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E100-35: 2 Samuel 5:1 – 7:29: Bible stories have depth!
by didbygraham Bible stories, with a few exceptions (maybe some parables for example) do NOT have nice neat “morals”. If you want to say “and the moral of the story is…” don’t read the Bible. But by...
View ArticleE100 Week 8:The Fall of Israel
“The fall of Israel” is a theological (not historical) title. This five covers almost the whole history of the Israelite kingdoms from David to the destruction of Jerusalem. The Deuteronomistic History...
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E100-36: 2 Samuel 11:1 – 12:25: David and Bathsheba?
Bathsheba goes to David by Francesco Salviati (1510–1563) These two chapters mark the turning point in David’s story. They offer vital clues also to how we “read” biblical narratives. Nathan’s story...
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E100-37: 1 Kings 2:1 – 3:28: The great and wise king Solomon
The judgement of Solomon by Gaetano Gandolfi (1734–1802) In just two chapters we get some of the most beautiful and inspiring, and some of the grubbiest and most bloodthirsty stories in the Bible. It...
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E100-38: 1 Kings 8:1 – 9:9: Solomon and the temple
Photo from The Russian Institute of Radionavigation and Time, http://www.rirt.ru/ Solomon’s prayer understands that Yahweh is a different God, the gods (like Ba’al and his crowd) lived in the sky – and...
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E100-39: 1 Kings 16:29 – 19:18: The big fight at Mt Carmel
Banana plantation at the foot of Mt Carmel Since this is a gripping, but well-known, story what I’ll try to do in this podcast is show you how a bit of context (see here for more on context and...
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E100-40: 2 Kings 25:1 – 25:30: The holy city falls
Detail from Sennacherib’s Lachish frieze showing prisoners being impaled Today’s is a grim reading. But such brutality was not unusual in the Ancient Near East. The Assyrians, for example, when they...
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2 Kings 10: a really nasty text as a test for the 5 step process
I once made a silly offer: “Give me a random Old Testament passage, and I’ll show you how the 5 step process works!” So they offered me 2 Kings 10, the lovely story of the seventy heads offered to Jehu...
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Humour in the Bible Book 7 Judges: Gender Bending
Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, was a military general in the Book of Judges in the Bible. "Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum" Published by Guillaume Rouille (1518?-1589) Wikimedia...
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Humour in the Bible: 8 Ruth: Ruth is from Moab, Boaz is from Bethlehem
Who is that girl? Gustave Doré (1832-1883) from Wikimedia Ruth is a lovely story, it’s humour is1 gentle and subtle. Part of the subtlety is that most (though not all) of the signs of humour are...
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Humour in the Bible 9: 1 Samuel: Introducing Saul
Donkey by jlmaral For 1 Samuel I am going to cheat again, I just don’t think I can beat the hilarious introduction the first king, Saul, receives. In these two podcasts (again repeated)1 I’ll point up...
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Humour in the Bible 10: 2 Samuel: God explains ‘himself’
The narrative books are on the whole easy targets for finding humour, so again I’ll recycle an old podcast This time in 2 Samuel 7 where God plays with words and puns away while explaining what he...
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Humour in the Bible 11: 1 Kings: In an idol moment
Image of Elijah (on Mt Carmel, photo by brett.wagner) Idols, “gods” that people make! The very idea of making a god is one of those notions that almost have to reduce you to tears (whether of laughter...
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Humour in the Bible: Book 12: 2 Kings 1: Mission interrupted.
Elijah the Tishbite was a "lord of hair" (photo by JD Hancock) Since Google suggests the first chapter of 2 Kings is humorous I’ll measure it against the criteria. It meets most (but not all) which i...
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Humour in the Bible 13: 1 Chronicles 4 The Prayer of Jabez
Larger babies are sometimes refered to ironically as “the baby elephant” (photo by silentcow) The prayer of Jabez was wildly popular a few years back among voguish Christians worried about the lack of...
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Humour in the Bible, book 14: 2 Chronicles 18
Not what either Zedekiah the prophet or a real Viking would wear, but it is funny (photo by dionhinchcliffe) The strange, and strangely disturbing story of Micaiah ben Imlah in 2 Chronicles 18 which...
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Humour in the Bible, book 15: Ezra
The chronology of ancient kingdoms amended: to which is prefix'd, a short chronicle from the first memory of things in Europe, to the conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great: with three plates of the...
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Humour in the Bible: book 16: Nehemiah
Nehemiah and his heroes rebuild the wall, notice the superhuman strength of the guys holding up a huge block of stone, while Nehemiah reads a proclamation. Nehemiah seems like a typical Sunday School...
View ArticleBridges in Biblical Narrative
Like soap-operas, and other serials, biblical narratives with several episodes often seek to bridge between two parts. These bridges are often verses that serve to link one episode to another. We’ll...
View ArticlePeace and war: 1 Kings 20:18
Jeremy Thompson pointed out on Facebook the interesting verse in 1 Kings 20:18 where Ben-Hadad having had a bit too much too drink when Israel comes out for battle: Says: 18 “If they have come out for...
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