Gilbert House Fellowship: Recent Episodes
Derek & Sharon Gilbert
THE SECOND SECTION of the Book of 1 Enoch isn’t as well known as the part that deals with the fallen Watchers, but it’s at least as important from a theological perspective.
The Book of Parables, chapters 37–71 of 1 Enoch, deals specifically with how the world will be purified from the sin introduced by the rebellious Watchers. To the author(s) of this section of 1 Enoch, which was probably written by Essenes in the Galilee between 25 BC and the end of the first century BC (in other words, just before the birth of Jesus), the world had been so corrupted by the fallen angels that only God’s direct intervention could put things right.
This week, we share the historic backdrop of the Book of Parables: The return of Jews from Babylon who found a priesthood in Jerusalem that believed the age of prophecy was over, repeated invasions by Greeks, Armenians (yes, really), Parthians, and Romans, and civil war, which only intensified a belief among the group that came to be known as Essenes that the arrival of a Savior was imminent.
When he didn’t come on schedule (sometime between 90 and 80 BC), the Essenes revised their timeline. After a period of civil war, followed by a Parthian invasion around 40 BC, Herod the Great, governor of Galilee, returned from Rome with the backing of the army of Mark Antony (yes, that one).
When Herod drove the Parthians from Judea in 37 BC after a three-year war, many Essenes apparently thought Herod was the Anointed One—the Messiah!
It didn’t take long for Herod to disabuse everyone of that notion.
That’s the back story of the Book of Parables. It was written at a time when many Jews believed Messiah’s arrival was imminent. The Book of Parables was a reminder that God’s promises would be fulfilled, and the agent of God’s imminent judgment was a figure called the Anointed One, the Chosen One, and, most frequently, the Son of Man.
This would all be nothing more than historical interest except for an important fact: Jesus applied the title “the Son of Man” to himself 78 times in the New Testament, and that title doesn’t appear in any Jewish writing prior to the Book of Parables.
This week’s question: Are there ranks of demons, some of which are more difficult than others to exorcise? We referenced the work of Restoration in Christ Ministries (rcm-usa.org). The study notes Derek mentioned by the founder of RCM, Dr. Tom Hawkins, are no longer available to download, but a study on the cosmic hierarchy is available here: https://rcm-usa.org/product/the-cosmic-hierarchy/
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)!
Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/3YOHZJE), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3UBG1K5), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/Destination-Earth-Audiobook/B0DDV1ZC8R?qid=1730562326)!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
* Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF)
The SkyWatchTV store has a special offer on Dr. Michael Heiser’s two-volume set A Companion to the Book of Enoch. Get both books, the R. H. Charles translation of 1 Enoch, and a DVD interview with Mike and Steven Bancarz for a donation of $35 plus shipping and handling. Link: https://bit.ly/heiser-enoch
Follow us!
* X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
* Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
* YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
* Substack: GilbertHouse.substack.com
* Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! We truly appreciate your support. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site: GilbertHouse.org/video.
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store.
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the left-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
JONAH WAS a vindictive man who cared more about a plant than he did for the 120,000 people of Nineveh.
Reading the short Book of Jonah aloud makes it clear that the story is as much about Jonah’s desire for the destruction of Nineveh as it is about God’s mercy and desire that all people would repent and return to Him. Not only did Jonah try to run away from God, but when he finally did proclaim God’s imminent judgment on the great city (reluctantly), he was so upset that God spared the city that Jonah asked God to kill him!
This is one of those sections of the Bible that would surely have been rewritten to show Jonah in a better light if the text had been changed over the years—although we note that the time given the Ninevites to repent was changed from three days to forty between the time of the Septuagint translation (around 200 BC) and the Masoretic text on which our English Old Testament is based (about 900 AD).
This week’s question: What do we make of Jeremiah 30:6 and the description of men of Israel in such distress they’re like women in childbirth?
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)!
Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/3YOHZJE), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3UBG1K5), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/Destination-Earth-Audiobook/B0DDV1ZC8R?qid=1730562326)!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
* Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF)
The SkyWatchTV store has a special offer on Dr. Michael Heiser’s two-volume set A Companion to the Book of Enoch. Get both books, the R. H. Charles translation of 1 Enoch, and a DVD interview with Mike and Steven Bancarz for a donation of $35 plus shipping and handling. Link: https://bit.ly/heiser-enoch
Follow us!
* X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
* Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
* YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
* Substack: GilbertHouse.substack.com
* Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! We truly appreciate your support. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site: GilbertHouse.org/video.
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store.
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the left-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
KING AMAZIAH of Judah is a classic example of someone whose pride got the better of him.
2 Kings 14 tells us that after Amaziah became king, he led a successful military campaign against Edom. He captured the stronghold of Sela, which was probably Petra in present-day Jordan, defeating an army of some 10,000 Edomites.
This led him to provoke a war with the northern kingdom of Israel. Despite a warning from King Jehoash to “be content with your glory, and stay at home,” Amaziah wouldn’t listen, the two kingdoms went to war, Judah was defeated, and Amaziah, like his father, fell victim to a palace coup.
The parallel chapter in 2 Chronicles 25 reveals that Amaziah brought idols representing the gods of Edom back to Jerusalem and began to worship them, and that this was the reason the king provoked a war with Israel—God used this war to humble Amaziah and those who followed him into pagan worship.
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)!
Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/3YOHZJE), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3UBG1K5), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/Destination-Earth-Audiobook/B0DDV1ZC8R?qid=1730562326)!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
* Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF)
The SkyWatchTV store has a special offer on Dr. Michael Heiser’s two-volume set A Companion to the Book of Enoch. Get both books, the R. H. Charles translation of 1 Enoch, and a DVD interview with Mike and Steven Bancarz for a donation of $35 plus shipping and handling. Link: https://bit.ly/heiser-enoch
Follow us!
* X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
* Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
* YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
* Substack: GilbertHouse.substack.com
* Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! We truly appreciate your support. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site: GilbertHouse.org/video.
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store.
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the left-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
THE TEMPLE in Jerusalem fell into disrepair within a century of the death of Solomon. The king who repaired it was a good man—mostly.
Joash (or Jehoash), son of Ahaziah, reigned in Judah 835–796 BC. He was made king at age seven by the high priest Jehoiada and is credited with restoring the Temple—even pushing the priests, who seemed rather slow to make repairs even after they were ordered to do so.
However, the account in 2 Chronicles 24 records that after the death of Jehoiada, Joash fell away and returned to the pagan gods of the Canaanites. Worse, he had the son of Jehoiada, Zechariah, murdered for calling him out! As a consequence, God allowed Judah to be defeated by a relatively small army from the neighboring Aramean kingdom of Damascus, and Joash was assassinated in his bed by two of his servants.
We also discuss the death of Elisha in the northern kingdom of Israel, and why King Joash (same name, different king) failed to completely defeat the Arameans.
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)!
Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/3YOHZJE), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3UBG1K5), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/Destination-Earth-Audiobook/B0DDV1ZC8R?qid=1730562326)!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
* Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF)
The SkyWatchTV store has a special offer on Dr. Michael Heiser’s two-volume set A Companion to the Book of Enoch. Get both books, the R. H. Charles translation of 1 Enoch, and a DVD interview with Mike and Steven Bancarz for a donation of $35 plus shipping and handling. Link: https://bit.ly/heiser-enoch
Follow us!
* X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
* Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
* YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
* Substack: GilbertHouse.substack.com
* Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! We truly appreciate your support. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site: GilbertHouse.org/video.
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store.
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the left-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
THE FIRST SECTION of the Book of 1 Enoch concludes with Enoch’s travels to the ends of the earth, including a visit to Eden.
We discuss the author’s description of the portals through which the stars and winds pass, noting that evil winds came from the north, the direction from which bad things always came in Jewish thought (physical and supernatural). We also note Enoch’s travels proceeded counterclockwise from east to north, west, south, and back to east, and compare that to other counterclockwise rituals from ancient times, on the summit of Mount Hermon, to the present day, at the Kaaba in Mecca.
When we return to 1 Enoch at the end of November, since we’ll be in Israel next month at this time, we’ll begin the Book of Parables, a prophetic section that influenced New Testament theology.
You can help Josh and Christina Peck with the medical and funeral expenses incurred for their 11-year-old son Nathan who went to be with the Lord on September 22, 2025:
* GiveSendGo: http://GiveSendGo.com/NathanTheBrave
* PayPal: http://PayPal.me/JoshPeckDisclockDisclosure
Or send your donation to:
P.O. Box 270123
Oklahoma City, OK 73137
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)!
Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/3YOHZJE), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3UBG1K5), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/Destination-Earth-Audiobook/B0DDV1ZC8R?qid=1730562326)!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
* Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF)
The SkyWatchTV store has a special offer on Dr. Michael Heiser’s two-volume set A Companion to the Book of Enoch. Get both books, the R. H. Charles translation of 1 Enoch, and a DVD interview with Mike and Steven Bancarz for a donation of $35 plus shipping and handling. Link: https://bit.ly/heiser-enoch
Follow us!
* X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
* Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
* YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
* Substack: GilbertHouse.substack.com
* Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
JOIN US IN ISRAEL! Our next tour of Israel is October 19–30, 2025. For more information and to reserve your place, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
NOTE: If you’e going to Israel with us in October, you’ll need to apply for a visa online before you travel. The cost is 25 NIS (about $7.50). Log on here: https://www.gov.il/en/departments/topics/eta-il/govil-landing-page
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! We truly appreciate your support. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site: GilbertHouse.org/video.
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store.
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the left-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
THE END of Ahab’s line came within a span of seven years.
Jehu, an Israelite military commander under Ahab’s son, King Jehoram (or Joram), was anointed king over the northern kingdom at the direction of the prophet Elisha. Jehu moved quickly to eliminate Jehoram and the rest of the sons of Ahab. We explain why Ahab didn’t literally have 70 sons (the number 70 in the ancient Near East was not a quantity; it was a symbol that represented “all of them”).
Jehoram’s nephew, King Ahaziah of Judah, was also killed by Jehu as he fled in his chariot, finally dying at the city of Megiddo.
Then Jehu went to Jezreel and found Jezebel, the queen mother, whose last act in this world was probably screaming after she was tossed out of a tower window by her eunuchs.
