The Amazing Bible. Book Club

David is still on the run from king Saul. They were hiding in the forest of Hereth which is in Judah, and the Philistines were attacking the city of Keilah. David asked the Lord if they were to go there and help, and the answer was "Yes!" This scared his men since they were in Judah and could be easily captured, so David asked again, and the answer was yes. They went and defeated the Phi...

In chapter 22 of 1 Samuel, David is on the run from king Saul who is trying to kill him. After leaving the city of Gath, a Philistine city, he escaped to the cave of Adullam. We then took a look at Psalm 142 which is labeled, "A Maskil of David. When he was in the cave. A prayer." This Psalm is a cry unto the Lord. He thinks no one cares, and his spirit is faint because of his enemies. I...

In this passage David goes to Jonathan and asks why is Saul trying to kill him? Jonathan does not believe it, so they plan a test. On the feast of the New Moon, David will not come, and Jonathan will see how king Saul reacts. The first night, Saul said nothing, but on the second night when David did not show, he asked Jonathan where David was. He responded that David asked to be released because h...

So far in the book of 1 Samuel, the people asked for a king, so the Lord had Samuel anoint Saul as the first king of Israel, but due to various sin in his life, the Lord was going to remove the kingdom from Saul and give it to someone better than him, someone who had a heart like God's. In chapter 16 Samuel anoints David to be the next king of Israel, and the end of that chapter we find that...

In chapter 16 of 1 Samuel, the Lord tells Samuel to stop mourning over Saul and to get up and move forward to anoint the next man, the Lord has for the king. Samuel obeys and goes to Bethlehem to give a sacrifice. He told the town he was there in peace, and he asked the elders and Jesse's family to come join him. Samuel thought the next king would be Eliab, but the Lord said, "Man looks...

In these three chapters we learn that king Saul reign lasted around 40 years, and during this time, he had expanded the land of Israel on every side (14:47). In chapter 13 it was against the Philistines. They were advanced in weaponry, but the only two men on Israel's side who had spears were King Saul and his son, Jonathan (13:22). It was through the leadership of Jonathan, that the Lord ble...

Psalm 1 & 2 are sort of an introduction to the Psalms. Psalm one begins with blessed, and Psalm 2 ends with blessed. David M. Howard Jr. explained that the themes found in these two Psalms are scattered throughout the Psalms, and some of the themes he listed are 1) The Way of the Righteous vs. the Way of the Wicked. 2) The Importance of God's Word. 3) God as the Sovereign King over All th...

These chapters begin with Samuel being old, and his two sons, Joel and Abijah were dishonest and they perverted justice, and the people wanted to have a king to lead them instead of Samuel's wicked sons. At first this upset Samuel, but the Lord said to listen to the people, for they were not rejecting Samuel, but God as their king. We learn about how Samuel and Saul met the first time, and ho...

In this passage we see a comparison between Eli the Priest's sons who were wicked and treated the Lord's sacrifices with contempt verses Samuel who grew in stature and in favor with the Lord and with men (2:26). Eli was told by a man of God as well as through Samuel that Eli's sons would die, and the priesthood would be taken from them. We find in chapter 3 the calling of Samuel, an...

In the history of the Jews, 1 Samuel is a transition book from the leadership of the Judges to the people asking for a king. Like in Ruth where we found some people who were faithful to the Lord, 1 Samuel begins with a family that faithfully went to Shiloh to worship the Lord yearly. Elkanah had two wives, Hannah, whom he loved but was barren, and his second wife, Peninnah who had children. Peninn...

The story of Ruth takes place during the time of the Judges. A Jewish family from Bethlehem moved to Moab due to a famine in the land. During their time there Elimelech died which left his wife, Naomi, and their two sons, Mahlon and Kilion. The sons took wives from Moab, Orpah and Ruth. They were in the land 10 years and then Mahlon and Kilion died. The women packed up, and when they reached the r...

These chapter cover the miraculous birth and life of Samson, the Nazarite, a person committed to the Lord. His love for Philistine women became his fall. We also find that the people did not have a king, and they did what was right in their own eyes. Micah made his son a priest, then hired a priest to be with him at his home of idolatry. The tribe of Dan relocated to the north of Israel, and they...

