30 Key Historical Figures That Show Up in Biblical History

Biblical history doesn’t record fictitious stories or myths; it reports historical events covering thousands of years. While the Bible largely follows the history of the Israelite people, culminating in Jesus Christ and his disciples, it also includes important historical figures who did not share the faith of the Israelites in the one true God, but were nevertheless instrumental in the story of God’s chosen people and the course of history.

Here’s a chronological list of important political figures from history that show up in the Bible. We have grouped them into five eras of biblical history.

Era #1: Early History of the Patriarchs and Israelites on the Way to the Promised Land

Jewish history begins with the patriarch Abraham, father of the Jewish people. Prior to the account of Abraham, there is little specific mention of rulers in the biblical account. However, by Abraham’s time over 2,000 years of history had already transpired!

So here are a few figures that appear from the time of Abraham to when the Israelite people left Egypt during the Exodus and were on their way to the promised land.

The following biblical history is found in Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

Abimelech (~2,000 BC)

“Abimelech” is the title used for kings of the Philistines, much like “Pharaoh” was used for Egyptian monarchs. The name Abimelech means “my father is king.” We encounter two rulers named Abimelech in the book of Genesis. Abimelech is an important Philistine ruler who interacted with the patriarchs, Abraham and Isaac (Genesis chapters 20 and 26). Abimelech entered a treaty with Abraham, allowing him to live in Philistine territory. Decades later another Abimelech similarly made a pact with Isaac.

Pharaoh (~2,000 BC to 1,300 BC)

“Pharaoh” is a general title used for kings of the Egyptians. The first Pharoah we encounter reigns during the life of Joseph and elevates Joseph to second in command. The next Pharoah we encounter comes generations later and is the harsh taskmaster who fears the Israelite people and so enslaves them. This is the Pharoah that Moses confronts in the book of Exodus, who let’s God’s people go free, but then pursues the Israelites with his army, only to be drowned in the Red Sea (Exodus 4-12). It is difficult to pin down specifically which of Egypt’s kings Moses engaged, with scholars suggesting Pharaohs from Amenhotep II to Ramesses II. Israel’s interactions with Egypt spanned nearly one and a half millennia up until the Babylonian exile (586 BC).

Balak (~1,400 BC)

Balak was an important king of the Moabites, a people who descended from Lot (Abraham’s nephew) and lived east of the Dead Sea in what is modern-day Jordan. Balak hired the non-Israelite prophet Balaam to curse the Israelites during their wilderness wanderings (Numbers 22-24). In collaboration with the Midianites, his men also devised a plan for Moabite women to tempt Israelite men into sexual immorality, bringing the judgment of God upon the Israelites (Numbers 25). The Moabites existed side-by-side with Israel and were a constant thorn in Israel’s side, fighting each other over the centuries until the Babylonians wiped out the Moabites in the 6th century BC. Ruth, an important ancestor of King David, was a Moabite, and an entire book of the Bible is devoted to her story.

Amalek (~1,400 BC)

The nomadic, desert-dwelling Amalekites were founded by Amalek, the grandson of Esau (who was Abraham’s grandson). They lived in the Negev, the desert between Egypt and Canaan. Amalek (perhaps a later ruler with the same name) confronted the Israelites on their exodus from Egypt but was defeated by Moses and Joshua (Exodus 17). The Amalekites, often joining the Midianites and Moabites, harassed Israel over several centuries until under King Hezekiah (700 BC) the Israelites wiped them out completely (1 Chronicles 4:42-43).

Sihon and Og (~1,400 BC)

Sihon and Og were two kings of the Amorites, nomadic people who lived in various places both across the Jordan River as well as in Canaan, especially in the hill country. They opposed the Israelites before they entered the Promised Land, so Moses defeated them and took their land (Deuteronomy 3). About a decade later, Joshua defeated five Amorite kings on the day the sun stood still (Joshua 10). While they were fierce warriors in their day, occupying land as far north as Syria and as far east as Mesopotamia, the Amorites eventually disappeared, most likely absorbed by Israelite culture.

