The Naked Bible Podcast

What is the New Apostolic Reformation, with Holly Pivec The New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) seems to quite clearly justify labeling it a movement or denomination. Millions of people around the world are part of its network of churches. However, many NAR leaders and advocates deny that it’s a denomination or movement. Many Christians who are attracted by NAR teachings and practices have no idea that something called the NAR even exists. For those aware of its influence and presence within Christianity, the NAR has branded itself as representing the return of authoritative apostles and prophets to the modern church, complete with miracles such as healing and raising the dead. On this episode, we talk to Holly Pivec, an authority on the NAR, to learn what it is, what its defining characteristics are, and how we should think about its teachings. NOTE: Shortly after our interview, Holly Pivec informed us that her statement about Michael Brown teaching at C. Peter Wagner’s school was inaccurate. Dr. Brown is the founder of FIRE School of Ministry in Charlotte, NC. The doctrinal statement for that school is located here and includes a statement on modern apostles and prophets. Holly Pivec resources: Blog: Spirit of Error Books: A New Apostolic Reformation?: A Biblical Response to a Worldwide Movement God’s Super-Apostles: Encountering the Worldwide Prophets and Apostles Movement

September 23 has come and gone. The world didn’t end. Jesus didn’t return. There was no rapture. Planet X (Nibiru) never showed up. Why not? The answers involve both astronomy and sound biblical interpretation. We’ll leave the astronomy to experts in that field. We’ll consider the biblical reasons why the September 23 prophetic date-setting was nonsense. Those reasons are actually transparent, at least if we care about paying attention to the biblical text. In this episode of the podcast, we talk about five features of the passages used by false teachers who promoted Sept 23 as having end-times meaning. Join us for an episode on how to ineptly interpret the Bible. Check out Mike’s links to the PseudoAstronomy podcast for the astronomical flaws of Planet X (Nibiru)!

In Hebrews 2 the writer continues to focus on the supremacy of Christ to the Law (Torah) and angels. Christ is superior for many reasons, but chiefly because only he, through his sacrificial death, burial, and resurrection could provide the eternal sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins and bring humans back to right relationship with God. As Hebrews 2:1415 say God became a man in Jesus Christ so that, “through death he [Jesus] might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.” This statement is followed by another one whose significance is overlooked by many, especially those who mistakenly believe that the offer of salvation through Christ is extended to fallen angels: “For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect.” This episode of the podcast focuses on the necessity of the incarnation not only to the superiority of Christ, but to the problematic idea that fallen angels can be forgiven.

The writer of Hebrews builds on his assertions that the particular son of God (Jesus) who was the agent of creation, eternal wisdom, and the essence of God, by comparing him to other supernatural sons of God (angels). But what does a phrase like “You are my son, today I have begotten you” mean? Does this mean Jesus was a created being? This episode notes the use of this phrase and other Old Testament passages utilized by the writer of Hebrews to explore its actual meaning. Along the way, the episode discusses two links in Hebrews 1 to the Deuteronomy 32 worldview and the divine council. Get 40% off Dr. Heiser’s Jewish Trinity course. Limited Time Offer. logos.com/nakedbiblepodcast

Hebrews 1:1-4 sets the tone for the entire epistle. The writer asserts that the revelation given by God through one particular son—Jesus Christ—is superior to Torah. It is Christ who is the full expression of God’s wisdom, and the actual, essential being of God Himself. Since the “inheritance” language of Heb 1:1-4 cannot suggest that God himself is being retired and succeeded, the language needs to be understood in terms of co-rulership. But why is this particular son (1:2) different than all others? This episode explores and expands on these themes and addresses this question by discussing the Old Testament context for the phrases, “the radiance of the glory of God,” Wisdom Christology, and hypostasis terminology.

Dr. Heiser answers questions from a live audience. Thank you to Wayland Baptist University for hosting and Nathan for organizing the event. Thank you to everyone who came and joined us in Lubbock, Texas.

