OT: Joshua to Esther

Joshua: Under the leadership of Joshua, the Israelites finally entered the land God had promised to Abraham by crossing the River Jordan. They destroyed the Canaanite cities (beginning with Jericho) and divided the land up between the twelve tribes.
Judges: But they had many problems because they kept breaking God's law and worshipping the gods of the Canaanites (the Baals). It was a time of anarchy and declining moral standards. (Judges 21:25) The judges (e.g. Gideon, Samson) were men and women called by God and anointed with the Holy Spirit to rescue the people from the consequences of their sins.

We now come to the period of David and Solomon, which is significant for several reasons and is therefore covered in much greater detail. This was Israel’s golden age: the nation was united under a strong and godly leadership, and was blessed by God as a result.

I Samuel: Samuel was the last judge. Chapters 1-7 tell how he was born and was used by God to bring the people back to God. When he grew old, the people asked for a king. God chose Saul as the first king, but Saul was persistently disobedient. (I Samuel 13:13,14) God’s next choice was David. David had an eventful career, which is told in detail in the remainder of I & II Samuel.
II Samuel: After Saul died in battle, David eventually became king. He was Israel's greatest king, and God promised him that his dynasty would last for ever. (II Samuel 7:12,13) But David committed adultery with Bathsheba, and because of this the last part of his reign was rather turbulent – his son Absalom rebelled against him and there was a civil war.
I & II Kings: David died, and was succeeded by his son Solomon. Solomon was famed for his wisdom and his wealth (both of which were given to him by God) He built the first Temple in Jerusalem, to replace the Tabernacle. It was much larger and grander, but its layout and furnishings were basically the same.
BUT Solomon turned away from God (I Kings 11:1-4). So after his death, God caused his kingdom to split into two (read the story in I Kings 12). From I Kings 12 onwards, the separate stories of the two kingdoms are told side by side. The main part, in the north, became known as the kingdom of Israel; but the tribe of Judah in the south, with Jerusalem as its capital, remained loyal to David's family.

The kings of Israel (Jeroboam being the first one) encouraged their people to worship idols right from the beginning. (I Kings 12:26-30). Although they continued to think of themselves as God's people, in practice they ignored Him. The worst king of all was Ahab (I Kings 16:29-33). His wife Jezebel was a fanatical worshipper of Baal, and she persecuted the prophets of the Lord. At this point God sent Elijah to declare a 3-year drought and challenge the prophets of Baal to a `duel' on Mt Carmel (I Kings 17,18). Although Elijah was successful, Ahab did not repent. Elijah and his successor Elisha continued their prophetic ministry for many years (I Kings 17 - II Kings 13), but despite it all, Israel slid further and further into idolatry. Eventually, Israel was swallowed up by the Assyrian Empire in 700 BC. Most of the population were deported; the rest intermarried with refugees from other parts of the Assyrian empire to become the ancestors of the Samaritans.

Judah did much better because most of her kings were loyal to God and encouraged the people to keep the Law (e.g. good king Asa I Kings 15:11-14 – but e.g. bad king Ahaz II Kings 16:1-4). In 700 BC, during the reign of Hezekiah (a good king), the Assyrians invaded Judah and besieged Jerusalem, but the city was miraculously spared when the Assyrian army was decimated by plague (II Kings 18,19). Despite this, all but one of the kings who came after Hezekiah ‘did evil in the eyes of the LORD', and the rest of the people followed suit. II Chronicles 36:11-19. Eventually the southern kingdom was invaded by the Babylonians, Jerusalem was burnt to the ground and the Temple was destroyed. The survivors were carried off into exile in 586 BC. It seemed to be the end of God’s people.

I & II Chronicles: A retelling of the story of Judah (so no more than an occasional mention of the northern kingdom) from the death of Saul to the destruction of Jerusalem, with a greater emphasis on the Temple.

Only 50 years after the destruction of Jerusalem, Babylon was conquered by the Persians and the Jews were allowed to return home. Ezra tells how they rebuilt the Temple on a smaller scale, despite much difficulty and opposition. Nehemiah tells how the city walls were rebuilt a century later, and how the people resolved to keep the Law again.
But they had lost their independence, and for the next 500 years they were ruled by foreign empires (Persia, Greece and finally Rome). The promise of a never-ending kingdom ruled by a descendant of David became focussed on the Messiah.

Finally, the book of Esther – one of the two books in the Bible that doesn’t mention God by name – tells the story of a Jewish girl who became the wife of the emperor of Persia, and how she saved her people from destruction.