Era #2: History of Israel’s Interaction with the neo-Assyrian Empire during the Monarchy and Divided Kingdom

There is considerable interaction between the Israelites and the nations surrounding them after they conquered and occupied Canaan (the “Promised Land”) during Joshua’s leadership.

The history after Joshua spans nearly a millennium, covering the time of the judges, the monarchies of Saul, David, and Solomon, and the Divided Kingdom of Israel. This biblical history is found mainly in the book of Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, and 1 & 2 Chronicles.

The following are key Gentile rulers during the time when Israel had kings on the throne.

Queen of Sheba (~940 BC)

Little is known about the “queen of the South” (Luke 11:31 ESV) who visited King Solomon in Jerusalem. Scholars mainly settle on Sheba’s location as either in modern-day Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula, or in Ethiopia in northeast Africa. From the biblical account, the Queen of Sheba was wealthy and powerful, and she left a considerable tribute for Solomon (1 Kings 10:1-13). Ethiopian tradition claims that the queen bore Solomon a child, which would explain the surprisingly long history of Judaism in that country and may also account for how the Ethiopian eunuch we read about in Acts 8 knew the Hebrew Scriptures (Acts 8:26-40).

Shishak (~925 BC)

Shishak is the first Egyptian pharaoh mentioned by name in the Bible. After King Solomon’s death, Israel split into northern and southern kingdoms. The south was ruled by Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, who quickly turned from God. Shishak attacked the southern kingdom (Judah) and plundered his way to Jerusalem, raiding the Temple (2 Chronicles 12:1-12). Shishak’s campaign into Israel was also recorded in Egyptian historical records.

Jezebel (~850 BC)

Ahab became the seventh king of the northern kingdom of Israel about 870 BC. He married a Phoenician princess, Jezebel, who was determined to make Baal worship from her native land as popular as possible in Israel, and King Ahab helped her (1 Kings 16:29-33). She put to death most of the prophets of the Lord and sought to kill Elijah, the greatest prophet of his day after he defeated 450 prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:13; 1 Kings 19:1-2; 1 Kings 18:20-40). Her thirty-year reign outlived Ahab, but Jezebel came to a violent end as she was killed by the next king, Jehu (2 Kings 9:30-37).

Rezin (750-732 BC)

The Aram-Syrian empire centered in Damascus was a growing threat during Israel’s divided kingdoms. Rezin was the last king of this empire. He joined forces with King Pekah of Israel’s northern kingdom, to quell the growing Assyrian threat and to subdue the southern kingdom of Israel, which was centered in Jerusalem and ruled by King Ahaz (2 Kings 16). The prophet Isaiah implored Ahaz to trust the Lord, but Ahaz instead called upon the Assyrians for help (Isaiah 7). Under Tiglath-Pileser III, the Assyrians conquered Damascus in 732 BC, which ended the Aram-Syrian empire. Then the Assyrians subjugated Israel’s southern kingdom but never completely took it (2 Chronicles 28).

Tiglath-Pileser III (745-727 BC)

One of the most significant kings of the Assyrian empire, Tiglath-Pileser III, was known for his violence and cruelty. He conquered the Aram-Syrian empire centered in Damascus (732 BC), subjugated Israel’s southern kingdom (2 Chronicles 28:16-21), and began the final conquest of Israel’s northern kingdom (2 Kings 15:29). He made the Assyrian empire the superpower of the region.

Shalmaneser V (727-722 BC)

The final conquest and dispersion of Israel’s northern kingdom happened under the Assyrian king Shalmaneser V (2 Kings 17). The ten tribes of Israel’s northern kingdom would never again reconstitute as a nation. Instead, the northern region of Israel became a mixture of Jews and Gentiles later known as the Samaritans. With this conquest and exile of his people, God’s judgment of the northern kingdom of Israel was complete. For, each of the nineteen kings in northern Israel had turned the people away from the Lord to worship the false gods of the Canaanites; thus, God kept his promise to punish the nation for their rebellion.

