Jerusalem, Solomon's kilometer
Jerusalem
Solomon's kilometer
Solomon's Jerusalem was just a kilometer long, north to south. It extended from the Temple hilltop to the Hinnom Valley, which lay below the City of David at the southern bottom of the ridge. A kilometer is just three-quarters of mile. But in Solomon's day, Jerusalem, with it's first Jewish Temple and a new palace, became quite the attraction. Perhaps Solomon's most famous guest was the Queen of Sheba, wherever Sheba was. Scholars can only guess.Jerusalem Temple on bedrock
Solomon built his Temple on bedrock at the top of the ridge. Some people today call that hill the Temple Mount. King David lived down the hill in the City of David. It was a smaller, walled city below the top of the ridge.Solomon's pagan shrine
"Solomon built a hilltop shrine for worshiping Chemosh, god of Moab. And on the Mount of Olives, the ridge of hills east of Jerusalem, he built a shrine to worship Molech, another repulsive god of Ammon. He built similar places of worship for all his foreign wives, so they could continue worshiping their own gods by burning incense and offering sacrifices" (1 Kings 11:7-8, Casual English Bible).Jerusalem, uphill, upgraded, upended
Solomon's Temple lasted 400 years, a tad beyond expectations of "builder's grade." Babylonian invaders from what is now southern Iraq destroyed it and the entire city in 586 BC.Jews deported
Babylonians exiled the surviving Jews to what are now Iraq and Iran. Persians of Iran conquered the Babylonians 50 years later and freed the Jews to go home. They rebuilt an apparently more modest Temple in 516 BC. That means from 586-516 BC, Jews had lived without a Jerusalem worship center for 70 years. Then, 70 years after they built the second Temple, Nehemiah, a Jewish winetaster for the Persian king, got permission to go to Jerusalem and repair the walls. He served there as governor for about 13 years.For Bible features
Stephen M. Miller's website and The Casual English BibleSyria steal’s Israel’s land
Syria steal's Israel's land
When Israel owned the East Bank
Israel on both sides of the Jordan River
When Joshua led the Hebrew ancestors across the Jordan River, into the river valley near the city of Jericho, they already owed the ground behind them. They captured it from nations that attacked them as they traveled. But after almost a millennium, they began to lose it. Syria steals Israel's land.Three tribes lose their homeland
The LORD began breaking off pieces of Israel and giving them away. Syria’s King Hazael defeated Israel in one location after another. He kept what he won. He won the sprawling territory of Gilead along with the tribal lands of Gad, Reuben, Manasseh, all east of the Jordan River. He took that entire stretch of land, from the town of Aroer by the Arnon river in the south, to the territories of Gilead and Bashan in the north. (2 Kings 10:32-33, Casual English Bible). This cut Israel in half, not only by splitting the nation down the middle, along the Jordan River, but by taking half the land mass.Where to find more Bible maps
The Casual English Bible® has more than 900 Bible maps, many in 3D style. You can search for maps by place name, such as "Sea of Galilee."Dedicated Bible map search engine
But you can also search for maps by Bible book, such as searching for all the maps in the book of Joshua. In addition, you can search by country, region, or era on a timeline, such as when Israel had kings or when Jesus was on earth. Here's a link to the dedicated Map Search Engine.For more Bible features
Syria steals Israel's land
Famine, murder, revolution in Israel
Famine, murder, revolution in Israel
Famine, murder, revolution
Famine in Israel
Elisha met with the woman from Shunem, whose son he brought back to life. He told her, “The LORD is sending a famine here. For seven years we won’t have enough food to go around. So, you need to live somewhere else during that time." She did what the prophet said. She moved into Philistine territory and stayed there for seven years.The famine may have been started by Syrian king Ben-hadad's three-year siege of Israel's capital city of Samaria. Invading soldiers may have destroyed the crops. It takes several years to restart a vineyard burned to the ground, for example.
Murder in Damascus, prompted by a prophet
Elisha pays a visit to Damascus while the Syrian king, Ben-hadad, lies sick in bed. He's hostile to Israel, but apparently values the opinion of Israel's most revered prophet. So he sends a messenger to ask if he'll recover from the sickness. Elisha tells the messenger, Hazael, to lie and tell the king he'll recover. Elisha then cries and tells Hazael that he'll do terrible things to Israel.Hazael tells the king he'll get well. Then he suffocates him and declares himself king of Syria.
