The Iliad was written by a bard named Homer. A bard is a story writer. One day, Paris, the prince of Troy, came to visit Menelaus, king of Sparta, and Helen, queen of Sparta. Helen was considered to be the most beutiful women in all the world. Many men fought to win her hand in marriage. Helen’s father told all the men that if anyone steals her, you all have to team up against him. One night, Paris kidnapped Helen and took her to Troy. King Menelaus went to Troy to rescue Helen. He took with him Agamemnon, the high king Odysseus the wisest, Ajax an impressive warrior, and Achilles, the strongest, along with many other warriors. One day some warriors built a horse called the Trojan horse. It was so big, 20-30 men could fit inside. Also, The inside fo it was hollow. Some of the men hid inside and the others pretended to get away, but they actually went a quarter of a mile away. At night, the men got out of the Trojan horse and opened the gates, and the others came in and destroyed the city. The Trojan war lasted ten years.
There were four kings after Josiah. Their names were Jehoaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah. A person named Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon besieged Jerusalem because Jehoiakim refused to pay tribute. His son took over after his father died. His son was Jehoiachin and did evil in the sight of the Lord and surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar deported 10,000 residents including Jehoiachin and his family. Nebuchadnezzar took his uncle and renamed him Zedekiah and made him king.
Jedekiah also refused to pay tribute and Nebuchadnezzar finally destroyed the city. Some ways he did that was destroying all the walls, he killed Zedekiah’s children, he poked Zedekiah’s eyes out, and he took him as prisoner, and one day, he was in prison he died.
Judah was captured 70 years. One night there was a party and a hand appeared writing on the wall. A person named Daniel read the words and then said that the Persians would capture the Babylonians. That night it happened. The new king of Persia let Judah go home.
There were 20 kings of Judah. The first king of Judah who was remembered as a good king was Asa, the third king of Judah. The first kings were Rehoboam and Abijah. Asa made a treaty with Ben-Hadad. Elijah told Asa God was not pleased of him, but Asa threw Elijah in jail. He died for reigning 41 years.
Asa’s son was Jehoshaphat, and his son was Jehoram. Jehoram married Athaliah, who was not a believer. Their son, Ahaziah was a wicked king. His mother Athaliah was the only queen of Judah and killed all her grandchildren, but her youngest grandchild escaped.
His name was Joash. Joash was six years old when he became king. When his grandmother heard the shouting, she rushed into the temple and ordered Joash to be killed. They wouldn’t listen. Joash commanded Athaliah to be stoned, and she was.
Joash’s son, Amaziah was the next king. He started out as a good king like his father. Then he worshiped idols, but soon his people killed him.
His son, Uzziah, was a good king, but he also sinned. God struck him with leprosy. His son reigned with him because his father was sick and so his brothers would not kill him. The other kings of Juday were Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, and Josiah.
David was the youngest son of Jesse. He was a shepherd, and his brothers were in the army of King Saul. While David was a shepherd, he practiced his slingshot. He killed a lion and a bear.
One day, his father asked him to check on his brothers. David went to check on them and he saw a giant saying, “Let your best man come and fight me, and if you win, we will be your servants. If we win, you will become our servants.” David went to Saul and told him he would fight Goliath, and Saul said, “No you are too little. He will slaughter you.” But David said, “The Lord God is with me.” Saul said Okay and let David put on his armor. The armor was too heavy. David took it off. He went to a river and got five smooth stones. The next day, David faced Goliath and Goliath said that David came to him with a stick. David said he came with God, and he swung his slingshot. He hit Goliath in the forehead, and Goliath fell. Just to make sure he was dead, David cut off Goliath’s head with Goliath’s sword. The Philistines fled and Israel’s army ran and killed most of their army.
Samuel, a prophet, told Saul David would be the next king. Saul was selfish and tried to kill David. When David was in the forest, Samuel anointed David. Devid waited until Saul was dead. When he was dead, David came out from hiding, but everyone else wanted Saul’s sone to be king. So David waited two more years then became king. While David was still king, he did sin. One of those sins was he married a woman named Bathsheba who was married to a person named Uriah. One battle, David told his people to kill Uriah, and they did. For David’s punishment, their first son died in childbirth.
Sampson was one of the judges of Israel. One day the Angel of the Lord came to a woman and told her she would have a son. He would be a Nazarite so he could not drink wine, he could not touch dead animals, and he could not cut his hair. She named her son Sampson.
