1 Kings 14:21-31; 2 Chronicles 11-12 At the start of his long and prosperous reign, King Solomon formed an alliance with Egypt and sealed their treaty by marrying Pharaoh’s daughter (1 Kings 3:1). While this ensured no overt military conflict between Israel and Egypt, behind the scenes Egypt was no doubt working to subtly undermine […]
Category Archives: Divided Monarchy Period
The Battles of Amaziah of Judah
2 Kings 14; 2 Chronicles 25 If only a single word could be used to summarize King Amaziah’s reign, perhaps conflicted might be the most fitting. To begin with, his own devotion to the Lord appears to have been conflicted, for he is described by the biblical writers as doing what was right in the […]
Philistines and Arabs Attack Judah
2 Chronicles 21 During the reign of Jehoram of Judah, the Philistines and the Arabs near the Cushites attacked Jerusalem and carried off all his possessions, his wives, and his sons except Jehoahaz, his youngest son. The Arabs who joined in the attack were likely those who lived southeast of Edom, and the Cushites were […]
The Kenites at Jabez
Author’s Note: This article and the accompanying maps grew out of research on the genealogies of the tribe of Judah, Jabez, the Kenites, and the Rechabites provided by Nancy Dawson (independent scholar and author of the book, All the Genealogies of the Bible, Zondervan Academic, 2023) and location identifications provided by Chris McKinney (Director of […]
Prophets of the Old Testament
If you ask someone today what biblical prophets did, he or she will likely tell you that they divinely foretold of future events. While this was often the case, most prophets in the Bible focused as much on “forthtelling” God’s messages as they did on “foretelling” the future. That is, their primary role was to […]