King David, We Hardly Knew Ye

Chronicles 9-29

     So, there is not much to add to the historical information around Chronicles that we didn't get from the Book of Kings because now all we have done is gone back to the beginning of the Monarchy. What we can take note of, however, is the subtle differences between the histories of the Books of Kings compared to the Books of Chronicles. The Book of Kings is believed to have been fleshed out during the reforms of Josiah and maybe the generations after, during the Babylonian occupation. The fall of Judah would have been fresh in the minds of the editors and authors of the writings. The Book of Chronicles is believed to have been constructed after the return of the exiles from Babylon and so the history of David and the messianic promises of the prophets would have been in the minds of those authors and editors.
      The first major difference between the two texts are the events of King David. He is definitely portrayed in a much more positive light. There is no mention of his adultery or some of the other questionable decisions. I don’t remember the Book of Kings mentioning the special warriors known as the Three and the Thirty, but that was fun. It reminded me of a comic book series or something. Also, there is no mention of David's childhood or the situation with Goliath. These chapters are mostly the military victories and accomplishments of the first King of united Israel. This book is also more heavy on the religious side than the political. There is much more detail in these writings about how David prepares for the building of the Temple and the inner workings of the priesthood.

      The final chapters of this first book of Chronicles are all about the duties and positions within the Temple. These would have been the major references for the returning exiles who began the process of rebuilding Solomon’s Temple. The children of Abraham would never reach the height of power or prosperity that they enjoyed during the period of Kings and Chronicles, but the stories would be dutifully recorded and retold in hopes of one day achieving greatness in the name of Yahweh.

Back to the Start

I Chronicles 1-8

        The first eight chapters are a quick recap of the genealogies of the Israelites from Adam down to the first King of Israel, Saul. The book of Chronicles lists many sources available to the Jews of that day including public records, registers and genealogical lists that were kept by the Israelites. The Deuteronomical History (Genesis- Kings) is thought to be another source for this book. Genealogical records were very important as they were the basis for land ownership of the various tribes and the families within those tribes.
        Wow, we have come a long way. So far we have finished the first collection of writings known as the Torah (instruction) which is Genesis - Deuteronomy. The second collection of works within the Tanakh is known as the Nevi’im (Prophets) and is broken into two subgroups. First we have the Nevi’im Rishonim (Former Prophets) which is what we just finished; the books of Joshua-Kings, also referred to by some as the Deuteronomical History. The second part of the Nevi’im is known as the Nevi’im Aharonim (Latter Prophets) and are the collection of writings attributed to the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekial, and the Twelve Minor Prophets. They have a fascinating history of their own, but all in due time. Interestingly enough the books of the Latter Prophets are actually thought to be older than the narratives of the Former Prophets.
       Stuck in between the works of the Nevi’im Rishonim and Nevi’im Aharonim is the third collection of writings within the Tanakh known as the Ketuvim (writings). The Ketuvim is made up of the three Poetic Books (Sifrei Emet) Psalms, Proverbs, and Job; The Five Scrolls (Hamesh Megillot) of the books of Ruth, Song of Songs, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes (my favorite), and Esther; the Other Books (of which there is no formal grouping or name) which are the books of Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah (two prophets in one book, but later split into two books by the Christians), and finally the book we are starting; Chronicles. Another ridiculously large book of the ancient world that had to be split into two scrolls, I and II Chronicles.
       In Hebrew this book is called Divrei Hayyamim (The Matters [of] the Days) and at one time it was believed that these writings were what the author of Samuel and Kings based their work off of. Some even believed the author to be one of the authors of portions of the book Ezra-Nehemiah. However, most modern scholars have dismissed this theory. The earliest possible date for this book would be around 539 BCE because the book mentions the actions of Cyrus the Great, the Persian king who conquered Babylon and allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple. It is believed that the works of the prophets (former and latter) were completed after the Babylonian exile and inducted into the Jewish canon around the 2nd century B.C.E. Yet, the Ketuvim as a whole did not become an accepted book of the Jewish Tanakh till the 2nd century A.D. There is evidence, though, that many Israelites were adding some of the other works to their already canonized books of the prophets as early as 132 B.C.E. even though there was no official title for the collection.
        I will try to move us through I and II Chronicles as quickly as possible since most of it is just a retelling of the books of Kings. I would like to point out that there is a different tone to this book than that of the books of Kings. Chronicles was probably written after the return of the exiles from Babylon and the author was a little more favorable towards the previous monarchies than that of the author/s of Kings who were most likely recent exiles into Babylon and still bitter about the rulers that were in power at the time.

Final Kings and the Genesis of the Tanakh

II Kings 21-25

       According to the book of Kings after Hezekiah died his son, Manasseh age 15 at his coronation, and grandson, Amon 22 at the age of coronation, backslid into the idolatrous patterns of the previous kings. According to Assyrian records Manasseh was actually a respected ruler of Judah because he was such a loyal vassal of Assyria in the eyes of king Sennacherib, who had an awful time with Hezekiah. This relationship carried over to Sennacherib’s son who became the Assyrian King after his father died. Despite the criticism in the text of Kings regarding Manasseh’s religious policy archeological evidence shows that there was relative peace and prosperity during the reign of Manasseh. In fact he is credited with reviving the Judean economy. Because he had to gain the trust of the Assyrians as well as some of the more affluent countrymen Manasseh relaxed some of the reforms of his father, Hezekiah, and allowed the high places to come back along with other pagan practices. This is not the last we will see of this King. There is nothing outside of the Biblical Account for the reign of Amon. He only ruled Judah for two years before being assassinated. Since he followed in the ways of his father he probably was not a thorn in the side of the Assyrians and therefore not worth mentioning in their records.
      Which brings us to the king that is credited with the origin of the Old Testament, Josiah. Josiah is the great grandson of the great reformer Hezekiah. He is eight years old when his father, Amon, was assassinated. From the beginning, according to the Book, he was a devoted follower of Yahweh and did what was right in His eyes just as King David had done. He even went so far as to tear down the shrines created by the first king of Israel, Jeroboam, after the split of Kingdom. In his eighteenth year as king, when he was 26, he ordered the Temple to be cleaned up and restored. He told his servants to give the priest, Hilkiah, as much money as was needed for the project. According to the Book, as well as other scrolls that have been found with the seal of Josiah stamped into it, during the renovation a very old collection of writings was discovered.
       The name used to describe these writings that were discovered are called The Book of the Torah in II Kings 22:8 which is the same title given to the writings given to Joshua by Moses in the Book of Joshua 1:8 and 8:34. It is this text that was discovered in the reign of Josiah that is the source for the Deuteronomic Reform of Josiah and later used as the source for the Deuteronomical Historian who took the history of Judah and Israel and combined it with the warnings given in the Book of the Torah by Moses.
Josiah is portrayed as an even greater king than Hezekiah and turned to Yahweh with all his heart and soul and strength, just as his ancestor David had done. Unfortunately, it is too little too late. The sins of the previous kings and the people they ruled are too numerous for Yahweh and destruction is still imminent according to the words of II Kings. During this period the ancient world is in flux. The Assyrian Empire was in decline and the Babylonians were not yet at a powerful position to be a superpower. Egypt had just thrown off Assyrian rule, but were not a powerful nation by any means. This allowed the small kingdom of Judah to flourish without any disturbances.
        But, all good things must come to an end and in the year 609 B.C. Egypt joined the Assyrians in a campaign to take over the region, including Judah. Josiah went to battle these forces and was killed. His successor, Jehoiakim, was only power for a few months, but he followed in the evil ways of the previous kings. He was imprisoned by the Pharaoh of Egypt who installed his uncle as the new King. It was this king that had the first dealings with the Babylonian invaders and his son Jehoiachin was the king of Judah when the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar invaded and ransacked Jersualem and the Temple of Yahweh. Another puppet king was put in place by the Babylonians, Zedekiah, who later rebelled against the Babylonians and brought their anger down on the Kingdom.
        The events of the destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar is not only recorded in the Bible, but has also been chronicled by the Babylonians themselves. Judah becomes just another city state within the Babylonian Empire. It will be a good long while that the children of Israel will be imprisoned in Babylon. However, when the Persian Empire takes over and they are allowed to return to Jerusalem one of the things they return with are the scriptures discovered during Josiah’s reign and around 520 B.C. the foundation for the first nine books of the Old Testament begins.

