Books of the Old Testament
The Books of The Prophets
Nebeeim
THE FORMER PROPHETS: Joshua, Judges, Samuel,
Kings
from The Names and Order of the
Books of the Old Testament
by E.W. Bullinger
Joshua
"Y'Hoshua" - The
inheritance Possessed
The first of these eight books is so called in the
Hebrew, and in the Septuagint, Vulgatge, and other
versions. It is so named, not because Joshua was
necessarily the author, but because he forms the chief
subject of the book. The Talmud (Baba Bathra,
fol.14,2) asserts that Joshua wrote all except the last
eight verses.
Although it stands in close connection with the
Pentateuch, yet it is absolutely distinct from it. For
(1)
(2)
(3)
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it has never yet been found in
any manuscript bound up with or forming part of
the Pentateuch,
not even of the Samaritan Pentateuch.
Its record is complete in itself, and independent
of the Pentateuch. For example, it repeats the
account of the separation of the three cities of
Refuge by Moses, and supplements it by
completing the account of the three separated by
Joshua. And
there is a peculiarity of language in which the
archaisms which pervade the Pentateuch are
entirely absent. |
The book begins with the words,
"Now after the death of Moses, " and proceeds
to define its two great subjects:
(1)
(2)
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The conquest of the land, and
its partition (Joshua 1:2-9). |
The object of the book, as Keil
devoutly observes, "is to magnify the inviolable
covenant faithfulness of Jehovah in the fulfillment of
His promises" (Joshua 21:43-45). All rests on the
divine command and the associated promise, and Joshua
himself is "called to effect the accomplishment of
the divine promise, according to an appointment recorded
in the law itself" (Deuteronomy 31:7).
His name thus embraces the object of the book. His name Oshea
(Numbers 13:16), which means simply "Saviour,"
is changed to Y'Hoshua, i.e. "Jehovah is
Salvation"; and it show beforehand how Jehovah would
bring Israel in by Joshua as He had brought them out by
Moses. (Numbers 14:8: Isaiah 12:2.)
It may be useful to note that in the following passages
reference is made to events recorded in the book of
Joshua. (Psalm 44:2,3; 67:54-55; 68:12-13; 114:1-8;
Judges 18:31; 1 Samuel 1:3,9,24; 3:21; Isaiah 28:21;
Habakkuk 3:11-13; Acts 7:45. Hebrews 4:8; 9:30-32; James
2:25.) <--
Judges
"Shopheteem" - The
inheritance Despised.
In the Septuagint the book is called "Judges,"
and in the Vulgate, "Liber Judicum, the
book of Judges," being a translation of the Hebrew
title Shopheteem.
The word Judges does not exactly represent the Hebrew,
which does not mean to subjugate and then rule,
but it is from the verb, to set upright, put
right, and then to rule. The office was
peculiar to Israel, and stands alone in the history of
the world.
The origin and description of the office is given and
explained in Judges 2:7-19.
Joshua begins, "Now after the death of Moses,"
and Judges begins, "Now after the death of Joshua."
But if Joshua is the book of the inheritance
possessed, Judges is the book of the inheritance
despised.
The book is a record of the failure of Israel and the
faithfulness of God. Apostasy, chastisement, and
deliverance is the cycle constantly repeated. The last
words of the book give the key to its one great lesson.
"In those days there was no king in Israel; every
man did that which was right in his own eyes."
Four times over the significant words are repeated,
"No King." (17:6; 18:1; 19:1; and 21:25.)
Exodus 15:18 had declared the kingdom is Jehovah's -
"Jehovah shall reign for ever and ever"; and
Deuteronomy 33:5 had said that "He was King in
Jeshurun," but now through the apostasy of the
people there was "no king"!
The book divides naturally into two parts; 1-16,
historical, sin, suffering, and salvation; 17-21, moral
and historical, tracing the source and course of the evil.
In the former part there is no mention of "Shiloh"
where "the house of God" (the Tabernacle) was
set up (Joshua 18:1, the first mention of the place
"Shiloh"), and where the congregation of the
Lord "assembled together." (Genesis 49:10,
"Unto Him shall the gathering of the people be.")
In the latter half it is mentioned only three times. It
is mentioned seven times in Joshua.>
The former half tells of disobedience and its
consequences. It covers a period of 300 years, and yet no
mention of Shiloh. After the death of Joshua the
corruption soon set in, and the people fell away. So it
was after the death of the true Joshua - "Jesus".
Idolatry in the garb of Christianity is arrived at by
retrograde steps. Hence in Judges we have a picture of
Christendom. Note these steps.
(1) The true "house of God" neglected. So much
so that it was hard to find then, as it is now! (See
Judges 21:19.) Its position had to be minutely described
to a seeker, and the direction carefully given. "Shiloh
... a place which is on the north side of Bethel, on the
east side of the highway that goeth up from Bethel to
Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah." This shows
the condition of things where God is not acknowledged,
and there is "no king".
(2) Man makes his own "house of God" (see
Judges 17:5, RV margin), and depends on the
power of "shekels" for the production of it. He
makes his own gods and his own priest (Judges 17:6-13).
(3) He pays his priest a fixed salary, ten shekels a
year, a suit of clothes and his board, which proves poor
pay.
(4) The blessing he "knew" he would get (Judges
17:13) does not come, for Micah is disendowed and robbed
of the whole thing, including his gods and his priest.
