Historical Books
Part 1
© John Stevenson, 2009
Pentateuch
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Historical
Books
Poetic
Books
Prophetic
Books
Joshua,
Job,
Isaiah,
Judges, Ruth,
Psalms,
Jeremiah,
1st&2nd Samuel, Proverbs, Lamentations,
1st&2nd Kings,
Eccles.,
Ezekiel,
1st&2nd
Song of Daniel, Minor
Chronicles,
Solomon
Prophets
Ezra,
Nehemiah,
Esther
• Moses dies
• Joshua takes
the land
Jericho

Ai
 Jericho

Gibeon 
Joshua 10:1-2
Now it came about when Adoni-zedek
king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had
captured Ai, and had utterly destroyed it
(just as he had done to Jericho and its
king, so he had done to Ai and its king),
and that the inhabitants of Gibeon had
made peace with Israel and were within
their land, that he feared greatly, because
Gibeon was a great city, like one of the
royal cities, and because it was greater
than Ai, and all its men were mighty.
Descent of
Beth Horon
 Ai

Gibeon
Jarmuth


Eglon

Jerusalem
 Lachish
 Hebron
Confederation
of Kings from
the South
 Jericho
Joshua 10:11
And it came about as they fled
from before Israel, while they were at
the descend of Beth-horon, that the
Lord threw large stones from heaven
on them, as far as Azekah, and they
died; there were more who died from
the hailstones than those whom the
sons of Israel killed with the sword.
~yIm;V'h;-!mi
Descent of
Beth Horon
 Ai

Gibeon
Jarmuth


Jerusalem

Azekah

Eglon
 Lachish
 Hebron
 Jericho
Joshua 10:12-13
Then Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day
when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the
sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel,
"O sun, stand still at Gibeon,
And O moon in the valley of Aijalon."
So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped,
Until the nation avenged themselves of their
enemies.
Is it not written in the book of Jashar? And the sun
stopped in the middle of the sky, and did not hasten
to go down for about a whole day.
Joshua 10:14
And there was no day like that
before it or after it, when the Lord
listened to the voice of a man; for the
Lord fought for Israel.
Hazor
Achshaph



Madon

Shimron
Hazor
Initial Appeal:
Preparations to
take the Land
(1-5)
Conquest of the
Land (6-12)
Closing Appeal:
Living in the
Land (22-24)
Distribution of
the Land
(13-21)
Genesis & Joshua
A Culmination of Promise
Genesis ends
with a promise
of the bones of
Joseph
Joshua ends
with the
fulfillment of
that promise
“The LORD
raised up a
deliverer.”
“And when the sons
of Israel cried out to
the LORD…”
“The
Israelites did
evil in the
sight of the
LORD.”
“The LORD sold
them into the hands
of their enemies”
“The Israelites did
evil in the sight of
the LORD.”
“The LORD raised
up a deliverer.”
Ehud
Deborah
Gideon
Jephthah
Samson
“And when the sons
of Israel cried out to
the LORD…”
“The LORD sold them
into the hands of their
enemies”
Prologue in two parts (1-2)
Othniel Narrative (3:7-11)
•Ehud Narrative (3:12-31)
Judge is social outcast
Oppressors from east of the Jordan
•Deborah/Barak Narrative (4-5)
Woman slays enemy with blow to head
Gideon Narrative (6:1 – 8:32)
•Abimelech Narrative (8:33 – 10:5)
Woman slays enemy with blow to head
•Jephthah Narrative (10:6 – 12:15)
Judge is social outcast
Oppressors from east of the Jordan
Samson Narrative (13-16)
Epilogue in two parts (17-21)
Judges 17:6
In those days there was no king
in Israel; every man did what was
right in his own eyes.
17:1
19:1
Levite from Bethlehem becomes a
priest to the people of Dan
Concubine from Bethlehem murdered
in Gibeah and sparks war against
tribe of Benjamin
Hill Country
of Ephraim
Gibeon