This episode launches the next book study on the podcast: the book of Hebrews. After discussing some preliminaries about the book, the episode preps listeners to the fact that Hebrews is a book that draws heavily on the Old Testament. That strategy of the anonymous author means more than simply quoting the Old Testament. Rather, there are more significant hermeneutical issues to consider—issues that will reverberate throughout the book.

Dr. Heiser answers your questions about Melchizedek.

Dr. Heiser answers your questions.

In the previous episodes on Melchizedek we covered the Old Testament data (Parts 1A, 1B) and Second Temple Jewish interpretation (Part 2) of the enigmatic Melchizedek. This episode focuses on Hebrews 7, the New Testament passage that focuses on Melchizedek as a type or analogy to Jesus.

Surviving and Thriving in Seminary, with Danny Zacharias and Ben Forrest Ever thought about taking a seminary class? Getting a degree in biblical studies? Even if you haven’t and just want good advice on how to do biblical research on your own, you’ll want to listen in on this conversation. This episode of the podcast focuses on the book by Drs. Zacharias and Forrest, How to Survive and Thrive in Seminary. You’ll learn a lot about expert resources (some of them free) and some strategy hints for the serious study of Scripture. check out logos.com/nakedbible

In the previous two episodes on Melchizedek (1a, 1b) we covered the Old Testament data on this enigmatic figure. Jewish writers and readers in the Second Temple Period (ca. 500 BC – 70 AD) naturally had ideas on who Melchizedek was and how to understand him as a king-priest. This episode discusses important texts from the Second Temple Period that deal with Melchizedek. Primary attention is placed on texts that case Melchizedek as more than a man, in effect the divine messianic deliverer of Israel in the last days. These texts and the thinking behind them set the stage for how New Testament writers thought about Melchizedek and how they correlated him to Jesus.

Melchizedek is one of the more enigmatic figures in the Bible. Mentioned in only two passages in the Old Testament (Gen 14:17-24; Psalm 110), he nevertheless drew a lot of attention during the Second Temple Period and the New Testament. Thousands of pages of scholarly research have been devoted to him. Nearly everything said about him produces interpretive problems, from the nature of his name, to its meaning, to his identity as a Canaanite (non-Israelite), to why Psalm 110 favors his priesthood about that of Aaron. This episode of the podcast finishes our discussion of the Old Testament material associated with Melchizedek. Later episodes will be devoted to how he was understood in Second Temple Judaism and the New Testament. Resources: “Melchizedek,” Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch (IVP) “Melchizedek,” Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (Brill, Eerdmans)

Melchizedek is one of the more enigmatic figures in the Bible. Mentioned in only two passages in the Old Testament (Gen 14:17-24; Psalm 110), he nevertheless drew a lot of attention during the Second Temple Period and the New Testament. Thousands of pages of scholarly research have been devoted to him. Nearly everything said about him produces interpretive problems, from the nature of his name, to its meaning, to his identity as a Canaanite (non-Israelite), to why Psalm 110 favors his priesthood about that of Aaron. This episode and the next (1b) of the podcast focuses on the Old Testament associated with Melchizedek. Later episodes will be devoted to how he was understood in Second Temple Judaism and the New Testament. Resources: “Melchizedek,” Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch (IVP) “Melchizedek,” Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (Brill, Eerdmans)

Dr. Heiser answers your questions.

David Burnett returns to the podcast to discuss Paul’s defense of his apostleship and his heavenly ascent in 2 Corinthians 11-12. This episode expands upon an earlier episode on Paul’s ascent, specifically linking it to Second Temple Jewish apocalyptic literature (the Apocalypse of Abraham) and rabbinic material that appears to draw on that earlier material. The link to Abraham in Jewish thought is important, as it informs part of Paul’s comments on being the seed of Abraham.

