I have this topic stuck in my head today in the wake of some conversations with folks about the Dead Sea Scrolls. But it could just as well be about interpreting any passage in the Hebrew Bible. I’ve grown weary of people (especially in Christian Middle Earth)...
Dead Sea Scrolls
Elohim, Divine Council, Psalm 82, OT Monotheism Archive
I get a lot of email about my views on Yahweh and divine plurality. You’d think people would find my material via Google or my divine council website, but I guess not. I’m making this page for you all, of course, but also to provide myself a convenient one-stop link...
New Methods for Dating Dead Sea Scroll Fragments
The well-known scholarly publisher, Brill, recently released notice of a new article about Dead Sea Scroll forgeries. From their website: The findings of false fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls have been all over the media recently: collectors have purchased modern...
Ancient Origins Writer Inserts Asherah into the Biblical Text
I received an email today asking this question: “Mike – is this a good rendition? I read where an early rendition of Deuteronomy 33.2-3, when Asherah’s influence had not yet been fully subordinated reads: ‘YHWH came from Sinai and shone forth…....
The Bible Code – Hidden Encryption or Outright Myth?
My money is on the latter. Take a look at a recent FringePop321 video for why: You can also see how the Dead Sea Scrolls undermines the whole premise of equidistant letter sequencing here . The Bible Code is dead on arrival.
The “Book of Og”
I recently got an email requesting that I comment on something called “The Book of Og.” I’m not sure what is being claimed about this book. You can be sure, though, that this book is NOT a book that goes back to the biblical period (i.e., the OT time...
Mike at Grace Church Bellingham: Thinking Like an Israelite: Week 4: Chaos and Calendar
Here are the slides to the last night (which was tonight). You can catch the video on my Facebook / Youtube channel. Wk4-Chaos-and-Calendar
Naked Bible Podcast Episode 168: Melchizedek, Part 2: Second Temple Jewish Literature
In the previous two episodes on Melchizedek (1a, 1b) we covered the Old Testament data on this enigmatic figure. Jewish writers and readers in the Second Temple Period (ca. 500 BC – 70 AD) naturally had ideas on who Melchizedek was and how to understand him as a...
Mike’s Book, The Bible Code Myth, Now Available for Kindle
I wrote and self-published The Bible Code Myth over ten years ago. I don’t believe it was ever on Amazon (so long ago I can’t remember). I had sold it as a PDF as well. Through a lot of help on the part of Peter Rust, a friend of mine who has helped out...
Congratulations to Randall Price on Discovering a New Qumran Cave
If you listened to my ETS interview with Randall last November, there were inklings of this in between the lines. News was recently announced about the new Cave 12. Read it here.
Naked Bible Podcast Episode 128: ETS-SBL Interviews with Scholars – Part 1
Well, I'm on my way back home from ETS and SBL. The week is always fun (sort of my Bible geek recharge for the year), but this year it was more so because Trey was along. We took the Naked Bible Podcast on the road. We wound up interviewing nearly twenty scholars (8.5...
The Function of the Divine Council in Heavenly Worship: Piety, not Mysticism: Part 4
[Note: This post continues where Part 3 left off. It includes the rest of the main biblical as well as non-biblical ancient Jewish texts.– MSH] Psalm 97:7–9. “All worshipers of images are put to shame, who make their boast in worthless idols; worship him, all...
Naked Bible Podcast Episode 104 – How We Got the Old Testament
The episode is live. Naked Bible Podcast Episode 104 offers a clear and myth-busting exploration of how the Old Testament—or Hebrew Bible—came to be recognized as authoritative Scripture. Dr. Michael Heiser carefully walks through the Jewish historical context,...
Naked Bible 93: The Book of Enoch in the Early Church
The book we know as 1 Enoch was well known to early Christians. Its importance produced an understandable question among some influential early Christian writers and, one may presume, Christians in general: Should 1 Enoch be considered inspired and thus “Scripture” in...
Naked Bible 78: Conference Interviews Part 2
Every year Mike attends the annual meetings of the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS), the Institute for Biblical Research (IBR), the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) and the American Academy of Religion (AAR). This year Mike recorded short conversations with...