Israel was a nation who knew what it meant to be defeated in their own land. Their people had been exiled to another land. They had seen their land occupied by another people and their harvest reaped by others. They feared for their identity. Their sense of national pride was gone. They wondered if they would finally become a dying race and a lost people. Where was their God? Where was the God who had called and chosen them to be his people - who had promised them this land? They knew they needed a deliverer. They hoped for a Messiah who would come in the tradition of King David. He had gathered the forces of the people of Israel and had made of them a great army to drive out all of the other people who lived in their land. They wanted to be re-established as a nation and as the people of …