History in the Bible
Garry Stevens
A guide to the history presented in the Bible, for people of all faiths and backgrounds, presented by an independent podcaster, and biblical studies buff. I explore the religion of ancient Israel, the beginnings of Christianity, then finally the evolution of the heirs of Abraham to the year 200. I discuss every single book in every Bible (there are more than you think!). Lightly garnished with a dash of drollery, a soupçon of scrutiny, and not one ounce of objectivity. Not one ounce! The main narrative concluded in January 2024. But I continue to publish Afterlife shows.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Sep 13, 2015 • 31min
1.14 Exodus II: Egypt, No!
After ten rounds of unpleasantness, Moses leads the Israelites out of Egypt towards Mt Sinai. They don't yet know it, but they have begun 40 years of wandering in the wilderness.
Aug 30, 2015 • 31min
1.13 Exodus I: Egypt, Ho!
We conclude the story of the patriarchs with a happy reunion between Jacob and his son Joseph, now an important minister in the Egyptian government. His family move to Egypt for a few centuries, a passage of time that passes in the blink of an eye. That concludes our survey of Genesis. We move on to the book of Exodus, amd introduce the great hero of the Hebrews, Moses.
Aug 16, 2015 • 33min
1.12 Genesis V: Jacob and Joseph
Jacob is the great trickster in the Bible, outwitting his father Isaac, his brother Esau, and even his own children. The P, E, and J sources have several different versions of Jacob's stories. For example, Jacob visits and names Bethel twice. There is the unsavoury incident of the rape of Jacob's daughter Dinah, met with a brutal and horrendous over-reaction from her brothers. We also have another unpleasant story about Jacob's son Judah and his daughter-in-law Tamar. We conclude with an introduction to Joseph.
Aug 2, 2015 • 30min
1.11 Genesis IV: Trouble in the Family
Abraham swindles the Philistine king Abimelech just as he did Pharoah, and almost kills his son Isaac, following God's commands. At the very last minute, God says it's all been a test. Was this a remnant of ancient Israelite child sacrifice? After a perfunctory chapter or two on Isaac, Genesis forgets about him to talk about the Bible's greatest and least repentant con-man: Jacob, later known as Israel. We meet yet another scheming wife, Rebekah.
Jul 26, 2015 • 54min
Bonus 2: The Second Temple period, with Stephen Guerra
This is the second of an irregular series of bonus episodes, in addition to my fortnightly installments. In this bonus episode, Stephen Guerra of the History of the Papacy podcast and I talk about the Second Temple period. This was the time between the return of the Jews from the exile in Babylon in 538 BC to the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 AD. You can visit Steve and the History of the Papacy podcast at http://atozhistorypage.com, or you can listen to him on iTunes. Again, thanks to Steve for doing all the editing and recording work.
10 snips
Jul 19, 2015 • 30min
1.10 Genesis III: Abraham is Called
After the primeval stories, Genesis introduces the man who dominates and forms the very heart of of book, Abraham. He is the first of the patriarchs. God makes a real-estate deal with Abraham, giving him Canaan in return for eternal fidelity. Abraham has many adventures, meeting and swindling the Pharoah of Egypt; and encountering the mysterious Melkizedek, priest and king of Jerusalem. We also meet his scheming wife Sarai, his slave-wive Hagar, and his first-born son Ishmael.
Jul 12, 2015 • 26min
Bonus 1: Talking with Stephen Guerra of the History of the Papacy Podcast
This is the first of an irregular series of bonus episodes, in addition to my fortnightly installments. In this bonus, I talk about history podcasting with Steve Guerra of the History of the Papacy podcast. Steve and the others at the history podcasters network have been a great help to me in getting this podcast going. You can visit Steve at http://atozhistorypage.com, and the history podcaster network at http://historypodcasters.com/. Thanks to Steve for doing all the heavy lifting in recording and editing this episode.
Jul 5, 2015 • 27min
1.9 Genesis II: Tales of the Flood
Flood epics were a dime a dozen in ancient Mesopotamia. Genesis has its own version. This section of Genesis is full of puzzles: Cain's gift of tabouleh is rejected; the dating system is a complete mess; Noah was alive in Abraham's time; Enoch goes to heaven; the mysterious Nephilim make an appearance; Canaan is cursed for no reason and the slavery of blacks is justified.
Jun 21, 2015 • 26min
1.8 Genesis I: Stories of Creation
The opening chapters of Genesis recount two stories of creation, neither of which involves Satan. One is from the J source, the other from the P source. I compare these to the creation stories from ancient Mesopotamian sources. Genesis has always been more important to Christians than to Jews, who regared Exodus as telling the central story of Judaism. Naturally, that leads to a discussion of Jewish attitudes to IVF.
Jun 7, 2015 • 25min
1.7 Writing the Pentateuch
Work by scholars from the late 19th century had established that five sources lay behind the Pentateuch. They came to be known by letters: J, E, P, and D. These theories were a mainstay of biblical studies until recently. Although questioned in the past 20 years, the theory known as the Documentary Hypothesis is still accounted a firm starting place for any sort of examination of the text of the Pentateuch. I also find out why the Bible is divided into chapters and verses.
