The Book of Joshua
The book of Joshua details Israel's arrival in the promised land and serves as a reminder of God's faithfulness and the terms of the covenant.
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Joshua leads Israel to settle in the promised land.
The book of Joshua shows us God’s faithfulness to his covenant with the Israelites to bring them into the land he promised to Abraham. This book points to the importance of covenant obedience before, during, and after God fulfills his promises.
The Promised Land
At the start of the book of Joshua, Joshua is appointed as Israel's new leader, a new Moses. He commands obedience to the covenant, sends spies into the land, and brings the people of Israel through the waters of the Jordan River.
There Joshua runs into a heavenly commander who makes it clear that the battles that will unfold in this book are not about Israel versus other nations but about God fulfilling his promise to the family of Abraham.
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The Book of Judges
The book of Judges details the corruption and downward spiral of Israel's judges, but this brutal history still offers future hope for Israel.
Israel abandons God and becomes completely corrupt in the land.
What happens when Israel forgets their God? The book of Judges shows Israel's tragic downward spiral. It’s a sobering examination of the human condition that highlights the need for a deliverer.
Descent into Madness
After the death of Joshua, the people of Israel begin a downward spiral. Israel begins to adopt the corrupt practices of the Canaanites they failed to drive out of the land. This leads to a repeated cycle of sin, oppression, repentance, deliverance, and peace, which only eventually leads back into sin.
The book of Judges highlights six judges during this time and shows their increasing corruption. These judges start off fairly well (Othniel, Ehud, Deborah) but become increasingly worse (Gideon, Jephthah, Samson). The book ends with two very disturbing stories that show how incredibly lawless the people have become. The central verse that summarizes this says, "In those days Israel had no king, and everyone did what was right in their own eyes."
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The Book of Ruth
The book of Ruth illustrates how God works through ordinary people. Here God uses a non-Israelite woman to bring about his promises to David.
God uses a faithful non-Israelite to bring restoration to his people.
The book of Ruth is a beautifully-crafted look at how God’s good purpose interplays with human decision. It’s a tale of love, loss, faithfulness, and redemption.
The Faithful Gentile
Picking up "in the days when the judges ruled," the book of Ruth tells the story of Naomi, the Moabite widow Ruth, and the farmer Boaz. The four chapters of the book are each designed with intentional symmetry. The first and last chapters reflect how loyalty turned this story of tragedy and death into a story of joy and birth. The inner chapters show how Naomi and Ruth make a plan, followed by an encounter between Ruth and Boaz, followed by Naomi and Ruth rejoicing.
Curiously, God is hardly mentioned in the book of Ruth. At a time when we look for God to be active through a judge or king, God instead works out his will through the everyday faithfulness of his people. This faithfulness not only benefits Naomi and her family but goes on to bless the world through the family of David, the line from which the Messiah would eventually come.
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The Book of 1 Samuel
The book of 1 Samuel outlines the fall of King Saul and David's rise to the throne as a humble servant of God.
God raises up two kings, one proud and the other humble.
The book of 1 Samuel is an exciting book split into two parts due to its large size. The first part is a contrasting character study of Saul and David, showing the importance of humility in God’s people.
The Rise and Fall of Saul
The book of 1 Samuel focuses on three characters: Samuel, Saul, and David. A poem near the start of the book reveals the book's key themes: God’s opposition to the proud, exultation of the humble, faithfulness in spite of evil, and the promise of a messianic king.
These themes are played out through the rest of the book as we see Saul rise to power, only to have his character flaws exposed as he disobeys God’s command. In contrast, God raises up David, a humble shepherd who trusts God. As the story progresses, we see these two characters in increasingly stark contrast. Saul slips into madness as David resolutely trusts in God’s timing and purposes.
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The Book of 2 Samuel
Explore the life of King David, specifically his reign as king and his downward spiral of sin and self-destruction.
David’s reign is marked by incredible success, terrible failure, and God’s promise.
The book of 2 Samuel continues to show us the virtue of humility, the destructiveness of pride, and the faithfulness of God’s promise. We see David succeed and fail, and we see God’s promise for a future king at the beginning and end of the story.
The Rise and Fall of David
After the death of Saul, David unifies the twelve tribes as their king. In his new capital of Jerusalem, David desires to build God a house. Instead, God promises to build David an eternal house through a king from his lineage. This is a key moment in the book of 2 Samuel and in the Hebrew Scriptures that point us toward a messianic king who will come to fulfill the promise given to David and Abraham to bless all nations.
However, we soon discover that David is not that king. After failing spectacularly, the kingdom slowly unravels. The final chapters of 2 Samuel highlight moments of David’s weakness, showing us his own failure as similar to Saul’s, while promising another king who will come to fulfill God’s good purposes.