That left only Athaliah, mother of King Ahaziah. Athaliah was the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, the sister of King Jehoram of Israel. When she heard that Ahaziah was dead, she tried to kill all of her grandsons. Why? She—and really, it was the Fallen realm motivating her—tried to eliminate the line of David (her husband, King Jehoram of Judah, son of Jehoshaphat, was a descendant of David) and replace it with the line of Ahab.
Unfortunately for Athaliah, she missed one—an infant boy named Joash. Jehoiada the priest had secretly saved and raised Joash in the Temple. At the age of seven, Jehoiada brought him out, proclaimed him king, and, at his command, had Athaliah put to death, thus putting an end to the house of Ahab.
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)!
Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/3YOHZJE), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3UBG1K5), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/Destination-Earth-Audiobook/B0DDV1ZC8R?qid=1730562326)!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
* Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF)
The SkyWatchTV store has a special offer on Dr. Michael Heiser’s two-volume set A Companion to the Book of Enoch. Get both books, the R. H. Charles translation of 1 Enoch, and a DVD interview with Mike and Steven Bancarz for a donation of $35 plus shipping and handling. Link: https://bit.ly/heiser-enoch
Follow us!
* X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
* Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
* YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
* Substack: GilbertHouse.substack.com
* Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
JOIN US IN ISRAEL! Our next tour of Israel is October 19–30, 2025. For more information and to reserve your place, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
NOTE: If you’e going to Israel with us in October, you’ll need to apply for a visa online before you travel. The cost is 25 NIS (about $7.50). Log on here: https://www.gov.il/en/departments/topics/eta-il/govil-landing-page
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! We truly appreciate your support. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site: GilbertHouse.org/video.
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store.
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the left-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
A MIRACULOUS healing led to a Syrian warrior carrying mule loads of dirt from Israel back to Damascus.
Why did Naaman the Syrian do that? In the ancient world, it was understood that every nation had a patron deity. For Syria, that was the storm-god Hadad, better known to us as Baal. For Israel, it was Yahweh—although Jezebel and her children tried hard to replace the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with Baal, Astarte, and the rest of the Canaanite pantheon.
When the prophet Elisha instructed Naaman to wash in the Jordan to be healed of his leprosy, Naaman was angry, expecting something more elaborate—a ritual of some kind. But after following the prophet’s instructions and being restored to full health, Naaman realized the true God was Yahweh, not Baal, and Israel was His home. So, Naaman loaded two mules with dirt and carried it back to Syria—not because it held magical properties, but because it was a reminder of the one God with the power to heal.
The concept of “holy ground” was established after the Tower of Babel, as described in Deuteronomy 32:
When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,
when he divided mankind,
he fixed the borders of the peoples
according to the number of the sons of God.
But the LORD’s portion is his people,
Jacob his allotted heritage. (Deut. 32:8–9, ESV)
In other words, God allotted the people of Earth to angelic representatives who were tempted into receiving worship themselves, but He chose Israel as the conduit through which He would bring forth the Messiah to save the world from those fallen entities.
We also discuss the way God delivered the northern kingdom of Israel from a prolonged siege of Samaria by the Syrians—despite the continued apostasy of Samaria.
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)!
Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/3YOHZJE), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3UBG1K5), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/Destination-Earth-Audiobook/B0DDV1ZC8R?qid=1730562326)!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
* Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF)
The SkyWatchTV store has a special offer on Dr. Michael Heiser’s two-volume set A Companion to the Book of Enoch. Get both books, the R. H. Charles translation of 1 Enoch, and a DVD interview with Mike and Steven Bancarz for a donation of $35 plus shipping and handling. Link: https://bit.ly/heiser-enoch
Follow us!
* X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
* Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
* YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
* Substack: GilbertHouse.substack.com
* Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
JOIN US IN ISRAEL! Our next tour of Israel is October 19–30, 2025. For more information and to reserve your place, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
NOTE: If you’e going to Israel with us in October, you’ll need to apply for a visa online before you travel. The cost is 25 NIS (about $7.50). Log on here: https://www.gov.il/en/departments/topics/eta-il/govil-landing-page
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! We truly appreciate your support. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site: GilbertHouse.org/video.
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store.
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the left-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
THE KING of Moab sacrificed his oldest son on the wall of his capital city, causing the combined armies of Israel, Judah, and Edom to withdraw from their siege. How do we process this?
Then he (King Mesha) took his oldest son who was to reign in his place and offered him for a burnt offering on the wall. And there came great wrath on Israel. And they withdrew from him and returned to their own land. (2 Kings 3:27, ESV)
On the surface, it appears the king of Moab’s sacrifice was successful. But that’s not how we read it.
The wrath against Israel was God’s anger that they didn’t trust in His promise, through the prophet Elisha, to deliver Moab into the hands of kings Jehoram of Israel and Jehoshaphat of Judah. God does not honor or condone human sacrifice.
We also discuss the miracles of the widow’s oil, the son of the Shunammite woman, whose birth was no less a miracle than Elisha raising him from the dead, and Elisha’s purification of the poisoned stew.
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)!
Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/3YOHZJE), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3UBG1K5), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/Destination-Earth-Audiobook/B0DDV1ZC8R?qid=1730562326)!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
* Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF)
The SkyWatchTV store has a special offer on Dr. Michael Heiser’s two-volume set A Companion to the Book of Enoch. Get both books, the R. H. Charles translation of 1 Enoch, and a DVD interview with Mike and Steven Bancarz for a donation of $35 plus shipping and handling. Link: https://bit.ly/heiser-enoch
Follow us!
* X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
* Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
* YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
* Substack: GilbertHouse.substack.com
* Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
JOIN US IN ISRAEL! Our next tour of Israel is October 19–30, 2025. For more information and to reserve your place, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
NOTE: If you’e going to Israel with us in October, you’ll need to apply for a visa online before you travel. The cost is 25 NIS (about $7.50). Log on here: https://www.gov.il/en/departments/topics/eta-il/govil-landing-page
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! We truly appreciate your support. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site: GilbertHouse.org/video.
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store.
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the left-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
JERUSALEM IS the center of the world in the Book of 1 Enoch. That echoes Ezekiel 5:5 and 38:12, where Jerusalem is “the center [literally, “navel”] of the earth.”
This is a concept probably best known from Greek religion, where the oracle of Delphi was at the site of the omphalos, the stone that was supposedly substituted for Zeus by his mother Rhea because Kronos was eating their children as soon as they were born. The omphalos represented the connection between Earth and Heaven—in other words, it was the center (or navel) of the world. Ezekiel, whose prophecies were well known to the authors of 1 Enoch, wrote that it was the city God desired for His eternal dwelling place (Psalm 132:13–14) that was the true center of all things.
The description of Jerusalem in 1 Enoch chapters 26 and 27 also includes a description of a “cursed valley,” which is a reference to the Valley of Hinnom, where children were sacrificed to Molech at the Tophet. Although we didn’t make it explicit in our discussion, this is the origin of the idea that equates the place of eternal punishment with Gehenna (Hebrew ge = “valley”; henna = "Hinnom”), found in Matthew 5:22, 29, and 30 (sometimes rendered “hell”).
Enoch was also taken to the mountain of God where he was shown the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The mountain of God is in the midst of “seven glorious mountains,” a sharp contrast to seven burning mountains described in 1 Enoch 18:13–16 and 21:3–6, which were angels being punished for transgressions.
Finally, Enoch is transported to places that seem to be Petra and Arabia—interesting, since the only other locations that can be positively identified in 1 Enoch are Jerusalem and the areas around Mount Hermon.
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)!
Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/3YOHZJE), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3UBG1K5), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/Destination-Earth-Audiobook/B0DDV1ZC8R?qid=1730562326)!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
* Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF)
The SkyWatchTV store has a special offer on Dr. Michael Heiser’s two-volume set A Companion to the Book of Enoch. Get both books, the R. H. Charles translation of 1 Enoch, and a DVD interview with Mike and Steven Bancarz for a donation of $35 plus shipping and handling. Link: https://bit.ly/heiser-enoch
Follow us!
* X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
* Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
* YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
* Substack: GilbertHouse.substack.com
* Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
JOIN US IN ISRAEL! Our next tour of Israel is October 19–30, 2025. For more information and to reserve your place, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
NOTE: If you’e going to Israel with us in October, you’ll need to apply for a visa online before you travel. The cost is 25 NIS (about $7.50). Log on here: https://www.gov.il/en/departments/topics/eta-il/govil-landing-page
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! We truly appreciate your support. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site: GilbertHouse.org/video.
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store.
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
THE PASSING of the mantle from Elijah to Elisha was spectacular: A fiery chariot pulled by horses of fire in a whirlwind carried the elder prophet to heaven.
The whirlwind was a theophany, an appearance by God Himself. The chariot, as Sharon noted, was believed to be the vehicle that carried human spirits to the netherworld—but in this case, Elijah was carried off to heaven.
We discuss the location of the event, the plains of Moab across from Jericho, and why that has supernatural significance. For one thing, it’s where Moses was buried after his death, and it’s probably not coincidental that Moses and Elijah are the two who joined Jesus on Mount Hermon, the “Canaanite Olympus,” for the Transfiguration.
The place from which Elijah was caught up was below the ruins of Sodom, at the southern end of the Jordan River called the Valley of the Travelers by Ezekiel. “Travelers” was a term used by the Canaanites for the spirits of the Rephaim, which were venerated by the pagan neighbors of the Israelites. It’s also the Valley of Siddim, where the armies of Sodom, Gomorrah and their allies fought the kings of Mesopotamia (Genesis 14). Siddim can also be rendered shedim, which is a Hebrew word meaning “demons.”
In other words, God carried off Elijah from a place that had been notorious for demonic activity for about a thousand years by the time of Elijah and Elisha.
We also discuss the final days of the son of King Ahab, Ahaziah, who turned to Baal-zebub (“Lord of Flies”) for healing instead of God. Big mistake!
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)!
Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/3YOHZJE), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3UBG1K5), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/Destination-Earth-Audiobook/B0DDV1ZC8R?qid=1730562326)!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
* Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF)
The SkyWatchTV store has a special offer on Dr. Michael Heiser’s two-volume set A Companion to the Book of Enoch. Get both books, the R. H. Charles translation of 1 Enoch, and a DVD interview with Mike and Steven Bancarz for a donation of $35 plus shipping and handling. Link: https://bit.ly/heiser-enoch
Follow us!
