Unit 6 · Kings and Prophets

For a long time, the book of Judges says, Israel had no king. Leaders called judges stepped up when trouble came. Then they went home. The last of these leaders was Samuel. He was a prophet and a judge. When Samuel grew old, the leaders of the people came to him with a request.

"Give us a king," they said, "like all the other nations." The book of 1 Samuel, chapter 8, tells this scene. Samuel did not like the idea. The text says he prayed, and God told him to listen to the people but to warn them first.

Samuel gave a warning. A king would take their sons for his army. He would take their daughters as cooks and bakers. He would take the best of their fields and flocks. The people still said yes. Jewish tradition reads this as a story about what people give up when they want to be like everyone else.

The first king was Saul. The text says he was taller than anyone else in Israel. He was also shy. When the people gathered to name him king, he hid among the baggage. They had to go and find him. Samuel poured oil on his head. This is called anointing. It marked Saul as the one chosen to lead.

Saul won battles and gathered an army. But the book of Samuel says he made serious mistakes. Once he offered a sacrifice himself instead of waiting for Samuel. Another time he did not do what the prophet said after a battle. The text says Samuel told him God had chosen someone else to be king.

Saul stayed king for years after that. But the story says his mood turned dark and jealous. Readers have long asked why Saul failed. Some say he cared too much about what people thought. Others say the job was simply too big for one shy man.

The text says God sent Samuel to a town called Bethlehem. A man named Jesse lived there with eight sons. Samuel was to anoint one of them as the next king. He did not know which one. He looked at the oldest son. He was tall and handsome. Samuel thought, surely this is the one.

The text says no. In 1 Samuel 16:7 God tells Samuel that people look at the outside, but God looks at the heart. Jesse brought seven sons past Samuel. Each time the answer was no. "Are these all your sons?" Samuel asked. "There is still the youngest," said Jesse. "He is out with the sheep."

They sent for the boy. His name was David. The text says he had beautiful eyes and a ruddy face. Samuel anointed him in front of his brothers. Then David went back to the sheep. Jewish tradition reads this scene as a lesson: the one who is chosen is not always the one people expect.

The Philistines were at war with Israel. They had a champion named Goliath. The text says he was over nine feet tall. He wore heavy bronze armor and carried a huge spear. Every day he shouted a challenge: send one man to fight me. Every day, the soldiers of Israel were afraid.

David came to the camp to bring food to his brothers. He heard Goliath. He was not a soldier, but he told Saul he would fight. Saul gave him armor. It was too big. David took it off. He picked up five smooth stones from a stream and his sling. He said he had fought lions and bears to protect his sheep.

Goliath laughed at the boy. The text says David told him he came in the name of the God of Israel. David ran toward the giant, whirled the sling and hit him in the forehead. Goliath fell. The story is told in 1 Samuel 17. Readers of many faiths tell it as a story about courage and using what you already know.

Saul had a son named Jonathan. He was a brave soldier and the next in line to be king. After David beat Goliath, the text says Jonathan’s soul was bound to David’s soul. He gave David his own robe, his sword and his bow. They made a covenant, a promise to be loyal to each other.

Saul grew jealous of David. The people sang that Saul had killed thousands, but David tens of thousands. Saul tried to kill David more than once. Jonathan warned his friend. In 1 Samuel 20 they make a plan with arrows in a field. Jonathan shoots the arrows as a signal. David must run.

Jonathan chose his friend over his own chance to be king. Later, when Jonathan died in battle, David sang a sad song for him. Jewish tradition holds up this friendship as a model. The Mishnah, in Pirkei Avot, says a love that does not depend on getting something lasts, like the love of David and Jonathan.

After Saul died in battle, David became king. The text says he ruled first in Hebron, over the tribe of Judah, for seven years. Then all the tribes came to him. He became king of all Israel. He needed a capital city that did not belong to any one tribe.

David chose Jerusalem. The book of 2 Samuel says it was a hill city held by a people called the Jebusites. David captured it and made it his own. The text calls it the City of David. He brought the Ark of the Covenant there, the gold box that held the tablets from Sinai. The text says he danced in front of it with all his might.

