The Bible You Thought You Knew

  In this podcast I deal with the first part of verse 1 of 1 Samuel 4 (the so-called verse 1b).  Translators and commentators place this verse as the final verse of 1 Samuel 3.  This is because we are told that the word of Samuel came to all Israel, but Samuel says not a word.  Plus, he does not even appear in the next story.  I argue that is a rhetorical device to have us read the story of the ca...

 In this story the totality of Saul’s reign is recorded.  It is significantly shorter than Saul’s story as narrated in 1 Samuel 9—31.  Plus, the story in 1 Chronicles 10 is uniformly negative.  It tells about Israel’s losing a battle to the Philistines, about the death of Saul’s three sons, and his being wounded by Philistine archers.  Trying to avoid humiliation, Saul orders his armor-bearer to k...

  In this psalm, which is technically a communal lament, the psalmist asks God several times to save the people (i.e., Israel).  At first, it is unclear from what the people are to be saved.  Eventually, it is either from a severe military defeat or the Exile.  Several times in this psalm, God  is implored to make His face shine, positively on Israel and negatively on Israel’s enemies.  Toward the...

The two stories are narrated in 2 Kings 21 and 2 Chronicles 33.  In the Kings account King Manasseh was completely opposite his righteous father, Hezekiah.  In fact, he was an unmitigated disaster for his idolatrous practices, which even included sacrificing his own son.  The incurred God’s wrath and subsequent judgment.  In the Chronicles account, Manasseh’s copious sins are also enumerated.  But...

 This is the famous dream: “Jacob’s Ladder.”  As he was on the way to his Uncle Laban’s place, he spent the night.  He had a dream in which he saw a ladder with divine messengers (i.e. angels) moving up and down the ladder.  God then spoke, reiterating the promise of numerous descendants and the gift of the land.  Jacob commemorated the occasion by converting a stone which he had used as a pillow...

  This is the sole story in which Isaac is the main character and where he shines.  He and Rebekah had to go to Gerar because of a famine.  God warned him not to go to Egypt (as Abraham and Sarah had done).  God also reiterated the promises to the family.  Isaac passed off his wife as his sister.  Because of her beauty, he felt threatened.  Eventually, the king of the city realized that Isaac had...

 Many psalms are laments in which a psalmist complains about various kinds of crises.  Thought the laments are often bitter, typically toward the end of the psalm God either intervenes to deal with the causse of the complaint or God’s intervention is anticipated.  That is not the case in Psalm 88.  In this lament, there is not amelioration or anticipation of amelioration.  The psalmist prays persi...

 Based on 1 Kings 3.  This story begins with a mixed introduction of Solomon.  On the one hand, he is depicted as righteous as King David, his father.  On the other hand, we are told that he married Pharoah’s daughter and engaged in pagan practices.  Still, in a dream God asked him what he would like.  Realizing the arduous task of being king over Israel, he asked for a wise and discerning mind. ...

The story is based on 2 Samuel 20.  In this somewhat obscure story a man named Sheba foments revolt against David.  This was right after Absalom, David’s son, had rebelled against his father.  Though Absalom was unable to stay in power, he had greatly weakened his father.  Because of that, Sheba tried his hand at removing David from the throne.  But this time, David did not have to leave Jerusalem...

 Based on 2 Samuel 12.  In this story, in the aftermath of David’s affair with Bath-Sheba and his having her husband murdered Nathan the prophet confronts David.  But he does so indirectly.  Nathan tells David about two men, one rich and one poor.  In this story, the rich man callously exploits the poor man.  David is outraged at the rich man and insists that the man pay fourfold for what he has d...

 This story is based on Numbers 20.  This is a famous incident in which God wants Moses to “speak” to a rock so that Israel will be supplied with water.  Instead, Moses strikes the rock.  Both Moses and Aaron (his brother) were involved.  And, both incurred God’s anger and punishment.  The punishment was that neither would be allowed to enter Canaan, the Promised Land.  As it turns out, though, it...

 It is based on Exodus 19.  This story recounts Israel’s first experience as soon as it got into the wilderness after being rescued from Egypt.  Moses makes several trips up and down the mountain to communicate with God.  God wants the people to prepare for a theophany, in which God will come in a thick cloud, accompanied by smoke, fire, thunder, and other phenomena.  Moses is instructed to prepar...

