Wholly Buyable: Recent Episodes
Chas
Advertising Creative Director Chas Bayfield takes you on a road trip through the Bible, leaving one significant item of baggage at home- religion. He tells the story from Genesis to Revelation and explains how this more than any other book has impacted western culture. Wholly Buyable is a podcast for people who might never normally pick up a Bible but who feel they should perhaps know a little more about it than they currently do. After all, the Bible is a book for everyone, not just believers. Listeners will be taken through action sequences worthy of a 21st century TV drama. They will be seduced by erotic poetry and bombarded with hallucinatory visions. Fill your boots with betrayal, brutality, beauty and, believe it or not, comedy.This isn’t your average Bible podcast; no one will be told what to believe but everyone who joins in the journey will hopefully feel that they know the world’s best-selling book a little better.
Given how central Israel is to the Bible, it seems at best avoidant to not attempt to put this ancient nation - and its present day iteration - in context.
No politics or agenda, just a bit of history that allows listeners to understand Israel's biblical origin story, and what happened next.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
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It's n0t too late for Israel's Jews to turn back to God and abandon the idols and other pagan deities who they have been worshipping themselves.
To help them reach that decision, Hosea paints a terrifying future where Israel faces utter devastation.
He then hands the baton to the prophet Joel whose predictions are even bleaker.
Joel describes a catastrophic locust swarm that will decimate the land, all the more terrifying as it's uncertain whether or not he is being metaphorical.
If it's powerful ,poetic pronouncements of doom that light your fire, you're in for the ride of your life.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
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If the Old Testament prophet Hosea is known for anything, it is because God orders him to marry a "promiscuous woman".
And though this action dominates the early part of Hosea's book, it is not even referred to in the later chapters.
The marriage is simply a teachable moment to alert Israel's Jews of the danger of worshipping gods that aren't God, but it is the tragedy that befalls a nation which abandons God that is spelled out here.
If it's righteous anger delivered with a poetic punch you're after, you're in for a treat.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
E: contact@whollybuyable.com
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The narrative moves on from Hosea and his promiscuous wife to a full on diatribe against Israel.
The nation is ruled by adulterers whose sins burn like an oven so hot that it doesn't need stoking for over two hours.
God is furious with his people, particularly those in charge of everyone's spirituality, and Hosea spells out the punishments they can expect from God.
There will be consequences, and violence is coming.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
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A man is told by God to find himself a promiscuous woman as a wife. Not only that, he names their children as warnings to wayward Israel. This isn't the kind of story that springs to mind when people think of the Bible, but here at Wholly Buyable, if it's in the book, it's in the podcast.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
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The prophet Daniel receives an epic account of the future from a terrifying angel. Detailed predictions spanning centuries of Near Eastern history pour from the angel's mouth, and incredibly, almost every one of these can be mapped against real historical events. If true, these are some of the most incredible prophecies ever recorded.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
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Now an old man, the prophet Daniel is blindsided by a terrifying angelic visitor as he stands by a Persian river. The angel delivers a bewildering message that maps geopolitical developments in the Ancient Near East. If the message was indeed given to Daniel in the sixth century BC, it contains some of the most accurate prophecy ever recorded. Futurology nerds have been trying to figure out the math for two and a half millennia, some with tragic results.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
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In one of the most famous stories in the Bible, if not literature, a Jewish exile from Judah who has risen to power in the Babylonian regime is thrown into a pit filled with ravenous lions.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
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When Babylon's tyrannical king, Nebuchadnezzar erects a giant golden effigy and expects everyone in his kingdom to worship it, there is pushback, especially from Daniel's companions from Judah, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednigo.
Threatened by death in a furnace if they do not bow down to the golden god, the men have a difficult choice to make: compromise their faith, or die horribly.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
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The last of the great prophecty books begins.
With its pin sharp predictions and epic action sequences, Daniel's book has transcended the Bible. The man thrown to the lions has long been part of popular culture, but there is far more to Daniel's story than his face-off against apex predators.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
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Having spent multiple chapters taking down notes for the design of Jerusalem's new temple, Ezekiel sees a dramatic vision of a great river flowing from beneath the building.
A river so fast and wide that after less than a mile, it is impossible to swim across.
The prophet then believes he hears God telling him the tribal boundaries of a new Israel. Unsurprisingly, Ezekiel's book continues to surprise and delight to the very last word.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
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Conversions
Lengths
45 feet = 13.7m
60 feet = 18.3m
125 yards = 114.3m
290 yards = 265m
500 yards = 460m
1 mile = 1.6km
1⅔ miles = 2.7km
2 miles = 3.2km
3 miles = 4.8km
5 miles = 8km
5.7 miles = 11km
6 miles = 9.65lm
7 miles = 9km
Weights + volumes
6/lb = 2.7kg
⅓ gallon = 1.5 litres
40lb = 18.1kg
1 gallon = 3.8 litres
Ephah = 35lb / 15.9kg
Bath = 5.8 gallons / 22 litres
Homer = 58 gallons / 220 litres
Shekel = 0.4oz / 12g
Gerah = 0.02oz / 0.06g
Map of the New Israel
https://jbqnew.jewishbible.org/assets/Uploads/341/341_utopian.pdf
Bible experts have long been confused as to why the chapters at the end of the Book of Ezekiel go into such granular detail about a building which, over 2500 years later, has yet to be constructed.
It's one of the marvels of the Bible, and sits surprisingly comfortably in a book that has a man lie on one side for over a year, who is ordered to cook on a fire made from his own poo, whose wife is killed to make a point about the fall of Jerusalem, who describes women so debauched that it puts Fifty Shades of Grey in the shade, oh, and who sees the kneebone connected to the thighbone.
I'm actually sad we're getting to the end of Ezekiel's book, and I hope you're enjoying it as much as I am.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
E: contact@whollybuyable.com
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Conversions
9in = 23cm
21in = 53cm
42in = 1m07
15ft = 4.5m
24.5ft = 7.5m
30ft = 9m
75ft = 23m
150ft = 46m
750ft = 230m
3D video render of Ezekiel's temple: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQRegCrJHzk
How the altar looked: https://in.pinterest.com/pin/51298883249768377/
After detailing a formidable future enemy of Israel whose ultimate and catastrophic defeat will demonstrate God's power, Ezekiel's book segues into design specifications for a future Jerusalem temple.
If ever a book in the Bible sung to its own tune, it's this one.
Fans of floor plans and structural measurements will have an absolute ball with this episode.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
E: contact@whollybuyable.com
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(Rough) Conversion table
3 feet 0.9m
3.5 feet. 1.1m
4.5 feet 1.4m
6 feet 1.8m
7.5 feet 2.3m
9 feet 2.75m
12 feet 3.65m
15 feet 4.6m
20 feet 6m
21 feet 6.4m
30 feet 9m
37.5 feet 11.4m
60 feet 18.3m
75 feet 22.9m
90 feet 27.4m
105 feet 32m
135 feet 41m
150 feet 46m
The toe bone's connected to the
foot bone.
The foot bone's connected to the
heel bone
In one of the most famous passages from the Old Testament, the prophet Ezekiel sees a valley strewn with dry bones.
Bones which, thanks to the Spirit of God, reform to become a living breathing army.
The Valley of the Dry Bones is one of the Bible's absolute gems.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
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The day before a messenger arrives in Babylon with news that the mighty city of God, Jerusalem has fallen, Ezekiel tells the exiled Jews that it will fall.
As if this weren't amazing enough, he shares the astonishing news that the exiles will eventually be repatriated, and that they will flourish in a rebuilt Israel.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
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These chapters of Ezekiel are some of the least read - and least quoted - in the Bible.
One by one, the prophet takes nations and city states surrounding the kingdom of Judah and describes what calamities will befall them and why.
It's hard to make a neat segue to the New Testament from these, but this poses no problem for the Wholly Buyable podcast. Deep theology is not our job; we simply narrate in contemporary language, and bring these ancient pages to a new and hopefully appreciative audience.
Enjoy!
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
E: contact@whollybuyable.com
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Judah's people me be about to meet with catastrophe, but neighbouring nations will also be on the receiving end of a kicking, they are told.
Ammon, Edom and Tyre all receive dire storm warnings from the prophet Ezekiel.
Though none of these nations attacked Judah's Jews, their celebration of its defeat by Babylon and their opportunistic ransacking of the stricken nation has not gone down well with God.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
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This is one of the most remarkable set of chapters in the entire Bible.
And that's a Bible that includes the creation of the earth, a boat filled with animals, a man swallowed by a giant fish and a man who comes back to life after being executed.
In one eye-popping passage, the cities of Samaria and Jerusalem are likened to a couple of nymphomaniacs, and in another, Ezekiel's wife is killed as a lesson to the rest of Judah.
It's a must-listen episode, but sadly, one for adults only.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover Art by Lisa Goff
E: contact@whollybuyable.com
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“A ruin! A ruin! I will make it a ruin!” Ezekiel shouts at Israel's Jews.
These, he says, are God's words, not his own, adding:
"I will gather you in my anger and my wrath and put you inside the city and melt you."
It's fair to say that God is not especially pleased with the people who are contractually obliged to worship him in exchange for their own eternal wellbeing.
Their worship of pagan gods has not gone down well with capital G God, and with thousands of Jews already in exile in Babylon - and Jerusalem about to fall - the good times are most definitely over.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover Art by Lisa Goff
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More florid description pours fom the pen of the prophet Ezekiel.
Vines, lions and the perfect man all take centre stage in an episode where, through Ezekiel, God hammers home the truth that everyone is responsible for their own spiritual wellbeing, andno one gets a free pass because of who they are or where they were born.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover Art by Lisa Goff
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Surprisingly for an episode entitled 'The Nymphomaniac', this really is about a nymphomaniac. or a metaphorical one at least.
God is so angry at his people's rebellion against him that he orders his prophet to explain in colourful language their relationship to him, and how they have behaved.
It's lurid to say the least.
This episode contains explicit sexual reference, as well as reference to infant death
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover Art by Lisa Goff
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In a vision that will have shocked those who first heard it, Ezekiel sees God leaving the Holy of Holies. This is the sacred room in the Jerusalem temple which is believed to have been God's earthly HQ since Solomon completed the building 400 years earlier.
It is a show of God's utter rejection of his people, and is designed to terrify them back into worshipping him.
The trouble is, those Jews left in Jerusalem and who weren't taken captive by Babylon's armies believe they are the virtuous ones and that God protected them because he favours them.
The opposite is true, and it appears that God has now abandoned them.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover Art by Lisa Goff
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If Jerusalem's elders weren't fully aware of what awaits their city, their nation and thei people as a result of turning away from God and worshiping pagan idols, they are now.
In a dramatic vision, the prophet Ezekiel is teleported from exile in Babylon back to Jerusalem where he witnesses first hand the city's corruption, and the impending carnage about to land on it.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
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Ezekiel's vision at the beginning of his book is so other-worldly that he barely has words to describe it.
What follows is a dramatic life change for a man who has already been wrenched from the comfort of priestly life at the Jerusalem temple and into exile in Babylon.
Among other things, the prophet is ordered to eat a scroll, lie on one side for over a year, and cook on a fire fuelled by his own excrement.
It's a lively and dramatic start to one of the Bible's most vivid and powerful books.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
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Trigger Warning: Contains reference to infant death
The Bible's darkest book just got darker.
The fourth chapter of the Book of Lamentations makes for some harrowing reading as the writer is caught up in the wretched, slow death of a city under siege.
With the horror of his situation all around him, he composes without doubt the bleakest chapter in the entire Bible.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
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Trigger warning: This episode includes accounts of infant death
In 597 BC, the city of Babylon was besieged.
Eleven years later, Nebuchadnezzar II's army returned and laid siege to it once again.
The privations of living through these sieges are hard to imagine, but readers don't need to use their imagination.
They have the poet or poets who lived through these terrible years and saw the horror with their own eyes.
If Jeremiah's book ended bleakly, Lamentations takes that desolation another level down.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
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With an ending shrouded in mystery, the finale of Jeremiah's book asks more than it answers.
What is certain - at least from the prophet's perspective - is that the Babylonian Empire is going to crash and burn.
God may have used Babylon as a useful agent to annihilate Judah, and his people may have needed to learn the heard way that they must not worship other deities, but destroying God's people and desecrating his temple comes at a price.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
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To his audience, the prophet Jeremiah's words must seem beyond belief.
The city of Jerusalem has been battered and besieged, its king has no real authority to rule, and its greatest and best people have been hauled away to exile in Babylon.
Yet Jeremiah promises that the mighty, all-conquering Babylonian Empire which dominates the Near East from the Euphrates to the Mediterranean and south to the Egyptian border will one day be reduced to rubble and dust.
Even more unbelievably, less than seventy years later, Jeremiah's words come true.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
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After more than forty chapters where it is Judah who is in God's crosshairs, it's refreshing to see that a few other Near Eastern Nations will also be on the receiving end of a kicking.
None of these countries exist any more, which is telling, and the language used by the prophet to describe their downfall is dramatic.
They won't be crowing at Judah's downfall for long, Jeremiah promises, they'll be too busy fleeing the ruins of their own shattered countries
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
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After most of Judah's Jews have been exiled to Babylon, the few who remain have rebelled, opting to settle in Egypt rather than follow their compatriots east.
