Gilbert House Fellowship

JOB REPLIES to the rebuke of Eliphaz and brings up some interesting points for our study this week. While admitting that God is just and all-powerful, the suffering Job still maintains that his complaints are justified. We see another reference to the divine council in Job’s mention of “the arrows of the Almighty (Shaddai)” and “the terrors of God.” Then we discuss Job’s anguished question, “Am I...

WE SEE the divine council worldview in the ongoing discourse of Eliphaz the Temanite, as he mentions the “Holy Ones,” an epithet used elsewhere in the Old Testament for the Watchers (Daniel 4:13, 17). We also discuss the hidden meaning of the “sparks” in Job 5:7, the bene resheph or “sons of Resheph,” and the significance of the Canaanite plague-god Resheph (hint: Resheph was called Apollo by the...

THE FRIENDS of Job are to be commended for giving up so much of their time to commiserate with him in his suffering. However, their understanding of the cause of his suffering was incomplete. At least they were more encouraging than Job’s wife, who advised him to “curse God and die.” We discuss the divine council reference in Job 2, the nature of Satan (or “the satan”), the location of the home of...

JOB HAS become a symbol for patient suffering in the face of overwhelming adversity, but there’s a lot more to his story than that. This week, we begin our study of one of the most fascinating books of the Bible. We discuss the historical context of Job, the significance of Job’s probable homeland east of the Jordan River, the glimpse at the workings of the divine council, and the role of the sata...

AFTER THE construction of Tower of Babel, the descendants of Noah spread across the earth. This week, we discuss the descendants of Shem, since it’s from his line that the Lord brought forth His Messiah. We also discuss the days of Peleg, whose name means to cleave or divide. What caused the breakup of the land masses of the earth in ancient times? Was it related to the punishment of the Watchers...

THE TOWER of Babel was not at Babylon. It was at a place that was at least as important in the spiritual sense: Eridu. The Sumerians remember Eridu as the first city, where “kingship” was lowered from heaven, and, most important, it’s where the oldest and largest ziggurat in Mesopotamia was located. That was the temple of the god Enki, the E-abzu—the “House of the Abyss.” It was believed that Enki...

THE NATIONS of the world have their origins in decisions made in the years immediately following the Flood. This week, we discuss the table of nations and briefly summarize the migrations of the descendants of Shem, Japheth, and Ham. We also explain why Babel was important to Nimrod, a prelude to next week’s study on the Tower of Babel. ———— Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bibl...

THE SONS of Noah divided the world between them. It appears that the youngest, Ham, made a power play to usurp the birthright of his older brothers -- by having incestuous relations with his mother. This week, we discuss the aftermath of the Flood. We talk about the symbol of the rainbow, God’s command to Noah and his sons to fill the earth, and His prohibition on eating blood. We also unpack the...

THE STORY of a global flood is common to many cultures all over the world. Today, we read the real story behind the flood of Noah. We read the corresponding chapters in the Book of 1 Enoch that expand on Genesis 6:1-4. It was more than just human sin that led to the Flood; the Watchers and their monstrous offspring brought witchcraft, sexual depravity, and even cannibalism to the earth. We also co...

AT SOME point in our distant past, angels descended to the summit of Mount Hermon and made a pact to corrupt the earth through interbreeding and sharing knowledge that humanity was not meant to know. This week, we begin to decipher one of the strangest, but most important, sections of scripture in the Bible. We explain why Genesis 6 means what it says and compare it to the extrabiblical account in...

PRIDE AND a drift away from the Creator is evident in today’s study, which features the generations of patriarchs between Adam and Noah. We discuss the first city built (Gen. 4:17) and explain why we think the builder was Cain’s son, Enoch (not the Enoch who “walked with God,” who was a descendant of Seth). That was probably the ancient city of Eridu, home of the god Enki, lord of the abyss, site...

FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS have been messed up for millennia because of what happened in Eden. This week, we discuss the consequences of eating the forbidden fruit, taking a deep dive into Genesis 3:16, a difficult passage that suggests husbands and wives have been cursed by sin to struggle with one another for control. Then we talk about the curse directed at the serpent and explain why it has more to...

THE TREE in the middle of the garden proved to be a test and a trap—not just for Adam and Eve, but for the serpent as well. This week, we discuss the location of Eden and explain why it was Jerusalem based on the identities of the four rivers named in Genesis 2:10-13. We also talk about the relevance of the rivers Pishon, Gihon, Tigris and Euphrates to ancient cosmology, as reflected in Isaiah 47...

