This 18 part series explores the main moments in the Bible. This is a long story that takes place over thousands of years. It’s the story of all the ways that God has been trying to rescue and bless and love God’s people since the beginning of time. It’s the story that has been passed down and shared with billions of people. It’s a story that was written for everyone to hear, and at the same time it’s a story written specifically just for you. This chapter of the story is about the Great Nation.
Eventually, God guided the Israelites to the Promised Land. The space that God had told the Israelites about many, many years ago. There was so much joy amongst the people - it was as if a fairy tale were coming true. Those that entered the Promised Land could remember hearing their parents and their parent’s parents, and their parent’s parent’s parents speak wistfully about this holy place pledged to them by God.
But arriving in the Promised Land is not the same as living together in the Promised Land. There were many years of difficulty and struggle as the Israelites learned how to live together as free people in one place. For a time the land was governed by judges, but the people wanted a King. Some argued that God was the King; but still most of the people longed to be like the other nations and so eventually, God relented and the judge and prophet Samuel anointed Saul as the first King of Israel.
After Saul, David became King, and then David’s son Solomon, and the Kingdom of Israel expanded and grew and Solomon built a magnificent Temple where the people could worship their True King – God. And this was why Israel was a Great Nation, because God had blessed them and because they remembered the promises and commandments of God. They were a Holy Nation that was established by God so that all the people of the world might know The One True God of Israel.
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