With these chapters in Judges we see the downward cycle of sin with the people of Israel. The cycle of Judges starts with the Jews worshipping other gods, then they are oppressed by an enemy, they finally cry out to God to save them, so the Lord raised up a Judge who overcame the enemy, and then there was peace in the land until the Judge died, and the cycle started all over again. Gideon started...

This is the story of Deborah, the prophetess and Judge of Israel. She was married (4:4) and had children (5:7). The Lord told her about how the Lord called Barak to go and fight against Sisera, the commander of Jabin the Canaanite. Barak said he would only go if Deborah went with him, so she agreed, but she told him that a woman would get the glory because he did not obey the Lord immediately. The...

Genesis - the beginning of humanity, the first sin, the first promise of the Messiah, the line to Abram the first patriarch of Israel, all three patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and wives had issued of barrenness, yet the Lord answered their prayers with His covenant of descendants and land. Genesis ends with Jacob's family, 70 including Joseph in Egypt. Exodus - the Israelites start ens...

In these last two chapters of Joshua, he is about to die, and he summons all Israel to come to Shechem. He encouraged the people to be strong and careful to obey the Book of the Law of Moses. They were not to associate with the other nations, or worship or serve their gods. He challenged them to love the Lord their God. He also warned them that if they turned from the Lord, then the Lord would no...

We have learned that through Joshua's leadership, the Israelites were able to take 31 kings on the west side of the Jordan, and even though there was still more land to take, it was now time to divide the land to the various 9 1/2 tribes on the west side of the Jordan River. We learn in 14:1 that it was Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the tribal clans of Israel allotte...

In this passage, Joshua leads the people to take the land on the west side of the Jordan River, which the Lord had promised to Abraham in Genesis 15. The first city to conquer was Jericho, and because Rahab the Prostitute had faith in the God of the Israelites, she and all in her household were saved, and she lived among the Israelites. We see in the New Testament Gospel, Matthew 1:5, that Salmon...

In this section of Scripture, Joshua send out two spies who are unnamed to us, but the Lord knows their names, and they were to especially check out the walled city of Jericho. They went to the prostitute's house of Rahab. There she hid them and made a covenant with them that since she spared their lives, that they would spare her life, as well as her family. The spies agreed that if she does...

The book of Joshua starts the section of the Old Testament as the Books of History. Moses has died, and now Joshua has been given the task from God to bring the 2nd generation of Israelites into the Promised Land, which God gave to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and then through Moses and now to Joshua and the people. The Lord promised to be with Joshua like He was with Moses, if he obeyed the law and...

In these chapters we see the transition of leadership from Moses to Joshua. Both Moses and the Lord tell Joshua to be strong and courageous. Moses told the people that every seven years, the year of canceling debts, they were to read the law during the feast of tabernacles. Moses predicted that Israel would not be faithful to the Lord, and then the Lord gave Moses a song to teach the people. It be...

These chapters cover in detail what is called the Retribution Principle. This means if you obey God He will bless you, if you do not, He will curse you. Once the children of Israel enter the promised land, they were to set up large stones and write the laws on them, then they were to build an altar and offer sacrifices and eat and rejoice before the Lord their God. Then they were to have a ceremon...

These chapters reviews various laws that this 2nd generation of Jews are to follow as they enter into the Promised Land. It starts with worship of the One true God, and this worship affected everything in their lives. While they were wandering in the wilderness, the tabernacle was in the center of the camp, but once they move and spread out, the Lord will designate a place for the tabernacle to be...

In this section, Moses is retelling the commands and the story of the Lord and His covenant with the people. He restates the 10 commandments, and explained how he received them, broke them, and then re-received them again from the Lord. This section is full of pleas from Moses for the people to hear, obey, observe, be careful, walk in the ways of the Lord, keep this covenant of love, remember, obs...

After a review of the first four books of the Pentateuch, we look at chapters 1-4 of Deuteronomy. The name means "second law," and the first generation received the law from Moses when he came down from Mt. Sinai, but that generation has died off, and Moses is giving it again to this new generation before they enter the promised land. He prepares the people to receive the law with comman...