According to God, this is a terrible life choice, and he spells out what will happen to these renegades, and why.
Surprisingly, it isn't just Judah who receives a kicking from God. He's about to call time on all neighbouring countries, none of which will survive the Babylonian onslaught.
Finally! Some action.
Jeremiah reports from the front line of the siege as Judah's renegade king bolts for freedom.
Reprisals follow, some especially grisly, but the drama doesn't end there.
Where there is a ball to be dropped, Judah appears to have any number of clowns to drop it, even after the nation has fallen to Babylon.
You can almost see Jeremiah clutching his head in despair, and its no wonder they call him the weeping prophet.
In Judah, there is plenty to weep about.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
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In a ceasefire, Jeremiah heads off to claim the field he has recently bought - and is arrested on suspicion of deserting to the Babylonians.
His love-hate relationship with Judah's reckless puppet king, Zedekiah continues, with home for the prophet now being a jail cell.
Worse still, the book which he and his scribe Baruch have so painstakingly put together has fallen into enemy hands.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
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The last thing most people would do as an enemy invades their land is buy property.
And given that no defeated nation ever gets its land back, this appears to be throwing money away.
Or in other words, madness.
Often when there is madness in the Bible, there is method.
Better still, everyone learns a little bit about 6th century BC real estate deals.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
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No captured city in the Ancient Near East has ever been repopulated by its own people.
This kind of thing simply does not happen, and so to promise it appears to be madness.
Jeremiah is not only confident that God is planning to do this, he looks ahead to a time when his people will have a new king, a man who seems not a million miles away from Jesus Christ.
As far as Bible pages go, these are big ones.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
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The last thing a prisoner in the ancient Near East is expected to do is buy land.
Especially when that land is currently being trampled by enemy armies.
Who might kill him.
Jeremiah's book is all about theatre, especially if that theatre can provide a teachable moment.
And so papyrus, ink, scales for weighing silver, sealing wax and witnesses are brought to the prophet's cell.
An apocalyptic storm “from the ends of the earth” is coming, one that will see Near Eastern nations toppling like dominos.
Everywhere, the corpses of God’s enemies will lie unburied and unmourned, littering the ground like dung.
Expect another lively episode from the Bible's most down-at-mouth prophet as Jeremiah continues to rage at a people who don't want to hear.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
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O land, land land!
It's a pitiful lament from the prophet Jeremiah as he attempts to rescue the nation he loves.
No one in power or authority appears to see the danger of worshipping pagan gods in a country which, the Bible tells its readers, was founded by God.
Turning away from him is seen as an act of rebellion, and rebels must be punished.
The question is, will Judah's kings listen? And if the ship can still be saved, who will do it, and how?
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
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The Bible of The Handmaid’s Tale: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1998685/episodes/17329096
The human cost of being God's mesenger is spelled out in graphic detail in this episode.
Jeremiah feels gerrymandered into being a prophet, and even wishes that the man who brought his father the supposedly joyful news of his birth had been murdered.
Despite this, he continues haranguing Judah's great and good, even taking them on a field trip to a rubbish tip.
Speaking out against Judah's love affair with pagan gods is a tough job, but someone has to do it, even if it does mean ridicule and social embarrassment.
Fortunately for the Bible - and literature - Jeremiah steps up.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
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What a mess.
Judah's people are being assured by their prophets - holy men who should know better - that all will be well. Business as usual will win the day, they say, even if that business is worshipping pagan deities rather than capital G God.
Jeremiah warns these bogus seers that they will die in the disasters which they have promised their people will never happen.
Unsurprisingly, he is in for a tough ride, but in taking one for the team, Jeremiah is able to write a fabulous account of life in end-of-an-era Judah - and teh woes of being a prophet.
I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Send any comments or feedback to contact@whollybuyable.com
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The warnings to Judah's people continue.
Rogue shepherds will trample its vineyards, turning pleasant pasture into parched and desolate wasteland because there is no one left to care about it or take care for it.
These shepherds are Babylon's armies which arrive decades after Jeremiah is writing. There is still time to turn the ship around, but no one appears to be listening. If they are, they don't take Jeremiah seriously. He is a ranting holy man, and they have plenty of sane prophets telling them what they want to hear.
For this, Jeremiah promises that they will be left like people so drunk on wine that men women and children will smash into one another - with disastrous consequences.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
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The slow tour through the Bible's longest book (by word count) continues.
Standing at the entrance to Jerusalem's temple, Jeremiah accuses the nation's Jews of simply paying lip service to worshipping God.
These people are so convinced that their Jewishness alone will rescue them that they are happy hedging their bets by worshipping lots of other gods.
God however, is a fan of exclusivity, and the price for Judah's people not giving him their undivided adoration is a costly one.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Send any comments or feedback to contact@whollybuyable.com
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The Bible of the Handmaid's Tale: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1998685/episodes/17329096
There's no telling some people.
Judah's Jews assume that they have a free pass when it comes to enjoying the good life.
Simply because of an accident of birth and their ethnicity, they feel that God will turn a blind eye to the fact that they have wholeheartedly abandoned him, choosing instead to immerse themselves in pagan religion.
Jeremiah has news for these people, and as the title of this podcast suggests, it's not especially good...
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Micael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
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It's not easy being an Old Testament prophet.
Jeremiah describes the feeling of being stabbed in the heart and writhing in pain.
His compatriots seem not only content to turn their backs on God - the 'Big I Am' believed to have set the universe in motion - they are hedging their bets with every other deity then can grab hold of.
The prophet describes his people as lusty stallions and adulterous men fired up over other men's wives.
It's lurid, but Jeremiah doesn't baulk at telling it how he sees it.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover Art by Lisa Goff
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A sex worker waiting by the road for hook-ups
A young camel so on heat she doesn't even need chasing.
Such is the out of control idolatry of the nation of Judah.
Yet one holy man can see the writing on the wall and is is tasked with warning his people before it's too late and God calls time on their nation.
That man is Jeremiah.
Join us as Season 20 begins.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover Art by Lisa Goff
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The doom and gloom continues - this is a book by an Old Testament prophet after all - but there is also light at the end of the tunnel.
Israel will rebound and its people will drink deeply "from her satisfying breasts."
The prophet foresees a future where people are not only forgiven by God, he forgets the things they did wrong.
Better still, he is planning an entirely new heaven and a new earth where people who have never previously been a part of his cosmic plan are welcomed in.
As season finales go, Isaiah's doesn't disappoint.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
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“Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored.”
These words from The Battle Hymn of the Republic embody this passage from Isaiah's epic book.
Poetry rises to a crescendo as the prophet explains the euphoria of his people's future hope as well as the brutal punishment which he believes God will rain down on Israel's enemies
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
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Doom is coming.
The days of all those who fail to follow God wholeheartedly are numbered.
Nor is this any kind of fair-weather following.
Performative box ticking gets nowhere with God, it seems.
Isaiah wants his people to be completely aware of what is coming if they do not undertake a volte face, put away their pagan idols and return to the one deity who has consistently fought their battles and had their back.
Enjoy an Old Testament prophet giving it both barrels!
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
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A childless old woman who is drunk on wine is about as defenceless and vulnerable as life can get in Old Testament times.
This woman who represents the city of Jerusalem has been brought down by her own personal four horsemen: ruin, destruction, famine and sword.
She is inconsolable and her children are as powerless as she is, lying unconscious on the ground like an antelope caught in a net and which has fainted from fear.
The prophet Isaiah is one of literature's great poets and his book is rich in metaphors like this one.
I hope you love it as much as I do.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Send any comments or feedback to contact@whollybuyable.com
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Hard as it may be to believe that freedom and a return to Jerusalem are just around the corner for Israel's exiled Jews, Isaiah does what he can to impress upon his readers that this is exactly what is about to happen.
He also appears to spell out in uncanny detail that a man is coming who will be verbally and physically abused for the wrongdoings of everyone else, and that he will be "a light to the Gentiles."
For good reason, Christians see Jesus Christ as this man, making Isaiah one of the hottest and best loved prophets in the entire Bible.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music.
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Send comments and feedback to contact@whollybuyable.com
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A shamed princess having to hoist her skirts in order to cross streams, and who sits in the dirt like a commoner.
This is how the prophet Isaiah sees the proud empire of Babylon.
It seems improbable, but Isaiah believes anything is possible with his God.
Right now, God is predicting that his own people will be freed from Babylonian captivity without bloodshed or money changing hands, and that the mighty Babylonian Empire is about to face its own catatsrophic fall.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover Art by Lisa Goff
Send comments of feedback to contact@whollybuyable.com
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A man who will be "a light to the Gentiles" and who will "open the eyes of the blind and set the prisoners free."
It's easy to see how Christians believe Isaiah was predicting the arrival of Jesus.
But the prophet promises action much sooner, and much closer to home.
In a move unprecedented in Near Eastern history, Persia's king will set his Israelite captives free.
Isaiah predicts this, and its easy to see how people join the dots: if the prophet called the release from exile ahead of time, who's to say he wasn't not right about everything else?
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Send any comments or feedback to contact@whollybuyable.com
In this episode, we identify Lilith, a Jewish myth figure believed to have been married both to Adam and the Angel of Death.
Isaiah also appears to predict New Testament holy man, John the Baptist, writes my favourite verse in the entire Bible, gets embroiled in a plagiarism battle and appears to hand his quill to another scribe.
Quite an episode.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Send any comments or feedback to contact@whollybuyable.com
As the title suggests, Isaiah doesn't pull any punches.
If graphic and repulsive use of bodily fluids as a metaphor get his readers' attention, the prophet is all in.
However, anyone looking for action and adventure may be disappointed; in Isaiah's book, the drama is all in the writing.
If you want a quintessential raging Old Testament prophet so incandescent that he tips into apocalyptic language, look no further.
Isaiah's tirade against Israel's neighbours continues, and with it come vivid descriptions of Near Eastern Mediterranean trade in the eighth century BC.
But God's fury doesn't stop with pagan kingdoms and empires; Judah too is in the firing line.
Oh, and in this episode, the prophet also strips naked, and remains "au naturel" for three years.
Truly, there is nothing in the Bible quite like the Book of Isaiah!
If you picture in your head a robed, beared prophet raging with florid language at at a nation that isn't listening to him, you are probably thinking of Isaiah.
In this episode, he launches a broadside against nations who he believes are enemies of God.
These are Israel's near neighbours and the prophet foresees disaster for each and every one of them.
Enjoy the schadenfreude.
WARNING: THIS EPISODE MENTIONS RAPE AND INFANT DEATH
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover Art by Lisa Goff
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"Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
It's no wonder that these words written some 800 years before the birth of Jesus make the prophet Isaiah such a favourite with Christians, especially at Christmas.
However, before Jesus arrives to save the day, things are going to get worse for Israel. Much, much worse.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Send any comments or feedback to contct@whollybuyable.com
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WARNING: This episode mentions child death and rape
It's easy to see the Bible as fable, a kind of religious fairy tale with a moralistic sting in its tail.
Passages like this one show that much of the book is rooted in actual historical events.
These chapters are a snapshot of the late eighth century BC Middle East.
The prophet Isaiah is begging the king of one of these nations (Ahaz of Judah) not to enter an alliance with two others (Israel and Aram) against the threat of an invasion from the Assyrian Empire.
Instead, Ahaz should rely on God.
In his prophecy which involves naming his own children as a sign to Judah and describing dead bodies lying like excrement on Jerusalem's streets, Isaiah appears to predict the arrival of Jesus, a divine rescuer who he refers to enigmatically as 'The Light of the World.'
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Send any comments or feedback to contact@whollybuyable.com
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The poetry books are over and now it's time for the prophets to step up.
These are the maverick outsiders, the truth tellers who appear able to channel the word of God and to warn their nations of the danger of turning their backs on him.
Of all the men who rage through the pages of these books, Isaiah is perhaps the most quintessential, and certainly the most poetic.
He is also much beloved of Christians, as he makes what appear to be pin sharp predictions of Jesus sone seven hundred years before he was born.
Let the prophecy begin!
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Send any comments or feedback to contact@whollybuyable.com
How this book made it into the Bible is a mystery.
Why it rarely gets a outing in church services us not surprising.;
The Song of Songs is steamy stuff, so much so we've had to put an 'explicit content' warning on this episode.
Some see the book as a metaphor for God's love for his church, others see a gentleman delighting in the aromatic fruits of a lady's garden as a wholly different kind of metaphor.
Enjoy
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Send any comments or feedback to contact@whollybuyable.com
In a book that rarely veers away from blank negativity and abject realism, the Teacher in Ecclesiastes gives readers yet another reality check:
The fast don’t always win the race nor are the strong guaranteed to prevail in battle.
The wise don’t always have enough to eat, the brilliant aren’t always rich and everyone is subject to the vagaries of time and chance.
We simply make the most of the cards we are dealt and find joy where we can.
(It'll come as no surprise that Ecclesiastes is one of the least quoted Old Testament books in the New Testament.)
Suffering is part of the human condition.
But is it part of God's plan for his people?
Why, if he is all powerful, doesn't he stop it?
