Once again, I struggle to find the words. Our English language comes with a lot of baggage that just doesn’t get you to the Hebrew understanding of things. There is a Hebrew word for “evil” – ra. Most of the words in the Bible translated as “evil” are based on this root. There are about…
Month: July 2023
Our Part
Yesterday I tried to summarize Heiser’s core claims about the Hebrew outlook behind the Scripture. If you can absorb the basic thesis, then the implications are quite large. For example, what is our part? Heiser contends that our primary mission was to use the Creator’s authority to make the rest of the Earth more like…
The Big Picture
Heiser published an awful lot of work, in writing and in videos on his YouTube channel. He consistently refers back to his one biggest contribution to the whole discussion of recovering the Hebrew outlook: the image of a divine council of beings God created as part of His reign. The quickest confirmation of this image…
A Clear View
Recap: I take the position that Adam and Eve started out in their eternal bodies. They did not have mortal flesh, nor a fleshly nature. But they did have a measure of free will. With free will comes the capacity to defy the Creator on any number of issues. I’m assuming it would be limited…
Symbolism of the Cross
As Heiser and a great many other Old Testament scholars make clear, biblical Hebrew is loaded with symbolism. The classical Hebrew language consisted of just about 800 root words, and everything else they had to say was derived from the various combinations of those words. And the language itself rested on the assumption that some…
The Origins
According to archaeology, the average height of people in the Old Testament was around 5 feet (1.5m). Someone like Saul would have been about 5’6”. I would have been a giant among them, though I’m less than 6’ tall. I am among those who regard the Masoretic Text of the Old Testament as quite suspect….
Boundaries and Dominion
Still plowing through Heiser’s The Unseen Realm, I ran across something that confirms an image I’ve presented several times. He points out that the scapegoat ceremony has a goat for Jehovah, and a goat for Azazel. The second name is not identified anywhere in Scripture, but outside literature suggests the name points to a demonic…
Authority and Person
Honestly, I don’t have the words for this, but I need to try. The Old Testament in particular plays fast and loose with the divine Person. Heiser notes in The Unseen Realm that God manifested Himself in an apparent human form. Then the Hebrew writers refer to His Angel, and then His Word, often in…
Academic Differences
Yesterday, I linked to Heiser’s book, The Unseen Realm. I’m not in his class of scholarship, but I also don’t worship the memory of this man (he’s deceased). There are some differences in our conclusions regarding what we should make of various Bible passages. Just so you’ll understand where I’m coming from, I’ll outline some…
Foreknowledge, Predestination and Free Will
We were created in the image of God. There’s lots of speculation on what that means. I’ll cut to the chase: It is not a matter of attributes, but of authority conferred. Creation is fundamentally feudal. There is One sovereign authority over all things, the Creator Himself. He delegates authority at His whim to vassals….