April 27: 2 Samuel 12:26–31; 1 Chronicles 20:2–3; 2 Samuel 13:1 – 2 Samuel 14:33

Rabbah is Captured – 2 Samuel 12:26–31 & 1 Chronicles 20:2–3

• Joab fights against the Ammonites at Rabbah, taking the royal city, and sends word to David. David brings all of Israel, and they take all of Rabbah. The king's crown is given to David, and all the people are made servants to Israel.

Amnon and Tamar – 2 Samuel 13

• Absalom, David's son, has a beautiful sister named Tamar. Amnon, another of David's sons, loves her, and is miserable because of it. When Amnon's cousin Jonadab questions him why, he admits that he loves Tamar. The friend instructs him to feign illness and ask his father to have Tamar come to him and make him cakes. Amnon does as his friend suggests.
• David sends Tamar to Amnon's house, and she makes the cakes, but he refuses to eat. He has everyone else sent away and calls Tamar into his chamber. When she comes in, he tells her to lie with him, but she tells him not to do such an outrageous thing. He doesn't listen, and being stronger than she, he violates her.
• Then Amnon hates her and sends her away even though she begs him not to. Amnon has his servant put her out of the house, and she puts ashes on her head and tears her virgin's robe. When Absalom sees her, he realizes what has happened and tells her not to take it to heart. Tamar lives, a desolate woman, in Absalom's house.
• David is very angry, and Absalom hates Amnon for what he did.

Absalom Murders Amnon

• Two years later, Absalom has sheepshearers near Ephraim, and invites all the king's sons. Absalom convinces David to allow Amnon to go with him (David would not allow all of them to go), and Absalom then instructs his servants that once Amnon is drunk, they are to kill him. The servants do as instructed.
• Word comes to David that all his sons are dead, and he tears his garments and lies on the ground. David's nephew Jonadab tells him that only Amnon is dead and that Absalom had determined to do this from the time Amnon violated Tamar.

Absalom Flees to Geshur

• Absalom flees to Talmai (his maternal grandfather) King of Geshur and stays there for three years. David's spirit longs to go to Absalom.

Absalom Returns to Jerusalem – 2 Samuel 14

• Joab sends a woman to David with another story (much like Nathan told a story to David). She appeals to David to set aside the usual laws regarding murder due to extenuating circumstances. David questions if Joab is behind this woman's story, and she admits that Joab did this in order to change the course of things.
• David instructs Joab to bring Absalom back to Jerusalem, which he does. David determines that Absalom will live in his own house and not come into his presence.
• Absalom is very handsome, and he has three sons and a daughter (named Tamar, and she is also beautiful).
• Absalom lives in Jerusalem for two years without coming into the king's presence. He summons Joab twice, but he doesn't come. Absalom then has his servants set fire to Joab's field, and Joab comes to him to question him why he did that. Absalom tells him it is because he didn't come when he sent for him, then questions him why he has been summoned to Jerusalem because it would be better for him to still be in Geshur. He tells Joab that he either wants to go into the presence of the king or be put to death. 
• Joab goes to the king with his request, and David summons Absalom. Absalom bows before David, and David kisses him.

January 14: Genesis 37:1–Genesis 38:30; 1 Chronicles 2:3–6, 8; Genesis 39:1–23

Joseph's Dreams – Genesis 37

• When Jacob's son Joseph is seventeen, he tends his father's flocks, working for his half-brothers, the sons of his father's wives Bilhah and Zilpah. Joseph reports to his father some of the bad things his brothers are doing.
• Jacob loves Joseph more than any of his brothers, and he has a beautiful robe made for him. Joseph's brothers hate him because of their father's favoritism, and never have a kind word to say to him.
• Joseph has a dream that he and his brothers are out in the fields tying bundles of grain, and Joseph's bundle stands up and all his brothers' bundles bow down to it. He tells his brothers about the dream, and they hate him more.
• Joseph then has a dream that the sun, moon, and eleven stars all bow down to him. He tells his brothers and also tells his father. His father scolds him, asking if he thinks his entire family will bow down to him. But while Joseph's brothers are jealous, Jacob wonders what the dreams mean.
• While Joseph brothers are with the sheep in Shechem, Jacob sends Joseph out to them. Joseph goes in search of them but doesn't find them, and a man he meets tells Joseph he heard them talk about going to Dothan. Joseph goes to Dothan and finds his brothers there.

