Understanding the Scriptures

In this lesson, Carson begins with the ascension of Saul to the throne of kingship over all 12 tribes of Israel in the First Book of Samuel. However, due to Saul's repetitious sin, he loses not only his dynasty (his own son will not succeed him) but his kingship as well. We discover that the words Messiah and Christ are the Hebrew and Greek terms, respectively, for "the anointed one." When the king is installed in office, he is anointed with a flask of oil, and it is this anointing that makes him "the Messiah" or "the Christ." God chooses David, a young shepherd boy, to replace Saul, and eventually, when Saul dies at the hand of the Philistines in battle, the Tribe of Judah anoints David as their king. David reigned over Judah for 7 years and 6 months before the other 11 tribes of Israel decided to make David their king as well. David reigned another 33 years over all Israel. It was during this time that God entered into the Davidic Covenant with King David, which is one of the most important covenants of the Old Testament. David's dynasty would never end, no matter how sinful the Davidic King will be. Eventually, one day, Jesus will arise in the line of David to be anointed at his own baptism in the Jordan River as to ascend to the throne in his Ascension into Heaven.

As an added bonus, we compare 2 Samuel 6 with Luke 1 to see how St. Luke the Evangelist portrays Mary as the New Ark of the New Covenant! So, tune in to this week's podcast and don't miss out on all there is to learn.

In this lesson, Carson reviews the defining characteristics of the Davidic Covenant before moving into the reign of King Solomon. Bethsheba, whose name means Daughter of the Oath is elevated by her son, Solomon, to the office of Queen Mother. In eastern kingdoms - including the Davidic Kingdom - the mother of the king reigned as queen (not the king's wife). In Israel, the name Israelites used to refer to the Queen Mother is Gebirah, which is a Hebrew word meaning "Great Lady." We look at how this office is ultimately fulfilled by Mary, the mother of King Jesus, who is portrayed in St. John's Apocalypse as Queen Mother in the twelve chapter of the Book of Revelation.

Another prominent feature of Solomon's court is that of the vizier, which can be likened to the position of prime minister in the Western monarchies we are more familiar with. Just as Solomon built the Temple upon the eben shetiyah (Hebrew for "stone of foundation), so Jesus (the New Solomon) will build his Church (the New Temple) upon Peter (the New Eben Shetiyah). We then discern the papacy's foundation in Scripture using Isaiah 22:20-22, the narrative of Joseph and Pharaoh in Genesis, the narrative of Daniel Nebuchadnezzar in the Book of Daniel, the geography of Palestine, as well as Greek Aramaic etymology. When the evidence is clearly evaluated, we are able to understand how Scripture portrays Peter as the first pope.

In this lesson, Carson covers 1 2 Kings, showing how the united Davidic Kingdom under Solomon split in 930 B.C. when Solomon died. This split in the Kingdom was ultimately God's punishment due to Solomon's threefold sin of (1) amassing wealth for himself, (2) acquiring a great number of wives who turned his heart to idolatrous worship, and (3) acquiring many horses for a standing army. These very three transgressions were forbidden in Deuteronomy 17. Solomon's son, Rehoboam, decided to harshen his father's rule by making the yoke on his subjects heavier. This poor decision resulted in the northern 10 tribes seceding under the reign of Jeroboam. This Northern Kingdom, bereft of the Davidic throne, is thereafter called by three popular names: Israel, Jacob, and Ephraem in the historical and prophetic books. The Southern Kingdom, now led by Rehoboam, consisted of only two of the original 12 tribes: Judah and Benjamin. It is now called the Kingdom of Judah. Since the Levites did not acquire tribal land and resided in the Levitical cities, both kingdoms contained descendants from the tribe of Levi as well. We also take a look at the ministry of Elijah and Elisha and see how this history foreshadows the ministry of both John the Baptist and Jesus.

In this lesson, Carson explains how the Deuteronomic curses (outlined in the Book of Deuteronomy) are fulfilled in both the Northern and Southern Kingdoms as they break the Old Covenant by committing the grave sin of idolatry. First, the Northern Kingdom (10 Tribes) is besieged, conquered, and exiled by Assyria in 722 B.C. The people who once inhabited the Northern Kingdom eventually lost their national identity when Assyria intermixed them among the foreign nations in their exile among those nations. Simultaneously, we read in 2 Kings 17 how Assyria imported 5 foreign conquered peoples into where the Northern Kingdom used to exist (i.e. Samaria), and the Israelites who remained in the land interbred with these foreigners creating halfbreeds who practiced a hybrid form of religion consisting of Torah and pagan idolatry. These people in Jesus' day were known as Samaritans.

The Southern Kingdom (2 Tribes) experienced the destruction of Jerusalem, its walls, and Solomon's Temple under the reign of the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C.. This Southern Kingdom is exiled to Babylon in three successive deportations. The Southern Kingdom only experienced exile in Babylon for around 70 years and were able to retain their national identity. When Medo-Persia conquered Babylon, the Persian King Cyrus decreed that the exiles could return to their homeland around 535 B.C.

In this lesson, Carson covers some of the key Old Testament prophetic passages that foretell the restoration of all Israel under the descendant of King David: the Davidic King. We go through several key passages in the Book of Jeremiah and the Book of Ezekiel before taking a quick look at Chapter 52 of the Book of Isaiah. These passages, among others, bolstered the Messianic hopes of Israel both in the Babylonian Exile as well as upon returning to "the Land" and its capital city of Jerusalem, beginning in 538 B.C. Eventually, these hopes will find their fulfillment in the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the restoration he brings about in his one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church through the sacrament of baptism.