David wanted to build a house for the Ark, a temple. The prophet Nathan told him that his son would build it instead. Jewish tradition remembers David as the king who made Jerusalem the center. The city is named in Jewish prayers to this day.

The books of Samuel do not hide David’s mistakes. The worst one is in 2 Samuel 11. David saw a woman named Bathsheba bathing. She was married to a soldier named Uriah. David took her for himself. Then he sent orders that Uriah be placed in the front of the battle, where he was killed.

The prophet Nathan came to the king. He did not shout. He told a story. A rich man had many sheep. A poor man had one little lamb that he loved like a daughter. A guest came to the rich man. Instead of using his own flock, he took the poor man’s lamb and cooked it.

David was furious. "That man deserves to die!" he said. Nathan answered, "Thou art the man." David understood. The text says he said, "I have sinned." Jewish tradition connects Psalm 51 to this moment. It is a psalm of teshuvah, turning back after doing wrong.

The book of Psalms is in the Ketuvim, the Writings. It has 150 songs and poems. Many have a short heading. Seventy-three say "of David." Jewish tradition calls David the sweet singer of Israel. Historians say many people wrote the psalms over many years. Both agree the songs are old and loved.

One psalm of David, Psalm 145, is said three times a day in Jewish prayer. It is called Ashrei, from its first word, "Happy." Psalm 23, "The LORD is my shepherd," is also read as David’s. A shepherd who became a king wrote about God as a shepherd. Many readers find that fitting.

David is named in the Jewish prayer book in other ways too. A prayer after meals names the "kingdom of David." A Shabbat song says, "David, king of Israel, lives on." For Jewish tradition, David is not only a king in an old story. He is part of the words said every week.

David’s son Solomon became king after him. The book of 1 Kings tells of a dream. God said to the young king, "Ask what I should give you." Solomon did not ask for gold or a long life. He asked for a wise heart. He wanted to judge the people well.

The text gives an example. Two women came to the king with one baby. Each said the baby was hers. There were no witnesses. Solomon called for a sword. "Cut the child in two," he said, "and give half to each." One woman said, "Yes, divide it." The other cried, "Give her the baby, only do not hurt him!"

Solomon gave the baby to the second woman. She was the real mother. She would rather lose him than see him hurt. The text says all Israel saw the king had wisdom. Jewish tradition also names Solomon as the author of Proverbs. That is the book of wise sayings.

Solomon did what David could not. He built the Temple. The book of 1 Kings, chapters 6 to 8, describes it. It was made of cut stone, lined with cedar wood from Lebanon and covered with gold inside. It took seven years to build. The Ark of the Covenant was placed in its inner room, called the Holy of Holies.

The Temple was the one place where the priests offered sacrifices. Three times a year, at Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot, people traveled to Jerusalem to bring gifts. The text says Solomon stood before the people on the day the Temple opened. He prayed that God would hear anyone who prayed toward this house, even a stranger from far away.

Historians call this the First Temple. The Tanakh says the Babylonians burned it in 586 BCE. A second Temple was built later and stood until 70 CE. Today, Jewish prayers still face toward Jerusalem. Many Jewish weddings end with breaking a glass, which some explain as remembering the Temple.

Solomon was famous for wisdom and wealth. But the book of 1 Kings says his building projects cost the people a lot. He used forced labor and heavy taxes. The text also says that in his old age he built altars for other gods, to please his many foreign wives. The text sees this as his great failure.

When Solomon died, his son Rehoboam became king. The northern tribes asked him to make their burden lighter. His young friends told him to be harsh instead. He told the people he would be harder than his father. The northern tribes walked away. They chose a man named Jeroboam as their own king.

From then on there were two kingdoms. Israel in the north had ten tribes and its capital at Samaria. Judah in the south kept Jerusalem and the Temple. Historians date the split to about 930 BCE. The rest of the book of Kings follows both kingdoms, and the prophets you will meet next spoke in both.

The Hebrew word for prophet is navi. The second part of the Tanakh is called Nevi'im, the Prophets. A navi in the Tanakh is not mainly someone who tells the future. A navi is a messenger. The text often begins a prophet’s speech with the words, "Thus says the LORD."

