The Book of Nehemiah portrays yet another step in the reconstruction of post-Exile Jerusalem. Today on the Third Hour Podcast, we discuss some of the ways Nehemiah's priorities differ from Ezra's, the composition of the religious classes, and the politics behind the rebuilding of the city walls.

At long last, the Babylonian Exile is over! Thanks to the edicts of Cyrus the Great, the Jewish people have been released, allowing the reconstruction of Jerusalem as a client state of Persia. However, the state of affairs is far from perfect, leaving the inhabitants of the Province-Across-the-River uncertain about their families' future.

The Song of Solomon, also known as the Song of Songs, doesn't have a good reputation in Mormonism. Today on the Third Hour Podcast, we discuss the reasons behind the poem's ignominy, as well as the beauty of its prose and some of the ways it has been interpreted throughout history.

The Book of Job has been interpreted and reinterpreted countless times across the centuries. Today, we look at two modern retellings: Joel and Ethan Coen's A Serious Man and Edward Greenstein's Job: A New Translation. Along the way, we discuss the book's many meanings, its ancient context, and how this most unorthodox story may have entered the Biblical canon.

The Book of Job ranks among the Hebrew Bible's most poetic and enigmatic books, an examination of suffering and the answers we offer to that suffering. Today on a double-length episode of the Third Hour Podcast, we dig into the particulars of the story, our own reactions to it, and the ways it challenges our behaviors and even our broader religious traditions.

The Babylonian Captivity is the watershed event of the Hebrew Bible, a catastrophe that will preoccupy its latter books. Today we examine Lamentations and Ecclesiastes, which offer contrasting responses to the destruction of Jerusalem.

Whoa! Another Isaiah! This week on the Third Hour Podcast, we discuss Trito-Isaiah in some depth, including the textual clues that have led most scholars to conclude that it was written by a different author than those who wrote the first two Isaiahs, the way its author's understanding of the covenant differs from his predecessors, and the milieu that influenced his work.

Early Christians often identified the Book of Isaiah as "the fifth gospel." Yet its theology, rhetoric, and even authorship complicates such easy description. Today, the Third Hour Podcast talks about the book's second major section. Who was Deutero-Isaiah? What did they hope their audience would learn from their writing? Hopefully we can shed some light on those enduing questions.

In its second half, the Book of Ezekiel tones down the sexual imagery but becomes no less enigmatic. This week on the Third Hour Podcast, we investigate some of the book's most notable passages, including the valley of dry bones and the destruction of Gog and Magog, and discuss some complicating factors in the way these have been interpreted throughout history.

Age Warning! The Book of Ezekiel has traditionally been withheld from students until the age of thirty — the reasons for which we will investigate in this episode as we discuss the extreme visions, behaviors, and ethical code that are the hallmarks of this prophet.