Yes listeners, we go there.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover Art by Lisa Goff
Gilead. Marthas. Handmaids. Eyes. They sound biblical but if they are, where and what do these references mean? Are actual slave women co-opted as surrogate baby providers in the Bible? Do they truly lie in their mistresses' laps to conceive and give birth? What do the Handmaids mean by "Blessed be the fruit"? And who was the original Jezebel? Fans of the show need look no further. This is the Bible of the Handmaid's Tale.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield.
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Send any questions or feedback to contact@whollybuyable.com
Meaningless! Meaningless! There aren't many books in the Bible or otherwise that begin as bleakly as this one.
And, plot spoiler, the vibe doesn't lift much as Ecclesiastes progresses.
There is no point to life it seems than for a person to eat, drink and take what pleasure they can from work, as a human lifespan is as brief as it is pointless. Furthermore, the dead are soon forgotten.
Enjoy!
Unexpectedly, given that the only women described in the Book of Proverbs so far have been an adulteress and a quarrelsome wife, the book's finale is a eulogy to a character referred to as "the Wife of Noble Character".
This woman is a striking example of smartness, industry, economy, care and moral support, and also provides a fascinating insight into the independence of ancient Near Eastern woman at a time when many assume wives were second class citizens. Instead, this woman is as essential as she is fabulous.
Death and Destruction are never satisfied, a fool can be crushed into powder yet still not lose his foolishness, and good friends sharpen each other with honest feedback.
The Bible's proverbs are universal and speak to people outside of any religion as well as those who revere the Bible as their holy book. They can be read as advice from a father to his son, a mandate from God to his people or simply as timeless poetry.
If it's 3000 year old wisdom you're after, step this way.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover Art by Lisa Goff
Contact@whollybuyable.com
The wisdom of other ancients continues in the second part of the Thirty Sayings of the Wise. A later king of Israel, Hezekiah then adds some more of Solomon's proverbs.
Fools, sluggards, neighbours, messengers and wives all come under the spotlight in sayings rich with everyday references: sparrows, honey, donkeys, a thornbush, lions and a golden apple.
Oh, and a dog returning to its vomit...
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Send any comments or feedback to conatct@whollybuyable.com
Loose tongues cost lives, a bribe pacifies the angry and those with a fondness of wine will never be rich.
Many of Solomon's wise sayings are as true today as when they were written three millennia ago.
In this episode, the rhythm changes a little as the book segues from Solomon's own wisdom to what he refers to as 'The Thirty Sayings of the Wise', many of which still resonate with readers today.
The wealthy person who loses friends when they lose their money.
The gossip who betrays a friend's confidence.
And the person who is too lazy to lift their spoon to their mouth.
The torrent of timeless, poetic and sometimes comical proverbs continues.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Send any questions or feedback to contact@whollybuyable.com
Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.
Pride comes before a fall.
Grey hair is a crown of splendour.
Even the fool who keeps silent is seen as wise.
The proverbs that populate his book are as honest as they are poetic; much needed truths in a world that is craving authenticity and wisdom.
Enjoy the podcast and send any questions or feedback to contact@whollybuyable.com
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Sometimes terse, sometimes poetic, sometimes enigmatic, these often two-line sayings balance the good against the bad, the preferable against the undesirable.
Some of these proverbs offer wisdom, others state the blindingly obvious. Either way, readers are left with accurate insights into a world of relationships, work, commerce and politics that are as familiar in the twenty first century as they were in Solomon's Israel.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Send questions of feedback to contact@whollybuyable.com
A beautiful woman who shows no discretion is like a pig with a ring in its nose.
Morally upstanding people care for their animals.
And those who spare the rod ruin their children.
The Book of Proverbs is not afraid to pull punches and the aphorisms that flow from Solomon's pen are nothing if not colourful.
Enjoy the wisdom!
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
The title of T E Lawrence (of Arabia)'s autobiography, 'Seven Pillars of Wisdom' is taken from a verse in the Book of Proverbs.
In this episode, we also meet 'Love covers a multitude of sins' and the finger wagging evangelicals' favourite, 'the wages of sin is death'.
The Book of Proverbs is not only a treasure trove of wisdom, its beautiful poetic language has also endured.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
"Come, let us drink deeply of love till morning. Let us enjoy ourselves with love!"
Such is the siren call of the adulterous older woman, intent on seducing a foolish yet lustful young man while her husband is away on business.
This is a one way street from which there is no return, Solomon advises his son,
It is fair to say this is one of the more colourful sections of the Bible, but it is far from gratuitous.
Another woman also takes centre stage in the Book of Proverbs: Wisdom. And unlike the adulteress, she offers life instead of death.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover Art by Lisa Goff
A new season begins.
This is the Book of Proverbs, a monster collection of aphorisms and other gems of knowledge culled by Israel's King Solomon and other wise ancients.
Much of the book is aimed at the king's children, but the wisdom is universal.
The opening section is a shot across the bows, a signal of what is to come before the floodgates open. An appetite whetter if you will.
As with the Bible's previous book, the Book of Psalms, there's not much story, but there is plenty or poetry. And, for those in need of wisdom and advice, there is also plenty to learn.
Finally!
We reach the end of the Book of Psalms.
The book ends on a high as writers sing unrestrained songs of praise to God.
As the Psalms reach their upbeat finale, expect Milton, Mendelssohn and missing verses. And joy, lots of it.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
The idea that God knows each person on earth intimately has proven one of the more attractive facets of Christianity, and the concept makes its first biblical landfall in the Book of Psalms.
The final short songs of the Psalms are some of the most joyful and poetic as the book crescendoes towards its finale.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Originally sung by reggae band The Melodians, and made internationally famous by Boney M, the lyrics about exiles weeping by Babylon's rivers were written thousands of years earlier by a scribe who remembered the desolation felt by his captive people.
Modern day fame has catapulted this psalm into the public consciousness but it conceals horrors that are less well known. Psalm 137 is a song of both grief and revenge against the people who attempted to destroy Israel and its children.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield.
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Short but very sweet.
The songs sung by ancient pilgrims as they travelled from the far corners of the Jewish world to the Jerusalem temple are immortalised in this section of the Book of Psalms.
These are the 'Songs of Ascent' - despite the hill on which the city was built not being the highest in Israel, the journey to Jerusalem was always 'up'.
These short songs of joy have been plundered by hymn writers throughout the ages, and Felix Mendelssohn and Johann Sebastian Bach were also fans.
Cue music!
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield.
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music.
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Psalm 119 concludes.
The entire poem is a eulogy to God's laws and the psalmist admires, studies, remembers, contemplates, learns and hopes to understand these rules.
There is a repetitive, meditative quality to the poem which is followed by a series of songs sung as pilgrims travelled to Zion, the City of God, Jerusalem.
These are the Songs of Ascent, and here is where they begin.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield.
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music.
Cover art by Lisa Goff
A shout of joy that becomes a political hot potato in New Testament times, and the longest chapter in the Bible.
If it’s God‘s laws, rules, ways, decrees, precepts, statutes and commands you’re interested, in this is your happy place.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield.
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music.
Cover art by Lisa Goff
We're all familiar with the phrase "Hallelujah".
A heartfelt shout of joy uttered by religious and non religious alike.
It first makes landfall in a series of Psalms known, unsurprisingly, as the Halel.
We run into these songs here and find that they contain the shortest chapter in the entire Bible, a song that punches above its weight.
Expect euphoria.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Book Five, the final part of the Book of Psalms begins.
This is where we meet the most quoted Psalm in the Bible, and one of its most beloved.
Psalm 110 sees Israel's great king David referring enigmatically to an even greater king, one who he describes as his Lord, a ruler whose kingdom will reign forever.
Christians believe they know who this king might be!
But first, the book navigates through an epic and poetic storm on the high seas.
Much as the Psalms were songs of praise to God, some were written as a kind of oral history; a retelling of Israel's story set to music. The music and the repeated telling of these stories embedded in Israel's people a sense of where they had come from and how God had rescued them, set them apart and chosen them to be his special people.
This podcast retells that retelling in plain English, without any assumption that listeners are religious.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
The Bible (and the Wholly Buyable podcast) reaches its halfway point with songs of such ebullience they have inspired some of the world's greatest musicians.
Enjoy the joy.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover Art by Lisa Goff
The Book of Psalms is so long that it is split into five separate books.
This is where Book Four begins.
Some believe that these are some of the oldest psalms and that they were written by the Old Testament ancient, Moses.
If that is the case, this would make them some of the oldest writing in the Bible.
The transience of life, God's shield of invincibility and his praiseworthiness all take central stage in these enduring songs.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover Art by Lisa Goff
The Psalms is not a book you can rush.
These poems pack an even greater punch when you stop to inspect them more closely.
If you're not religious and just want a better handle on what is in between the leatherette cover of a Bible, you've found your happy place.
We're currently sailing through the Book of Psalms, the ancient Jewish songs that not only accompanied worship in Jerusalem's temple, but which have encouraged believers for millennia.
If nothing else, you'll leave this podcast far better informed about Psalms 85-89 than almost everyone you know.
See you on the other side!
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
We're halfway through the Book of Psalms and we're hitting peak poetry.
To the psalmist, one day in God's courts is worth a thousand elsewhere.
He would sooner work as a humble temple guard than live in luxury with his enemy.
Adoration of God is the order of the day, interspersed with the occasional request to God to pour out his fury on any nations that do not worship him.
As ever, these songs continue to sing to their own tune.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Who knew?
The title of John Steinbeck's classic has its origins in the Book of Psalms.
Join us as the Jews' epic song book passes its midway point.
This episode sees the song of a man who seems so broken he cannot speak, and we hear of women who have no more tears left to weep.
There is also a history lesson courtesy of the second longest song in the book.
All delivered religion free for those of you who simply want to know what actually goes on between the Bible's flimsy, gilt edged pages.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Book Two of the Book of Psalms ends and Book Three begins.
David is all but silent and it's the turn of the temple musicians known as the Sons of Korah and another writer called Asaph to have their voices heard.
David's son, Solomon, also finds his voice.
However, the quintessential themes remain: God is a refuge and a rock and he is called upon to rescue the writers and their nation from their enemies.
These men believe absolutely that the creator of the universe cares deeply about them and their wellbeing, which is why they cry out to him.
A man looking so hard for God that his eyes fail.
Enemies forcing people to pay back what they didn’t steal
A man out of his depth as waters continue rising.
A king so mocked and shamed that drunks sing about him.
These are some of the darker passages in the Bible, but hope remains for the psalmists that God will prevail, and that they will see triumph over their adversaries.
A psalm quoted at the coronation of King Charles III and the first words tapped out by Samuel Morse.
The Psalms are a treasure of literary gems while remaining a source of inspiration and encouragement to millions.
Expect gratitude and joy as these ancient songwriters continue to use words to give shape to thankfulness.
From Bethlehem Shepherd, to all conquering general, to king of Israel.
Few people have had a story arc quite as extraordinary as David's.
But his journey was not without extreme adversity, and fortunately for readers of the Book of Psalms, he captured his struggle with both enemies and the God who he hoped would protect him in poetry that has endured the centuries.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music bt Michael Auld an Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
In this sequence of Psalms, Israel's king, David suffers a long dark night of the soul after sending a man to his death, he berates an evil shepherd who massacred a community of Israel's priests and is betrayed by a close friend.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
The temple musicians known as the Sons of Korah are in full song.
A psalm about a glorious king and his bride, three songs eulogising God's earthly capital, Zion, and a song that promises death to those who trust in their own wisdom.
\Join us as we jump back into the Jews' ancient song book
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
The Book of Psalms is so long that it is divided up into five smaller books.
This is where Book One ends and Book Two begins.
However, the familiar themes of God as a rock and refuge continue, and the spirit of David looms large as both author and inspirer of many of the songs.
However, the tone is notably darker and gloomier in Book Two, as praise makes way for lament.
Join us as we continue through the Jews' ancient but enduring songbook.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
(birdsong accidental)
Cover art by Lisa Goff
A betrayal: ruthless witnesses coming forward; accusations, people repaying good deeds with evil ones.
Prayers unanswered, enemies laughing, and slander that appeared never to end.
At what point will God intervene? David asks.
These are some of the darkest verses in the Book of Psalms, and some of the most beautiful.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
(birdsong accidental)
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Hate one another is not a verse you'll find in the Bible but this particular four letter word raises its head in the Book of Psalms.
Join us as we navigate our slow moving tourbus through the Bible's longest book and into what seem like stormy waters.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
The Jews' songbook continues.
Join us as we travel through this richly poetic literature, much of it believed to be written by Israel's king David - or his more than able ghostwriter.
What we lose in story or plot twists, we gain in deeply felt emotion as a man bares his heart before God.
These are songs that sing to their own tune.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
By far the most famous Psalm and one of the standout passages in the Bible, the shepherd who leads his sheep into green pastures has inspired writers, artists and musicians throughout the ages.
It is just one of the beautiful poems you'll encounter in this podcast.
Travel with us as we continue our journey through the Jews' epic songbook.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Join me on my audacious attempt to narrate the entirety of the Bible, roughly 20 minutes at a time.
I do my best to keep it secular; this podcast is aimed at people who might never open a Bible, but who feel that it is too important book not to have a working knowledge of.
We're making headway into the Bible's longest book, the Book of Psalms, which is effectively an anthology of 150 hymns.
Trust me, it's a lot more interesting than it sounds!
