Hey, this is John at the Bible Project. Today, we're starting a new discussion on a theme,

one of the biggest themes in the Bible. In fact, and one, most of us have never really

thought about. The exile. Yep, the exile. This is the unsung theme.

In 586 BC, the Babylonian Empire came in and overthrew the nation of Israel,

captured the Israelite people, and forced them to relocate and live in Babylon as exiles.

And this event was so severe that the problem of exile became the most important idea in the

shaping of the Hebrew Bible. So the Bible doesn't come from the powerful elite that ruled Jerusalem

and the days of David. Their historical sources and materials go way back to those periods,

but the people who shaped the Bible began to shape it into the form that you and I know it.

Those people are those who went through the exile to Babylon and lived through generations

of slavery and suffering. And even when they came back to the Jerusalem, they were under oppressive

military occupiers for centuries. All that and more today on the podcast. Thanks for joining us. Here we go.

Okay, we're starting a new podcast series. New podcast series. And a new video.

The theme video. It's about the exile. The exile of the Judeans to Babylon in 586 BC.

It's what all of us woke up thinking about. The whole theme video is just about that specific exile.

No, no, it's a theme video. Okay. Which means that this is an idea that runs throughout the

whole story of the Bible from cover to cover, unifies it and that Jesus provides a key turning point

in how this theme develops and illuminates who he is. Yep, the exile. This is the unsung theme.

In the Bible. In terms of like the popular imagination when people think of the Bible and what Christians

believe, one of the first things they think of is, oh yeah, what's there's really important? They're

always talking about is the exile to Babylon. Well, I think the where the exile does come up.

And this might be a good starting point before your starting point. Yeah, which is in my face

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