Elijah runs away from Jezebel
ELIJAH RUNS FROM JEZEBEL
QUEEN JEZEBEL GIVES ELIJAH ONE DAY TO LIVE
Ahab told his wife Jezebel what Elijah did and that he killed all the prophets she had been supporting. Jezebel sent this message to Elijah, “If I don’t end you by this time tomorrow, may the gods do worse to me than you did to those prophets.” Terrified, Elijah ran for his life. He ran all the way through Samaria and Judah. He didn’t stop until he reached the town of Beersheba on Judah’s southern border. He left his servant there. And he traveled another day’s distance deep into the southern badlands. He stopped in the shade of a broom tree and asked God to kill him. He said, “I’ve done enough. Bring my life to an end. I’m just as bad as my ancestors were.”ELIJAH TO GOD: “KILL ME”
Elijah stretched out on the ground and fell asleep under the broom tree. But a messenger from God tapped him and said, “Wake up. It’s time to eat.” Elijah looked up and saw hot food by his head. The angel had fried some bread over hot stones. And there was a jug of water, too. Elijah ate and drank and then lay back down to rest again. The angel came back later, tapped him to wake him and said, “Time to get up and eat. You need to eat or you won’t have the energy to make the trip ahead.” Elijah got up, ate and drank, and then continued his trip. The angel gave him enough food and water for the trip to Mount Sinai, 40 days and nights. There, he spent the night in a cave. The LORD asked him, “Why did you come here?” Elijah said, “You are the LORD, God of everyone, and I have worked hard for you. But the people of Israel have broken their agreement with you, destroyed your altars, and slaughtered your prophets. I’m the last prophet standing. But they’re trying to kill me, too.” 1 Kings 19:1-10Elijah runs from Jezebel
Israel and Judah, one nation divided
Israel and Judah, one nation divided
CONSTANT WAR
Israel and Judah live in perpetual hostility toward one another. They are brothers in blood, united to their common and revered ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But they remain bitter rivals for as long as they exist...until one at a time, invaders from what is now Iraq, erase them from the world map. JUDAH AND SYRIA FIGHT ISRAEL War between Israel and Judah continued throughout the lives of King Asa and King Baasha of Israel. King Baasha reinforced the border town of Ramah. He wanted to shut the door on anyone trying to come or go between Israel and Judah.King ASA BUYS AN ALLY
Asa collected all the silver and gold in the Temple treasury. He told some officials to deliver it to King Ben-hadad at Damascus in Syria. Ben-hadad was the son of Tabrimmon and grandson of Hezion. Asa sent this message to Ben-hadad: “Let’s become allies. King Baasha of Israel is trying to invade and defeat me. I need your help. Please accept this gift of silver and gold. Then walk away from your treaty with Baasha, join forces with me, and help me push Baasha back where he belongs.It's a deal
Ben-hadad agreed to Asa’s deal. Then he unleashed his commanders and their armies. They attacked Israel and captured the cities of Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maacah, and all the territory of Chinneroth and all the tribal land of Naphtali. When Baasha heard what Syria was doing, he stopped work on Ramah and retreated to the safety of his capital at Tirzah.Taking down Ramah
King Asa drafted all the men in Judah, no exceptions. He mobilized everyone to carry stones and timber that Baasha used to fortify Ramah. He used the material to fortify the town of Geba in the tribe of Benjamin, along with the town of Mizpah. (1 Kings 15:16-22)Israel, Judah: One nation divided
Bethel’s gold calf
Bethel's gold calf
Bethel's gold calf
After Israel split in two, Jeroboam, first king of the northern tribes set up gold calf shrines. Apparently, he didn't want his people of Israel going back to Jerusalem's Temple to worship. For if the northerners got too friendly with the southern tribe of Judah, they might want to reunite under a king from David's family. Excerpt from 1 Kings 13 1-6:PROPHET PREDICTS KING WILL SACRIFICE PAGAN PRIESTS
King Jeroboam went to the altar at the golden calf shrine at Bethel to burn some incense as a sacrificial offering. But a man, prompted by the LORD, had come up from Judah to criticize the pagan shrine. He spoke directly to the altar there. “Bad news for you, altar! I’ve got terrible news for you, and this comes from the LORD. A son is coming from David’s family—a boy named Josiah. He’s going to offer sacrifices here. But he’ll be sacrificing your priests who serve on hilltop shrines. They won’t be burning incense anymore. They’ll be burning. And they’ll leave behind a pile of their bones. Here’s how you’ll know the LORD has sent this message. This altar will get torn down. And the ashes of sacrifices burned on it will get thrown out as trash.” When the king heard that, he pointed at the man of God and said, “Arrest him!” But when the king stuck out his hand, it was bent up, withered, and paralyzed. He couldn’t even pull it back in. The altar collapsed and its ashes poured out onto the ground—exactly the sign the man had given. The king said to the man, “Ask your God to fix my hand and make it like it was before.” So the man did, and the LORD did. The king had his good hand back.For more Bible features