Gibeah
Jebus 
(Jerusalem)
 Bethlehem
Judges 17:6
In those days there was no king
in Israel; every man did what was
right in his own eyes.
17:1
Levite from Bethlehem becomes a
priest to the people of Dan
19:1 Concubine from Bethlehem murdered
in Gibeah and sparks war against
tribe of Benjamin
Ruth Ruth and Naomi return to Bethlehem
where Ruth has grandfather of David
Naomi’s
Bitterness (1)
Ruth discovers a
potential kinsman
redeemer (2)
Naomi’s Blessing
(4:13-21)
Boaz acquires right
to be a kinsman
redeemer (4:1-12)
Boaz agrees to be a
kinsman redeemer (3)
Samuel
• Judge
• Prophet
• Priest
Saul
• Tribe of Benjamin
• City of Gibeah
• Anointed as King
And he took a yoke of
oxen and cut them in
pieces, and sent them
throughout the territory
of Israel by the hand of
messengers,
saying,
“Whoever does not
come out after Saul and
after Samuel, so shall it
be done to his oxen.” (1
Samuel 11:7)

Jabesh-gilead

Gibeah
AMMON
1 Samuel 15:1-3
Then Samuel said to Saul, "The LORD
sent me to anoint you as king over His people,
over Israel; now therefore, listen to the words of
the LORD.
1
"Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'I will
punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he
set himself against him on the way while he was
coming up from Egypt. 3 Now go and strike
Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and
do not spare him; but put to death both man and
woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel
and donkey.'"
2
Israel
Amalekites
1 Samuel 15:22
And Samuel said,
“Has the LORD as much delight in burnt
offerings and sacrifices
As in obeying the voice of the LORD?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
And to heed than the fat of rams.”
1 Samuel 15:23
"For rebellion is as the sin of divination,
And insubordination is as iniquity and
idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the
LORD,
He has also rejected you from being king."
1 Samuel 15:27-28
And as Samuel turned to go, Saul
seized the edge of his robe, and it tore.
27
So Samuel said to him, "The LORD
has torn the kingdom of Israel from you
today, and has given it to your neighbor
who is better than you.
28
David’s Rise to Power
The Goliath Incident
Growing Popularity
Fugitive
So the Philistines gathered together
and came and camped in Shunem;
and Saul gathered all Israel together
and they camped in Gilboa. (1 Samuel
28:5).
Shunem 
Mount
Gilboa

Endor
Philistines
Armies
of Israel
1 Samuel 28:11-12
Then the woman said, “Whom shall
I bring up for you?” And he said, “Bring
up Samuel for me.”
When the woman saw Samuel, she
cried out with a loud voice; and the
woman spoke to Saul, saying, “Why
have you deceived me? For you are
Saul.”
1 Samuel 28:13-14
And the king said to her, “Do not be
afraid; but what do you see?” And the
woman said to Saul, “I see a divine being
[Elohim] coming up out of the earth.”
And he said to her, “What is his
form?” And she said, “An old man is
coming up, and he is wrapped with a
robe.” And Saul knew that it was Samuel,
and he bowed with his face to the ground
and did homage.
1 Samuel 28:18-19
“As you did not obey the Lord and did
not execute His fierce wrath of Amalek, so
the Lord has done this thing to you this
day.
Moreover the Lord will also give over
Israel along with you into the hands of the
Philistines, therefore tomorrow you and
your sons will be with me. Indeed the
Lord will give over the army of Israel into
the hands of the Philistines!”
1 Samuel 31:6
Thus Saul died with his three
sons, his armor bearer, and all his
men on that day together.
David as King
• King over Judah
• King over Israel
• Capital in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem


Hebron
JUDAH
ASSYRIA
Solomon’s
Kingdom
EGYPT
1 Kings 4:25
Dan 
So Judah and Israel
lived in safety, every man
under his vine and his fig
tree, from Dan even to
Beersheba, all the days
of Solomon.

Beersheba
And it came about
when the priests
came from the holy
place, that the cloud
filled the house of the
LORD, 11 so that the
priests could not
stand to minister
because of the cloud,
for the glory of the
LORD filled the house
of the LORD. (1 Kings
8:11-12).
1 Kings 11:1-2
Now King Solomon loved many foreign
women along with the daughter of Pharaoh:
Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and
Hittite women, 2 from the nations concerning
which the LORD had said to the sons of
Israel, “You shall not associate with them,
neither shall they associate with you, for they
will surely turn your heart away after their
gods.” Solomon held fast to these in love.
1 Kings 11:3-4
And he had seven hundred
wives, princesses, and three
hundred concubines, and his
wives turned his heart away. 4
For it came about when
Solomon was old, his wives
turned his heart away after other
gods; and his heart was not
wholly devoted to the LORD his
God, as the heart of David his
father had been.
1 Kings 11:30-31
Then Ahijah took hold of the new cloak
which was on him, and tore it into twelve
pieces.
And he said to Jeroboam, “Take for
yourself ten pieces; for thus says the Lord, the
God of Israel, ‘Behold, I will tear the kingdom
out of the hand of Solomon and give you ten
tribes.’”
1 Samuel 15
Samuel & Saul
Saul tears Samuel’s robe and it is
used as a picture of the kingdom
being torn from Saul
1 Kings 11
Ahijah & Jeroboam
Ahijah tears his robe and gives 10
pieces to Jeroboam to illustrate how
the kingdom will be torn apart
Matthew 27
Mark 15
Luke 23
Jesus on the Cross
The veil of the temple is torn from
top to bottom to show the way to
the kingdom of God has been
opened
Dan
ISRAEL
Samaria


