I Chronicles
The book of I Chronicles is the official history of the Jews.  It begins with Adam and the first 9 chapters are genealogies.  The rest of the book tells about King David with some of the same information you find in I Samuel and II Samuel.

II Chronicles
The book of II Chronicles begins where I Chronicles ends, with Solomon as king.  It covers the same time period as I Kings and II Kings, but it focuses mainly on the descendants of David, which is the Southern Kingdom of Judah.

Ezra
The city of Jerusalem and the beautiful temple that King Solomon had built had been torn down and burned, and the Jews were taken as captives to Babylon.  When King Cyrus of Persia conquered Babylon, he encouraged the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple.  Ezra was a priest and a scribe who went back to Jerusalem to teach God’s law to the people.  “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.”  (Ezra 7:10)

Nehemiah
Nehemiah was the king’s cupbearer in Shushan the Persian palace and he asked some of the men of Judah how the rebuilding of Jerusalem was coming along.  They told him that the walls in Jerusalem had not been rebuilt and it made him very sad.  He prayed that God would let him go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls.  The king gave him permission to return and even gave timber from the king’s forest.  The book of Nehemiah tells how the enemies tried to stop the rebuilding of the walls.  They made fun of the workers and said that if a fox went on the wall it would break down.  They also began fighting with the workers, but Nehemiah encouraged them to keep working.  They finished the wall, working with one hand and holding a sword with the other hand.  (Chapter 4)  The book also tells about Ezra the priest reading the book of the law of Moses to the people.

Esther
The book of Esther also takes place during the captivity of the Jews.  King Ahasuerus had a great feast for all his princes, servants, and nobles that lasted 180 days.  Then he had a feast for all the people at Shushan the palace for seven days.  Queen Vashti made a feast for the women.  On the last day of the feast, the king called for Queen Vashti, to show everyone how beautiful she was, but she refused to come.  This angered the king and he asked his wise men what to do.  They told him that other women would stop listening to their husbands so he should not let her be queen.  Later the king started missing his beautiful queen so his servants suggested bringing all the beautiful maidens to the palace and let the king choose a new queen.  Esther was a Jewish girl who lived with her uncle Mordecai because her father and mother were dead.  Mordecai told Esther not to tell anyone that she was a Jew.  Esther was chosen to be the queen and she saved the Jews when wicked Haman wanted to kill them all.

Job
The book of Job is probably the oldest book of the Bible.  Job was a good man who loved God.  He had seven sons and three daughters and was very rich.  Satan told God that Job only served Him because God blessed him.  The Lord gave Satan permission to take away Job’s children and riches and make him very sick but Job still loved the Lord.  Job’s friends kept telling Job that all the bad things happened because he was bad.  In the end Job prayed for his friends and God gave Job twice as much riches as he had before.  We learn from the book of Job that sometimes bad things happen even to good people.


Week 3 -- Do You Know???

1.  Which book tells the history of the Jews similar to I Samuel and II Samuel?  ________________________________________________

2.  Which book tells the history of the Jews similar to I Kings and II Kings?  _________________________________________________

3.  Circle True or False
True   False   The Jews were captured and taken to Babylon
True   False   King Cyrus captured the Babylonians
True   False   King Cyrus would not let the Jews go back to Jerusalem
True   False   Ezra and Nehemiah helped rebuild the walls of Jerusalem

4.  What Jewish girl was chosen to be queen of Persia?  ______________

5.  Which book of the Bible tells of a good man who suffered?  ________

6.  Matching
____  I Chronicles          A) A Jewish queen saved her people
____  II Chronicles         B)  He was a priest and scribe and taught the people
  God’s law when they rebuilt the Jerusalem wall
____  Ezra     C)  Similar to I Samuel and II Samuel (King David)
____  Nehemiah     D)  Similar to I Kings and II Kings (history of Judah)
____  Esther          E)  The king’s cupbearer wanted to help rebuild the 
                                        walls around Jerusalem
____   Job             F)  A righteous man who suffered

Books Of The Bible
Week 3