Nancy M. Johnson Knihy

Essential Figures in the Bible compiles thorough but manageable entries on the figures most vital to an understanding of the Bible and its teachings. In this valuable reference, Dr. Ronald L. Eisenberg catalogs and explains the importance of more than 250 figures who are most vital to an understanding of the Hebrew Bible and its teachings. For these figures selected from the more than 3,000 names found in the Hebrew Bible, Eisenberg provides summaries of the narratives relevant to each figure discussed along with illustrative quotations from the Bible and supplementary material from rabbinic literature when appropriate.

Our tale is the story of a young English archer who has become famous because of his rescue of English sailors, and his capture of a Spanish galleon loaded with treasure. Proficient in the use of flaming arrows, Alon wins the King’s archery contest and is then asked by the King to free the Archbishop of Canterbury from pirates. On his way back to England after accomplishing the mission, Alon comes across a stolen English revenue cutter, which he recaptures. Due to all his successful and daring exploits, the East India Trading Company asks Alon to help the company eliminate pirates off the coast of Africa, vicious men who have been harassing English shipping. “In the year 1624, a young archer by the name of Alon was caught poaching deer on Lord Harold’s property. The punishment for poaching was death, but Alon’s life was spared by Lord Harold because Alon had won the king’s archery contest. Instead of punishing Alon, he was instead made Lord Harold’s gamekeeper and chief hunter.” Thus starts this seafaring adventure.