Dragons in Genesis

We tackle 3 more genres of Psalm, the Hymns, Wisdom, and Royal Psalms and discuss their usefulness in early Christian literature.

In the wake of the the Babylonian Conquest many Jews found themselves living in captivity, prisoners of their conquerors. Their city destroyed, their worship interrupted, they longed for the days when Yahweh would once again rule over them and provide safety for their nation and community. Thus was born the lament psalms, songs meant to inform God of their difficulties and beg his assistance, psalms that offered praise and promises in exchange for aid.

We conclude our coverage of Job by examining the subsequent layers which were added to the text over the centuries and examine the theological implications of these layers. Does the new information contradict the original narrative, and why is the Book of Job so important to christianity?

This is a story all about how
Job's life got twist-turned upside down
Give me an episode or two and I'll explain
How God inflicted Job with a life of pain

The story of Job is NOT what you think. In fact, there isn't actually one story presented in the book, but several. And we're covering all of them.

Imagine ancient Jews who didn't observe kosher laws, had no special interest in Jerusalem, didn't practice circumcision, married foreigners, and wrote stories that never mentioned their god. This may seem difficult to imagine, but for Jews living outside of Judah, this was ordinary. Esther explores life in the Persian Empire through a tale of court intrigue and manipulation as it attempts to explain the origins of an ancient festival with pagan roots.

The Torah is centered around the idea that the descendants of Abraham are the rightful residents of the land of Israel and the religion they follow is the one true faith. Their law code comes from Moses and the land is granted to them according to divine covenant with Yahweh. But according to the Bible itself Abraham came from Babylon and the Law Code was written in Persia. And maybe, just maybe, the entire story of Abraham and Moses were written to provide Jewish pedigree for Persian ideas.

The Song of Songs is the only piece of erotic love poetry included in the Hebrew Bible, and the imagery in the song is borderline pornographic. That's why I chose to recite the poem with appropriate music.

The Post-Exilic return to Judah from Babylon is central to Jewish theology, but why? Shouldn't their religion have simply picked up where the First Temple left off? What if the Second Temple wasn't a mere continuation of the old religion, but a fresh start? What if Moses and Joshua, and even Abraham were stories told to support a new religion which actually angered adherents to the older form of Judaism? And what if this new religion was a political tool instituted by the Persians? And what if the Bible actually said as much?

The wild inventions of the Chronicler continue in this episode as we cover the entirety of the First Temple Period beginning with King Solomon and ending with the Temple's destruction at the hands of the Babylonians, ushering in the influence of Persian rule and religion which is evident in the text. See how the Chronicler changes events from the record of the Books of Kings in order to satisfy his own theological views.

The two books of Chroniclers are yet another attempt by biblical authors to rewrite their national history and create new scripture which contradicts the older versions. What makes Chroniclers stand out is the fact that the older version of history, the books of Samuel and Kings, were too prolific to erase. So we're able to see how they attempted to rewrite history yet again and compare and contrast Chronicles with its source material. And in this episode that's exactly what we're going to do.