* X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
* Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
* YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
* Substack: GilbertHouse.substack.com
* Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
JOIN US IN ISRAEL! Our next tour of Israel is October 19–30, 2025. For more information and to reserve your place, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
NOTE: If you’e going to Israel with us in October, you’ll need to apply for a visa online before you travel. The cost is 25 NIS (about $7.50). Log on here: https://www.gov.il/en/departments/topics/eta-il/govil-landing-page
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! We truly appreciate your support. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store.
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
Psalm 83 appears to be an already-but-not-yet prophecy that may be key to understanding the end times.
Bill Salus, in his book The Psalm 83 War, wrote that Psalm 83 prophesies a future war in which Israel is attacked by its Muslim neighbors. We think Bill is correct, and further, this war may be used to deceive Jews into welcoming a false messiah—i.e., the Antichrist.
We also note the hints at a deeper supernatural meaning to the psalm—for example, the neighboring nations are not described as enemies of Israel, but as enemies of God Himself.
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)!
Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/3YOHZJE), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3UBG1K5), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/Destination-Earth-Audiobook/B0DDV1ZC8R?qid=1730562326)!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
* Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF)
The SkyWatchTV store has a special offer on Dr. Michael Heiser’s two-volume set A Companion to the Book of Enoch. Get both books, the R. H. Charles translation of 1 Enoch, and a DVD interview with Mike and Steven Bancarz for a donation of $35 plus shipping and handling. Link: https://bit.ly/heiser-enoch
Follow us!
* X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
* Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
* YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
* Substack: GilbertHouse.substack.com
* Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
JOIN US IN ISRAEL! Our next tour of Israel is October 19–30, 2025. For more information and to reserve your place, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
NOTE: If you’e going to Israel with us in October, you’ll need to apply for a visa online before you travel. The cost is 25 NIS (about $7.50). Log on here: https://www.gov.il/en/departments/topics/eta-il/govil-landing-page
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! We truly appreciate your support. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store.
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
PSALM 82 is a courtroom scene in heaven.
This psalm is the source of the term “divine council,” a concept well known in the ancient Near East. The high god in the pantheon was believed to preside over a group of lesser gods, who were tasked with carrying out the will of the king of the pantheon. But in the religions of Babylon, Canaan, Egypt, Greece, Rome, etc., the lower gods were part of a polytheistic pantheon.
This is a twisted version of God’s council. We see God’s divine assembly in action in Job 1 and 2, and especially in 1 Kings 22, where God asks the council for recommendations on how to lure King Ahab to go to war with the Syrians where he will fall in battle.
To be clear, God doesn’t need a council to carry out His will. He created one for His pleasure, because He desires family. However, just as with us humans, the spirits in the unseen realm were created with free will, and many of them chose to rebel against His authority.
What we see in Psalm 82, then, is God passing judgment on those lesser elohim, the “sons of the Most High,” for exercising their free will to “judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked”. As a result of their mismanagement of creation, which threatened the very “foundations of the earth,” God decreed that these small-G god will die like men.
We also discuss the New English Translation’s rendering of Psalm 82:1, in which Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, “stands in the assembly of El,” the creator-god of the Canaanites, to pass judgment on the gods of Canaan!
Was that a prophecy of the Transfiguration of Jesus on the summit of Mount Hermon?
Here’s the link to the paper by Dr. Michael Heiser explaining Jesus’ quotation of Psalm 82:6 in John 10:34 (link opens a PDF document)
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)!
Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/3YOHZJE), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3UBG1K5), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/Destination-Earth-Audiobook/B0DDV1ZC8R?qid=1730562326)!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
* Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF)
The SkyWatchTV store has a special offer on Dr. Michael Heiser’s two-volume set A Companion to the Book of Enoch. Get both books, the R. H. Charles translation of 1 Enoch, and a DVD interview with Mike and Steven Bancarz for a donation of $35 plus shipping and handling. Link: https://bit.ly/heiser-enoch
Follow us!
* X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
* Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
* YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
* Substack: GilbertHouse.substack.com
* Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
JOIN US IN ISRAEL! Our next tour of Israel is October 19–30, 2025. For more information and to reserve your place, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! We truly appreciate your support. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store.
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
THE SHORT BOOK of Obadiah prophesied judgment on the nation of Edom for its role in the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon in 586 BC.
However, Obadiah also prophesied a future reversal of fortunes, when, on the Day of Yahweh, the people of Israel would possess the lands of their tormentors—which includes Philistia (the Gaza Strip) and Zarephath (southern Lebanon, recently occupied by the IDF as a buffer zone against Hezbollah).
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)!
Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/3YOHZJE), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3UBG1K5), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/Destination-Earth-Audiobook/B0DDV1ZC8R?qid=1730562326)!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
* Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF)
The SkyWatchTV store has a special offer on Dr. Michael Heiser’s two-volume set A Companion to the Book of Enoch. Get both books, the R. H. Charles translation of 1 Enoch, and a DVD interview with Mike and Steven Bancarz for a donation of $35 plus shipping and handling. Link: https://bit.ly/heiser-enoch
Follow us!
* X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
* Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
* YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
* Substack: GilbertHouse.substack.com
* Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
JOIN US AND SPECIAL GUEST CARL TEICHRIB IN ISRAEL! Our next tour of Israel is October 19–30, 2025. For more information and to reserve your place, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! We truly appreciate your support. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store.
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
THE BOOK OF 1 ENOCH describes journeys by the patriarch to the places of punishment for fallen angels and sinful humans.
The author of 1 Enoch described rebellious angels, called “stars of heaven,” as “great mountains… burning with fire.” This is consistent with other descriptions of angels in the ancient Near East as burning mountains (for example, the “stones of fire” in Ezekiel 28:14, 16).
Enoch also describes the “mountain of the dead,” a place with four chambers holding the spirits of the departed—one for the righteous, with a fountain of water, one for sinners, and one for the godless. One chamber is reserved for “them that make suit” (in other words, arguing their cases to Heaven).
We also get the names of the seven archangels: Uriel (or Suru’el), who is in charge of the world and Tartarus; Raphael, who oversees the spirits of men; Reuel (or Raguel), who takes vengeance on “the world of the luminaries”; Michael, in charge of “the good ones of the people”; Sariel (or Saraqa’el), in charge of the spirits who sin against the spirit; Gabriel, who is in charge of paradise (Eden) and the serpents (probably the seraphim) and cherubim; and Remiel, who is in charge of “them that rise” (the resurrected?).
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)!
Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/3YOHZJE), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3UBG1K5), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/Destination-Earth-Audiobook/B0DDV1ZC8R?qid=1730562326)!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
* Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF)
The SkyWatchTV store has a special offer on Dr. Michael Heiser’s two-volume set A Companion to the Book of Enoch. Get both books, the R. H. Charles translation of 1 Enoch, and a DVD interview with Mike and Steven Bancarz for a donation of $35 plus shipping and handling. Link: https://bit.ly/heiser-enoch
Follow us!
* X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
* Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
* YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
* Substack: GilbertHouse.substack.com
* Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
JOIN US AND SPECIAL GUEST CARL TEICHRIB IN ISRAEL! Our next tour of Israel is October 19–30, 2025. For more information and to reserve your place, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! We truly appreciate your support. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store.
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
THE ELDEST SON of good King Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, was more like his mother-in-law, Jezebel, than his father.
After Jehoshaphat’s death, Jehoram killed his brothers and turned his kingdom toward the gods of the Amorites (i.e., Phoenicians) worshiped by Jezebel. As a result, Jezebel was afflicted with a terrible and horribly painful disease that killed him seven years later.
Jehoram’s son, Ahaziah, reigned only one year when he was killed by Jehu while visiting his uncle, Ahab’s son Joram. Upon his death, Jehoram’s wife, Ahab’s daughter Athaliah seized the throne, killed the royal family of Judah—the House of David—and reigned as queen for seven years. She appears to have been cut from the same cloth as her mother, Jezebel.
But after seven years, the high priest Jehoiada, who’d been secretly raising Ahaziah’s youngest son, Joash, declared the boy king, had Athaliah put to death, and tore down the temple of Baal in Jerusalem.
At the end of the day, all of the political machinations involving the land of Israel down to the present day are reflections of the war in the unseen realm for control of God’s mount of assembly—Zion.
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)!
Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/3YOHZJE), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3UBG1K5), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/Destination-Earth-Audiobook/B0DDV1ZC8R?qid=1730562326)!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
* Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF)
The SkyWatchTV store has a special offer on Dr. Michael Heiser’s two-volume set A Companion to the Book of Enoch. Get both books, the R. H. Charles translation of 1 Enoch, and a DVD interview with Mike and Steven Bancarz for a donation of $35 plus shipping and handling. Link: https://bit.ly/heiser-enoch
Follow us!
* X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
* Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
* YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
* Substack: GilbertHouse.substack.com
* Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
JOIN US AND SPECIAL GUEST CARL TEICHRIB IN ISRAEL! Our next tour of Israel is October 19–30, 2025. For more information and to reserve your place, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! We truly appreciate your support. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store.
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
AHAB OBVIOUSLY didn’t wear the pants in his family.
This week, we discuss the episode of Naboth’s vineyard. Ahab pouted because Naboth refused to sell it to the king. Jezebel solved that problem by writing an order using Ahab’s royal seal—an early example of the autopen?—falsely accusing Naboth of cursing God and Ahab (an early example of lawfare!).
For this sin, Elijah was told by God to let Ahab know that his days were numbered and that his dynasty would end with his son.
1 Kings 22 gives us an example of the divine council in action:
“Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left; 20 and the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said one thing, and another said another. 21 Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, saying, ‘I will entice him.’ 22 And the Lord said to him, ‘By what means?’ And he said, ‘I will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And he said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’ (1 Kings 22:19–22, ESV)
It goes without saying that God knew how this would play out. And He certainly didn’t need the help of this unnamed spirit to carry out His will. God created the divine council for the same reason He created you and us: He desires family.
NOTE: We will be at the Mysteries of the BibleVerse conference in Indianapolis next weekend. If you are in the area, please consider joining us, Carl Gallups, Micah Van Huss, and others for a gathering based on things your Sunday School teacher didn't talk about. Registration at MarginalMysteries.com.
