Daniel and his friends are carried away from Jerusalem into Babylon—a culture determined to change their names, their education, their diet, and even their worship. But Daniel has already “made up his mind.” From the king’s table to Nebuchadnezzar’s mysterious dream, from a ninety-foot golden statue to a blazing furnace, watch four young men discover what it means to remain faithful to God in a world that wants them to bow. And along the way, one powerful king is going to learn a lesson he won’t soon forget: Heaven rules.
How can the wisest man in the world make such foolish choices? What happens when a king ignores the very instructions God gave him? And how does Israel go from the glory of Solomon’s Temple to a divided kingdom—and eventually to captivity in Babylon?
In this episode of From Adam to Jesus, we follow Solomon from extraordinary wisdom and the building of the Temple to the choices that turn his heart away from God. Then we watch the kingdom split under Rehoboam and Jeroboam, meet young King Josiah, and discover how losing sight of God’s Word leads Judah toward judgment.
Along the way, we’ll see why wisdom isn’t enough if we don’t obey what we know—and why even Israel’s best kings point us toward the perfect King they really needed.
And by the end, Babylon is coming…and so is Daniel.
David finally has the throne—but becoming king doesn’t mean the waiting, testing, or trouble is over.
Why does David choose Jerusalem as his capital? Why does Uzzah die simply for touching the Ark? What does God mean when He promises to build David a “house”? And how does the shepherd who defeated Goliath become the king who falls so terribly with Bathsheba?
We’ll follow David from the Ark entering Jerusalem to the Davidic Covenant, Mephibosheth at the king’s table, Nathan’s unforgettable confrontation, David’s repentance, Absalom’s rebellion, and finally Solomon’s anointing as the next king. Along the way, we’ll uncover some remarkable connections to the Garden of Eden, Passover, the Mount of Olives—and ultimately, Jesus, the Son of David.
What does a forgotten shepherd boy have in common with a giant, a jealous king, and a group of distressed and discontented men? And why did David refuse to take the throne when he had more than one opportunity to do it?
In this episode of From Adam to Jesus, we follow David from the sheep fields of Bethlehem to the battlefield with Goliath and into the wilderness as he runs for his life from Saul. Along the way, we’ll uncover some fascinating details—the five smooth stones, the corner of Saul’s robe, David’s friendship with Jonathan, and the heart that set David apart.
And through it all, we’ll see glimpses of the greater Son of David still to come—the King whose victory becomes ours.
Because as always, the details matter… and they’re pointing us to Jesus.
What does a Moabite widow, a field in Bethlehem, and an ancient kinsman-redeemer have to do with Jesus?
In this episode, we follow Ruth and Naomi from loss and emptiness to an unexpected harvest of redemption. Along the way, we’ll uncover the meaning of a goel, explore some unusual marriage and redemption customs, and discover why the details of this little four-chapter book matter far more than we might realize.
Because Ruth isn’t simply a beautiful love story. It’s the story of God quietly preserving a family, preparing a king, and continuing the line that would eventually lead to Jesus.
What happens when an entire nation begins doing what is right in its own eyes? From Deborah and Jael to Gideon’s 300 men and Samson’s incredible strength, the book of Judges is filled with unforgettable stories—but beneath them is a troubling cycle of compromise, sin, and temporary deliverance. Discover the details you may have missed and see why Israel needed more than another judge. They needed a Deliverer who could finally break the cycle.
Giants, a scarlet cord, a flooded river, twelve stones, and walls that come crashing down—Joshua is packed with details that are easy to miss. In this episode, we’ll follow Israel as they finally enter the Promised Land and discover what Rahab, the Jordan crossing, Jericho, and even a mysterious Commander reveal about faith, obedience, and the God who always keeps His promises. And through it all, we’ll keep looking for the threads that lead us from Joshua…to Jesus.
I have to say “ish” because there really is no way to know the exact order or timeline on some of these events. And my brain doesn’t like that. I like a story to flow nicely from beginning to end and the Gospel writers apparently did not think the same way. You can call it “eastern vs western” thinking, or “male vs female” thinking, or (what I finally landed on) God’s ways of thinking are higher than our ways. In fact, Isaiah tells us that in Isaiah 55:9.
Even though I can’t put this in the perfect order in which things happened, God does give us enough clues to firmly put some pieces in place. The debatable parts? Well, we can just agree to disagree or move those pieces around. I’m not settled on many and could still move things around with good evidence.
