March Madness - Bible-Style

It all began with an innocuous text exchange last weekend. A couple of buddies and I who have an ongoing thread about our mutual basketball interest were texting about the NAIA and NCAA tournaments. All of the sudden the chat veered into biblical territory when one of my friends jokingly suggested we come up with a 64 person bracket of Bible characters.

I happened to be in one of those fun brainstorming moods and decided to tackle the idea head-on. Before I share my bracket, let me share some of the guidelines I chose to follow:

• First, the Trinity is not eligible nor are any angelic beings. That's just unfair, we're sticking with actual human people from the Bible's history. 
  
  
• Second, because the Old Testament makes up 59% of the Bible, we ought to divide up the characters to reflect that majority. Since there are four regions, my goal was to get close to 75% of characters (3 out of 4 regions). So I decided on the following arrangement.The Beginnings Region is comprised of characters from Genesis. The Law Region, reflective of the people of God being formed under the Mosaic Covenant, covers the Exodus events through the establishment of Saul as King over Israel. The Kingdom Region is comprised of those who lived during Israel's Kingdom days all the way through the years detailed in the Gospels. These three regions would comprise 65% of the books of the Bible. The fourth region is the New Covenant Region which spans the rest of the New Testament after the Gospels. Now, some in the NC region were key characters in the Gospels, especially the disciples. But I am placing them in the later region because that was the timeframe in which they were in their most significant roles.
   
• Third, I chose these 64 people as those who I found as the "most important" to the Biblical narrative. That is sort of nebulous and subjective, but it was my call. 
  
  
• Fourth, I want this tournament to be based on each voter's favorite character. This is not who was most important to God's plan or anything like that. That would be too obvious but also contrary to Jesus' words about "the least being the greatest". Determine these matchups based on who you like most or relate to the best.

Without further ado, I'll share a screenshot of my bracket and after the page break I'll gratuitously share my a breakdown of each region. I'll also attempt to get voting started on a Facebook page and maybe Twitter so keep an eye out for that.

Beginnings Region (Goshen, Egypt)

Seeds: 1) Abraham 2) Isaac 3) Jacob 4) Adam 5) Eve 6) Joseph 7) Noah 8) Sarah

            9) Hagar 10) Benjamin 11) Job 12) Rachel 13) Ishmael 14) Esau 15) Judah 16) Leah

Intriguing Matchups:

The first round pits some interesting individuals against each other. Sarah vs. Hagar is an all-time historic conflict, as is Jacob vs. Esau. Some will question the seeding of Job at 11 and the tough matchup with Joseph who is the 6 seed. There are some fascinating potential second round matchups as well, with Abraham-Sarah and Adam-Eve leading the way. 

Personal Take: Look out for Joseph as a 6 seed to make an underdog type run through this region, much like he did in real life.

Law Region (Babylonia, Babylon)

Seeds: 1) Moses 2) Samuel 3) Joshua 4) Deborah 5) Saul 6) Ruth 7) Caleb 8) Pharoah

            9) Samson 10) Gideon 11) Aaron 12) Rahab 13) Miriam 14) Jael 15) Jethro 16) Barak

Intriguing Matchups:

While this region lacks the historic matchups of the Beginnings, the second round possibility of Moses v Pharoah would be fascinating. Some have fussed over the seeding in this region, particularly seeds 4-6. Ruth-proponents argue her story is pivotal to the meta-narrative of Scripture, while detractors point out that her story is as much about Naomi as it is about her. Likewise how Saul fell to #5 after being the first king of Israel is notable. In the end, Deborah was awarded a 4-seed because her resume is a little cleaner, though admittedly not tested as much as others.

Personal Take: Moses feels like the heavy favorite but Samuel, Ruth, and Joshua are all strong candidates to knock him off. 

Kingdom Region (Tiberius, Galilee)

Seeds: 1) David 2) Mary (Mother of Jesus) 3) Daniel 4) Isaiah 5) Solomon 6) Jeremiah 7) Nehemiah 8) Elijah

            9) Elisha 10) Ezra 11) Jonah 12) John the Baptist 13) Ezekiel 14) Nebuchadnezzar 15) Hezekiah

            16) Jezebel

Intriguing Matchups:

First of all, let's just recognize how STACKED this region is. Elijah and Elisha are facing off as the 8-9 seeds! While that will be the matchup everyone will be focused on, how about Jeremiah/Jonah? Both are famous prophets, but some observers wonder if Jonah will even bother showing up. We've heard rumblings he isn't happy with his low 11 seed. Solomon feels like a vulnerable 5 seed in his matchup versus John the Baptist. Daniel going against Nebuchadnezzar right off the bat is a fun one too. Underrated contest? The 7-10 with Nehemiah and Ezra. Both were instrumental in the resettling of the land after the exiles. Will Ezra's spiritual leading of revival win out or will Nehemiah's diligent, hardworking approach to rebuilding push him over the top?

Personal Take: The two characters from the New Testament, Mary and John, could both make exciting runs through this region. David has to be the favorite but will he let his off-court struggles distract him?

New Covenant Region (Ephesus, Asia Minor)

Seeds: 1) Paul 2) Peter 3) John 4) James 5) Timothy 6) Apollos 7) Stephen 8) Priscilla

            9) Aquilla 10) Phillip 11) Barnabus 12) Lydia 13) Silas 14) Epaphroditus 15) Junia 16) John Mark

Intriguing Matchups:

Paul and John Mark was inevitable once JM qualified late in the season. What was the committee thinking pitting husband/wife against each other at 8/9. Whoever wins will have a friendly rivalry matchup with Paul in the second round most likely. Outsiders view Apollos as overrated and Barnabus as underrated, so 6-11 match will be interesting. 

Personal Take: John as a three seed could be a higher seed in any other region, given how much of the Bible he authored and how close he was to Jesus. Paul's story is most well known, but will he be favorited over Peter, John or even a dark horse like Stephen?