Hello and welcome to the truth seekers podcast. A truth seeker is someone who wants to know the truth. They search for what's true and they won't rest until they find it.

I am a truth seeker and if you are too then you've come to the right place where we will search for truth each week in the stories of the Bible.

If you've been following along then you know that we have been learning about

the divided kingdom of Israel. The nation of Israel was God's chosen people.

The nation of Israel was a fulfillment of the promise God made to Abraham so many years ago. When God came to Abraham, he promised

him that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky.

God had kept his word to Abraham and delivered his descendants from slavery in Egypt

and brought them through the Red Sea to the promised land that they now lived in.

Why Israel?

Why did God choose Israel out of all the nations of the earth to be his chosen people?

Well, it was an act of grace.

Israel was chosen not because they had done anything to deserve it, but because God loved them. In fact, God chose them not because he loved them more than any other nation, but because he loves all nations and all people groups.

And he wanted Israel to be the people who would tell the rest of the world about how much he loved them.

Remember, God had a plan from the beginning of time.

He knew the nations of the world would fall into sin.

He knew they would need a Savior.

And so Israel was not only to be an example of God's love,

but the Savior of the world would come from Israel. He would be an Israelite.

Sadly as time went by, the kings of Israel forgot this.

They forgot that they were a chosen people,

a royal priesthood, set apart and wholly unto the Lord.

In fact, the new King of the Northern Kingdom of Israel,

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