Dragons in Genesis

The Torah is centered around the idea that the descendants of Abraham are the rightful residents of the land of Israel and the religion they follow is the one true faith. Their law code comes from Moses and the land is granted to them according to divine covenant with Yahweh. But according to the Bible itself Abraham came from Babylon and the Law Code was written in Persia. And maybe, just maybe, the entire story of Abraham and Moses were written to provide Jewish pedigree for Persian ideas.

The Song of Songs is the only piece of erotic love poetry included in the Hebrew Bible, and the imagery in the song is borderline pornographic. That's why I chose to recite the poem with appropriate music.

The Post-Exilic return to Judah from Babylon is central to Jewish theology, but why? Shouldn't their religion have simply picked up where the First Temple left off? What if the Second Temple wasn't a mere continuation of the old religion, but a fresh start? What if Moses and Joshua, and even Abraham were stories told to support a new religion which actually angered adherents to the older form of Judaism? And what if this new religion was a political tool instituted by the Persians? And what if the Bible actually said as much?

The wild inventions of the Chronicler continue in this episode as we cover the entirety of the First Temple Period beginning with King Solomon and ending with the Temple's destruction at the hands of the Babylonians, ushering in the influence of Persian rule and religion which is evident in the text. See how the Chronicler changes events from the record of the Books of Kings in order to satisfy his own theological views.

The two books of Chroniclers are yet another attempt by biblical authors to rewrite their national history and create new scripture which contradicts the older versions. What makes Chroniclers stand out is the fact that the older version of history, the books of Samuel and Kings, were too prolific to erase. So we're able to see how they attempted to rewrite history yet again and compare and contrast Chronicles with its source material. And in this episode that's exactly what we're going to do.

Set during the time of the Judges, the Book of Ruth follows Ruth and Naomi, two widows returning to Bethlehem during the wheat harvest. Neither has money or prospects, but by the end of the tale they will have secured their future. But is there more to the story than a tale of women taking control of their own destiny?

Things aren’t going so well for Israel and Judah. Beset on the west by the Egyptians, the east by the Assyrians, and each other from the north and south, God’s chosen people are battling for their lives. But their hardships are due to their own wicked ways as they offend Yahweh at every turn. However, they didn’t know that what they were doing was wrong, because, according to the text, they hadn’t yet been told of their covenant with Yahweh.

Elisha the prophet. Elisha the miracle-worker. Elisha the moon god. As the Israelites moved to a lunar calendar the importance of their lunar figures such as Elisha became more important, thus their stories of greatness and miraculous achievements grew until they outshined those of even their sun gods. Blessed with a double portion of divinity, Elisha is unparalleled in the books of Samuel and Kings as the most powerful prophet... and he doesn't like children.

How much sun god imagery can you fit into one character? I'm not sure, but the story of Elijah is trying to cram it all in there. From calling down fire from the sky (multiple times) to cursing the land with heat waves, the story of this prophet has it all. He also has more parallels to Moses than you can shake a magic staff at... which he also does.

Solomon's turn toward strange gods and stranger religious practices has convinced Yahweh to punish the nation of Israel by dividing it into two separate kingdoms, the northern land of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. This begins a series of conflicts led be two successions of kings who seem to go out of their way to displease the Lord. In the Books of Kings we're treated to political intrigue, betrayal, curses, harlots, and child sacrifice.