Map Philistines capture Israel's Ark of Covenant
Philistines crush Israel’s army at the city of Ebenezer then steal the chest that holds the 10 Commandments, Israel’s most sacred object...the Ark of the Covenant. Philistines pass it around from city to city because people get sick wherever it goes. No one wants it. In the end, they give it back. By the time it reaches Jerusalem, it traveled 100 miles (160 km). The story appears in 1 Samuel 4-5.
Philistines capture Ark of the Covenant
Map Ramah to Shiloh
Map Ramah to Shiloh
Bible map Ramah to Shiloh.
Ramah was a short version of the city’s full name, Ramathaim—a bit like LA is short for Los Angeles and KC is short for Kansas City. Ramah is usually linked to ruins called Al-Ram. It’s about 5 miles (8 km) north of Jerusalem and about 15 miles (24 km) south of Shiloh. That’s almost a day’s walk to Shiloh. Some scholars link Rama to another ruin about five miles southwest, Nabi Samwil. At the time, Jerusalem was still a generation away from when King David would capture it and turn it into his capital, the City of David.
Road from Ramah to Shiloh
Persian Empire Map
Persian Empire Map
Persian Empire map in the time of King Xerxes and Queen Esther, when the ACHAEMENID DYNASTY ruled the empire, 522 BC-486 BC.
The writer of the Bible Book of Esther uses the Hebrew version of Xerxes’ name: Ahasuerus. It’s a bit like the difference between the English name of “Stephen” showing up in Spanish as “Esteban.”
Xerxes the Great reigned from 486 BC until his top bodyguard assassinated him in 465 BC. He’s the king perhaps best known for defeating King Leonidas of Sparta at the Battle of Thermopylae and then destroying Athens and taking control of mainland Greece. Xerxes later left and took his army home. But many scholars say this Xerxes is fictional—a weak-minded caricature of the powerful ruler.
Media was a nation of people known as the Medes. They united with the Persians to defeat the Babylonian Empire. They lived in what is now northern Iran, just south of the Caspian Sea. Mount Ararat lies within this region. That’s where a Bible writer says Noah’s boat ran aground after the Great Flood (Genesis 8:4)
When Xerxes through a seven-day drinking party for his leaders, Queen Vashti, his wife before Esther, through a party for the wives. Women of nobility didn’t typically go to drinking parties with the men. Dancing ladies went there as entertainment. So, it would make sense for the queen to host the wives of the men. There’s no known mention of Queen Vashti in ancient Persian history outside of the Bible. That’s one of several reasons some scholars say this story is fictional and intended to teach readers a lesson about courage and justice and resilience of the Jewish people.
The king ordered his wife to come to the party, which she refused. The king’s wife was reserved for the king’s eyes only—for no other man. So, what self-respecting queen would put herself on display as a trophy wife in a room full of men on a seven-day drunk? She tried to protect her honor and possibly the honor of her husband, who was too drunk to realize that he was embarrassing himself.
On the advice of his legal experts, he banned Vashti from ever coming to see him again. Then he went on a hunt for a beautiful wife. His people found Esther, a young Jew.
Map of Esther's Persian Empire
Video: A little prayer for kindness
Video: A little prayer for kindness
Video: A little prayer for kindness
About 3,000 years ago, a Jewish songwriter who seemed in big trouble wrote a prayer to God, asking him to show some kindness and help him out of whatever problem he was facing at the time. Here's part of the prayer, excerpted from Psalm 31, in the new Casual English Bible.
LORD, I need some kindness here.
I’m in big trouble.
I’ve cried my eyes red and dry.
I’m weary to the bone And crushed in the spirit.
I’ve known sorrow all my life.
I’ve moaned my way through the years.
My strength has collapsed, Weakened by my sin.
My body is run down and used up.
I have so many enemies now That everybody seems to hate me.
Everyone who knows me dreads me. If they see me coming, They get going.
I’m a shattered pot, a broken man. I’m as gone and forgotten as a dead man.
I’ve heard my share of insults. I’m terrorized by people on all sides.
They’re ganging up on me.
But here’s the thing. I trust you, LORD.
I remind myself, “You are my God.”
You hold the days of my life In the palm of your hand.
Shine some kindness on me. Save me because kindness is who you are.
Map of Jezreel
Map of Jezreel
Map of the ancient city of Jezreel, with it's getaway palace of Israel's kings. It was located on the southern edge of the sprawling Jezreel Valley. Here is where an Israelite chariot corps commander launched a coup by assassinating the last king in the royal family dynasty of King Ahab and his father, King Omri.
Map Jezreel, Jezreel Valley
Map Samaria Mt Gerizim Mt Ebal
Map Samaria Mt Gerizim Mt Ebal
Map Samaria Mt Gerizim Mt Ebal Shechem.
Map of Samaria, Mt. Gerizim, Mt. Ebal
Map Jerusalem
Grist Mill grinding grain to flour
Grist Mill grinding grain to flour
Grist Mill grinding grain to flour.
“They force young men to push the grist stone, Grinding the grain to flour.” Lamentations 5:13
Map of Assyria’s attack on Judah
Solomon’s Temple
Solomon's Temple
Replacing Solomon's Temple
Jews rebuilt their own destroyed houses before they rebuilt God’s house—the Jerusalem Temple.
God didn’t like that one bit.
He had the prophet Haggai tell ‘em so.
“You say it’s not yet time to rebuild the LORD’s house from the ruins. But I’ve noticed it is time for you to live in nicely appointed houses paneled in wood” (Haggai 1:4).
Jews ordered to stop building in Jerusalem
Jews apparently felt they had good reason not to rebuild the temple. They had started the work as soon as they got back from exile in Iraq. That’s where Babylonians forced them to stay for 66 years. Persians from what is now Iran defeated Babylon and told the Jews they could go home. Settlers who had moved into the region objected. They didn’t want Jews dragging their dead nation up out of the dirt. So, they threatened them. Later, they convinced a new Persian king to stop all building projects in Jerusalem. Eighteen years afterward, Haggai shows up, but for just four sermons—one a month.How to get good crops through carpentry
On August 29, 520 BC, at the end of what sounds like a terrible year for farmers, Haggai tells them how to fix it. He says God broke it. And God will fix it. But only if they get back to work on the Temple.“I’m the LORD and I did it. I hit you with heat, mold, and hail. But you didn’t get the message. You didn’t come back to me” (2:17).Jews rushed back to work on the Temple before the month is up: September 21.
Jews get the blues rebuilding the Temple
But they apparently get bummed out by December. Perhaps it’s because the Temple isn’t shaping up as magnificent of Solomon’s Temple. Haggai apparently pumps them with a reminder about a good harvest ahead—and with the promise that this Temple will be bigger and better than Solomon’s.Solomon's Temple
Balage Balogh / ArchaeologyIllustrated.com
Licensed to Casual English Bible