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The Bible is full of fascinating stories, some of which have even been confirmed by science to be true. But while there are some prominent figures and storylines many of us are familiar with, others seem to have come out of nowhere, and disappear as fast as we turn another Bible page.
Click through the following gallery to learn more about these mysterious storylines.
The Abel and Cain story is one of the most popular in the Bible. God prefers Abel's offering, so Cain gets jealous and kills his brother.
So what happens to Cain then? Well, God sends him to the Land of Nod, where he then starts a family and builds a city. But then there is no mention of this mysterious land ever again.
Some scholars believe that the word "Nod" was used as a metaphor, as its origins mean “wandering” or “exile.” It was basically a way for God to send Cain into exile. But again, this is just a hypothesis.
Melchizedek was a priest and the king of Salem. He was such an important figure that even Abraham paid tithes to him. But who was this man, really?
Melchizedek is described in Hebrews 7 as a man "without father or mother ... without beginning of days or end of life, resembling the son of God." Could Melchizedek have been a sort of proto-Jesus?
In Psalm 110, God tells Jesus, "You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek," attesting to the importance of this Biblical figure. Why he then disappears from the holy book is unknown.
Numbers 22:21-39 tells the story of Balaam, who was riding his donkey when the animal stopped after noticing an angel on the road. Balaam beat the donkey twice to make him move, to no avail.
After the third time Balaam hits the animal, God gives the donkey the power of speech. They then engage in a conversation, but the crux of the matter is that nowhere in the Bible is it mentioned that the donkey lost the ability to speak.
Genesis 6 says the Nephilim were the offspring of the "sons of God" and "daughters of humans,” and were basically a new being (some say the “sons of God” were angels). They have also been described as giants in some versions of the Bible. But what happened to them?
Remember the great flood and the Noah's Ark story? Well, it’s believed that no creature outside the ark would have survived the apocalyptic event. Except, maybe, the Nephilim.
Numbers 13:32-33 talks about a land the Israelites explored, and it looks like these creatures inhabited it. “All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”
Some scholars believe there is an indirect mention of them again in Ezekiel 32:27, but it’s just an interpretation. This is how far the story goes in the Bible.
In Biblical terms, witches are bad, right? Leviticus 19:31 says “Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God.” Pretty straightforward rule!
Unless, of course, you’re Saul, King of Israel, in which case God can open an exception. Saul consulted a witch, who summoned judge-prophet Samuel's spirit, who actually delivered an accurate prophecy. But fast forward to Galatians 5:19-21, and witchcraft is yet again condemned. So where does that leave us?
Genesis 9:20-27 says that Noah once passed out drunk naked in his tent. His son, Ham, called his brothers, and then covered their father’s body.
When Noah woke up, he cursed Canaan's descendants to become slaves. Who’s Canaan, you ask? He's Ham’s son, Noah’s grandson. What did he do to be cursed? Well, good question! Unfortunately, it's not clear.
The sad repercussion of this curse is that it has been quoted by several cultures to justify slavery.
Genesis 32:22-32 describes an epic wrestling match between Jacob and a man (who turned out to be God himself) “till daybreak.” God then injured Jacob’s hip and he limped ever after.
And another interesting thing this section of the Bible mentions: “Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.” How entertaining would it be to have more wrestling stories in the Bible, right?
In the Old Testament, there are a few instances where people are raised from the dead. But this changes in the New Testament, where only Jesus Christ is able to do it. Well, except this one time, as described in Acts 20:7-12.
Jesus' apostle, Paul, was talking for hours, and a young man called Eutychus fell asleep. He then “fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead.”
Luckily Paul was there, so he brought him back from the dead. Just like that.
Moses’ wife, Zipporah, is mentioned in the Bible four times. But we don’t really know much about who she was, other than she was maybe a Cushite (i.e. an African).
Cush was a large area in Africa, which included modern-day Sudan and Ethiopia, and an interracial marriage would have been quite something back then. Though some scholars theorize that Zipporah was called a Cushite because she looked different and was very pretty.
Bartholomew was one of the 12 apostles of Jesus. He was part of the inner circle of the Messiah, but other than his name nothing else about him is described in the Bible.
Gog (an individual) and Magog (a land) are only mentioned in the Bible twice, but they seem to be pretty important. In Ezekiel 38 we’re introduced to “Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of[a] Meshek and Tubal.” Gog eventually attacks Israel.
Then Chapters 19:11–21:8 of the Book of Revelation make reference to Gog and Magog: “When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle.”
In Job 40:14-24, God describes Behemoth as a large, strong, and muscular creature. It has “limbs like rods of iron” and it “feeds on grass like an ox.”
And then in Job 41, God brags about his other similar creation: a fire-breathing sea monster called Leviathan. Could both these have been dinosaurs?
Sources: (Grunge)
The unfinished tales of the Bible
What happened to the talking donkey?
LIFESTYLE Religion
The Bible is full of fascinating stories, some of which have even been confirmed by science to be true. But while there are some prominent figures and storylines many of us are familiar with, others seem to have come out of nowhere, and disappear as fast as we turn another Bible page.
Click through the following gallery to learn more about these mysterious storylines.