2 Samuel 15-16 Several years after killing his half brother Amnon and his brothers, Absalom was reconciled to his father David (2 Samuel 13-14). Then Absalom spent the next four years grooming the people of Israel to favor him over his father, all in preparation to eventually rebel against his father’s rule. When it appeared […]
Category Archives: United Monarchy Period
Sheba Rebels against David
2 Samuel 20 Sometime after David’s son Absalom had rebelled and was killed near Mahanaim (2 Samuel 13-18; see “Absalom Rebels against David” map), David and his forces began the journey back to Jerusalem. Along the way, many people from Judah and other Israelite tribes came to the Jordan River to escort David and his […]
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 […]
Nomadic Range of Ishmael’s Descendants
Genesis 21:1-21; 25:1-18; 1 Chronicles 5:3-22 The book of Genesis twice records the origin of the Ishmaelites, who were descended from Ishmael, the son of Abraham by Sarah’s handmaiden Hagar. Ishmael lived in the wilderness of Paran (Genesis 21:20-21), and his descendants eventually ranged from Shur near Egypt all the way around to Havilah on […]