The message was often hard. Prophets told kings they were wrong. They told rich people to stop cheating the poor. They warned that a city would fall if people did not change. Kings did not like this. Some prophets were put in prison. Jeremiah was thrown into a muddy pit.

Jewish tradition counts many prophets, men and women. Miriam, Deborah and Huldah are called prophets in the text. The prophets’ books in the Nevi’im come after the books of Samuel and Kings. In this chapter you will meet Elijah, Elisha, Amos, Isaiah, Jonah and Jeremiah.

Elijah was a prophet in the northern kingdom of Israel. The king was Ahab, and the queen was Jezebel. The text says they built altars for Baal, a god of the neighboring peoples. Elijah told Ahab there would be no rain for years. Then he went into hiding.

In 1 Kings 18, Elijah came back with a challenge. Meet me on Mount Carmel, he said. Bring the prophets of Baal. Each side would build an altar and lay a bull on it, but light no fire. The god who answered with fire would be the true God. The people agreed.

The text says the prophets of Baal shouted and danced all morning. Nothing happened. Elijah poured water over his own altar three times. Then he prayed a short prayer. Fire fell and burned up the offering, the wood and even the water. The people fell down and cried, "The LORD, He is God." Then the rain came.

After Mount Carmel, Queen Jezebel promised to kill Elijah. He ran for his life. He walked into the desert and sat under a broom tree. He said he had had enough. The text says an angel brought him bread and water. Then he walked forty days to Horeb, another name for Mount Sinai.

There Elijah hid in a cave. In 1 Kings 19 the text says a great wind tore the mountain, but the LORD was not in the wind. Then an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. Then a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire, a still small voice.

Elijah wrapped his face in his cloak and came out. Readers have loved this scene for a long time. Many say it teaches that the most important things are often quiet. The text then tells Elijah to go back to work and to find a helper, Elisha. Later, 2 Kings 2 says Elijah was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind.

Elisha was a farmer plowing with oxen when Elijah threw his cloak over him. That was the call. Elisha said goodbye to his family and followed. When Elijah was taken up in the whirlwind, his cloak fell. Elisha picked it up. The text says the other prophets saw that the spirit of Elijah now rested on Elisha.

The book of 2 Kings tells many Elisha stories. He helped a poor widow whose jar of oil kept pouring until every pot was full. He healed a foreign general named Naaman, who had a skin disease, by telling him to wash in the Jordan River seven times. He warned kings and fed hungry people during a famine.

Elijah did not disappear from Jewish life. The last prophet in the Tanakh, Malachi, says Elijah will come again before a great day. So at the Passover Seder, many families fill a cup of wine for Elijah and open the door for him. At a baby boy’s circumcision, a chair is set for Elijah. He is the guest who is always expected.

Amos was a shepherd and a keeper of fig trees from Tekoa, a village in Judah. The text says God sent him north to Israel, around 750 BCE. It was a rich time there. Big houses, fancy feasts, full markets. But Amos said the rich were cheating the poor, using false weights and selling people into slavery for the price of a pair of shoes.

Amos went to Bethel, a shrine in the north, and spoke. He said God did not want their festivals and songs. He wanted fairness. The book of Amos 5:24 says: let justice well up like water, and righteousness like a strong stream. A priest at Bethel told Amos to go home. Amos said he was not a professional prophet. He was just a shepherd who was sent.

Amos is one of the Twelve, the short prophetic books at the end of the Nevi’im. Many readers have used his words. In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. quoted Amos 5:24 in his "I Have a Dream" speech. Jewish tradition reads Amos as a reminder that prayer and fair dealing belong together.

Isaiah lived in Jerusalem, in the kingdom of Judah. He spoke a little after Amos. The text says he saw a vision of God in the Temple. Angels called, "Holy, holy, holy." He spoke to kings for about forty years. His book is the first of the big prophetic books in the Nevi’im.

Like Amos, Isaiah said offerings meant nothing without fairness. Isaiah 1:17 says to learn to do good and seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the orphan. Plead for the widow. In his time, an orphan or a widow had no one to stand up for them. Isaiah said a city is judged by how it treats them.

Isaiah is also known for a picture of peace. Isaiah 2:4 says nations will beat their swords into plowshares. A plowshare is the blade that cuts soil. They will not learn war anymore. Those words are carved on a wall across from the United Nations in New York. Jewish readers hear Isaiah every year in the haftarah. That is the reading from the Prophets after the Torah portion.