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
The fearless bravado of the young Bethlehem shepherd has long gone. Now he is Israel's king, David has to face threats far more personally draining that that of either the giant Philistine, Goliath or the lions who preyed on his father's sheep.
In these songs, David seems worn down by the stress of being Israel's king, and feels threatened from every side. Yet he knows to cry out to God, and genuinely believes that God can and will rescue him form whatever perilous situation he finds himself in.
Adoration, schadenfreude, vindication and hate take centre stage in these songs purported to have been written by shepherd turned giant killer turned king of Israel, David.
The king remained close to God for his entire life, and his devout petitions have helped shape how countess Christians and Jews still view God today.
Cancelled.
It's easy to think of this as a 21st century phenomenon, but three millennia ago, David is deeply concerned about reputational damage.
These songs speak of the king's desire for peace, his distress and his need for healing, but most of all they demonstrate his deep need for - and love of God.
What's more, these psalms demonstrate remarkable humility for a proven military conqueror and one of the most powerful kings in the ancient Near East.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
The poetry continues as we embark on a journey through the Bible's songbook.
The Book of Psalms is an epic collection of ancient, beautiful poems in which the writers cry out to God for help, profess their love for God, marvel at his creative power and generally eulogise about him, his temple, his kings and his sheer awe-inspiring majesty.
Its 150 songs make the Book of Psalms the Bible's longest book, but they also contain some of its finest literature and most heartfelt writing.
The Book of Psalms is a book like no other, and one of the few that has transcended the Bible and entered popular culture.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Once Job's friend Elihu has wrapped up, it's time for one of the only two people who actually know the truth behind Job's suffering to step up.
Having begged for an audience with God and having been ridiculed for seeing himself as worthy of a tribunal with God, God himself joins in the conversation.
Prepare to meet two of the Bible's most fearsome creatures as he does so.
The Book of Job is coming in to land
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Having seen Job go through the rounds with three of his friends, readers now have a "wait, what?" moment as a fourth man steps up, having witnessed the entire conversation so far.
This man is Elihu, and until now, his youth has prevented him from speaking.
Now however, he's had enough of Job's nonsense and proves that age - or lack of it is no guarantor that you will get to the truth.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Tired of hearing his friends' near endless tirade against him, Job launches into a monologue that charts the depths of his distress. It's less a defence and more a wistful look back at how wonderful life was before tragedy struck. Meanwhile God seems utterly indifferent and leaves Job with no answers as to why his life has taken such a dramatic U turn.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
The suffering of Job simply does not add up for his three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar.
Despite what they know of Job from their own experience, their brains simply cannot compute that he might be innocent.
Even when Job points out the very obvious fact that God allows many evil people to thrive, his friends maintain their unswervable position that his suffering has been brought on himself by some terrible misdeed.
And so it goes on, with readers knowing what they don't - that Job is innocent and that God and the Devil are playing games.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Job is utterly bewildered.
His friends are convinced that he has done something dreadful to warrant so much suffering.
He knows that he hasn't, and simply wants a hearing with God.
This opens a can of worms.
Is Job, a mere human, claiming that God has made a mistake?
Listeners feel especially smug knowing that all parties are wrong.
Job hasn't sinned, at least no more than the average person.
And God hasn't made a mistake, he's simply playing a game.
Schadenfreude is set to high as Job's friends set themselves up for a catastrophic fall.
But will Job himself be vindicated?
First he has to stay alive, and hear yet more godly wisdom from friends who prove to be not quite as wise as they think.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
A man sits in rags while his woulds fester.
Three of his friends sit with him, explaining to him why he is suffering.
It is crystal clear to them: his suffering is a punishment from God, and because the suffering is severe, so must be the sin that he is being punished for.
What none of tyhem know is that Job is the subject of a game that is being played in the heavenly realm by God and the Devil.
His suffering is to prove to the Devil that nothing will make Job lose his faith in God.
Like three men trying to solve a puzzle without employing any lateral thinking, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar are never going to come close to figuring out what is going on.
Nor though is Job, who suffers not only physical discomfort but the endless rebukes of three men who believe they have all the answers.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Job is a good man.
He enjoys a prosperous life.
He worships God.
The Devil is confident that Job's faith is paper thin and that a bit of adversity will soon have him rejecting God.
God takes the opposite position and so the experiment slash wager begins.
With his skin itching and sore, all his material wealth gone and his children dead, Job must now endure the "wisdom" of three of his friends, each of whom claims to know exactly why he is suffering, without any self realisation that they are each adding to Job's problems.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Msuoic
Cover art by Lisa Goff
In one of the most extraordinary gambits in the Bible, and possibly in the whole of literature, God and the Devil have a wager over the virtue of one man, a farmer named Job.
Now synonymous with suffering, Job endures both terrible harships and the judgemental pontification of some of his closest friends.
This is where the history section of the Bible ends and the poetry begins and the Devil is about to approach God with a proposal.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Msuoic
Cover art by Lisa Goff
This has to be the Bible's greatest moment of schadenfreude.
A man intent on genocide realises that the person who he believes is one of his closest allies is actually part of the ethnic group who he wants to cleanse.
Furious back-pedalling ensues, vengeance is dealt and what might have been the darkest day in Jewish history is averted thanks to the bravery and cool-headedness of a single Jewish woman.
Is the Book of Esther the Bible's most page turning book? It has to be up there.
Enjoy the finale.
From the pampered luxury of Persia's royal harem to a life or death encounter with the world's most powerful man.
It's incredible that Shakespeare didn't write a play about Esther, the characters are so vivid. Then again, he didn't need to as the story is already told so well.
Esther, the beautiful queen, ensconced in the harem.
Mordecai, who directs the action from the palace gates.
Haman the scheming villain who has the king's ear.
Xerxes, the king who is duped into sanctioning a holocaust.
But when the action reaches a crescendo, it is Esther alone who must undo first Haman, and next his murderous vendetta against her people.
All Mordecai can do is pray that his young cousin has what it takes to rescue them.
You're king of one of the largest empires ever amassed.
You're hosting a banquet for the governors of all your territories.
And you want your queen to make an appearance.
She feels that she is only being paraded in front of the men as a trophy, and refuses.
The stage is set for one of the Bible's most remarkable stories, a literal rags to riches fairy tale with enough grit and gore to make it a genuine page turner.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
The Jews may be back in Jerusalem but things are far from rosy.
Nehemiah wades in like a teacher in an unruly classroom, desperate to create order and restore a level of godliness as Judah is resettled.
His concern is that this is the Jews' last chance to get things right with God, and so they should avoid any of the behaviours that led to them being captured and exiled in the past.
It's more talk than action, with plenty of lists and laws as Nehemiah attempts to tighten up the slack and inspire and encourage the lax and the lukewarm.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Jerusalem's wall may be rebuilt but Nehemiah's problems are far from over.
There are people in his midst who are happy to betray him.
There are also people within Israel who are denying their fellow citizens human rights, and who seem happy to exploit tose less well off than them.
It's time to go back to basics.
To reboot the nation spiritually as well as physically.
It makes life harder for Nehemiah but having started the project, the cupbearer to the King of Persia seems determined to finish it.
Chapters covered: Nehemiah 5-9.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
A refined member of the Persian royal court plans a remarkable restoration project in his Jerusalem homeland.
Without a building qualification to his name, Nehemiah becomes cheerleader for one of the greatest construction projects in the Bible, the rebuilding of Jerusalem's curtain wall.
But before he can execute a project as near impossible as this one, he needs to pull off another near impossible task: getting Persia's king to let him go.
Nehemiah's is a fabulous story, and it begins here.
Chapters covered: Nehemiah 1-4.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
The embattled returnees discover that rebuilding their temple is fraught with opposition. Like modern day battles about planning permission and with much resistance from hostile locals who moved into the region while the Jews were in exile in Persia, a letter is sent to Persia's king. Jerusalem is in his jurisdiction and so Artaxerxes has the final say on whether the city gets a new temple. The bigger question for Ezra however, is whether his people are living according to God's rules. Without getting their house in order, he believes, the future of their nation is a non starter.
Chapters covered: Ezra 4-10
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Episode 100!
I need to say that again.
Episode 100!
Almost two years into the journey and we're still only 15 books into the 66 book epic that is the Bible.
Still, why rush. You see a lot more from a slower bus.
You join us at the start of the Book of Ezra, an exiled Jew who has returned to Jerusalem to rebuild its temple, a project that is not without its obstacles.
Fun fact: Ezra probably also wrote the Books of Kings and Chronicles.
Chapters covered: Ezra 1-4
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Thanks to:
The NIV Zondervan Study Bible edited by D A Carson, Zondervan, 2017
The Holy Bible Thompson Chain Reference Edition edited by Frank Charles Thompson, Hodder and Stoughton, 1986
The NIV Study Bible edited by Kenneth Barker, Zondervan, 1984
Life Application Study Bible edited by Dr Bruce B Barton, Kingsway, 2011
Holy Bible NIV Version edited by Biblica, Hodder and Stoughton, 2011
The New Compact Bible Dictionary by T Alton Bryant, Zondervan, 1987
Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson, Collins, 2007
The Lion Handbook to the Bible by David Alexander, Lion Hudson, 2009
The New Bible Dictionary by J D Douglas, Tyndale House, 1982
The Compact Bible Dictionary by Ronald Youngblood, Nelson, 2004
The Bible Application Handbook by J I Packer and Derek Williams, Eagle, 2001
The Bible From Scratch by Simon Jenkins, Lion Hudson, 2009
The World Jesus Knew by Anne Punton, Monarch, 2001
I Never Knew That About Scotland by Christopher Winn, Ebury, 2007
Trivia For the Toilet by Gavin Webster, Barnes and Noble, 2006
Biblegateway.org
Gotquestions.org
Quora.com
Biblecharts.org
Livescience.com
Interestingliterature.com
Biblicalarchaeology.org
Answersingenesis.org
I am also hugely grateful for the pearls of wisdom shared by various speakers at events that I have attended and whose wisdom has helped me enormously, to the organisers of New Wine and Greenbelt Festival where I have been able to listen in and to wise and godly friends who have explained things in a language which I can understand. Thank you to:
R T Kendall, former pastor at Westminster Chapel
Dr Jamie Davies, tutor in New Testament, Trinity College, Bristol
Rev Stephen MacLean, pastor at Cricklewood Baptist Church
Mike Yaconelli (1942-2003), former pastor of Grace Community Church, Yreka CA
Steve Chalke, minister of Oasis Church, Waterloo
Nicky Gumbel, founder of the Alpha Course
Canon J John, founder of the Philo Trust
John Grant, former moderator at the London Baptist Association
Tony and Brenda Lenthall, missionaries and friends.
John Peters, Vicar of St Mary’s Bryanston Square
Tony Campolo, pastor and writer.
Shane Claiborne, Christian Activist
Sandy Millar, former vicar of Holy Trinity Brompton
Peter Owen Jones, vicar, writer and broadcaster
Stuart Burgess, former Methodist chaplain to Birmingham University
Rico Tice, Associate minister at All Souls Langham Place
Damon and Sharron, missionaries
John Griffiths, advertising strategist and Bible fanatic
Jon Leach, strategist and atheist
Keith Van der Shaw, minister of Bay Church, Blackman Bay, Tasmania.
Dan Hedley, minister of Snug Church, Tasmania
The men in Andy Bosveld’s shed.
And all my non-Christian friends and colleagues whose doubts have helped me shape the content and style of this podcast
Told differently to a different audience, the utter collapse of Judah's monarchy, its principal city and its temple still hits home.
Its kings deposed or captured, the survivors are dragged to Babylon where they languish in exile for the next seven decades.
A ragged bunch of survivors eventually makes it home to the wasteland that was once Jerusalem, and these are this book's original readers.
Awful though the events were, the Jews are now in no doubt that obeying God in the new Israel is paramount. They have seen what happens when their worship goes off the boil or gets aimed at pagan deities.
The Books of Chronicles end, but their message ensures that the Jews' story goes on.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
The propaganda machine continues apace.
In this episode, one of Judah's most virtuous kings, Hezekiah, reinstates the religious calendar and celebrates Passover.
Then his son Manasseh, the nation's most wretched and evil ruler is given a moral makeover after and leaves the Bible both reformed and forgiven.
The end destination of absolute destruction for Judah is still the same, but for those Jews who were the Books of Chronicles' first audience, it will have been an absolute cliffhanger.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michaael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
If nothing else, the account of the Kings of Judah who rule after David and Solomon shows a fascinating range of personalities, from psychopath to narcissist to saint, and pretty much everything in between.
Given that rule one in Judah's monarchy, and in daily life for every Jew is to put God first, an amazing number of the nation's kings fail to do this.
The question is, do Judah's godly kings do enough to pull the nation over he line and rescue it from destruction?
Regular listeners will have heard the previous account of these events in the Books of Kings and know that the answer is an emphatic no.
Still, it does make for a fascinating read.
Chapters covered: 2 Chronicles 25-31
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
To see the Books of Chronicles as a rehash of the Books of Samuel and Kings is to do them a disservice. It's actually the same events seen through a different lens, and these events are some of the most thrilling in the Bible - epic battles, assassinations, heroic act of rescue and grisly deaths from disease.
