Headhunting in northern Israel
David's army takes home a rebel's head
David's army was looking for the right man to behead. They had to travel about a week's march north of Jerusalem—about 100 miles/160 km—to the borderland of northern Israel, to the town of Abel.David's enemy was a rebel trying to pull the northern tribes of Israel away from the united kingdom. He was recruiting walled cities to join the cause. Walled cities are harder to attack without an overwhelming force.
The rebel was Sheba, from the tiny tribe of Benjamin, Judah's neighbor on the north.
David sent his new general and part of the army on the headhunt. The former general went along, Joab, whom David had demoted. Mistake on David's part. Joab had already killed one competing general, Abner, and David's own son, Absalom. He murdered this general, too, and took back his old job. He led the chase to Sheba.
David's army lays siege in northern Israel
From 2 Samuel 20
14Sheba went recruiting throughout the northern tribes of Israel. His extended family clan, the Bichri’s, followed him one day into the walled city of Abel Beth Maacah.15Joab’s army surrounded the city. Some men started building a siege ramp to the top of the wall. Others used a battering ram to try breaking through the walls. 16A wise woman inside the town called out to the attacking soldiers. “Hey listen! Listen! Tell Joab I want to talk with him.”
Negotiating a peace
17Joab came over and the woman said, “Are you Joab?” He said, “Yes, I am.” She said, “Please listen to me.” He said, “Go ahead, I’m listening.” 18She said, “There’s an old saying in Israel, ‘Ask it in Abel.’ After that, people would work out their differences. 19I’m one of the peace-loving people in Israel. And I’m watching you destroy one of the mother cities of Israel. You’re tearing into the heritage of the LORD himself. Why would you do this?”20Joab said, “That’s the last thing on my mind. No way would I want to destroy this place. 21That’s not my plan. But there’s a man inside who has launched a rebellion against King David. The man comes from the hills of Ephraim. His name is Sheba, a son of Bichri. Give him to me and we will leave your town.” The woman said, “We’ll toss his head over the wall.”
Sheba loses his head
22The savvy woman pitched her survival plan to others in town. They cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri and threw it over to Joab. He ordered his trumpeter to blow the ram’s horn signal to stand down and withdraw. The soldiers went home. Joab went to see the king in Jerusalem.For other Bible versions see Bible Gateway.
Northern Israel
Absalom and David run away
Absalom and David run away
Israel's royalty run for their lives
Prince Absalom orchestrates the murder of his big brother, and then runs for his life from his Dad, King David. A few years later, the world flips and David is running for his life away from his son, who was leading a coup.Rape of the princess
The family troubles all started with lust and incest. David's oldest son, Amnon, first in line for the throne, fell in lust with his half sister, Tamar. She was the full sister of Absalom. Amnon raped her. She tried to stop him. She said, “No, no, no. Don’t do this to me. It’s disgusting. And it’s not allowed in Israel. Who would marry me after you shamed me like this? It would ruin your reputation, too. I’m begging you, if you want me, go to the king and ask him for me. He’ll give you anything you want” (2 Samuel 13:12-13). He raped her anyhow, and the kicked her out of his house. Bible writers seem to imply she spent the rest of her life as a single woman living with her brother.David gets mad
The rape infuriated David, yet he didn't even mention it to Amnon.Absalom gets even
Absalom slowly fumed for months, plotting murder of his brother...years later he would attempt to murder David as well, in a coup. In the spring, when shepherds shear the sheep and harvest a crop of wool, Absalom threw a party to celebrate the payday. Amnon got the invite. He got drunk. And he got dead.Absalom runs to grandpa, king of Geshur
Absalom's mother came from the royal family of Geshur, a territory just beyond the eastern of the Sea of Galilee. He would live there in exile for three years before David finally invited him home. That's when David's biggest problem blew up in his face.Absalom and David run for their lives
David’s war with Ammon
David's war with Ammon
Take a little off the top
Ammon's king took a little off the bottom, too...and King David went to war because of it. David sent ambassadors to Ammon to show his respect for the king who had just died. But the king's son and successor, Hanun, took it the wrong way,From 2 Samuel 10:3-19
