Character in Context

Episode 194: The Akeida—Genesis 22 for Grownups

There is so much context here! But what stands out in Genesis 22 more than anything are the conflicting emotions and turmoil. Tired of platitudes and pat answers to the hard questions? Me too. There is a lot going on here that too many people don’t even want to acknowledge. This is a text tailor made to be wrestled with and we aren’t given any easy answers to important questions so why pretend otherwise? Sometimes, in order to be our ally in our faith walk, the Bible must eschew easy interpretations to force us to hunt for the meat hidden within.

Transcript: https://theancientbridge.com/2024/11/episode-194-the-akeida-genesis-22-for-grownups/

YouTube: https://youtu.be/W9jW5zKoJAg

Episode 193: Sukkot and the Great Wilderness Reset

Although what we see today in Jerusalem is more like tabernacling for a week in some pretty elaborate, luxurious, and comfortable “temporary dwellings,” the original command to observe the festival of Sukkot was a memorial to those difficult wilderness years when diligently following the cloud and fire and gathering the daily manna was a mater of life and death. How does this relate to Yeshua’s/Jesus’s command to “follow me”? Why does this change everything in heaven and on earth?

YouTube: https://youtu.be/Azv6kB2HM_A

Episode 192: Yom Kippur and the Great Cosmic Community Reset

Yom Kippur, apart from being the holiest day of the year, was also the happiest. There’s just something about setting things right with God that is incredibly satisfying. Yes there was fasting and somber reflection because it isn’t joyous to have to watch the High Priest clean up the defilement of the community through blood cleansing, and it wouldn’t have been appropriate to be feasting, but there was also this very real phenomenon of wiping clean the slates in heaven and on earth.

YouTube: https://youtu.be/ipC3haFqoV0

Episode 191: Tishri 1 and the Great Cosmic Kingship Reset

Chag Sameach! Happy Rosh Hashanah/Yom Teruah/Feast of Trumpets! This is a series I did for an online conference back when I was younger and thinner and not hacking up a lung. Just kidding, my lungs are right where they belong but they aren’t happy about it. Since I am under the weather this year in a big way (I shouldn’t hug and kiss sick people but that’s why I get everything that comes through this house), I decided to pull this out of my online conference archives and publish it. Parts 2 and 3 about Yom Kippur and Sukkot coming soon!

Transcript: https://theancientbridge.com/2024/09/episode-191-tishri-1-and-the-great-cosmic-kingship-reset/

YouTube: https://youtu.be/YeXP5evLieI

Episode 190: Gen 21 for the grownups, part 1

I can’t even begin to tell you how happy I am that I can teach this chapter without having to go into gory details about sexual nonsense and, as such, anyone can listen to this Context for Kids supplemental teaching on the first portion of Gen 21, which covers the birth of Isaac and the exile of Ishmael and Hagar. Things won’t get awkward again until Gen 29, thankfully—at least not in ways I would end up in an ankle bracelet for talking to kids about.

Transcript: https://theancientbridge.com/2024/08/episode-190-gen-21-for-the-grownups-part-1/

YouTube: https://youtu.be/eoneP_humoc

Episode 189: Genesis 20 --Abraham's Sister? A Headache of a Chapter

I am about to begin teaching the kids about Genesis 20 and 21 over on Context for Kids and so it is time to explore the disturbing implications of what is said in Genesis 20 back to what wasn't said in Genesis 12 when Pharaoh took Sarai.

Transcript: https://theancientbridge.com/2024/06/episode-189-genesis-20-abrahams-sister-a-headache-of-a-chapter/

YouTube: https://youtu.be/CD1jhyK8sZU

Episode 188: Stuff I Can’t Teach Kids about Sodom and Gomorrah

Ugh. When I started my Context for Kids radio show, I was just dreading this series. Genesis 19—really the only chapter in the Bible I would want to teach even less is Judges 19. But, I can’t skip it over, right? I will be teaching the kids Genesis 19 interpretation by using the prophets and how they viewed and spoke about Sodom—as an unhospitable and oppressively wicked society—and leave sex out of it. But you guys need to be able to answer the hard questions that would get me fitted for an ankle bracelet if I tried it. This is a brutal, deep dive into the ancient Near Eastern context of the account of the destruction of the cities of the plain and so you’ll likely be hearing things you’ve never heard before such as the ancient practice of shaming via gang rape, and the dyadic community mindset that drove Lot’s daughters to incest. Not for the faint of heart. Not for little kids.

Transcript: https://theancientbridge.com/2024/04/episode-188-stuff-i-cant-teach-kids-about-sodom-and-gomorrah/

YouTube: https://youtu.be/TdWB3d3SeNg

Episode 187: Hospitality or not? Rahab, Yael, Abigail, and Lydia in Context

Now that we’ve covered the ancient rules for hospitality, I want to talk about the commonly misunderstood accounts of Rahab, Yael and Abigail. And we’ll also talk about how the world had changed by the time of the apostles with a quick look at Lydia.

Transcript: https://theancientbridge.com/2024/03/episode-187-hospitality-or-not-rahab-yael-abigail-and-lydia-in-context/

YouTube:  https://youtu.be/nbEgohsMR00

Episode 186: Hospitality, Family, and Travel in the Days of Sodom

Genesis chapters 18 and 19 read as very shallow morality tales without an intimate understanding of the social dynamics going on in the arena of hospitality expectations. This is the first of two teachings describing the established parameters and rituals associated with dealing with strangers to a community and the who, what, when, where and why’s of offering sustenance and lodging. What did Abraham do right? What did Lot do wrong? This is where we can begin to understand these two complex chapters of Scripture—as well as Judges 19.

Transcript: https://theancientbridge.com/2024/02/episode-186-hospitality-family-and-travel-in-the-days-of-sodom/

YouTube: https://youtu.be/xHsnfgK7Vsk

Episode 185: Are we Modeling Good Fruit or Folly?

This is a companion and more intensive lesson for adults based upon my current series on Context for Kids on "being like Jesus." 

Transcript: https://theancientbridge.com/2024/01/episode-185-are-we-modeling-good-fruit-or-folly/

YouTube:  https://youtu.be/qh8SjoSnwiA