The Books of 1 & 2 Kings
Explore the history of Israel's kings, from Solomon to their eventual exile. Israel continues to rebel, yet hope remains for the coming Messiah.
King Solomon leads Israel to greatness for a while, but Israel is eventually divided and exiled.
After centuries of sojourning, struggles, and conquest, God's promise to Abraham appears to finally be tangible. David and Solomon unite the Israelites into a single kingdom with descendants as "numerous as the stars."
The Rise and Fall of a Kingdom
Known as 1 and 2 Kings in English Bibles, the book of Kings is originally a single book that recounts the rule of Israel's kings from King Solomon up until the time of Israel's exile, the final result of Israel's disobedience.
Will God's promised Messiah come to pass in spite of Israel's failures? Keep reading to find out! Note how the book's perspective gives the reader a bird's-eye view of the nation as a whole compared to the interpersonal focus of key individuals in the book of Samuel. Some notable people in Kings, like Elijah and Jezebel, will also become symbolic representatives for certain themes in the New Testament. Watch closely.
The Books of 1 & 2 Chronicles
1 and 2 Chronicles summarizes the Hebrew Bible with key highlights that emphasize God's love for his chosen people.
Chronicles retells the entire story of the Hebrew Bible, highlighting the future hope of the messianic King and a restored temple.
Like the books of Samuel and Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles was also written as a single book in the Hebrew Bible. But many modern readers skip reading it when they find that it repeats much of the material from the previous books. So is Chronicles necessary to read? Yes! And we'll tell you why.
The Story So Far
Chronicles is the last Book in the Hebrew Bible as it summarizes the continued relationship between God and Israel through the blessing of Abraham. The arrangement of Chronicles invites the reader to explore the stories of each section that reveal interesting details about David, Solomon, God's temple, the kings of Judah, and how they all work together. Chronicles is also an excellent historical reference for those studying specific facts in the Scriptures.
The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah
In Ezra-Nehemiah we see the people return to their homeland after exile and attempt to rebuild the temple and set right their covenant with God.
Many Israelites return to Jerusalem after exile. But their plan to rebuild the temple and return to their covenant faithfulness doesn’t exactly go as planned.
Zerubbabel and Nehemiah both play a part in restoring God's temple, with Zerubbabel taking charge over governing affairs and Nehemiah rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. Ezra, a descendant of Aaron, arrives in Jerusalem later and teaches God's laws to the post-exile Jewish generation.
Notice how the people receive and respond to Ezra’s teachings. It may remind you of how people responded to Jesus’ teachings about the Kingdom of God. As Jesus said, "He who has an ear, let him hear." It’s an apt reminder that no matter the context, God’s people struggle to respond to covenant faithfulness. We must all receive a new heart to be the faithful covenant partners we were made to be.
A Return from Exile
Zerubbabel and Nehemiah both play a part in restoring God's temple, with Zerubbabel taking charge over governing affairs and Nehemiah rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. Ezra, a descendant of Aaron, arrives in Jerusalem later and teaches God's laws to the post-exile Jewish generation.
Notice how the people receive and respond to Ezra’s teachings. It may remind you of how people responded to Jesus’ teachings about the Kingdom of God. As Jesus said, "He who has an ear, let him hear." It’s an apt reminder that no matter the context, God’s people struggle to respond to covenant faithfulness. We must all receive a new heart to be the faithful covenant partners we were made to be.
Originally written as a single book in the Hebrew Bible, Ezra and Nehemiah document the fulfillment of God's promise that Israel will return home after 70 years of exile in Babylon and restore their ruined temple again.
The Book of Esther
Though God is never mentioned, the book of Esther is filled with examples of God at work behind the scenes for the benefit of his beloved people.
In the book of Esther, God is never mentioned, but his providence is everywhere.
The author of Esther made a fascinating choice to not explicitly mention God in the story, but if you're paying attention, the threads of his divine work are all over the place. The book brilliantly features moments of “coincidences” and “happenstance” save the Jewish people from Haman’s plot to destroy them.
This story is a reminder that even when God seems absent, he does not abandon his people. He works in our lives and stays faithful to his promises even when we are living in the midst of exile.
Living in Exile
A classic story of good versus evil, the book of Esther is a unique account in the Bible. It gives us a glimpse of the Jewish people who remained outside their homeland after the exile, particularly those living in the Persian Empire.
God uses Esther and her uncle, Mordecai, two exiled Israelites, to rescue his people from annihilation. It’s a story of triumph and is still celebrated by Jewish people every year on the holiday of Purim.