And there will be a live stream! Register for streaming video at faithnettv.lightcast.com.
Here’s the link to the excellent brace Derek wears to correct drop foot.
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)!
Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/3YOHZJE), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3UBG1K5), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/Destination-Earth-Audiobook/B0DDV1ZC8R?qid=1730562326)!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
* Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF)
The SkyWatchTV store has a special offer on Dr. Michael Heiser’s two-volume set A Companion to the Book of Enoch. Get both books, the R. H. Charles translation of 1 Enoch, and a DVD interview with Mike and Steven Bancarz for a donation of $35 plus shipping and handling. Link: https://bit.ly/heiser-enoch
Follow us!
* X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
* Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
* YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
* Substack: GilbertHouse.substack.com
* Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
JOIN US AND SPECIAL GUEST CARL TEICHRIB IN ISRAEL! Our next tour of Israel is October 19–30, 2025. For more information and to reserve your place, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! We truly appreciate your support. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store.
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
IT SEEMS odd to us, looking back across more than 2,800 years of history, that Elijah would run from Jezebel right after seeing what God had done on Mount Carmel.
Well, it’s easy to criticize. It’s likely none of us would have done better in Elijah’s place. We discuss how he was ministered to by the Angel of the Lord, the preincarnate Christ, while on the way to Horeb (Mount Sinai), and how God revealed Himself to Elijah in a way that was less than spectacular—especially after sending winds that tore the mountain, an earthquake, and fire.
In the same way, we often expect God to show Himself to us in earth-shattering ways and miss the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit.
But while it’s easy to criticize Elijah, we have to point out that Ahab, who likewise saw the miracle on Mount Carmel and miraculous victories over the Aramean armies of Syria still failed to follow the Lord’s command—a mistake that ultimately meant the end of his kingdom.
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)!
Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/3YOHZJE), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3UBG1K5), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/Destination-Earth-Audiobook/B0DDV1ZC8R?qid=1730562326)!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
* Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF)
The SkyWatchTV store has a special offer on Dr. Michael Heiser’s two-volume set A Companion to the Book of Enoch. Get both books, the R. H. Charles translation of 1 Enoch, and a DVD interview with Mike and Steven Bancarz for a donation of $35 plus shipping and handling. Link: https://bit.ly/heiser-enoch
Follow us!
* X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
* Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
* YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
* Substack: GilbertHouse.substack.com
* Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
JOIN US AND SPECIAL GUEST CARL TEICHRIB IN ISRAEL! Our next tour of Israel is October 19–30, 2025. For more information and to reserve your place, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! We truly appreciate your support. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store.
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
THE REBEL WATCHERS of the Book of 1 Enoch were described as “burning mountains” in a chasm so vast there was no end to the height or the depth.
These were identified by the archangel Uriel as “the angels who mingled with the women,” who will remain there until the final judgment. This is consistent with the description of the sinful angels who are “kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day” (Jude 6).
We discuss other biblical references to angels as mountains and “stones of fire,” as in Ezekiel 28:14. The father-god of Mesopotamia, called Enlil, Dagan (Dagon), Assur, and El depending on location, was called “Great Mountain,” and his temples in Babylon and Assyria were called “House of the Mountain.” We think this is the “great mountain” in Zechariah 4:7, and the custom of calling angels burning mountains suggests that the “great mountain, burning with fire,” the second trumpet judgment of Revelation 8:8, is an angelic being, not a space rock.
The other fascinating aspect of Enoch’s journey to the west and north is that he reached these spirits after crossing the Great Sea. While that’s probably a reference to the Mediterranean, it also suggests that the burning mountains were the Watchers who rebelled and compelled God to banish them to the Abyss when He sent the Flood of Noah.
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)!
Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/3YOHZJE), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3UBG1K5), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/Destination-Earth-Audiobook/B0DDV1ZC8R?qid=1730562326)!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
* Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF)
The SkyWatchTV store has a special offer on Dr. Michael Heiser’s two-volume set A Companion to the Book of Enoch. Get both books, the R. H. Charles translation of 1 Enoch, and a DVD interview with Mike and Steven Bancarz for a donation of $35 plus shipping and handling. Link: https://bit.ly/heiser-enoch
Follow us!
* X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
* Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
* YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
* Substack: GilbertHouse.substack.com
* Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
JOIN US AND SPECIAL GUEST CARL TEICHRIB IN ISRAEL! Our next tour of Israel is October 19–30, 2025. For more information and to reserve your place, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! We truly appreciate your support. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store.
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
Elijah vs. the Prophets of Hercules
THE SHOWDOWN on Mount Carmel is even more spectacular than we’ve been taught.
The story is sensational on its surface: The prophet Elijah, one of the few prophets of God still active in the northern kingdom of Israel, tells King Ahab to his face that there will be no rain until Elijah says so. Then he flees from the king and hides out for three years.
During that time, the prophet was fed by ravens at the brook Cherith somewhere east of the Jordan until the drought caused the stream to dry up. Then Elijah traveled to Phoenicia and lodged with a widow of Zarephath in the region of Sidon. Because of the famine, she was prepared to make one last meal and then starve to death with her son (or children, according to the Septuagint). Miraculously, the woman did not run out of flour or oil during the entire time Elijah stayed with her.
The account of the miracle of Elijah bringing the widow’s son back from the dead has a deeper meaning when you understand a little of the religion of the Phoenicians (who were Canaanites, which in turn is just a geographic designation for the Amorites in Canaan). The patron deity of Sidon was Eshmun, the Phoenician name for the Greek demigod Asclepius. The Greeks believed Asclepius was the half-divine son of Apollo, a healer of such skill that he was able to cure death. (This led Hades to complain to Zeus that Asclepius was disrupting the natural order of things, so Zeus killed Asclepius.)
The point is this: God, through Elijah, demonstrated that He, Yahweh, was the one God who truly has power over life and death.
Likewise, Elijah’s confrontation with the prophets of Baal has a deeper meaning. This was a literal battle between Yahweh and the Baal worshipped by Jezebel and her pagan father, Ethbaal, king of Tyre.
Ethbaal was a priest of Astarte, the Canaanite version of Ishtar, the Babylonian goddess of sex and war (which explains a lot about Jezebel). The kicker is that the Baal of Tyre was probably Melqart, which was the Phoenician name for Herakles—better known to us as Hercules.
This explains some of Elijah’s taunts while Jezebel’s prophets danced, shouted, and cut themselves to summon their small-G god. It also helps us understand why Elijah had twelve vessels of water poured over the sacrifice and the wood on the altar. It didn’t just represent the twelve tribes of Israel and make the sacrifice more difficult to burn, it mocked a libation (drink offering) ritual called yarid that is documented in Jewish and Roman texts and inscriptions as late as the 3rd century AD, when Emperor Diocletian performed the yarid at Tyre for Hercules!
This also connects to Mount Hermon, where scholars Edward Lipiński and Charles Clermont-Ganneau noted, based on the site drawing by Sir Charles Warren in 1869 (when he discovered the Watcher Stone in a temple near the peak of the mountain), that the summit of Hermon is scooped out like a giant bowl—probably to receive these offerings. Lipiński wrote that this means the Watchers, led by Shemihazah, did not descend in the days of Jared, but in the days when the yarid was performed on the mountain.
So, Elijah’s actions on Mount Carmel were directed not just at Baal or Melqart/Hercules, but at the “sons of God” who long ago tried to take dominion of Earth away from the children of Adam and Eve.
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)!
Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/3YOHZJE), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3UBG1K5), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/Destination-Earth-Audiobook/B0DDV1ZC8R?qid=1730562326)!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
* Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF)
The SkyWatchTV store has a special offer on Dr. Michael Heiser’s two-volume set A Companion to the Book of Enoch. Get both books, the R. H. Charles translation of 1 Enoch, and a DVD interview with Mike and Steven Bancarz for a donation of $35 plus shipping and handling. Link: https://bit.ly/heiser-enoch
Follow us!
* X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
* Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
* YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
* Substack: GilbertHouse.substack.com
* Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
JOIN US AND SPECIAL GUEST CARL TEICHRIB IN ISRAEL! Our next tour of Israel is October 19–30, 2025 with an optional three-day extension to Jordan. For more information and to reserve your place, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! We truly appreciate your support. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store.
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
THE NORTHERN KINGDOM of Israel changed hands twice in a week. And more often than not, succession in Israel involved a sword.
Baasha became king through a coup against Nadab, son of Jeroboam. After a twenty-four year reign, Baasha died and his son Elah ascended to the throne. However, after two years, Elah was assassinated by Zimri, a commander of chariots, who lasted all of seven days before Omri, commander of the army, was declared king by his troops. After a battle at the capital city of Tirzah, Zimri barricaded himself inside the citadel and set it on fire.
Omri reigned over Israel for twelve years. The second half of his reign was in his new capital, Samaria, named for Shemer, the owner of the hill Omri purchased on which the city was built. After Omri’s death, his son Ahab came to power, and he was remembered by the chronicler as evil—“more than all who were before him.” Which, given the nature of the kings from Jeroboam to Omri, is saying a lot.
We also discuss the brief mention of the reconstruction of Jericho in 1 Kings 16:34, which involved foundation sacrifices. This was common among the Amorites who, even though they’d been pushed out of Canaan by Joshua 500 years earlier, still influenced the Israelites in pagan practices condemned by God.
We even see this at the end of the life of Asa, remembered as a mainly good king. However, 2 Chronicles 16:12 notes that Asa, seeking relief from a series disease in his feet, “did not seek the LORD, but sought help from physicians.” The Hebrew word translated “physicians” is rephaim. Now, did Asa trust doctors over God, or did he turn to the Rephaim? Veneration of the Rephaim (spirits of the Nephilim) is known from Canaanite texts, and it’s possible that Asa, like the kings of Israel, had been drawn into religious practices of the Amorites.
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)!
Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/3YOHZJE), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3UBG1K5), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/Destination-Earth-Audiobook/B0DDV1ZC8R?qid=1730562326)!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
* Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF)
The SkyWatchTV store has a special offer on Dr. Michael Heiser’s two-volume set A Companion to the Book of Enoch. Get both books, the R. H. Charles translation of 1 Enoch, and a DVD interview with Mike and Steven Bancarz for a donation of $35 plus shipping and handling. Link: https://bit.ly/heiser-enoch
Follow us!
