After 4 quiet centuries, God breaks the silence with the climactic announcing of the Messiah the Old Testament has been whispering of throughout.

God gathers his people out of exile, prompting and providing for their successful return to Jerusalem to, in the face of opposition, rebuild the temple and city wall, renew their commitment to the Lord, and remember their need for His restoration still to come.

In the exile, God’s people are to live in such a way that displays His glory and goodness, living distinctly different from the world around them in full devotion and dependence on Him as their sure and only hope.

Through the loving admonition of the prophets, God denounces the idolatry and spiritual adultery of His covenant people, displays His justice in the coming exile for their covenant breaking, and boldly declares His covenant promise to heal, restore, and bless all the nations through His covenant love in the coming Messiah.

Despite the completion of the temple for the nation’s centralized worship, Israel’s devotion to God drifts in the wake of its newfound success and comfort, with Solomon’s divided heart leading to a divided monarchy as the slow drift of syncretistic sin splinters Israel & Judah and sends them spiraling in decline.

In the absence of leadership and destructive spread of self-rule, Israel demands a king for their young nation, rejecting God in the process as their source of direction, protection, and validation and further highlighting God’s gracious promise to David of the coming king whose throne will be eternal.

In fulfillment of His promise, and in response to the Canaanites centuries of evil, God mightily gives his people a home, charging them in the process towards pure devotion to Him as their only hope for future security & joy.

In loving discipline for their unbelief God takes His people through the wilderness, patiently weaning them off their distrusting, self-reliant patterns of the past and re-training them in daily trust of Him as their leader and all-satisfying Lord moving forward.

Upon rescuing His people, God graciously gives the law to direct their new relationship with Him moving forward.

The Lord reveals Himself as the One True God, delivering Israel out of Egyptian slavery by asserting His supreme power over human kings and false gods while displaying His rescuing grace towards all who call on Him.