Moses was dead, but God selected another great man to lead His people. This man was Joshua. He was one of the spies that went into the promised land from Kadesh-Barnea, but his report was that God would help His people to possess the land. Because of this, he and the other “faithful spy,” (a man named Caleb), were the only two men who left the land of Egypt to enter the promised land. All the rest of the men (over 600,000) perished wandering the forty years in the wilderness. God gave the land to their children.
Conquering The Land
After crossing the Jordan River by a miracle, the Israelites began to take the land. The city of Jericho was taken by God making the wall of the city to fall down after the Israelites marched around the city 13 times. It was not too long before the entire land was taken by the Israelites.
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The Period Of The Judges
Following the death of Joshua, God selected certain men to lead the people by being judges over them. We do not have time to discuss all of these (you can read of their lives in the book of Judges) but some are well known to Bible students.
| Ehud | The left-handed judge |
| Deborah | The woman judge |
| Gideon | God’s warrior with his 300 men |
| Samson | The strongest man who ever lived |
| Samuel | The last judge |
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The Period Of The Kings
The people rejected God’s plan of having Him as their king and judge (1 Samuel 8:1-7) and demanded earthly kings. God let them have their way and gave them Saul as their first king. Later David became king and then his son Solomon.
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The Division Of The Kingdom
Following the death of Solomon, the kingdom became two kingdoms; each of which was to go into captivity. The chart below gives some of the important information about the kingdoms.
| Name of kingdom | Location | No. of tribes | Date of captivity | Place of captivity | Kind of kings | Faithful to God |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Judah | Southern | 2 | 605 B. C. | Babylon | Good, Evil | Sometimes |
| Israel | Northern | 10 | 722 B. C. | Assyria | Evil | Never |
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The Prophets
Most of the prophets of the Old Testament lived after the time of Solomon. The prophets were simply God’s spokesmen. They called the people to repentance and foretold the coming of Jesus. The last 17 books of the Old Testament are books written by some of these prophets.
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Return From Captivity
Seventy years after being taken into Babylon the Israelites returned to the promised land. They were led by Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah. Here they were to remain until the coming of Jesus. You can read about the return in Ezra and Nehemiah.