Stephen M. Miller's website , The Casual English Bible, and Bible YouTube channelBethel's god calf
Solomon’s Temple and Palace
Solomon's Temple and Palace
Solomon's Temple and Palace
Solomon spend two decades building the Jerusalem Temple and his Palace...7 years on the House of the LORD and 13 years on the house of the king.Excerpt from 1 Kings 7
2“Home of the Lebanon Forest” [2] was largest room in the palace. Builders erected cedar pillars everywhere. They shaped the room into a huge rectangle around three rows of cedar pillars, 15 pillars in each row. That totaled 45 pillars. The room measured 50 yards long, 25 yards wide, and 15 yards high. [3] 3For a roof, builders put 45 rafters—huge beams—across the tops of all 45 pillars. Then they covered the rafters with cedar. 4Builders cut three rows of windows on each side of the room, with them facing each other. [4] Workers cut three doorways on each side, close to the entrance at the front of the room. 5They framed all the doorways with four-sided posts and placed the doorways across from each other.PILLAR HALL AND JUSTICE HALL
6Solomon built a room called Pillar Hall. He laid it out 25 yards long by 15 yards wide. [5] Then he added a front porch with pillars supporting a roof. 7He paneled the courthouse, Justice Hall, entirely of cedar—from floor to ceiling. This is where he would judge court cases. 8Solomon ordered his house built behind Justice Hall, and along the same design. He followed that pattern, too, for the home of his Egyptian bride, Pharaoh’s daughter. 9All these buildings were made of cut stone, chiseled, and sawed to fit. For feature articles about the Bible Stephen M. Miller's blog and YouTube channelSketch of Solomon's Temple and Palace
Solomon’s kingdom grows
Solomon's kingdom grows
Solomon's kingdom grows
After King David died, his son Solomon didn't waste time. He took charge of the kingdom like a boss. But he didn't stop there—he wanted to make the nation even stronger and richer? Solomon wasn't about to let his enemies walk all over him. He gathered his troops and went on the offense against hostile neighbors: Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, and even the Philistines. His enemies learned quickly learned not to mess with him. Solomon also had a knack for business. He knew the importance of expanding his kingdom's wealth. So, he started making big trade deals with countries like Egypt and Phoenicia. He brought in all sorts of extravagant products—gold, silver, horses—you name it. His kingdom turned into this buzzing hub where people from all over would swing by to trade and network.Solomon's harem
And there were the women. King Solomon, renowned for his wisdom, unfortunately succumbed to the allure of foreign women. Despite divine warnings against marrying multiple wives, he married an astounding 700, along with 300 concubines. These unions were politically motivated, aimed at forging alliances and establishing bonds with neighboring nations. However, these marriages ultimately led Solomon to idolatry, as his wives introduced foreign gods and rituals into his kingdom. This deviation from worshiping God alone, as Jewish law required, displeased the Lord, who eventually punished Solomon for his sins.Solomon beautifies Jerusalem
Jerusalem became the pride and joy of Solomon's reign. He had big plans for the capital city. He went all out and built this beautiful temple for the Almighty himself. Picture this: gold decorations, exquisite furnishings, and amazing artwork everywhere you looked. People were absolutely dazzled by it and came from far and wide just to see it. Jerusalem became the talk of the region.For feature articles about the Bible
Stephen M. Miller's blogSolomon’s Jerusalem add-on
Solomon's Jerusalem add-on
SOLOMON’S JERUSALEM
King Solomon's Jerusalem sat on ridge and stretched about one kilometer (3/4 miles) from the Temple Mount on the top of the ridge, down to Lower Jerusalem called the City of David. King David's Jerusalem was about half as big. Solomon added the Temple and surrounding area later.Kings after Solomon began extending Jerusalem to the west. The Jerusalem of Jesus, during the Roman occupation of Israel, was much larger...until Rome crushed a Jewish revolt and destroyed the city in AD 70. That was the last Temple the Jews ever had. Arab invaders conquered the land and 1400 years ago built a Muslim shrine on the Temple Mount.
It's now Jerusalem's most famous landmark: the Dome of the Rock. For another angle on Jerusalem, see the map with Nehemiah 7.
Here's a sampling of King Solomon's unusual writing, which many scholars say was written centuries later by a writer borrowing Solomon's name.
WHATEVER WE DO, IT’S A WASTE OF TIME
1David’s son, the Scholar and King of Jerusalem, offers these observations2It’s a pitiful waste of time, the Scholar says. It’s all worthless and meaningless.
3What do people get for all their hard work, For spilling their sweat under the sun?
4A generation dies and another is born, But it makes no difference to the everlasting earth.
5The sun rises. The sun sets. Then it races all night to rise again.
