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Bible Hall of Fame
This is some really impressive stuff … one 969-year-old man, one guy who’s faster than a chariot, and one seven-year-old king! Accomplishments to blow away any record book! Just click on the names below to hear more about their amazing stories.
- Longest Living Guy: Methuselah
- Methuselah lived to be 969 years old (Genesis 5:27). Imagine what his last birthday cake must've looked like! They probably just lit a bonfire and threw the cake in it!
- Single Worst Day, Ever: Job
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The worst single day anyone has ever had was when Job lost everything in a matter of hours. One after another, messengers dropped by to let Job know that he had lost all of his livestock, his servants, and, worst of all, his ten children. His wife told him to curse God and die (Job 1:13-21; 2:9). When the day started, Job had it all; when it was over, he had nothing, nada, zippo, zilch—except God. And it turned out that God was more than enough. - Quickest Demolition: Jericho
- The city of Jericho was famous for the high walls that protected it. There was no way that Joshua and the Israelites were going to get in on their own, so God told them to tromp around the city for a week, blow their trumpets, shout, and watch the walls fall down (Joshua 6:1-20). Sounds wacky, but it worked. Josh and company two-stepped around the walls for a week, made some noise, and God brought in the invisible wrecking ball. Presto-whammo, Jericho got slammo'd!
- Worst Name Going: Nabal
- In Bible times, names always had a literal meaning that was supposed to describe that person's character and personality. So you can imagine what kind of a person Nabal was. His name meant "fool." Unfortunately, he lived up to it (or down to it) when he treated David rudely (1 Samuel 25:2-38).
- Richest Guy in Bible Times: Solomon
- God asked Solomon what gift he wanted, and Solomon asked for the brains to tell right from wrong and to rule God's people. God was so pleased that he made Sol the richest king alive (1 Kings 3:8-13).
- Fastest Guy in the Bible: Elijah
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God gave Elijah the ability to outrace a chariot and a thunderstorm (1 Kings 18:45-46). Elijah ran ahead of Ahab's chariot for the entire six miles from Mount Carmel to Jezreel. Now, a chariot could travel upwards of twenty miles an hour, which means that Elijah was moving—about a mile every three minutes! - Wildest Chariot Driver on Record: Jehu
- Jehu took chariot racing to the next level, burning up the road between Ramoth Gilead and Jezreel in order to take over the throne. Jehu had a reputation for driving like a madman (2 Kings 9:16-20). Can you imagine what he'd be like if he was a kid today and owned a skateboard? Whoa!
- Two Youngest Kings: Joash & Josiah
- You know that the Israelites were living in interesting times when they had to put second-graders on the throne. Joash became king when he was seven (2 Kings 11:21), and Josiah took the throne when he was eight (2 Kings 22:1)! Joash got off to a good start before his chief adviser died, and the other young king, Josiah, did a great job of getting the people's minds back on God. Kids rule!
- Prophet Who Out-Cried All Other Prophets: Jeremiah
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Being one of God's prophets was a really tough job, but Jeremiah won hands down for most tears per prophecy. He was known as the "weeping prophet" because he could see all the bad stuff coming, but no matter how much he warned, people just wouldn't listen up (Jeremiah 9:1; Lamentations 1:1-2). Maybe that's where the expression town crier came from. - Strangest Eating Habits: John the Baptist
- You'd probably expect a prophet—those wild and wacky guys—to have a pretty strange diet. John the Baptist, however, takes the cake (not literally)—he chowed down on locusts and wild honey (Matthew 3:4). Locusts are like grasshoppers, only bigger and crunchier, and he probably had to battle wild bees for the honey. They didn't have McDavid's back then.
- Best Meal-Saver: Elisha
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Once Elisha's servant cooked up a pot of stew for a group of prophets. Some guy who wasn't exactly a gourd expert sliced a poisonous gourd into the pot. They're in the middle of a famine, everybody's hungry, dinner's been poisoned, and they're all staring at the Gourd Guy. Elisha said, "Would you guys chill?" He had them throw some flour in, and the stew was fine (2 Kings 4:39-41). (How'd he do that?) Another time Elisha threw some salt in undrinkable water, and after that the water was fine (2 Kings 2:19-22). - Biggest Upset in History: King David
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David came rocking on the scene as a kid, then became king and fought enemies endlessly, and then died at a ripe old age. He's known for possibly the biggest upset in history—David versus Goliath. Dave was a little shepherd boy, and Goliath was a nine-foot-tall seasoned warrior. If it sounds like one of the biggest mismatches in history, that's because it was! But God helped Dave even the odds with one well-slung stone, and that was more than enough to pull off the upset of the eleventh century B.C. (1 Samuel 17:4-51)! - Strongest Man: Samson
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Sure, John Henry was strong, but he never existed! Samson, son of Zanoah, was the real deal, the genuine Man of Steel. This guy ripped two-ton city gates out of their sockets, singlehandedly wiped out entire armies, shredded lions, and snapped thick ropes like so much spaghetti. When a lion attacked him, he was cool. The Spirit of God gave Samson the strength to tear it apart. Pretty impressive, huh?
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