Gerald R. McDermott (PhD, University of Iowa) is Anglican Chair of Divinity at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama. Before joining Beeson, he was the Jordan-Trexler Professor of Religion at Roanoke College. He is also associate pastor at Christ the King Anglican Church and Distinguished Senior Fellow in the History of Christianity at Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion. In this episode of the podcast we discuss two of Dr. McDermott’s books: God’s Rivals: Why Has God Allowed Different Religions? and Israel Matters: Why Christians Must Think Differently about the People and the Land. God’s Rivals raises the question of why there are other religions—why would God permit that? The content of the book takes note of the Deuteronomy 32 worldview discussed so often on the Naked Bible Podcast – that, for biblical writers, the gods were real and allotted to the nations (and vice versa) in judgment at the Babel event (Deut 4:19-20; 17:1-3; 29:23-26; 32:8-9 [per the Dead Sea Scrolls “sons of God” reading]; 32:17). Dr. McDermott surveys early church thinkers reflections on this situation and what it meant in God’s plan of salvation. Israel Matters discusses the diversity of opinion (positive and negative) in the believing Church toward the people, land, and state of Israel. Books referenced: God’s Rivals: Why Has God Allowed Different Religions? Insights from the Bible and the Early Church Israel Matters: Why Christians Must Think Differently about the People and the Land The New Christian Zionism: Fresh Perspectives on Israel and the Land

The “evil eye” was a widespread superstition in the ancient world, one that continues on into the present day. The belief that one could cause someone harm merely by looking at them, or cast a spell over them by the same means, shows up in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamian, Greece, Rome, and Rabbinic writings. But does the Bible contain any reference to the notion? This episode explores biblical references to having an “evil eye” and discusses the meaning of those references in biblical thought. Select References: Marie-Louise Thomsen, “The Evil Eye in Mesopotamia,” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 51:1 (1992): 19-32 Edwin M. Yamauchi, “Magic in the Biblical World,” Tyndale Bulletin 34 (1983): 169-200 (Sec IV.C) Nicole Tilford, “The Affective Eye: Re-Examining a Biblical Idiom,” Biblical Interpretation 23 (2015) 207-221 D. A. Fiensy, “The Importance of New Testament Background Studies in Biblical Research: The ‘Evil Eye’ in Luke 11: 34 as a Case Study,” Stone-Campbell Journal. 2:1 (1992): 75-88 Eastman, “The Evil Eye and the Curse of the Law: Galatians 3:1 Revisited,” Journal for the Study of the New Testament 83 (2001): 69-87

In this episode Dr. Heiser talks to the men behind a new translation project, John Hobbins and Samuel Bray. The first volume of their effort is entitled Genesis 1-11: A New Old Translation for Readers, Scholars, and Translators. Our discussion focuses on the translation enterprise – what translators need to think about as they do their work. The strength of this new project is its thorough documentation by the translators of what and how they were thinking during the process of producing their translation. Over 130 pages of notes about the Hebrew text and its translation issues accompany the translation. The work comes highly recommended, and Naked Bible Podcast listeners can purchase the resource at a discount. Preorder HERE and use the code: GETNAKED to receive a discount.

Dr. Heiser answers your questions.   resource referenced: Erickson, The Work of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament

The episode of Noah’s drunkenness in Genesis 9 has long befuddled interpreters. One of Noah’s sons, Ham, commits some heinous crime against his father. Oddly, though, Ham is not the one cursed by his father. Instead, Ham’s son Canaan bears the wrath of Noah. This episode explores the traditional solutions to the interpretive confusion and offers an alternative based on recent research in the Hebrew text. Sources: John Sietze Bergsma and Scott Walker Hahn, “Noah’s Nakedness and the Curse on Canaan,” Journal of Biblical Literature 124:1 (2005): 25-40

