Thematic Bible: Civil


Thematic Bible



then his father and mother shall take hold of him, and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gateway of his hometown. Verse ConceptsGatesComing To Gates

He shall flee to one of these cities, and shall stand at the entrance of the gate of the city and explain his case to the elders of that city; and they shall take him into [the protection of] the city and give him a place [to stay], so that he may live among them. Verse ConceptsGatesWaiting At Gates

then the young woman’s father and her mother shall get and bring out the evidence of her virginity to the elders of the city at the gate [where court is held]. Verse ConceptsTownComing To Gatesvirginity

But if the man does not want to marry his brother’s [widowed] wife, then she shall go up to the gate [of the city, where court is held] to the elders, and say, ‘My brother-in-law refuses to continue his brother’s name in Israel; he is not willing to perform the duty of a husband’s brother.’ Verse ConceptsOld Age, Attitudes ToTownComing To GatesPeople UnwillingBrothers in lawMarriage Between Man And Woman

Then Boaz went up to the city gate [where business and legal matters were settled] and sat down, and then the close relative (redeemer) of whom Boaz had spoken came by. He said to him, “Come over here, friend, and sit down.” So he came and sat down. Verse ConceptsGatesSitting In The Gateway

These are the things which you should do: speak the truth with one another; judge with truth and pronounce the judgment that brings peace in [the courts at] your gates. Verse ConceptsLawsuitsBusiness At The GatewayJudging RightlyPerforming The TruthSpeaking TruthDoing God's WorksSeek PeaceJudgmentsTelling The Truth

They stood before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the leaders, and all the congregation at the doorway of the Tent of Meeting (tabernacle), saying,

She used to sit [to hear and decide disputes] under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the Israelites came up to her for judgment. Verse ConceptsPalm TreesCourts

Joab was over the host of Israel; Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over [the king's bodyguards] the Cherethites and Pelethites; Adoram was over the tribute; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was recorder; Sheva was scribe; and Zadok and Abiathar were the priests; read more.
Also Ira the Jairite was chief minister to David.

But Solomon did not make slaves of the sons of Israel; for they were men of war (soldiers), his servants, his officers, his captains, his chariot commanders, and his horsemen. Verse ConceptsCaptainsRank

“You, Ezra, are to appoint magistrates and judges in accordance with the wisdom and instruction of your God which is in your hand, so that they may judge all the people who are in the province west of the [Euphrates] River; appoint those who know the laws of your God; and you may teach anyone who does not know them. Verse ConceptsGod, Wisdom OfJudgesMagistratesBeyond The RiverTeaching The Way Of God

Joab son of Zeruiah was over the army; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was recorder; Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelech son of Abiathar were the [chief] priests, and Seraiah was the scribe; Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over both the Cherethites and Pelethites [the king's bodyguards]; and David's sons were chief [confidential] assistants to the king.

King Solomon was king over all Israel. These were his chief officials: Azariah son of Zadok was the [high] priest; Elihoreph and Ahijah, sons of Shisha, were secretaries; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was recorder; read more.
Benaiah son of Jehoiada commanded the army; Zadok and Abiathar were priests; Azariah son of Nathan was over the officers; Zabud son of Nathan was priest and the king's friend and private advisor; Ahishar was in charge of the palace; and Adoniram son of Abda was in charge of the forced labor. Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel, who secured provisions for the king and his household; each man had to provide for a month in a year. These were their names: Ben-hur, in the hill country of Ephraim; Ben-deker, in Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth-shemesh, and Elon-beth-hanan; Ben-hesed, in Arubboth (to him belonged Socoh and all the land of Hepher); Ben-abinadab, in Naphoth-dor (he had Taphath, Solomon's daughter, as wife); Baana son of Ahilud, in Taanach, Megiddo, and all Beth-shean which is beside Zarethan below Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah as far as beyond Jokmeam; Ben-geber, in Ramoth-gilead (to him belonged the villages of Jair son of Manasseh which are in Gilead, also the region of Argob which is in Bashan, sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars); Ahinadab son of Iddo, in Mahanaim; Ahimaaz, in Naphtali (he had taken Basemath, Solomon's daughter, as his wife); Baana son of Hushai, in Asher and Bealoth; Jehoshaphat son of Paruah, in Issachar; Shimei son of Ela, in Benjamin; Geber son of Uri, in Gilead, the country of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan; only one officer was over all the country [at one time, each serving for one month].

Choose wise, understanding, experienced, and respected men according to your tribes, and I will make them heads over you. And you answered me, The thing which you have spoken is good for us to do. So I took the heads of your tribes, wise, experienced, and respected men, and made them heads over you, commanders of thousands, and hundreds, and fifties, and tens, and officers according to your tribes. read more.
And I charged your judges at that time: Hear the cases between your brethren and judge righteously between a man and his brother or the stranger or sojourner who is with him.

