Famous Men

Some of them ruled kingdoms and were known for their power. Some gave wise advice or spoke prophecies, or led and taught the people with wise words. Some made music and wrote verses. Some were rich men of ability, living at peace in their homes.

All of them were honored in their day and stood out in their time. Some left a name behind, so that others still praise them. But others are forgotten. They and their children after them are gone, as though they had never been.

But these were men of mercy, and their righteous deeds have not been forgotten. A good inheritance stays with their descendants, and their children are part of the covenant. Because of them, their descendants stand firm, and their children too. Their line will last forever, and their glory will never be wiped out. Their bodies were buried in peace, and their name lives for all generations. People will tell of their wisdom, and the assembly praises them.

Noah was found perfect and righteous. When the time of anger came, he kept the human race alive, so that some were left on the earth when the flood came. Everlasting covenants were made with him, promising that a flood would never again wipe out all living things.

Abraham was a great father of many nations, and there was no one like him in glory. He obeyed the law of the Most High and was taken into a covenant with him. He made that covenant firm in his own body, and when he was tested, he was found faithful. So God made him a promise with an oath: through his descendants the nations would be blessed. They would be as many as the dust of the earth and raised as high as the stars. Their inheritance would reach from sea to sea, from the Euphrates River to the farthest parts of the earth.

God made the same promise to Isaac for his father Abraham’s sake: the blessing of all people, and the covenant. Then he made it rest on Jacob’s head. He blessed him and acknowledged him, gave him his inheritance, and shared out his portions among twelve tribes.

God also lifted up Moses’ brother Aaron. Like Moses, he was a holy man, and he was from the tribe of Levi. God set up an everlasting covenant with him, made him priest of the people, blessed him with dignity and dressed him in a glorious robe. He clothed him in perfect splendor, with the signs of his authority: the linen trousers, the long robe and the ephod. On his turban was a crown of gold, engraved “HOLINESS,” lovely to look at. Nothing like them had been seen before. No one else ever put them on, only his sons and his descendants, for all time.

His sacrifices were to be burned whole, twice every day. Moses set him apart and anointed him with holy oil. It was an everlasting covenant with him and his descendants: they would serve the Lord as priests and bless his people in his name. God chose him out of everyone alive to offer sacrifice to the Lord. He was to offer incense and a sweet smell as a reminder, and to make atonement for the Lord’s people. In his commandments God gave him authority to judge. He was to teach Jacob’s people God’s decrees and bring Israel the light of his law.

In the wilderness, men from outside Aaron’s family line were jealous of him and plotted against him in fury and anger. They were Dathan and Abiram with their followers, and Korah’s crowd. The Lord saw it, and it displeased him. In his anger they were destroyed: he did wonders against them and burned them up with flaming fire.

God added to Aaron’s glory and gave him his own share: the first fruits of the harvest, and plenty of bread from the first fruits, because Aaron and his descendants eat the Lord’s sacrifices, which the Lord gave to them. But in the people’s land Aaron has no inheritance and no share among the people, because the Lord himself is his share and his inheritance.

Phinehas son of Eleazar is third in glory, because he feared the Lord and was full of zeal. When the people turned away, he held his ground and made atonement for Israel. So a covenant of peace was made with him: he would be the leader of the sanctuary and of his people, and he and his descendants would have the honor of the priesthood forever. God also made a covenant with David, the son of Jesse, of the tribe of Judah: the king’s inheritance would be his alone, passed down from son to son. So Aaron’s inheritance, too, goes to his descendants.

When his foes pressed in around him, he called on the Most High, and the great Lord heard him. With mighty hailstones he made war crash down on that nation, and on the slope he destroyed those who fought back. That way the nations would know his armor and how he fought in the Lord’s sight, because he followed the Mighty One.

In Moses’ time, Joshua and Caleb son of Jephunneh did a work of mercy: they stood up to the enemy, held the people back from sin, and quieted their wicked complaining. Of six hundred thousand people on foot, those two alone were kept alive to bring the people into a land flowing with milk and honey. The Lord kept Caleb strong into old age, so that he went up into the hill country and his descendants inherited it. That way, all Israel would see that it is good to follow the Lord.

Then there are the judges, each one by name, whose hearts stayed faithful and who didn’t turn away from the Lord. May their memory be blessed! May their bones flourish again from their resting place, and may the names of these honored men be made new in their children.

Samuel, the Lord’s prophet, loved by his Lord, set up a kingdom and anointed leaders over his people. He judged the congregation by the Lord’s law, and the Lord watched over Jacob’s people. His faithfulness proved that he was a prophet, and his words showed that his visions could be trusted. When enemies pressed in on him from every side, he called on the Lord and offered a lamb that was still nursing. Then the Lord thundered from heaven. His voice rang out with a mighty sound. He wiped out the rulers of Tyre and all the princes of the Philistines.

Before he died, he spoke in front of the Lord and his anointed one: “I have not taken anyone’s goods, not even a sandal,” and no one accused him. Even after his death he prophesied. He showed the king how his life would end and lifted up his voice from the earth in prophecy, to wipe out the people’s wickedness.