But there are also unique events which only exist in Chronicles which add to and enrich the story. That said, one fact doesn't change. Thanks to a series of godless kings, Judah continues to spiral into spiritual oblivion. The catastrophe continues here.
Chapters covered: 2 Chronicles 14-24
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
After eulogising about King David for an entire book, the Chronicler now turns his attention to David's son, Solomon and Solomon's son, Rehoboam.
The elephant in the room that is the almost complete collapse of Israel that happens on Rehoboam's watch is fabulously airbrushed out. Including it doesn't help the agenda of this book which is to make the newly returned exiles from Persia to feel good about their nation and to be motivated to rebuild it.
Enjoy the spin.
Chapters covered: 2 Chronicles 1-13
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
I'll be honest, the Books of Chronicles are no one's go-to place for encouragement and spiritual succour.
Mostly a repetition of the Books of Samuel and Kings, there is little new material and a lot of pro monarchist propaganda.
However, there are unique passages and in this one, David lays out his vision for Jerusalem's first temple and encourages his son Solomon to be the godly king that Israel needs.
Chapters covered: 1 Chronicles 17-29.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and John Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Not many books have the audacity to stop in the middle of the action, go back and retell exactly the same thing, but the Bible is no ordinary book. Spun for a new generation of Jews who are struggling to rebuild their nation after returning from exile, the writer of Chronicles cherry picks history. His people need building up, not reminding of what a shocking mess they and their kings made of their country.
Chapters covered: 1 Chronicles 1-16.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and John Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Judah has one last roll of the dice.
After the appalling, godless reign of Manasseh, Josiah is a complete saint.
But are his virtue and his religious reforms enough to turn the ship around and avoid annihilatioon by Babylon?
Will Judah survive agains almost impossible odds?
It's time for Josiah's sons to take the wheel and lead their nation into either gory or oblivion.
This is the Second Book of Kings dramatic season finale.
Chapters covered: 2 Kings 23-25
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Conversions:
280 miles = 450km
27 feet = 8.2m
Terrified that Jerusalem will fall, one of Judah's holiest kings, Hezekiah seeks the help of the holiest man he knows, the prophet Isaiah.
The result is one of the biggest acts of carnage in the Bible.
However, Hezekiah's son Manasseh is an absolute horror show, a man who thinks nothing of sacrificing his own children, and it is left to Israel's final devout king, Josiah to try and bring his nation back from the edge of oblivion.
Chapters covered: 2 Kings 19-23
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
After centuries of autonomy and nineteen almost exclusively godless kings, God calls time on the northern kingdom of Israel.
Meanwhile, an Assyrian force threatens the southern and much smaller kingdom of Judah.
Is God about to call time on his chosen people and write the whole project off as an experiment that went badly wrong? Or is there still some fuel left in the tank, a shred of hope that they might overcome the overwhelming threat at Jerusalem's gate?
Chapters covered: 2 Kings 17-19
Bible used: New International Version, UK edition.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover Art by Lisa Goff
Rogue monarchs, assassins, war and intrigue.
The Bible continues to toggle between the nation of Judah to the south and Israel to the north as the spiritual needle moves further away from God and edges ever closer to outright paganism.
With the Jerusalem temple now seen by Judah's kings as an exercise in architecture and interior design, the outlook for the nation has never been bleaker.
Chapters covered: 2 Kings 14-16
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
They don't call it the greatest story ever told for no reason.
This is without doubt one of my favourite episodes in the entire Bible.
At incredible personal risk, a teenage girl saves the royal bloodline by hiding her tiny nephew away, Ann Frank-style, under the radar of her psychopathic and homicidal queen.
In doing so, she allows the continuation of David's line which, the Bible tells its readers, ultimately includes Jesus Christ.
Cometh the hour, cometh the woman,
Why she isn't more famous is a whole other question.
Chapters covered: 2 Kings 11-13
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
As grisly an episode as it sounds.
Blood and gore abound as the Second Book of Kings goes full throttle on schadenfreude.
It's not a good time to be a king or queen of Israel or Judah, or evena friend of=r relative, particularly not a pagan one.
A violent end is coming and the Bible doesn't hold back.
A warrior is coming.
Chapters covered: 2 Kings 8-10
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
It's hard to imagine how awful life in a besieged city was in the ancient Near East.
As the title of this episode suggests, with no food, people resorted to desperate and degrading measures just to stay alive.
It os during such a siege that four men with an incurable skin disease find themselves at the centre of one of the most incredible yirnarounds in the Bible.
I think this little known episode from teh Second Book of Kings is one my favourite Bible stories.
Chapters covered: 2 Kings 6-8
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Conversions:
3.5oz = 100g
12 lb = 5.5kg
Elisha continues to pull off some of the Bible's most extraordinary miracles - one of these is the kind of showstopper that only Jesus might attempt.
From lowly holy men to foreign dignitaries, the miraculous makeovers show no favouritism.
However, Elisha's servant is less of a saint than his master. His head is turned and his fall is mighty.
Chapters covered: 2 Kings 4-6
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Conversions:
17 miles = 27km
728 lb = 330kg
146 lb = 66kg
73 lb = 33kg
Seson 11 begins.
When a king of Israel decides to consult a pagan deity to see whether he will recover from an accident, the Jewish prophet Elijah steps in with dramatic effect.
Elijah then departs the earth in spectacular fashion leaving his protégé, Elisha to steer Israel back towards some form of godliness.
It's an uphill battle. Israel's kings seem genetically conditioned to worship pagan gods, but thanks to Elisha's spectaculafr intervention, one particular battle does go Israel's way.
Chapters covered: 2 Kings 1-4
Jezebel proves her creds as Israel's most evil queen when she plots to kill a nighbour just because she covets his vineyard.
Then Ahab ignores a prophet's dire warning that he will die in battle because he has a plan that will help him evade death - he will wear a disguise...
Without giving too much away, the First Book of Kings does not end well for Israel's royal family.
Chapters covered: 1 Kings 21-22
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
On the run from his homicidal queen, the prophet Elijah is given a heads up by God as to how things are about to play out.
Israel may be an ungodly nation but its king, Ahab is given an opportunity to see God in action when his meagre fighting force goes into battle against a vastly superior enemy.
However, the king's inability to follow actions and his queen's greed prove to be their undoing.
Chapters covered: 1 Kings 19-21
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Snakes and Angels, a Secular Walk through the First Five Books of the Bible isavailable here: https://shorturl.at/rvJZ3
As Israel spirals into paganism, a new hope rises in the shape of a Jedi-like holy man, Elijah.
Elijah's showdown against the shamans sponsored by Israel's evil queen, Jezebel is one of the most dramatic in the Bible.
Without giving away any plot spoilers, it's quite a show.
Chapters covered: 1 Kings 15-18
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music my Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
The Kingdom of Israel has split into two.
Judah is tiny but retains Jerusalem and its temple, and a dynasty descended from David.
Israel is vast in comparison but in separating from Judah, it appears to have also separated itself from God.
In these chapters, Israel enters a kind of death spiral from which it seems impossible to pull out, while Judah just about clings on.
However, this nation seems one godless - or childless - king away from ending the bloodline and cancelling the divine promise that a son of David will remain on his throne forever.
Chapters covered: 1 Kings 13-15
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
It's fair to say Israel's King Solomon doesn't hold back when it comes to getting married.
His enthusiasm for the opposite sex is legendary, as is his immense harem.
However, according to the Bible this does not sit well with God, especially as some of Solomon's wives are from pagan nations, and the women prove as seductive as their religions.
The seeds are sown for a complete unravelling of Solomon's kingdom, and within a few short chapters, Israel is in complete freefall.
Enjoy the schadenfreude.
Chapters covered: 1 Kings 11-13
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
X: Wholly Buyable Podcast
contact@whollybuyable.com
Solomon's reign is spectacular, if only for its opulence.
Foreign rulers make pilgrimages just to marvel at the wealth and wisdom of Israel's king.
But all is not golden in this particular kingdom.
Solomon slowly begins to lose his grip on what being king of Israel actually means.
His marriages are foreign alliances and he appears to be putting his faith in his own power rather than in God.
In Bible terms, this is a huge red flag and by the end of his reign, the nation that looked so solid under the rule of David begins to crack.
Chapters covered: 1 Kings 8-11
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
contact@whollybuyable.com
X: Wholly Buyable Podcast
Conversions:
4 tons = 4000kg
13 tons = 14000kg
18 miles = 30km
2000miles = 3200km
23tons = 20,865kg
1.7tons = 1540kg
After the roller coaster of David's warlike reign, things settle down a little with his son, Solomon in charge.
This is where Israel enters a golden age.
Where David fights and suppresses rebellions from his own sons, Solomon builds.
Using the wealth hoarded by his father, he constructs a temple and palaces and enjoys a life of unrivalled opulence.
Still, he is known for more than just his wealth.
According to the Bible, Solomon is not just Israel's wisest king, he is one of the wisest men who has ever lived.
Chapters covered: 1 Kings 3-7
Season 10 begins.
David hands over his reign to his chosen heir, Solomon, just as another of David's sons, Adonijah makes his own bid for the crown.
Solomon's reign begins with bloodshed. There is no room for pretenders, traitors or sentimentality, and no one can stand in the way of Israel's Sun King.
Chapters covered: 1 Kings 1-3
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
The judge, Samuel is long dead.
His lasting legacy is Israel's monarchy.
The nation's first two kings, Saul and David were chosen by him.
As the book that bears his name draws to an end, so does the life and reign of David.
These closing chapters are a summing up, a kind of who's who at the end of David's rule.
However, the drama isn't over, and another mis-step by the king puts countless lives in danger.
Chapters covered: 2 Samuel 21-24
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Conversions
8lb = 3.5kg
Blindsided by an unexpected assault on the monarchy by his son Absalom, David has had to gather an army and prepare to fight back.
Having spent much of his reign defeating enemy nations and winning security for Israel, the king is now facing down ever more threats from his own people.
Will blood prove thicker than water, or will the old king manage cling onto his throne?
Chapters covered: 2 Samuel 18-21
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Conversions:
15 miles = 25km
Out of nowhere, David suddenly has to face a coup from within his own family.
With no time to prepare, he must evacuate the royal compound and quickly assess who is with him in his fight to maintain the throne.
Helping him is an underground network of spies and a faux adviser who he is depending on to feed the wannabe king bad counsel.
It's a long shot, but right now, David is out of options.
Chapters covered: 2 Samuel 15-18
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Like reading? I cover the first five books of the Bible in this downloadable book:
https://shorturl.at/cfGV5
Surely one of the most sordid episodes in the entire Bible, and certainly one of the saddest, a bored young prince convinces himself that he is in love with his half sister.
The event escalates and David has a choice, to deal with his son or to let things get completely out of hand.
Chapters covered: 2 Samuel 13-15
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music.
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Conversions
130miles = 210km
8 miles = 13km
5lb = 2.3kg
A beautiful woman takes a bath on the flat roof of her house in plain view of a bored and randy king.
Whatever the worst is that can happen, happens, as David manages to break all ten of the Ten Commandments, all at once.
This isn't a section of the Bible that regularly gets aired in church services, for good reason.
It's around 1000BC, and it's bathtime. Come on in!
Chapters covered: 2 Samuel 10-12
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jin Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
David's rule begins as he crushes army after army, builds his citadel in Jerusalem and adopts his best friend's son.
It all starts off so well...
Chapters covered: 2 Samuel 6-9
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover Art by Lisa Goff
Download Snakes and Angels, a Secular Walk through the First Five Books of the Bible, here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Snakes-Angels-Secular-through-First-ebook/dp/B0CGR6PHQ4/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=snakes+and+angels&qid=1696807532&sr=8-2
All of the books and websites below have proven invaluable to putting together this book. Many of the books belong to my in-laws, Lesley and Geoff Tilley in Kingston, Tasmania where a large chunk of the Vible was pulled together.
The NIV Zondervan Study Bible edited by D A Carson, Zondervan, 2017
The Holy Bible Thompson Chain Reference Edition edited by Frank Charles Thompson, Hodder and Stoughton, 1986
The NIV Study Bible edited by Kenneth Barker, Zondervan, 1984
Life Application Study Bible edited by Dr Bruce B Barton, Kingsway, 2011
Holy Bible NIV Version edited by Biblica, Hodder and Stoughton, 2011
The New Compact Bible Dictionary by T Alton Bryant, Zondervan, 1987
Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson, Collins, 2007
The Lion Handbook to the Bible by David Alexander, Lion Hudson, 2009
The New Bible Dictionary by J D Douglas, Tyndale House, 1982
The Compact Bible Dictionary by Ronald Youngblood, Nelson, 2004
The Bible Application Handbook by J I Packer and Derek Williams, Eagle, 2001
The Bible From Scratch by Simon Jenkins, Lion Hudson, 2009
The World Jesus Knew by Anne Punton, Monarch, 2001
I Never Knew That About Scotland by Christopher Winn, Ebury, 2007
Trivia For the Toilet by Gavin Webster, Barnes and Noble, 2006
Biblegateway.org
Gotquestions.org
Quora.com
Biblecharts.org
Livescience.com
Interestingliterature.com
Biblicalarchaeology.org
Answersingenesis.org
I am also hugely grateful for the pearls of wisdom shared by various speakers at events that I have attended and whose wisdom has helped me enormously, to the organisers of New Wine and Greenbelt Festival where I have been able to listen in and to wise and godly friends who have explained things in a language which I can understand. Thank you to:
R T Kendall, former pastor at Westminster Chapel
Dr Jamie Davies, tutor in New Testament, Trinity College, Bristol
Rev Stephen MacLean, pastor at Cricklewood Baptist Church
Mike Yaconelli (1942-2003), former pastor of Grace Community Church, Yreka CA
Steve Chalke, minister of Oasis Church, Waterloo
Nicky Gumbel, founder of the Alpha Course
Canon J John, founder of the Philo Trust
John Grant, former moderator at the London Baptist Association
Tony and Brenda Lenthall, missionaries and friends.