Sennacherib (705-681 BC)

With the fall of Israel’s northern kingdom, the threat to Israel’s southern kingdom (Judah) increased. The Assyrians continued to gobble up nations all over the Near East, and King Sennacherib set his eye on Judah’s capital, Jerusalem. He took all of Judah’s fortified cities and laid siege to Jerusalem during the reign of King Hezekiah, who was the godly king of Judah (2 Kings 18-19). However, the Israelites escaped destruction, for God intervened by sending his destroying angel and killing 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. Sennacherib was forced to return to Nineveh, where he was murdered sometime afterward by his two sons (Isaiah 36-37). This happened during Isaiah’s lifetime and prophetic ministry.

Ashurbanipal (668-631 BC)

Although he is mentioned by another name (Osnappar) in the Old Testament (Ezra 4:10), Ashurbanipal is the most famous Assyrian king. During his rule the Assyrian empire was the largest empire in the world, stretching from Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea to Iran in the east and Egypt in the south. Nineveh, its capital, was the largest city on the globe. During this time, Israel’s southern kingdom was a tributary to Assyria, and Judah’s King Manasseh was imprisoned for a time in Babylon by the Assyrians. After Ashurbanipal’s reign, the Assyrian empire began to wane until it was conquered by the Babylonians in 612 BC.

Era #3: History of Israel’s Interaction with the Neo-Babylonian Empire and Exile to Babylon

After both the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel fell consecutively to the Assyrians and Babylonians, Israel no longer existed as a nation. The Israelite people, now known as “the Jews,” were scattered among other nations. Babylon was the superpower of the region. This history is covered in the latter chapters of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles, and in prophetic books like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel.

Nebuchadnezzar the Great (605-562 BC)

Nabopolassar founded the neo-Babylonian empire in 626 BC. His son, Nebuchadnezzar, was a general who defeated the Egyptians at Carchemish in 605 BC (Jeremiah 46:2). In 612 BC, Nabopolassar sacked the Assyrian capital, Nineveh, and the Babylonians became the dominant power of the region. Nebuchadnezzar became king upon his father’s death in 605 BC, and he began to subjugate the nations in the Near East. Known for his great projects like the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, Nebuchadnezzar became the greatest king of the neo-Babylonian empire. He is responsible for the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC (2 Kings 25; Jeremiah 52) and the start of the 70-year exile of the Jews to Babylon. The prophet Daniel served as Nebuchadnezzar’s right-hand man during the king’s reign (Daniel 2:48).

Belshazzar (552-539 BC)

There are four Babylonian kings who appear inconsequential for Jewish history between Nebuchadnezzar and the last, Belshazzar. Evil-Merodach is the only one mentioned in the Bible (2 Kings 25:27). Belshazzar is the king who saw the handwriting on the wall while throwing a lavish party on the night Babylon fell to a coalition of Medes and Persians. He lost his life that night (Daniel 5). He had co-reigned with his father, Nabonidus, for most of his father’s reign. At the time, Babylon was the largest city in the world and considered impenetrable, yet the prophet Isaiah had prophesied 150 years earlier that it would fall to the Medes (Isaiah 13:17) in a single day (Isaiah 47:9).

Era #4 History of Israel’s Interaction with the Persian Empire after the Babylonian Exile

The neo-Babylonian empire was relatively short-lived, soon conquered by a coalition of Medes and Persians. The Jews were allowed to return in this era, after 70 years of Babylonian exile, and they began to rebuild Jerusalem. However, Israel as a nation still didn’t exist. The area previously known as “Israel” was occupied and dominated successively by the Babylonians, Persians, and Greeks, as the prophet Daniel foresaw in his vision (Daniel 2). This history is covered in the biblical books of Daniel, Ezekiel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther.