King David 2.0

II Kings 18-20

      Well, it has taken us roughly five months to get through the Deuteronomical History, Genesis thru Kings. It is within these final chapters of Second Kings that we catch up, so to speak, in time with the supposed author/s of the these first nine books of the Old Testament. The theory accepted by most biblical scholars says that these books were written during the period of Josiah’s reign and probably edited over the centuries after the exile in Babylon. But, lets not get ahead of ourselves.
      The setting of these final seven chapters is after the Assyrian campaign that started with Samaria and eventually led to the total annihilation of Israel. After the destruction of Israel the surviving refugees would have scattered to the four winds. Some of them would have headed south and found a new life in Judah. They would bring with them their own stories of the heroes and Kings of their histories, helping to flesh out some more of the Deuteronomical History over time.
In chapter 18 we meet King Hezekiah. He is portrayed as one of the most loyal kings to Yahweh since David or Solomon. Remember that at this time there were no Holy Scriptures. There were only stories that had passed down over the generations and a vague understanding of the god Yahweh given by visions and messages from the prophets. The prophets were the ones that would lead the people back to the Yahweh and the Law, but usually the Kings didn’t like what they had to say and their messages fell on deaf ears. King Hezekiah restored the Kingdom back to the early days of Yahweh worship, undoing generations of pagan incorporation into Jewish life and religion.
       According to this book, II Kings, when the king of Assyria (modern day Iraq) finally decided to invade Jerusalem he captured and destroyed a city close by called Lachish. After that he sent word to Hezekiah that Jerusalem’s destruction was imminent. He called out to the king mocking the god of Judah and the Temple made to worship that god. It is said that as retribution for these words against the God of gods, Yahweh sent an angel that slew 180,000 soldiers of the Assyrian King, Sennacherib. This is also where we meet a very famous prophet of this time period, Isaiah, who has a whole book dedicated to him later in the Journey.
What is so great about this story is that its not just a tale told in a very old book. This story happens to be one of the most famous accounts in Ancient History. There are a few different accounts of this ancient battle, but one of the most intricate tellings comes from the King of Assyria himself. In the mid 1800’s a discovery was made in the city of Nineveh, the capital of Ancient Assyria and now located in Northern Iraq. What was found in one of the rooms of the palace of Sennacherib was a set of large stone panels that covered the entire space of the walls in the room. It was deemed to be a waiting room for important figureheads from other lands and the story told on these stone tablets is the story that is contained in the second book of Kings.
      The Lachish relief, as it known now, is the telling of how the King and his armies marched upon the kingdom of Judah, even naming King Hezekiah, and destroyed many important towns and cities of the region. The most important being the city of Lachish which is so close to the central power of the Judean Kingdom, Jerusalem. The relief does not mention the destruction of the troops by an Angel of Yahweh, but it is not a story about the destruction of Jerusalem, either, which would have been an extremely important and strategic victory in the land. To compare it to modern times it would be like capturing Chicago or New York instead of Washington D.C. The Lachish relief also shows that Judah would have been an important player in the region at the time of the relief’s construction, roughly 701-680 B.C.

      Also discovered in ancient Israel is the underground tunnel Hezekiah built to transport water into the city without the Assyrian forces outside of town being able to stop it. This allowed them to stay within the city and survive by growing food.
      Any other references to the events surrounding Hezekiah regarding his illness and miraculous healing are lost to time and history. The warning given to Hezekiah about the future of the country of Judah comes again from the prophet Isaiah and is a foreshadowing of the things to come. According to this book Isaiah is shown a vision of the fate of the future generations of Israel and its not pretty. Some believe this is one of the later additions added after the refugees came back from Babylon and first began recording their holy scriptures.
     Because Hezekiah was so righteous and followed in the steps of David so completely, and with even less information regarding Yahweh than that former king had, the time of the destruction is extended into the days of the next generations. However, Hezekiah is introduced to the future conquerors of Judah, the Babylonians.

Israel's Decline and Fall

II Kings 1-17

    The second half of the book of Kings starts off with more or less a continuation of the rivalries between Israel and Judah as well as their surrounding neighbors. Rather than rewrite it all here I found a great site that has many informative links about the events in this book of the Bible as well as the characters within.
http://www.vtaide.com/gleanings/Kings-of-Israel/kings.html
     This will also be helpful to come back and reference in the future when we get into the books of the prophets that were written during the reigns of these kings and will give us a more in depth look at some of them.
     I want to break at this point in Kings because it deals with the end of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. We have the records here in this book of the Bible as one version of events that took place over a thousand years ago. There is indication that the events that were put in this version of the story were filtered through the lens of the Deuteronomical Historian who quotes his sources as being from various other Royal records.
      The books of Genesis through Kings were completed roughly around 500-300 B.C.E. By this time Israel had been gone for a couple hundred years, lost to Assyrians, and Judah had been conquered by the Babylonians. The events that happened before were written in different records as well as kept through oral tradition. There are a few things that make the events in the Book a little more real in regards to history.
       There is a story in chapter 3 concerning the king of Moab, Mesha, who revolts against Israel and sacrifices his son to his god and this turns the tide and he is victorious. In 1868 a stone stele was discovered that dated back to the 800s B.C.E. and was a record of King Mesha regarding his victory over the Kings of Israel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesha_Stele. This stele confirms that the Moab King sacrificed his son to the god Chemosh and this he credits for his victory over Israel.
      Also, the story of the siege of Lachish when the Assyrians took control of the lands of the Philistines and many towns close to Judah, II Kings 18:13-14, is also recorded by the Assyrians themselves. The Taylor Prism, a recording of King Sennacherib of Assyria, gives us a slightly different version of these events but still indicates a similar fate for Judah. With their lands being eaten away by the superpower of the ancient world it was a choice between being conquered or keeping the land, but live under the authority of Assyria. Hezekiah, chose to be a vassal and keep the lands of Judah. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_and_Sennacherib_Prisms King Hezekiah is mentioned in this stele by name. This shows that he did indeed exist, although it is not as flattering a mention as the one in 2 Kings 18:5-8.
      Unfortunately, the kingdom of Israel to the north was not so lucky. King Jehu had pretty much alienated himself from the surrounding peoples by outlawing their gods and killing their prophets. Later kings did no better to make peace with the neighbors and by the mid 700s Assyria invaded Samaria and kicked out most of the people and put in their own countrymen in hopes that the two would mix. This was how the Assyrians destroyed a culture and assimilated it into itself. This is where the animosity for the Samaritans in Roman Israel originated. These events are recorded also on a stone record of King Sargon II of Assyria, http://suite101.com/article/cuneiform-writing-from-the-palace-of-sargon-ii-a181523.
       Eventually, Assyria comes in and wipes out the kingdom and refugees from the land scatter to the winds, just as the prophets warned, but some head south with warnings of the fate that could befall Judah if they don’t shape up, too.

