The History, Wisdom and Poetic Books.
The twelve Historical Books chronologically follow the Law but are grouped together because of their common purpose. They describe how God differently responded to His people depending on their response to His Law.
They are commonly separated into three sections:
Pre–Kingdom Era.
Joshua, Judges and Ruth were written before the Israelites insisted and gaining a king.
Kingdom Era
These six books were written during the united kingdom period as well as the divided kingdom period. The later period was split into the south (Judah) and the north (Israel). Each had its own king. The north was captured in 721 B.C.; the south in 586 B.C.
Post–Kingdom Era
Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther were written during this period that led God’s people back into the land. They had no king during this time.
The five Poetical Books were mostly written during the time of 2 Samuel by Kings David and Solomon. The book of Job was written during the period of Genesis. These books relate the inner and outer struggles God’s people have as they try to live by God’s law.
Historical Books
Joshua – the Conquest of Canaan
Judges – The Period of the 15 Judges
Ruth - Story of Naomi & Ruth and Christ our Redeemer
I Samuel - Birth of Samuel (Israel’s Last Judge) to Death of King Saul
2 Samuel - Covers the 3 Anointing of King David and his Reign as King
1 Kings - Death of David to the reign of Jehoram over Israel (118) years
2 Kings - Jehoram over Judah to Ahaziah over Israel to the captivity period (308 years)
I Chronicles - 1 & 2 Chronicles deals with the same time frame as Samuel & Kings
2 Chronicles from death of Saul to decree of Cyrus (520 years)
Difference between Kings & Chronicles:
Kings written by the Jeremiah the prophet - (believed), Chronicles written by Ezra the priest.
Kings emphasizes the thrones of earthly kings, Chronicles emphasizes the earthly throne of a heavenly king
Example:
1 Kings 14:20 – records the death of Jeroboam “says and he slept with his fathers” (Human view)
1 Chronicles 13:20 – records the same event but says, “the Lord struck him and he died”
Kings was written shortly after the captivity in Babylon, Chronicles was written shortly after the return from Babylon
Kings is political & kingly, Chronicles is nation (ecclesiastical) & priestly centered
Ezra - The return of the Jews from captivity in Babylon and the rebuilding of the temple
Nehemiah - The return of the Jews from captivity in Babylon and the rebuilding of the Jerusalem’s walls
Esther – God’s protection of Israel
The books from Genesis to Nehemiah tell the complete time span of the Old Testament.
Poetry and Wisdom Books
All of the Poetry Books and Prophetic Books fit somewhere into the history represented in the records from Genesis – Nehemiah.
Job – aspiration for mediation by Christ
Psalms- aspiration for communion with Christ
Proverbs- aspiration for wisdom in Christ
Ecclesiastes- aspiration for ultimate satisfaction
Song of Solomon- aspiration for union in love with Christ
Historical Overview
Joshua & the Conquest of Canaan
Then Israel finally crossed over the Jordan River (on dry land) and entered Canaan and celebrated their first Passover in the Promised Land. God spoke to Joshua and made him a strong leader.
Josh 1:5-6 “. . . as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. “Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.
The sins of the Canaanites were at the boiling point and Joshua was to completely destroy them lest Israel inherit their evil ways. Some of the abominations happening in the land were temple prostitution, father and son committing sexual acts with the same prostitute, child sacrifice, homosexuality’s, idolatry, and on and on. God spoke about their evil ways throughout the entire Old Testament.
Lev 18:25-30
’For the land is defiled; therefore, I visit the punishment of its iniquity upon it, and the land vomits out its inhabitants. ’You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations, either any of your own nation or any stranger who dwells among you ’for all these abominations the men of the land have done, who were before you, and thus the land is defiled), ’lest the land vomit you out also when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations that were before you.
’For whoever commits any of these abominations, the persons who commit them shall be cut off from among their people. ‘Therefore, you shall keep My ordinance, so that you do not commit any of these abominable customs which were committed before you, and that you do not defile yourselves by them: I am the LORD your God.’”
The inhabitants of Canaan were terrified. The first city they conquered was Jericho. It was a miracle, when the trumpets were blown, the walls fell.
Josh 6:20
So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.
Under Joshua, the Israelites conquered the entire country (Josh 21). The only defeat was at Ai, where an Israelite named Achan disobeyed God’s orders. In 7 years, they defeated 31 kings in the land. Joshua divided the land among the 12 tribes of Israel as God directed.
Joshua was a great leader but he made 2 fatal mistakes:
He failed to completely defeat the Canaanites (especially the Philistines, Amalekites, and Midianites)
He failed to wipe out completely the filthy and idolatrous fertility cults of the land. Joshua’s failure to cut this cancer completely out of society resulted in disastrous times for about the next 400 years of Hebrew history.
