(Note: This episode includes references to on-screen map demos. For the full visual experience, watch on YouTube — but the teaching stands on its own as audio.)

When you read "nation" in the Old Testament, what do you picture? A country on a map with borders and a flag? That's not what the word means — and the difference changes how you read the entire Bible.

In this episode, we explore how the ancient world understood nations, states, and peoplehood — why you can't draw a nation on a map, and why this distinction is the engine of the whole Old Testament story.

This is Episode 3.1, the first in our Nations & Empires series.

Episode links:

• OT in Context App: https://otincontext.com
• YouTube (with visual demos): https://youtube.com/@OTinContext
• Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/oldtestamentincontext

Previous: The Land of Canaan: Why This Specific Place? (Episode 1.5)

Next: Suzerains, Vassals, and Satrapies: How Ancient Politics Worked (Episode 3.2)

Of all the places God could have planted His people — the fertile Nile, the rich plains of Mesopotamia — He chose a narrow, contested strip of land wedged between empires. Why?

In this episode, we explore the geography of Canaan: a land so compact you could walk across it in a few days, yet packed with more geographic diversity than regions ten times its size. From the coastal plain to the central hills to the Dead Sea — the lowest land elevation on earth — this land was built for dependence, exposure, and encounter.

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

0:00 - Why there?

0:34 - What this series is about

1:10 - The space between empires

3:15 - A land of remarkable diversity

6:10 - Why this place? Position, dependence, exposure

9:24 - Many names, one land

10:24 - What's next

🔗 LINKS

OT in Context App: https://otincontext.com

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/oldtestamentincontext

🎬 PREVIOUS: Jericho: 11,000 Years of History

🎬 NEXT: Coming soon

#OldTestament #BibleStudy #BiblicalGeography #Christianity #BibleHistory #Archaeology

Quick—tell me the story of the Old Testament. Not a story FROM the Old Testament. The story. The whole thing. If that's hard to answer, you're not alone.

Most of us know the pieces—David and Goliath, the Exodus, a talking donkey somewhere in the middle—but we've never seen how they fit together. Today, we fix that.

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

0:00 - Tell me the story

0:37 - Intro

1:09 - The puzzle problem

2:49 - Four words that change everything

4:43 - The thread that holds it together

6:34 - Everything points forward

8:15 - Why this changes how you read

9:07 - What's next

🔗 LINKS

OT in Context App: https://otincontext.com

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/oldtestamentincontext

🎬 PREVIOUS: Let Me Show You: Your First Exploration of the Ancient World

🎬 NEXT: The Land of Canaan: Why This Specific Place?

#OldTestament #BibleStudy #BiblicalGeography #Christianity #BibleHistory