Shechem
Bethel

JUDAH

Penuel
Southern Kingdom of
Judah
Category
Northern Kingdom of
Israel
19 Kings, 1 Queen
Kings
19 Kings
Jerusalem
Capital
Shechem/Samaria
Judah & Benjamin
Tribes
Ten Northern Tribes
Legacy of
Kings
All were bad; Ahab
and Ahaziah were idol
worshipers
Conquered by Babylon
in 586 B.C.
Fall
Conquered by Assyria
in 721 B.C.
Returned to the land
Return
No Return
Most were unstable;
some were good,
some were bad
Sidon

SIDON
Ethbaal
(Itto-Baal)
ISRAEL
OMRI
Israel
Jezebel
Ahab
Judah
Sidon

Now Elijah the Tishbite,
who was of the settlers
of Gilead, said to Ahab,
“As the Lord, the God
of Israel lives, before
whom I stand, surely
there shall be neither
dew nor rain these
years, except by my
word.” (1 Kings 17:1).
Israel
Judah
Mount
Carmel
Yahweh
Baal
Elijah
Ahab
Who will
you serve?
Sidon

Israel
Judah
An Outline of 1st & 2nd Kings
The United Kingdom of Solomon (1 Kings 1-12)
Wars of Judah and Israel (1 Kings 13-16)
The Ministry of Elijah (1 Kings 17 - 2 Kings 1).
The Passing of the Prophetic Mantle from Elijah
to Elisha (2 Kings 2).
The Ministry of Elisha (2 Kings 3-13).
Wars of Judah and Israel 2 Kings 14-17).
The Kingdom of Judah (2 Kings 18-25).
SIDON
ISRAEL
JUDAH
Ethbaal
(Itto-Baal)
OMRI
ASA
Jezebel
Ahab
Jehoshaphat
Ahaziah
Joram
Athaliah
Jehoram
Ahaziah
Joash
• Nineveh
• Jerusalem
Assyrian
Terror
Tactics
Samaria
2 Kings 17:6
In the ninth year of Hoshea, the
king of Assyria captured Samaria
and carried Israel away into exile to
Assyria. and settled them in Halah
and Habor, on the river of Gozarx
and in the cities of the Medes.
2 Kings 17:7-8
Now this came about, because
the sons of Israel had sinned against
the Lord their God, who had brought
them up from the land of Egypt from
under the hand of Pharaoh, king of
Egypt, and their had feared other gods
8
and walked in the customs of the
nations whom the Lord had driven out
before the sons of Israel, and in the
customs of the kings of Israel which
they had introduced.
Hezekiah’s Reformation
•
•
•
•
Religious Reform
Envoys from Merodach-Baladan
Revolt against Assyria
Hezekiah’s Tunnel
2 Kings 19:35-36
Then it happened that
night that the angel of the
Lord went out, and struck
185,000 in the camp of the
Assyrians; and when men
rose early in the morning,
behold, all of them were
dead.
So Sennacherib king
of Assyria departed and
returned home, and lived
at Nineveh.
Taylor Prism
“As for Hezekiah, the
Jew, who did not submit to
my yoke, 46 of his strong
walled cities, as well as the
small cities in their
neighborhood, which were
without number, by
escalade and bringing up
siege engines... Himself,
like a caged bird, I shut up
in Jerusalem, his royal city.
Reform under Josiah
• Religious Reform
• Fall of Assyria
Scythians
Carchemish

