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Church 10

  After Babel: Why Divide the Nations at All? A Story We've Been Reading Backwards Ask someone you know what the Tower of Babel is about, and you'll usually hear the same answer. "Pride." People tried to build a tower to heaven and God became angry so he confused their languages. The end. That certainly captures part of the story but I wonder if we've stopped reading too soon. What happens after the languages are confused? The nations scatter. The story moves on. Yet the Bible keeps talking about those nations for the rest of its pages. What if Babel isn't the end of a story? What if it's the beginning of one? Today, I don't want to answer that question. I simply want us to read the text carefully and notice what it actually says. Before We Read One habit I'm trying to break is reading the Bible as though the people in it thought like we do. Because let's face it... They didn't. That isn't because they were less intelligent. They simply...
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Church 9

  My Theory Under Pressure this far... Where My Reading Could Be Wrong If you've followed this journey from the beginning on this blog, you've probably noticed something. I've asked a lot of questions. I love asking questions. True wisdow comes from collective knowledge IMO. Some of them have led to patterns I find VERY compelling. Others have created more questions than answers. That's exactly where I want to be if that makes sense... Too many books and blogs and videos spend hundreds of pages collecting evidence that supports their conclusion while quietly ignoring the evidence that doesn't. That isn't how you test a theory... I don't want to do that. If my theory only survives because I avoided difficult passages, then it isn't much of a theory. So before I bring everything together, (Will take a long time) Hence the free website... I want to place my own ideas under the same scrutiny I've applied to the text. Challenge One: Am I Seeing Developmen...
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Church 8 Part 3

  Why Does Genesis Suddenly Say "YHWH Elohim"? Part 3: The Name That Bridges Two Worlds So my lovlely lot if you've been following this investigation on my blog from the beginning, you should feel a little uncomfortable by now I think... Don't worry... That's a good sign. It means you are thinking. Good investigations rarely remove tension immediately, rather, they expose it. Genesis 1 has spent an entire chapter introducing the Creator as אֱלֹהִים ( Elohim ) . Not once does it use the name יְהוָה ( YHWH ) . Then, almost without warning, Genesis 2 changes. Not to YHWH . But to: יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים YHWH Elohim. The change is so consistent that it cannot be accidental so the real qestion here is why. Why the change?... The First Appearance Genesis 2:4 Hebrew אֵלֶּה תוֹלְדוֹת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְהָאָרֶץ בְּהִבָּרְאָם בְּיוֹם עֲשׂוֹת יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים אֶרֶץ וְשָׁמָיִם׃ Transliteration ʾĒlleh tôledôt haššāmayim wehāʾāreṣ behibbārʾām; beyôm ʿăśôt YHWH ʾĔlōhîm ʾereṣ wešāmayim. Liter...
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Church 8 Part 2

What Is Elohim? Part 2: A Word That Refuses to Stay Simple If you are still here reading you will realize this FACT: If Genesis wanted to remove all ambiguity, it could have. It could have simply begun with the covenant name YHWH. But... It doesn't. Instead, the Bible opens with one of the most debated words in biblical Hebrew. אֱלֹהִים ʾĔlōhîm. Most English Bibles simply translate it as "God." That translation works in many places. It also hides one of the most interesting questions in the text. The Hebrew word itself isn't singular. It's plural. So why does it almost always behave like a singular noun when referring to Israel's God? Let's begin with the language itself before we move to theology. The Hebrew Hebrew אֱלֹהִים Transliteration ʾĔlōhîm Traditional Translation "God." My Working Translation "The divine powers as one." Again, this is not a standard translation. It's a working translation for this investigation. I'm tr...
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Church part 8

  From Elohim to YHWH Elohim The First Name We Meet Isn't YHWH... I bet you didn't know that... So now like all research the  investigation reaches a point where the questions become more focused. We've explored the Ark. The covenant. The nations. The manuscript traditions. The divine council. Now we arrive at something even more fundamental. The names. If I were trying to prove my theory, this is probably where I'd begin. Instead, I'm going to do the opposite. I'm going to let the text introduce itself to you. Because names matter. In the Hebrew Bible especially.  Not simply because of what they mean but because of when they appear. The order always matters. The First Name We Meet Open your Bible to the very first verse inside of it. Not the first mention of YHWH. The very first verse. Genesis 1:1 Hebrew בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ׃ Transliteration Berēʾšît bārāʾ ʾĔlōhîm ʾēt haššāmayim weʾēt hāʾāreṣ. Translation "In a beginni...
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Church Part 7

  The World Behind the Bible: Ugarit, El, and the Divine Council We must be sure we take the time to understand the ancient conversation before we dare to really take part in it IMO...Whenever ancient Near Eastern texts enter the discussion, the conversation usually goes in one of two directions. Some people immediately conclude the Bible copied its neighbors while others refuse to look at the evidence at all. Personally, I don't think either response is helpful but Twitter does say I am weird... The better question one should ask is far much simpler and a good start. What world were the biblical authors writing into? Every writer assumes their audience shares certain ideas because teachings evolved at chuch and you get reinterpreted after reinterpreted til it fits the modern age. People forget we are differnt times now and how words are used. Context of who is writingmatters. We do the same today. If I mention a courtroom, you already understand judges, witnesses, testimony, and v...
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