Sampson did a lot of foolish things. He married a Philistine woman. He touched a dead animal on his way to the wedding. He even drank wine at his wedding. Later, he found out that his wife had married a different man. He became angry, so he caught 300 foxes, then tied torches to their tails and the foxes burned the fields. The Philistines became angry, but Sampson was too strong to kill, so they killed his wife and her father.
Later, he fell in love with another Philistine woman. Her name was Delilah. The Philistine lords said they would each give her eleven hundred pieces of silver if she would find Sampson’s weakness. Sampson lied to her three times, but the fourth time he told her about his hair. Then, Sampson fell asleep and Delilah cut his fair then she received the silver. At the temple, the Philistines poked out his eyes and when they took him to the party, Sampson asked if they could lean him beside the middle pillar, then he asked God for his strength back, and God gave it. Then Sampson pushed as strong as he could on the pillar and the temple fell on the Philistines.
Even though Sampson disobeyed, God still used him to save Israel from the Philistines.
Moses was a great leader. He led the Israelites out of Egypt. He always did what God commanded, even when it was strange. One of those strange times was when God told him to touch the ground with his staff and the dust would turn to lice and he obeyed. Sadly, one of those times Moses disobeyed. The Israelites complained about a lack of water, so God told Moses to speak to a rock, but Moses disobeyed and hit the rock and water came forth.
Another story in the Bible is about a person named Balaam. The Moabites wanted Balaam’s advice on how to defeat Israel. Balaam asked God what he should do, and the Lord said don’t go with them, but Balaam chose to do his own thing. In order to get Balaam’s attention, God put an angel in the road. His donkey saw the angel and ran off the road. He hit the donkey three times, but the third time the donkey spoke and Balaam realized God was speaking to him. He asked for forgiveness and decided to do things God’s way.
Sometimes God’s plans seem weird or it seems hard, but we should always obey. I do not want to miss out on all of the amazing things like Moses did. This is why we should always obey God.
It started like any other day. The sun was shining, the water was clean. I got dressed then went to my job. The Pharaoh greeted me then I went to work. Being second in command is hard work. WhileI was at work, Moses and Aaron asked the Pharoh to let the people go, but Pharaoh said no. Then the frogs came! There were millions of frogs! They were everywhere, in the food, in Egyptians’ hair, and in the homes. We wanted to show that their God didn’t do anything special and our magicians copied this miracle.
There were too many frogs. Pharaoh and I decided to let the people go if Moses would take the frogs away. Moses agreed and God killed the frogs and the place stunk. We hoped this was the end of the Plagues.
The death and afterlife were very important for the Egyptians. They were polytheistic, which means they worshiped many gods. One of those gods was Osiris, who was the god of the afterlife. His wife, Isis, was the goddess of the dead and magic. These were two of the main gods they worshiped.
The Egyptians wanted to get to the afterlife safely. They believed that the body carried the spirit safely to the afterlife; however, if the body decomposes, the spirit dies, and it does not go to the afterlife. So, to solve that problem they invented mummification. First, they removed the brain, then the organs, then they filled the body with spices. They put the organs in four different jars to keep them safe. Lastly, they rubbed salt on the body, then they wrapped the body in linens.
Pyramids were built to keep mummies in. The mummies were entombed with furniture and food to make them comfortable on their journey to the afterlife. They were also buried with their money and jewelry so that they could be rich in the afterlife. These are ways that show how the Egyptians were obsessed with the afterlife.
Thutmose III was known as the greatest of all pharaohs. He reigned from 1479 BC to 1425 BC. We know this because of the records left by Amenemhat. It was Amenemhat’s job to take notes and keep records for the Pharaohs. His reign ended because he died on March 11, 1425 BC.
Thutmose III was also known as a warrior pharaoh. He captured 350 cities during his military campaigns. The main reason he won so many battles is because of improved weapons. His victories were written on the inner walls at the Karnak Temple of Amun. He spent a lot of time rebuilding Karnak. He also hired royal artists to design a botanical garden.
Thutmose also had two daughters: Nefrubity and Hatshepsut. We are fairly certain that Nefrubity married King Solomon. We are also fairly certain that Hatshepsut visited King Solomon as queen of Sheba. I like learning about people living at the same time as the Bible.
God was sovereign over the lives of the patriarchs. The patriarchs were Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. God promised Abraham a son, and his descendants would be as many as the stars of the sky and the grains of sand. God kept His promise by giving Abraham a son, Issac. Then Issac had Jacob and Esau. Jacob had twelve sons who became the twelve tribes of Israel. It has been about 5,000 years since Abraham, and the Jews are still alive, just as God promised.
I know God is sovereign in my life because he kept me from dying in my mom’s belly. I know God has a plan for my life.