* X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
* Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
* YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
* Substack: GilbertHouse.substack.com
* Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
JOIN US AND SPECIAL GUEST CARL TEICHRIB IN ISRAEL! Our next tour of Israel is October 19–30, 2025 with an optional three-day extension to Jordan. For more information and to reserve your place, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! We truly appreciate your support. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store.
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
MOST OF THE kings of Judah, and all of those who ruled the northern kingdom of Israel, “did evil in the sight of the LORD.”
One notable exception was Asa, king of Judah between about 910 and 873 BC, whose “heart was wholly true all his days.” He got rid of the idols erected by his father, Abijah, and banished male cult prostitutes from the land. The account of his reign in 2 Chronicles further records the religious reforms instituted by Asa, who even removed his mother (or grandmother) Maacah from her position as queen mother because she’d erected an Asherah pole.
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)!
Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/3YOHZJE), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3UBG1K5), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/Destination-Earth-Audiobook/B0DDV1ZC8R?qid=1730562326)!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
* Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF)
The SkyWatchTV store has a special offer on Dr. Michael Heiser’s two-volume set A Companion to the Book of Enoch. Get both books, the R. H. Charles translation of 1 Enoch, and a DVD interview with Mike and Steven Bancarz for a donation of $35 plus shipping and handling. Link: https://bit.ly/heiser-enoch
Follow us!
* X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
* Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
* YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
* Substack: GilbertHouse.substack.com
* Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
JOIN US AND SPECIAL GUEST CARL TEICHRIB IN ISRAEL! Our next tour of Israel is October 19–30, 2025 with an optional three-day extension to Jordan. For more information and to reserve your place, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! We truly appreciate your support. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store.
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
WHERE DO DEMONS come from? The Book of 1 Enoch answers that question.
This week, we discuss Enoch’s mission to deliver God’s reply to the petition of the rebel Watchers for mercy—not just for them, but for their monstrous offspring, the gigantic Nephilim. In short, God’s reply was “no”—the Watchers would not be allowed back into heaven because they’d given up their divine natures and defiled themselves by acting like humans.
That’s not an insult, it’s simply that the Watchers were created for the unseen realm while we are created for the natural world. That’s why Jude describes these Watchers as having left their proper domain.
Then God decreed the punishment of the giants:
And now, the giants, who are produced from the spirits and flesh, shall be called evil spirits upon the earth, and on the earth shall be their dwelling. Evil spirits have proceeded from their bodies; because they are born from men and from the holy Watchers is their beginning and primal origin; they shall be evil spirits on earth, and evil spirits shall they be called. (1 Enoch 15:8–10, R.H. Charles translation)
Interestingly, this was the understanding of the pagan Greeks. We discuss Hesiod’s description of the origin of daimones, from which we get the word “demon,” and the link between Greek demigods like Herakles and the Rephaim of the Canaanites, which were the spirits of the Nephilim.
Question of the week: Have you seen the videos of the guy claiming to be the Mahdi and the true successor to Peter—the legitimate pope? (Yes. He’s leading a small cult, an offshoot of the Twelver sect of Shia Islam.)
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)!
Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/3YOHZJE), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3UBG1K5), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/Destination-Earth-Audiobook/B0DDV1ZC8R?qid=1730562326)!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
* Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF)
The SkyWatchTV store has a special offer on Dr. Michael Heiser’s two-volume set A Companion to the Book of Enoch. Get both books, the R. H. Charles translation of 1 Enoch, and a DVD interview with Mike and Steven Bancarz for a donation of $35 plus shipping and handling. Link: https://bit.ly/heiser-enoch
Follow us!
* X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
* Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
* YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
* Substack: GilbertHouse.substack.com
* Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
JOIN US AND SPECIAL GUEST CARL TEICHRIB IN ISRAEL! Our next tour of Israel is October 19–30, 2025 with an optional three-day extension to Jordan. For more information and to reserve your place, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! We truly appreciate your support. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store.
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
IT DIDN’T take long for simmering tensions in Israel between north and south to erupt into civil war.
Following the death of Solomon, Jeroboam led the northern tribes in rebellion against Judah and the House of David. Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, wanted to go to war immediately but was warned by the prophet Shemaiah that it was not the will of God to do so, since the rebellion was God’s punishment for Solomon’s fall into the worship of pagan gods.
However, after just three years of peace, north and south were at war. Egypt’s pharaoh, Shishak, seeing the weakness of his northern neighbor, plundered the temple in Jerusalem. Rehoboam humbled himself before God, which saved himself and the kingdom of Judah from destruction—but it didn’t take long for Judah to fall back into pagan practices, even in the royal household.
Rehoboam was succeeded by his son, Abijam, who was followed just three years later by his son, Asa (reigned c. 910–873 BC). Asa removed the male cult prostitutes and the Asherah poles from the kingdom, and even had to remove his mother as queen mother because she’d made an image for Asherah, which probably fertility connotations (to put it politely).
It appears that even during the reign of good kings like Asa, the cult practices of the Amorites and Canaanites were a powerful snare for the people of Israel and Judah.
Question of the week: Are cemeteries the modern equivalent of ancient dolmens?
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)!
Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/3YOHZJE), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3UBG1K5), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/Destination-Earth-Audiobook/B0DDV1ZC8R?qid=1730562326)!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
* Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF)
The SkyWatchTV store has a special offer on Dr. Michael Heiser’s two-volume set A Companion to the Book of Enoch. Get both books, the R. H. Charles translation of 1 Enoch, and a DVD interview with Mike and Steven Bancarz for a donation of $35 plus shipping and handling. Link: https://bit.ly/heiser-enoch
Follow us!
* X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
* Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
* YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
* Substack: GilbertHouse.substack.com
* Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
JOIN US AND SPECIAL GUEST CARL TEICHRIB IN ISRAEL! Our next tour of Israel is October 19–30, 2025 with an optional three-day extension to Jordan. For more information and to reserve your place, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! We truly appreciate your support. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store.
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
Enoch is the only human in history, as far as we know, tasked with delivering God’s judgment to a group of rebellious angels.
This week, we discuss Enoch’s mission to the fallen Watchers. We note that he was called by loyal Watchers—which suggests that “Watcher” is a class or rank of supernatural being, some of which are still faithful to God (as in Daniel 4)—to announce God’s punishment to the rebels: No peace, no forgiveness, and they would see the destruction of their sons, the giant Nephilim.
It is interesting to note that Azazel (or Asael) was singled out in 1 Enoch 13 for the forbidden knowledge he taught humanity.
The fallen Watchers then commissioned Enoch to take a petition to God on their behalf, asking for forgiveness for themselves and the Nephilim. However, there was nothing in the petition about the children of Adam and Eve who had suffered so greatly because of the Watchers’ transgressions. God rejected the plea of the fallen Watchers, which was summarized in a document called The Book of the Words of Truth and the Reprimand of the Watchers Who Were from of Old.
We also discuss the geographic clues in this section of Enoch, which place the action in the Upper Galilee, near the ancient city of Dan and a waterfall identified by one scholar as the Ayun Stream, one of the sources of the Jordan River, near the village of Metula in the northernmost part of Israel. (We plan to take our Israel tour there in October—more details at GilbertHouse.org/travel).
Question of the week: How could Jesus be our perfect sacrifice if God “made him to be sin” (2 Cor. 5:21)?
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)!
Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/3YOHZJE), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3UBG1K5), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/Destination-Earth-Audiobook/B0DDV1ZC8R?qid=1730562326)!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
* Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF)
The SkyWatchTV store has a special offer on Dr. Michael Heiser’s two-volume set A Companion to the Book of Enoch. Get both books, the R. H. Charles translation of 1 Enoch, and a DVD interview with Mike and Steven Bancarz for a donation of $35 plus shipping and handling. Link: https://bit.ly/heiser-enoch
Follow us!
* X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
* Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
* YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
* Substack: GilbertHouse.substack.com
* Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
JOIN US AND SPECIAL GUEST CARL TEICHRIB IN ISRAEL! Our next tour of Israel is October 19–30, 2025 with an optional three-day extension to Jordan. For more information and to reserve your place, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! We truly appreciate your support. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store.
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
YOU’D THINK that being anointed king over the northern tribes because of Solomon’s disobedience to God would have caused Jeroboam to be more careful about his theology.
We follow up last week’s study with the consequences of Jeroboam’s decision to set up altars with golden calves. Contrary to some who teach that the golden calves were idols representing God, we believe the locations—Bethel (“House of El”) and Dan, at the foot of Mount Hermon—point to the Canaanite father-god El, whose main epithet was “Bull El.” Mount Hermon was El’s “mount of assembly,” which is one of the reasons we argue that El was Shemihazah, leader of the sons of God who rebelled in Genesis 6:1–4.
Because Jeroboam drew the northern tribes back into the worship of El, who was known as Dagon to the Philistines and Milcom (Molech) to the Ammonites, God sent a prophet to decree that a future king named Josiah would desecrate Jeroboam’s altars by sacrificing the priests of the high places and burning human bones on them.
Bear in mind that Jeroboam began his reign over the northern kingdom in 930 BC and Josiah would not become king of Judah until 640 BC, 290 years later!
Question of the week: Is there a difference between the terms “Jesus Christ” and “Christ Jesus”?
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)!
Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/3YOHZJE), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3UBG1K5), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/Destination-Earth-Audiobook/B0DDV1ZC8R?qid=1730562326)!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
* Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF)
The SkyWatchTV store has a special offer on Dr. Michael Heiser’s two-volume set A Companion to the Book of Enoch. Get both books, the R. H. Charles translation of 1 Enoch, and a DVD interview with Mike and Steven Bancarz for a donation of $35 plus shipping and handling. Link: https://bit.ly/heiser-enoch
Follow us!
* X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
* Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
* YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
* Substack: GilbertHouse.substack.com
* Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
JOIN US AND SPECIAL GUEST CARL TEICHRIB IN ISRAEL! Our next tour of Israel is October 19–30, 2025 with an optional three-day extension to Jordan. For more information and to reserve your place, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
Note: Due to schedule conflicts, Doug Van Dorn, Dr. Judd Burton, and Timothy Alberino will join our tour in the spring of 2026.
