Despite being regarded as one of the most important figures in the Old Testament, Isaac is virtually a non-entity. He isn't an active character in a single story that's original to him. Why is that? Could it stem from his origins as a pagan god whose worship fell out of favor within the Second Temple community?

Concluding the story of Israel's first patriarch, we follow Abraham into the land of Gerar where he again sells his wife into the harem of a foreign king and then we climb Mount Moriah to witness the attempted sacrifice of his son. We find multiple layers as the Isaac story is meant to overwrite the older story of Ishmael.

Abraham gets a name change, has a personal visitation from multiple gods, Sarah uses magical curses against a slave girl before sleeping with a deity, and two cities are destroyed. But somehow these strange tales come together to form an interesting parallel to the story of Noah's flood.

We begin our coverage of the first patriarch and the covenant between him and Yahweh, or El Elyon, with the father of Judaism selling his half-sister, who is also his wife, into the pharaoh's harem.

The Tower of Babel has long been recognized as a cautionary tale warning against climbing too high and upsetting the gods... but is it more than that? And where did this story come from? While examining this brief tale we trace its origins back thousands of years to characters like Adapa, Erra, Ziusudra, Nimrod, and a giant who was the ancestor of Abraham.

How did a culture living in the Judean highlands come up with the story of Noah's flood? And why do so many details in the story seem to be repeated, often causing contradictions? And why does the story begin with a scene involving other gods visiting earth and creating a race of giants?
The answers involve no less than 7 distinct stories, one devastating river flood, and a fragment of dried clay discovered near Nazareth.

Hidden behind the story of the first muder is a wild collection of older myths that include the god Tammuz and the goddess Inanna and a pair of suitors competing for divine favor. There are stories of sun gods riding into the heavens to learn the secrets of the universe. And maybe there's even a version of the tale that says Cain, not Seth, was the ancestor of Noah. And stranger still is the possibility that Adam wasn't his father.

42. It's the answer to life, the universe, and everything! It's also the number of gods I found in the Bible. From well-known gods like El Elyon and Yahweh to lesser-known deities like Damuzid and Dagon, to monstrous gods like Yam and Nehushtan, we cover as many deities as we can shake a magic spear at. In this episode we look at Yahweh's family tree, talking about his father, mother, wives, brothers, sisters, friends, enemies, and neighbors. Gods from Mesopotamia to Greece can be found in the bible, and we leave no stone unturned when looking for them.

A look into the mythological and historical inspirations behind the divine garden, man's fall from grace, and the expulsion from Eden. Where was Eden? What was the forbidden knowledge? Was Satan involved? Do other religions have this same story? All these questions and more are addressed in this episode.

Are Genesis chapter 1 (the 6 day creation story) and Genesis chapter 2 (Garden of Eden story) part of the same narrative? Were they even written at the same time? Were the inspired by earlier stories? If so, where did those stories come from?