Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Kings 15-16.

Today’s passage made me think abut something we overlook a lot.  We normally think of Ancient Israel (the combined lands of the Kingdom of Judah and the Kingdom of Israel) as being essentially the territory controlled by the modern state of Israel plus the West Bank and Gaza.  This year I have been noticing the repeated mentions of Gilead as part of Israel.  Gilead was the land east of the Jordan River settled by the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and one half of Manasseh.   Today’s passage tells us that Pekah led a band of fifty men from Gilead to assassinate Pekihiah.  Then later the passage tells us that during the reign of Pekah, Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria took Gilead and Galilee and deported the people living there to Assyria.  All of which tells us that Gilead was an integral part of Ancient Israel.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.