God Restores a Remnant: Summer 2003

(13 sessions)

The people of Israel languished in Babylon in exile for about 180 years following the defeat of the Northern Kingdom in 722 B.C.Exiles from Judah, the Southern Kingdom, joined them in the years following the fall of Jerusalem in 587 B.C. Defeated and demoralized, the people of God slowly adjusted to life in the new land which they had been forcibly moved. Even as the people learned new routines and built new lives, they help onto the hope of returning home. That hope became reality when Cyrus became king of Persia in 538 B.C. and declared the exiles could return home.

The return happened over a number of years, commencing almost immediately after Cyrus' edict and continuing for the next couple of centuries. The quarter of studies is set in the period after the edict and the beginning of the exiles' return to Israel. It follows the people as they renewed or reestablished the different institutions of the life of the nation. During the quarter, selections from the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Daniel, Joel, Obadiah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi will be studied.