CHAPTER VI

BIBLICAL HISTORY

A LARGE part of the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments is historical. We have, from Genesis to Esther, inclusive, seventeen books as we count them to-day, all of which contain accounts of "what happened," and the words and actions of the persons to whom, or through whom, it happened. We have history recorded also in some of the prophets, notably in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Amos, Jonah, Haggai, that is to say, accounts of men and what they did. In the Old Testament, we have two sets of historical books, one of which, the older, comprises Genesis to II Kings, inclusive, except Ruth, which is in Hebrew found in the miscellaneous collection of the Writings; the other, a later series, consists of I and II Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah. All of these books as we have them probably contain material from still earlier works. Much of the Old Testament history is evidently derived from more ancient stories about important characters, who are thus made to live again for us.1

In the New Testament we have history in the Gospels and Acts, but history of a different kind, the history, not of a people, but of an individual and of the promulgation of his teachings by his followers. The historian of to-day is concerned more with movements and ideas than with men. He usually treats of the

1 For an account of the relation of the existing books to the earlier stories see S. R. Driver, Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament.

latter only as they were concerned in the political or social movements of their times. With the compilers or authors of the histories contained in the Bible, we find that an ethical or religious purpose lay behind what was recorded, and their conscious endeavor was to give such accounts of the happenings of the past as would show, by actual instances, God's manner of dealing with individuals and peoples. More than one half of the historical books, I Samuel to Nehemiah, inclusive, is devoted to the stories of Samuel, Saul, David, and Solomon. The period from Joshua to Samuel, about four centuries, is represented by the short book of Judges which consists chiefly of stories of heroes. According as men and nations obeyed, or disobeyed, the commandments of God, and walked in, or departed from, his ways, so is the record of their perity and happiness, or adversity and misery, found preserved for the instruction and guidance of future generations. The line of David from which was to come the Messiah was especially kept in mind by the Bible historians, and history is presented almost entirely through biographies. Back of all the history is Jehovah, and such books as have come to us record, in every instance, except possibly Esther, the belief that it was he that controlled the lives of men and nations. How clearly the religious and moral teaching of history is set forth may be seen in the following passages, each taken from the close of a book, and in most cases from the last chapter. They include every Old Testament history, except the Pentateuch and Esther, the latter being noteworthy for making no mention of Jehovah:

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"And Israel served Jehovah all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, and had known

all the work of Jehovah, that he had wrought for Israel."

Joshua 24:31.

"And Jehovah smote Benjamin before Israel; and the children of Israel destroyed of Benjamin that day twenty and five thousand and a hundred men: all these drew the sword."

"In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did that which was right in his own eyes." Judges 20:35; 21:25.

"And when David came to Ziklag, he sent of the spoil unto the elders of Judah, even to his friends, saying, Behold, a present for you of the spoil of the enemies of Jehovah." I Samuel 30:26.

"And David built there an altar unto Jehovah, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So Jehovah was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel." II Samuel 24:25.

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‘And he [Ahaziah] served Baal, and worshipped him, and provoked to anger Jehovah, the God of Israel, according to all that his father [Ahab] had done." I Kings 22:53.

"And he [Zedekiah] did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. For through the anger of Jehovah did it come to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence.' II Kings 24:19-20.

"Then Solomon sat on the throne of Jehovah as king instead of David his father, and prospered; and all Israel obeyed him. ... And Jehovah magnified Solomon exceedingly in the sight of all Israel, and bestowed upon him such royal majesty as had not been on any king before him in Israel." I Chronicles 29:23, 25.

"Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of Jehovah by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, Jehovah stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation. . . . Whosoever there is among you of all his people, Jehovah his God be with him, and let him go up." II Chronicles 36:22, 23.

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"O Jehovah, the God of Israel, thou art righteous; for we are left a remnant that is escaped as it is this day: behold we are before thee in our guiltiness; for none can stand before thee because of this." Ezra 9:15.

"Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood, and of the Levites.” "Remember me, O my God, for good." Nehemiah 13:29, 31.

Calamities, such as the loss of the Ark to the Philistines, I Samuel ch. 4, and the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, II Chronicles ch. 36, are attributed to the loss of the favor of Jehovah, in one case, because of the sin on the part of Eli and his sons, who made "Jehovah's people to transgress," and, in the other, because of the sins of Zedekiah and "all the chiefs of the priests and the people" who "trespassed very greatly after the abominations of the nations." "Therefore he [Jehovah] brought upon them the king of the Chaldeans." The fall of Samaria, and the captivity of Israel are attributed to the wickedness of Hoshea, king of Israel. II Kings 17:2-3. Triumphs like those of Gideon, Judges 7, over the Midianites, David over Goliath, I Samuel 17, or Asa over the Ethiopians II Chronicles 14, are attributed directly to the favor of Jehovah. The oft-repeated statements concerning kings that they "did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah," or that they "did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah," or that the people did "that which was right," or "that which was evil," indicate clearly the thoughts in the minds of the ancient Hebrew historiographers.

The kings, who preserved or restored the religious ceremonials of the Israelites as prescribed in the law of Moses, are mentioned at some length, as are also

those who were notably unfaithful to the worship of Jehovah, and who succumbed to the idolatry, which flourished among surrounding peoples. The historian wrote his accounts with this idea constantly in his mind, that the favor of Jehovah depended upon obedience to his commands as set forth in the Law.

Just what the general contents and purposes of the different books and groups of books were, we will now consider briefly. Let us begin by examining the books of the Old Testatment. To the Jew the most authoritative, the fundamental books, were those which constitute what he called the Torah, or the Law, but which readers of the English Bible commonly call the Pentateuch, a name given by the Greek translators to indicate the fact that the Torah consisted of five books, or parts. When Joshua, which relates the early history of Israel in Canaan, is grouped with the first five books, we have what is called the Hexateuch. This was not done by the Jews, who invariably regarded the Book of the Law as a unit, and never changed its contents by including any other book. This is true also of the other two collections, the Prophets, and the Sacred Writings, which complete the Jewish Scriptures, and, with the Law, compose our Old Testament. No book of one collection ever appeared in another. The order of the books in the Law did not vary, nor did the order of the Former Prophets, Joshua-Kings, in the second collection, being chronological. The Latter Prophets, Isaiah-Malachi, were not always in the same order in Hebrew, Jeremiah sometimes following Kings immediately. The third collection varied in the order of the books, as no chronological principle was followed, though Psalms usually came first.