2 Samuel 1-4 How the mighty have fallen

2 Samuel 1-4

Book two starts off just where book one ends.  Any reason for splitting them up?  Different authors?

David kills the messenger when he finds out that Saul and Jonathan are dead.

There is an interesting quote from David about the man that was trying to kill him for several years.
"Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives"

David then goes to Hebron and is crowned King of Judah.  Abner crowns Ishbosheth the king of all Israel.  This causes a civil war (and why is any war called "civil"?)

People get smote under the fifth rib, we get a bunch of begats from the seed of David and he is reunited with Michal.

Abner and David make peace but unfortunately, Joab learns about it too late and does some fifth rib smoting on Abner.


Finally, Rechab and Baanah learn that surprise gifts aren't always appreciated.
How would you react if someone handed you the head of Ishbosheth?


Reminds me of the ending of the movie Se7en.  Spoiler Alert and NSFW.

Joshua 4-8 In The Land of Milk and Honey and Bloodshed

Joshua 4-8

5 chapters today but it's a pretty easy and action filled read.

The Israelites cross Jordan and enter the promised land.  Joshua commemorates the event by preserving twelve stones (4:9), or did he (4:20)?

All young males are circumcised and the older ones re-circumcised (?)  Why did they stop the tradition while wandering in the desert?

The first thing on their agenda after stepping foot on the promised land is to continue the massacre of the inhabitants.  Jericho is first on the list.

The priests practice some psychological warfare against Jericho by blowing horns and marching around the locked up city.  It must have been pretty scary for the inhabitants.  But they didn't live in fear for long because the Israelites brought the walls down and killed every living thing inside except for Rehab the harlot and her family.

But Achan has to go and screw up by coveting.  God's reaction?  Sending a small army to Ai to get it's ass kicked.  This humbles the Israelites.

They make things right by stoning and burning Achan, his family, cattle and possessions.  Sounds reasonable.

The Israelites are then able to attack and destroy Ai (in a very clever move IMO).
The laws of Moses are once again written in stone.

Another happy ending.

Deuteronomy 1-3 Oh, The Good Old Days

Deuteronomy 1-3
I'm going to also link to the Skeptics Annotated Bible for this book.  Just for yucks.
Deuteronomy 1-3

As the Israelites get closer to the promised land, Moses reminisces about the past forty years on the road.

I imagine him as a grandfather with his grand kids sitting on the floor around his La-Z-Boy.

"Did I ever tell you kids about the war?  Back in my day we didn't just conquer a nation.  We would kill every man, woman and child, burn the homes and crops and then have our way with the cattle!  Ah, the good old days."

Related articles

• Super-Abridged Bible: Deuteronomy (anadder.com)

Numbers 31-36

Numbers 31-36

I guess "Thou shalt not kill." doesn't apply when God tells you to do the killing and raping of a country.


The Israelites kill thousands of Midianite men but Moses isn't happy until they go back and kill thousands more women and children.  God tells them how to divide up the remaining women for slaves.
The Israelites don't lose one soldier in the battle so they donate their gold, silver and jewels to God.
God also gets 32 people as a tribute.  What does that mean?  Were they sacrificed?  Slaves to the tabernacle?


I was disappointed that Balaam was killed.  I thought he would survive after siding with the LORD.  That would also help explain how the writers of Numbers would have known what was going on in Canaan.


The cattle barons decide that the land they just conquered is good enough for them and they successfully bargain for it.


Chapter 33 gives us a great guide of the long journey from Egypt.


Here is one of the better maps showing a possible path.  If anyone has a better visual aid please post.
How could the Israelites possibly have wandered for forty years in such a small space?
Could it just be a mis-translation for them being nomadic before settling?




We then get the nitty gritty on the boundaries of the promised land and how it will be divided up.
Map of territories

Chapter 35 gives us the Cities of Refuge and with them, some rules of law.


We end Numbers with the daughters of Zelophehad being forced to marry within their own tribe so the land of their father won't be inherited away from them.


Once again, as in Exodus, I was expecting a little more WOW when the book wrapped up.  How about you?

Deuteronomy is next.  I don't want to rush the last book of the Pentateuch so we'll take it over a period of  11-12 days.

Leviticus 24-27 Last Push

Leviticus 24-27

We're finishing up our third book!

A child is stoned to death for taking the lords name in vain.  I found it interesting that it was pointed out that he was a mix of Israelite and Egyptian.

Much of these last chapters deals with the mundane rules of farming, taxation and God's wrath for the weak of faith.

The Jubile confused me a little.
Why fifty years?  This seems an odd number considering the importance of the number seven.
Where slaves to be set free?  Property returned?

Does God change the rules here when he states:

Leviticus 26:7-8  And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.
And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.


Earlier in Exodus I believe God states that the Israelites will take over lands peacefully by integrating themselves within the existing inhabitants.