1 Samuel 7

¹And the men of Kirjathjearim came, and fetched up the ark of the LORD, and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the hill, and sanctified Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the LORD.

²And it came to pass, while the ark abode in Kirjathjearim, that the time was long; for it was twenty years: and all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD.

³And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the LORD, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.

⁴Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served the LORD only.

For a god that professes to be the only god there sure are a lot of others he seems to feel are on equal ground to him. Why else would he always want them to be put away and their idols destroyed?

⁵And Samuel said, Gather all Israel to Mizpeh, and I will pray for you unto the LORD.

⁶And they gathered together to Mizpeh, and drew water, and poured it out before the LORD, and fasted on that day, and said there, We have sinned against the LORD. And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpeh.

⁷And when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together to Mizpeh, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines.

⁸And the children of Israel said to Samuel, Cease not to cry unto the LORD our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines.

Things may not have been so bad if de lard had the foresight not to kill fifty thousand when they recovered the ark

⁹And Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the LORD: and Samuel cried unto the LORD for Israel; and the LORD heard him.

¹⁰And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel: but the LORD thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them; and they were smitten before Israel.

Real thunder? Kill a lamb and it rains now surely if that where true then israel would not be the arid place it is. Or if de lard actually did exist, and looked after his chosen ones.

¹¹And the men of Israel went out of Mizpeh, and pursued the Philistines, and smote them, until they came under Bethcar.

¹²Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the LORD helped us.

¹³So the Philistines were subdued, and they came no more into the coast of Israel: and the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.

¹⁴And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron even unto Gath; and the coasts thereof did Israel deliver out of the hands of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.

So there we have it , yet another unverifiable account of a battle of unknown size.

Now that is over we have the end tag

¹⁵And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.

¹⁶And he went from year to year in circuit to Bethel, and Gilgal, and Mizpeh, and judged Israel in all those places.

¹⁷And his return was to Ramah; for there was his house; and there he judged Israel; and there he built an altar unto the LORD.

Joshua 3

¹And Joshua rose early in the morning; and they removed from Shittim, and came to Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over.

²And it came to pass after three days, that the officers went through the host;

We know from the previous chapter that word of the Israelites escapades has reached the inhabitants of Jericho, and I think it would be fair to assume the ruling administration would have even more knowledge. So as I asked earlier why are they not preparing for an invasion, questioning the odd stray donkey.

³And they commanded the people, saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place, and go after it.

⁴Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure: come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go: for ye have not passed this way heretofore.

Considering Noah's ark was only 300(450-500ft) cubits long that is a great distance(almost half a mile)It certainly makes me wonder.....Why ?

⁵And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves: for to morrow the LORD will do wonders among you.

⁶And Joshua spake unto the priests, saying, Take up the ark of the covenant, and pass over before the people. And they took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people.

⁷And the LORD said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.

⁸And thou shalt command the priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye are come to the brink of the water of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan.

⁹And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Come hither, and hear the words of the LORD your God.

¹⁰And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites.

¹¹Behold, the ark of the covenant of the LORD of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan.

¹²Now therefore take you twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe a man.

¹³And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the LORD, the LORD of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon an heap.

On first reading I thought the 12 men were the priests, but are they ?

If they are not the priests, is it not conceivable that they were selected for another mission ? A mission so secret it was not recorded, perhaps not even told to any others, a mission that would just about explain why there was such a distance between what was thought to be the ark and the rest of the army.

Intrigued ?

Remember the death of Aarons sons

I said at the time it sounded like an early gunpowder or fire flash.

With me now ?

Perhaps they got the quantities wrong and had inadvertently discovered an explosive. If this was the case, would it have been that difficult to go dam the Jordan, at least temporarily.

I am not suggesting how or where they did it or whether or not there was any preparation, what I am suggesting it is more convincing than godidit, or a coincidental earthquake that amounts to the same thing.

¹⁴And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents, to pass over Jordan, and the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people;

¹⁵And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,)

¹⁶That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho.

I think it is highly feasible that they had seen or knew of a weak overhang or an avalanche waiting to happen at some point.

¹⁷And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.

Genesis 14

Genesis 14

¹And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations;
²That these made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar.
So here we have the first instance of probable real history that has a possibility of verification. I say possibity because at this point in time no corroborative texts have been translated. The identity of these cities is also not confirmed but there are some likely candidates.and here
³All these were joined together in the vale of Siddim, which is the salt sea.
⁴Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled.
⁵And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaims in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzims in Ham, and the Emins in Shaveh Kiriathaim,
⁶And the Horites in their mount Seir, unto Elparan, which is by the wilderness.
⁷And they returned, and came to Enmishpat, which is Kadesh, and smote all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, that dwelt in Hazezontamar.
We also don't have a time frame for this, apart from the bible suggests it is around 1,000-1,200 years after the flood. To me this implies an awful lot of people in a relatively short time, especially as we know that whatever period in history this happened people were living in most places they live today.
⁸And there went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar;) and they joined battle with them in the vale of Siddim;
⁹With Chedorlaomer the king of Elam, and with Tidal king of nations, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar; four kings with five.
¹⁰And the vale of Siddim was full of slimepits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and fell there; and they that remained fled to the mountain.
Slimepits.... Says alot when you realise this is the first thing in the bible that can be 100% verified. Slimepits are a source of bitumen utilised as morter for building and waterproofing for roofs and boats.
¹¹And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their victuals, and went their way.
¹²And they took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.
¹³And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew; for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner: and these were confederate with Abram.
¹⁴And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan.
Nitpicking I know but if the narrative can't get these small facts right how can we have faith in the whole picture ?
Where did this huge house come from ? The last time accommodation was mentioned he was living in a tent. 318 trained servants he must have done some serious pimping, OK if he had at least 160 Ho's and they all gave birth to male twins he could have 318 trained servants and still be under a hundred years old..If my imagination has to stretch much further to fit it all into this mans life my mind will have a hernia.
¹⁵And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus.
Now he's a ninja.
¹⁶And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.
Note how its Lot,and his goods and oh nearly forgot the women also and the people.As long as lots goods were safe hey.
¹⁷And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and of the kings that were with him, at the valley of Shaveh, which is the king's dale.
¹⁸And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.
¹⁹And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth:
²⁰And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.
²¹And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself.
²²And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth,
²³That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich:
²⁴Save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.
So let me get this right Lot and others get taken prisoner his Uncle now brother a herdsman and pimp. Given the information here must have been fast approaching 100 years of age, with a few friends and a previously unmentioned private army is able to succeed in overcome a hostile force and secure the release of aforesaid prisoners where the amassed armies of five cities were unable to do so. He then refuses a just and earned reward . Right that's it I am off to get a truss for my head.