Judges and Kings

 The Hebrews were a group of nomadic people that went to Egypt and then became enslaved.  When they escaped Egypt, they were once again nomadic.  Eventually, they settled in the Promised Land, somewhere around 1400 BC.  Once they entered Canaan, they were ruled by elders and leaders of the people.

 After a time, the elders were not doing a very good job of ruling the Hebrews (now called the Israelites), so the Judges began to rule.  The time of the Judges was about 1244 BC to 879 BC.  The time of the Judges ended when Saul, the first king of Israel was crowned.  Next came King David, followed by his son, Solomon.

 The years of King Solomon’s reign are roughly 970 to 931 BC.  He was the wisest man in the Old Testament.  His proverbs, along with some others, became a book of the Old Testament.  A proverb is a short saying that attempts to communicate some kind of wisdom.

 Israelite wisdom was rooted in the Hebrew understanding of God.  The Jewish people think that to know God and meet Him, you must meet Him through history.  It is only by understanding His actions that you can understand His personality.  Since God, or YHWY (Yahweh), gave the Hebrews a Law, He was a lawful God.