among the most shocking in the Bible (Reddit).
12. Ravens Feeding Elijah (1 Kings 17:2–6)
Story: Ravens bring food to Elijah during a drought.
Why scholars find it interesting:
- Possibly reflects folk traditions about divine provision.
- Some scholars debate whether the Hebrew term could mean “Arabs” or “merchants” instead of birds.
- Illustrates textual ambiguity and translation challenges.
Source: Noted as a lesser-known but unusual narrative involving animals and divine provision (Bible Study Tools).
Synthesis (What Critical Scholars Emphasize)
Across these examples, critical scholarship tends to find these stories important because they:
- Preserve older traditions (mythic, folkloric, or ritual) embedded in later texts.
- Reveal editorial layering and redaction within biblical books.
- Reflect ancient Near Eastern cultural practices (law, warfare, ritual).
- Challenge modern expectations about morality, theology, and narrative coherence.
- Show that the Bible includes unfiltered, sometimes disturbing material, which scholars treat as historically and literarily significant rather than problematic anomalies.
As Kristin Swenson (a critical scholar) argues, the Bible’s “inherent strangeness” is not accidental but part of its composition and transmission history (Live Science).
In addition to some of the above, the following are extracts of Top 10 Weird Bible Stories by Amy Green on Crosswalk.com
7. Worst Hair Day Ever
What Happened: King David’s pretty boy son staged a coup and drove his father out of Jerusalem. I say “pretty boy” because he had lovely locks of hair that he actually weighed when he got a yearly haircut (2 Samuel 14:26). Later, when David had gathered his loyal supporters to take the kingdom back, Absalom fled the battle on his horse… until his long hair got tangled in a tree and left him hanging there until he was captured and killed. Should’ve gotten a trim before the battle, clearly.
Less Weird When You Remember: The little detail about Absalom’s long locks was mentioned four chapters before the story of his death. The Bible doesn’t typically mention a person’s physical appearance unless it has something to do with the story, kind of like foreshadowing. (But does that make the method of Absalom’s death less weird? Not really.) Read the Story: 2 Samuel 18:6-33
8. One Messed-Up Family Tree
What Happened: Tamar, a young widow, was in a tricky place. The law required that she marry her deceased husband’s brother so she could have children to provide for her and carry on the family name… but her father-in-law Judah absolutely forbid it, basically condemning her to poverty. So she took matters into her own hands, and dressed up like a prostitute, seduced her father-in-law, and had twin sons by him (yes, really). When she was about to be stoned for adultery, she produced proof that Judah was the father. He admitted his guilt, and Tamar was spared.
Less Weird When You Remember: The law requiring a man to marry his brother’s widow was intended to protect childless widows, who were vulnerable to poverty and abuse. Yes, it was totally misused in this case… but even with that, Tamar is mentioned in the line of Jesus, one of three foreign women of questionable past included there to point to God’s grace. Read the Story: Genesis 38
9. Construction Site Miracle
What Happened: Elisha and his band of friends were chopping down trees to build a house, when one of the axes broke and sank in the nearby Jordan River. One of the men shouted the ancient equivalent of, “Oh no! That’s wasn’t even mine—I borrowed it.” So Elisha just whipped out a stick, set it on the surface of the water, and the axe head miraculously floated to the top.
Less Weird When You Remember: God even cares about the little things in our lives and can use them to show His power. Read the Story: 2 Kings 6:1-7
From 10 Weird Animal Stories of the Bible by Molly Parker, Crosswalk.com
Horses and Chariots of Fire (2 Kings 6:17)
Horses are symbolic of victory all throughout the Bible. Even Jesus will one day appear as a warrior on a white horse! So, it’s no surprise God would use horses to not only showcase his power and might, but to protect and serve his people.
One example is when the Aramean army advanced upon Israel, covering the hillside with their horses and chariots. “Oh, sir, what will we do now?” Elisha’s servant cried out to him, to which Elisha replied, “Don’t be afraid . . . there are more on our side than on theirs!” And after a quick prayer, the young man’s eyes were opened to see that the hillside around Elisha was filled with a heavenly army of horses and chariots of fire, proving God’s unseen forces are constantly at work on our behalf.
8. Samson’s Fox Tail Trick (Judges 15:1-5)
Though he possessed great strength, Samson was often ruled by sensuality. It didn’t matter if the object of his affection was a Philistine woman from Timnah; he married her anyway.
One day, Samson’s father-in-law, a Philistine, prevented Samson from seeing his wife. So, he took personal revenge by tying the tails of three hundred foxes in pairs, attaching a torch between each pair of tails. When Samson lit the torches, the foxes ran through the grain fields of the Philistines, and all their grain was burned to the ground. The vineyards and olive groves were destroyed, too. Were the foxes injured? The Bible doesn’t say. But it certainly is a very odd story!
Photo Courtesy: Vincent Van Zalinge/Unsplash
9. A Viper Bites Paul (Acts 28:1-6)
After Paul escaped safely to shore on the island of Malta, he helped the welcoming natives build a fire. Little did he know a poisonous viper was nestled in the sticks he had collected, and “driven out by the heat, [the snake] bit him on the hand.” It didn’t just bite and let go; it hung on, causing the islanders to think Paul must have been a murderer and he was getting his just desserts. Even though Paul seemed unharmed after shaking off the snake, they still expected him to drop dead at any moment—and when he didn’t, the superstitious people “changed their minds and decided he was a god.”
But Paul knew God’s protection was over him. In Acts 27:23-25, not only did an angel deliver a promise to Paul that he’ll be standing before Caesar one day, the angel also granted a safe passage to everyone aboard ship. So, when they got shipwrecked—and when Paul got bit by a poisonous snake—he, no doubt, remembered God’s promises.
Photo Courtesy: Zachary Young/Unsplash
10. Two Killer Bears (2 Kings 2:23-24)
As Elisha made his way from Jericho to Bethel, a mean-spirited group of young men from town began mocking him, “Get out of here, baldy!” Whether they teased him because they didn’t want to get another lecture on morality, as Elijah had given, or they taunted him about getting swept-up into heaven like Elijah, Elisha “cursed them in the name of the Lord.” And though Elisha’s curse may not have included the summoning of predatory animals, two female bears came out from the woods and mauled forty-two of the cynical boys.
While it appears God’s punishment for their disrespect went a little far, we have a choice to make: doubt God’s goodness or “trust in the Lord with all [our] heart and lean not on [our] own understanding; in all [our] ways acknowledge Him, and He will make [our] paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
