Bammerhab: Bible Explainer

The Kidron Brook was named for the Hebrew word for black, because during the preparation for Passover, so many lambs were slain that the small brook became not only red with blood, but it ran black. Blood stained the shores of the creek. Jesus crossed the brook before he met his betrayer in the Mount of Olives. So he had to cross a river of blood under a blanket of stars. Jesus looked up into the...

This episode is about the Lord’s Prayer, and probably not the one you’re thinking of. What we commonly call the Lord’s Prayer is of course a wonderful and stunning prayer that I hope to cover in a later episode. But it wasn’t Jesus’ prayer. It was a prayer he gave to his disciples. It is the Disciples’ prayer. For example, Jesus can’t pray to forgive his trespasses as he forgives others. He hasn’t...

Rebecca J. Gomez stops by Bammerhab to talk about Isaiah 4:5, canopies and Canopy Creatives ! Rebecca is a children’s book author, illustrator, and poet in Omaha, Nebraska. Her first illustrated book (which she also wrote) is a Middle Grade novel in verse titled Mari in the Margins . But why do we chat about canopies? Because the Lord frequently speaks of covering, all over the New Testament and O...

Ha-Satan is a Hebrew term for a role, not a name. It means “the attacker, the slanderer, the assaulter, and also the prosecutor. In Job, the heavenly scene we’re given a glimpse into is actually a legal court case, where the prosecutor is attacking the Judge, and making his case to try to undermine the Judge. This is the Ha-Satan, or who we call Satan. Why does Satan hate God? And what does it hav...

Barton J. Gingerich stops by Bammerhab to talk about John 3:16 and the Only-Begotten Son! Barton is the rector of St. Jude’s Anglican Church (REC) in Richmond, Virginia. He was previously with Institute on Religion and Democracy, and one of the managing editors for the website Patheos Evangelical . He currently contributes to the Faith and Honor podcast , and the Opinions section of WORLD news gro...

Ever wonder what happened between the Book of Acts and 2026 AD? Well, now you can hear all the major events of Jesus’ church in one fell swoop that takes only about 45 minutes! A Good Shepherd. For us, that seems like a natural connection. I mean don’t shepherds peacefully play their harp among gentle zethyrs and bucolic pastoral serenity? But what’s very interesting about this verse is that sheph...

God told Habakkuk to make his vision plain. So Habakkuk engraved his words into tablets, but the Hebrew word ba’ar means more than just engrave. By extension, ba’ar means to make something visible and obvious by explaining it and expounding it clearly. Janet and Geoff Benge, like Habakkuk also make the story of the church plain by vividly writing down the lives of many faithful servants of Christ...

God slowly carves out judgement and deliverance using the same sharp tool: Time itself. Time unveils reality. Time is a chisel. Though it tarries, we must wait for it because waiting is carving out an image. I’m very grateful to poet Beth Matheson for her poems “His Glory Will Rise” and “Beatitude Sonnet IV” that she shares with us at the end of this episode! Find more of her poetry here and here...

Habakkuk asked God a question: Why is evil winning? God gave him an answer through a vision. Habakkuk asked with words, God answered with a vision. God also knew that many other would want to know the same answer to the same question that Habaukkuk had asked. So he told Habakkuk to transform the images he saw into the words we still have today. Janet and Geoff Benge also write a vision, but the Be...

Did you know Paul’s life changed twice in the same city? No, it wasn’t Jerusalem. It wasn’t Damascus. It was Troy. Troy? Yup, like the Trojan Horse Troy. Troy itself was gone, but the entire region was named after it: Troas. Paul’s life pivoted twice in Troas. In Acts 16:7, The spirit explicitly didn’t allow Paul to Go to Asia. We’re not told how, but we’re told that it was a pretty clear No. But...

At the end of Paul’s last letter that he composed on earth, he prophesied that sound doctrine would become rarer and rarer as time progressed. Indeed he said that many people wouldn’t allow it to be taught. They would fight it tooth and nail. Sound familiar? Hygiainousēs is related to our word hygiene, and it means healthy, sound, balanced and good teaching. It was one of Paul’s favorite word to m...

Jesus didn’t swear, or use coarse language. Neither did Paul. But they did use very forceful injunctions to express strong emotions, and the word they used was ophelon . It can be translated as “Oh, How I wish!” …But that’s probably a little too formal for the actual sense of this word, which is just an expression of sheer frustration. In our vulgar age, this role is usually filled by four letter...