John Peters, Vicar of St Mary’s Bryanston Square
Tony Campolo, pastor and writer.
Shane Claiborne, Christian Activist
Sandy Millar, former vicar of Holy Trinity Brompton
Peter Owen Jones, vicar, writer and broadcaster
Stuart Burgess, former Methodist chaplain to Birmingham University
Rico Tice, Associate minister at All Souls Langham Place
Damon and Sharron, missionaries
John Griffiths, advertising strategist and Bible fanatic
Jon Leach, strategist and atheist
Keith Van der Schoor and the men in Andy Bosveld's shed
With Saul dead, a power vacuum opens up in Israel.
David believes that God has chosen him to be the nation's next king, but Saul still has sons and grandsons who survived the battle at Gilboa.
One in particular believes that he is his father's heir apparent and assumes the crown for himself.
His fall is an object lesson in how treating the true power brokers in the accession with disdain is a fast track to destruction.
Chapters covered: 1 Samuel 29-31
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Conversions:
36 x 36ft = 11 x 11m
88ft = 27m
Spoiler alert: God might give you more than you can handle, and he doesn't necessarily help those who help themselves.
If that revelation hasn't shocked you off your chair, get ready for more bombshells.
In this special episode, I cover off a number of myths that people assume must be biblical, but aren't.
Nativity lovers be warned, you'll never look at an infant Christmas play in the same way again.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Find
Snakes and Angels, a secular walk through the first five books of the Bible
on amazon here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Snakes-Angels-Secular-through-First-ebook/dp/B0CGR6PHQ4/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=snakes+and+angels&qid=1695957668&sr=8-2
The First Book of Samuel reaches its season finale - and it's a satisfying one.
A giant enemy army is bearing down on Israel as Saul and the rest of the Israelite force prepare to make a heroic last stand.
Yet incredibly, Israel's most loyal soldier - and potentially its next king - is marching with the enemy.
What gives?
Those who think the Bible is simply a list of rules and regulations will be surprised to learn that passages like these are complete page turners.
Enjoy the ride.
Chapters covered: 1 Samuel 28-31
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music: Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art: Lisa Goff
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Everyone loves a bad guy getting their come-uppance and in this episode, a surly and ungrateful farmer provides listeners with that satisfaction.
However, the predominant baddie in this particular Bible book is Israel's king, Saul who narrowly misses assassination not once, but twice.
And not only does David have to slip into a neighbouring country to evade capture, he suddenly finds himself marching to war against his own people.
Drama!
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Chapters covered: 1 Samuel 23-28
Conversions:
25 miles = 40km
3 miles = 4.8km
These are some of the liveliest pages in the Bible - and some of its most bloody.
David may be the golden child of Israel, but Saul's jealousy is about to get the better of him.
His hunt for David is relentless, and aided by a psychopathic Edomite shepherd, he unleashes one of the most appalling attacks in the entire Bible.
Chapters covered: 1 Samuel 18-22
It's one of the world's most famous stories, and one of only a few Bible stories that has achieved fame outside of religious circles.
It's so famous that it has become an archetype, but David vs Goliath is so much more than the little guy overcoming the big guy.
As Goliath taunts the Israelite army for its cowardice, a young shepherd arrives with food for his soldier brothers.
Hours later, both men have become immortal.
Chapters covered: 1 Samuel 15-17
Conversions:
10.5 miles = 17km
125lb = 57kg
6'9" =2m06
9 feet = 2m74
Saul's reign begins well and then gradually freewheels downhill, increasing speed and the likelihood of a pile up as it does so.
As this episode proves, even having a brave and gifted warrior for a son can't help this klutz of a king rule his kingdom properly.
The fall of Saul begins here.
Chapters covered: 1 Samuel 11-14
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
It’s the end of an era.
From the Patriarchs to the Judges, Israel has been looked after by leaders which it believes God has given it, and who appear to have been hand-picked because of their inherent faithfulness to God and the courage which this gives them.
Now, Israel's people are in uncharted territory.
The age of the Judges is over.
The age of the monarchy is about to begin.
Chapters covered: 1 Samuel 5-10
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
The epic account of Israel's monarchy begins.
Books 1 + 2 of Samuel are some of the most page turning in the whole Bible as the writers build tension, hop between locations and include dramatic points of jeopardy from which it seems impossible to seize victory.
These are chapters that you can properly binge.
As expected by now, God uses the least expected people to carry out his mission - a childless woman, a useless old priest and a young shepherd all help drive the action forwards.
I hope you enjoy these episodes as much as I will
Chapters covered: 1 Samuel 1-4
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover Art by Lisa Goff
An unmarried young woman puts on her best clothes, fixes her makeup and sashays out into the night. She finds a wealthy older man who is sleeping off a banquet and lies down next to him.
Who is she?
What did she hope might happen as a result of this midnight liaison.
And why do more people not know this story?
Season eight begins.
Chapters covered: Ruth 1-4
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover Art by Lisa Goff
Conversions:
30lb = 13kg
My my my Delilah - Episode 60 and Season 6 finale!
This is a longer and usual podcast and the action doesn't stop.
Samson's unfortunate love affair is one of the few stories that has escaped the Bible and into popular culture.
But it is what happens next that sees Israel spiral into a self destructive vortex.
It's one of the most appalling and depraved events in the Bible and unsurprisingly, not many churches 'go there' in their Sunday services.
But this is Wholly Buyable, and we go everywhere.
Chapters covered: Judges 16-21
Conversions:
40miles = 64km
28lb = 13kg
£8500 = $12500 US /$16300 AU
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover Art by Lisa Goff
Animal lovers look away!
Israel is about to get a leader who thinks nothing of killing wildlife to help him wreak revenge.
As for the content, this episode provides the backstory to one of the most famous romantic relationships in the Bible - Samson and Delilah.
But before Samson meets Delilah, he falls in love with another absolute heartbreaker.
Chapters covered: Judges 11-15
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover Art by Lisa Goff
There are no dull moments in the Book of Judges.
In this episode, meek little Gideon who is too scared to engage anyone in a fight becomes a bonafide warlord.
One of his sons goes rogue and embarks on a killing spree that only ends when yet another woman grabs a projectile and takes back control of Israel's destiny.
Chapters covered: Judges 7-11
Conversions:
42.5lb = 19.3kg
1¾lb = 800g
12-15lb = 5.5-6.8kg
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and John Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
In an unusual break from tradition, a woman has led Israel to success against enemy invaders.
A fabulous one-two with a second and equally ferocious woman seals the victory.
In another unexpected move, Israel's next hero is so unlikely a contender for leadership that he enters the Bible hiding.
These are some of the Bible's most lurid stories and we're right in the thick of them
Enjoy!
Chapters covered: Judges 4-7
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover Art by Lisa Goff
Within just a few years of Joshua's death, the spiritual vibe in Israel goes dramatically south.
To try and get the train back on the rails, God installs judges.
These aren't legally minded judiciaries, they are godly leaders raised up to defend Israel from its enemies, and the justice they dispense is often both sudden and dramatic.
The drama dial is set back to 10 as the Book of Judges begins.
Chapters covered: Judges 1-4
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Just as the 12 Tribes of Israel look like they have settled into their new home the boat is suddenly rocked.
The three tribes who have settled east of the river build a giant altar.
They know that Israel only needs one designated altar site, so why the need for a second?
Have the three tribes to the east of the river turned to pagan worship already?
Have these tribes gone rogue?
The Book of Joshua reaches its dramatic finale.
Chapters covered: Joshua 20-24
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover Art by Lisa Goff
Conversions:
600miles = 960km
If you're in desperate need of spiritual sustenance, you've chosen the wrong podcast.
At the best of times, Wholly Buyable is Bible Lite.
The passages covered this week really aren't anyone's go to Scripture, but that doesn't mean they're any less fascinating.
This is where we learn which tribes settled where and which cities they are given to live in.
So if you like real estate and or geography, you're in for an absolute joyride. If you're into both, you might think you've reached heaven. That's the beauty of the Bible, something for everyone...
Chapters covered: Joshua 12-19
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield 2023
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover Art by Lisa Goff
Conversions:
180 miles = 290km
56 miles = 90km
60,000 sq miles = 96,500 sq km
50 miles = 80km
After wiping out Jericho without raising a weapon, Joshua's army can be forgiven for thinking that the rest of the settlement of Canaan will be a shoe in. So when the army crashes and burns at only its second battle, the communal mojo collapses. Is Israel's conquest campaign over almost as soon as it has begun?
Chapters covered: Joshua 10-11
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music my Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover Art by Lisa Goff
Season 6 is here.
And Israel v Canaan is finally on.
Having had 40 years to prepare for the battles ahead, The Israelites are ready to take on whatever their enemy throws at them.
Will it be a bloody struggle, or will their advance be like a hot knife through butter?
First though, they must cross the River Jordan in flood, with no bridges and no boats.
It seems impossible, but this is Bible country and normal rules are temporarily suspended.
Enjoy the ride.
Chapters covered: Joshua 1-6
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover Art by Lisa Goff
Season 5 finale!
The Jews call it the Torah, the Greeks call it the Pentateuch. For everyone else, it's the first five books of he Bible that lay down the fundamental laws that many Christians and Jews follow. Here, Moses sings, writes and warns before climbing his last mountain. Now it's Joshua's turn to steer his unruly and often rebellious nation into their new home.
Chapters covered: Deuteronomy 30-34
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
When most people think of the Bible, the first thing that comes to mind generally isn't fathers greedily chewing on the corpses of their children. This ghoulish image is one suggested by Moses as a potential reality in post-belief Israel. If God's people turn away from him, horror will rain down on them, he says. As you'll see, Moses doesn't hold back, hence the explicit content warning.
This is episode 50 btw, so thanks to all of you for making these podcasts worthwhile. You can send any comments or suggestions to contact@whollybuyable.com.
Chapters covered: Deuteronomy 28-30
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
As this is episode 50, her4e is a credits list to acknowledge everyone who has helped inform the podcast:
R T Kendall, former pastor at Westminster Chapel
Dr Jamie Davies, tutor in New Testament, Trinity College, Bristol
Rev Stephen MacLean, pastor at Cricklewood Baptist Church
Mike Yaconelli (1942-2003), former pastor of Grace Community Church, Yreka CA
Steve Chalke, minister of Oasis Church, Waterloo
Nicky Gumbel, founder of the Alpha Course
Canon J John, founder of the Philo Trust
John Grant, former moderator at the London Baptist Association
Tony and Brenda Lenthall, missionaries and friends.
John Peters, Vicar of St Mary’s Bryanston Square
Tony Campolo, pastor and writer.
Shane Claiborne, Christian Activist
Sandy Millar, former vicar of Holy Trinity Brompton
Peter Owen Jones, vicar, writer and broadcaster
Stuart Burgess, former Methodist chaplain to Birmingham University
Rico Tice, Associate minister at All Souls Langham Place
Damon and Sharron, missionaries
John Griffiths, advertising strategist and Bible fanatic
Jon Leach, strategist and atheist
Keith Van der Shaw, minister of Bay Church, Blackman Bay, Tasmania.
Dan Hedley, minister of Snug Church, Tasmania
The men in Andy Bosveld’s shed.
And all my non-Christian friends and colleagues whose doubts have helped me shape the content and style of this book.
Fairness, kindness, social justice and human rights are not values often associated with the Old Testament, a book that is famed for its violence, intolerance and misogyny. Yet read between the lines and you'll see that there is an overarching sense of protecting the weak and making sure that everyone has a fair crack at life. Join us as Moses briefs 2 million Israelites on the cusp of entering their new homeland.
Chapters covered: Deuteronomy 24-28
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover Art by Lisa Goff
Adultery, rape, murder and toileting all get an airing in this mishmash of laws handed out by Moses. But what seems a random rule generator does have some kind of logic, there is a bigger picture behind the mass of tiny details. And lots of stoning for anyone who chooses to make up their own rules...
Chapters covered: Deuteronomy 20-23
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music composed by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Conversions:
2½lb = 1.2kg
1¼lb = 575g
A lot rests on Israel's people getting it right when they get to Canaan and for Moses, there's no such thing a being too prepared, After all, he spent over 80 days up Mount Sinai with God having been handpicked to lead his people out of Egypt and into their new home.
If all goes well and the people continue to trust in God, life will be a breeze in the bucolic paradise. If they lose their focus however, things will be less rosy. All they need to do is "purge the evil," and fortunately, Moses knows how to do this.
Chapters covered: Deuteronomy 14-19
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
The Book of Deuteronomy doesn’t promise any high octane action sequences.
As its Greek name suggests, this is the second law giving - the first was 40 years earlier to a generation now deceased.