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! We truly appreciate your support. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store.
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
KING LEMUEL is unknown outside of the reference in Proverbs 31. It may be an epithet of Solomon meaning “belonging to God,” or Lemuel may have been an Arab king descended from Massa, the seventh son of Ishmael.
What we can say for certain is that verses 10–31 of Proverbs 31 is a well-known section of scripture that praises the virtues of an excellent wife. We discuss the value placed on trust between a husband and wife in these verses. In the ideal marital relationship, both spouses trust each other implicitly. The virtues of a woman who embraces her role in the household should be appreciated by the rest of her family:
Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: “Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.” (Proverbs 31:28–29, ESV)
We also begin our study of the division of the Davidic kingdom, as prophesied by Ahijah. Solomon’s son Rehoboam, rejecting the wise counsel of the old men who’d served his father, angers the northern tribes by promising to govern more harshly than Solomon. As a result, Jeroboam led the northern tribes to rebel. He set up his capital at Shechem and set up golden calves as the “god” (or “gods”—elohim can be singular or plural, but in context is more likely singular) who brought Israel out of Egypt.
We explain why we believe the golden calves represent the Canaanite father-god El rather than Yahweh or Baal, as many Bible commentators teach.
Question of the week: Are the hooks in the jaws that draw Gog of Magog to make war on Israel in the end times (Ezekiel 38 and 39) Israel’s farmland or natural gas fields?
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)!
Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/3YOHZJE), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3UBG1K5), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/Destination-Earth-Audiobook/B0DDV1ZC8R?qid=1730562326)!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
* Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF)
The SkyWatchTV store has a special offer on Dr. Michael Heiser’s two-volume set A Companion to the Book of Enoch. Get both books, the R. H. Charles translation of 1 Enoch, and a DVD interview with Mike and Steven Bancarz for a donation of $35 plus shipping and handling. Link: https://bit.ly/heiser-enoch
Follow us!
* X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
* Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
* YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
* Substack: GilbertHouse.substack.com
* Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
JOIN US AND SPECIAL GUEST CARL TEICHRIB IN ISRAEL! Our next tour of Israel is October 19–30, 2025 with an optional three-day extension to Jordan. For more information and to reserve your place, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
Note: Due to schedule conflicts, Doug Van Dorn, Dr. Judd Burton, and Timothy Alberino will join our tour in the spring of 2026.
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! We truly appreciate your support. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store.
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
THE WORDS of Agur son of Jakeh include a prayer to be given just enough to get by, since too much can lead one to forget the source of one’s blessings and too little can drive the desperate to steal from others.
The identity of Agur, who is mentioned only once in the Bible, is still unknown. It may be an epithet of Solomon, but the writing style differs from the rest of Proverbs. Some scholars have speculated that Agur should be translated “the assembler,” while others have suggested that Agur and Lemuel, to whom Proverbs 31 is attributed, were Arab sages.
In any case, the chapter contains more words of wisdom, especially the warning against adding to the Word of God.
One interesting note: In verse 15, the Hebrew word translated “leech” (ʿălûqâ), is an Aramaic loanword that means “vampire.”
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)!
Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/3YOHZJE), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3UBG1K5), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/Destination-Earth-Audiobook/B0DDV1ZC8R?qid=1730562326)!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
* Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF)
The SkyWatchTV store has a special offer on Dr. Michael Heiser’s two-volume set A Companion to the Book of Enoch. Get both books, the R. H. Charles translation of 1 Enoch, and a DVD interview with Mike and Steven Bancarz for a donation of $35 plus shipping and handling. Link: https://bit.ly/heiser-enoch.
Follow us!
* X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
* Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
* YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
* Substack: GilbertHouse.substack.com
* Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
JOIN US IN ISRAEL! Our next tour of Israel is October 19–30, 2025 with an optional three-day extension to Jordan. For more information and to reserve your place, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
Note: Due to schedule conflicts, Doug Van Dorn, Dr. Judd Burton, and Timothy Alberino will join our tour in the spring of 2026.
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! We truly appreciate your support. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store.
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
FOR ALL of Solomon’s vaunted wisdom, he failed in the thing that mattered most.
God had told the Israelites not to enter into marriage with foreigners. Not because of racism or any perceived superior bloodline, but because the nations around Israel followed other gods—fallen angels who’d rebelled against the Creator. Solomon disobeyed to the extreme—700 wives and 300 concubines, and they turned the king away from God.
This cost Solomon’s son kingship over all Israel and led to the Mount of Olives being referred to by the priests as the Mount of Corruption (more accurately, “Mount of the Destroyer,” which we’ll explain when we get to King Josiah in about 300 years).
We also discuss the visit to Solomon by the Queen of Sheba, whose gift of 120 talents of gold would be worth about $414 million today.
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)!
Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/3YOHZJE), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3UBG1K5), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/Destination-Earth-Audiobook/B0DDV1ZC8R?qid=1730562326)!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
* Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF)
The SkyWatchTV store has a special offer on Dr. Michael Heiser’s two-volume set A Companion to the Book of Enoch. Get both books, the R. H. Charles translation of 1 Enoch, and a DVD interview with Mike and Steven Bancarz for a donation of $35 plus shipping and handling. Link: https://bit.ly/heiser-enoch
Follow us!
* X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
* Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
* YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
* Substack: GilbertHouse.substack.com
* Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
JOIN US IN ISRAEL! Our next tour of Israel is October 19–30, 2025 with an optional three-day extension to Jordan. For more information and to reserve your place, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
Note: Due to schedule conflicts, Doug Van Dorn, Dr. Judd Burton, and Timothy Alberino will join our tour in the spring of 2026.
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! We truly appreciate your support. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store.
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
THE NOTION that grief is better than rejoicing is counterintuitive, but the lesson is profound: Wisdom is gained through suffering.
On the surface, Ecclesiastes 7 seems terribly downbeat: “It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting” (v. 2); “Sorrow is better than laughter” (v. 3); “The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning” (v. 4), and so on. The point is that true wisdom is gained through adversity, not the pursuit of pleasure—a message that’s never been very popular.
At the end of the day, what matters is eternity, and keeping our eyes fixed on that means setting aside the pleasures of the moment.
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)!
Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/3YOHZJE), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3UBG1K5), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/Destination-Earth-Audiobook/B0DDV1ZC8R?qid=1730562326)!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
* Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF)
The SkyWatchTV store has a special offer on Dr. Michael Heiser’s two-volume set A Companion to the Book of Enoch. Get both books, the R. H. Charles translation of 1 Enoch, and a DVD interview with Mike and Steven Bancarz for a donation of $35 plus shipping and handling. Link: https://bit.ly/heiser-enoch
Follow us!
* X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
* Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
* YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
* Substack: GilbertHouse.substack.com
* Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
JOIN US IN ISRAEL! Our next tour of Israel is October 19–30, 2025 with an optional three-day extension to Jordan. For more information and to reserve your place, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
Note: Due to schedule conflicts, Doug Van Dorn, Dr. Judd Burton, and Timothy Alberino will join our tour in the spring of 2026.
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! We truly appreciate your support. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store.
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
CHASING WEALTH for its own sake does not bring happiness.
The chapters of Ecclesiastes we read today are unified by this verse:
Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep (Eccl. 5:12, ESV).
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)!
Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/3YOHZJE), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3UBG1K5), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/Destination-Earth-Audiobook/B0DDV1ZC8R?qid=1730562326)!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
* Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF)
The SkyWatchTV store has a special offer on Dr. Michael Heiser’s two-volume set A Companion to the Book of Enoch. Get both books, the R. H. Charles translation of 1 Enoch, and a DVD interview with Mike and Steven Bancarz for a donation of $35 plus shipping and handling. Link: https://bit.ly/heiser-enoch
Follow us!
* X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
* Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
* YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
* Substack: GilbertHouse.substack.com
* Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
JOIN US IN ISRAEL! Our next tour of Israel is October 19–30, 2025 with an optional three-day extension to Jordan. For more information and to reserve your place, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
Note: Due to schedule conflicts, Doug Van Dorn, Dr. Judd Burton, and Timothy Alberino will join our tour in the spring of 2026.
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! We truly appreciate your support. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store.
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
LIFE IS SHORT and then you die. That’s the surface-level interpretation of the opening chapters of the Book of Ecclesiastes.
The book is attributed to “the Preacher,” usually identified as King Solomon. However, some scholars believe the book was written or edited by a Jewish scholar after the return from Babylon in 539 BC and attributed to Solomon since the book is in the tradition of Solomon’s wisdom.
The first four chapters of Ecclesiastes aren’t cheerful, that’s for sure. The author considers the value of work, seeking pleasure, and life itself, and concludes that “all is vanity” and “there is nothing new under the sun.”
It’s rather downbeat, but it does point to a transcendent truth: The things of this world fade away, but “whatever God does endures forever.”
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
——————
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback, Kindle, and as an audiobook at Audible!
Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback, Kindle, and as an audiobook at Audible!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
* Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF)
Follow us!
* X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
* Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
* Substack: gilberthouse.substack.com
* YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
* Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
——————
JOIN US IN ISRAEL! Our next tour of Israel is October 19–30 2025, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan. For the latest information, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
——————
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square pole barn has been transformed into our office and studio. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech! The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
——————
NOTE: We’ve decided to scale back our online store. Take advantage of closeout specials at GilbertHouse.org/store through January 31, 2025!
HOWEVER: Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs are still available! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store/.
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
The author(s) of the Book of the Watchers (chapters 1–36 of 1 Enoch) saw the punishment of the rebellious Watchers resulting from the intercession of the four archangels.
In chapter 9, Michael, Sariel (or Uriel), Raphael, and Gabriel brought the complaints of humanity to God and accused Shemihazah, Asael (Azazel), and their colleagues of creating the monstrous Nephilim and teaching humanity forbidden knowledge.
In response, chapters 10 and 11 describe God’s response: He commissioned Sariel/Uriel to go to Noah and tell him to hide himself and reveal that a global deluge was about to destroy everything on the earth. Raphael was told to bind Asael hand and foot and cast him into an opening in the wilderness of Doudael, covering him with darkness until “the day of the great judgment.”
This is similar to the punishment of the angels who “left their proper dwelling” in Jude 6, who are “kept in chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day”—confirming that Jude and Peter (2 Pt. 2:4) were referring to 1 Enoch, since this punishment is not described anywhere in the Old Testament.