The Ark of the Covenant is well-known because of the popular Indiana Jones movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark. That pop culture film offers just one of over a dozen theories on what happened to the Ark of the Covenant. The question arises because the ark is not one of the artifacts taken to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar in the biblical account of the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple in 586 BC, nor is it listed among the temple treasures returned to Israel in Ezra 1, the account of the release of the captive Judeans. This episode surveys the more interesting and important theories as to the fate of the ark. Sources: John Day, “Whatever Happened to the Ark of the Covenant?” Temple and Worship in Biblical Israel (Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series 422; Bloomsbury T&T Clark; Rev. Ed edition, 2007), 250-270 John Bimson, “Shoshenk and Shishak: A Case of Mistaken Identity?” Journal of the Ancient Chronology Forum 6 (1992/93): 19-32 Michael S. Heiser, “Moses as High Priest and Sorcerer? A Response to Graham Hancock’s Egyptian Explanation for the Ark of the Covenant” Near East Archaeological Society Bulletin 39-40 (1995) 48-65 link referenced: https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/85762/enigmatic-dead-sea-copper-scroll-reveals-true-locations-lost-temple-treasures/#7h3EPE5c8FKGOWQZ.97

This episode continues our discussion of Ezekiel’s temple vision. Whereas Part 1 noted the problems a literalistic approach produces for both coherent interpretation and consistency in biblical theology, this episode looks at positive indications in the text that compel us to read the temple vision in a way that transcends literalism. Doing so observes the way Ezekiel re-purposes cosmic mountain imagery and Leviticus 25 in these chapters and produces fascinating conceptual and theological connections between the temple vision and Jesus, his atonement, and believers as members of his body. Sources Jon D. Levenson, “The Temple and the World,” The Journal of Religion 64, no. 3 (Jul., 1984): 275-298 (esp. pp. 283-289) John S. Bergsma, “Restored Temple as ‘Built Jubilee’ in Ezek 40-48,” Proceedings of the Eastern Great Lakes and Midwest Biblical Societies 24 (2004): 75-85

These final chapters of Ezekiel are known for the prophet’s vision of a new temple. However, scattered within that vision is an enigmatic figure referred to as the “prince” (Hebrew: nasiʾ). In this episode we discuss whether or not Ezekiel’s temple vision should be understood as a functioning building used after the return of the messiah, and how such a literal expectation aligns (or not) with the notion that the “prince” is a Davidic messianic figure. There are serious textual and theological problems for rigid literalism in both respects. Resources: Drawings of Ezekiel’s Temple

This episode features a conversation with David Limbaugh, author of The True Jesus: Uncovering the Divinity of Christ in the Gospels. While the conversation naturally focuses on David’s most recent book, we also get to know him, his spiritual journey, and his thoughts about academic biblical study and its place in the Church at large.

Dr. Heiser answers your questions.

This follow-up to Part 1 on these popular and controversial chapters focuses on the interpretation of the Gog-Magog invasion as a whole. Special attention is paid to how Rev 20:7-10 re-purposes Ezekiel 38-39 and how that re-purposing is consistent with a sound interpretation of those two chapters in their own context. They key to this consistency is recognizing the cosmic-supernatural outlook of elements in Ezekiel 38-39, particularly the description of participants and the burial of Gog and his hordes in the “Valley of the Travelers (Hebrew: ‘oberim)” in Ezek 39:11. Resources: “Day of the Lord” (Anchor Bible Dictionary) Meredith Kline, “Har Magedon: The End of the Millennium,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 39:2 (June 1996): 207-222

Ezekiel 38-39, Part 1: Who or What is Gog? As was the case with Ezekiel 37, these chapters are among the most familiar in the entire book of Ezekiel. This first of two episodes on these chapters focuses on the terminology: Gog, Magog, Meshech, Tubal, and Togarmah. It also addresses the fallacies of translating Hebrew nesiʾ roʾsh as “prince of Rosh” and interpreting the phrase as modern-day Russia, and the difficulties ancient translators had with the term. An alternative understanding of Gog is offered, one that is consistent with the supernaturalistic worldview of the “foe from the north” motif in Old Testament thought. Resources Greece Anatolia Russia Map Paul Tanner, “Daniel’s ‘King of the North’: Do We Owe Russia an Apology?” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 35:3 [Sept 1992]: 315-328 (see esp. 322-326 for the evangelical dispensational predilection for an identification with Russia). Tanner’s article will also be some useful backgrounding for Part 2 of Ezekiel 38-39.

