THE BIBLE was not written in a vacuum. But most of us read it as if it was. We tend not to think about the influence of the nations around ancient Israel until one of them intrudes on the narrative by invading the Holy Land and plundering the Temple, or something.

Richard Burke is the author of the Raising Up Pharaoh series of novels. He's invested some 30,000 hours of research into the ancient world to make his fictional realm believable. We discuss the path that led him from a career in banking to his studies in archaeology, the ancient Near East and its impact on the patriarchs… and those weird, ancient reptilian figurines found near the site of the ancient temple of Enki, the Sumerian god of the Abyss.

Derek's supernatural thriller The God Conspiracy is now an audio book! Hear new episodes every Monday at www.TheGodConspiracy.tk.

Please join Derek and Sharon Gilbert each Sunday for the Gilbert House Fellowship, our weekly Bible study podcast. Log on to www.GilbertHouse.org for more details.

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