Weird Stuff in the Bible

Do you ever get an answer that just leads to more questions? 
I think a lot of us have had that experience. Sometimes we’re searching for the answer to some weird thing in the Bible, and when we finally find it, we find ourselves saying, “Well wait, what about this?” Or “this challenges the view I had of spiritual reality or what God is like.”
Honestly, our preconceptions of how God operates are probably our biggest hindrance to understanding some parts of the Bible. And if that’s you, don’t feel bad; it was Habakkuk’s problem as well.
Habakkuk, a prophet of God, one of the men selected to write a book of the Bible, certainly had his view of God challenged. Habakkuk had some issues with how God was running the world, he asked God about it, God actually answered Habakkuk, and Habakkuk wasn’t too satisfied with the answer.
Today, we’re going to read how that conversation between God and Habakkuk went down, and it’s going to help us understand how to process it when God’s actions don’t meet our expectations.
Then we’ll look at a similar conversation that was recorded amongst a group of angels in the Book of Enoch. And that discussion is going too help us understand what we should DO when God’s doesn’t do what we think He should.
Habakkuk argued with God. And when he didn’t like what God said, he argued some more.
I find that to be gutsy, and pretty weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible. 
Turn to Habakkuk 1, and let’s get weird.

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0:00 - Introduction
1:30 - Habakkuk’s Complaint
10:10 - Enoch 9 and the Angels
16:00 - The Just Shall Live By Faith
22:10 - Closing Thoughts: The Labor Day Fire  

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You can also find a list of past newsletters at that same link so you never have to miss one.

If you want to get in touch, my email is [email protected]
Hosted by Luke Taylor

If you’re intrigued by strange Bible stories, uncovering Bible mysteries, or learning about unusual biblical teachings, this podcast is for you! Dive deep into weird Bible facts, biblical controversies, and the supernatural in the Bible, while exploring the hidden stories of the Bible you may have never heard. Get a fresh perspective as we explain the Bible in ways that challenge the norm and uncover the unexpected. I’m so glad you’re here- don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE so that you never miss an episode!

One of the most head-scratching verses to me in the entire Bible is Ephesians 4:8. 
In this verse, Paul quotes Psalm 68. And Paul is known to quote various passages from the Old Testament; that’s not weird. 
What’s weird is that Paul quotes it wrong. As in, he quotes one line saying the exact opposite of what the David originally wrote in this Psalm. 
Psalm 68 says

You ascended on high,
    leading a host of captives in your train
    and receiving gifts among men,

But in Ephesians 4:8 Paul applies this to Christ, saying

“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,
    and he gave gifts to men.”

One version says “receiving gifts.” The other says “he gave gifts.” Those are two opposite ideas. 
And that might seem like a tiny mistake in the grand scheme of things, but it bothers me because I always say my bible ain’t got no mistakes. So I had to look more deeply into this one.
And as I did, I learned something that brought yet another dimension to these words: the quotation in Psalm 68 is in a context of addressing Bashan. 
Bashan, as in, the spiritually dark region that was a stronghold of giants and demons in the Bible. 
Bashan, a location whose name means “the place of the serpent.” 
Bashan which contains Mount Hermon, the location where the Watchers touched down on planet earth in their great rebellion, as detailed in the Book of Enoch.
So in this episode, we’re going to investigate Bashan, what it means in the Bible, what Psalm 68 is saying, and hopefully we’ll understand why Paul quotes it backwards in Ephesians 4.
Because I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why a potential error like this is in the Bible. 
Turn to Psalm 68, and let’s get weird.

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0:00 - Introduction
4:40 - Bashan, the Place of the Serpent
11:15 - Psalm 68 & Ephesians 4
23:45 - Next Time
25:30 - The Bulls of Bashan

Visit the Weird Stuff store!
https://luketaylorpodcasts.creator-spring.com

You can also find a list of past newsletters at that same link so you never have to miss one.