Here’s a site with some great little pieces I found in my snooping.

http://www.bible-history.com/assyria_archaeology/archaeology_of_ancient_assyria_archaeological_discoveries.html

Pagans and Prophets

I Kings 13-22

     In the previous blog we covered the events of the splitting of the Kingdom of Israel into the North and South as seen through the lens of the Book. Keeping in mind that these events were written by scribes that lived long after the events took place, writing down people and events from their historical sources as well recording the stories of their history from the perspective of the books of Moses, significantly the book of Deuteronomy. Kings and Chronicles clearly state that the kingdom of Israel to the north is a country that begins the worship of pagan idols pretty much at its inception. While the kingdom of Judah still seats an heir of Yahweh’s chosen bloodline, David, even though his descendants never live up to his standard. This perspective gives us a clear black and white view of history and the people and events therein. However, before we get to the major players and events of these histories I want to go over the kings of the early division, but from the perspective that archaeology gives.
      There is a good amount of information that we can gather about these kingdoms and it comes from the people that they fought with in the region, such as the Assyrians and Moabits. Many proclamations inscribed in stone and other such remnants confirm a lot of details within the Book, but also offer different perspectives on certain rulers and their legacies.
     For example, in I Kings chapter 16 we meet King Omri, 880 B.C.E., who is a military leader that kills the usurper Zimri and takes the throne. He establishes his capital in Samaria* and according to the book ‘does evil in the sight of the Lord’ by worshiping worthless idols. Yet, archaeological evidence paints a slightly different picture. We see a leader that almost rivals Solomon in his dynamism and expansive mentality. According to ancient records he challenged some enemies like the Moabites and made peace with others such as the Phoenicians, who were excellent builders and tradesmen and only enriched and beautified his kingdom more. He made alliances with his enemies through the marriage of his son to the princess Jezebel and made an altar to her god, Baal, in Samaria. He later made peace with Judah when he had his daughter marry Jehoram.
    There is evidence for the tolerance of other gods shown in Israel. In those days rulers honored one another by not only paying tribute to the person, but also to their god(s). However, in the south Judah struggled with this problem of existing in a hostile region while still staying true to their God. For much of their early years Judah fought with their neighbors; Israel, Moab, Philistines, etc. Because of their lack of diplomacy Judah was ransacked from all directions. Finally they recognized the need for allies and king Jehoram married the daughter of Israel’s king Ahab, which in turn brought the pagan ways of Jezebel into the country of Judah.
    While Jezebel seems to have a verifiable place in history the same can not be said for the prophet Elijah. There is no archaeological evidence for the events between Elijah and Jezebel. However, at this time in history there were those that still honored the god of king David in the lands of Israel and these ‘prophets’, as they were known, were a constant thorn in the side of the kings who sought advice from the priests and prophets of other lands and gods. These prophets were entrenched in the political workings of the time and were not hermits that secluded themselves from civilization. While the events of this prophet can not be confirmed or denied there were definitely people similar to him and his friend Elisha. People who challenged the establishment’s embrace of idolatry and paganism and warned against the consequences of their actions.
      When the books of Kings were compiled, probably in 560 B.C.E., Elijah could have been a folk hero whose story had passed through the generations. By this time the kingdom of Israel would have fallen to the Assyrians and so the warnings of Elijah to Israel in the books of Kings could have been a warning to the people of Judah that their same mistakes led to the Babylonian exile in the mid 500s B.C.E.





*The countryside of Samaria becomes a reviled land by the time Jesus takes the scene 800 years later.

A Kingdom Divided

Kings 13-16

     Solomon is my favorite character in the Book for many reasons, but one of them is his wonderful humanity. He is the epitome of what it means to be human. He is said to be the wisest man in the history of the People of Israel. It is said that the only request Solomon had of God was to give him Wisdom and Yahweh heaped it on in bucket loads. Yet, all that wisdom became a curse in Solomon's older years as his desire for knowledge and peace led him to allow foreign wives to bring their pagan practices to the Kingdom of Yahweh. Because of this transgression Yahweh's blessing is removed from the Kingdom and after Solomon's death ten tribes of the north have split leaving Judah and Jerusalem under the control of one king and the Northerners with another. According to the Book Yahweh's covenant with David remains steadfast as there is still an heir on the throne in Judah and the Temple of Yahweh remains under the control of the House of David.

Judah and Israel

The southern kingdom of Judah is comprised of the tribe of Judah as well as the remaining Benjaminites and is the home of the Temple of Yahweh built by King Solomon and remains a place of worship no matter who is on the throne. While there were few of them, there were kings that tried to be faithful to Yahweh.
The Northern Kingdom of Israel rebelled against the god of Israel under the reign of their first king Jeroboam. The Northern Kingdom is full of usurpers and power grabs and military coups. Despite the wicked rulers of the kingdom there were prophets of Yahweh that spoke on His behalf in the Northern Kingdom. 


930-913 B.C. Rehoboam was the first king of Judah and is the one that began the split after Solomon's death. When a Hebrew rebel named Jeroboam, from the tribe of Ephraim, hears of the death of the king he leaves Egypt and heads north to win the people outside of the territory of Judah. At the same time Rehoboam receives ill advice to oppress the northerners further, and who already feel like they are treated badly, which only pushes them further onto Jeroboam's side.


930-909 B.C. Jeroboam wins the northern people to his side and they push out the monarchy of Judah to the edge of their territory. Jeroboam is now the ruler of ten tribes of the twelve tribes of Israel. Ten different tribes all full of their own internal issues and problems. Now that Judah is a separate entity Jeroboam worries that the people will travel to Jerusalem to worship at the Temple and slowly loose their affection for the Northern Monarchy. To avert this Jeroboam commits the act that leads all of his successors to their demise. He builds golden calves to be worshiped in his Kingdom so the people have a place to sacrifice at. This angers Yahweh and the prophet Ahijah delivers a condemnation upon the house of Jeroboam beginning with the death of his child Abijah.


913-910 B.C. Abijam, the son of Rehoboam, takes the throne. He goes to war with the Northern kingdom of Jeroboam, and just before battle Abijam stands on a Mt. Zemaraim and calls out to Jeroboam condemning him for his idolatry and turning away from Yahweh. When Jeroboam out maneuvers him and ambushes him Abijam calls out to Yahweh for deliverance and is given victory. He gains more power, but only reigns for three years before dying in 910 B.C.


909-908 B.C. After the death of Jeroboam, allegedly by Yahweh in human form, his son Nadab takes the throne. Nadab reigns for one year and while he was besieging a city in the territory of Dan under Philistine occupation a man Baasha from the tribe of Issachar conspired to overthrow him. Baasha murders Nadab and the entire house of Jeroboam, fulfilling the prophecy of Ahijah.


910-869 B.C. The grandson of Rehoboam takes the throne, but his grandmother Maachah is still known as Queen Mother to the people. Furthermore she is a foreigner who has introduced the worship of the goddess of her people to the people of Judah. However, Asa is faithful to Yahweh and remembers the covenant of his Fathers. He begins to enact reforms into the land to bring people back to the ways of the Law. In his 15th year as king Judah was invaded by the Cushites, but with the help of Yahweh and the faith of Asa the enemy is defeated despite overwhelming odds. Asa gathers the people of Judah and Benjamin and declares a festival in honor of Yahweh and reaffirms the covenant made with King David. He also takes away the title of Queen Mother from Maachah because of a Asherah pole she had made. He cuts it down and burns it. Despite his reform and dedication to Yahweh he is still unsuccessful at fully removing the pagan idols from the lands. Then, a few months later when confronted with war with Baasha, Asa lacks faith in Yahweh and relies on a treaty with the king of Syria to achieve victory. Because of this lack of faith Yahweh uses the prophet Hanani to warn Asa that his lack of faith has ended the peace time of his land. In 872 B.C. his feet become diseased and he names his son Jehoshaphat as successor.


908-885 B.C. After murdering king Nadab and wiping out the house of Jeroboam Baasha continued in the ways of his predecessors and encouraged the worshiping of the false idols made by Jeroboam. Because of this Yahweh sends a prophet named Jehu to tell Baasha that although Yahweh gave him a chance he had failed. He would suffer the same fate as the family of Jeroboam. In 894 B.C. Baasha enters into war with the southern king, Asa, and takes control of territory close to Jerusalem. He doesn't know that his ally the king of Syria has just switched allegiance to his enemy, Asa, and when confronted by Syrian soldiers Baasha retreats.


885-884 B.C. In fulfillment of Jehu's prophecy the son of Baasha doesn't last long. When Baasha dies his son Elah takes the throne, but it doesn't take long for another conspiracy to develop. in 884 military leader named Zimri confronts Elah while he's drunk in the home of his steward and kills him. He destroys the entire family of Baasha in fulfillment of Jehu's prophecy. However, his reign doesn't last long. When the troops of Israel hear about the murder of their king they stop what their doing, select a leader among them named Omri as the true king, and set out to take the throne from Zimri. After seven days of being king Zimri sees the troops coming for him and kills himself by setting the palace on fire and burning with it.


884-874 B.C. After these events there is confusion and mayhem in the land of Israel. Half the territory is allied with the military leader, Omri, while the other half allied with a man named Tibni. In the end the followers of Omri prevailed and in the 31st year of king Asa's rule in Judah Omri became king of the North, Israel. He established Israeli rule over the land of Samaria and took over the territory of the Moabites forcing them to pay heavy tribute that lasted for forty years. Omri continued down the same path as his predecessors worshiping idols and foreign gods until his death in 874.

