Buried Bible Podcast

Every Bible you have ever owned labels Deuteronomy 24 same way. They all call Deuteronomy 24:1-4 "The Law of Divorce" —but what if that's not what the passage is about at all? In this episode, Mark walks through Deuteronomy 24:1-4 word by word, drawing on the work of Raymond Westbrook to make the case that this passage is not giving permission for divorce, not restricting divorce, an...

Did they actually find the real biblical city of Sodom? In 1996, Dr. Steven Collins was leading a Bible study tour of Israel and Jordan. The next morning he was scheduled to take his group to the traditional sites of Sodom and Gomorrah in the south. That night he read Genesis 13 through 19 four times. By the end of it he had written two large question marks on his itinerary. Nothing in the text po...

One of the strangest passages in the entire Bible - the Goring Ox laws of Exodus 21. It sounds like the most irrelevant law in all of Scripture — until you realize it's almost word-for-word identical to laws found in Mesopotamia hundreds of years older than Moses. Dr. Mark Chavalas traces the Goring Ox laws of Exodus 21 through Sumerian scribal texts, the Laws of Eshnunna, the Code of Hammurab...

Daniel 12:1-3 is widely treated as the Bible's clearest Old Testament prophecy of bodily resurrection. Dr. John Walton says that reading might be exactly backwards. In this episode, Dr. Mark Chavalas sits down with Dr. John Walton — Old Testament & ANE Scholar — to walk through his and Dr. Aubrey Buster's reexamination of Daniel 12. Their argument: "the wise will warn like the stars" isn't abo...

Most Christians read Old Testament law like a rulebook. A list of dos and don'ts handed down from God to keep people in line. Some laws seem reasonable. Others seem completely bizarre. And the whole thing feels like a burden nobody fully understands. But that is not what it is. Not even close. In this episode, Dr. Mark Chavalas walks through a comprehensive overview of biblical law — where it...

Was the Exodus real? Most people assume there is no archaeological evidence for it. An Egyptologist who was born and raised in Egypt and has spent his life excavating the Nile Delta says otherwise. Dr. Mark Chavalas sits down with Dr. Jim Hoffmeier — renowned Egyptologist and biblical scholar — to walk through the archaeological and historical case for the Exodus. Drawing from decades of archaeolo...

Was the Bible's legal tradition already present in Canaan before Moses? The answer is far more fascinating than you think. Dr. Mark Chavalas traces the ancient scribal tradition that carried Mesopotamian law codes westward through Syria and into Canaan itself — and in 2010, archaeologists found the proof. Cuneiform law tablets discovered at Hazor, written on local clay, show that Canaanite scr...

Did Moses copy Hammurabi Code? The answer is far more fascinating than you think. Dr. Mark Chavalas dives deep into the Code of Hammurabi — the most famous ancient law collection ever discovered. But here's what most people don't know: it probably wasn't a "code" at all. We talk about what the Hammurabi code actually was, how it functioned in the ancient world, and why its si...

Ancient Near Eastern Law Codes as Background to Biblical Law Dr. Mark Chavalas argues that the biblical legal tradition didn't emerge in a vacuum — it fits squarely within a broader ancient Near Eastern scribal and legal tradition. Understanding what these law codes actually were and how they functioned helps reframe how we should read the biblical law. Law Codes Covered: 1. Ur-Namma (~2100 BC...

What if the “laws” in the Bible weren’t meant to function like modern legal systems at all? This episode launches a brand new series diving into ancient Near Eastern law—and why understanding this world is essential to understanding Scripture. Instead of jumping straight into the Bible, we step back into history to explore how law actually worked in the ancient world. Dr. Mark Chavalas breaks down...

Is the Book of Daniel really about predicting the future… or is it revealing something even bigger? Daniel Commentary: https://www.amazon.com/Daniel-Chapters-International-Commentary-Testament/dp/0802875998 The conversation dives deep into one of the most debated books in the Bible—Daniel. With Dr. Aubrey Buster joining Dr. Mark Chavalas, the discussion explores authorship, prophecy, and how ancie...

What if you’ve been reading the Bible the wrong way your entire life? Rico Cortes joins us to share his journey from traditional teaching into his deep study of ancient cultures, covenants, and biblical backgrounds — and how that shift completely transformed his understanding and appreciation of Scripture. Together we explore how Western assumptions often distort the Bible's meaning, leading t...