GARDENS WERE not just for growing vegetables in the ancient world. This week, as we study days five through seven of Creation Week, we discuss the spiritual significance of gardens in the ancient world and their connection to the cult of divinized ancestors, especially dead kings—in other words, the mighty men who were of old. We also discuss the identity of the “we” and “us” whose image we bear,...

BACK TO the beginning! Today, we begin our study of the Old Testament for the second time, nearly five years after our very first dive into Genesis 1. We discuss the meaning of various Hebrew words and their implications, and we explain why the first chapter of the Bible isn’t just a creation account, it’s a repudiation of the creation stories told by the cultures of the ancient world. ———— Join u...

WE'RE BACK with a brief summary of highlights from our whirlwind tours of the Holy Land and the UK. We discuss sites we visited, such as Gilgal Refaim, Joshua's altar, and Harosheth Haggoyim (the headquarters of Sisera, commander of the army of the Canaanite king Jabin), the amazing artifacts at the British Museum, and an incredible divine appointment at the site of Aleister Crowley's home overloo...

WE WEREN’T quite finished after all! Marilyn Abbott, who spotted our oversight of Deuteronomy 9 about six weeks ago, informed us this week that we’d also skipped over three chapters of the Gospel of John. (Thank you again, Marilyn!) So, today we discuss Jesus’ final meeting with his disciples just before his betrayal in the garden of Gethsemane. This included his promise of the coming of the Holy...

WE REACH the end of the Old Testament today, the Book of Malachi, and with that we have completed our first journey through the entire Bible. We discuss God's condemnation of faithless rituals and the priests that perform them, His anger at those who had "married the daughter of a foreign god," and His promise to return on "the great and awesome day of the Lord." ———— Josh and Christina Peck need...

NEHEMIAH DISCOVERED what God had known for centuries (well, since the beginning of time, actually): His people were a stubborn lot. After returning from a visit to the Persian king Artaxerxes to report on the work that had been done in Jerusalem, Nehemiah discovered that the reforms he and Ezra the priest had instituted, a return to the Law given to Moses, had already been forgotten. Jerusalem was...

PERSEVERANCE IN the face of opposition is one of the lessons from our reading today. The Samaritans, Ammonites, and Arabs in Nehemiah's day tried to discourage the Jews through threats, political pressure, and even a conspiracy to assassinate Nehemiah. With the work completed, Ezra led the people in a reading of the Law and a restoration of the Feast of Tabernacles, which, we were surprised to lea...

NEARLY ONE hundred years after Cyrus issued his decree allowing the Jews to return to Jerusalem, the walls of the Holy City still had not been rebuilt. Nehemiah, cupbearer to the Persian king Artaxerxes, was granted permission to return to Judah for twelve years and oversee the rebuilding of the walls and gates of Jerusalem. We discuss the opposition to Nehemiah, from without and within, and how h...

THE SECOND group to return from Babylon to Jerusalem was led by Ezra the priest, who secured permission from the Persian king Artaxerxes in 458 B.C. It was a four-month journey, which the Jews undertook without an armed guard, something that was unheard of in a time when caravan raiders were likely to prey on unsuspecting travelers -- especially a group loaded down with more than 30 tons of gold a...

AN ASTUTE listener pointed out that we skipped chapter 9 of Deuteronomy way back between studies #44 and #45, so we begin this week by correcting that oversight. (Thank you, Marilyn!) We find a wonderful nugget in Moses' directions to the Israelites, based on the intriguing link between the Hebrew word for "cities" and the Aramaic word for "Watchers." Then we move to the climax of the Book of Esth...

THE STORY of Esther, a Jewish woman who became queen of Persia, is the origin of the Purim holiday, celebrating the salvation of the Jewish people from Haman, a key advisor to Xerxes, the king. In today's #MeToo culture, however, the story has been hijacked by our 21st century Western worldview. We discuss the differences between Esther and the deposed queen Vashti; obvious changes to the Book of...

APOCALYPTIC PROPHECIES of the coming Day of the Lord are the focus of the last three chapters of Zechariah. Today we discuss the prophet's vision of the final battle of the age and compare it to Armageddon and the war of Gog and Magog. We also talk about the aftermath, the millennial reign (although Zechariah doesn't call it that), and the final world order, when God rules and reigns over the enti...