Before We Continue...

    If you are as sad as I am to see the tragic end of Solomon come so quickly in the huge tome of the Old Testament do not fret. There are a few books coming up later that are attributed to him. Mostly philosophy, poetry and the classification of trees and shrubs. That Solomon was quite the hippie tree hugger after he violently took the throne in 970 B.C.
   One thing to keep in mind as we get into the history of the Monarchy of the Divided Kingdoms is that up until this point our Journey through the books of the Book have taken a basically linear path. Once we finish these books of Kings the Journey takes a different course. We will revisit a few of the kings we read about as well as whole books attributed to certain prophets mentioned during different reigns at different points in history. The stories of the prophets are interwoven into the political dealings of the monarchs. The books of Kings and Chronicles are almost an outline of things to be more fleshed out later in the books of the Major and Minor Prophets.
    Unlike the reign of Solomon the reign of these kings are a little more substantial in archaeological history. Because they had dealings with the other major empires of the time, such as the Syrians and Babylonians, there is a little more evidence to back up various events, rulers and situations. There are a few books referenced within the book of Kings that have now been lost to time and history. These are mentioned as the Annals of King Solomon and the same for Israel and Judah.
    As with the other books we have read since Deuteronomy the book of Kings is considered to be part of the DH (Deuteronomical History). The DH is believed to be the perspective that the author/s are trying to convey in their interpretation of history based off the books of Moses, the only pre-monarchical prophet besides Samuel. Again, these books (Joshua - Kings) are thought to have been collected and composed during the reign of King Josiah during the Babylonian occupation and exile. The thought was that the tragedy that was falling on Judah and the tragedy that had already become of Israel, was a direct result of the tribes of Israel turning away from their god Yahweh and worshiping the Baals and the Asherahs. The baals and asherahs mentioned are terms used to describe the various gods (baals) and goddesses (asherahs) of the many cultures of the region. This is the major theme running through the books of Kings.

Jerusalem and Solomon

1 Kings 1-11

      Alright! Now we are cooking with gas! This first part of Kings is one of my favorites because we are introduced to my favorite character in the Old Testament, Solomon. Some really great books of the Old Testament are attributed to him and I love his philosophy. He is supposedly the wisest King in all of Israel's history and is responsible for building the very first Temple of Yahweh. The house of the living god of the Hebrews and home of the Ark of the Covenant. There is no surviving record of Solomon's Temple since it was destroyed by the Babylonians in the 500s B.C.E. The ark has since been lost, but the Temple was rebuilt over time and had a complete restoration under Roman occupation by the appointed governor Herod the Great in about 49 B.C.E. After that it was destroyed in the Jewish war with Rome and later the muslims built the Dome of the Rock in its place, where it stands to this day and is the source of much contempt between the muslims and the jews.

      The setting of the time for 1 Kings begins in the year 1001 B.C.E. During this time in history the actual people were probably a scattered smattering of different tribes and cultures. With the power vacuum of the loss of the major ancient Empires there are many alliances and wars between the groups. Out of this chaos arose a kingdom that was united in the rejection of minor dieties made of stone and dedicated to the idea of a monotheistic God that was the protector of their kingdom. Jerusalem has been an ancient city of importance throughout the centuries because of its strategic location between the major kingdoms of the times. It had been left alone until the time of King David when he ransacked the place and made it his new headquarters. During the reign of Solomon it was built upon and doubled in size. The truth of the events of this time is murky because most of the incidents that took place in these stories occured in major modern cities of Israel, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Egypt and the governments have heavy security concerning archeology. I can only assume that because most of the governments rely heavily on a religious community it would not be in their interest to discover evidence that refutes the Biblical account of history.

However, here are a couple of interesting things I have learned concerning this time in history.


The Habiru
From roughly the years 1800-1100 B.C.E there are records from the ancient empires of Sumer, Egypt, the Hittites and Akkadians of a group of nomadic people that were a collection of all the various tribal regions of the time. They were described as a wandering band of mercenaries, rebels, outlaws, warriors, slaves and tradesmen and all sorts of other walks of life. These group of nomads would raid the little pockets of civilization between the Sumerian and Hitite Empires of the north and the Egytian Empire of the south. They were called the Habiru. This is the first non biblical indication of a collection of various tribes and cultures uniting under one community. It could be the foundation for the stories of the begining of the Hebrew nation, but it must be noted that many biblical scholars do not recognize any link between the Habiru and the biblical Tribes of Israel.

The House of David
According to at least one survivng Egyptian tela (stone records of events) the House of David has been around for about as long as the Bible states that it was. There is very little information regarding the specifics of David's rise and Saul's fall nor is there much extra biblical information about Solomon and the building of the first Temple. However, it is clear that there was some sort of influencial leader of the time that established a monarchy and a dynasty centered around the worship of a single god called Yahweh.

Solomon's great, but even he is human. No ammount of wisdom could save him from his emotions. After he is gone we see the begining of the civil war that will tear the community in two.

The Davidic Covenant

II Samuel 1-24

       Just a reminder that second Samuel is really just the other half of the larger single composition, The Book of Samuel. The events that take place in this book are based on places and people of the time between 1100-1000 B.C. However, there is also not a lot of solid archeological evidence to place and date the actual characters of Saul, David, Jonathan and the war between the House of Saul and the House of David. In fact, there is very little evidence that suggests that there was a House of David before the 900s B.C. The City of David is an actual part of ancient Jerusalem and can be dated back to at least the 800s B.C., but archeological research has shown that this area of Israel was probably more of a tribal kingdom during the times of David and Saul. One could even make the argument that the Bible is the only actual information we have of the events of that time. While probably not a precise narrative of the actual events, it may be a shadow of the actual events that lead to the establishment of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the building of the Temple of Yahweh.
       David and his son Solomon are actually very important characters in the history of the Hebrews because they established the united Kingdom of Israel, built the Temple of Yahweh to house the Ark, and entered into the fourth covenent with Israel. First was Yahweh's deal with Noah never to destroy all of humanity again. Second was the deal with Abraham that he would be the father of the nation to bring the world back to Yahweh as well as established the land in Canaan as the land for that nation to rule. The third was the Mosaic covenant in which Moses explained that Yahweh would bless and protect his children if they walked in the ways of His Law.
      With David comes a new level in which Yahweh is pleased with David as His servant and likes the idea of having a home among his people with the building of the Temple. Yet, the irony is that because of the life of war that it took David to get him to this place he is not allowed to build the Temple. There is too much blood on his hands. Yahweh makes a promise to him, though, saying that his son Solomon will build the Temple and that the House of David (of the tribe Judah) will be the line of the true King of all of Israel. Later when the cival war breaks out, and the kingdoms divide, all of the kings of Judah are supposedly the legit Kings (even though there are some real losers) while the kings of Israel (northern) are the heathen kings.

Beginning of the Monarchy

I Samuel 13-31

      The two books of Samuel are actually one book, but when they were first circulated in Greek the book of Samuel was too big to fit on one scroll and so was broken into two books. This explains why in II Samuel the person for whom the book is named has nothing to do with the story. As we see Samuel doesn't make it very far in the I Samuel, either.
       The books of Samuel are a little trickier to sort through because there are supposedly so many other source materials that were arranged into this one narrative. This is further complicated by the fact that the period of history that the text is dealing with is not well understood. The dates are so far back and the archeology limited and very time consuming, but there are little glimmers of knowledge that we can sift through.
     Again this is a book that is thought to have been constructed by the Deuteronomist(s) during the years of the mid 600s-500s B.C. However, the period that the books of Samuel portray is around the 1200s-1000s B.C. It is supposedly a combination of records of the House of David and accounts of the kings of Israel. Since it would be a combination of material related to the kings from the two sides of the cival war some of the source material came from either a pro monarchy perspective or an anti monarchy perspective. The books are also attirbuted to a prophet Samuel who could not have written the books since he dies not even halfway through the story. However, one of the sources for the material is thought to have been the story of this famous seer of the time.
      Other sources include the Ark Narrative dealing with the capture of the Ark by the Phillistines, the Jerusalem Source dealing with the conquering the city of Jebus by David and declaring it Jerusalem, the Republican Source (anti-monarch), Monarchical Source (pro-monarch), the Court History of David. All these are supposed to have been put together into one book by one or more authors during the years of captivity or exile.
      There is very little archeological evidence for this period of time to confirm or deny the events in the Bible. However, there have been some important discoveries that lend credibility to the events that are in the Bible. The name of Israel first appears on a stone tablet used by ancient Egyptians to keep records. From the records on this stone in 1209 B.C. the Pharoh Merneptah mentions in a battle that, "Israel is laid waste and is no more" a phrase that was used by rulers of that time to describe a battle whether winning or losing.
       However, the first real archeological evidence of the Kingdom of Israel doesn't come until the 9th century B.C. and earliest mention of the Kingdom of Judah isn't from until the 8th century B.C. There has been much archelogical investigation into the City of David and its remains. However, there has been no indication that the city existed during the 10th century B.C. which is the era that the books of Samuel are supposed to take place. In fact archeolgy suggests that at that time in history the country of Judah was a small tribal kingdom.