These people’s children have now taken on the mantle of responsibility that will see them attempt to enter the promised land of Canaan.
Forewarned is forearmed, and Moses’ briefing is far from over.
Chapters covered: Deuteronomy 10-13
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
"A vast, dreadful, thirsty, waterless wilderness filled with poisonous snakes and scorpions." This is what the Israelites can expect if they turn from God and go their own way once they have settled in their new land. And they have form, as Moses is only too willing to remind them. The current generation who he is addressing in advance of the invasion of Canaan may be no saints but their parents behaved appallingly - it is their fault that the journey from Egypt has taken 40 years rather than 2 months. It's a history lesson, but quite a lurid one.
Chapters covered: Deuteronomy 7-9
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Huddled by the river and, as Lady Gaga might say, standing on the edge of glory, the Israelites still have a long way to go before they are fully prepped to enter the Promised Land. It is here they are taught exactly why their God differs from other gods and why it makes sense to follow him. Part recap, part motivational speech Moses words prepares a new generation to become the founding mothers and fathers of a new Jewish homeland.
Chapters covered: Deuteronomy 3-6
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Flogged, nailed to a cross and buried in a stone tomb, Jesus' ministry has reached the end of the road. It's a disaster for his followers, many of whom assumed he might lead a full on rebellion against Judea's Roman overlords. But three days after he officially dies, something happens that not even his closest companions could have predicted. This is the moment that launches an itinerant Galilean preacher into a global icon who is still worshipped by over 2 billion people across the globe.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Season 5 is here!
After the excitement and action, the pace drops a little- but not the interest.
The pressure is now on Moses to inspire his people to cross the river Jordan into what has been spun to them as the Land of Milk and Honey.
Everything depends on the success of his pep talk.
He begins with a history lesson.
After all, if they are confident that God has been with them so far, there's no reason why he shouldn't go ahead of them across the river.
Oh, and did someone say giants?
Chapters covered: Deuteronomy 1-3
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover Art by Lisa Goff
Conversions:
125miles = 200km
100 miles =160km
14 feet by 6 feet = 4m x 1.8m
86ft 11in long x 53ft 11in wide = 26.5m x 16.44m)
Arguably the most famous event in history, and perhaps only superseded by another even more spectacular occurrence thee days later, the execution of a popular leader from a village at the eastern edge of the Roman Empire is still of paramount importance to 2 billion people. If you know anything about Jesus, you know he died on a cross. But was there more to this, or was his death simply the result of rubbing a few people up the wrong way? Did Rome's governor in Judea have him killed just to keep the peace; to stop things getting ugly with a crowd outside his palace? Christians call the day that Jesus was killed Good Friday. For his family and followers witnessing Jesus's death, it was the worst day of their lives.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Just as Moses thinks that the future settlement of Canaan is in the bag, he is hit by a massive curveball. Two of the tribes who he was planning to have in his all-conquering army decide not to cross the river into the promised land. Israel's leader is furious and as the Book of Numbers reaches its season finale, the nation's future has never seemed more precarious.
Chapters covered: Numbers 32-36
Conversions:
50 acres = 0.2km2
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
To the victor the spoils!
As the Book of Numbers speeds towards its finale, listeners are given more fascinating insights into bronze age rites and rituals. Sheep goats and bulls are butchered in their thousands and Israel takes revenge on Midian for using its women to seduce Israel's men.
Chapters covered: Numbers 27-31
Conversuons:
3½lb (1.6kg) flour
2 pints (1 litre) of high-grade olive oil and wine
7lb (3.2kg) of flour
10½lb (4.8kg) of flour
4 pints (2l) of wine
2¾ pints (1,5l) of wine
420lb (190kg) of treasure
Faced with almost two million potential enemies at his gates, Moab's king needs a get out.
His plan is an optimistic one.
It is to bribe a pagan shaman to rain down curses on Israel, enfeebling them and neutralising their threat.
He believes that this wizard is more powerful than Israel's God, and when there's money to be had, the shaman is not going to contradict him.
What happens next, neither man could have predicted.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
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Chapters covered: Numbers 20-23
The drama is properly back.
Having survived a coup, lost his sister and had his entry visa to the Promised Land revoked, Moses must face an even greater blow.
National security too is under threat as Israel's enemies forma coalition and attempt to use the dark arts to bring Moses and his two million compatriots down.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Feel free to comment or leave feedback - search Wholly Buyable Podcast on twitter
Chapters covered: Numbers 17-20
The rebellion has been crushed but the camp is still shaken.
Moses and Aaron need the rest of Israel to know exactly who God wants to lead them.
However, being the chosen ones comes at a price.
The brothers' behaviour needs to be unimpeachable.
One careless or impetuous move could sent the whole house of cards crashing down.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawklns Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
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Chapters covered: Numbers 14-16
Stunned by the news that their lack of faith now means that they must spend the next 38 years in the Sinai Desert, rebellion sets in.
A rogue priest gathers some co-conspirators to challenge the leadership of Moses and his brother Aaron.
Drama ensues as God appears to make the final decision as to who he wants leading his people, and where he wants them to go.
Credits:
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Conversions:
300 miles = 480km
3½lb = 1.6kg
2 pints = 1 litre
7lb = 3.2kg
2¾ pints = 1.3 litres
11lb = 5kg
4 pints = 1.9 litres
100 square miles = 260km²
Chapters covered: Numbers 10-14
With the move finally underway, the Israelites now need reassurance that the land they are heading for is suitable for habitation - and that the current inhabitants can be defeated. Spies are sent into Canaan, but the intel they bring back divides the nation - with disastrous consequences.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Episodes covered: Numbers 6-10
Now fully informed as to how God intends them to live alongside one another in a way that is pleasing to him, the mass of people in the shadow of Mt Sinai readies itself to break camp.
All they need to do is bring themselves and their portable temple tent on the relatively short journey north to Canaan.
With God in charge of the movement and Moses physically leading them, success should be inevitable.
It is here that the journey begins.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Join Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Conversions:
The 12 silver plates and 12 bowls filled with fine flour and olive oil together weigh 58lb (26.4kg) and the 12 gold incense dishes weigh 3lb (1.3kg).
Chapters covered: Numbers 1-5
Season 4 begins.
Despite sounding like a maths book, the Book of Numbers is actually one of the most exciting action-packed books. in the Bible
Spies, wizards, dancing girls, plagues and couples javelined to death while having sex await travellers who dive into its pages.
But first, the tabernacle needs moving and the 8000+ men whose job it is to move it need to be briefed. The punishment for getting anything wrong? Immediate death.
Conversions:
50 shekels = 19½ oz/550g of silver
3 shekels = 1⅕oz/33g)
135kg = 300lb
This is a special edition of Wholly Buyable.
From now on, at the end of each season, I'm hoping to interview people outside the church about their take on God, the Bible and religion.
I’m keen to hear what outsiders think of what has always been seen as property of the church.
Shaun McIlrath is Global Chief Creative Officer of thew advertising agency network, iris.
We talk about growing up in Ireland during the troubles, his own personal take on the bonuses and pitfalls of religion and some other podcasts which you might also wish to listen to.
Send any feedback to contact@whollybuyable.com or comment on our twitter of Facebook feeds.
Produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Chapters covered: Leviticus 25-27
Season 3 Finale.
Let's face it. Leviticus is not a book that is often read for pleasure, it's more one that is seen as useful to keep on the shelf to be consulted where needed.
Rules follow rules and if you get nothing else out of this episode, it’s good to know that - if you’re not a practicing Jew - you are among the very few people on earth to have a working knowledge of these rarely read pages of the Bible.
Let's take Season 3 home.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Conversions:
- 50 shekels = 19½ oz/550g of silver
- three shekels = 1⅕oz/33g
- 135kg = 300lb
Leviticus 22-24
Drama in the desert. After what seems an eternity of lawgiving, the Bible bursts into the kind of action. we were spoiled with in the books of Genesis and Exodus. But let that not detract from the glory of what is a fabulously detailed book of legal code- one of the oldest surviving examples on the planet. How have these pages survived the millennia? Because for millions of people alive today, they matter.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Conversions:
7lb = 3.2kg of flour
1¾ pints = litre of wine
Episode 31: Leviticus 20-21
Is this the most divisive topic in Christianity?
You'd think Christians would be concerned with injustice, the global poor, self improvement, kindness, generosity. Loving one another. But no.
Many Christians remain obsessed with what consensual adults get up to in a bedroom, especially of those adults are of the same sex.
Regardless of all the sins listed in the Bible, for many, homosexuality is a taboo too far and the end result of all this has not been pretty.
Our suggestion is to listen to what the Bible says and work out for yourselves what it means.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover Art by Lisa Goff
Episode 30
Leviticus 16-19
After deep diving into the world of rashes, boils, nocturnal emissions and other seepages, the Bible now outlines the holiest day of the Jewish year, Yom Kippur. It also covers off who a man may or may not take as a sexual partner before rattling through some apparently random rules. However, the big picture here is that God seems to want his people to be the polar opposite of the people already living in Canaan. whether that be food, clothing or marriage choices, where they zig, Israel must zag.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover Art by Lisa Goff
Chapters covered: Leviticus 13-15
Ooh! Skin diseases. Boils. Blemishes. Burns. Mould. Nocturnal emissions. Menstruation. Bodily discharges. It's all in this medically explicit section of the Book of Leviticus and you'll find that Bronze Age medicine is surprisingly ahead of its time as priests double up as doctors and isolation and quarantine are central part in disease control.
Conversions:
Finest flour - 5kg
Pure oil - 0.3l
Flour 1.6kg
Episode 28
Chapters covered: Leviticus 8-12
Drama!
10 chapters into the Book of Leviticus, something happens.
It's all the more shocking because of the almost complete absence of activity that precedes it.
Also this week, the tabernacle is consecrated, the Jews are told what they may or may not eat and Moses shares some post natal rulings with Israel's women.
Enjoy some of the least read pages of the world's best selling book.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Follow Wholly Buyable on Facebook and twitter or send comments and feedback to contact@whollybuyable.com
.
Chapters covered:
Leviticus 1-7
Season 3 begins!
If religion is what you're after, Leviticus spreads it on thick.
This is pretty much as religious as the Bible gets.
Moments of action are rare, but when they jump out from the endless legalese, they are shockingly brutal.
For the main part though, Leviticus is a man standing by a tent while channeling what he believes are the words of God.
God is in the detail they say. This is the detail!
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Conversions: 3½lb of fine flour = 1.6kg
Episode 26
Chapters covered: Exodus 34-40
Join us for the season finale of Exodus.
It's hard to imagine a marquee as fabulous as the one described here, and even harder to appreciate the effort involved in project managing such a grand design.
All materials are those which the Israelites were able to carry or drag out of Egypt, and under the watchful eye of the creative directors, they are assembled into an ostentatious yet portable tent that acts as God's HQ on earth.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Metric conversions:
1 tonne of gold used for the for tabernacle and 3.4 tonnes of silver, plus 20kg of silver from the temple tax.
2.4 tonnes of bronze.
Value of gold in USD: $46.5million
Measurements of gold if it were in one block: 61cm3
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Send feedback or comments to contact@whollybuyable.com
Donkeys? Camels? Stables? Innkeepers? Snow? Angels singing? Goodwill to all men?3 kings? What Nativity have you been reading?
Some see the entire shebang as myth, but over the years the embellishments to the biblical account of Jesus' birth appear to have gone unchecked.
This special bonus episode takes listeners through the events immediately before and after Jesus' birth.
Plot spoiler: Year Zero wasn't actually year zero. Sucks teeth. Did they get anything right?
Chapters covered: Matthew 1-2 and Luke 1-2.
Written and directed by Chas Bayfield.
Cover art by Lisa Goff.
Follow us on Facebook and twitter - simply search Wholly Buyable.
And feel free to leave us a nice review if you like what you hear
Chapters covered: Exodus 32-34
Finally, Moses returns from his 40 day sojourn up the mountain with God.
Little does he know that the rabble down at base camp have given up all hope of ever seeing him again.
having written off God as a lost cause, they default to the next best thing and cobb;le together a god that reminds them of the religion back in Egypt.
It's a terrible move, and there are consequences.
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover design by Lisa Goff
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Chapters covered: Exodus 29-31
It’s hard to know what Moses must be thinking.
God may have an extensive shopping list but he appears to not be taking into account the reality of the Israelites’ current situation.
The Israelites are in a desert in a landlocked nation having fled Egypt, but somehow need to provide dyes made from sea snails and hides from seacows as well as sourcing some of the rarest gemstones on the planet.
It’s a huge ask, but God appears to know exactly who Moses needs to help make this happen.
Credits:
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover design by Lisa Goff
Conversions:
Half shekel: 6.5g
600,000 half shekels: 20kg
Liquid myrrh 5.5l
Cinnamon: 2.75kg
Calumus: 2.75kg
Cassia: 5.5kg
Olive oil: 3.8l
Episode 23
Chapters covered: Exodus 25-29
God details the buildings, furnishings and accoutrements which his people need to make in order to worship him appropriately.
And they are fabulous.
Only the finest materials and the most skilled craftsmen suffice.
The blueprints impress on the people that God has high standards.
He is God.
Only the best will do.
There are no short cuts
And there’s no one else who they can call on in the desert to help them make this happen.
