The Tanakh Podcast

King Avia (Yehuda) and King Yerovam (North - Israel) go to war. 500,000 dead! Does Divrei Hayamim side with Avia or Yerovam? Why? And how about Hazal?

After chapter 11 positive assessment of Rechavam, the ling and people abandon God, and God abandons them. Today we talk about many features of Divrei Hayamim - the democratic nature of the connection between king and nation; and the theology of action and its consequent reward and punishment as reflected in Divrei Hayamim.

If last chapter, Rechavam makes quite a blunder losing the 10 northern tribes and splitting the kingdom, chapter 11 offers many of Rechavam's achievements. But his success is only going to last as long as he follows God! In ch.12 he abandons God and it all falls apart!

After Solomon, the kingdom splits into two states - Ephraim and Yehudah. Today we address the friction between these two factions, going back to Rachel and Leah, and forward to the days of the Messiah.

This chapter discusses the state visits of foreign kings and queens, but more than anything we find it replete with gold (16 mentions) and silver (4 mentions). Is this good news or bad news?

Today we discuss the contradictions between Sefer MEalkhim and Chronicles. And we discuss the music that has been the soundtrack of our podcast: Lyrics of the song Hebrew English Versions of the song Traditional version - Elana Rubina Jazz version - Avishai Cohen A little more about the poem/song - here

Solomon has prayed. Will God respond? He does. Fire descends from heaven. This is followed by much celebration. But after it is all over, God appears yet again to Solomon and, on the one hand, asserts that he has accepted Solomon's prayer. On the other hand he warns that any promises are conditional. If the Torah and it slaws are not observed, then all the promises will be reneged. As we show,...

Is God in the Temple? Or in the Heavens?

What was inside the Holy of Holies? Did Solomon make adjustments to the Ark of the Covenant? What was inside the Ark of the Covenant?

Today we speak about a whole groups of new additions to the Temple: Bronze pillars, a huge water receptacle called the "Yam", a new altar far larger than Moses' original, 10 tables, 10 basins, ten Menorahs. Why do we need all this furniture? What was the permissibility of these new additions to the Sanctuary?

Today we discuss 4 topics. 1. The identification of the Temple altar as a historic site of sacrifice. 2. The image of the palm tree as a Judean royal symbol 3. Interesting Hebrew words in ch.2 and 3 4. The "outward facing" cherubs.

Solomon wastes no time. He organizes a lobor force and gets to work on the Temple project. He appeals to Hiram, King of Tyre, asking him to provide timber to build the Temple. In today's podcast we discuss the contrast and divergence between the account of the Solomon-Hiram alliance in the Book of Kings/Melakhim, and here in Divrei Hayamim.

In this chapter, Solomon travels to Gibeon to bring sacrifices there. What is Gibeon? Why is Solomon sacrificing there? How does this play a role in Solomon's life? In the story of the Temple?

With this chapter Solomon is crowned and David dies. The final lines that we hear from David are incorporated into our prayer book. It is a chapter that talks about the participation of the nation, about the motivations of the heart, and about God's greatness.

This is the account of 1. Shelomo's accession to the throne 2. The transmission of the Temple project from David to Shelomo

This chapter moves on from the Temple and itemizes four areas of David's national infrastructure: 1. The army reserves 2. Tribal leaders 3. Stewards of the king 4. David's Cabinet and Advisory

Our chapter continues to delineate the roles of the Levites. Three roles are described: 1. Guards and gatekeepers 2. Treasurers and Officials responsible for the storehouses 3. Magistrates and Law Enforcement (Police) We shall discuss the need for guards and gatekeepers in the Temple.

In our chapter, Kind David organizes the musical guilds of the Levites, yet again dividing them into 24 groups. We hear names familiar from Tehillim - Heman, Yedutoun and Assaf. But we will focus on the verb nb"a or נב"א which seems to be indicative of prophecy, and yet, here expresses music. What is the relationship between music and prophecy?

In this chapter we see a list of the twenty-four "orders" or guilds, our "houses" of the priesthood. What were these groups? How did this division into priestly sub-groups work?

In Chapter 23 David takes a census of the Levites and assigns them to one of four divisions: 1. Management and supervision of the Construction of the Temple 2. Shoftim and Shotrim - Law (and order) 3. Gatekeepers 4. Song and music We also read about Moshe's sons and grabdchildren for the first time in Tanakh! And this is where we meet Rechavia

David passes the baton to Solomon and instructs him to build the Mikdash. In this chapter we hear David instructing Solomon what his priorities should be.

In this sweeping story of sin, atonement, sacrifice and atonement, the site of the Temple will be discovered and purchased by David Hamelech. See also our commentary to Shmuel Bet ch,24

Chapter 20 re-narrates various military escapades of David and his warriors. We shall address two particular details: 1. The royal crown of Ammon; why the Tanakh wants to tell us about it., and the legends that were told. 2. Who killed Goliath? We shall see how Divrei Hayamim resolves a particularly thorny contradiction in the Book of Samuel.

Diplomatic insults, proxies, war cameraderie, war strategy. This chapter looks like current events! David sends an official delegation to console Hanun, King of Ammon, after the death of his father. Hannun uses this as an opportunity to shame David and ti declare war. David sends the army under Yoav's leadership. What we see next is a masterclass of how to function under testing circumstances....

Today while the subject of the chapter is David's wars, we focus upon David's spiritual values: 1. Not taking the masses of horses for war purposes - as instructed by the Torah 2. Not amassing wealth but dedicating it to the Temple. 3. Establishing a regime of Justice and Compassion. In this regard, King David is an unusual warlord.