Field Notes are quick sketches from the Biblical world – the people, places, rulers, etc. that show up in Scripture and shape the story around them.
Sometimes that still means looking at the armor Paul describes in Ephesians. If that’s what you’re after, you can find each piece of the armor in the sidebar links at right.

  • Field Notes: Where Were You When I Laid the Foundation of the Earth?

    For most of the book of Job, Job wanted answers. He wanted to understand why everything he had built and loved had been taken from him, and he wanted God Himself to explain it.

    By the time God answered him, Job had lost his children, his wealth and his health. He had spent chapter after chapter arguing with his friends about why this had happened and wanting an opportunity to make his case before God.

    Then, in Job 38, God finally spoke. He didn’t begin by answering Job’s questions. He began asking His own. God spoke to Job from a whirlwind and asked, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?”

    Job obviously wasn’t there, and that was the point. God continued by asking Job about things that existed long before him and operated far beyond his control. “Have you ever in your life commanded the morning?” “Have you entered the springs of the sea?”

    Then the questions moved into the heavens. “Can you tie up the chains of the Pleiades?” “Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?”

    God asked about weather, stars, animals, birth, death, light, darkness, snow, hail, rain and lightning. The questions continue for four chapters. They weren’t really a test of how much Job knew. They repeatedly showed him how much he didn’t.

    Then God asked, “Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty?”

    Job finally answered. He said he was insignificant and had nothing to say. He put his hand over his mouth.

    God wasn’t finished. He spoke again from the whirlwind and continued questioning Job, this time challenging whether Job could exercise the justice and power that belong to God. Then came Behemoth and Leviathan, two creatures Job could neither control nor overpower.

    By the time God finished, He still had not given Job the explanation Job had spent so much of the book wanting. Instead, Job said something had changed in what he understood about God. He had spoken about things he didn’t understand, things too wonderful for him to know. He said, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees You.”

    God’s questions didn’t give Job the reason for everything that had happened to him. They changed Job’s understanding of how much he could possibly know from where he stood.

    Job wanted God to explain Himself.

    God showed Job just how much bigger the picture was than Job could see.

    Job 38–42

    God has more questions. See Let Me Ask You Something: When God Asks a Direct Question.

  • Field Notes: Mary, wife of Clopas

    Mary, the wife of Clopas, is mentioned in the Gospel of John as one of the women standing near the cross during the crucifixion of Jesus. Some early Christian traditions suggest she may have been related to Jesus’ family, possibly Jesus’ mother’s sister, though Scripture itself does not confirm this. Her presence at the crucifixion…

  • Field Notes: Mary, mother of James and Joses (Joseph)

    This Mary is listed among the women who followed Jesus and remained present during the crucifixion. She is identified as the mother of James and Joses (or Joseph). She was also among the women who went to Jesus’ tomb after His burial and witnessed the empty tomb following the Resurrection. Key references: Matthew 27:56, Mark…

  • Field Notes: Mary of Bethany

    Mary of Bethany was the sister of Martha and Lazarus and lived in the village of Bethany near Jerusalem. She is know for sitting at Jesus’ feet to listen to His teaching, a posture normally associated with discipleship. Shortly before Jesus’ crucifixion, she anointed His feet with expensive perfume in an act of devotion that…

  • Field Notes: Mary Magdalene

    Mary Magdalene was a devoted follower of Jesus from whom seven demons had been cast out. She traveled with Jesus and helped support His ministry. She remained near the cross during the crucifixion and is most widely known as the first person to see the risen Christ after the resurrection. Key references: Luke 8:2, John…

  • Field Notes: Mary, mother of Jesus

    Mary of Nazareth was the mother of Jesus and was chosen by God to bear the Messiah through the Immaculate Conception by the Holy Spirit. She appears in the birth narratives of Matthew and Luke and later during Jesus’ ministry. She was present at the crucifixion and is also mentioned among the early believers gathered…

  • Field Notes: Miriam, sister of Moses

    Miriam was the sister of Moses and Aaron and is described in Scripture as a prophetess. She appears prominently during the Exodus and leads the Israelite women in song after God parted the Red Sea and defeats the Egyptian army. Later, she and Aaron challenge Moses’ authority, and Miriam is temporarily struck with leprosy before…