If you want to get in touch, my email is [email protected]
Hosted by Luke Taylor

If you’re intrigued by strange Bible stories, uncovering Bible mysteries, or learning about unusual biblical teachings, this podcast is for you! Dive deep into weird Bible facts, biblical controversies, and the supernatural in the Bible, while exploring the hidden stories of the Bible you may have never heard. Get a fresh perspective as we explain the Bible in ways that challenge the norm and uncover the unexpected. I’m so glad you’re here- don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE so that you never miss an episode!

I’ve mentioned this a few times before: I’m a newspaper guy. Or, I was. I got degrees in journalism and in mass communication when I was in college. And I briefly worked for a few area papers around that time. 
And then I got into radio so I haven’t really done the reporter thing much since then. But I have taken those newspaper guy skills and applied them to how I study the Bible. You see, when you need to break a story, you have to establish the who, the what, the when, the where, and the why. 
And that’s what I’ve been doing with this story of the angelic Watchers who descended to the earth in the antediluvian era. All year long on this podcast, we’ve been breaking this story.
WHO were the Watchers? In Genesis 6, they’re called the Sons of God. They’re angelic or spiritual beings who had a job of watching over humanity. 
WHAT did they do? 
Genesis 6 says

When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. 

WHY did they do it? The Book of Enoch’s sixth chapter told us it was because they lusted after the women and wanted to create children with them. However, these children were the giants, or Nephilim, of the primordial world. 
WHEN did they do this? Enoch shed some light on that as well: the days of Jared, Enoch’s father, approximately 1000-1200 years before the flood. 
And that brings us now to one question about this transgression of the Watchers that we haven’t really answered yet: the WHERE.
The Book of Enoch tells us where this took place: a location known as Mount Hermon. And Hermon is part of the Bashan region of mountains in the northern part of Israel. A dark and demonic area called The Place of the Serpent. A place known to cause trouble for Israel throughout the rest of the Bible, right up to the time of Jesus.

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore the significance of Mount Hermon in the Bible. 
Turn to Genesis 6, and let’s get weird.

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0:00 - Introduction
3:05 - The Backstory to the Bible
6:30 - Spiritual Geography
10:30 - How Hermon Got Its Name
12:30 - Hermon Throughout the Bible
21:40 - Next Time
22:45 - Hermon Today

Visit the Weird Stuff store!
https://luketaylorpodcasts.creator-spring.com

You can also find a list of past newsletters at that same link so you never have to miss one.

If you want to get in touch, my email is [email protected]
Hosted by Luke Taylor

If you’re intrigued by strange Bible stories, uncovering Bible mysteries, or learning about unusual biblical teachings, this podcast is for you! Dive deep into weird Bible facts, biblical controversies, and the supernatural in the Bible, while exploring the hidden stories of the Bible you may have never heard. Get a fresh perspective as we explain the Bible in ways that challenge the norm and uncover the unexpected. I’m so glad you’re here- don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE so that you never miss an episode!

When Noah stepped off the Ark, one of the first things God said…was weird. God told Noah things are gonna be different in this new world. First of all, you can eat animals now. However, you gotta do it right.
Genesis 9:4

But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.

In other words, drain out all the blood before you consume the animal. And in the previous episode, we talked about why this command was probably given: because the giants of the pre-flood world were said to be cannibalistic and that they regularly consumed blood. By putting this command out there right as Noah got off the Ark, God was saying we don’t want to go back into the mindless violence and chaos of the pre-flood world. We’re not eating blood.
And this command is so important, it’s repeated in the Levitical law, and again later in the New Testament.
But what I find most fascinating is the Hebrew behind this command. When it said “life” is in the blood, it’s the Hebrew word “nephesh,” and the main way this word is usually translated in the Bible is “soul.” So another way you could say this is that the soul is in the blood. 
Which I find to be weird. And I’d like to explore what this means throughout the Bible.
So if you’d like to hear what I found, turn to Genesis 9, and let’s get weird.