Assyria
Megiddo
EGYPT

Medes
Babylon
Scythians
Carchemish

Assyria
Megiddo
EGYPT

Medes
Babylon
605 B.C.
597 B.C.
586 B.C.
Hostages taken from among
the nobility including Daniel
and his three friends
A total of 10,000 of the
craftsmen are taken along
with Ezekiel
The Temple is destroyed
and all the inhabitants of
Jerusalem are taken into
captivity
And he burned the
house of the
LORD, the king's
house, and all the
houses of
Jerusalem; even
every great house
he burned with fire.
(2 Kings 25:9).
Kings
Chronicles
Prophetic
Perspective:
Judgments
Priestly Perspective:
Hope
Wars Prominent
History of thrones
Temple Prominent
History of Davidic
line
Mostly Judah
Redemption
Israel & Judah
Morality
610
600
590
580
Jerusalem &
Temple
Destroyed
Zephaniah
560
550
Babylonian
Captivity
Kings of Judah
Joel?
570
Amos
The Prophet of Social Justice
Daniel
Jeremiah
Habakkuk
Obadiah?
Ezekiel
540
530
Return
from
Exile
Lydians
Medes
Persians
Babylon 
Ezra 1:2-3
Thus says Cyrus king of Persia,
“The LORD, the God of heaven, has
given me all the kingdoms of the earth
and He has appointed me to build Him
a house in Jerusalem, which is in
Judah. 3 Whoever there is among you
of all His people, may his God be with
him! Let him go up to Jerusalem which
is in Judah and rebuild the house of
the LORD, the God of Israel; He is the
God who is in Jerusalem.
Ezra 1:4
Cyrus
the
Great
“Every survivor,
at whatever place he
may live, let the men
of that place support
him with silver and
gold, with goods and
cattle, together with a
freewill offering for the
house of God which is
in Jerusalem.”
Cyrus the
Great
Cambyses
Construction
halted
Permission
given to
rebuild
Haggai &
Zechariah
prophesy
and urge
construction
to begin
again
Cyrus the
Great
Darius the
Great
Cambyses
Construction
halted
Permission
given to
rebuild
Permission
given to
complete
1st Return under
Zerubbabel &
rebuilding Temple
Events of Book
of Esther
Ezra 1-6
Book of
Esther
538-516 B.C.
473 B.C.
2nd Return under
Ezra
Ezra 7-10
458-457 B.C.
3rd Return under
Nehemiah &
rebuilding walls
Book of
Nehemiah
445-444 B.C.
Cast of Characters
• Esther (also known as Hadassah).
• Ahasuerus: Xerxes
• Mordecai & Haman
The Narrative
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
A new queen
Mordecai saves the king
Haman’s jealousy
A plan for ethnic cleansing
Plea to Esther
Haman’s plan
The king’s plan
Esther’s revelation
The Jewish deliverance
Esther 9:24
For Haman the son of Hammedatha,
the Agagite, the adversary of all the Jews,
had schemed against the Jews to destroy
them, and had cast Pur, that is the lot, to
disturb them and destroy them.
Haman
Mordecai
A descendant of Agag
(Esther 3:1), the king of
the Amalekites whose life
Saul spared in
disobedience to the
command of God.
From the tribe and family
of Saul (Esther 2:5).
The enemy of the people
of God
The savior of the people
of God
Points to Ponder
• Esther is the book of God’s
Providence
• The Success of Haman’s plot
would also exterminate the
seed through which the
Messiah would come
• This book reminds us that God
works in the lives of both the
great and the small
A Picture of Christ
The Story
The Picture
Esther was the virgin
bride who married
the king.
The church is the
spotless bride who
marries the King
The king’s former
wife had been
displeasing and had
been set aside.
The natural branches
were broken off due
to unbelief.
A Picture of Christ
The Story
The Picture
Haman plotted
against Mordecai
and against all the
Jews.
Satan has set
himself against
Christ and against
all men
Mordecai convinces
Esther to intercede
on behalf of her
people.
Jesus Himself
interceded on behalf
of His church.
A Picture of Christ
The Story
The Picture
Esther agrees to
intercede after the
people have fasted
for three days.
Christ interceded on
our behalf and then
was in the grave
three days.
Haman plans to have
Mordecai executed
for not bowing down
to him.
Jesus was tempted by
Satan to worship him;
Satan’s attack
culminated in the
cross.
A Type of Christ
The Story
Haman met his end
on the gallows he
had intended for
Modecai.
The Picture
Christ intentionally
went to the cross
that was prepared
for us.
In both cases, that which looked like
certain death and defeat was turned
into ultimate victory.