Cyrus the Great (539-530 BC)

The books of Ezra and Nehemiah describe events during the Jewish return to Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile (Isaiah 44:28; 45:1). Cyrus founded the first Persian empire (formally called the Achaemenid empire) which lasted until Alexander the Great conquered it in 330 BC. It was the largest empire to ever exist at the time, stretching from the Balkans in Europe to the border of India. After the Medes and Persians defeated Babylon, Cyrus the Great decreed in his first year that the Jews could return to their homeland (Ezra 1). The prophet Daniel served at least into the third year of Cyrus’ rule (Daniel 10:1).

Darius the Mede (538-536 BC)

While there is scholarly debate about the identity of “Darius the Mede” (Daniel 5:31 ESV)—either “Darius” being a general term for a Median leader (like Pharaoh for Egypt) or Darius being a general who fought for Cyrus the Great—we know he is the ruler of Babylon after its fall in 539 BC. Darius is the king who threw Daniel into the lion’s den and saw him rescued by God, who then elevated him to second in command in the new regime (Daniel 6). Both Darius and Cyrus ruled Babylon simultaneously (Daniel 6:28).

Darius the Great (521-486 BC)

Third king of the Persian empire, Darius the Great, ruled at the height of the expansion of Persian territory. He was good to the Jews in allowing them to continue rebuilding Jerusalem and the Temple, even providing wages for the workers out of the royal treasury, as well as food and livestock for sacrifices. The Temple was completed in his 6th year in 516 BC (Ezra 6). He is first mentioned in Ezra 4:5, but elsewhere too by the prophets Haggai (1:1) and Zechariah (1:1).

Xerxes (485-465 BC)

Son of Darius the Great, Xerxes was also known as Ahasuerus, which is the name many Bible translations use for him (e.g., Esther 1:1 ESV). He is best known for his failed invasion of Greece, especially his loss at Thermopylae to 300 Spartan warriors, despite razing Athens in 480 BC. The entire book of Esther occurs during his reign, as Esther became his queen and helped thwart a plan to exterminate the Jews in Persia. Xerxes was assassinated by the commander of his royal bodyguard.

Artaxerxes I (464-425 BC)

The son of Xerxes, Artaxerxes, was the fifth king of the Persian empire. Nehemiah served as his cupbearer (Nehemiah 1:11) and was given permission to return to his homeland to help rebuild the walls of Jerusalem in Artaxerxes’ twentieth year (Nehemiah 2:1). Despite the exiles returning to Jerusalem nearly a century earlier, Jerusalem still lay in shambles. Artaxerxes not only granted Nehemiah permission to leave but also gave him the resources to rebuild the city walls and fortify the Temple. Thirteen years earlier, Artaxerxes had granted Ezra permission to go to Jerusalem to teach the people the law (Ezra 7:8). Despite putting down uprisings in Egypt and Greece, Artaxerxes’ rule was largely peaceful. He died of natural causes.

Era #5: History of Israel and the Roman Empire

The Old Testament account of Jewish history ends with the historical book of Nehemiah and the prophet Malachi. For the next 400 years, what scholars call the “400 years of silence,” there was no prophetic voice from God. This “intertestamental” period between the Old and New Testaments, however, does have some Jewish historical records, as seen in Apocryphal books like 1 & 2 Maccabees. Therefore, the next inspired record of Jewish history in the Bible comes with the four Gospels that document the life and ministry of Jesus Christ: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Herod (the Great) (37-4 BC)

There are six Herods mentioned in the Bible. The first is Herod the Great, who with the backing of the Roman general Mark Antony became king of Judaea. In so doing, he founded the Herodian Dynasty in 37 BC. The Herodians were a political class often mentioned in the Gospels (e.g., Matthew 22:16). Herod was an Edomite (descendant of Esau) whose family converted to Judaism. He is best known for slaughtering the baby boys around Bethlehem at the time of Jesus’ birth (Matthew 2:16-18) and building the massive expansion of the “second” Temple that had been built after the Jews returned from Babylonian captivity 500 years earlier.

