King Solomon’s Son Follows Foolish Advice After King Solomon dies, his son Rehoboam succeeds him as king. Jeroboam opposes him. Jeroboam, one of Solomon’s officials, had received a prophetic word that he would become king over ten of the tribes of Israel, with Solomon’s descendants ruling over the tribe of Judah. Jeroboam, along with all […]
A King Shares His Mother’s Advice Immediately after the proverbs of Agur, we have the proverbs of Lemuel. The Bible refers to him as King Lemuel. Yet his name doesn’t appear elsewhere in Scripture, so we don’t know what he’s the king of. Nor do we know anything else about him, aside from his wise […]
Wise Advice from an Obscure Source We commonly think of King Solomon as the author of the book of Proverbs. While this is mostly true, it’s not completely correct. Proverbs also contains wisdom from Agur (as well as Lemuel, whom we’ll cover later). Agur is the son of Jakeh. Neither man, however, appears anywhere else […]
Seeing to Believe The queen of Sheba hears about the stunning reputation of King Solomon. She’s skeptical and travels to meet him. The queen wants to see if there is any truth to the reports she’s heard. Presenting him with gifts, she talks with Solomon at length. The king answers her every question, able to […]
A Loyal Priest Zadok (1) and Abiathar serve David as priests. The two work together in support of him. During Absalom’s coup attempt, they both side with David. The pair covertly work to send information about Absalom’s short-lived reign back to David’s camp through their sons. This is not the case, however, when Adonijah tries […]
There are several men named Korah in the Bible. The one we know best is the Levite Korah who rebels against Moses and God. Because of the uprising he leads, God kills Korah and his family—and presumably his three sons. Therefore, it’s not likely this Korah’s sons—that is, his descendants—who we read about in the […]
The Two Sons of Moses and Zipporah Moses and Zipporah have two sons, Gershom and Eliezer. The oldest is Gershom (1). His name means a foreigner there because Moses says he’s a foreigner in a foreign land. The younger son is Eliezer (2). His name means God is my helper. Moses acknowledges God as the […]
The Next King? David’s first four sons are Amnon, Kileab, Absalom, and Adonijah (1). Each one has a different mother, making them all half-brothers. Absalom kills Amnon for raping their sister Tamar. Then Absalom dies in a coup attempt. The Bible only mentions Kileab once, so he likely does nothing noteworthy nor notorious. As a […]
In Service to the King Abishag is a young, beautiful Shunammite woman. She’s carefully selected to attend to King David in his old age. Despite her sleeping next to him to keep him warm, their relationship isn’t sexual—though I’m sure people thought otherwise. When the king dies, we might assume her ordeal is over. But […]
Commander for Life In Absalom’s brief coup attempt against his father, he appoints Amasa (1) as commander of his rebel troops. Amasa is the first cousin of Joab, who commands David’s army. During the rebellion, Joab kills Absalom. This occurs despite David’s explicit command to spare his son’s life. Though doing so ends the coup […]