3Some of King Hanun’s officials said, “Don’t be fooled by these men. David didn’t send them here to honor you with his condolences. They’re spies. David wants to take our land.”DAVID’S MEN HALF-SHAVED, HALF-STRIPPED
4Hanun arrested David’s men. Then he shamed them by shaving off their beards on just one side of the face and by stripping away their clothes from the waste down. He sent them home that way, horribly humiliated. 5When David met the men, they were ashamed of the way they looked. David said, “Stay in Jericho until your beards grow back. Then come home.” 6When leaders of Ammon heard about how angry they made David, they hired armies of mercenaries to protect them. They hired 20,000 Syrian soldiers from the cities of Beth-rehob and Zobah in Aram. They also hired 1,000 from the king of Maacah and another 12,000 from Tob territory.DAVID INVADES AMMON
7When David found out, he sent Joab and the entire Israelite army to Ammon. 8Ammon’s army defended the front gate into the capital city. All the other units took positions in the open field outside the city: Syrians from Aram, along with the soldiers from Tob and Maacah. 9Joab saw he would have to fight on two fronts, between Ammon’s own warriors inside the city and mercenaries behind him in the fields. He picked elite troops to lead into battle against the Syrians. 10He gave the rest of the army to his brother, Abishai, and ordered him to engage the locals of Ammon at the guarded city gate. 11He told his brother, “If the Syrians are too much for me, then stand down from the city and come reinforce my troops. But if the army of Ammon is too strong for you, I’ll come to reinforce you. 12Show your courage and your strength. Remember that we’re fighting for our people and for the land that belongs to the people God. Let’s trust that the LORD will do what he knows is best.”ISRAEL’S ENEMIES RUN AWAY
13Joab and his men sent the Syrian army running away. 14When locals of Ammon saw that their allies had left, they retreated back behind the city walls. So, Joab took his army back home to Jerusalem. 15Syrians of Aram, humiliated by their defeat, called in more troops. They consolidated all their armies into a single attack force. 16Syrian king Hadadezer called up warriors from the other side of the Euphrates River. All the armies assembled at the territory of Helam. Hadadezer led the offensive campaign, with Shobach commanding the army. 17When David got the news, he assembled his army and marched his men to Helam. Syrians of Aram engaged David and the Israelites. 18Syrians eventually withdrew and then ran away. Syrian body count:- 700 charioteers
- 40,000 infantry
- Commander Shobach, mortally wounded
David's war with Ammon, Moab
David’s kingdom of Judah
David's kingdom of Judah
David becomes king of his own tribe
The map of Israel and Judah changed after Philistines killed King Saul and most of his sons in battle. David's tribe of Judah crowned him king of the powerful tribe. The other tribes up north and east of the Jordan River stayed with Saul's son Ishbosheth. He was a weak king, easily intimated by his commanding general, who seems to have slept with one of the woman in the king's herem. Not kosher. Initially, the general, Abner, supported Ishbosheth. He even went to battle against David, to defend the crown for Saul's family. But Abner lost to David's forces, and would later broker a deal to join forces with David.Battle for Israel and Judah
That didn't work out so well, David's general, Joab, murdered him. It was revenge for Abner reluctantly killing Joab's brother in battle. After the battle, Joab's brother, Asahel, who "ran like a wild gazelle," targeted Abner, who was retreating for home.Asahel refused to fight anyone else. He kept eyes on his bullseye, the enemy commander running away. Abner looked back and yelled, “Is that you, Asahel?” He said, “You bet it’s me.” Abner said, “Go after one of these other men and take what you want.” Asahel kept gaining on him. Abner said, “Pick someone else. I don’t want to kill you. If I do, how could I ever face your brother Joab?” Asahel kept running. He ran right into the butt end of Abner’s spear. It bore through his stomach and broke through his back. Asahel, David’s nephew, dropped dead. When fellow warriors came to his body, they stood for a time in silence. (2 Samul 2:19-23)Before long, the map of Israel and Judah would change again. David would unite the tribes and use the force of his armies to pacify Israel's neighbors.
For other Bible versions see Bible Gateway. Website of Casual English Bible paraphraser and mapmaker, Stephen M. Miller.