The book of Jonah is one of the Twelve. It is only four chapters long. It is different from the other prophets’ books. Instead of long speeches, it tells a story. Jonah is told to go to Nineveh and warn it. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, the empire that later destroyed the northern kingdom. Jonah goes the other way.

A storm hits the ship. The sailors throw Jonah into the sea, and it goes calm. The text says a great fish swallows him. Inside the fish, Jonah prays. His prayer in chapter 2 sounds like a psalm. He says he called out from the belly of the deep, and God heard him. After three days the fish spits him out onto dry land.

Readers of all ages have argued about the fish. Was it a whale? The Hebrew says only "a great fish." Jewish tradition usually reads the story for what it teaches, not for the zoology. The point, many say, is that you cannot run away from a job you are meant to do, and that a person can pray from anywhere, even from inside a fish.

Jonah finally goes to Nineveh. He walks into the huge city and says just five words in Hebrew: in forty days, Nineveh will be overturned. Then something surprising happens. The people believe him. They stop eating. They put on rough cloth called sackcloth. Even the king gets off his throne and sits in ashes.

The king orders everyone, even the animals, to fast. He says, let everyone turn from their evil ways and from the violence in their hands. Who knows, he says, maybe God will turn back too. The text says God saw what they did, not what they said, and did not destroy the city. This is teshuvah: turning back.

Jonah is furious. He sits outside the city and sulks. God makes a plant grow to shade him, then lets a worm kill it. Jonah is upset about the plant. The book ends with a question from God: you cared about a plant you did not grow; should I not care about a city of more than 120,000 people, and many animals too? Jonah never answers. The reader has to.

Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement. It comes ten days after the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah. Jewish tradition treats it as the most serious day of the year. Many Jewish adults fast from sunset to sunset. People spend the day in the synagogue, saying sorry for wrongs and asking to be forgiven.

In the afternoon service, the whole book of Jonah is read aloud as the haftarah. It is a strange choice at first. Jonah is a prophet who does everything wrong. But the people of Nineveh, who are not even Israelites, do everything right. They hear a warning, they turn back, and they are forgiven.

Rabbis over the centuries have explained the choice in many ways. Some say it shows that no one can run from God. Some say it shows that saying sorry really works, for anyone. Some point to the last line: God cares for every person and even the animals. On the day for teshuvah, Jewish tradition reads the story of a whole city that did it.

Jeremiah was a prophet in Jerusalem about 150 years after Isaiah. By then the northern kingdom was gone. Assyria had taken Samaria in 722 BCE. Now a new empire, Babylon, was growing in the east. Jeremiah said Babylon would take Jerusalem too, unless the people changed how they lived.

Nobody wanted to hear it. Jeremiah stood at the Temple gate and said the building would not save them. Only doing justice would. He wore a wooden yoke, the bar that goes over an ox’s neck, to show that Judah would serve Babylon. Priests and officials were angry. The text says they beat him and lowered him into a muddy pit.

Jeremiah’s book shows his feelings more than most. He says he wished he had never been born. He says the message burned inside him like a fire, and he could not hold it in. Jewish tradition also connects Jeremiah with the book of Lamentations, the sad poems for the burned city.

Jeremiah’s warning came true. The book of 2 Kings, chapter 25, says the Babylonian army broke through the walls of Jerusalem. They burned the Temple that Solomon had built. They burned the palace and the houses. Historians date this to 586 BCE. Many people were marched away to Babylon.

Living far from home under a foreign king is called exile. The Hebrew word is galut. Psalm 137 gives the feeling. It says the people sat down by the rivers of Babylon and wept when they remembered Zion, another name for Jerusalem. Their captors asked them to sing. They asked how they could sing the LORD’s song in a strange land.

The exile did not last forever. About fifty years later, a new king, Cyrus of Persia, let people go home and rebuild. But the exile changed Jewish life. Without a Temple, people gathered to pray and to read. Many historians say the synagogue and the habit of studying the text grew from this time. Every year on Tisha B’Av, Jewish communities fast and read Lamentations to remember the burned Temple.