Gilbert House Fellowship

HE SURVIVED the destruction of Sodom, but Lot didn’t seem very happy about it. This week, we discuss the aftermath of the fiery destruction of the cities of the plain, which also leveled Jericho, according to archaeologists. Lot and his daughters retreated into the hills and lived a hermit-like existence in a cave overlooking the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. Their isolation led to the incestuous...

THE DESTRUCTION of Sodom and Gomorrah was not about alternative lifestyles—and yes, it really happened. This week, we discuss Abraham’s encounter with God and two angels at the Oaks of Mamre near Hebron, a more likely reason for God’s judgment on Sodom, and we explain why the angels warned Lot to “escape to the hills, lest you be swept away”—and why Lot’s wife really was turned into a pillar of sa...

He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. (Matthew 28:6, ESV) That’s the beginning of our study on the Resurrection. We look at texts from the Old and New Testaments to explain that Christ’s resurrection is the template for what is in store for all who have accepted him as Lord and Savior. From Genesis through Revelation, history is anchored to one overarching theme: Whose children will be rai...

WE SET aside our chronological reading order this week to look at scripture relating the Passover and Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. We explain why these events were more than symbolic; they were acts of war in the spirit realm. We discuss the specific entities targeted at Passover, explain the Amorite kispum ritual, the reason Jesus rode a donkey colt into Jerusalem, why the time and pl...

ABRAHAM’S DISTRESS at being childless was caused by his concept of the afterlife. In the Amorite culture that dominated his world, it was believed that one’s quality of life after death depended on your descendants performing a monthly ritual to provide your food and drink. We explain the Amorite kispum ritual and why Abraham’s servant Eliezer was not necessarily from Damascus. According to schola...

A WAR fought near the Dead Sea nearly 4,000 years ago is the focus of this week’s study. After Abram arrived in Canaan and settled near Hebron, his nephew Lot was captured by an army from Mesopotamia that had come to put down a rebellion by the king of Sodom and his allies. We discuss the meanings of the names of the rebel kings, the possible identities of the kings of the east, and the significan...

GOD BEGINS a new phase of His plan to redeem humanity in this week’s study, as Abram is called from his homeland to journey south into Canaan. We explain again why Abram was not from Ur in Sumer, but from a town near modern Sanliurfa in southeastern Turkey. As you can see by the map (click to enlarge), travelling to Canaan by way of Harran makes no sense. And beyond that, there are other cultural...

BEFORE WE pick up the story of Abraham, some context: When God divided the nations after the Tower of Babel incident, He placed them under the supervision of “sons of God,” angelic beings who were charged with carrying out His will while supervising His creation. We explain why understanding what happened at and after Babel is crucial to understanding the long supernatural war depicted in the Bibl...

LEVIATHAN AND BEHEMOTH are featured this week as God uses them to illustrate the difference between Him and Job. While these creatures are described as possessing almost unimaginable power, they are as pets to our Lord, who made them just as He made us. We discuss the nature of Leviathan and Behemoth (and no, we do not believe they were a whale, giant squid, hippo, elephant, crocodile, or dinosaur...

GOD ARRIVES on the scene to respond to Job’s complaints, and boy, does He bring the thunder. Literally. Speaking from a whirlwind, which is an image that had been coopted by the fallen elohim to represent the Mesopotamian storm-god called Addu or Hadad (i.e., Baal). In fact, there are multiple references to the spirit realm and its rebellion in Job 38. God establishes His unequaled status in all C...

ELIHU CONTINUES his rebuke of Job, refuting the older man’s arguments and then encouraging him to repent. As Elihu concludes his discourse by describing the thunder of God’s voice and the “golden splendor” of His “awesome majesty”—a hint of what’s to come when God arrives in a whirlwind in chapter 38. ———— Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take adva...

JOB DELIVERS what is essentially his closing argument, recalling the days when his life was blessed, a respected member of the community, contrasting it with his current situation as one who’s mocked and despised. He asserts his innocence again, and issues another plea for a hearing. And then chapter 32 opens with a new character entering the scene: Elihu, a young man who’d been listening silently...

A DRAGON in the Bible? Yes! And we see it here in the Book of Job. What’s more, we see a connection between this primordial enemy of God and the spirits of the Nephilim. Even before God created the heavens and the earth, He subdued Chaos—variously called Leviathan, “the deep” (the abyss; Hebrew tehom), the sea (the Canaanite sea-god Yam), or, as here in Job 26:12, Rahab, “the fleeing serpent.” We...

JOB’S FRIENDS grow increasingly accusatory as we go through the book. This week, we hear the final speeches of Zophar and Eliphaz, who have gone from gently reminding Job that God punishes the wicked to accusing their miserable, suffering friend of mistreating the poor, widowed, and homeless! We speculate on the role of the accuser (“the satan”) in provoking their aggressive responses to Job, disc...

JOB’S UNDERSTANDING of the afterlife was a reflection of the culture around him, which was dominated by the Amorites who controlled the ancient Near East from about 2000 BC to 1400 BC. They believed that the dead depended on the living to feed them to sustain them after death. But even with that, Job knew that his Redeemer lived, “and at the last he will stand upon the earth”—and that Job would se...

JOB CONTINUES his lament this week, openly wishing that he could hide in Sheol until God’s anger was past. In response, Eliphaz the Temanite accuses Job of guilt, asserting that God only punishes the wicked. We know that's true, but judgment doesn’t always happen when we want it—right now, in the physical realm, where we can see it. Furthermore, we can see with our own eyes, as Job did, that bad t...

JOB FINALLY vents, declaring that he must speak freely since his effort to forget his complaint has failed. In chapter 10, Job addresses God in forceful language, accusing Him of being unjust and demanding answers for his suffering. Then Job’s second friend, Zophar the Naamathite, responds and offers little comfort. Zophar asserts that Job is guilty and deserving of God’s punishment—in fact, proba...

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...