The Books of History

Moses is dead, and the LORD commissions Joshua to lead Israel across the Jordan into the land he promised them. Joshua sends two spies to Jericho, where Rahab hides them and asks for mercy. The river stops at flood stage while the priests stand in it with the ark, and the people cross on dry ground. At Jericho the walls fall after seven days of marching. Achan's hidden plunder brings defeat at Ai until his sin is judged, and Joshua then wins his battles in the south and the north.

From chapter 13 the land is divided among the tribes by lot. Caleb is given Hebron, cities of refuge are set apart, and towns are given to the Levites. In two last speeches Joshua calls Israel to hold fast to the LORD, and at Shechem the people renew the covenant before he dies.

After Joshua dies the tribes fail to drive out the Canaanites, and a generation grows up that does not know the LORD. Chapter 2 sets out the cycle the whole book follows. Israel serves other gods, an enemy oppresses them, they cry out, and God raises a judge to save them. Othniel, Ehud, Deborah with Barak, and Gideon each bring the land rest for a time.

Gideon's son Abimelech murders his brothers to rule at Shechem, Jephthah makes a rash vow, and Samson, a Nazirite from birth, fights the Philistines alone and dies pulling down the temple of Dagon. The last five chapters tell of Micah's household idol, the tribe of Dan's theft of it, and the crime at Gibeah that brings civil war on Benjamin.

In the days of the judges a famine drives Elimelech of Bethlehem to Moab with his wife Naomi and their two sons. The sons marry women of Moab, Orpah and Ruth, and within ten years all three men are dead. When Naomi hears that the LORD has given his people food again, she sets out for home. Orpah turns back, and Ruth binds herself to Naomi, to her people and to her God.

At barley harvest Ruth gleans in a field that belongs to Boaz, a relative of Elimelech, and he protects and blesses her. Naomi sends her to the threshing floor at night to ask Boaz to act as her family redeemer. At the town gate a nearer relative gives up his right, and Boaz buys Naomi's land and marries Ruth. Their son Obed is the grandfather of David.

Hannah, a barren wife, prays at Shiloh for a son and gives him back to the LORD. The boy Samuel serves under the priest Eli, whose sons abuse their office, and the LORD calls Samuel by name in the night. The Philistines capture the ark at Aphek, Eli and his sons die, and the ark brings plagues on its captors until they send it home. Samuel leads Israel back to the LORD and judges the nation.

When Samuel is old the elders ask for a king like the other nations, and he anoints Saul. Saul disobeys at Gilgal and again against Amalek, and the LORD rejects him. Samuel anoints David, the youngest son of Jesse, who kills Goliath and wins the friendship of Saul's son Jonathan. Saul hunts David through the wilderness, and twice David spares his life. The book ends with Saul and his sons dead on Mount Gilboa.

David mourns Saul and Jonathan and is anointed king of Judah at Hebron, while Saul's son Ish-bosheth rules the north. After years of war the northern tribes come to Hebron too, and David captures Jerusalem and makes it his city. He brings up the ark with dancing, and the LORD promises through Nathan to build David a house and to establish his throne forever. His armies defeat the nations around Israel, and he shows kindness to Jonathan's son Mephibosheth.

In chapter 11 David takes Bathsheba and has her husband Uriah killed, and Nathan confronts him. From then on the sword stays in David's house. Amnon violates Tamar, Absalom kills Amnon and later seizes the throne, and David flees Jerusalem until Absalom dies in battle. The book closes with David's song of deliverance, his last words, and the census that ends at a threshing floor where he builds an altar.

David is old, and his son Adonijah claims the throne until Nathan and Bathsheba secure it for Solomon. At Gibeon Solomon asks God for an understanding heart, and his wisdom becomes famous. He builds the temple in Jerusalem in seven years, and at its dedication the cloud of the LORD's glory fills the house. The queen of Sheba visits and praises his wisdom. In his old age his foreign wives turn his heart to other gods.

At Solomon's death the kingdom splits. Ten tribes follow Jeroboam, who sets up golden calves at Bethel and Dan, and Judah keeps Solomon's son Rehoboam. The northern throne passes from house to house until Ahab and Jezebel bring the worship of Baal to Israel. Elijah announces a drought, defeats the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel and hears the LORD at Horeb. The book ends with Ahab killed in battle at Ramoth-gilead.