The Judges & Ruth
Before he died, Joshua urged Israel to keep trusting God and obeying His commands, but they didn’t. After Joshua died, “every man did what was right in his own eyes”. They would forget God, the enemy would severely oppress them, they would cry out to God for help, and God would raise up a deliverer (Judge) to free them of their misery. This was the sad pattern for the Israelites for almost 400 years. The main deliverer-judges were: Othniel, Deborah, Gideon, Jephthah, Samson, Eli, and Samuel. (Ruth also lived during this period). Probably the most important person in this era was Samuel.
The Judges
These minor judges were:
Shamgar 3:31
Tola 10:1-2
Jair 10:3-5
Ibzan 12:8-1,
Elon 12:11-12
Abdon 12:13-15
The other judges are viewed in greater detail in the Book of Judges:
Othniel 3:7-11 a nephew of Caleb, delivered Israel from the Mesopotamians.
Ehud 3:12-30 was lefthanded and killed Eglon, king of Moab.
Jephthah 11:1–12:7 was a harlot’s son who defeated the Amorites.
Gideon 6:11-8:35 led 300 Israelites to defeat the entire army of the Midianites.
Samson 13:1–16:31 delivered Israel from the Philistines. Known for his great strength.
Deborah 4:1–5:31 urged Barak to attack the mighty army of the Canaanites.
Samuel – I Sam 1:10 Samuel was the first of Israel’s great prophets, and the last of the judges.
Saul, The First King (2 Sam 9 1-2)
The Lord had always intended to give Israel a king (Deut 17), but Israel’s sin was in demanding a king from the wrong motives, in looking for that king in the wrong tribe, and in demanding a king before it was God’s time to give them one. A man named Saul, from the tribe of Benjamin was chosen, a man of impressive stature, who embodied the basic ideals Israel had at the time, being much more concerned with his appearance than his heart.
David, The Rightful King
Like Jesus, David was from Bethlehem. He grew up as a shepherd and was skillful in music and courageous. Samuel secretly anointed him as king and God openly showed Israel His chosen by his single-handedly slaying of the giant, Goliath of Gath (Sam 17)
Solomon (David’s Son) - Chr 28:9-11; I King 3:5-14
David ordained that his son Solomon become the next king. He then gave Solomon the plans for the Temple. Solomon became Israel’s most magnificent king. He built the marvelous Temple and God’s favor was with him.
During his reign he made Israel a world power and great wealth flowed into the kingdom. He had such great wisdom from God that people came from distant lands to here him. He taught many proverbs and wrote Ecclesiastes and Songs. Yet Solomon did more than any other king to break down the kingdom and to destroy its true foundations. His biggest mistake was in disobeying God by taking many wives, and marrying the daughters of foreign kings. He had 700 wives and 300 concubines. He allowed them to build altars to “Astarte” (Ishtar in Babylonia and Astoreth in Phoenicia) the fertility goddess and other pagan gods.
Deut 17:14-20
“When you come to the land which the LORD your God is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,’ “you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses; one from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. “But he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for the LORD has said to you, ‘You shall not return that way again.’ “Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself.
“Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites. “And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes
Though Solomon was gifted with incredible wisdom, his heart led him astray. Toward the end of his life troubles began to appear through powerful factions, and enemies raised up both within and without the nation. Though Solomon made Jerusalem one of the wonders of the world, the kingdom was ready for a collapse. When Solomon died (about 922 BC) the kingdom split in two.
The Divided Kingdom
The Divided Kingdom
After Solomon the fame and fortunes of Israel went downhill. The nation rebelled against God and his laws. God might have destroyed Israel had He not promised to Abraham a redeemer and He still planned to use the house of David for this.
When Solomon died a civil war broke out as Solomon’s sons and generals fought for the throne. Rehoboam had his father’s blessing to be the new king, but Jeroboam had more military influence. In the end, Rehoboam took the southern half of the country and called it “Judah”. Jeroboam took the northern half and kept the name Israel. Each claimed to be God’s chosen king.
The Northern Kingdom (Israel)
The Northern Kingdom consisted of 10 of the tribes (excluding Judah and Benjamin).
when Rehoboam flatly refused to lighten the heavy load of forced labor and high taxation imposed on the Israelites by his father Solomon (1 Kin. 12:1-24). Upon Rehoboam’s refusal, the ten tribes living north of Bethel promptly declared their independence.
It lasted for about 210 years until it was destroyed by Assyria in 722 BC. Its capital was Samaria.
Every king of Israel was evil.
In the northern kingdom there were 9 dynasties (family lines of kings) and 19 kings in all. An average of 11 years to a reign. 8 of these kings met death by violence.
The epitaph written over every one of its kings was:
I King 15:34 and he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin by which he had made Israel to sin.
The Southern Kingdom (Judah)
The Southern Kingdom consisted of 2 tribes (Judah and Benjamin).