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0:00 - Introduction
4:30 - An Echo of the Soul
12:15 - The Two Problems with Animal Sacrifices
20:25 - A Better Way
23:30 - So Don’t Eat Blood
28:45 - Closing Thoughts

Visit the Weird Stuff store!
https://luketaylorpodcasts.creator-spring.com

You can also find a list of past newsletters at that same link so you never have to miss one.

If you want to get in touch, my email is [email protected]
Hosted by Luke Taylor

If you’re intrigued by strange Bible stories, uncovering Bible mysteries, or learning about unusual biblical teachings, this podcast is for you! Dive deep into weird Bible facts, biblical controversies, and the supernatural in the Bible, while exploring the hidden stories of the Bible you may have never heard. Get a fresh perspective as we explain the Bible in ways that challenge the norm and uncover the unexpected. I’m so glad you’re here- don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE so that you never miss an episode!

You get to the Book of Acts, chapter 15, and the church is already having some major problems getting along. 
You have the Jewish sect of the church; they think it would be appropriate to keep following the Law of Moses from the Old Testament, even though we are now officially in the New Testament era by this point.
Then you’ve got the Gentile portion of the church; they think that the Mosaic Law was obsolete by that point, that new believers- especially those from outside the Jewish traditions- were under no obligation to follow it.
And that leads to the Council of Jerusalem, where the bigwigs put their heads together and come up with this pronouncement:
Acts 15:19-20

19 Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, 20 but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood.

So these are four things that, regardless of who you are, where you are, what culture you grew up in, that all believers should follow. Four things that are the starting place for sanctification.
#1 is not committing idolatry. Makes perfect sense. You’re a Christian now, so you shouldn’t be worshipping any false gods. Obviously.
#2 is about sexual immorality. Again, makes sense. If you don’t follow the Bible’s design for sexuality, you’ll get yourself into all kinds of trouble. This is a major emphasis of the Bible; it makes sense why this would be one of the four cardinal rules that the Council of Jerusalem laid down.
But then…it says new believers should abstain from things strangled…and from blood? Which basically means not to consume blood. What is that all about? Why not ban lying, or stealing, or cheating at your Wordle?
Well, as we investigate this, we’ll find that the prohibition on consuming blood goes beyond the Law of Moses; it’s actually one of the first rules that God placed on mankind right after Noah got off the Ark.
Now why is that? To figure out the answer to that question, we’ll be learning about what was going on in the pre-flood world according to the Book of Enoch.
Yes, consuming blood is gross…but that sounds like more of a sanitation or dietary issue, not a moral issue, right? Yet it seems to be one of the top 4 most important things believers should avoid in the Book of Acts.
I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible. 
Turn to Acts 15, and let’s get weird.

Sign up for the weekly newsletter! Get additional insights and Bible study tips for unpacking strange things in scripture. Enter your email here:
https://weirdstuffinthebible.beehiiv.com/

Check out the website! www.weirdstuffinthebible.com

0:00 - Introduction
2:30 - The Jerusalem Council’s Question
6:20 - After the Flood
9:35 - Enoch 7
15:40 - Somehow, the Nephilim Returned
18:30 - Next Time

Visit the Weird Stuff store!
https://luketaylorpodcasts.creator-spring.com

You can also find a list of past newsletters at that same link so you never have to miss one.

If you want to get in touch, my email is [email protected]
Hosted by Luke Taylor

If you’re intrigued by strange Bible stories, uncovering Bible mysteries, or learning about unusual biblical teachings, this podcast is for you! Dive deep into weird Bible facts, biblical controversies, and the supernatural in the Bible, while exploring the hidden stories of the Bible you may have never heard. Get a fresh perspective as we explain the Bible in ways that challenge the norm and uncover the unexpected. I’m so glad you’re here- don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE so that you never miss an episode!