Nation was crushed by nation, and city by city, for God troubled them with every kind of distress. Verse ConceptsCivil StrifeTwo Hundred And Some


“Now beware so that you do not lose heart,
And so that you are not afraid at the rumor that will be heard in the land—
For the rumor shall come one year,
And after that another rumor in another year,
And violence shall be in the land,
Ruler against ruler—
Verse ConceptsViolence In The EarthdiscouragementCivil StrifeRumoursFear, Of FutureResisting DiscouragementThose Not Fearingrumors

When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed (frightened, troubled); these things must take place, but the end is not yet. Verse ConceptsTrouble, Causes OfCivil StrifeRumoursWarsEnd Of The WorldPrinciples Of WarSigns Of The TimesWarrumors

Then He told them, Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be mighty and violent earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences (plagues: malignant and contagious or infectious epidemic diseases which are deadly and devastating); and there will be sights of terror and great signs from heaven.


“So I will provoke Egyptians against Egyptians;
And they will fight, each one against his brother and each one against his neighbor,
City against city, kingdom against kingdom.
Verse ConceptsChaosAnarchyHorrors Of WarCivil War

There was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David; but David grew steadily stronger, while the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker [to the point of being powerless]. Verse ConceptsDavid, Reign OfHousesWarfare, Examples OfWarfare, Nature OfWeakness, PhysicalStrong IndividualsWithout StrengthCivil WarWarBattle

There was also war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually. Verse ConceptsWarfare, Nature OfCivil War

The men of Ephraim were summoned together and they crossed to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, Why did you cross over to fight with the Ammonites and did not summon us to go with you? We will burn your house over you with fire. And Jephthah said to them, I and my people were in a severe conflict with the Ammonites, and I when I called you, you did not rescue me from their hands. And when I saw that you would not rescue me, I put my life in my hands and crossed over against the Ammonites, and the Lord delivered them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me this day to fight against me? read more.
Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought with Ephraim; and the men of Gilead smote Ephraim because they had said, You Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim in the midst of Ephraim and Manasseh. And the Gileadites took the fords of the Jordan before the Ephraimites; and when any of those Ephraimites who had escaped said, Let me go over, the men of Gilead said to him, Are you an Ephraimite? If he said, No, They said to him, Then say Shibboleth; and he said, Sibboleth, for he could not pronounce it right. Then they seized him and slew him at the fords of the Jordan. And there fell at that time 42,000 of the Ephraimites.

And Abner son of Ner and the servants of Ish-bosheth son of Saul went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon. Joab son of Zeruiah and the servants of David went out also; and the two groups met by the pool of Gibeon, seating themselves with one group on either side of the pool. And Abner said to Joab, Let the young men now arise and have a contest before us. And Joab said, Let them arise. read more.
Then there arose and went over by number -- "twelve of Benjamin who were with Ish-bosheth son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David. And each caught his opponent by the head and thrust his sword into his side; so they all fell together. Therefore that place was called the Field of Sharp Knives, which is at Gibeon. A very fierce battle followed, and Abner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of David. Three sons of Zeruiah [the half sister of David] were there: Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Now Asahel was as light of foot as a wild roe or antelope. Asahel pursued Abner, and as he ran he turned not to the right hand or to the left from following Abner. Then Abner looked behind him and said, Are you Asahel? He answered, I am. Abner said to him, Turn aside to your right or left, and seize one of the young men and take his armor. But Asahel would not turn aside from following him. And Abner said again to Asahel, Turn aside from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How then should I be able to face Joab your brother? Asahel refused to turn aside; so Abner with the rear end of his spear smote him through the abdomen, and he fell and died where he fell. And all who came to the place where Asahel fell and died stood still. But Joab and Abishai [his brothers] pursued Abner; the sun was going down as they came to the hill of Ammah, before Giah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon. And the Benjamites gathered together behind Abner and became one troop and took their stand on the top of a hill. Then Abner called to Joab, Shall the sword devour forever? Do you not know that bitterness will be the result? How long will it be then before you bid the people to stop pursuing their brethren? Joab said, As God lives, if you had not spoken, surely the men would have stopped pursuing their brethren in the morning. So Joab blew a trumpet, and all the people stood still and pursued Israel no more, nor did they fight any more. Abner and his men went all night through the Arabah [plain], crossed the Jordan, and went through the whole Bithron [district of ravines] and came to Mahanaim. Joab returned from pursuing Abner, and when he had gathered all the people together, there were missing of David's servants nineteen men besides Asahel. But the servants of David had slain of Benjamin 360 of Abner's men.

Then the people of Israel were divided in half. Half of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath, to make him king, and the other half followed Omri. Verse ConceptsFractions, One HalfTwo GroupsMaking KingsHalf Of GroupsList Of Kings Of Israel