All of the Bible verse links are connected to the Tree of Life Version. I’ve come to really enjoy this particular version as it gives you many of the Hebrew names for things.
For now, enjoy the chart. If you have any thoughts or insights, leave a comment. You just may sway me to move something.
Today on this Good Friday, I’m sitting on my back porch (Happy Place) studying Judges to get ready for our lesson next week.
In this section of scripture you see Gideon’s army getting dwindled down by God from 32,000 to 300 to go fight the enemy.
Judges 7:2-7 Tree of Life Version
2 But Adonai said to Gideon, “Too many are the people who are with you, for Me to give the Midianites into their hand. Otherwise Israel would glorify itself against Me saying, ‘My own hand has delivered me.’ [a]3 So now, make proclamation in the ears of the people saying, ‘Whoever is afraid or anxious may turn back and leave from Mount Gilead.’” So 22,000 people turned back, while ten thousand remained.
4 But Adonai said to Gideon, “The people are still too many. Bring them down to the water and I will test them for you there. Now it will be that he of whom I say to you, ‘This will go with you,’ he will go with you, but anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one will not go with you,’ he will not go.” 5 So he brought the troops down to the water, and Adonai said to Gideon, “You are to set apart everyone who laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, and everyone who bows down on his knees to drink.” 6 Now the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was 300 men, but all the rest of the people bowed down on their knees to drink water. 7 Then Adonai said to Gideon, “With the 300 men who lapped I will deliver you and give the Midianites into your hand. So let all the other people go, every man to his place.”
First of all, seeing 22,000 of your men leave the upcoming battle because they are “too scared” to fight had to be a gut punch to Gideon. I don’t know how much time passed before the Lord said, “the people are still too many”, but I imagine Gideon giving God the “Whatchu talkin’ bout Willis” look!!
I like to picture what the next scene, the test of the 10,000, might look like in today’s time. I picture Justin, our Simple Church pastor, taking everyone on Easter Sunday from the Brookshire Grocery Arena and walking them down to the Red River. He doesn’t know the test from God until they get there. He just knows to go to the river and his church membership is about to be cut. Once there, Justin tells everyone to drink (I hope the water for Gideon was better than the water here). God shows Justin what to look for with how the people drink. I wonder how this part is played out. Like, are the 300 who are chosen already grouped close together. Are they spread out amongst the 10,000 evenly? Was it hard to pick them out? How did he tell the people who got to stay and who was done? Then what is Justin to think about having only 300 people left to work with? What’s going to happen to the budget? This just all seems so backwards.
This is where I started to equate this with Good Friday and Jesus on the cross.
God’s way sometimes looks absolutely backwards.
The King of Kings has to…die?
How can an enemy be defeated with this?
Whatchu talkin’ bout Willis??
I see the disciples confused on this Good Friday and asking that question. They don’t understand even though Jesus told them what would happen. They don’t know “Sunday’s coming”! They sit with this question for a few days.
We know what it’s like to be in this spot. This place in our lives where you have no idea what God is doing or why He is doing it. It all looks so backwards and hard and… impossible.
But then God.
I learned last week in another Bible study that Jesus was “amazed” at two things:
Faith
Lack of faith
During this seemingly backwards, hard, impossible time in your life, which will you choose?
For me, I want to choose faith. But like the boy’s father in Mark 9:24 I cry out “…Help my unbelief!”
There are so manuscripts that have been published of this book. It is said to be “a midrash that covers Biblical history, from creation until the Judges period. Named after an ancient text referred to in Joshua 10:12 and II Samuel 1:17, it is also referred to as the Toledot Adam or Divrei haYamim heArukh. The introduction describes how a Roman general discovered the work during the destruction of the Second Temple, but scholarship has long maintained that the work is medieval.” https://www.sefaria.org/Sefer_HaYashar_(midrash)?tab=contents
Whatever it is, it’s at least an interesting read. I decided to grab a copy to see for myself what it is. From what I can tell, it follows Scripture very well with adding in a lot of details that Scripture doesn’t give us. Many of these details are confirmed in other Rabbinic texts. I started creating a timeline chart to see if it held up to the Scriptures and it does. I don’t know if the extra stories and events in this book are true, but I know after careful study of the timeline, they are at least possible. The only time I saw any conflict with Scripture was over the dates of Moses leaving Egypt and returning to Egypt for the Exodus. In my chart, I used the dates from Scripture for Moses.
Here is a timeline chart with the highlights I gathered from the Book of Jasher.