Ezekiel 37 is one of the most familiar in the entire book, but that familiarity really extends only to the first fourteen verses. The chapter actually contains two oracles which telegraph the same ideas and work in tandem. This episode discusses the vision of the dry bones, particularly the debate over whether it provides information on a theology of individual bodily resurrection, and the prophecy of the two sticks representing the rejoining of the two halves of Israel. Both parts of the chapter relate to the restoration of the entire nation and return to the land. The question of fulfillment for these prophecies is also taken up in this episode.

These two chapters seems intrusive. The oracles against the nations ended in Ezekiel 32, followed by the announcement of Jerusalem’s fall (ch. 33) and a transition to the future hope of Israel (ch. 34). Chapters 35-36 are an oracle against Edom (“Mount Seir”) followed by more restorative language in Chapter 36. This episode of the podcast explains why Ezekiel 35 isn’t interruptive because, for the Israelite and OT theology, the judgment of Edom was part of Israel’s restoration to her former glory. Chapter 36, more obviously about the future hope of Israel, raises important questions about eschatology. Specifically, many Bible students assume the chapter’s comments about the coming of the Spirit and restoration of God’s people to the land pertain to a future millennial kingdom. However, the NT quotes the chapter several times, at least two of which have fulfillment in the first century or the OT period itself. Ezekiel 36 therefore raises the issue of whether any element of Ezekiel 36 awaits fulfillment in the distant future—a question that is appropriate the rest of the way (Ezekiel 37-48).

This episode follows episodes 68 and 120. Fern, Audrey, and Beth minister to trauma victims whose trauma has produced DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder) or involved Trauma-based Mind Control (TBMC). If those terms and associated concepts are unfamiliar to you, then episode 68 is an essential precursor to this episode. This episode focuses on addressing listener questions about this ministry. What you’ll hear in this episode, however, isn’t a model for ministry. As you listen, do not assume you can take what’s said today, get the transcript, make a checklist, and do this sort of ministry. The episode discusses in some detail how the ministry of Fern, Audrey, and Beth differs from traditional deliverance ministry and why those differences matter. Fern & Audrey are no longer associated with Discovering Mercy. Fern & Audrey are still helping survivors. You can contact them at [email protected] Resources: Project Bluebird Colin Ross

Dr. Heiser answers your questions.

On the surface, these chapters finalize the destruction of Jerusalem and the covenant failure of its leadership and people as the cause. But there is more than meets the eye. The notion of a “watchman” prominent in Ezekiel chapter 33 is found elsewhere and has possible connections to the divine council. Ezekiel chapter 34 is heavily re-purposed in the New Testament, especially in casting Jesus in the role of God, the true shepherd of Israel. Lastly, we get a hint of the “already but not yet” theme of biblical eschatology.

Ezekiel 32 is a lament for the empire of Egypt, whose hubris was compared to a rebellious divine council member in the previous chapter (one of the “trees” of God’s garden in Lebanon/Eden). This episode focuses on two items in the chapter. Early in the chapter, the prophet casts pharaoh as both a sea dragon and a lion, two seemingly incompatible metaphors. Is this a mistake or is it meaningful? This episode also discusses whether Ezekiel 32:21-28 has anything to do with the origin of demons as the disembodied spirits of the giants. Resources: Theodore Lewis, “CT 13.33-34 and Ezekiel 32: Lion-Dragon Myths,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 116:1 (1996):28-47

