The history of Israel - from Solomon to Assyria's annihilation of the Northern Kingdom - and the histories of the neighboring civilizations that helped shape Israel's course -Egypt, Syria, Philistia, Assyria, Babylon, and others - are seldom taught and little understood. Some of the Bible's best-loved and most dramatic stories are nestled in this period - including the ministries of Elijah, Elisha, Obadiah, Jonah, and Nahum - but they are told in...