The Last Judge of Israel

1 Samuel 1-12

I'm very excited to finally get to this part of the Book. This is where the story really 'takes off'. Its in these books that we get the most famous King in the Book, David. This is where the history of Israel takes a turn from a collection of various tribal alliances, each with their own leaders and rules, and estabishes a single monarchy to rule over all the lands in the name of their single god, Yahweh. The covenent made with David is also considered the begining of the line of the mashiach (messiah) who, in traditional Judaisim, will gather the tribes of Israel from the corners of the world rule over all of them in the land promised by Yahweh at the end of history and re-build the Temple of Jerusalem.



But before all that can happen we must meet Samuel....

Beginning of the Davidic Line

Ruth 1-4

Before we move on to the next book of the Tanakh, Samuel 1, lets have a quick stop off in the book of Ruth. Its a very short book, only four chapters, but it is actually a very important book for a few reasons. However, before we get into the content of the book let's have a look at the book itself.

In the Jewish Tanakh the Book of Ruth is included in the final category of collected scriptures known as the Ketuvim or the Writings. This collection of scripture is attributed to the Holy Spirit of Yahweh and can be further classified so as to have eleven books total in this division of the Tanakh. Chronicles I and II are considered one book. This is the case with the two prophets Ezra and Nehemiah. In Jewish tradition these are combined to form one book. The Ketuvim can be broken into three distinct sub-divisions. The Poetic Books (Psalms, Proverbs, and Job), Hamesh Megillot The Five Scrolls (Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther), and finally the last three that have no official grouping (Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, and Chronicles).

Tradition says that the book of Ruth was written either by Samuel or King David himself. However, since the book mentions David the author could not have been Samuel. Also, since the story takes place during the story of the Judges it was thought that the Deuteronomist had a hand at authoring this story, but there is very little evidence to support this idea. The writing styles of this book are what make it so difficult to place. There is a mixture of very old, archaeic Hebrew and a more modern Hebrew as well as some Aramaic.

The older Hebrew suggests that the story was written as far back as the first millenium B.C.E. However, with the addition of the modern Hebrew and Aramaic some scholars believe that the book may have been written as early as 500 B.C.E with archaic Hebrew added to the text to give it an older feeling. Sadly, neither of these theories helps identify an author.

Now, to the importance of the story itself. In the Christian Tradition the order of the Tanakh was altered so as to give a more linear telling of the story. Even though the Book of Ruth comes near the end of the Old Testament the setting of the story is during the time of the Judges. The major theme of the Book of Ruth is the fact that birth is not the only way to become a follower of Yahweh. Ruth, a Moabite, marries into the House of Israel. After her husbands death she is given the chance to return to her culture, but she decides to go with her mother-in-law back to Israel. Through a series of events she is married to a relative of her deceased husband, Boaz. Ruth and Boaz are also the great-grandparents of Israel's greatest king, David. Yes! The very same David that threw a rock and defeated Goliath. David, and therefore Ruth, is one of the ancestors of the New Testament's, Jesus.




But that's another story...

Samson and the Rest

Judges 13-21

Samson is probably the best known Judge and is also the first Nazarite of the Bible. However, he is a terrible Nazarite. He touches a dead animal (14:8-9) and throws party where he drinks wine (14:10). His story deals with the Phillistines, who are quickly becoming the major enemy of Israel.

In this time in history the two major empires of the time are in steep decline and infighting is rampant in the lands between them. Without the stability of the empires the people of the region begin to take the lands for themselves and restore the glory of their culutures. Some scholars believe that in this time various tribes banded together under the name of one deity  Yahweh, and formed an alliance. These various regions all had folk heroes for their tribes and those stories were later combined into one story and edited together by the Deuteronomist to make a single narritive uniting all the tribes of the region together, giving us the book of Judges. The Deuteronomist added the flavor of the cycle of rebellion and returning of Israel to their God.

When we get to chapters 19-21 we see the record of a great battle, within these united tribes, during those days that almost completly wiped out the tribe of Benjamin. Interestingly enough this is also the region where most of the stories of the Judges originated. Because the tribe of Benjamin has transgressed so awfully the other tribes unite to wipe them out. When the fighting winds down it becomes clear that the Benjaminites have almost been completely destroyed. In the heat of things a vow was made before the Lord stating that no fathers shall give thier daughters to a Benjaminite. Realizing that a whole tribe of Yahweh is close to extinction a plan is hatched to preserve the lineage of the surviving Benjaminites. In the region of Shiloh the fathers were removed from the marriage arraingments, since all of Israel had vowed not to give their daughters to this tribe, and the surviving men of the tribe were to sneak to a place where the women gathered and handle the marriage arraingments themselves.

This story of the Levite and his concubine and the events that lead to the destruction of the house of Benjamin is an interesting one in the book of Judges. This story revolves around the transgression and punishment of the people, but in this case not by Yahweh. Nothing in this story seems to have been ordered by an Angel of the Lord or related to the Levite directly by Yahweh. This final story of the Judges shows the fragility of the people of Israel in a land full of hositilities, both physical and spiritual, and gives a sense of chaos in the days before Israel had a king.


The book of Judges ends with the 13 words that echo throughout this tome; 'In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.'

Pre-Monarchical Israel

Judges 1-12

The setting for the book of Judges takes us through the years between the conquest of Joshua and the first King of Israel. Again, this is part of the Deuteronomical History so this was compiled during the centuries of roughly 700-400 B.C.E and appears to be a collection of stories from the various lands of Norther Israel. They were probably brought down to southern Judah during the Assyrian and Babylonian conquests.

The story of the Judge Deborah and the military man of Barak is thought to be the oldest part of the book of Judges. Scholars believe that it was probably composed in the 1200s B.C.E. and incoproated into this collection of various folk heroes of various tribes.

The book of judges supposedly spans a period of hundreds of years, but most scholars believe it was less than 200 years of various battles in various part of the land. In fact the story of Deborah concerns the king Jabin of Hazor who was already defeated in the story of Joshua. It is believed that these stories may have happened during a period of great instability in the region. Many different people groups were trying to become the next super power now that the major Empires of Egypt and the Hittites.

In the midst of the Caananites and the Amorites, and the Philistines and such there was a group of tribes that seemed to unite under the idea of a God that was greater than the idols.These various people came together under the idea of Yahweh. The Deuteronomical Historians that compiled these books always incorporates the theme of Israel turning back to the Baals and Asherahs of the times and forgeting Yahweh. This leads to their destruction and eventual realization that they need their God to save them. Yahweh then chooses a person to lead the people back to their one true God and have Him be their king. This leads to victories over the enemy.

Conquering the Land of Canaan

Joshua 1-24

Book of Joshua the second work in the Deuternomic History. It is the telling of the origin of the tribal divisions of the land of Israel in the days before the monarchy. The setting of the story is the land of Canaan in the 13-12th century B.C. This is the time that scholars put Moses and the Exodus in relation to the kings and places mentioned in the Torah.

There is very little archelogical evidence for the existence of the actual Joshua or the battles that are supposedly attributed to him. In fact, the famous battle of Jericho could not have fallen to the trumpets of the priests because archeology shows that by the time Joshua would have shown up with the the tribes of Israel Jericho would have been long destroyed and abandoned by an earlier conquestor.