Ezekiel 31 is part of the prophet’s oracles against Egypt (chs. 29-32). The chapter strikes an analogy between the mighty nation of Egypt and a great cedar tree in Eden, the envy of other glorious trees in the garden of God. The symbol of the “world tree” or “cosmic tree” is well known, not only to scholars of the ancient Near East, but other cultures as well. The cosmic tree represents a mythological pillar or column that unites all elements of Israel’s ancient three-tiered cosmology. Its branches reach the heavens; its trunk is fixed to the earth, while its roots descend into the subterranean deep of Sheol. It gives life to everything living thing yet it intersects with the realm of the dead. As with Ezekiel28, many scholars presume the point of that the great tree is Adam, to whom Pharaoh is being compared and judged for his hubris. This common assumption misses the meaning of the primeval cosmic tree and its associated forest as this episode details. Resources: Silviu Bunta, “The MEŠU-Tree and the Animal Inside: Theomorphism and Theriomorphism in Daniel 4,” Scrinium 3:1 (2007): 364-384 Edward Lipinski, “El’s Abode: Mythological Traditions Related to Mount Hermon and to the Mountains of Armenia,” Orientalia Lovaniensa Periodica II, (Leuven, 1971), pp. 13-69 Ezek31-Hermon-Lebanon-Map

Ezekiel 29-30 are the first two of four chapters that preserve a series of oracles against Egypt and her Pharaoh. As in the case of the oracles against the prince of Tyre, Ezekiel’s imagery of cosmic, non-human forces of chaos that resist God’s order frames Yahweh’s judgment of the hubris of Egypt. This episode therefore pays special attention to chaos and Leviathan imagery while referencing other symbols and metaphors that juxtapose Egypt’s deserved demise and Israel’s future restoration.

The focus in this episode is Ezek 28:1-19. As readers of my book, The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible know, this is a controversial passage. All scholars agree that this is an oracle and lament against a human prince of Tyre. The disagreement stems from vv. 11-19, but 1-19 is peripherally affected. The debate is over just who the prince of Tyre in vv. 11-19 is being compared to — i.e., what is the point of analogy? Many say that the prince of Tyre is being compared to Adam in Eden. This would mean that it is Adam who is being referred to as a “guardian cherub” (v. 14) who walked in the midst of the stone of fire (a reference to either divine council members or the divine council locale). Dr. Heiser shares the view of other scholars who say that the prince of Tyre is being compared to a divine rebel — and that this passage is related to another one (Isaiah 14) that compares a human ruler (king of Babylon) to a divine rebel. Further, he argues that these two passages are related to Genesis 3, the OT’s own story of a primeval divine rebellion. This means that the anointed cherub is a divine being, a rebellious member of the divine council (stones of fire) – not Adam. This episode explores why the debate exists and adds some details in defense of Dr. Heiser’s position. Chart: TUR-Ezek28-Isa14-Gen3

Five of the seven nations that are the target of judgment oracles were found in Ezekiel 25. Tyre takes its position in the prophetic crosshairs next. Over the course of three chapters (26-28), God has Ezekiel pronounce Tyre’s dire future in the wake of her hubris and delight at Jerusalem’s destruction. This episode covers Ezekiel 26-27 with an oracle of judgment (Ezek 26) and a lament (Ezek 27).

Following the prophecy of Jerusalem’s fall (Ezek 24), the next major section in the book of Ezekiel is a series of oracles against the foreign, enemy nations that celebrated the city’s demise. Seven nations are denounced by the prophet as under Yahweh’s judgment. Nearly every book classified among the major and minor prophets contains a collection of such oracles (e.g., Isaiah 13–23; Jeremiah 46–51). This episode discusses the nature of these oracles and discusses how the oracles of Chapter 25 can be read in the context of the Deuteronomy 32 cosmic-geographical worldview of Israel.

Chapter 24 is a turning book in the book of Ezekiel. After Ezekiel’s call (Ch. 1-3), the book has, to this point, been a series of gloom-and-doom pronouncements to the exiled Jews in Babylon subverting their expectations that Jerusalem, the temple, and their friends and loved ones back in Jerusalem were safe from divine judgment. Chapter 24 announces the judgment of the city of Jerusalem and what’s left of Israel has begun—Ezekiel is to mark the very day he received the oracles which constitute this chapter.