Credits:
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Conversions:
Table (91cm x 46cm x 38cm).
Talent – 59kg
Tab curtains (12.8m x 1.83m)
Hides (13.7m)
Planks (13.7m x 4.1m).
Central frame (4.6m x 69cm).
Length of linen fence (45.7m)
End curtains (22.85m)
Entry curtain (12.2m)
The laws flow relentlessly, one by one, a bit like a tele printer, each one filed away and cherished, and each one adding to the big picture that the Israelites are beginning to see of God.
God it appears, has chosen them to be special and set apart from other tribes and nations.
While many of the rules appeal to basic decency and common kindness, some seem arbitrary, legality just for the sake of it.
But it seems that God is shaping his people, transforming them from the rough edged mob who made bricks in Egypt to a civilised, urbanised, informed and educated nation- a surprisingly modern nation with codes and behaviours unique to the ancient Near East.
Credits:
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Chapters covered:
Exodus 23-25
Conversions
Dimensions of the ark: 1m14 x 69cm x 61cm
The Hebrew slaves are slowly being converted from mass labourers in the brickyards of Egypt to a refined, humane, respectable and modern nation. They achieve this by listening attentively to their leader, Moses who they believe is channelling the actual words of God. These words inform them of a new way to live that has morality and compassion at its centre.
In this episode, slaves are given rights, revenge loses its sting and compensation becomes a thing.
Credits:
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Chapters covered:
Exodus 21-22
They may have made it safely out of Africa.
They may have food.
but now the Israelites are thirsty.
Here in the Book of Exodus, the people set out from the Desert of Sin, following wherever God leads them.
With nothing to drink, they vent their frustration at Moses.
Moses too is unhappy: he wishes that they would simply trust God and not test him by these outbursts of anger.
**Seriously worried that some of them might actually pick up rocks and hurl them at him, Moses begs God to throw him some kind of a lifeline.
Credits:
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Chapters covered: Exodus 17-20
The inspiration and information:**
All of the books and websites below have proven invaluable to putting together this book. Many of the books belong to my in-laws, Lesley and Geoff Tilley in Kingston, Tasmania where a large chunk of the Vible was pulled together.
The NIV Zondervan Study Bible edited by D A Carson, Zondervan, 2017
The Holy Bible Thompson Chain Reference Edition edited by Frank Charles Thompson, Hodder and Stoughton, 1986
The NIV Study Bible edited by Kenneth Barker, Zondervan, 1984
Life Application Study Bible edited by Dr Bruce B Barton, Kingsway, 2011
Holy Bible NIV Version edited by Biblica, Hodder and Stoughton, 2011
The New Compact Bible Dictionary by T Alton Bryant, Zondervan, 1987
Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson, Collins, 2007
The Lion Handbook to the Bible by David Alexander, Lion Hudson, 2009
The New Bible Dictionary by J D Douglas, Tyndale House, 1982
The Compact Bible Dictionary by Ronald Youngblood, Nelson, 2004
The Bible Application Handbook by J I Packer and Derek Williams, Eagle, 2001
The Bible From Scratch by Simon Jenkins, Lion Hudson, 2009
The World Jesus Knew by Anne Punton, Monarch, 2001
I Never Knew That About Scotland by Christopher Winn, Ebury, 2007
Trivia For the Toilet by Gavin Webster, Barnes and Noble, 2006
Biblegateway.org
Gotquestions.org
Quora.com
Biblecharts.org
Livescience.com
Interestingliterature.com
Biblicalarchaeology.org
Answersingenesis.org
I am also hugely grateful for the pearls of wisdom shared by various speakers at events that I have attended and whose wisdom has helped me enormously, to the organisers of New Wine and Greenbelt Festival where I have been able to listen in and to wise and godly friends who have explained things in a language which I can understand. Thank you to:
R T Kendall, former pastor at Westminster Chapel
Dr Jamie Davies, tutor in New Testament, Trinity College, Bristol
Rev Stephen MacLean, pastor at Cricklewood Baptist Church
Mike Yaconelli (1942-2003), former pastor of Grace Community Church, Yreka CA
Steve Chalke, minister of Oasis Church, Waterloo
Nicky Gumbel, founder of the Alpha Course
Canon J John, founder of the Philo Trust
John Grant, former moderator at the London Baptist Association
Tony and Brenda Lenthall, missionaries and friends.
John Peters, Vicar of St Mary’s Bryanston Square
Tony Campolo, pastor and writer.
Shane Claiborne, Christian Activist
Sandy Millar, former vicar of Holy Trinity Brompton
Peter Owen Jones, vicar, writer and broadcaster
Stuart Burgess, former Methodist chaplain to Birmingham University
Rico Tice, Associate minister at All Souls Langham Place
Damon and Sharron, missionaries
John Griffiths, advertising strategist and Bible fanatic
Jon Leach, strategist and atheist
Keith Van der S
Pharaoh cannot believe that a single moment of weakness has lost him his entire Hebrew workforce.
He has his chariot prepared for battle and gathers his army.
He commissions 600 chariots which gallop out of Ramses toward the Israelite camp.
When the Egyptians are almost on top of them, the terrified refugees cry out to God
What happens next is one of the most epic events in the Bible and one which is repeated over and again in the Old Testament to remind the Jews of how God rescued them from Egypt.
With the hooves of the Egyptian horses bearing down on him and the million or so slaves who are depending on him to lead them to safety looking up at him, Moses stands facing the sea and once again raises his staff.
Credits:
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover Art by Lisa Goff
Chapters covered:
Exodus 14-16
Egypt has been utterly battered by plagues and meteorological disasters. Only Pharaoh’s ego and pride are to blame and the Bible's readers have been regularly reminded that it is God who has made the king so stubborn.
But all of the ravages visited on the country pale into insignificance when compared to plague number 10.
Worse that locusts, hail, pestilence and darkness, God’s raw fury is about to land on Pharaoh and his ruined nation.
Credits:
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover Art by Lisa Goff
Unlikely as it may seem, Moses is now the leader of over a million Hebrew slaves.
What happens next is one of the most incredible sequences of events in the Bible, and one which cements in the Israelites’ minds that God is a) powerful and b) very much has their backs.
Over and again, later books in the Bible turn their readers minds back to these events that play out in the Nile Delta as Moses and Aaron lock into a furious battle of wills against Egypt’s stubborn king.
This is the Bible at its most epic. The onslaught against Egypt is about to begin.
Credits:
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Chapters covered:
Exodus 7-11
Tongue tied and completely out of touch with the race of people who he was born into, Moses is also still a fugitive.
Yet God has asked him to confront the most powerful leader in the known world and ask him to set free an enslaved workforce of millions of people.
Hundreds of miles to the west, the crushing toil of these Hebrew slaves continues under a relentless Egyptian sun.
But Moses is immovable.
God has got the wrong man, he says.
He needs to send someone else.
Credits:
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Chapters covered:
Exodus 3-7
Season Two is here!
And with it, the Bible leaps forward 400 years.
The bucolic idyll of Egypt under Joseph’s benign rule is a distant memory and the white noise that permeates the dust and clay of the Nile Delta is the groaning of a million Hebrew slaves.
Credits
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Chapters covered: Exodus 1-3
Egypt is still suffering from a complete absence of harvests.
The famine is so severe that even when the people have spent all their money, they still don’t have enough to eat.
Having brought his family safely out of Canaan, the threat of starvation is still uncomfortably real.
Has Joseph done enough to prepare for the tough times ahead?
And with his father now old and weak, will he finally turn on the brothers who long ago turned on him?
Listen to Genesis’ season finale to find out.
Credits:
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michel Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Chapters covered: Genesis 47-50
Jacob believes that Joseph is dead and knows that Simeon is a prisoner is Egypt.
Now the only way of rescuing his son and bringing home much needed grain is to risk losing his precious son Benjamin.
The old man’s world is unravelling.
He has no idea that Joseph is alive and readers are yet to find out whether Joseph is plotting revenge or redemption.
Out of options and with everything to lose and everything to gain, Jacob watches bereft as his nine remaining sons head away towards Egypt.
Credits
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Chapters covered: Genesis 43-47
Episode 12
Having been sold by his brothers, carted to Egypt and bought by a high ranking member of Pharaoh's household, Joseph has no choice but to do what he is told.
At 17, he is a young man in his physical prime and his foreign birth possibly adds to his exoticness.
As a slave, he is a forbidden fruit but Potiphar’s wife seems attracted to danger and invites him into her bed.
Willing to commit adultery and, worse still for a woman of Egypt’s ruling class, to consort with a slave, the ice she is treading on is perilously thin.
Joseph has a choice: to go with the flow or risk disappointing and embarrassing his amorous boss.
Credits:
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Chapters covered:
Genesis 39-42
Episode 11
Just when things were beginning to look settled for Jacob, adversity has come his way again.
Suddenly vulnerable, he knows that he cannot remain anywhere near Shechem.
The family retreats and the Book of Genesis begins to build to its epic finale as one last hero steps into the spotlight.
Jacob’s eleventh son may be known for the multicoloured coat gifted to him by his father, but the account of his rift and reconciliation with his brothers is one of the most gripping and emotional page turners in the entire Bible.
Chapters covered
Genesis 37-39
Credits:
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
contact@whollybuyable.com
Finally, karma for cheating his brother kicks in.
Jacob's uncle Laban proves to be every bit as much of a schemer as his sister Rebekah and as tricksters go, Jacob has just walked right into the hornet’s nest.
Believing that he will be given Rachel as his wife, he is about to have a rude awakening and if he thinks he’ll be returning to Beersheba anytime soon, he is deluded.
Not only that, his presence in his uncle's house unleashes a battle royale between two sisters that proves to be the fiercest in the Bible.
Episode credits:
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Chapters covered: Genesis 29-31
Episode 8
Sarah is dead leaving Abraham, Isaac, Rebekah and their two sons as the world’s sole flag bearers for God.
There is no love lost between Jacob and Esau.
Jacob has already robbed his brother of his inheritance.
And with the full backing of his mother, their playbook of scheming, dirty tricks and foul play continues.
As ever, Esau is the stooge and this time, Isaac is betrayed too as his wife and son begin to put in place one of the most audacious cons in the Bible.
Credits
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
contact@whollybuyable.com
Chapters covered:
Genesis 26-29
Abraham's servant has been told to find Isaac. a wife from the old country.
The pressure is very much on, as the future of millions depend on the success of his mission.
Little does he know that the woman who he finds to be Isaac’s wife will help her favourite son plot, scheme and cheat his way to supremacy.
That the boy will fall out catastrophically with his brother as a result and, fearful of revenge, flee for his life into the desert
Dysfunctional doesn’t even begin to describe this family.
Their story is here.
Chapters covered: Genesis 23-26
Credits:
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
contact@whollybuyable.com
Abraham finally fathers the son he has been promised but God then appears to have a sudden change of heart. Having made the old man wait until he is 100 years before he and his wife Sarah have their baby, he now receives instructions to do the unthinkable. He must take his child up a mountain and kill him.
Chapters covered: Genesis 20-23
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
Comments and feedback welcome: contact@whollybuyable.com
Episode 5
Now 100 years old and with his first attempt at fathering a son having failed to meet with God’s exacting standards, the job of repopulating the earth seems more out of reach than ever for Abraham. Meanwhile, his nephew is having problems of his own that come to a head in one of the Bible's most spectacular displays of destructive power.
Chapters covered: Genesis 17-19
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield.
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music.
Cover art by Lisa Goff.
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Episode 4
Adam and Eve failed spectacularly and though Noah did his best, his descendants have become a huge disappointment to God. All God appears to need is one good man who is prepared to listen to him and do what he says. It is then that he spots a Mesopotamian farmer who is descended from Noah's son Shem and sends him on a seemingly improbable journey.
Chapters covered: Genesis 11-17
Credits:
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music
Cover art by Lisa Goff
With the planet’s new custodians descending into the same moral abyss as their predecessors, humanity needs a new hope.
It is then that clouds gather above a landlocked plain in Mesopotamia where a man, seemingly inexplicably, begins to build a boat.
Credits:
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield.
Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music.
Cover art by Lisa Goff.
Books covered:
Genesis 5-11
Please send comments and feedback to contact@whollybuyable.com
After succumbing to the slick sales pitch of a snake, the first couple is ejected from Eden. Forced to take jobs in the real world, they start a family but the human project continues in what seems to be an unstoppable tailspin. All humanity needs to survive is one good man...
Credits:
Written and produced by Chas Bayfield.
Additional production by Jonny Hawkins.
Music by Michael Auld.
Cover art by Lisa Goff.
Books covered:
Genesis 3-5
Please send comments and feedback to contact@whollybuyable.com
It begins!
The journey kicks off with a brief introduction to Wholly Buyable before launching into the Bible's origin story for life on earth. Episode one takes you from the infinite nothingness before the Creation event to the 'will she-won't she?' moment where Eve is handed the forbidden fruit by the serpent. It's a feisty start to the world's all time best-selling book so buckle up and enjoy the ride.
Credits:
Written and Produced by Chas Bayfield
Additional production by Jonny Hawkins
Music by Michael Auld
Artwork by Lisa Goff
Books covered:
Genesis 1-3
Please send comments and feedback to contact@whollybuyable.com