In this lesson, Carson gives an overview of the history between when the exiled Jews first began to return to the Holy Land (i.e. Palestine) in 538 B.C. and the rule of Herod the Great when our Lord Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem. We look into the reason why Israelites such as Jesus and his 12 Apostles spoke Aramaic and not Hebrew. We also take a look at what version of the Old Testament our Lord and the Apostles read and quoted from: the Septuagint.

The material this session covers includes 1 and 2 Maccabees, which you will find in Catholic Bibles, but not in Protestant Bibles. These two historical Old Testament books serve as a bridge between the Old and New Testaments. They describe the revolt of pious Jews against the paganizing and tyrannous rule of Antiochus IV "Epiphanies" (meaning "God Manifest" because he considered himself the visible manifestation of Zeus). You will learn of how Alexander the Great conquered Persia, but when he died of fever, his empire was split among his 5 generals. Then, the Holy Land was vied after by the descendants of two of his generals: Ptolemy and Seleucus. We will see that Antiochus IV was a Seleucid king who wished to Hellenize (i.e. to spread the Greek culture) everyone everywhere, including the Jews. Eventually, the Jews under the leadership of Judas "Maccabeus" (meaning "the hammer") and his brothers won independence from Seleucid rule in 142 B.C. However, in 63 B.C., this independence was lost to Rome when Pompey took control of Jerusalem.

In this lesson, Carson goes over the various religious groups in the Holy Land both when Jesus was born and when he went about his ministry at approximately the age of 30. In order to understand Jesus and his ministry clearly, we need to first look at the historical environment in which he lived. We begin by examining the reign of King Herod the Great (37 to 4 B.C.). Who was he and what was he up to with his massive building projects (e.g. the Temple)? Then, we examine his three sons who each ruled over a part of his kingdom after his death. First we have Archelaus who ruled over Idumea, Judea, and Samaria; then there is Herod Antipas who reigned over Galilee and Perea; finally, there is Philip who reigned over the northern Transjordan region (east of the Jordan river).

This session covers the identity of the Pharisees and the two main divisions among them: the Shammaites and the Hillelites. We also look at the nature of the Sadducees as well as the Essenes. By understanding each of these different ways of being "Jewish," we are able to understand the Gospels and the New Testament better. We take the time to understand what Saint Paul meant when he said "works of the law" (in Greek: ergon nomos), and why these works of the law were so important to zealous Jews in his day.

In this lesson, Carson introduces the 27 books of the New Testament. We start off the spring semester (Chapters 17 through 30) by reading paragraph 129 in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which reads: "Christians therefore read the Old Testament in the light of Christ crucified and risen. Such typological reading discloses the inexhaustible content of the Old Testament; but it must not make us forget that the Old Testament retains its own intrinsic value as Revelation reaffirmed by our Lord himself (Mark 12:29-31). Besides, the New Testament has to be read in the light of the Old. Early Christian catechesis made constant use of the Old Testament (1 Cor. 5:6-8; 10:1-11). As an old saying put it, the New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New (St. Augustine, Quaestiones in Heptateuchum 2:73)." An overview of the four Gospels is given. We look at who wrote the Gospels, who their audiences most probably were, as well as the major themes they contain. We then move on to discuss Acts of the Apostles, St. Paul's 13 Epistles, the Epistle to the Hebrews, the 7 Catholic Epistles, and the Book of Revelation.

In this lesson, Carson begins with an explanation of the Christological definition formulated at the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon in 451 A.D. (a location which is now a part of the modern day city of Istanbul). He then speaks about the two means by which God has successively dealt with humanity. In the Old Testament, God descended (katabasis) to our human level in dealing with us, by offering us temporal goods as rewards and conceding to our sinful longings. This condescension came to a climax in the Incarnation when he took upon himself a human body and a human soul. In the New Testament, God takes on our humanity in order to lift us up out of our misery, so that we might ascend (anabasis) into the heights of his divinity. At this point, we read from the important passage Peter wrote in 2 Peter 1:4 - "he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, that through these you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion, and become partakers of the divine nature."

We look closely at how Jesus identified himself with the Temple (in the end of John 2) and with how St. John - in the prologue of his Gospel - speaks of the Incarnation in the same terms, which describe how God came down upon the tabernacle among Israel in the Sinai wilderness. From here, we move into St. Luke's Gospel, which begins with a very clear and precise indication of the historicity and verifiable nature of the information presented: "Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things which have been accomplished among us, just as they were delivered to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent The-oph'ilus, that you may know the truth concerning the things of which you have been informed" (Luke 1:1-4).

Come join us as we delve into the rich Old Testament allusions Luke paints in his beautiful Gospel. Caution: This will change the way you read St. Luke... from now on, you won't read it in the same light.

In this lesson, Carson explains the baptism of Jesus, his temptation in the desert wilderness, the wedding at Cana (found in John 2), as well as Jesus' proclamation of the kingdom. We hearken back to Old Testament typology and prophetic themes, which stand as a backdrop to these Gospel narratives. We switch back and forth between the Gospels of Luke, Mark, Matthew, and John as we unveil the hidden meaning behind "what Jesus did."

When you tune into this episode, you will discover...

...why Jesus - who was without sin - submitted to a baptism of repentance.

...what the significance was of the devil tempting Jesus in the wilderness.

...why Jesus turned 180 gallons of water into the best of wine at a wedding.

...what kingdom Jesus meant when he said, "the kingdom of heaven is at hand!"

...what significance there is in where Jesus began his ministry: Capernaum.

...the meaning behind the number of apostles Jesus chose.