The Naked Bible Podcast

Dr. Heiser answers your questions. PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SHOW HERE OR HERE

Relevance Theory and Biblical Interpretation with John Hilber Christians talk a lot about interpreting the Bible in context, but that goal is fraught with difficulties, some which are preventable, and others that are self-imposed. One of the most obvious obstacles is the disconnection between the worldview of the biblical writers and their original audience and modern Bible students. Despite the transparency of this problem, no textbooks on biblical hermeneutics focus on the problem and how it might be solved. In this episode of the podcast, we chat with Dr. John Hilber about the obstacle and its solution, both of which received sustained attention in his new book, Old Testament Cosmology and Divine Accommodation: A Relevance Theory Approach (Wipf and Stock, 2020). Listeners can get Dr. Hilber’s book for 40% off only by going to the Wipf and Stock website and applying the coupon code DIVINE at checkout. **Offer valid November 1st-30th, 2020**

The story of Jonah being swallowed by a “great fish” (misunderstood as a whale) is familiar to Bible readers and those in the wider culture who have never read the Bible. Given the flexibility of the Hebrew phrase behind “great fish” (dag gadol), scholars have wondered whether Jonah connects back to biblical Leviathan, the well-know chaos serpent of Canaanite literature. In this episode we explore the potential connections.

It’s common for scholars and critics of New Testament presentations of the birth of Jesus to suggest that the idea of a divine Israelite messiah goes beyond what the Old Testament envisions. The most Jews would expect, so this thinking goes, is a military deliverer who was descended from the line of David, a mere human whom God adopts as his son. This episode provides a glimpse into the data that tell us otherwise. In Luke 1, the gospel writer portrays Jesus as more than a human, Davidic military deliverer.

Ezekiel and John 15, the Vine and the Branches Jesus’ allegory about the vine and the branches, ultimately about himself (the vine) and those who would claim to be his disciples (the branches) is quite familiar to Bible readers. Far less familiar is the fact that the content of Jesus’ teaching draws on the Old Testament. Scholars, aware of this fact, nevertheless disagree as to which Old Testament passage is the primary point of reference. This episode of the podcast addresses that issue and demonstrates how its answer informs our understanding of the theological points Jesus (and the gospel writer, John) want to make in John 15.

Gentile inclusion is a familiar theme in the salvation plan of God. Bible students are generally aware that the idea is found in the Old Testament, typically in places like Gen 12:3. But the psalms are another fruitful (and even surprising) source for this trajectory in biblical theology. In today’s episode we take a look at the Zion Hymns in the Psalms and what it means for how we should think about Israel’s role (abd perhaps our own) in God’s salvation plan.

Dr. Heiser answers your questions. PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SHOW HERE OR HERE

In our last episode we saw how the Gospel of John repurposed parts of Ezekiel (chs. 34, 37:15-28) to describe Jesus as the Good Shepherd who would fulfill the role of God and King David as the rightful shepherd(s) of Israel. As we’ll see in this episode, John uses Ezekiel elsewhere, specifically the prophecy of the dry bones being restored to life (Ezek 37:1-4). While we think of this passage as speaking of the future resurrection of the dead, John thinks more broadly about how Jesus connects to the passage.

John 10 is one of the more familiar passages in the Gospel bearing that name. The chapter presents Jesus in bold ways. Listeners have already heard Dr. Heiser’s thoughts on the latter item (John 10:30-38), where Jesus quotes Psalm 82 in defense of his deity-oneness with the Father. In this episode of the podcast we take a closer look at John 10 and its treatment of Jesus as the Good Shepherd, specifically in terms of how Jesus / John repurpose material from Ezekiel 34 and 37.

Hebrews 12:1 opens with a familiar exhortation: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. . . .” Most discussion in church and Bible studies focuses on the struggle with sin, with the “cloud of witnesses” is usually interpreted as the believers in the preceding chapter. This episode of the podcast explores contextual clues in Hebrews 2 and 12, and the Old Testament context of Psalm 89 to support the conclusion that there’s much more going on in Heb 12:1, specifically with respect to the biblical theology of the divine council.