Seeing through the seemingly credible comprehensive scientific explanation for the ten plagues – goal post-shifting, nonsense science, and sloppy reading.
‘One of the knottiest problems in the archaeology of metal sources.’
What the (possibly) oldest text in scripture can tell us about the early Israelites.
A short video I put together on just when the Bible says the Exodus began.
A talk I gave on how an appreciation of biblical genres and archaeological evidence can help us navigate difficult passages.
‘A wizard is never late… nor is he early; he arrives precisely when he means to.’ Unlike some of the tribes of Israel…
The discovery of this famous artefact, and what it can and can’t tell us about the Israelites.
The archaeology of the Israelite Settlement.
Off the beaten track in the West Bank looking for an early cult site.
What brought on the end of the Egyptian domination of Canaan that paved the way for the emergence of the Israelites.
The geographical problem of Mark 5.
The blurred boundary between canonical and non-canonical texts.
What was happening in Canaan before the Israelites emerged.
The consensus view on when the Israelites emerged in Canaan.
Debunking one of the crazier explanations for the Red Sea crossing.
The reasoning behind the ‘Late Date Exodus’ and the assumptions its built on.
The many, many passages of scripture that don’t fit with a traditional view of how the Israelites arrived in Canaan.
Why what we learned in Sunday School doesn’t work.
A refresher on main biblical narrative on how the Israelites came to be in Canaan.
Countering some silly meme about the supposed illegality of planting mustard in 1st century Galilee.
Introducing a new series of posts on just how the Israelites came to be in Canaan.
Jesus’ parable on the Mustard Seed, and how fundamentalist atheists and Christians make the same mistake when it comes to the Bible and Science.
To properly interpret a passage first identify its genre.
Joshua, a one-man army.
What a craze in the mid-nineties tells us about the need to know a passage’s cultural context in order to correctly interpret it.
Responding to critics: How should Judges 1:1 be interpreted?
The relevance of Tiglath-Pileser I’s propaganda to Joshua 10 and 11, or, Joshua 10 & 11 look uncannily similar if you squint.
Unloved and unlabelled treasures gather dust on unlit shelves.
Hyperbole, the millions of ways it features in the Joshua 10 and 11 conquest accounts, and why that’s not a big deal.
Assyrian and Hittite annals, and what they tell us about the formulaic nature of the conquest accounts in Joshua.
What Pharaoh Merneptah, the Philistines, and Germany-Brazil 2014 can tell us about phrases like ‘they did not leave any who breathed’.
On closer inspection these conquest accounts don’t look like what we expect from historical narrative at all.
In this first post in a series on Joshua 10 & 11 we take a look at the many difficulties presented by a careful reading of the chapters.
Take your pick, you’ve got a few to choose from.
The three different journeys taken by the Israelites on the Exodus.
A Canaanite amongst the Judges.
What a pair of cattle rustlers in Canaan can tell us about Israel in Egypt.