Why didn’t God just abolish slavery? This episode tackles one of the hardest and most uncomfortable questions in the Bible—why slavery continues to appear in the New Testament without being directly abolished. Dr. Mark Chavalas explores key passages from Paul and Peter, examining how early Christians understood slavery within the Greco-Roman world and what the biblical authors were actually trying...

What was slavery in the New Testament world? This episode shifts the conversation onto the Greco-Roman world and New Testament slavery, examining how slavery actually functioned in that cultural context. Dr. Mark Chavalas critiques modern claims—like those in God's Ghostwriters by Candida Moss—that enslaved individuals played a major role in writing the New Testament, arguing that these ideas...

Does Exodus 21 really give permission to beat a slave—as long as they survive? One of the most controversial texts in the Old Testament is Exodus 21—but does it actually say what many people claim it says? In this episode, Dr. Mark Chavalas examines how Exodus 21 functions in context, why biblical law may work more like case verdicts than a modern code, and how the passage fits into the Bible’s la...

When the Old Testament talks about slavery, is the Bible approving it—or addressing a broken reality with legal remedies? This episode continues our series on slavery in the Old Testament by turning to some of the Bible’s hardest passages in Genesis, Deuteronomy, and Exodus 21. Dr. Mark Chavalas explores the world behind these laws, asking whether the “if…then” structure of biblical case law shoul...

What did slavery actually mean in the Old Testament world? Dr. Mark Chavalas turns to the Old Testament—especially Leviticus 25—to show that Israel’s slavery laws exist in the same broader ancient system, but with important theological differences tied to Genesis 1–2, the Exodus, and God’s concern for the vulnerable. The episode wrestles honestly with the hardest tensions in the text, especially t...

Dr. Mark Chavalas continues the slavery series by reading ancient Near Eastern legal texts and contracts to show that “slavery” wasn’t one simple category—it was fluid, layered, and often temporary, tied to debt, restraint, famine survival, marriage arrangements, and social rank. Then the real question comes into focus: if the biblical world shares the same environment, does Israel respond the sam...

What was slavery in the Ancient Near East & how does that differ from our modern understanding? Slavery is one of the most emotionally charged and morally difficult topics in Scripture. Dr. Mark Chavalas begins a new mini-series by starting with the Ancient Near Eastern world first, showing that “slavery” wasn’t one simple category but a wide spectrum (debt servitude, famine survival, war capt...

Did Genesis copy Gilgamesh — or is that the wrong question entirely? What if the Epic of Gilgamesh isn’t proof that Genesis copied — but proof that Genesis was responding? In this episode we are joined by Assyriologist & Biblical Scholar Adam Miglio (Wheaton College) to explore one of the most misunderstood relationships in the ancient world: Genesis 1–11 and the Epic of Gilgamesh. While most...

How did later Jewish tradition transform Melchizedek from a seemingly minor character into a cosmic figure? This wrap-up episode closes our Melchizedek mini-series by tracing how a brief priest-king character in Genesis 14 becomes a cosmic figure in later Jewish tradition—especially in Second Temple / Intertestamental Jewish writings and the Dead Sea Scrolls. We also look at how Hebrews 5 & 7...

When Genesis calls Melchizedek a priest of “El Elyon,” what is the text actually claiming? “El Elyon” (God Most High) shows up in Genesis 14 right at the center of the Melchizedek story—and it’s easy to assume that automatically equals Yahweh. The problem? That title isn’t exclusive to Yahweh—it appears in extra-biblical sources and broader ancient Near Eastern usage. In Genesis 14, Melchizedek in...

Who was Melchizedek really—and what does his name actually mean? Genesis 14 introduces Melchizedek with almost no explanation, yet later biblical writers elevate him into one of the most theologically significant figures in Scripture. This episode slows down and asks a simple question: does Melchizedek’s name tell us more about his identity than we’ve assumed? Dr. Mark Chavalas examines Melchizede...

Who was Melchizedek — a priest of Yahweh, a Canaanite king, or a Christ-like figure? This episode begins a new series on Melchizedek, one of the most confusing and debated figures in the Bible. Starting in Genesis 14, Dr. Mark Chavalas examines the ancient Near Eastern war narrative and shows that Melchizedek originally appears as a seemingly minor, historical king–priest figure, not a cosmic bein...

Was the Star of Bethlehem a miracle in the night sky—or an astrological “birth report” that only trained Magi would’ve understood? This wraps our Christmas mini-series by diving straight into the Michael Molnar hypothesis: Matthew’s “star” may function like a royal natal horoscope pointing to Judea. That one shift reframes multiple “odd” details in Matthew 2—why the Magi saw the star “in the East,...