📘 Course Introduction

✨ Brief

This course continues the journey through Old Testament Bible history, from Israel’s entry into the Promised Land to the last words of the prophets.

Through 24 structured lessons, students will follow the Hebrew nation through the conquest of Canaan, the time of the judges, the rise and fall of the kings, the exile in Babylon, and the return to Jerusalem.

The course shows how God remained faithful to His covenant through every high point and every failure of His people, and how He kept the promise of the Seed alive through the house of David.

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📖 Full Course Summary

Bible History 2 picks up where Bible History 1 ended: Israel stands at the Jordan, ready to enter the land promised to Abraham. Lesson by lesson, this course traces the history of the nation through Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and the prophets, helping students see the whole story and the hand of God in it.

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🔹 Conquest of the Promised Land

The course begins with Joshua leading Israel into Canaan:

• The crossing of the Jordan after more than 400 years away from the land
• The fall of Jericho and the defeat at Ai because of Achan’s sin
• The Gibeonite treaty and the central, southern, and northern campaigns
• The division of the land among the tribes

👉 Victory comes when God’s people are pure and obedient

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🔹 The Time of the Judges

After Joshua, Israel falls into a repeated cycle:

• Peace leads to ease and apostasy
• God sends an oppressor
• The people cry out to God
• God raises up a judge to deliver them

Students meet judges such as Deborah, Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson, and see the danger of a self-appointed leader in Abimelech.

👉 Sin always brings bondage, but God hears His people when they cry to Him

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🔹 Samuel, Saul, and David

The nation moves from judges to kings:

• Samuel, prophet, priest, and judge
• Israel’s demand for a king and the failure of Saul
• David and Goliath, and David’s rise to the throne
• God’s Messianic promise to David in 2 Samuel 7

The course also shows the cost of sin in David’s house: Bathsheba, Amnon, and the rebellion of Absalom.

👉 God looks at the heart, and He builds His kingdom through a man after His own heart

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🔹 Solomon and the Divided Kingdom

The kingdom reaches its glory and then breaks apart:

• The wisdom of Solomon and the building of the temple
• Solomon’s many wives turn his heart to idols
• The kingdom divides into Israel (north) and Judah (south)
• The kings of both nations, from Rehoboam and Jeroboam to Jehu

👉 A divided heart leads to a divided kingdom

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🔹 Prophets, Captivity, and Fall

God sends His prophets while both nations drift away:

• Prophets such as Obadiah, Joel, Jonah, Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, and Jeremiah
• The fall of Israel to Assyria in 721 BC
• Good kings like Hezekiah and Josiah in Judah
• The fall of Jerusalem to Babylon in 586 BC

👉 God warns before He judges, because He is patient and wants His people to repent

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🔹 Return and Rebuilding

The course closes with God bringing His people home:

• The return from Babylon and the rebuilding of the temple
• Ezra and the restoration of the law
• Nehemiah and the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem
• The last prophets: Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi

👉 God keeps His covenant: a people who return to Him find Him ready to restore them

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🔹 Key Principle of the Course

👉 Obedience brings blessing; rebellion brings ruin; God remains faithful

Faithfulness → blessing in the land
Apostasy → oppression and captivity
Repentance → restoration

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🔹 What You Will Learn

By the end of this course, students will:

• Know the timeline of Old Testament history from Joshua to Malachi
• Understand the cycle of the judges and its lessons for today
• Follow the lives of Samuel, Saul, David, and Solomon
• Know the kings of Israel and Judah and the message of the prophets
• See how God kept the promise of the Seed through the house of David

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🔹 Course Outcome

This course is designed to move students from:

Isolated stories → one connected history
Kings and dates → God’s purpose in history
Failure → repentance
Exile → restoration

It equips believers to:

• Read Joshua through Nehemiah with understanding
• Teach Old Testament history to others
• Learn from the faith and failures of Israel
• Trust the God who keeps His covenant