Hazael will declare war on Israel and begin to take some of Israel's land east of the Jordan River. King Ahab's son and successor, Joram joins forces with Judah's army to try to stop the Syrians. Joram is wounded in the fight and goes to his getaway palace in the town of Jezreel to recover. He will die there, assassinated by one of his chariot commanders, prompted by a message from Elisha (2 Kings 9). That would be two kings Elisha nudged into an assassination.
Revolution
Edom and the little border town of Libnah revolted against Judah during the reign of Jehoram, the king who went into battle with Joram against Syria, and lost. Edom may have seen that as a sign of weakness. The nation won their independence, and the Israelites never regained control of the land.For more Bible features
Famine, murder, and revolution in Israel
Syrians surround Israel’s capital
Syrians surround Israel's capital
Syrian invasion force
King Ben-hadad starves Israelites
Syrians had already attacked Israel's capital twice before, reported in 1 Kings 20. This time they surround and besiege the city long enough that the people inside the walled city began to run out of food. People trapped inside the city started running out of food. So the food got expensive. A donkey’s head cost two pounds of silver—which was 80 coins. And a two-ounce cup of dove droppings cost five silver coins.Children, cooked an eaten
The king took a walk on the city wall one day and a woman called out to him, “My king, please help me!” He said, “If the LORD can’t save you, what can I do? I can’t find grain on a bare threshing floor. I can’t give you a drink of wine from an empty winepress.” Then the king said, “What’s wrong?” She said, “See this woman. She told me, ‘Give up your son. We will eat him today and tomorrow we’ll eat my son.’ So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I said, ‘It’s time to give up your son so we can eat him.’ But she hid him.” When the king heard that, he ripped his robe right in front of them. After that people could see that he had been in mourning all along, wearing scratchy sackcloth beneath his outer robe.Mysterious noise scares off the Syrian army
Syrians had run away in a panic, fooled by God. They thought they heard the thunder of a massive army of cavalry and chariots attacking. They guessed it might be the Hittites and the Egyptians, both coming to save Israel. So they fled at dusk, just before the Israelite men arrived. Syrians left nearly everything they had brought, including their tents and livestock such as horses and donkeys.For more Bible features
Moab’s last stand
Moab's last stand
MOAB’S LAST STAND
Moab stops paying Israel
King Mesha of Moab bred sheep. When King Ahab was alive and Israel was powerful, Mesha had to pay him to live in peace. Mesha gave Ahab 100,000 lambs and wool from 100,000 sheep. But Ahab was dead now. So, Mesha was done with that. He declared his independence by refusing to make those payments.Israel declares war
King Joram mustered his army, pulling fighters in from all over Israel. They marched out of Samaria. Along the way, Joram sent a message to King Jehoshaphat in Judah: “Moab’s king has rebelled. Will you join the battle with me and fight Moab?” Jehoshaphat said, “I will. We are one. My people are your people. My horses are your horses. 8Which way should we go?” Joram said, “We’ll attack from the south, from Edom’s desert.” Israel, Judah, and Edom joined forces against Moab. Armies of Israel and Judah marched around the southern tip of the Dead Sea, into Edom territory. It was a seven-day march through badland territory, with no water to drink.Israel and Judah overrun Moab cities
Israel’s coalition army overran Moab’s cities, filled the plowed fields with rocks, plugged every spring of water they found, and cut down every tree worth the trouble. Only one city remained unconquered: Kir-hareseth. Israel surrounded that town with mobile artillery: slingers firing rocks at Moab’s defenders. Moab’s king saw he was losing the city. So, he took 700 swordsmen and tried to punch through Edom’s line and scatter the enemy. He failed and had to retreat. Then he killed his oldest son, who would have succeeded him as king. He burned the body on top of the city wall as a sacrifice for everyone to see. Israel saw it, too. Angry and disgusted, they went home.For more Bible features
Jordan River cure
Jordan River cure
Jordan River cure
Seven dips underwater
An Israelite slave girl of Syria's top military commander, Naaman, said he could get cured of his skin disease if he went to Israel an asked the prophet Elisha for help. He would not happy, however, when the prophet refused to meet him, but simply told him to go dip himself in the Jordan River seven times.His mysterious skin disease