This podcast deals with Esau, one of the most disliked characters in the Bible.  Famously, Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of soup and later was cheated out of his father’s blessing.  This outraged him, and further led him to plot his brother’s murder.  Esau had twenty years to wallow in his rage.  Yet, when the time came to meet his brother after two decades he was the model of acceptance, fo...

The story is found in 1 Samuel 12.  In this incident, the prophet addresses “all Israel.”  Mostly, he calls them to repentance and urges them to live righteous lives.  But the prophet also lies in his address!  He criticizes the people for responding to a threat coming from the Ammonite king, Nahash.  According to Samuel, when this king threatened Israel, they asked for the prophet to anoint a kin...

In this Podcast, I explain how the first, foundational part of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, called in Hebrew Torah, was five books instead of four or six.  Some have argued that this foundational part of the Bible should be a Hexateuch—that is, the first six books—because the promise of land is so prominent in Genesis and Joshua (the 6th book) describes Israel’s getting the land.  Others have a...

Psalm 91 is the polar opposite of Psalm 90.  This is because, if taken literally Psalm 91 would eliminate any need to complain or lament the way Psalm 90 does.  In Psalm 91, the Lord’s protection makes those who love God immune from injury or death in war, from disease, from being harmed by wild animals, or even from being subject to the effects of gravity!  Clearly, the people who wrote and canon...

 I suggest that these psalms need to be read in tandem, much like Psalms 22 and 23 should be read in tandem.  Psalm 90 purports to be a prayer of Moses.  This is quite appropriate in that it accents Moses’ role as Israel’s mediator.  Plus, Psalm 90 is the beginning of the 4th section of the Psalter.  Curiously, Psalm 89 is a complaint against God for the Deity’s perceived breaking of the Davidic c...

These three stories occur in the Synoptic Gospels; John does not have a temptation story.  The temptation stories in Matthew and Luke are quite similar; Mark is as cryptic as the other two are detailed.  This temptation in the wilderness mirrors Israel’s being tempted in the wilderness after escaping Egypt and being on the way to the Promised Land.  In fact, Jesus’ quotes from Deuteronomy in rebut...

  In this story, Elijah the prophet tells King Ahab that a divinely-sanctioned drought is on the way.  Of course, this means the prophet needs to get out of town immediately.  The Lord tells him to go to a brook, where he can procure water.  Ravens would supply him with food!  Eventually, the brook dries up.  So, God instructs the prophet to head for Zarephath, a town in Sidon, which is not Israel...

In this episode, Abraham and Sarah have to go to Egypt because Canaan has been afflicted by a famine.  When they get there, Abraham urges Sarah to tell everyone that she is his sister rather than his wife.  He was worried that the Egyptians would kill him to get to her.  Sure enough, Sarah was whisked off to Pharaoh’s house.  At that point, the Lord afflicted Egypt with plagues.  An irate Pharaoh...

In this podcast, I treat the treatment of Melchizedek according to the Epistle to the Hebrews.  In that letter, he has an outsized role.  He is not just any high priest.  He is a high priest that is not related to any other Israelite priest.  Because he has no genealogy, he is taken to be an eternal priest.  Christ is the high priest who embodies Melchizedek’s role.

This is an odd story in the Abraham cycle.  It involves a huge coalition of rival kings who go to war against each other.  In the process, Lot, Abraham’s nephew, gets captured, along with the rest of his family and considerable property.  Abraham feels compelled to rescue his nephew.  This he does.  On his way home, though, he is met by the king of Sodom and the king of Salem, who is named Melchiz...

In this final episode, Jesus continues his debate with Jews who were considering was Jesus was saying.  The more outrageous (from a Jewish perspective) Jesus was in the claims he made about himself, the more heated the debate became.  Jesus demonized the Jews.  The Jews returned the favor.  The episode concluded when the Jews thought Jesus had been heretical and blasphemous, and therefore picked u...

 This material is based on John 7-9.  In this episode, right after Jesus deals with the woman caught in the act of adultery he begins teaching in the temple.  A handful of Jews start believing in Jesus.  But that did not mean that they understood him.  They are confused about Jesus says about who sent him, where he soon will be going, why no one will be able to find him, etc.  Typical of this Gosp...

 In this episode, Jesus has been teaching in the temple, impressing those listening.  Many of them think either that Jesus is “the prophet” or even the Messiah/Christ.  This hubbub leads the Pharisees to send officers to arrest Jesus.  But no one bothers him.  When the officers explain why they did not arrest Jesus, Nicodemus enters the fray.  He wants to know why Jesus is not being given a fair h...