Korah leads hundreds of Israel’s leaders in a challenge to Moses’ authority.
The LORD destroys Sodom and other cities for homosexual wickedness. Genesis 18:16-19:29
In contrast to Saul (in yesterday’s lesson), David was chosen as king many years before he was actually inaugurated as king. This is the story of that choosing or anointing. It happens because of Saul’s disobedience to God. 1 Samuel 16:1-14.
Nehemiah 8. The walls of Jerusalem have been restored thanks to Nehemiah (Neh. 6:15), and the next* thing we read of the people doing is listening to the Bible for a week straight (8:18).
In Deut 7:1-6, God commands the Jews to not marry foreign women. In Ezra 9-10, Ezra learns that the people have done this anyway and some even had children, and Ezra commands the people to divorce those foreign wives.
Ezra chapter 1. The Jews have been in captivity in a foreign land for decades, and now they can go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple.
In the span of 4 books of the Bible (1 Samuel to 2 Kings), Israel became a kingdom, split in two, lost the northern part to Assyria and now the remaining land is taken captive by the Babylonian Empire and carried off to the city-state of Babylon. That last part is our story today; 2 Kings 25.
2 Kings 17. The part of Israel that seceded (see yesterday’s lesson) was conquered by the Assyrian empire.