David’s kingdom
David's kingdom
2 SAMUEL 8
DAVID THE CONQUEROR
DAVID DEFEATS PHILISTINES, MOAB
Later, David attacked a group of Philistines and captured their town of Gath and the outlying communities. He also defeated the army of the neighboring country of Moab. He executed two out of every three soldiers he captured. David ordered them to lie on the ground. Then he stretched a rope over them. He let the soldiers under one length of rope live. Then he executed the unlucky soldiers under the next two lengths of rope.SYRIANS FALL TO DAVID
David also killed the Syrian king of Zobah. His name was Hadadezer, the son of Rehob. The king was on his way to strengthen his position along a river. David captured 1,700 cavalrymen and 20,000 infantrymen. He crippled most of their horses by cutting the hamstring tendons in the thighs. But he spared enough to pull 100 chariots. In the battle, Arameans from Damascus came to reinforce Hadadezer’s army. David killed 22,000 of them. Then David set up Israelite outposts in the Aramean territory and the people paid taxes to Israel, as tribute to a superior nation. David always won. God saw to it.GOLD AND SILVER RESERVED FOR SACRED USE
David confiscated the ceremonial gold shields of Hadadezer’s officials and brought them to Jerusalem David took a lot of bronze from the towns of Betah and Berothai. King Toi from the city of Hamath heard David crushed the entire army of Hadadezer. He was happy about that because he had fought Hadadezer many times. Toi sent his son Joram to congratulate King David and to bring him gifts of gold, silver, and bronze. David reserved these gifts for sacred use, dedicated to the LORD. He did that for all the gold, silver, and bronze he collected from the surrounding nations: Moab, Ammon, the Philistines, Amalek, and from King Hadadezer of Zobah.BECOMING THE FAMOUS CONQUEROR
David was making a name for himself. He killed 18,000 people of Edom in Salt Valley. He set up outposts throughout Edom and the people did whatever David ordered them to do. They served Israel. David won battles wherever he fought. God saw to it. For other Bible versions see Bible Gateway.Map of Samuel’s world
Map of Samuel's world
Map of Samuel's world
God picks three longshot characters to star in the stories of 1 Samuel, which we track on 3D-style maps customized for each Bible chapter. Those three men—Samuel, Saul, and David—are longshots in the sense that if God ever bets on a horserace, he’ll pick the one with the worst odds. It seems God likes to win big. And he likes to make a splash that people will notice. These stories are action dramas about the morphing of Israel’s 12 tribes into one united nation under God.Mapping Samuel's story
It all begins with Samuel as a longshot baby born to an infertile woman. Once he’s able to eat solid food, his mother gives him back to God. She takes him to the worship center, where he’s raised by Eli, a priest who did a bad job raising his own two sons. They grew up to become corrupt priests. But somehow, Samuel grew into a wonderful priest and prophet.Tracking Saul
Israel’s first king, Saul, was a shy donkey herder until Samuel anointed him king—a job Saul didn’t want. When Samuel called in Israel’s tribal leaders and announced Saul as king, Saul wasn’t there. He was hiding among the baggage of the travelers. It seems a fair guess he was hanging with the donkeys who had hauled the baggage. King Saul made two huge mistakes. He disobeyed God’s strict orders. And he got insanely jealous of David’s popularity. He seemed to devote more time to hunting David than to preparing for the threat of Philistines living next door, along the coastland. David never showed any desire to kill Saul. Philistines killed him and three of his sons.Tracking David
The Goliath Killer was the last son of nine—the runt of a shepherd’s family at a time when shepherds had only one way to go on the social ladder. Up. When the famous prophet and priest Samuel came to meet the family so he could anoint a future king, David’s dad called in all his sons but David. The youngest stayed with the livestock until Samuel insisted on meeting him, too. By the last chapter in the book, Samuel and Saul are dead. So, David is no longer a refugee on the run from the king. He’s an experienced raider of non-Israelite towns. And he shares the livestock he takes with his friends and the leaders of his own tribe of Judah. That sets him up for the story that continues in 2 Samuel, when those friends will crown him king of Judah. Other tribes will follow later, to make him king of all Israel.ONE BOOK SPLIT IN TWO
First and Second Samuel were written as one book. But it was too long to fit on a single scroll. So, when Jewish scholars translated it into the international language of the day, Greek, in the decades before Jesus was born, they split it into two books. They did the same with the books of Kings and Chronicles. The story begins here, in 1 Samuel 1. So do the Bible maps of Samuel's world. To compare the story to other Bible versions, try Bible Gateway.Samuel's World
Jews return home from the Exile
Jews return home from the Exile
Jews return home from the Exile
Zerubbabel and Sheshbazzar, prince of Judah, lead 50,000 Jews home, beginning in 538 BC. With a Persian military escort, they took a longer and safer route, following water sources.
Almost a century after the first Jews returned to Israel, Ezra led a group. Ezra took the shorter route, with a long walk through a dangerous part of the Arabian Desert.
Nehemiah came last and furthest, from Persia’s capital of Susa. He repaired Jerusalem’s walls.
Jews return home from the Exile
Map Persian province of Judah
Map Persian province of Judah
Map of the Persian province of Judah
After the Jewish nation of Judah fell to Babylonian invaders in 586, many survivors lived in exile. Some returned 50 years later, when Persians freed them.
It was only a partial freedom. The Jews lived for the next 200 years as a tiny province of Persia: Yehud, which is translated "Judah" or "Judea."
It was roughly a 40-mile-wide square plug of ground (60 km), in territory that became known as Palestine. The Jewish province included Jerusalem and beyond, into what are now central parts of Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Jerusalem is where Jews sacrificed animals to God. So when the Jews returned, they built a new temple and later restored some of the walls around the city, but not to the larger size it was before the defeat.
Map of Judah as a Persian province
Arabah Valley
Arabah Valley
Arabah Valley south of the Dead Sea stretches 100 miles (155 km) to the northern tip of the Red Sea's Gulf of Aqaba. The valley serves as a natural border between Israel in the west and Jordan in the east.