God wanted to be Israel’s only king, but the people wanted a human king so they could be like the surrounding nations. God allows them to select a man named Saul as their king and places his Spirit inside him to empower him. But Saul quickly fails in his mission to represent God and creates conse...

David is anointed as king, but he will not be inaugurated as king until fourteen long years have passed of being chased by King Saul like a fugitive. God uses this difficult season to grow David’s dependency on him and shape him into the kind of man who can handle the pressures of shepherding a n...

King Solomon is granted wisdom from God, and he makes wise decisions that are in alignment with God’s will, which blesses the nation beyond measure. But later, Solomon loses his way. He marries foreign women who worship other gods, which ultimately leads him to compromise Israel’s witness to othe...

Unfortunate events lead to the split of the kingdom; the ten tribes in the north becoming the nation of Israel and the two tribes in the south becoming the nation of Judah. In the lower story, the nation of Israel seems to have divided because of the immature leadership of King Rehoboam. But from...

God uses Assyrians to conquer, deport, and assimilate the kingdom of Israel. They are lost, never to reassemble as a nation. Overall, the kingdom of Judah is not markedly better than Israel. But God has made an unconditional covenant with David, promising the Messiah would come from David’s famil...

The people of Judah have been taken into exile in Babylon, including a young man named Daniel. Daniel faithfully follows God during his time of exile—in spite of the risks and threats against his life—and never becomes addicted to the “diet” of the culture.

Esther, a young Jewish woman living in Persia, becomes queen around the same time a man named Haman, an Amalekite, is promoted to a position of leadership. Haman has it out for the Jews and convinces the king to sign an edict to exterminate them all on one particular day. However, through Esther’...

The children of Israel return from captivity. They rebuild the temple for God’s presence to dwell and the wall around Jerusalem to protect themselves from enemies. But the most important project is the rebuilding of their lives with God. Malachi, the last person to speak in the Old Testament, for...