Gabriel was tasked with destroying the half-breed “sons of the Watchers” by stirring up “a war of destruction” among them, which echoes the Gigantomachy of ancient Greek religion. Finally, Michael was sent to bind Shemihazah and his colleagues “for seventy generations in the valleys of the earth… until the everlasting judgment is consummated.”
Note that in the ancient Near East, “seventy” meant “all of them,” “the complete set,” not a literal number. However many generations there are until the final judgment, that’s how long the rebel Watchers will be imprisoned.
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)!
Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/3YOHZJE), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3UBG1K5), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/Destination-Earth-Audiobook/B0DDV1ZC8R?qid=1730562326)!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
* Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF)
The SkyWatchTV store has a special offer on Dr. Michael Heiser’s two-volume set A Companion to the Book of Enoch. Get both books, the R. H. Charles translation of 1 Enoch, and a DVD interview with Mike and Steven Bancarz for a donation of $35 plus shipping and handling. Link: https://bit.ly/heiser-enoch
Follow us!
• X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
• Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
• YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
• Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
JOIN US IN ISRAEL! Our next tour of Israel is October 19–30, 2025 with an optional three-day extension to Jordan. For more information and to reserve your place, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
Note: Due to schedule conflicts, Doug Van Dorn, Dr. Judd Burton, and Timothy Alberino will join our tour in the spring of 2026.
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! We truly appreciate your support. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store.
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
ACCEPTING CORRECTION and wise counsel can be difficult, but it can save us from a world of trouble.
The value of wisdom as opposed to following one’s unrestrained appetites is again a theme in this week’s proverbs. And, as always, we find verses that are especially timely right now:
Like a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked ruler over a poor people. A ruler who lacks understanding is a cruel oppressor, but he who hates unjust gain will prolong his days. (Proverbs 28:15–16, ESV)
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
——————
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback, Kindle, and as an audiobook at Audible!
Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback, Kindle, and as an audiobook at Audible!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
* Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF)
Follow us!
• X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
• Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
• YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
• Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
——————
JOIN US IN ISRAEL! Our next tour of Israel is October 19–30, 2025 with an optional three-day extension to Jordan. For more information and to reserve your place, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
Note: Due to schedule conflicts, Doug Van Dorn, Dr. Judd Burton, and Timothy Alberino will join our tour in the spring of 2026.
——————
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square pole barn is now where we produce all of our programs. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech! The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
——————
NOTE: We’ve decided to scale back our online store. Take advantage of closeout specials at GilbertHouse.org/store through January 31, 2025!
HOWEVER: Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs are still available! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store/.
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
THE CONTRAST between God and kings, and between wisdom and folly, are a central theme of these proverbs of Solomon.
While God’s glory is manifest through the mysteries of His creation, it is the duty of a ruler to know and understand to rightly govern. Likewise, wisdom is exhibited through prudent behavior, hard work, and self-restraint, while fools are “like a dog that returns to his vomit.”
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
——————
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)!
Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback, Kindle, and as an audiobook at Audible!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
* Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF)
Follow us!
• X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
• Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
• YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
• Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
——————
NOTE NEW DATES FOR OUR NEXT TOUR OF ISRAEL: Due to the ongoing war, we've decided to postpone our next tour of Israel until the fall of 2025, probably the second half of October. For the latest information, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
——————
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square pole barn is now where we produce all of our programs. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech! The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual shop with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store/.
YOU’D THINK an appearance by God Himself would be enough to keep even a king on the straight and narrow for the rest of his life.
After completing the Temple, God revealed to Solomon the blessings and consequences for obeying His Law or turning aside to worship other gods—which, sadly, we will learn is exactly what Solomon did as an older man.
We also discuss the significance of 1 Kings 9:3, where God tells Solomon, “I have consecrated this house that you have built, by putting my name there forever.” We’ve discussed “Name theology” in previous episodes, and we encourage you to read Dr. Michael Heiser’s article at the Faithlife Study Bible, “The Name Theology in the Old Testament”: www.bit.ly/name-ot
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
——————
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)!
Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback, Kindle, and as an audiobook at Audible!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
* Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF)
Follow us!
• X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
• Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
• YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
• Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
——————
NOTE NEW DATES FOR OUR NEXT TOUR OF ISRAEL: Due to the ongoing war, we've decided to postpone our next tour of Israel until the fall of 2025, probably the second half of October. For the latest information, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
——————
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square pole barn is now where we produce all of our programs. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech! The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual shop with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store/.
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
THE SINS of the “sons of God” mentioned in Genesis 6:1–4 are listed in detail in chapters 6 through 8 of the Book of 1 Enoch.
Specifically, the rebellious Watchers “defile[d] themselves” by commingling with women and taught humanity things we weren’t supposed to know—the making of weapons, sorcery, beguilement, enticement, and venerating the sun, moon, and the host of heaven.
The monstrous offspring produced by these unholy unions became an existential threat to humankind, eating the produce of human labor and, when that was gone, eating humans. Not content to contaminate the human genome, “they began to sin against the birds and beasts and creeping things and the fish, and to devour one another’s flesh. And they drank the blood.” (1 Enoch 7:3–5)
In short, the Nephilim were consummate evil. Next month, we’ll discuss the intercession of the archangels Michael, Sariel (or Uriel), Raphael, and Gabriel on behalf of humanity.
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
——————
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
* Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF)
Follow us!
• X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
• Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
• YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
• Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
——————
OUR NEXT TOUR OF ISRAEL: Our 2025 tour features special guests Dr. Judd Burton and Doug Van Dorn! We will tour the Holy Land March 25–April 3, 2025, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
——————
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square pole barn is now where we produce all of our programs. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech! The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual shop with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store/.
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
TRUSTING IN other people will usually disappoint. This week’s reading in Psalms is timely, giving that we’re less than three weeks away from electing a new president in the United States.
Americans, remember this verse:
Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. Ps. 146:3 (ESV)
“A son of man” in this context refers to a human, not to the New Testament “Son of Man,” a messianic title Jesus applied to himself nearly 80 times. The point is that we need to remember, amidst all the distractions of life, that there is only One who “keeps faith forever,” and that is God.
Our questions of the week: How do we apply scripture to our lives, given the way scripture has been “desupernaturalized” since the time of Augustine 1,600 years ago, and do our ancestors become angels when they die, watching over us in our day-to-day lives?
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
——————
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
Follow us!
• X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
• Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
• YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
• Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
——————
OUR NEXT TOUR OF ISRAEL: Our 2025 tour features special guests Dr. Judd Burton and Doug Van Dorn! We will tour the Holy Land March 25–April 3, 2025, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
——————
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square pole barn is now where we produce all of our programs. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech! The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual shop with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store/.
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
SOLOMON’S prayer of dedication for the Temple includes a phrase we read often in the Psalms, “steadfast love,” which is sometimes translated “mercy,” “favor,” “loyalty,” or “lovingkindness.”
The Hebrew word chesed doesn’t have an exact English equivalent, but it appears 245 times in the Old Testament which means it’s important. 26 of those uses occur in our reading of Psalm 136, which reminded the Israelites—and us—that God’s live is for eternity.
Our question of the week: What is the difference between Israel and Judah?
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
——————
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
Follow us!
• X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
• Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
• YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
• Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
——————
OUR NEXT TOUR OF ISRAEL: Our 2025 tour features special guests Dr. Judd Burton and Doug Van Dorn! We will tour the Holy Land March 25–April 3, 2025, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
——————
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square pole barn is now where we produce all of our programs. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech! The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual shop with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store/.
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
SOLOMON’S PRAYER of dedication is a wonderful petition to God, asking Him to listen to the prayers of His people.
Solomon notes that repentance, turning from sin, is important, and that “there is no one who does not sin” (1 Kings 8:46), a concept we see again in the New Testament (1 John 1:8).
Our question of the week: What is Behemoth?
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
——————
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
Follow us!
• X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
• Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
• YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
• Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
——————
OUR NEXT TOUR OF ISRAEL: Our 2025 tour features special guests Dr. Judd Burton and Doug Van Dorn! We will tour the Holy Land March 25–April 3, 2025, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
——————
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square pole barn is now where we produce all of our programs. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech! The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual shop with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store/.
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
THE SIN OF THE WATCHERS is framed by the Book of 1 Enoch as a violation of the natural order.
Chapter 2 through chapter 5 verse 3 (3:7 in the SEV) detail all of the ways creation follows a pattern established by God. Then the author turns to the rebellious angels, charging them with faithlessness, rebellion, and speaking “proud and hard words” (or “slanderously grave and harsh words”) against God. Their sin, in other words, is not just disobedience; it’s unnatural!
It’s clear in chapter 6 that the rebellious Watchers knew that commingling with human women was wrong; their leader, Shemihazah, admitted it in so many words, afraid that he alone would be held accountable for “this great sin.” His colleagues agreed to swear by a mutual oath to proceed.
This event was remembered for millennia. Sometime around the beginning of the Christian era, a 6,000-pound limestone stela was left inside a temple on the summit of Mount Hermon, where this oath was sworn (1 Enoch 6:6 [3:5, SEV]), commemorating the event. Dr. Doug Hamp published the first new information derived from the Watcher Stone in more than a century in his book Corrupting the Image II. Here’s the link to the excerpt from Derek’s book The Second Coming of Saturn that cites Doug’s new translation.
The question is whether the Watchers came to Earth specifically to commit this sin or, as Justin Martyr wrote in his Second Apology (c. 161 AD), they were appointed to watch over humanity by God and decided to transgress after they got here. And, as L. A. Marzulli suggested in a 2022 episode of our program The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries, were they talked into this sin by Satan, who wanted Shemihazah—a powerful rival—out of the way?
Next time (October 27, 2024), we’ll discuss the consequences of the transgression of the Watchers.
Here is a link to the three-part interview from 2006 with the late Dr. Michael Heiser about Gnosticism and The Da Vinci Code.
Here’s the link to the episode of The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries with L. A. Marzulli about Satan, Shemihazah, and “the angelic suicide mission” to overthrow God (link opens YouTube video).
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
——————
Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)!
If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:
* Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
* Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
* Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
Follow us!
