1. I'm always interested in the human side of people in the Bible, and how they dealt with their own faults and the sins they and others committed. I once heard a sermon about people in the Bible who had to overcome bitterness.
One of the examples was Sarah, the wife of Abraham, who was so beautiful that everywhere they went, the most powerful men in the country noticed. And Abraham knew this, telling her to tell everyone she was his sister, and being willing to hand her off to strangers for their own purposes -- twice.
Each time, her own husband, the pillar of God's chosen people, handed her off to these men in order to save his own skin, leaving only God to save her.
Now I realize times were different then -- it's not like Sarah could have just left Abraham and gotten her own apartment somewhere.
But I would love to ask her how she overcame the bitterness she must have felt. I don't think I could have gotten over it.
2. I would love to have a conversation with Esther. She had to hide her faith and nationality all the way to the throne.
When faced with the possible destruction of her people, Mordecai told her, Don't think your high position will save you. So she told him that she and her maids would fast for 3 days, that she would approach the king (he could kill her if he didn't accept her visit,) "And if I perish, I perish!"
I wonder if even by fasting, it gave away that she believed in the God of the Jews. She obviously had an effect on people wherever she went (even when she was just in the running to become queen, the head servant favored her,) and I would love to talk to her about conveying our faith in situations where a more covert approach might be more effective than pounding people over the head with Scripture.
3. I would like to have a talk with David's wife, Abigail. I knew about 3 of David's wives -- Michal (Saul's daughter,) Abigail, and Bathsheba, but one thing I learned on this very forum was that David had at least 8 wives who were named in the Bible.
Abigail was a God-fearing woman who appeased David's anger towards her then-husband's foolish decisions. David took her for his own after her husband died.
I have always wondered if Abigail, who seemed to be very level-headed and righteous, was ever jealous of Bathsheba, who was joined with David due to adultery and murder -- and yet it was Bathsheba whom God chose to bear Solomon, who is so famous that even the secular world often knows who he is. We don't really know how Bathsheba felt about her original husband being killed, though the Bible says she had at least mourned him traditionally -- maybe God gave her Solomon as a source of comfort.
But I often wonder if David's other wives were jealous that the honor of bearing the wisest, richest, famous earthly king to ever live was given to the woman who started out as David's adulterous side piece instead of one of them.
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