What is interesting about this period in Ancient history and the geographical location is that the two major empires of the time were in steep decline. Egypt to the south and the Hittite empire of the north were both failing and so the vassals and territories that they controled suddenly became up for grabs. There were many wars among the Canaanites and group of sea warring tribes that were known as the Phillistines.

The Book of Joshua is believed to have incorporated much older stories of the conquest of Israel that were documented in the Bejamin region of Israel and in the 900s B.C. was given the character that united all the ancient tribes of Israel under one leader, Joshua.

This story of Joshua and the conquest and division of the land was a very old story even before the reforms of King Josiah in the mid 600s B.C. It was during this period of reform that the book is believed to have been influenced by the Deuteronomist theology, Israel obeying their elohim (god) Yahweh and avoiding the other elohim or baal (false gods) of the Canaanite cultures that they were about to be immersed in. Joshua was given a new introduction that linked it to the end of the book of Deuteronomy and also a recap of the Law given in those writings. .


By the end of the book you see the division of the land to the tribes of Israel, but also much more land still to be taken. The major theme of this book is the allegiance to the elohim of Israel, Yahweh, and the warnings of the consequences of turning their back on Him. They are in a land where they are surrounded on all sides by those that would destroy them if not for the protection of their god.

This would have been an important message for the subjects of King Josiah in the 7th century B.C. soon after the Assyrian Empires destruction of Israel (northern kingdom) and the religious reform that Josiah enacted in Judah (southern kingdom).

Epilogue/Prologue (Deuteronomic History)

Deuteronomy 1-34

The more that I read about the history of these scriptures the more fascinating the Old Testament is as a whole. I will try not to be redundant or wordy, but I want to get this information down so I have a place to refence it in one spot in the future. These are the most widely accepted theories for the origin of these early books of the Bible. Most of the stuff that leads up to the early kings of Israel can not be proven with archeology. Some of the timeing doesn't work or there just isn't enough archelogical evidence for it. However, the ideas that I'm about to present are the most likely to be very close to the actual truth.

The book of Deuteronomy is a compilation of histories mixed with theological overtones of the worship of a diety called Yahweh. Different editors and scribes of the northern and southern Kingdoms between the years of the 7th century B.C.E. (Assyrian Empire destruction of the Northern Kingdom of Israel) and the 5th century B.C.E. (Babylonian Empire's occupation and exile of the Southern Kingdom of Judah) produced the final product that was translated into the Septuagint, the first greek translation of the original Hebrew Tanakh as a whole, during the reign of Alexander the Great in the early 300s B.C.E.

Deuteronomy is composed from one of the three main sources of the Tanakh; The Deuteronomist or simply refered to as D. The other two sources are known as the Priestly (P) source and the Yahwist/Jahwist (J). All three of these documents can be traced back to roughly the 7th century B.C.E which puts it during the Assyrian Empire's reign and their destruction of the nation of the northern kingdom of Israel. The Deuteronomist is the material that bridges a much older series of books known as the Tetrateuch (the first FOUR books of Moses), which was already a tradition of the southern Kingdom of Judah during this period, with the early history of the nation of Israel before the division into the Northern and Southern Kingdoms (Joshua - 2 Kings).

The core of the book is chapters 12-26, the code of the law of Yahweh. This is believed to be the 'book of the law' that is discovered in the Temple under the reign of King Josiah in 2 Kings 22-23. What seperates this book from the other four books of Moses is the fact that it contains so much information about the Law that none of the other books did. It was believed that an introduction was added to these papers under the rule of King Josiah (chapters 4-11) and the final historical prolouge was added even later to give warning to the exiles as to why they had been destroyed by these other empires and also a hope that they could recover their kingdom again if they stayed true to their god Yahweh. This becomes the major theme for the later prophets to come.










This is a good lay out of the many possible ways the Old Testament developed and the most accepted theories.


http://www.crivoice.org/hexateuch.html

Wandering's End

Numbers 25-36

Well, here we are finishing up the fourth book of the Torah. We will see a bit more about the stubborn foolishness of the Israelites as they fall into worship of the Moabites idols. Again Yahweh destroys those that have no faith in Him. These are the early days of the Israelites and Yahweh is shaping them to be a nation of holy people to be an example to all the nations of the earth. You can't make a holy omlette without breaking a few eggs. As we end the book of Numbers the Israelites are on the edge of the land promised to them by their God. After culling the herd Yahwe tells Moses he must once again take a census and appoint leaders for the community. Finally we round out the book with a summary of the journey through the desert and the establishment of the boundries of the promised land.

I did find some interesting information concerning the Torah. Some scholars believe that the Books of Moses are actually the first four books of the Torah, with Numbers completing the story. There are three documents known to scholars today that are thought to be the early source material for the early books of the Old Testament. They are known as the Deuteronomist (D), which is what the books of Deuteronomy, Joshua, Samuel and Kings are based off. The other two are known as the Yahwish/Jahwish (J) which contains mostly the story of Genisis, but the material is the oldest documentation of the name YHWH as the diety in the story rather than the substitute word 'Lord'. The scribes felt that the name of God was too holy to write down so it was substituted with various terms such as Lord, God, El, etc. Finally there is the Priestly Source (P) which contains the rituals and rules of the Law. These documents (DJP) date back to the 7th century B.C. and were probably written during the time of the Babylonian exile as a way to keep the traditions and culture of the Israelites alive in a time when it seemed their future was not so certain. As we will see in the book of Kings there is a King that comes to power during these tumultuous years named Josiah. Josiah orders the renovation of the Temple and during that process there is discovered a book. It turns out to be the writings of the Law of Moses and is probably what was used to create the early books of Jewish History over a span of hundreds of years, by many scribes or priests of the community.

Blessings and Curses

Numbers 13-24

The wandering people of Israel are now on the edge of the land promised to their ancestors by the God that is God. Before going in Moses wants to see what kind of people they will have to fight. He is not worried because he knows that if Yahweh says that they will destroy their enemies then there should be no reason for doubt. The rest of the camp isn't so convinced.

There are a few interesting things that go on in these chapters that I want to focus on. First of all the people that are the first inhabitants that the scouts come across are the Amorites. If you can recall back to Genesis 15:16 Yahweh tells Abraham that the time has not come for them to take the land that is promised to them because the 'sins of the Amorites has not run its course'. This section of Numbers is used along with the passage in Genesis to show the righteousness of God's mercy and anger at sin. Yahweh allowed 400 years of time to pass between Abraham and Moses. The Amorites were given this time to change the course of their ways and come back to Yahweh. They did not and now Israel would be the tool used to impart their punishment. This does not make the Israelies righteous and able to kill whoever they please, though. Yahweh still has the final say of the matter. Later in the books you will see Yahweh use foreign pagan civilizations as the tool for the punishment of Israel.

Another group of people that the scouts report about are called the descendents of Anak. Anak was supposedly one of the surviving, or post flood, Nephilim and his people were supposed to be giants. I'm reading the book of Enoch right now, which is one of the apocrophyl books of the Jews, and it says that the Nephilim were almost a mile tall. Keep that in mind when you get to Numbers 13:33.

Again the people of Israel challenge Yahweh in impatience and again they have to be chastised. Despite the blessings placed upon them their transgressions from their Purpose in being God's chosen nation on Earth brings some pretty harsh repurcussions.

Finally, a cool story I want us to pay attention to is the story of Balaam. Just like we saw in Geneiss 18 with Melchizedek there seems to be an awareness of the god Yahweh. Not just another diety among other dieties, but a knowledge and a reverence for a single God that is all powerful. This man Balaam is known as a sorcerer of the land, and in fact there is archelogical evidence for a person of the same name and reputation in ancient history. However, in this book of Numbers we see that he is not just a sorcerer, but someone that seems to know how to worship and communicate with Yahweh. His response to the King that summons him is very interesting and shows that there are other people that belong to Yahweh and are used for various purposes.

Are We There Yet

Numbers 1-12

So, it has been roughly 400 years since Yahweh made his covenant with Abraham, Issac and Jacob and the house of Israel has grown to be a very large group of people. Yahweh has now turned his attention back to His people and is using Moses to not only take them out of Egypt, but also lead them back to the lands that were promised to their ancestors.

