Some people in the Bible escaped death through a miracle. Others were preserved through people, timing, and circumstances God used to carry out His purposes.
Again and again, Scripture shows that God preserves lives when His purposes are not yet finished. Sometimes His intervention is unmistakable. Other times, His providence works quietly through people, timing, and circumstances.
How many of these 10 people God preserved when death was near can you identify?
1. Enemy chariots surrounded him in battle because they thought he was someone else. He cried out, and Scripture says the LORD helped him and turned the attackers away. Who was he?
Insight: Jehoshaphat nearly died because he looked like the wrong king. Ahab had disguised himself before the battle, while Jehoshaphat went into battle wearing his royal robes. The Syrian commanders had been ordered to focus on the king of Israel, so they surrounded Jehoshaphat instead. What makes the account remarkable is the wording: Jehoshaphat cried out, “and the LORD helped him.” The attackers then realized he was not Ahab and turned away.
2. A queen seized the throne and began killing the royal family. One young prince was taken from among those marked for death and hidden with his nurse in the temple for six years. Who was he?
Insight: Joash survived a purge intended to wipe out the entire royal line of Judah. His aunt Jehosheba secretly removed him from among the royal children being killed and hid him in the temple for six years. His survival preserved the Davidic dynasty at a moment when it appeared one murderous queen might extinguish it completely. Joash was only seven when he was finally brought out of hiding and crowned king.
3. Eighty-five priests were killed in a single day. Their city was then put to the sword, including men, women, children, and infants. One son of the priest at Nob escaped and fled to David. Who was he?
Insight: Abiathar escaped one of the darkest massacres in David’s story. After Saul learned that the priests at Nob had helped David, Doeg the Edomite killed 85 priests and then attacked the entire town. Abiathar alone is named as escaping from the priestly family and reaching David. David immediately recognized that his own visit to Nob had helped bring the disaster about and promised Abiathar protection.
4. A king listened as a scroll was read to him, cut off each section as it was read, and threw it into the fire. Then he ordered the arrest of the prophet who dictated it and the scribe who had written it down. The officers could not find them because “the LORD hid them.” Who was the scribe?
Insight: Jeremiah dictated God’s message, and Baruch wrote the entire scroll before publicly reading it to the people and later to the officials. King Jehoiakim responded by cutting the scroll apart and burning it piece by piece. He then ordered Jeremiah and Baruch arrested. The passage gives an unusually direct explanation for their escape: “the LORD hid them.” Baruch later had to write the entire scroll again.
5. He unknowingly violated an oath his father had placed on the army by tasting a little food. When his father learned what had happened, he declared that his own son must die. The army refused to let the sentence be carried out. Who was he?
Insight: Jonathan nearly died because of an oath he did not even know existed. Saul had forbidden his soldiers from eating until evening, but Jonathan had been away when the command was given. After tasting a little honey, he regained his strength, only to learn later that Saul considered the violation worthy of death. The soldiers refused to permit it, arguing that Jonathan had just helped bring about a great victory for Israel.
6. He went before the king and pleaded for Jeremiah to be rescued from a cistern. Later, as Jerusalem faced destruction, God sent this foreign servant a message of his own: he would not fall by the sword or be handed over to the men he feared. Who was he?
Insight: Ebed-melech was a foreigner and a palace official, yet he showed more courage toward Jeremiah than many of Judah’s leaders. He went directly to King Zedekiah and protested the prophet’s treatment, then carefully arranged Jeremiah’s rescue from the muddy cistern. Later, God sent Ebed-melech a personal promise through Jeremiah: Jerusalem would fall, but he would escape with his life because he had trusted in the LORD.
7. This king unknowingly took another man’s wife into his household. Before he ever touched her, God came to him in a dream and warned that he was a dead man. He returned the woman and lived. Who was the king?
Insight: Abimelech came closer to death than he realized. Abraham had said Sarah was his sister, so the king took her into his household. Before anything happened, God appeared to Abimelech in a dream and told him plainly that he was “a dead man” because Sarah was married. Abimelech protested that he had acted innocently, and God agreed, revealing that He had personally kept the king from sinning against Him.
8. An enemy army secretly circled behind him while another force remained in front. Trapped between the two, his men cried to the LORD, the priests sounded their trumpets, and the battle suddenly turned. Which king escaped the ambush?
Insight: Abijah’s army was already outnumbered two to one, with 400,000 men facing Jeroboam’s 800,000, when Israel’s forces circled behind Judah and trapped them from both directions. With enemies in front and behind, Judah cried out to the LORD and the priests blew their trumpets. The account credits the reversal not to superior numbers or tactics but to God, saying He struck Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.
9. The whole congregation called for him to be stoned after he urged Israel to enter the Promised Land. Before they could act, the glory of the LORD appeared at the tabernacle. Which spy from the tribe of Judah was he?
Insight: Caleb’s life was threatened not by an enemy army but by his own people. After ten spies discouraged Israel from entering Canaan, Caleb and Joshua urged the nation not to rebel against God. The congregation responded by calling for them to be stoned. Before anyone could act, the glory of the LORD appeared at the tabernacle. Of all the men twenty and older counted in the census, only Caleb and Joshua lived to enter the land.
10. A crowd turned on him, stoned him, and dragged him outside the city because they believed he was dead. Yet while the disciples gathered around him, he got up, returned to the city, and left the next day. Who was he?
Insight: The reversal at Lystra happened with startling speed. Earlier, the crowd had mistaken Paul and Barnabas for gods and wanted to offer sacrifices to them. Soon afterward, opponents persuaded the same crowd to turn against Paul. They stoned him and dragged him outside the city, believing he was dead. Paul got up and returned to Lystra that same day, and after traveling on to Derbe, he later came back through Lystra again to strengthen the disciples.
Bonus: Two messengers carrying critical information for David were spotted before they could reach him. They fled to a house in Bahurim and climbed down into a well while a woman covered its opening and scattered grain over the top. Which son of Abiathar was hiding in the well?
Insight: Jonathan and Ahimaaz were carrying intelligence that could save David during Absalom’s rebellion. When they were spotted, they fled to Bahurim and hid inside a well. A woman covered the opening and spread grain over it, making the hiding place look ordinary. Absalom’s servants searched for them but left empty-handed. The two messengers then climbed out and carried the warning that helped David escape across the Jordan.
Some of these rescues were dramatic. Others came through a relative, a servant, an army, or a perfectly timed warning.
But in every case, death did not have the final word. God was still at work, and His purposes were still unfolding.