Surprising! Remember back in 2020? One day it was normal, the next day everything everywhere was shut down… for two weeks, or so they said. That was pretty sudden huh? Not much warning? In this penultimate church of Revelation, Jesus uses the Greek word tachy and basically tachy means fast, and Jesus uses it ALL over Revelation. In fact he uses this word three times in his very last speech in Reve...

How should a Christian approach imagination? Imagination isn’t a virtue or a vice, it’s just the standard equipment of all humankind, made in God’s image. We have imagination because God has imagination. But while His imaginations are always good, ours aren’t. Our creativity can do wonderful things and it can also do terrible things. But the first person filled with the Holy Spirit in the bible wa...

The Greek word Gregoron in Revelation 3:2 means “Watch out!” or “Wake Up!”. (It’s also where we get the name Gregory.) This episode is the fifth of seven in a little miniseries about the seven churches that Jesus directly addressed, and Jesus told this church to “Wake up!” This church is Sardis, but Jesus’ words to them apply to every single Christian in the twenty first century also. Why did Jesu...

Yatsar is what a potter does to clay. Yatsar is also what God did to us. Yatsar is a cognate for another Hebrew which means to squeeze, to push, to pressure and to be distressed. This is because the image of formation that yatsar evokes is shaping something like a potter shapes a pot. The potter squishes, squeezes, pushes and pressures the clay. I will bet that the clay if it could talk would say...

This episode is the midpoint of the miniseries about the seven churches that Jesus directly addressed. And this one gets heavy, and it is longest letter, the heaviest letter to a tiny little church that wasn’t in a major city at all. It was in the middle of the seven, in the middle of a path to two greater cities, and perhaps even in the… Middle Ages? But that’s a bit cryptic so we’ll get to that...

Henry Smith wrote the song “ Give Thanks With a Grateful Heart ” in 1978. But he only sang it at his local church in Williamsburg, Virginia with his wife Cindy. So, understandably, they were both utterly stunned when they later heard their song years later as a chart topping hit. The hymn had gone viral without them knowing how. Still to this day, it’s not quite clear how the song travelled and wh...

Jesus told the ancient church at Pergamum that they were living right next to Satan’s throne. Then Jesus said he had a sword ready for battle… but maybe not quite in the way you’d expect! This episode continues the miniseries about the seven churches that Jesus directly addressed. Remember, these words to the seven churches are important because this is the biggest chunk of direct speech that Jesu...

Jared Luttjeboer , is the creator of The Church History Project which is a deep dive into church history but with a unique “epic cinematic” feel where Jared explains to us all about the past through making it into the epic story that it really was. So as a church history nerd and past filmmaker, of course Jared and I talk all about that! In addition, Jared chose Malachi 3:6, and we begin our chat...

Jesus promised the ancient church at Smyrna both persecution and peace. He promised the same thing to all believers, actually… But how does that work? This episode continues the miniseries about the seven churches that Jesus directly addressed. Remember, these words to the seven churches are important because this is the biggest chunk of direct speech that Jesus directs to his church anywhere in t...

Paul in 1 Corinthians 12:18 describes the church as a body with lots of different parts. These parts are not supposed to be the same, as Paul makes clear using an extended joke. Can a foot see? Can a hand hear? Can an eye smell? Well, duh, obviously not. The same thing goes for the body of Christ. We’re a part of the body if we’re connected vitally to the head, and the head is Christ. That’s what...

Season five has finally arrived! This episode also kickstarts a miniseries within season five about the seven churches of Revelation. Jesus said a lot to his disciples during his ministry, and they recorded some of it in the gospels. But, technically speaking, Jesus was very clear that he was first sent to the lost sheep of Israel, and so his ministry was primarily focused on that mission. Yes, Je...

What comfort can God offer against the inevitable collapse of all great men and great movements? Qum that’s what. Because qum can mean something that endures forever, but endures can also be translated as fulfills, stands, establishes, confirms or arises. Great trees rise up, and fall. But God rises up, and doesn’t fall. Great movements, great men, rise up and have great moments, but then they alw...

The spiritual world abhors a vacuum. That means if you reject Christ, you don’t revert back to being where you were as a pre-Christian, no, you actually get seven times worse. Jesus warns us of this in Luke 11:26. For example, think of Kanye. You see, dark spirits are parasites. But unlike a tick, these invaders have intelligence, and once removed they are angry, uncomfortable, restless and hungry...