The History Books

Joshua records how the LORD kept His oath to Abraham by bringing Israel across the Jordan, giving them the land of Canaan, and calling them to serve Him alone.

Judges tells how Israel, after Joshua, fell again and again into idolatry and oppression, and how the LORD kept raising up deliverers until the nation cried out for a king.

Ruth tells how a Moabite widow who trusted the God of Israel was redeemed by Boaz, her kinsman, and became the great-grandmother of King David and an ancestor of Jesus.

First Samuel tells how Israel moved from the judges to the kings, asking for a king like the nations, receiving Saul, and then seeing the LORD choose David, a man after His own heart.

Second Samuel records King David's reign, from his rise and the covenant God made with his house, through his sin with Bathsheba and its painful consequences, to the altar on the threshing floor.

First Kings tells of Solomon's wisdom and the temple, then of the kingdom's division over idolatry, and of Elijah's stand for the LORD against the prophets of Baal.

Second Kings follows Israel and Judah from the ministry of Elisha to the fall of Samaria and Jerusalem, showing that God keeps both His warnings and His promise to David.

First Chronicles retells the story from Adam to the death of David for a people who had come home from exile, centering on God's promise of an everlasting throne and the worship of His house.

Second Chronicles follows the temple and the kings of Judah from Solomon to the exile, asking one question of each reign: did the king seek the LORD?

Ezra tells how God kept His word and brought a remnant home from Babylon to rebuild the temple under Zerubbabel and to restore the people to the Law under Ezra the scribe.

Nehemiah tells how a cupbearer to the Persian king prayed, planned, and persevered through fierce opposition to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem in fifty-two days and lead his people back to the Word of God.

Esther tells how a Jewish orphan became queen of Persia and, with her cousin Mordecai, was used by God's unseen hand to save her people from Haman's plot to destroy them.