Dr. Heiser answers your questions.

On what day was Jesus actually born? What year? Does the timing matter? Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25, but virtually all Christians know that day isn’t the real birth date of the messiah. While that is certainly the case, has the birth date of Jesus been lost to time, or can it be reckoned. This episode of the podcast explores these questions and provides a solution draw from Scripture, backed by both Jewish messianic tradition and astronomy.   LOGOS 7 DISCOUNT: get 20% off a base package plus 5 books!

Ezekiel 23 essentially takes up where Ezekiel 16 left off. The latter chapter is perhaps the most sexual explicit in the entire Bible, as its theme is to present Jerusalem and Judah as a whore to telegraph her spiritual betrayal of Yahweh. In this chapter both the defunct Norther kingdom (Israel/Samaria) and the remaining Southern kingdom (Judah/Jerusalem) are portrayed as sister prostitutes (Oholah and Oholibah), soliciting every man they can find. The names of the sisters convey the focus well: Israel went into apostasy, and her sister followed her path. And that means the remaining sister, Jerusalem, will come to the same end as Samaria did.

These two chapters of Ezekiel beat a familiar drum: Jerusalem is doomed (21) because of her unrelenting wickedness and apostasy (22). Chapter 21 consists of four oracles “clarifying” for hard-of-hearing Israelites what fate awaited them as Nebuchadnezzar moved toward Jerusalem. Chapter 22 is comprised of three separate sermonettes targeting the evils of the city’s politicians, prophets, priests, and population. The city is cast as worse than Sodom and Gomorrah, as God charges he cannot find a single person (Ezek 22:30) in the city who will put himself on the line to oppose its evil.

These two chapters in Ezekiel rehearse parts of Israel’s tragic history in different ways. This episode discusses both chapters, but devotes more attention to several controversial and difficult passages in chapter 20. Ezekiel 19 is a lamentation that uses animal and plant imagery to describe the demise of Israel’s last few kings. Chapter 20 reviews Israel’s history of apostasy and Yahweh’s gracious refusal to abandon them altogether.

During the recent annual meetings for biblical studies scholars held in San Antonio, Dr. Heiser interviewed a number of scholars about their recent work. In Part 6 of those interviews, we chat with Stephen Huebscher (PhD candidate at Clarks Summit University), David DeSilva (New Testament professor at Ashland Theological Seminary), and Dr. Craig Keener (New Testament professor at Asbury Theological Seminary).  

Our first live episode where Dr. Heiser and special guest David Burnett answer questions from a live audience. Thank you to everyone who came and joined us in San Antonio, Texas.  

During the recent annual meetings for biblical studies scholars held in San Antonio, Dr. Heiser interviewed a number of scholars about their recent work. In Part 5 of those interviews, we meet Dr. John Walton (Old Testament professor at Wheaton College), Dr. Ben Witherington (New Testament professor at Asbury Theological Seminary), and Dr. Tremper Longman (Old Testament professor at Westmont College).  

During the recent annual meetings for biblical studies scholars held in San Antonio, Dr. Heiser interviewed a number of scholars about their recent work. In Part 4 of those interviews, we chat with Dr. N. T. Wright (former Bishop of Durham and Canon of Westminster, now New Testament professor at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland), Dr. Brannon Ellis (Publisher for Lexham Press), and Dr. Carmen Imes, who teaches biblical studies at George Fox University.  

During the recent annual meetings for biblical studies scholars held in San Antonio, Dr. Heiser interviewed a number of scholars about their recent work. In Part 3 of those interviews, we hear again from David Burnett, a familiar voice on the podcast, and meet Dr. Lynn Cohick (New Testament professor at Wheaton College) and Dr. Peter Gurry (New Testament textual critic, blogger at the Evangelical Textual Criticism blog).