Caesar Augustus (27 BC-AD 14)

Known by his birth name Octavian before taking the Roman title Augustus, this Caesar ruled during the time of Jesus’ birth. He is only named once at the beginning of Luke’s birth narrative for Jesus (Luke 2:1). Augustus was the nephew, adopted son, and hand-picked successor of Julius Caesar and is known as the first Roman emperor. His forty-year reign established Rome as the world’s premier empire, ushering in a period of peace (known as the Pax Romana – peace of Rome) that eventually allowed the gospel to spread.

Quirinius (~4-6 BC)

Only mentioned one time in the Bible (Luke 2:2), Quirinius has nevertheless created considerable debate about when he served as governor of Syria. Luke’s account appears to contradict the report of the first-century historian Josephus, who has Quirinius’ governorship too late (AD 6-12). Some scholars, though, have suggested that Quirinius filled the role twice. Regardless, the biblical record has Quirinius both as governor at Jesus’ birth and during a Roman census, which would have been around 4-6 BC.

Emperor Tiberius (AD 14-37)

Tiberius is only mentioned by name one time in the New Testament when, in his 15th year as the emperor, John the Baptist began his ministry (Luke 3:1). However, any biblical reference to the Caesar during Jesus’ ministry and crucifixion is to Tiberius, and it would have been his image on the coin that Jesus used when delivering his famous line, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s” (Matthew 22:21 NKJV). Herod Antipas (description to come) founded a city named Tiberius in AD 18, to honor the emperor, which became the capital of Galilee (John 6:23).

Pontius Pilate (AD 26-36)

Pilate was the fifth prefect (governor) of the Roman province of Judaea. Despite his relatively long rule, which would suggest he was good at his job, Pilate is portrayed in the Gospels as ineffectual and weak-minded. Despite knowing that Jesus was innocent, Pilate had him flogged and eventually crucified to appease the Jews in his region (John 19:12).

Herod Antipas (5 BC-AD 37)

Antipas, the son of Herod the Great, inherited a fourth of his father’s kingdom and is referred to as “Herod the tetrarch” in the New Testament (e.g. Luke 3:1 ESV). He is the ruler who executed John the Baptist (Matthew 14:1-12) and before whom Jesus stood trial (Luke 23:6-11). His ruling brothers Archelaus (Matthew 2:22) and Philip (Luke 3:1) are only mentioned once in the New Testament.

Herod Agrippa I (AD 41-44)

The fifth of six Herods mentioned in the New Testament, Herod Agrippa I was the grandson of Herod the Great. He became ruler of Judaea in AD 41 and ruled for three years. He persecuted Christians and had the apostle James executed (Acts 12:1-4) but was later struck down by God for his arrogance (Acts 12:20-23).

Summary of the Herods Mentioned in the Bible

Felix (~AD 52-58)

Antonius Felix was promoted to governor of Judaea and Samaria by Claudius Caesar around AD 52. Known for his cruel personality and willingness to take bribes (Acts 24:26), Felix is the first governor before whom Paul stood on trial for preaching the gospel and is the one who imprisoned Paul for two years (Acts 24:27). He was eventually recalled to Rome because of constant complaints by the Jews about his leadership.

Festus (~AD 58-62)

Porcius Festus was appointed governor of Judaea during the emperor Nero’s reign, replacing the deposed Felix. He brought Paul back to trial and granted Paul’s request to appeal to Caesar (Acts 25:11-12). Festus handed Paul over to Herod Agrippa II for further investigation.

Herod Agrippa II (AD 55-92)

Agrippa II, the great-grandson of Herod the Great and the last Herod mentioned in the New Testament, was the last ruler of the Herodian Dynasty. The apostle Paul stood trial before him (Acts 25-26). Agrippa then sent Paul to Rome to stand trial before Caesar Nero, the emperor who eventually had Paul and Peter executed.

What to Do with This Information

We hope the historical context provided in this article has been helpful! Consider bookmarking this article or printing it out and slipping it into your Bible, so that when you are reading about one of these key historical figures in the Bible, you will have a better grasp of their identity and their placement within history.