The Books Of Joshua Judges Ruth I And Ii Samuel I And Ii Kings

"A masterpiece of contemporary Bible translation and commentary."—Los Angeles Times Book Review, Best Books of 1999 Acclaimed for its masterful new translation and insightful commentary, The David Story is a fresh, vivid rendition of one of the great works in Western literature. Robert Alter's brilliant translation gives us David, the beautiful, musical hero who slays Goliath and, through his struggles with Saul, advances to the kingship of Israel. But this David is also fully human: an ambitious, calculating man who navigates his life's course with a flawed moral vision. The consequences for him, his family, and his nation are tragic and bloody. Historical personage and full-blooded imagining, David is the creation of a literary artist comparable to the Shakespeare of the history plays.

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The Bible is simply a love letter compiled into sixty-six books and written over a period ofsixteen hundred years by more than forty authors living on three continents. Although theauthors came from different backgrounds, there is one message, one theme, one thread that runs throughout the entire Bible from the first book, Genesis, to the last book, Revelation. That message is God's redeeming love for mankind--a message that is as relevant for us today as it was two thousand years ago.In The Kingdom Books, we will see that God is a Promise Keeper. He had indeed givenHis people the land He had promised them, but the land was under the control of theCanaanites. The land was rich and fertile, but the inhabitants were fierce, experiencedwarriors. It would have been an impossible mission had not the God of the universe,the all-powerful One, been on their side.Those entering the Promised Land were the children of those who had left Egypt;therefore, many of them had only heard of God's faithfulness as He led their parentsthrough the wilderness to the Promised Land. Yet through Moses' capable leadership,they were strong in their faith and determined to obey the living God and establish aland and a nation that would be a blessing to all the earth. So, with their confidence inYahweh, the Israelites began the march into the land God had given them.The Kingdom Books (Joshua, Judges, Ruth, First Samuel, Second Samuel, First Kings, and Second Kings) include the conquering of the land, the ruling of the judges, and the uniting and the dividing of the kingdom. These books end with Israel conquered and scattered and Judah destroyed and exiled.

The history of the entry into the Promised Land followed by the period of the Judges and early monarchy may not appear to readers today as a source for expounding the Christian faith. But the church fathers readily found parallels, or types, in the narrative that illumined the New Testament. An obvious link was the similarity in name between Joshua, Moses' successor, and Jesus—indeed, in Greek the names are identical. Thus Joshua was consistently interpreted as a type of Christ. So too was Samuel. David was recognized as an ancestor of Jesus, and parallels between their two lives were readily explored. And Ruth, in ready fashion, was seen as a type of the church. Among the most important sources for commentary on these books are the homilies of Origen, most of which are known to us through the Latin translations of Rufinus and Jerome. Only two running commentaries exist—one from Gregory of Nazianzus, one of the famous Cappadocian theologians, the other from Bede the Venerable. Another key source for the selections found here derives from question-and-answer format, such as Questions on the Heptateuch from Augustine, Questions on the Octateuch from Theodoret of Cyr, and Thirty Questions on 1 Samuel from Bede. The remainder of materials come from a wide variety of occasional and doctrinal writings, which make mention of these biblical texts to support their arguments. Readers will find a rich treasure trove of ancient wisdom, some of which appear here for the first time in English translation, speaking with eloquence and powerful spiritual insight to the church today.

Illuminates each Old Testament historical book by examining its content, structure, and theological message.

Joshua--Judges--First and Second Samuel--First and Second Kings First and Second Chronicles.