Numbers serves as a record keeping book because it is the a record of the names and lineages of the twelve tribes of Israel. As you will see certain tribes are given certain responsibliites when it comes to the Ark and the Tent of Meeting. There is another underlying theme in this book that begins around chapter 10 or 11. The Israelites begin to become impatient with Moses and doubt the promise of Yahweh. For generations they had lived in Egypt and though they had been slaves they had become accustomed to the foods and minor dieties that were part of Egyptian daily life. Now, they are walking through a desert, not sure where they are going, and they are getting a bit irratable.






*Also, the vow of the Nazarite is introduced in chapter 6."

Law of the Covenant

Exodus 33-40/Leviticus 1-27

 I figure we'll spend at least three weeks for this part before we move on to Numbers.

Once we get to chapter 35 the story of the Exodus is pretty much over. The last few chapters  go into the construction of the tabernacle and all the special items and puposes for the rituals that the Israelites were to start practicing. I think its important to note and possibly refrence if you are interested, but don't get concerned about reading every reduntant aspect of the rituals. I scanned my way through it looking for the important parts and appreciating the origin of the Jewish traiditions. 

I just wanted to ask us to try not to get discouraged by this writing style concerning the Law. We are about to enter the next book of the Torah, Leviticus. Genesis through Deuteronomy, the Torah, was supposedly written by Moses and is the foundation for the Jewish traditions. Even if they weren't written by Moses they were already ancient stories by the time Jesus was a little boy. In fact, the rest of the Old Testament histories are just echos of the original story of the Torah. These words were responsible for the foundation of what we now know of as Israel and what it really means to be Jewish. Understanding these things and also understanding Islam can really flesh out the foundation of the controversies that rage in the Middle East.

 The Law was a way to establish Israel as one people made up of many tribes. By linking them all to a common ancestor (Abraham) and worshiping a single diety Moses established the begining of a new Nation. Its almost the same formula that Muhammad used in the 600s when he united all the Arabian tribes under one diety and linked their ancestry back to Abraham as well, through the lineage of Esau and Ishmael. 

 These next three books can get a little wordy. It might even be as mind numbing at points as the 'begats' back in Genesis. I encourage you to at least stick with the gist of it. Scan through the monotonous and repetitiveness that comes from the many rituals and arbitrary record keeping to find the plot and story line that is buried beneath. See if you can appreciate what is being done here. A nation is being born. A religion is being established. No matter what your politics or your feelings concerning religion these books are an important piece of human history. If anything its a fascinating glimpse into the ancient mind and imagination. We may never know the actual archeological origin of the Jewish people, but they seemed to come out of nowhere and became a powerful nation known to the ancient Egyptians, the Persian and Roman Empires, and now the modern world. The nations and modern empires of the world are dealing with Israel yet again in our own time. 

Ark of the Covenant

Exodus Chapter 19-32

Its been a long time, but I remember the first time I saw the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark. When I was a kid I thought there was supposed to be something about a giant boat like the one Noah built, but I never saw one. All I remember from that first time at the age of seven is a wierd box that sent out ghosts or something and killed a bunch of bad guys. It wasn't until years later I learned that the Ark was not a boat, but piece of Jewish history.

These chapters in Exodus read almost like a How To manual on the construction of a box that was to contain the Law given from Yahweh to his people, the Israelites. It was also supposed to contain some of the manna from the desert and the Rod of Aaron. These specific directions were given supposedly directly from Yahweh to Moses on Mt. Sinai. There are no other extra-biblical sources for these items, but it is refrenced in Kings I to have still been in the possesion of the Israelites during the time of King Solomon but by then only contained the stone tablets with the Law written on them. By the end of the Old Testament it will be lost to history. It seemed to be a very powerful thing for the Israelites and inspired the building of a Temple to house it in since it was supposed to be a dwelling place for Yahweh among his people. Because it was so holy and so sacred only the chosen priesthood could come near it.

The Ark was also important in the use of ritual to cleanse the people of their sins against God. Its here that its established that mankind is so impure that the very nature of God cannot help but leap out and destroy it when confronted face to face. Later when it is placed in the Temple there will be a viel placed between it and the people within the Holy of Holies. We'll see soon enough what happens when people don't leave well enough alone and listen to the warning of Moses.

400 Years Later

Exodus Chapters 1-18

Here is a story we are all familiar with. Everyone has some idea of the story of Moses and the escape of the Israelites from Egypt. Biblical tradition would put the incident at around 1440 B.C., but there is no real archelogical evidence of the events recorded in the Exodus. The events are refrenced in the later books in Hebrew scriptures that are attributed to the prophets. Some of them were included in the Old Testament. They were written centuries after the Torah, during the years when Israel was a split nation. The prophets always begin at the begining and remind the Israelites all the miracles that Yahweh performed over the years. They include Moses and the giving of the Law on Mt. Sinai, but to this day there is still discrepencies about just what mountain and what areas the events could have been based around.

There is very little evidence to show that the events that happened in Exodus did indeed happen. Although, there is archelogical proof that there was hostility between the Hebrews and the Egyptians. The Israelites had a negative relationship dating back to 1200 B.C. when a sribe for Pharoh Merneptah claimed in writing, "Israel is laid waste, his seed is not.' This was a common boast made after all military campaigns regardless of the outcome, but this establishes the Israelis as an already established foe of Egypt at this point in history. There is evidence that the early ancestors of the Israelites in Caanan could have come from enslaved peoples of Egypt, but there is no evidence of the kind of pilgrimage described in this book.

This is the story of how a certain group of people, that were supposedly linked by a common ancestor, came together from out of the Egyptian culture and declared themselves followers of the God Yahweh. This is the story of how the people came to the land that was promised to their ancestor Abraham. Exodus is the first book that mentions the name of God, Yahweh. Up until now the Hebrew words have been El Shaddai and Elohim and other substitutions. They basically can be translated to 'The God that is God' or 'The Most Highest God'. Yahweh can be translated as 'I am that I am'. A new covenant will be established through this character Moses and the story is interesting in that we get to see a new relationship develop between Yahweh and mankind. I'm interested to look up more information about the authenticity or origin of this story. If anyone finds anything interesting please pass it our way.

Joseph and His Coat of Many Colors

Genesis Chapter 37- 50

Amber makes fun of me, but I'm a huge fan of the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. As a kid my dad used to tell me the story of Joseph and his brothers, but I never had it in the context of it being the foundation for Israel and the origin of the Jews. To me it was just a story about a bunch of dick brothers who sold their brother into slavery and how he became the Kings right hand man after interpreting his dreams.

There is much more to this story, however. This is not just a story of a crazy bout of sibling rivalry, this is a story of the begining of God's plan with the Hebrews. Yahweh has singled out a family, a single blood line, to be His chosen representatives on earth. However, we see right away that the twelve brothers, who are the foundation for the twelve tribes of Israel, are not the most righteous of personalities. In fact, their children are sometimes even worse. Remember Er and Onan when you get to that part, 'cause that is some messed up stuff.

For some ultra-biblical history there is a similarity between the character and storyline of Joseph and a chancelor very close to the Pharoh in ancient Egyptian history. We have all heard the name Imhotep from the classic horror movie The Mummy and the modern Brenden Fraiser remake, but there is an actual story of a real Imhotep that lived during BC 2600 and was a very close advisor to the Pharoh. In fact he was second in command. According to a series of Heiroglyphics, known as the Famine Stela, during the reign of King Djoser a famine hit the country that lasted for seven years. Imhotep interpreted Pharoh's dream and through a series of events averted the disaster. Because of this Imhoteph was made second in command of all of Egypt. He is also credited for building the first Step Pyramid and very close by it is a storehouse that connects to eleven other silos that contained (some still containing) grain. This is where the people came during the seven years of famine to get food.

Also interestingly enough the name Im-Hotep means 'the mouth or voice of Im'. Yet, there is no Egyptian god named Im. Funny how Yahweh is translated as I Am....I'M.... that is almost a ridiculous connection, and admitedly my own, but it made me smile. Similarily, in Genesis they say that Joesph was known to the Egyptians as Zaphenath-Paneah, which means something like 'God speaks and lives'.