Elijah is taken up to heaven in a whirlwind, and Elisha receives a double portion of his spirit. Elisha's miracles fill the early chapters, among them oil multiplied for a widow, a Shunammite's son raised, and the Syrian commander Naaman healed of leprosy. Jehu wipes out the house of Ahab, and in Judah the infant Joash is hidden in the temple and later crowned. Israel's kings keep to Jeroboam's calves, and in chapter 17 Assyria takes Samaria and carries the northern tribes away.

Judah stands alone after that. Hezekiah trusts the LORD, and Jerusalem is spared when Sennacherib besieges it. His son Manasseh rebuilds the high places and fills the city with idols. Josiah finds the book of the law in the temple and leads a reform, and still judgment comes. Babylon carries the king and the people away and burns Jerusalem and the temple. The book closes with King Jehoiachin released from prison in Babylon.

First Chronicles opens with nine chapters of family lines from Adam through the sons of Jacob. The tribe of Judah and the house of David take the most room, and the line of Levi is set out with care. The lists end with the first exiles who came back to live in Jerusalem, and the story itself begins in chapter 10 with Saul's death on Mount Gilboa.

All Israel then anoints David king at Hebron, and he takes Jerusalem with the help of his mighty men. He brings the ark into the city, the second time carried by the Levites as the law commands, and appoints singers to praise God before it. God promises David a house that will last forever. After his wars and the census, David buys Ornan's threshing floor as the place for the temple. He gathers its materials, orders the priests, Levites, singers and gatekeepers, and hands the kingdom to Solomon.

Solomon asks God for wisdom and builds the temple on Mount Moriah. At its dedication fire falls from heaven and the glory of the LORD fills the house, and God answers his prayer by night. Solomon's wealth and wisdom draw the queen of Sheba from the south and pass every king of the earth. After his death the northern tribes break away, and from chapter 10 the book follows Judah and the kings of David's line.

Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah and Josiah seek the LORD and lead reforms, and God delivers Judah when its kings humble themselves and pray. Others turn to idols, and Manasseh repents only after he is taken captive to Babylon. In chapter 36 Babylon burns Jerusalem and the temple, and the land keeps its sabbaths for seventy years. The book ends with Cyrus of Persia ordering the temple rebuilt.

In his first year Cyrus of Persia decrees that the exiles may go home and rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. A large company returns with the temple vessels, and chapter 2 lists them by family and by town. They build the altar first, then lay the temple's foundation with shouts of joy and the weeping of old men who remember the first house. Their neighbours oppose the work and stop it for years.

Haggai and Zechariah stir the people to build again, Darius confirms the decree of Cyrus, and the temple is finished and dedicated. From chapter 7 Ezra the scribe comes from Babylon with a second company, sent by Artaxerxes to teach the law. He learns that many have married women of the peoples around them, and he tears his clothes and prays. The people gather in the rain and agree to put away the foreign marriages.

Nehemiah, cupbearer to King Artaxerxes at Susa, hears that the wall of Jerusalem lies broken and its gates burned. He weeps and prays, and four months later the king sends him to rebuild it. He inspects the ruins by night and sets the people to work, each family on its own section. Sanballat and Tobiah mock and threaten, so the builders work with weapons at hand, and the wall is finished in fifty-two days.

Ezra reads the book of the law to the people at the Water Gate, and they keep the Feast of Booths. They confess their sins in a long prayer and seal a written covenant. Jerusalem is resettled by lot, and the wall is dedicated with two great choirs. Nehemiah goes back to the king, and when he returns he finds the reforms broken and makes them a second time.

King Ahasuerus of Persia holds a great feast at Susa, and when Queen Vashti refuses to come, he removes her. A search for a new queen brings Esther, a Jewish orphan raised by her cousin Mordecai, into the palace, and the king makes her queen. Mordecai uncovers a plot against the king's life. Haman the Agagite is raised above the princes, and when Mordecai will not bow to him, Haman casts lots and wins a decree to destroy every Jew in the empire.

Mordecai urges Esther to go to the king, and after a three-day fast she enters his court uninvited. At her second banquet she names Haman as the enemy of her people, and he is hanged on the gallows he built for Mordecai. A second decree lets the Jews defend themselves, and on the day set for their destruction they defeat their enemies. The feast of Purim is kept to remember it.