KINGS AND PROPHETS

This journey follows 14 readings, from the judges to the exile and the return. It is the story of Israel as a kingdom: Saul, David, Solomon, the division of the kingdom and the prophets who spoke to kings and people. It brings together books that the Hebrew Bible groups differently, the books of Samuel and Kings, the prophets, Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah, so that the timeline stays continuous.

The path starts in Judges 2 and 21:25, with the sentence that sums up the age: everyone did what seemed right in their own eyes. In 1 Samuel 3 and 8, the last judge and the people's request for a king. Then come Saul (1 Samuel 9 and 15) and the choice of David, the youngest shepherd among his brothers (1 Samuel 16), the duel with Goliath (1 Samuel 17), and David's fall in the affair of Bathsheba, read with Psalm 51 (2 Samuel 11). With Solomon, the wisdom of 1 Kings 3:16-28, the lapses of chapter 11 and the temple (1 Kings 8). The division of the kingdom, around 930 BC, is in 1 Kings 12.

The prophets enter with Elijah on Carmel (1 Kings 18), Hosea 11, Isaiah 6 and Micah 6:6-8. The fall of Jerusalem, in 586 BC, and Jeremiah's letter to the exiles (Jeremiah 29:4-14) fill the next-to-last block, followed by the rebuilding in Ezra and Nehemiah. The last reading links 2 Chronicles 7:11-22 to the promise made to Mary in Luke 1:30-33, the throne of David. When you finish you will have the map of the monarchy and know where each prophet fits.