Ahab became king of Israel in the thirty-eighth year of Asa, king of Judah, and reigned for twenty-two years.

All Israel and Judah flocked to his side, and David, attended only by the Cherethites and Pelethites and his former body guard that had followed him from Gath, found it expedient to flee.

Amos lived in the kingdom of Judah but preached in the northern kingdom of Israel.

Amos was a prophet during the reign of Jeroboam ben Joash ( Jeroboam II ), ruler of Israel from 793 BC to 753 BC, and the reign of Uzziah, King of Judah, at a time when both kingdoms ( Israel in the North and Judah in the South ) were peaking in prosperity.

As it is with all nations that rise up against the kingdom of God, even Israel and Judah will not be exempt from the judgment of God because of their idolatry and unjust ways.

* History of ancient Israel and Judah

In Hebrew the book is called Divrei Hayyamim ( i. e. " the matters the days "), based on the phrases sefer divrei ha-yamim le-malkhei Yehudah and " sefer divrei ha-yamim le-malkhei Israel " (" book of the days of the kings of Judah " and " book of the days of the kings of Israel "), both of which appear repeatedly in the Books of Kings.

However, it is also possible to divide the book into three parts rather than four by combining the sections treating David and Solomon, since they both ruled over a combined Judah and Israel, unlike the last section that contains the chronicle of the Davidic kings who ruled the Kingdom of Judah alone.

God's commission to Joshua in chapter 1 is framed as a royal installation, the people's pledge of loyalty to Joshua as successor Moses recalls royal practices, the covenant-renewal ceremony led by Joshua was the prerogative of the kings of Judah, and God's command to Joshua to meditate on the " book of the law " day and night parallels the description of Josiah in 2 Kings 23: 25 as a king uniquely concerned with the study of the law — not to mention their identical territorial goals ( Josiah died in 609 BCE while attempting to annex the former Israel to his own kingdom of Judah ).

The first 39 chapters prophesy doom for a sinful Judah and for all the nations of the world that oppose God, while the last 27 prophesy the restoration of the nation of Israel and a new creation in God's glorious future kingdom ; this section includes the Songs of the Suffering Servant, four separate passages referring to the nation of Israel, interpreted by Christians as prefiguring the coming of Jesus Christ.

Isaiah's first significant acts as a prophet occurred when Judah, under king Ahaz, faced invasion from Israel and Aram Damascus ( Syria ) after refusing to join them in a revolt against Assyria, the dominant imperial power of the age.

Isaiah's warning that Judah would meet the same fate as Israel was ignored.

Of notable importance is Isaiah 7: 14, where the prophet is assuring king Ahaz that God will save Judah from the invading armies of Israel and Syria ; the sign that will prove this is the forthcoming birth of a child called Emmanuel, " God With Us ".

* History of ancient Israel and Judah

* History of ancient Israel and Judah

The Book ( s ) of Kings (-the two books were originally one ) presents a narrative history of ancient Israel and Judah from the death of David to the release of his successor Jehoiachin from imprisonment in Babylon, a period of some 400 years ( c. 960-560 BCE ).

God therefore breaks the kingdom in two, with David's line reigning in the southern kingdom of Judah with a separate kingdom of Israel in the north.

Further levels of editing have also been proposed, including: a late 8th century edition pointing to Hezekiah of Judah as the model for kingship ; an earlier 8th century version with a similar message but identifying Jehu of Israel as the ideal king ; and an even earlier version promoting the House of David as the key to national well-being.

Through Amos, God tells the people that he is going to judge Israel for its sins, and it will be a foreign nation that will enact his judgment.

For the people of Israel " the day of the LORD " is the day when God will fight against their and his enemies, and it will be a day of victory for Israel.

God will not hold back judgment because Israel refuses to listen to the prophets and even goes so far as to try to silence them ( 2: 12, 3: 8, 7: 10-17 ).

Other major ideas in the book of Amos include: social justice and concern for the disadvantaged ; the idea that Israel's covenant with God did not exempt them from accountability for sin ; God is God of all nations ; God is judge of all nations ; God is God of moral righteousness ; God made all people ; God elected Israel and then liberated Israel so that He would be known throughout the world ; election by God means that those elected are responsible to live according to the purposes clearly outlined to them in the covenant ; if God destroys the unjust, a remnant will remain ; and God is free to judge whether to redeem Israel.

