Historical Books

of the Bible
“The Second Old Testament Section”
The second section of the old testament is
known as the Historical Books of the Bible.
The historical books are comprised of 12
books. Joshua, Judges, and Ruth tell the
earliest history of the Jews; 1 and 2 samuel
with 1 and 2 kings, and 1 and 2 chronicles
cover about five hundred years reporting the
fall of Judah to Babylon. These books are
therefore related to those that follow, but
they are also related to those that precede
• Book of Joshua- proceeds to show how this
chosen people established itself in its promised
land.
• Book of Judges- recounts Israels's repeared
defections and returns to Grace.
• Two books of Samuels- deals first with the
crisis that led to a monarchical regime and
imprenilled the thecratical ideal and then go on
to show ho this ideal achieved under David.
• Books of Kings- tell of the decline that set in
during the reign of Solomon and how not
withstanding the devotion of a few subsequent
kings, Israel's oblinate infidelity brought down
God's judgement on his people.
The Book of Joshua
A. Conquest of the Promised Land

B. The partition of the territory

between the tribes

C. The last days of Joshua, especiallyhis

last discourse and the assembly at
Shedem concoded by Jewish tradition
that book was not written by Joshua.
 PART 1 PART 3
PART 2
THE STORY ANCIENT
TERRITORIES: TRADITION
OF THE REUBUN, GAD, ABOUT THE
GIBEONITES AND THE ASSEMBLY AT
HALF-TRIBE SHECHEM AND
OF SACRED PACT
MANASSEN CONCLUDED
BY THE TRIBES
• Conquest of the whole promised land appears as the
result of collective tribal action under Joshua's
leadership.
• Presents an idealised and simplified picture of a
complex history the details of which we can only
conjucture.
Idealised: The epic of the deliverance from Egypt that
has its continuation in the conquest during which God
intervenes miraculously to help his people.
Simplified: All centered round the heroic figure of
Joshua: it is he who leads the house of Joseph to war
and to him is ascribed the assignment of tribal
territories.
• Yahweh fought for Israel and gave for its inheritance
The Books of Judges

I. Palestine after the death of

Joshua
II. Stories of the Judges
III. The tribes of Dan and
Benjamin in the Days of the
Judges
derives its title from the 12 heroes of Israel whose deeds it records.

MILITARY HEROES SENT BY

GOD

TO AID AND RELIEVE HIS

PEOPLE IN TIME OF
EXTERNAL DANGER

MAJOR JUDGES: Othniel, Ehud, Barak, Gideon, Japhthan,

Samson
JUDGES- does not mean administrators of justice but
'governors'; The people's war leaders and deliverers.

MINOR JUDGES: Shamgar, Tola, Jair, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon

The Book of Ruth
• Ruth the moabitess, the great-grandmother of
David. Ruth's affirming the God of the Israelites
as her God and the Israelite people as her own.
• The book contains a beautiful example of filial
piety, pleasing to the Hebrews especially because
of it's connection with King David and useful
bothbt Hebrews and to Gentiles.
• In Greek and Latin canons the Book of Ruth is
placed just after Judges, to which it is closely
related because of the time of it's action, ad just
before Samuel, for which it is an excellent
introduction.
The First Book of Samuel

Originally but one book, the

scroll of Samuel was early divided
into two. The book Chronicles the
end of the age of Judges and the
beginning of a monarchy in Israel
under Saul and David. It centers on
these two on their path to bcoming
kings respectively.
 The book of Samuel tells the end of the
age of Judges, gone are the days when
Israel was lead by priests and prophets and
established a monarchy starting with Saul,
who was annointed by Samuel as King of
Israel, after being demanded by the people
to give them a king and God granted their
request, Samuel being old and having
disobedient sons. It later chronicles the fall
of Saul as king and has succeeded by David
after Saul's death and establishing a
The Second Book of Samuel 2

Summarizes the political

consequences of the reign of David
when were neverthless far-reaching.
The phalistines had been repelled for
good, unification of the national
territory was completed by the
absorption of the canaanite enclares, in
particular Jerusalem which became
thepolitical and religious capital of the
• David extended his authority to
include the Arameans of Southern
Syria.
• When David died, c. 970 national
unity had not in fact been achieved,
Israel and Judah, the two sections of
his kingdom, were frequently at
loggerheads: the revolt of
Benjaminite, 'To your tents, Israel!',
was a sign of rebellion. This signs
already the disruption of the kingdom.
The Book of Kings (1 and 2)
• a single historical book
• they extend the consecutive history of Israel from
the birth of Samuel to the destruction of
Jerusalem in 587 B.C
This combined work is designed as a religious
history;
• 1 kings carries the history of Israel from the last
days and death of David to the accession in
Samaria of Ahaziah near the end of the reign of
Jehoshaphat
2 kings: continues the history if the divided
Principal Divisions of the Books of
Kings

I: The Reign of Solomon

II: Judah and Israel to the time of
Ahab
III: Stories of the Prophets
IV: The Kingdoms of Israel and
Judah
V: The Kingdom of Judah after 721