(5) The priest gets promotion, and becomes priest to a
whole tribe instead of a family, and thus open idolatry
continues the whole time that the true house of God was
neglected in Shiloh. Note the emphatic words, "They
set them up Micah's graven image, which he had made, all
the time the the house of God was in Shiloh." (Judges
18:31. This is the first mention of "Shiloh" in
Judges.)
(6) Man's religion ends in reducing the three feasts of
Jehovah to one, the chief feature of which was girls
dancing! (Judges 21:19,21.) What a commentary on the
"religion" of the present day, when everything
is made "pleasant" for the flesh, to the
accompaniment of "string bands" and "solo
singers".
All the evil comes of forsaking the true "house of
God", and this leads socially to lawlessness ("no
king"); nationally to captivity; and
ecclesiastically to apostasy.
"No king" is stamped upon the book of Judges!
So it is today. Lawlessness prevails. Universal charity
is the order of the day. All error is to be tolerated
at the expense of the truth; and Union is to be
based on social considerations instead of on divine
doctrines.
Quite so! But when David came there was a king in Israel,
and then what a change! (Read Psalm 132.)
The fact is remarkable that the tribe whose name means judging
(Dan, Genesis 30:6; 49:16), is the tribe that fell upon
Micah's "house of God", and this points to the
fact that judgment is about to fall upon what now goes by
that name.
Jeroboam's calves were afterwards set up in Bethel (the
house of God), and Dan (judging), and so Shiloh was soon
judged. In 1 Samuel 4, "The ark of God was taken",
and its priests were slain.
The last mention of Shiloh is in Jeremiah 7:12-15, words
which come with a solemn application to Christendom today:
"Go ye now unto My place which was in Shiloh, where
I set My name at the first, and see what I did to it for
the wickedness of My people Israel. And now, because ye
have done all these works, saith the Lord, and I spake
unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not;
and I called you, but ye answered not; therefore will I
do unto this house, which is called by My name, wherein
ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to
your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. And I will cast
you out of My sight."
While Christendom is thus warned and exhorted to look at
Shiloh, we wait for God's King, David's Son, and David's
Lord. He will set up the true "house of God".
He will be our true Shiloh, for "unto Him shall the
gathering of the people be", and He is coming to
gather His people to be with Himself for ever. <--
Samuel
"Sh'muel" - Asked of
God
In the manuscripts and earliest printed editions of the
Hebrew Bible, Samuel is not divided into two books. The Sedarim,
i.e., the ancient divisions of the text, so called from
the order for public reading, are numbered continuously
throughout without any reference to first or second
books. There are thirty-four in number.
The division into two books was first made by the
translators of the Septuagint (Century 3 B.C.) merely for
the sake of convenience, so as to close the first book
with the death of Saul, and begin the second with the
accession of David. This division was followed by the
Vulgate, and was actually followed by Jacob ben Chayim in
his edition of the Hebrew Bible. (Venice, 1424-5.)
The Septuagint designates these two books as the First
and Second of the Kingdoms, and the Vulgatge First and
Second of Kings. Hence the heading in the Authorized
Version (not the Revised Version). The Book
of Samuel is composed of the words of Samuel, Nathan, and
Gad (See 1 Chronicles 29:29 RV.)
Sh'muel means heard of God or asked
for of God, and the two great events are
Hannah's request for a son answered in the gift of Samuel
(Saul afterwards asked for Samuel, but did not
ask of God, 1 Samuel 28) and the people's request for a
king answered in Saul and David.; the former to show what
man's king was, the latter to show a king "after
God's own heart" (i.e. choice). The
difference was seen in the fact that when Samuel met them
Saul was seeking for his father's asses, which he could
not find; while David was keeping his father's sheep,
which he did not lose! "Behold, he keepeth the sheep."
Asking of God is the key to the book, especially
in the light of 1 Samuel 8,9,16, and 2 Samuel 7. In
answer to our prayers, God may give in anger and take
away in wrath (Hosea 13:11); but when He gives "after
his own heart" there is blessing indeed. <--
Kings
"V'Hamelech David" -
King David
Like Samuel, the division of Kings into two books is not
found in any Hebrew manuscript, not in the early printed
editions. The Massorah regards it as one book, and the thirty-five
divisions called Sedarim are numbered
continuously throughout without regard to first and
second books.
The Septuagint designates them Third and Fourth of the
Kingdoms, while the Vulgate says Third and Fourth of the
Kings. Like most of man's works, the division is very
awkwardly made, cutting up the lives of Ahaziah and
Eliajh.
In the AV we have the first purely English title "Kings."
"Now King David" gives the key to the whole
book. Everything is measured by this standard. The
character of all the kings is tested by the manner in
which they approached or differed from David, and their
lives are portrayed according as they followed or
diverged from the way of David.
They are viewed as David's successors; not as so many
independent kings, but as so many successors of David.
Events are recorded to illustrate this great principle,
on which prosperity or adversity depended.
The differences between the histories common to the books
of Kings and Chronicles will be noticed under the latter
book.
The great lesson of the book lies in its Hebrew title. It
points us to the history and failure of man as a king.
Man failed as a priest, he fails as a prophet, and he
fails as a king, and causes those whose eyes are opened
to cry out for the one divine Prophet, Priest, and King.
The book opens with the temple of God built, and closes
with that temple burnt. It begins with King David, and
ends with the king of Babylon. It gives the first
successor of King David on the throne of his glory, and
finishes with the last successor, a dependant in the
house of his captivity. Never shall the throne of David
be occupied again until He comes whose right it is, and
the King shall reign in righteousness. (Isaiah 32:1.) <--
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