Joseph Sold by His Brothers

• Joseph's brothers see him coming and make plans to kill him. Reuben, the oldest brother, says that they shouldn't kill him but throw him into an empty cistern and let him die there; that way it wouldn't be his blood on their hands. Reuben plans to rescue Joseph and return him to their father.
• When Joseph reaches them, the brothers rip off his robe and throw him into the empty cistern. They sit down to eat, and a caravan of Ishmaelite Midianite traders and their camels near. Judah suggests they sell Joseph to the traders, and they do so for twenty pieces of silver. Joseph is then taken to Egypt by the traders.
• Reuben returns to get Joseph, but he is gone. He rips his clothing in despair.
• The other brothers kill a young goat and dip Joseph's coat in its blood, then take the robe to Jacob and ask him if the robe belonged to Joseph.
• Jacob confirms it is Joseph's coat and assumes he must have been eaten by a wild animal. He mourns for Joseph for a long time, unable to be comforted.
• The Midianite traders arrive in Egypt, where they sell Joseph to Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh's palace guard.

Judah and Tamar – Genesis 38

• Jacob's son Judah moves to Adullam. There he marries a Canaanite woman and they have three sons: Er, Onan, and Shelah. The years pass, and Judah arranges for Er to marry a young woman named Tamar.
• Er is a wicked man, and the Lord takes his life, so Judah tells Onan that he must marry Tamar since their cultural tradition requires that a younger brother produce an heir for the deceased older brother.
• Onan is not willing to have a son who isn't his own heir, so whenever he sleeps with Tamar, he spills his seed on the ground so she won't become pregnant.
• God considers it evil for Onan to deny his dead brother an heir, so He taks Onan's life too. Judah tells Tamar to return to her parents until Shelah is old enough to marry (he doesn't intend to marry Shelah to Tamar, though, because he fears Shelah will die too).
• Some years later, Judah's wife dies. After his time of mourning, Judah and a friend, Hirah, travel up to Timnah to supervise the shearing of sheep. Someone tells Tamar, who knows that Shelah is now old enough to marry.
• Tamar changes out of her widow's clothes, covers herself with a veil, and goes to a town on the road to Timnah, where she sits to wait. Judah sees her as he is traveling and thinks she is a prostitute, and propositions her.
• She asks how much he will pay her, and he offers her a young goat. She asks how she can know he will send the goat, and then suggests he leave his identification seal and its cord and his walking stick. Judah agrees.
• Judah sleeps with Tamar, and she becomes pregnant. She returns home and redresses in her widow's clothing.
• Judah has Hirah take a young goat and go looking for the woman so he can get his property back. When Hirah asks about her, then men of the town tell him there is no shrine prostitute. He returns to Judah, who tells him to let the woman have his property then, because he would be a laughingstock if they went back to look for her again.
• About three months later, Judah is told that his daughter-in-law, Tamar, has acted like a prostitute and become pregnant. Judah insists that she be burned. As men are dragging her away to be burned, she sends word to Judah about the seal and cord and walking stick and says that the man who owns them is the one who got her pregnant.
• Judah recognizes them as his own, and determines that she is more righteous than he, because he didn't arrange for her to marry Shelah as he should have.
• When the time comes for Tamar to give birth, it is discovered that she carries twins. During labor, one of the babies reaches his arm out, and the midwife ties a scarlet string on the wrist. That baby pulls his arm back in, and his brother is born first. The firstborn is named Perez and the second Zerah.

Descendants of Judah – 1 Chronicles 2:3–6, 8

• An account is given of the five sons of Judah, the sons of Perez and Zerah, and the son of Ethan (a son of Zerah), Azariah.

Joseph and Potiphar's Wife – Genesis 39

• The Lord is with Joseph while he's in Egypt, so Joseph succeeds in everything he does while in the house of Potiphar. Potiphar notices this and realizes that God is with Joseph, so he puts Joseph in charge of his entire household and everything he owns.
• Potiphar prospers, so he gives Joseph complete administrative responsibility over everything he has.
• Joseph is a handsome young man, and Potiphar's wife tries to get him to sleep with her. Joseph refuses, but she keeps pressuring him. One day, when no one else is around, Joseph goes into the house, and Potiphar's wife grabs him by the cloak and tries to get him to sleep with her. He refuses and gets away from her, but she still has his cloak.
• Potiphar's wife calls on her servants, shows them Joseph's cloak, and tells them that Joseph tried to rape her. She then tells Potiphar the same thing when he returns home.

Joseph Put in Prison 

• Potiphar is furious and has Joseph put in prison, where the king's prisoners are held.
• God is with Joseph, and makes him a favorite with the prison warden. Soon the warden puts Joseph in charge of all the other prisoners and everything that happens in the prison.
• The Lord is with Joseph and causes everything that he does to prosper.