Episodes
Thursday Apr 25, 2019
Episode 6: The Ancient Community Mindset: Why Bible People Confuse Us
Thursday Apr 25, 2019
Thursday Apr 25, 2019
Ever wonder why, when Joseph came up with the idea of storing extra grain, Pharaoh didn't just say, "Yeah, no duh, you idiot. Go back to your cell."?
Understanding the ancient dyadic mindset was a game changer for me when it all kinda clicked about four years ago. So many crazy, awful things that people did in the Bible--things that make zero sense to modern scientifically influenced individualists--suddenly became clear, even when I totally disagreed with them. This is a fun sort of thing to explore, and very challenging--especially for those who think that women are/were oppressed by the Bible. Our perspective is 180 degrees off and we tend to make some invalid judgments.
Wednesday Apr 17, 2019
Episode 5: The Slave's Death--The Cost of our Freedom
Wednesday Apr 17, 2019
Wednesday Apr 17, 2019
Have we forgotten His tangible and costly act of love in all our focus on the Torah?
The Passover week is upon us, and in all of our celebrations of the Exodus from Egypt, sometimes we forget the greater Exodus enacted on behalf of the world at the Cross of Messiah/Christ. In the Bible, Yeshua/Jesus tells His disciples over and over again about being a slave to all, being a servant, about the servant of all being the greatest. That kind of language can sneak by us when we are not aware of how crucifixion was regarded in the Roman Empire. What does servitutis extremum summumque supplicium mean, and how does it relate to I Cor 1:21-25?
Friday Apr 12, 2019
Episode 4: The Five Vindications of Matthew 1
Friday Apr 12, 2019
Friday Apr 12, 2019
One of my favorite things to teach is the “five vindications” of Matthew chapter 1, where we see some surprising women included in Yeshua’s/Jesus’s genealogy during a time when women were considered irrelevant in such lists. Were the matriarchs included? No way! Instead, we see an oppressed widow, a pagan prostitute, a Moabitess (gasp!), an adulteress (or was she), and a suspiciously pregnant teenager. What on earth is going on here, and what does it teach us about the mission of the Messiah?
Friday Apr 05, 2019
Friday Apr 05, 2019
Last week I taught about the low status of children in the ancient world, and how the perception of them differed from our idealized "Leave it to Beaver" views of children and childhood. This week is much darker. Why would the disciples have been eager to get little children and infants away from Yeshua/Jesus? We might find our answers in the Roman era statistical data on the severely high infant and child mortality rates--as well as those for adults.