Episode 14: Listomania and the Son of None
The Bible Lore Podcast
Today we say farewell to one last Omride queen while watching the brief fall of Assyria and the brief rise of Aram-Damascus. Along the way I talk about another two identically-named kings who might be the same guy, as well as a lot of lists! Tap in, gang, it's Bible Lore Day once again! Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/BibleLorePodcast Bibliography: Marc van de Mieroop - ‘A History of the Ancient Near East’; Shuichi Hasegawa - ‘Aram and Israel During the Jehuite Dynasty’; Christian Frevel - ‘History of Ancient Israel’; Mario Liverani - ‘Israel’s...
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Episode 13: One Man's Revolution...
The Bible Lore Podcast
This week, we're going Rashomon mode as I examine the end of the Omrides and the rise of Jehu from several different angles, bringing in contemporary inscriptions and conflicting biblical narratives on the same events - one author considers Jehu's rise as direct divine providence, while another calls it a blood-soaked coup and the first domino that would lead to the Israelite kingdom's eventual collapse. Come along for a wild ride as I try to figure out just what happened at Jezreel in 841 BCE. Bibliography: Van Der Toorn, Becking, et al - ‘Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the...
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Episode 12: Bury Your Queens, Pt. 2 (Feat. Dr. Jonathan Stökl) (REUPLOAD)
The Bible Lore Podcast
Apologies for the reupload, ran into a Spotify issue. This time, I bring Jezebel's story to a close and inch us closer to the end of the Omride Dynasty, with special guest scholar Dr. Jonathan Stökl giving context to just what prophecy was in Biblical times. Check out Dr. Stökl's work here: https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/staffmembers/jonathan-stokl#tab-1 Support the show by becoming a Patreon member: https://patreon.com/biblelorepodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/haydentank/ Bibliography: Jennifer Knust - ‘Unprotected Texts’; John Day - ‘Yahweh and the Gods...
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Episode 11: The Gods of Israel
The Bible Lore Podcast
Before we get to the end of Ahab and Jezebel, let's finally introduce Yahweh, the god of Israel, and compare him to Ba'al and El, his predecessors. RIP Ka - check out his album Descendants of Cain. Bibliography: Coogan, Smith, et al - ‘The Oxford Companion to the Bible’; Theodore J. Lewis - ‘The Origin and Character of God’; John Barton - ‘A History of the Bible’; Daniel McClellan - ‘YHWH's Divine Images’; Annette Yoshiko Reed - ‘Demons, Angels, and Writing in Ancient Judaism’; Francesca Stavrakopoulou - ‘God: An Anatomy’; Andrew...
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Episode 10: Bury Your Queens, Pt. 1
The Bible Lore Podcast
We made it to ten, gang! And we've mostly made it out of the Bronze Age Collapse. In this, my first completely solo episode, the Bible gets its earliest confirmed real characters who existed outside of legend, but it's not all sunshine and roses as we immediately confront three women who get a pretty unfair rap in the book of Kings: Ma'acah, Asherah, and Jezebel. Check out my Instagram account for this week's accompanying post, which includes archaeological images and a map of West Asia in the early Iron Age. Support the show, subscribe on Patreon: Bibliography: Christian Frevel -...
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Bonus: Take Me to the River (feat. Moudhy Al-Rashid)
The Bible Lore Podcast
In this bonus episode, Dr. Moudhy Al-Rashid takes us on a deep dive into the material culture and cuneiform writing of Mesopotamia, as detailed in her wonderful book 'Between Two Rivers: Ancient Mesopotamia and the Birth of History'. Pre-order Moudhy's book (available now globally, releases in August in the US): Follow her on BlueSky:
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Episode 9: The Bull, the Goat, and the Donkey (feat. Seth Sanders)
The Bible Lore Podcast
This time we pick back up on the history of the emergence of Israel and the Hebrew language before diving deep into the complicated lore that connects Jeroboam I, Jeroboam II, Moses, Aaron, and Jacob/Israel. Along the way we look at early Hebrew and West Semitic alphabetic inscriptions with the brilliant Seth Sanders here to guide us. Check out Seth's blog here: Bibliography: Christian Frevel - ‘History of Ancient Israel’; Mario Liverani - ‘Israel’s History and the History of Israel’; Shinan & Zakovitch - ‘From Gods to God’; Finkelstein & Silberman -...
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Episode 8: The Bible, Slavery, & You (feat. Josh Bowen)
The Bible Lore Podcast
This week, we're talking about the historical Solomon, the city of Jerusalem, and the practice of slavery as described in the Bible and practiced in Ancient West Asia. Special guest Dr. Josh Bowen stops by to talk about all things slavery, debt servitude, and corvee labor. Digital Hammurabi website: Digital Hammurabi Instagram: Digital Hammurabi Facebook: Bibliography: Joshua Bowen - ‘Did the Old Testament Endorse Slavery?’; Drescher & Engerman - ‘A Historical Guide to World Slavery’; Christian Frevel - ‘History of Ancient Israel’; Joel Baden - ‘The...
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Episode 7: Hell of a King (feat. Chris Wade)
The Bible Lore Podcast
This time I bring Chapo Trap House's Chris Wade along as we dive into the story of David's ascension to king in both history and legend. Check out Chris and Molly's other podcasts here: Bibliography: Christian Frevel - ‘History of Ancient Israel’; Mario Liverani - ‘Israel’s History and the History of Israel’; Joel Baden - ‘The Historical David’; Robert Alter - ‘The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary’; Emanuel Pfoh - ‘The Emergence of Israel in Ancient Palestine’; Andrew Tobolowsky - ‘The Sons of Jacob and the Sons of...
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Episode 6: Conquest (feat. Kipp Davis)
The Bible Lore Podcast
It's history week on the Bible Lore Podcast. This time, Dead Sea Scrolls scholar Kipp Davis talks with me about the real and invented history of the conquest of Israel set in the book of Joshua. This episode serves as a sort of bird's eye view of all the history we're going to see between now and the mid-Second Temple Period, because in order to understand the Bible as a book, we have to understand the perspective of the people who wrote, collected, edited, and venerated these texts. Check out Kipp's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@DrKippDavis Our full interview will be on the...
info_outlineThis week's a special episode, where we take a break from history (mostly) and spend our time recounting the Epic of Gilgamesh, the GOAT of ancient literature that gets referenced and quoted in the biblical texts. I've got brief portions of my interview with Professor Susan Ackerman, where we talk about the liminality that allows for potentially homoerotic readings in both Gilgamesh and the story of David and Jonathan in the book of Samuel.
For the full interview with Susan Ackerman and to support the show, become a patron here:
https://www.patreon.com/BibleLorePodcast
Bibliography:
Andrew George - ‘The Epic of Gilgamesh’;
Irving Finkel - ‘The Ark Before Noah’;
Francesca Stavrakopoulou - ‘God: An Anatomy’;
Susan Ackerman - ‘When Heroes Love’;
Kerry Sonia - ‘Caring for the Dead in Ancient Israel’;
Robert Alter - ‘The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary’;
Shinan & Zakovitch - ‘From Gods to God’;
Bible quotations taken from the NRSVue and the NJPS with adaptations