Finally, what I found interesting is that there is no tomb for Imhotep. There is an empty tomb near where he would have been buried in Egypt, but there is no body in there. Some think that he built his own resting place in a place that has just not been discovered yet. In the Genesis account (SPOILER) Joseph died at the age of 110 (so did Imhotep, btw) and told the Israelites that whenever they left Egypt to take his bones with them. We shall find out in Exodus if they remember to do that.

Sibling Rivalry

Genesis 25-36

We have now met Abraham the father of the nations of Yahweh; Jews, Muslims (who use the name Allah) and Christians. We are soon to meet his grandsons, Jacob and Esau. They are twin brothers who are two very different people. In the story of Genesis we see the origin of the animosity that you find in the monotheistic religions of today, mainly between Judaism and Islam. Jacob steals the birthright from Esau. Esau's descendents marry Ishamel's descendents down the line and the Prophet Muhammad is said to be a descendent of that family tree.

In Islam it is taught that Ishmael, the First-born son of Abraham, is the forefather of the Arab tribes of the middle east as well as the forefather of their prophet Muhammad. From what I can understand muslims believe that the refrences in Genesis 17:20 and 21:18 state this and they hold Abraham, Issac and Jacob up as important prophets of Allah. However, in Islam there are a few little differences from Judaism and Christianity. Muslims do not traditionally believe that Issac was the child that Abraham was going to sacrifice on the mountain. The Quran does not name the child, but there are those in Islam that believe it was Ishmael. Another difference is that they do not believe that Jacob stole the birthright from his twin brother Esau. They believe that since Jacob was a prophet of the One True God he would not have gotten his birthright through deception. Also, Issac being a man of Allah would have known the importance and greatness of his son Jacob and would not have given the birthright to Esau in the first place. Muslims also believe that Jacob is a patriarch of Islam equally (if not more) important than Issac or Abraham. Yet, I haven't found any indication that they believe in the Abrahamic Covenent regarding the land that God gave Abraham, or if they do they believe that that covenant includes the descendents of Ishamel and Esau as well as Jacob. It seems the sole importance of the Patriarchs in Islam is that they upheld the concept of monotheism in a land of polytheists and passed that tradition on to their sons who were the forefathers of the great Prophets of Allah.






Esau is an interesting character. His name is also called Edom, meaning red, and his decendents become known as the Edomites. I believe Esau means hairy, so these people probably had very hairy bodies. The Edomites are one of the major enemies of Israel as we will see throughout the Book.






Jacob will become known as Israel and the nation will be named after him. The twelve sons that he has will be the patriarchs for the twelve tribes that will emerge from these brothers and eventually be enslaved in Egypt, as prophecied to Abraham in Genesis 15:13-15. Jacob's story is interesting and I'm looking forward to it.

The Patriarchs

Genesis 12-24

Alright! We made it past the begining of the beginning! Yay us! Now we move out of prehistory and into the Jewish history. Those first eleven chapters give a foundation for what lies ahead. All those begats give us a lineage from the first man and woman to the very first 'Father of the Nations of Yahweh' and are only part of a story that was passed down from generation to generation over many centuries.

The stories themselves date back to at least 1300 B.C. which is the time of the Exodus, the next book we will read after Genesis. As far as Genesis is concerned these events are older than recorded history and there is not a lot of archeolgical evidence for the Patriarchs dating back further than 74 B.C. The Roman King Herod who ruled the land of Israel (Judea) in 74 B.C., built an enclousre of what is known as the Cave of the Patriarchs. It is believed to be the actuall cave that Abraham bought in the book of Genesis and the resting place of the tombs of the Patriarchs; Abraham, Issac, and Jacob along with their wives. This is a holy site to Jews, Christians, and Muslims because these men that we are about to meet are the ones that started everything. Most the wars about religion that we have from the world cultures of today are rooted in the events that happen in the book of Genesis.

What we do know is that the modern Old Testament has been in written form since at least 450 B.C. which is, historically, 100 years after the Persians allowed the Jews to go back to their homeland and rebuild their temple. During these years the histories were written down and compiled into the Jewish Holy Book called the Tanakh. This was a collection of Jewish culture consisting of three major groups. The first was the Torah (Teaching) which are the five Books of Moses; Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and Numbers. Next is the Nevi'im (prophets) and Ketuvim (writings) which make up the rest of the Jewish canon. This was later translated into Greek and made into what is now known to Christians as the Old Testament.

We are about to meet Abraham. The father of the Jewish and Arab nations. According to the story of the Tanakh God chose Abraham to be the father of the representative people of Yahweh to all of mankind. He laid out the entire plan that is about to unfold before us on our Journey through. Here we will find the Patriarch of Jews and Muslims as well as the Christians since the Christians believe that Jesus was the fulfillment of bringing the Jewish covenent to the Gentiles.

The Jewish covenent is an interesting one and its going to be fun to watch it develop. We have already seen the covenant that Yahweh made with humanity through Noah. The rainbow in the sky is the reminder that covenenant. Now we are going to enter the second phase; the Abrahamic Covenant in which Yahweh appoints a place in time and space for his people and vows to be thier god if they will be His people.

The Journey Begins

Genesis Ch. 1-11

Everything has a beginning. Every trip, every relationship, every story, every life has a beginning. The Book, too, has a beginning. The chapters are short so we should be able to get through this in a couple of weeks. I want to watch out for this beginning, though, because this is a story that many of us think we know very well. I think for most people the story of the seven day creation, Adam and Eve, and the Flood are the main topics that come to mind when they think of the book of Genesis. A lot of people get into science vs. religion arguments over the stories of the Creation and the Flood, and the journey can get stuck before it’s even off and running. I mean its only eleven chapters out of fifty!

These first five books of the Bible are also the first five books of the Jewish holy book called the Torah. It is used by Christians as the events leading up to their savior, Jesus, and it is respected in Islam as a message from Allah that is confirmed by the Holy Quran.

The Torah consists of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Torah is both a written and spoken tradition and was passed down first as stories told from one generation to another then later as written 'books' when the Jewish people began to keep written records. Tradition says that the Torah was dictated to Moses directly from God at Mt. Sinai up until the last verses of Deuteronomy that details the death of Moses. However, modern biblical scholars believe it was probably written much later when the Jews were prisoners in Babylon. In fact, the story of the creation and the flood can actually be traced back to Sumerian and Babylonian origins. They would have been known to the Jews who could have easily incorporated them into their own histories to fill in the gap between their story of Abraham and the beginning of all time.

Here we go.....

So, this is a trip through the entire Bible, starting with Genesis and moving right on through to Revelations. I'm really excited to do this. I've only done this one other time almost ten years ago. It was before I was a Christian and after trying many of the other Holy Books I sat down to try this one. What I found was a story that is so intricate and complex in the interweaving of theology, history, geography and philosophy. I read stories that I thought I knew and discovered aspects of them that I never heard in day to day discussions or references.

The Bible is a collection of 66 separate books written by people from different levels of society over a span of thousands of years. I actually started this project back in March. I have started a series of writings that shows what book and chapter I am on as well as a little information regarding the origin of the book, the relevance to the Bible as a whole, important 'sights to see' along the way, and if I can I will get some maps up here to kind of flesh out the geography of the journey. At this point I've reached the beginning of 1 Samuel so there's going to be a lot of blogs coming on here close together until that point and then I will get them up as I move on through the Book. After that its up to anyone else to comment or discuss things that they feel are relevant. I am doing this with an honest intent to learn and I try to keep my personal views as minimal as possible and just present the information that I find. I just ask others to be respectful of views and ideas contrary to their own.

What I hope to gain from this is a better understanding of the world we live in. Whether you like it or not we live in a world where a lot of people believe in God and warped perceptions of those ideas lead to violence. A lot of the wars and problems in the Middle East between the Jews, Muslims, and Christians can be traced back to this Book. Its very interesting to see the story of the Bible unfold while also looking at our own history being made each day in the news articles of our times.

So, please come along. I invite you to invite others that would get a kick out of it, and I also offer an open exit door to those whose cups are full and have no need for any new information on the subject. Go or stay, its all good. I just ask that it all be done with love and respect.