The invasion of Israel by the Northern Confederacy " will bring the Beast and his armies to the defense of Israel as her protector ".

An angel appears to Daniel and explains that the demonic " prince of Persia " is in opposition, but that Michael " the great prince of Israel " will save them, as the only one who will " stand up.

Cyrus is named as the messiah who will overthrow Babylon and allow the return of Israel ( chapter 45: 1 ).

The promise has three elements: posterity ( i. e., descendants-Abraham is told that his descendants will be as innumerable as the stars ), divine-human relationship ( Israel is to be God's chosen people ), and land ( the land of Canaan, cursed by Noah immediately after the Deluge ).

Chapters 1: 1-2: 5 are thus a confession of failure ; chapters 2: 6-3: 6 are a major summary and reflection from the Deuteronomists, setting out the over all formula which the stories in the main text will follow: Israel " does evil in the eyes of Yahweh ;" the people are given into the hands of their enemies and cry out to Yahweh ; Yahweh raises up a leader ; the " spirit of Yahweh " comes upon the leader, the enemy is defeated, and peace is regained.

As God's chosen king over Israel David is also the son of God (" I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me ..."-2 Samuel 7: 14 ).

* Promise: In return for Israel's promise to worship Yahweh alone, Yahweh makes promises to David and to Israel-to David, the promise that his line will rule Israel forever, to Israel, the promise of the land they will possess.

During the years when Israel was passing from crisis to crisis -- the Sinai campaign, the infusion of multitudes of penniless immigrants -- it was felt that the purpose of national unity could be best served if the secular majority were to yield to the religious parties.

I said quietly, gaining nerve, ready to ask any question at all, no matter how intimate, ready to be rebuffed, `` Then why did she leave Israel??

As punishment God's vengeance would be directed against Israel, and the prophet warns his audience: " Is not the day of the LORD darkness, not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?

The plagues in the preceding chapter, chapter four, were supposed to be seen as acts of discipline that turned Israel back to God.

Though God commanded instruments to be used in Temple worship, and the daily life of Israel, the first recorded example of a musical instrument in Roman Catholic worship was an organ introduced by Pope Vitalian into a cathedral in Rome around 670.

" ( Isaiah 40: 17 ), to which Abbahu replied: " Do we not read of Israel, he ' shall not be reckoned among the nations '?

Exterior view of a Mamluk Caravanserai complex, including the mausoleum of Nabi Yamin, traditionally believed to be the tomb of Benjamin, at present located outside Kfar Sava, Israel.

( Chapter 1 is the first of three important moments in Joshua marked with major speeches and reflections by the main characters ; here first God and then Joshua make speeches about the goal of conquest of the Promised Land ; at chapter 12, Joshua looks back on the conquest ; and at chapter 23 Joshua gives a speech about what must be done if Israel is to live in peace in the land ).

" The divine call for massacre at Jericho and elsewhere can be explained in terms of cultural norms ( Israel wasn't the only Iron Age state to practice herem ) and theology ( a measure to ensure Israel's purity as well as the fulfillment of God's promise ), but Patrick D. Miller in his commentary on Deuteronomy remarks, " there is no real way to make such reports palatable to the hearts and minds of contemporary readers and believers.

As chapters 1-10 progress the theme of God's presence with Israel comes to the fore: these chapters describe how Israel is to be organised around the Sanctuary, God's dwelling-place in their midst, under the charge of the Levites and priests, in preparation for the conquest of the land.

The kings of Israel are uniformly evil, allowing gods other than Yahweh to be worshiped, and eventually God brings about the destruction of the kingdom.

Yahweh commissions Ezekiel to be a prophet and a " watchman " in Israel: " Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites.

God commands that she be named Lo-ruhamah ; Unloved, or, Pity or Pitied On to show Israel that, although God will still have pity on the Southern Kingdom, God will no longer have pity on the Northern Kingdom ; its destruction is imminent.