The Hebrew word describing the disease, ṣāraʽ, can refer to any serious skin disease that would make an Israelite ritually unclean, and unfit to step foot on the sacred grounds of a worship center. Skin diseases reported in the Bible may often have been what we know today as a simple rash or perhaps eczema or psoriasis. The word is often translated as leprosy, but there’s no way of knowing if Naaman had what we today call Hansen’s disease. It’s caused by bacteria that grows slowly and damages nerves, skin, and eyes. It can produce light patches on the skin. Hansen’s disease is curable today with steroids and antibiotics. Without treatment, lepers sometimes get injured and don’t treat the injury because they can’t feel the pain. Infection sets in and body parts are amputated.Naaman refuses to wash in the Jordan
Naaman left, furious. He said, “I thought he would take me seriously. Why didn’t he come out to see me and to call on the power of his God, the LORD? He should have waved his hands over the spot on my skin to cure me. But no, he’s sends me to the Jordan. I could have washed in the rivers of Damascus—the Abana or the Pharpar. They have better water than anything we’re going to find down here in Israel.” Naaman was becoming livid.He calms down and dips
His servants tried to calm him down. “Please sir, you know that if the prophet asked you to do something huge and hard, you would do it. Why not do it even more so, since he told you to do something so small and easy? Wash and get well.” So Naaman did what Elisha said. He went down to the Jordan River and dipped himself seven times into the water. Then he came up out of the water with skin as healthy and as clear as you’d find on a young boy. (2 Kings 5:11-14)For more Bible features
Elisha brings dead boy to life
Elisha brings dead boy to life
Emergency road trip to Elisha
The prophet brings a dead boy back to life
When a woman's young son died, she got her donkey made the all-day trip from her home in Shunem to Mount Carmel to find the prophet Elisha. He returns to her home and brings the dead boy to life. She had been infertile, when Elisha predicted she would have a child.Highlights from 2 Kings 4
When the boy grew older, he went out in the fields where his father was working. He told his father, “I have a terrible headache!” The father told one of his workers, “Carry this boy back to his mother right away.” The worker carried the child back. And the boy lay on his mother's lap until about noon, when he died. The woman took the boy up to Elisha’s guest room. She lay him on the bed, closed the door, and left.The mother races to Mount Carmel
She told her husband, “Send me one of the servants. I want a donkey. I'm going to visit the holy man, then I'll be back.” Her husband said, “Why would you go there today? This isn't the Sabbath or the New Moon Festival. ” She didn’t argue. All she said was “Shalom.”... But when she reached Elisha on the mountain, she grabbed him by his feet...She told Elisha, “As sure as you and the LORD are alive, I'm not leaving here without you.” Elisha got up and they all left...Elisha brings dead boy to boy
When Elisha reached the house, he saw the child lying dead on the bed. Elisha went in the room and shut the door on the other two. He prayed to the LORD. Then he climbed onto the bed and on top of the boy. Elisha put his mouth on the boy's mouth. And he lay with his eyes above the boy's eyes and his hands on the boy's hands. The boy grew warm again.Seven sneezes and alive again
Elisha got off the bed and walked around the room a bit. Then he lay on the boy once more. The child sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. Elisha called in Gehazi and said, “Bring the woman from Shunem in here.” So Gehazi called her in. When she stepped into the room, Elisha said, “Here's your boy. You can take him." The woman dropped at Elisha’s feet and bowed, with her face to the ground. Then she got up and took her son and left.For more Bible features
Elijah’s chariot of fire
Elijah's chariot of fire
Elijah's walk into the wind
Elijah didn't die, according to Bible writers. He was carried away on the wind while his colleague, Elisha, watched as "horses of fire pulling a chariot of fire charged at the men—driving between them and separating them. Then a powerful wind knocked Elijah off his feet and carried him into the sky" (2 Kings 2:11). Elisha started screaming, “Father! Father! Israel’s chariots and calvary!” (2 Kings 2:12).Experts try to explain what happened
Scholars don’t agree about how to explain what just happened. Was it a theophany—a physical expression of a spiritual or celestial event? Or was it physical and literal—horses that could toast a hotdog? Was it physical and metaphorical—lightning and a tornado or maybe an intense thunderstorm associated with a powerful dust storm? Or was it a vision of heaven’s military carrying Elijah away.Did Elijah die?
