
Map Revelation 12
Map of Jesus in Egypt

Map of Jesus in Egypt
Philip follows Ethiopian official
Judean Hills where Samson lived
Map Dan’s tribe moves north
Hill People, the Israelites
Map of 33 cities the Israelites conquered

Map of 33 cities the Israelites conquered
Map of Canaan cities
Map of Judah and Israel
Bible map of Sennacherib’s attack on Judah

Bible map of Sennacherib's attack on Judah
Bible map of Sennacherib's attack on Judah
Assyria's invasion of Judah
Before Sennacherib's attack on Judah, Assyrians invaded Israel in the 700s BC. There, they gave top priority to capturing and pillaging Israel’s elite: rulers, judges, wealthy businesspeople. They followed the money and often butchered the cash cow. Assyria erased this northern Jewish nation and deported the survivors who became known as the Lost Tribes of Israel. Assyrian King Sennacherib’s turn on the only surviving Israelite nation about 20 years layer, in 701 BC. Judah, in the south, was the only surviving Jewish nation.Judah's cities decimated
Sennacherib destroyed most cities during that campaign. And he defeated Egyptians who came to their rescue. Then he lay siege to Jerusalem when Hezekiah was king. But he left suddenly.Assyria fled from Jerusalem
A Bible writer said an angel killed 185,000 of his soldiers (2 Kings 19:35). A Greek writer 250 years later, Herodotus, wrote that the army got stopped by a rat infestation that killed some of the soldiers. Some scholars speculate that the rats carried diseases—plagues such as bubonic, septicemic, pneumonic. Those three diseases—all from the same bacterium (yersinia pestis)—affect the immune system, blood, and lungs. (See Isaiah 10.)Two nations: Israel and Judah
Bible map of Philistine cities
Bible map of cities in ancient Israel
Bible map of Cush ruling Egypt
Bible map of Goshen in Egypt
Bible map of Assyria’s provinces in Israel
Bible map of Assyrians attacking Jerusalem
Edom, Israel, Judah
Bible map of Judah and Edom

Bible map of Judah and Edom
David moves in with the Philistines

David moves in with the Philistines
David moves in with the Philistines
King Saul finally stops hunting him
David and his followers eventually find relief from King Saul's relentless pursuit by turning to the enemies Saul has been unable to defeat, the Philistines. Israelites had infantry, but Philistines had countless infantry and a chariot corps of 3,000 chariots and 6,000 horses. Saul decided not to follow David into the coastal plains of Philistine territory, and certainly not into the Philistine town of Gath, where David went. It seems odd David would go there for safety, to the hometown of the Philistine hero David killed in mortal combat, Goliath. But the city king, Achish, welcomed him as a powerful ally and a fellow enemy of Saul. That's what the king thought. He was mistaken.David the raider
David and his men made a living as raiders. They raided enemies of Israel and friends of the Philistines. They raided enemies of Israel: people from Geshur, Gezer, and Amalek who had settled in the southern territory between Telam and Shur, near Egypt. When David and his men attacked a community, they killed all the people. But they kept the livestock and gave it to King Achish: sheep, cattle, donkeys, camels. They gave him stolen clothing as well. King Achish would respond to the gifts by asking, “Who’d you raid today?” David would lie and say he raided Israel or their allies: “We raided the Negev land in Judah.” “We raided the Jerahmeel families in the Negev.” “We raided Kenites in the Negev.” No victims could dispute David. He killed them all. David kept pitching his lies to the king, one raid after another. He did this for as long as he lived among the Philistines. Achish thought he had a solid ally in David—someone who would never move away. The king figured that after all those raids David made on his own people in Israel, they must hate his guts. The story is in 1 Samuel 27. To compare The Casual English Bible version with other translations, see Bible Gateway.David hiding from King Saul

David hiding from King Saul
David hiding from King Saul
After David killed the Philistine champion warrior, Goliath, Israel fell in love with its new hero. King Saul did not. Not in the long haul. He eventually grew so jealous that he wanted to kill David. But Saul's oldest son, Jonathan, was David's best friend. And he warned David when it was time to run. Here's the first part of the story, as it begins in 1 Samuel 19.SAUL PLANS TO KILL DAVID
1Saul wanted to kill David. So he discussed it with his officials and with his son Jonathan, who was David’s good friend. 2Jonathan told David. “My father Saul is looking for a way to kill you. Hide somewhere until tomorrow morning and stay alert. 3I’ll take a walk with my father in the field and will try to talk him out of doing this to you. I’ll let you know what he says.” 4Jonathan bragged up David to his father, King Saul. He said, “The king shouldn’t do anything wrong to David. He hasn’t done anything wrong to you. Everything he has done was to help you, not hurt you. 5He risked his life when he fought the Philistine champion. The LORD gave Israel a huge victory that day. You saw it. You cheered it. So, why would you murder this innocent man?” 6Saul took his son’s advice. And he promised, “As sure as the LORD lives, I’ll not kill David.” 7Jonathan told David about it and then brought him to Saul. David resumed his duties for the king.SAUL THROWS A SPEAR AT DAVID AGAIN
8War broke out again between Israel and the Philistines. David launched a crushing attack, and the Philistines ran away like before. 9Then a dark and depressing spirit got the best of Saul. David played music to calm the king, who sat with a spear in his hand. 10Saul threw the spear at David, who managed to dodge it. The spear lodged in the wall, and David left, escaping into the night.MICHAL HELPS DAVID ESCAPE
11Saul sent guards to watch David’s house that night. Saul wanted to kill him in the morning. David’s wife Michal told her husband, “If you don’t get away from here tonight, you’ll be killed in the morning.” 12Michal helped David escape down a high window. That’s how he got away. 13Michal took the statue of an idol and put it in their bed. She covered it with David’s clothes and some blankets. And she topped the idol’s head with goat hair... The story continues until Philistines kill Saul and most of his sons in a battle. Jonathan dies there, too (1 Samuel 31).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.Map Philistines capture Israel’s Ark of Covenant

Map Philistines capture Israel's Ark of Covenant
Map of Hosea’s world