6The wind blows north. The wind blows south. The wind blows round and round. It follows its route, comes back home, Then it starts all over again.
7Rivers and streams flow into the sea But the sea always has room for more. So, water returns to the streams where it came from And the streams flow back to the sea.
8Everything is exhausting, Too exhausting for words. What we see isn’t satisfying. What we hear isn’t good enough. Ecclesiastes 1:1-8, Casual English Bible
King Solomon's Jerusalem
Solomon's Jerusalem
Solomon’s Jerusalem Temple
Solomon's Jerusalem Temple
Solomon's Jerusalem Temple
Solomon's Jerusalem Temple sits on what is known as the Temple Mount at the rocky top of the ridge on which Jews built their Jerusalem Temple. King David lived down the hill in the City of David, a walled city below the top of the ridge. His son and successor, Solomon, expanded the city north, to the Temple Mount, where he built the first Jewish Temple. Solomon's extension of Jerusalem to the hill north of the City of David produced a walled city about 1 kilometer north to south (three-fourths of a mile). Ophel hill sat on the elbow of the ridge between the City of David below and the king's palace and the sprawling Temple above. Babylonian invaders destroyed the Temple and the entire city about 400 years later, in 586 BC. They exiled the surviving Jews. Persians conquered the Babylonians 50 years later and freed the Jews to go home. They rebuilt the Temple in 516 BC. So, they 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.Solomon's Jerusalem & Temple Mount
Gihon Spring
Gihon Spring
Safe in the walled town of Jebus
Citizens felt safe in their walled city of Jebus, former name of Jerusalem. They had no idea enemy soldiers knew about the shaft inside the city that dropped 45 feet (13 meters) in the unguarded cave of Gihon Spring below. And they never expected any soldiers to try climbing it.David marches to Jerusalem
From 2 Samuel 5
6King David and his men marched north to Jerusalem. They intended to take the city from Jebusite people who lived there. Jebusites were so confident of their defenses that they yelled down to David, “Hey, you can’t get in here. A blind cripple could stop you.” 7David took the walled city anyhow. People sometimes call the city Zion. But David called it the City of David. The name stuck. 8David said, “Let’s show those blind cripples how much I hate them. To get to them, you’re going to have to climb up the shaft that drops into their spring of water.” That’s where the old saying comes from, that “The lame and blind aren’t allowed in the Temple.”Jebus becomes City of David
9David moved into the walled town and named it City of David. He fortified the position even more, from Millo tower on the perimeter and then toward the center of the city. 10David became a stronger and more respected leader because the LORD of everyone was on his side. 11King Hiram decided to give David a palace as a gift. So, he sent ambassadors along with carpenters and masons, supplied with cedar trees. 12David took that as a sign that the LORD had, in fact, given him the job of king over Israel and had lifted his status for Israel’s sake. 13After David moved to Jerusalem, he took more women into his harem—concubines and wives. They gave him more sons and daughters. 14The names of David’s 11 children born in Jerusalem include: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, 15Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, 16Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.Murder of Bathsheba’s husband
Murder of Bathsheba's husband
it began with an affair
King David didn't plan to get Bathsheba pregnant, the wife of one of his elite soldiers. And he didn't want to order her husband murdered. He did it to cover up the affair. David already had at least seven wives at the time. The Bible writer gives no indication if Bathsheba was a willing partner or a woman suffering through a royal command performance. Women seemed to have little to no influence, as in some nations even today. They were treated much like children.From 2 Samuel 11
BATHSHEBA THE NAKED BEAUTY
1In the spring of the year, when kings at war typically return to the battlefield, David sent his army to finish the fight with Ammon. He sent his commander Joab, all the officers, and all the soldiers to Ammon’s capital of Rabbah. But David stayed behind, in Jerusalem. 2Late one afternoon, after a siesta, David got up and walked to the flat rooftop of his palace. He saw a beautiful woman taking a bath. 3David had his people find out who she was. They gave him this report: “The woman is Bathsheba. She’s the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” 4David sent for Bathsheba. She came to him, he had sex with her, then she went home. At the time of the bath, she was purifying herself at the end of her menstrual cycle. 5She became pregnant. She sent the message to David. “I’m pregnant.” 6David sent a message to Joab: “Tell Uriah the Hittite to report to me.” Joab did. 7David asked Uriah how the war was going and how Joab and the soldiers were doing.URIAH DIDN'T COOPERATE
To quickly sum up the Bible story, David hoped Uriah would go home and sleep with his wife, so he would think the baby was his. Uriah refused to enjoy the comfort of home when his fellow soldiers were fighting to get inside a walled city. So David sent him back to the battle, carrying a secret message for the commander's eyes only. David wanted Uriah killed in the battle. The commander obeyed and sent him to the front line. The prophet Nathan soon confronted David, who repented and then married the widow. Their baby son died. But another son of Bathsheba became Israel's next king. His name was Solomon.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