Jerusalem was its capital and it lasted from about 922-586 B.C.
Judah was left suddenly independent when Rehoboam flatly refused to lighten the heavy load of forced labor and high taxation imposed on the Israelites by his father Solomon (1 Kin. 12:1-24). Upon Rehoboam’s refusal, the ten tribes living north of Bethel promptly declared their independence.
Shishak, Pharaoh of Egypt, soon invaded the country, plundered the treasures of the Temple and the royal palace, and destroyed a number of newly built fortresses (2 Chr. 12:1-12).
Judah never recovered from the sudden loss of her national wealth.
Rehoboam wanted to attack Israel and reunite the kingdom by force, but a Word from the Lord came to Shemaiah the prophet saying,
I King 12:24 ’Thus says the LORD: “You shall not go up nor fight against your brethren the children of Israel.”
8 of Judah’s kings served God. These were: Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Amaziah, Uzziah, Jotham, Hezekiah, and Josiah. The rest of the 20 kings were wicked.
In the southern kingdom there was only one dynasty, that of king David, except usurper Athaliah from the northern kingdom, who by marriage, broke into David’s line, and interrupted the succession for 6 years, 20 kings in all. An average of about 16 years to a reign.
Revival came during the reign of Hezekiah but it was immediately swept aside by Manasseh, who was Judah’s most wicked and longest ruling king…
After Josiah (Manassah’s Grandson) there was no hope for Judah, the last 3 kings were all evil. The Babylonians swept down upon Jerusalem in 597 B. C. and captured it. A second attack led to Jerusalem’s second defeat in 586 B. C. Captives from both campaigns were taken to Babylonia to mark the captivity of the Southern Kingdom.
The Babylonian Captivity
Around 605 BC. Nineveh and Assyria had fallen. It was just Egypt and Babylon who were seeking world supremacy. Nebuchadnezzar, went out and defeated the Egyptians at Carchemish.
Marched on to Judah, during Jehoiakim’s reign, and took thousands of Hebrews back to Babylon (including Daniel , who became one of the greatest prophets).
Nebuchadnezzar made two more attacks when he heard of rebellion in Judah. Each time he took captives (including Ezekiel the prophet). Only a remnant of the weakest, poorest, and least threatening Jews remained.
King Nebuchadnezzar set up a puppet king (Zedekiah) of David’s line to sit on the throne of Judah and made him swear an oath of allegiance (2 Chr 36:10-12).
Zedekiah was as faithless as the rest of the evil kings of Judah. He then rebelled and allied with other enemies. When Nebuchadnezzar heard he came back for the last time (586 BC) to reduce Jerusalem to rubble and send the Temple up in flames.
Zedekiah was forced to witness the slaughter of his sons, then his eyes were put out, and he himself was carried off to Babylon. The Kingdom was over and the “times of the gentiles” had begun.
2 Kin 24:13-14 13 And he carried out from there all the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king’s house, and he cut in pieces all the articles of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD, as the LORD had said. 14 Also he carried into captivity all Jerusalem: all the captains and all the mighty men of valor, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths. None remained except the poorest people of the land.
The Return from Babylon
The people of Judah were horribly distressed. They lost their home, their city, their pride, their Temple, the ark of the covenant, and they were taken as prisoners to Babylon, the homeland of idolatry.
But God raised up great men to remind them of Jeremiah’s prophesies, that they would only be there for 70 years. Babylon would not be their home: Jer 29:10-14
They would return and the temple would be rebuilt, and the Messiah would still come. Daniel and Ezekiel sought to keep the true faith alive.
The Decree of Cyrus
By 538 BC. Babylon had passed into history and the Medo-Persian Empire took its place. Cyrus the Persian issued a decree to allow the Jews to go back to their land, and with the blessing of The Persian Empire.
Zerubbabel
The first move back to Palestine was led by Zerubbabel, of the house of David. He was the only one of royal blood to pay any attention to the decree of Cyrus (Ezra 2). When he returned, he found just rubble. No temple, torn down walls, and a mixed breed of corrupt Jews (Samaritans) living there. In 536 BC. he laid the foundations for a new temple, built an altar and worshipped the Lord. The prophets Haggai and Zechariah helped urge the Jews on. They finished the work on the Temple in 516 BC. (exactly 70 years).
Ezra and Nehemiah
58 years later (458 BC) more Jews returned (Ezra 7) under the leadership of Ezra. 12 years later, Nehemiah, received permission to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and to govern Judea. He arrived in 444 BC. Despite much opposition, Nehemiah completed this seemingly hopeless task in 52 days. Then a revival followed. Ezra and Nehemiah canonized the books of the Old Testament. They read aloud to the people and gave interpretation.
About 40 years later, the prophet Malachi condemned the people for slipping back into their sinful ways.