What remains of the story is the teaching that Elijah never died. Jews today set a cup of wine out for Elijah at every annual Passover meal known as a seder. Some teach that Elijah will come before the Messiah comes, as one prophet seemed to predict (Malachi 4:5). Jesus later taught that John the Baptist fulfilled that prophecy (Matthew 11:14).Elisha's request
Before the windstorm, while still on the walk, Elisha asked if he could take Elijah's role as the lead prophet: “Please, let me be the one to inherit the position you’re leaving behind" (2 Kings 2:9). And that's what happened. A group of prophets in Jericho said so: “The ministry of Elijah now rests on Elisha’s shoulders” ( 2 Kings 2:15).Elisha's ministry
The Hebrew word for “ministry” is ruah, which has many meanings: breath, wind, spiritual essence of a person, spirit being. In the context of the story, the prophets seemed to recognize that Elijah’s ministry as Israel’s leading prophet had just fallen to Elijah’s apprentice, Elisha.For more Bible features
Boss of Edom, Moab
Boss of Edom, Moab
Bosses of the Promised Land
Kings of Israel and Judah controlled their neighbor countries of Edom and Moab for part of the era of Israelite kings. Moab had apparently lived under the dominance of Israel since David conquered the nation (2 Samuel 8:12). This likely meant, in part, that they paid annual tribute to Israel’s king—essentially tax payments. This marks a turning point in the history of the northern Jewish kingdom, the beginning of the end of their empire.2 Kings 1-4, Israel's king, about to die
"1When King Ahab of Israel died, Moab decided to declare its independence from Israel. 2Israel’s King Ahaziah fell through the latticework of an upper window in Samaria. Injured, he wanted to know if he would recover. So, he sent messengers to ask Baalzebub, god of the people in the city of Ekron. 3But a messenger from the LORD told Elijah, a prophet from the town of Tishbe, to go and intercept the king’s people. Elijah was to say, “Tell me this, why are you going to Ekron to consult Baalzebub? Don’t we have a God here in Israel? 4Take this message as a reminder that we do. Tell the king the LORD says this: ‘You won’t leave your sickbed. You’ll die there.’” Elijah delivered that message."2 Kings 2:1-9, Moab declares independence
Israel declares war
1King Ahab’s son, Joram, became king of the northern Jewish nation of Israel. By that time, Jehoshaphat was into his 18th year as king of Judah. Joram reigned a dozen years.
2In God’s eyes, Joram was a poor excuse of a king. But Joram wasn’t as wretched and evil as his parents, Ahab and Jezebel. Joram tore down the Baal pillar [1] his father built. 3Still, he continued King Jeroboam’s long tradition of sinning.
Moab stops paying Israel
4King Mesha of Moab bred sheep. When King Ahab was alive and Israel was powerful, Mesha had to pay him to live in peace. Mesha gave Ahab 100,000 lambs and wool from 100,000 sheep. 5But Ahab was dead now. So, Mesha was done with that. He declared his independence by refusing to make those payments.Israel declares war
6King Joram mustered his army, pulling fighters in from all over Israel. They marched out of Samaria. 7Along the way, Joram sent a message to King Jehoshaphat in Judah: “Moab’s king has rebelled. Will you join the battle with me and fight Moab?” Jehoshaphat said, “I will. We are one. My people are your people. My horses are your horses. 8Which way should we go?” Joram said, “We’ll attack from the south, from Edom’s desert.”Moab's last city refuses to fall
Israelites defeat much of Moab's army and finally surround the last city, where Moab's king reigns. He sacrifices his son on the city wall, and Israelites give up and go home. The writer doesn't say why.
For more Bible features
Map of Israel, Judah, Moab, and Edom