Member-only story
An Old Testament Christmas, part 3: Into the Far Country (Third Sunday of Advent)
“At this there sprang into his mother’s face something startling, beautiful, unspeakably sad — as though she were looking far beyond him at a long, dark road, and seeing on that road, a traveler in perpetual danger.”
-James Baldwin, Go Tell it on the Mountain
“Go out on the street it’s the same thing until you walk far enough and the people get realer.”
-Marlon James, A Brief History of Seven Killings
Many characters in your Bible are introduced to you as adults. Apart from the major players in Israel’s redemptive history, there’s little we know about the upbringing and background of Scripture’s central figures. What was Jonah doing the years leading up to his call? What was Boaz’s life like before Ruth? Did any of the apostles have anything interesting happen to them before them met Jesus of Nazareth? The big names seem to have more data: David’s life is covered well, especially considering the time period in which the chronicles of his life were written, and likewise those whose own names are book titles also tend to receive solid treatment of life events.
And so you would think we would know more about the “Abram” figure we meet in Genesis 12, who goes on to become, without a doubt, the most central…
