God's Story: A Narrative Adaptation of the Bible

The death of Malachi ushered in the beginning of a great prophetic silence. And though, during this age, much of the vision shown to Daniel by the angel Gabriel came to pass, they are not counted among the holy writings inspired by God. As was shown in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, the golden kingdom of Babylon had already fallen to the Persian kingdom of silver. Because many Jews were still scattered among the nations, far from the rebuilt temple, they created many synagogues, places where they could pray, and study all of the writings through their history that God had commanded be written down, called the Tanakh, and be in community with one another so their culture would not be absorbed and erased as generations lived their lives away from Jerusalem. A little more than 100 years after Artaxerxes sent Nehemiah to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls, the king from Daniel’s vision, a Greek named Alexander the Great, defeated the Persian empire and ushered in the bronze kingdom, making Greek langua...

As Jeremiah and Daniel had prophesied, In the first year of his reign, God moved Cyrus’s heart and he made this royal proclamation, “God has given me all the kingdoms on earth and so I now decree that any Jew who wishes to, regardless of where they now reside, be allowed to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. They are to be provided with everything they need for this endeavor.” Then everyone whose heart was moved by this news, men from Judah, Benjamin, and Levi, prepared for their return voyage, though many Jews stayed behind. Those who made the journey were given silver, gold, livestock, and other valuable gifts by their neighbors. Cyrus even gave them back the sacred items that had been removed from the temple by Nebuchadnezzar. As they set out towards their homeland they sang out: When God restored the hope of Jerusalem, we were like those who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The Lord has d...

Because of the various conquests of the Assyrians and Babylonians, the people of Samaria, Judea, indeed all the tribes of Israel had, over time, been scattered throughout the nations. Though once only those living in Judah were called Jews, the term was now used by their oppressors to describe all Israelites. Among the exiles who were now living in Babylonia a man named Ezekiel began to receive visions from God. These in turn he shared among the Hebrews who were willing to listen, saying, “I saw heaven above me, sparkling like crystal. I saw angels there, beautiful and strange. They glowed like burning coals. They moved like flashes of lightning. The sound of their wings was like a roaring waterfall, like a mighty army marching, like the voice of God. Then I heard a voice above me. I saw a throne made of lapis lazuli and upon it a figure of glowing light whose radiance was like a rainbow after a storm. This was the glory of God and I fell facedown when I saw it. “God said to m...

After Hezekiah died he was succeeded by Manasseh, who ruled for 55 years. He was unlike his father, reinstating the worship of false gods and even performing appalling acts of worship to these false gods in the temple built by Solomon. He led the people into more evil than was known in the land since before the time of Joshua, even sacrificing his own subjects. Virtually everything that Hezekiah had done to reunite his people with God was undone by his son Manasseh. The prophets of that day spoke out against Manasseh, saying, “For the evil you have brought into this land, Yahweh is going to bring such disaster on Judah that it will shock everyone who hears it. The same fate that came to Samaria is coming to Judah. You will be wiped out like a dirty dish. This remaining tribe will be handed over to its enemies because of your rebellion.” Though Yahweh sent these words of warning to him and his people, they did not listen. So they were not under God’s protection when the Assyrians ...