More than A Collection of Books 2

Joshua continued where Moses had left off

And presided over the conquest of Jericho,

After a great defeat in the campaign at Ai

He conquered the lands where his feet did go.

Judges demonstrates God’s strength

Particularly in the light of human weakness

And each of these leaders that He used

Showed it was God who passed the test.

  

Ruth is the love story of a Gentile girl

Who was married to a prominent Hebrew man,

What is significant with this Old Testament book

Is Boaz and Ruth’s role in the redemptive plan.

1st Samuel chronicles the acts of two kings

King Saul is the first and king David’s the next,

It begins with Samuel’s birth and childhood

Then the acts of those kings both bad and good.

2^nd Samuel is dedicated to David the king,

Part one records his victories and conflicts,

Part two shows his defeats when out of God’s will

And his consequent punishment when he slipped.

1^st Kings tells of the close of king David’s stint

And of the golden reign of king Solomon,

The dividing of Israel into North and South

And of the successive kings of those kingdoms

2^nd Kings continues along this track

And shows the spiritual decline of the leaders,

It chronicles the miraculous ministry of Elisha

And the captivity of Israel and of Judah.

1Chronicles starts out with the genealogies

From Adam to Abraham and Abraham to Israel,

Its focus is spiritual rather than historical

While appearing to repeat 1^st and 2^nd Samuel.

2Chronicles continues from 1^st Chronicles

With a coverage similar to 1^st and 2^nd Kings,

Of Judah’s nineteen kings seven were good

None of Israel’s twenty rulers for God ever stood.

Stewart Russell © March 2017