When he was young, didn’t he kill a giant and take away his people’s shame? He brought down the boasting Goliath with a stone from his sling, because he called on the Most High Lord. The Lord gave his right hand the strength to kill a mighty warrior and to lift his people up. So they gave him glory for his tens of thousands. They praised him for the Lord’s blessings when he was given a glorious crown. He destroyed the enemies on every side, beat the Philistines who fought him, and broke their strength to this day.

In everything he did, he thanked the Holy One Most High with words of glory. He sang praise with his whole heart and loved the one who made him. The Lord took away his sins, made his strength great forever, and gave him a covenant of kings and a glorious throne in Israel.

After him came a wise son, who lived in safety because of him. Solomon reigned in days of peace. God gave him rest on every side, so that he could build a house for God’s name and prepare a sanctuary to last forever.

But the Lord will never let go of his mercy, the writer says. He won’t destroy any of his works, or wipe out the descendants of the one he chose, or take away the children of the one who loved him. He let some of Jacob’s people remain, and gave David a root from his own family. So Solomon died and joined his ancestors. He left behind his son Rehoboam, a foolish man without understanding, whose advice made the people revolt. And there was Jeroboam son of Nebat, who made Israel sin and set Ephraim on the way of sin. Their sins grew and grew until they were taken away from their land. They went looking for every kind of wickedness, until vengeance came on them.

Elijah was wrapped in a whirlwind, and Elisha was filled with his spirit. As long as Elisha lived, no ruler made him afraid, and no one brought him under control. Nothing was too hard for him. When he was buried, his body prophesied. He did wonders in his life, and in death his works were marvelous too.

Even so, the people did not repent or turn from their sins, until they were carried away from their land as plunder and scattered through all the earth. Very few were left, but they had a ruler from David’s family. Some of them did right, and some piled up sins.

That was because Hezekiah did what pleased the Lord and stayed strong in the ways of his ancestor David, as Isaiah the prophet commanded. Isaiah was great and faithful in his vision. In his days the sun went backward, and he lengthened the king’s life. By a great spirit he saw the future and comforted those who mourned in Zion. He showed what would happen to the end of time, and hidden things before they came.

The memory of Josiah is like incense mixed by a perfumer, as sweet as honey in every mouth, and like music at a feast with wine. He did right in setting the people straight and took away wicked, disgusting things. He set his heart right toward the Lord, and in lawless days he made godliness win out.

Apart from David, Hezekiah and Josiah, all the kings were wicked, because they abandoned the law of the Most High. The kings of Judah came to an end. They gave their power to others and their glory to a foreign nation. The chosen city, where the sanctuary stood, was set on fire, and its streets were left empty, as Jeremiah had written. They had treated him badly, even though he was set apart in his mother’s womb to be a prophet. He was to root out, to bring suffering and to destroy, and also to build and to plant.

Ezekiel saw the vision of glory that God showed him on the chariot of the cherubim. As for the twelve prophets, may their bones flourish again from their resting place! He comforted the people of Jacob and saved them by a sure hope. What praise can we give Zerubbabel? He was like a seal ring on the right hand. Jeshua son of Jozadak was the same. They built the Lord’s house in their days and lifted up a people holy to the Lord, made ready for everlasting glory. And the memory of Nehemiah is great too. He raised up fallen walls for us, set up the gates and bars, and rebuilt our houses.

No one ever made on earth was like Enoch, because he was taken up from the earth. And no man was ever born like Joseph, the leader of his family and the support of the people. Even his bones were cared for. Shem and Seth were honored among people, but Adam was above every living thing in creation.

When he put on his glorious robe and climbed to the holy altar in perfect splendor, he made the court of the sanctuary glorious. He took the portions from the priests at the altar, with his relatives around him like a garland. He was like a young cedar in Lebanon among the trunks of palm trees. All the sons of Aaron, in their glory, held the Lord’s offering before the whole congregation of Israel.

He finished the service at the altars and arranged the offering for the Most High, the Almighty. He stretched out his hand to the cup and poured out the wine of the drink offering at the foot of the altar. It was a sweet smell to the Most High, the King of all. Then the sons of Aaron shouted and sounded their trumpets of beaten metal. They blew a great, loud blast as a reminder before the Most High. All the people hurried together, bowed with their faces to the ground, and worshiped their Lord, the Almighty, God Most High.

The singers also praised God with their voices, and sweet music filled the whole house. The people prayed to the Lord Most High, the merciful one, until the worship was over. Then Simon went down and lifted up his hands over the whole congregation of Israel, to give blessing to the Lord with his lips and to glory in his name. He bowed down again in worship, to declare the blessing from the Most High.

Then he thanks the Lord, his King and Savior, in a prayer. God protected and helped him, he says, and saved him from destruction. God saved him from tongues that spoke against him and lips that made up lies, from teeth ready to devour him, and from those who wanted him dead. He saved him from the many troubles he went through, from fire choking him on every side, fire he hadn’t lit, from the depths of Hades, and from lies told to the king. He came near to death. They surrounded him on every side, and when he looked for help, there was none.

When he was young, before he traveled abroad, he asked openly for wisdom in his prayer. He asked for her in front of the temple, and he will seek her to the end. From the first flower to the ripening grape his heart delighted in her. He walked in what was right, and from his youth he followed in her steps. The Lord gave him a tongue as his reward, and with it he will praise the Lord.