• X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
• Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
• YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
• Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
——————
OUR NEXT TOUR OF ISRAEL: Our 2025 tour features special guests Dr. Judd Burton and Doug Van Dorn! We will tour the Holy Land March 25–April 3, 2025, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
We are putting together another solidarity mission to Israel November 6–13, 2024. If you are interested, let us know by emailing info@gilberthouse.org, and log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel for the latest information.
——————
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square pole barn is now where we produce all of our programs. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech! The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual shop with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store/.
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
SOLOMON SPENT more time building his palace than he did constructing the Temple of Yahweh.
This week, we read the details of the home Solomon built for himself, the House of the Forest of Lebanon. Its size suggests it was used for multiple things, but the fact remains that it was under construction for thirteen years while the Temple was finished in seven. For further reading, here’s a good article on Solomon’s house: https://bit.ly/solomons-house
We also discuss the craftsman, Hiram of Tyre, who is not to be confused with King Hiram, who supplied building material and workers for the Temple. Conflating the two is behind the story of Hiram Abiff, a key character in the rituals of Scottish Rite Freemasonry.
Derek wrote a paper on how Hiram Abiff is a blind, or a symbol, for the true object of veneration in the highest degrees of the Scottish Rite, Nimrod. Here’s the link: https://bit.ly/nimrod-freemasons
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
——————
Follow us!
• X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
• Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
• YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
• Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
——————
OUR NEXT TOUR OF ISRAEL: Our 2025 tour features special guests Dr. Judd Burton and Doug Van Dorn! We will tour the Holy Land March 25–April 3, 2025, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
We are putting together another solidarity mission to Israel November 6–13, 2024. If you are interested, let us know by emailing info@gilberthouse.org, and log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel for the latest information.
——————
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square pole barn is now where we produce all of our programs. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech! The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual shop with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store/.
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
BECAUSE DAVID had been a man of war, the task of building the Temple in Jerusalem fell to his son, Solomon.
This week, we read the accounts of the Temple’s construction, and how Hiram, king of Tyre, provided the timber and craftsmen for the work. We also note that account in 1 Kings records that Solomon built the Temple “for the Name of Yahweh.” We briefly discuss the meaning of “the Name,” which does not refer to God’s reputation, but an embodied person—an important part of the Godhead in ancient Israel.
For more, we recommend Dr. Michael Heiser’s article at the Faithlife Study Bible, “The Name Theology in the Old Testament”: www.bit.ly/name-ot
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
——————
Follow us!
• X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
• Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
• YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
• Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
——————
OUR NEXT TOUR OF ISRAEL: Our 2025 tour features special guests Dr. Judd Burton and Doug Van Dorn! We will tour the Holy Land March 25–April 3, 2025, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
We are putting together another solidarity mission to Israel November 6–13, 2024. If you are interested, let us know by emailing info@gilberthouse.org, and log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel for the latest information.
——————
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square pole barn is now where we produce all of our programs. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech! The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual shop with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store/.
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
HUMILITY WHEN an adversary falters is one of the lessons in this week’s study of Proverbs.
We continue with “sayings of the wise” before returning to more proverbs of Solomon. Themes to take away from this week’s study: Do not envy evildoers or rejoice when they’re punished; do not be lazy, because that path leads to poverty; do not curse your enemies, but bless them instead; and wisdom is to be valued above material wealth.
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
——————
Follow us!
• X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
• Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker
• YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
• Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
——————
OUR NEXT TOUR OF ISRAEL: Our 2025 tour features special guests Dr. Judd Burton and Doug Van Dorn! We will tour the Holy Land March 25–April 3, 2025, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
We are putting together another solidarity mission to Israel November 6–13, 2024. If you are interested, let us know by emailing info@gilberthouse.org, and log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel for the latest information.
——————
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square pole barn is now where we produce all of our programs. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech! The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual shop with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store/.
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
THE BOOK OF 1 ENOCH has become a source of controversy among Christians. Regardless of your view of the book, it’s undeniable that it was known to the apostles and the early church, who generally had a favorable view of it.
On the one hand, 1 Enoch is not in the Bible. There are good reasons for that; there are internal contradictions and details that are contrary to scripture. We agree with the early church, which, guided by the Holy Spirit, excluded 1 Enoch from the canon of scripture (except in the Ethiopic church).
On the other hand, 1 Enoch had a profound influence on New Testament (i.e., Christian) theology and was even quoted directly (Jude 14–15 is a quote from 1 Enoch 1:9).
So, going forward, we will read from and comment on the Book of 1 Enoch on the last Sunday of each month. This month, we introduce the book and its five sections:
* The Book of Watchers (Chapters 1–36) — completed by about 300 BC
* The Book of Parables (Chapters 37–71) — completed by about 4 BC
* The Book of Luminaries (Chapters 72–82) — completed by about 200 BC
* The Book of Dreams (Chapters 83–90) — written during Maccabean period (163–142 BC)
+ Note: This includes the Animal Apocalypse (Chapters 85–90)
* The Epistle of Enoch (Chapters 91–108) — between 170 BC and 100 BC
We discuss the authorship of Enoch, which can be traced to a group of Jews who returned from Babylon in the 5th century BC with a belief that the next phase of history was the construction of the temple prophesied by Ezekiel (Ezekiel chapters 40–42). They encountered resistance from the Zadokite priesthood in Jerusalem who believed that the age of prophecy had ended, and that salvation would come through their faithful adherence to the Law of Moses—keeping the feasts and performing the sacrificial rituals.
The Enochians, on the other hand, believed that the world had been so corrupted by rebellious “sons of God”—the sinful angels mentioned by Peter (2 Peter 2:4) and Jude (Jude 6–7)—that only God’s direct intervention would put things right.
That’s the premise of the Book of 1 Enoch. As we go though it, we’ll highlight the concepts that are brought forward in the New Testament.
We are reading from the Hermeneia Translation of 1 Enoch by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam. You can get a copy at Amazon (https://amzn.to/4dRPpkF), or borrow it online from the Internet Archive (https://bit.ly/1enoch).
The SkyWatchTV store has a special offer on Dr. Michael Heiser’s two volume set A Companion to the Book of Enoch. You can get volumes 1 (covers chapters 1–36) and 2 (chapters 37–71), plus the R. H. Charles translation of 1 Enoch and a DVD interview with Dr. Heiser about the relevance of 1 Enoch today for just $35 plus shipping and handling. Go here: https://bit.ly/heiser-enoch.
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
——————
Follow us!
* • X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
• Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse
• YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
• Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
——————
OUR NEXT TOUR OF ISRAEL: Our 2025 tour features special guests Dr. Judd Burton and Doug Van Dorn! We will tour the Holy Land March 25–April 3, 2025, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
We are putting together another solidarity mission to Israel November 6–13, 2024. If you are interested, let us know by emailing info@gilberthouse.org, and log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel for the latest information.
——————
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square pole barn is now where we produce all of our programs. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech! The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual shop with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store/.
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
WE CONCLUDE a section of the sayings of Solomon and move into a section of Proverbs attributed to wise men in general.
This week, the focus is on the blessings that come from listening to instruction, raising our children to love one another and fear God, avoid gluttony, drunkenness and sloth, and not envying the possessions (or spouses) of others.
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
——————
Follow us!
* • X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
• Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse
• YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
• Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
——————
OUR NEXT TOUR OF ISRAEL: Our 2025 tour features special guests Dr. Judd Burton and Doug Van Dorn! We will tour the Holy Land March 25–April 3, 2025, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
We are putting together another solidarity mission to Israel November 6–13, 2024. If you are interested, let us know by emailing info@gilberthouse.org, and log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel for the latest information.
——————
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square pole barn is now where we produce all of our programs. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech! The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual shop with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store/.
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
THE SPIRITS of the giants destroyed by the Flood were venerated by the Amorites who dominated the culture around ancient Israel. The Hebrew prophets and psalmists condemned the cult of the dead, but you have to know what you’re looking for to find those scriptures.
We find one of them in Proverbs 21:
The man that wandereth out of the way of wisdom shall abide in the congregation of the dead. (KJV) One who wanders from the way of good sense will rest in the assembly of the dead. (ESV)
The word translated “dead” is Rephaim. These were not spirits of the human dead, but those of the monstrous Nephilim who died in the Flood. Further, it was believed by the pagan Amorites (and later by the Greeks and Romans) that the spirits of those hybrids—demigods like Perseus and Heracles—would intercede for the living as long as you offered them sacrifices and worship.
This is confirmed by religious texts from the Amorite kingdom of Ugarit, where the last king of that city-state, Ammurapi III (a name that means “my fathers are Rephaim”), was inaugurated with a necromantic ritual that summoned the Rephaim, calling some of them by name, and the “council of Ditanu”—a name from which the Greeks got the name of their old gods, the Titans.
In short, the Ditanu/Titans and the Rephaim/demigod heroes of the Amorites and Greeks were the sons of God and the Nephilim from Genesis 6:1–4. Proverbs 21:6 is a warning that wanting to join the assembly of the Rephaim after death, like the Amorites, is stupid.
That echoes the additional calls for wisdom in Proverbs 21, which we’ve seen throughout the Proverbs to this point. This week, however, Proverbs 21:30 reminds us that despite the critical importance of wisdom, no human understanding can prevail against the Lord.
Here are links to the resources Derek mentioned during the study:
* Ancient Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses
* Greek Gods, Goddesses, Spirits, and Monsters
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
——————
Follow us!
* • X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
• Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse
• YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
• Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
——————
OUR NEXT TOUR OF ISRAEL: Our 2025 tour features special guests Dr. Judd Burton and Doug Van Dorn! We will tour the Holy Land March 25–April 3, 2025, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
We are putting together another solidarity mission to Israel November 6–13, 2024. If you are interested, let us know by emailing info@gilberthouse.org, and log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel for the latest information.
——————
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square pole barn is now where we produce all of our programs. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech! The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual shop with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store/.
THE FIRST VERSE of Proverbs 20 expresses a truth we’ve all seen at least once: Drunkenness leads to bad behavior. But there’s more to it.
In the Semitic world around ancient Israel, pagans practiced a ritual called marzeah, referenced in Amos 6:7, that was apparently intended to induce an altered state of consciousness to allow participants to communicate with the spirits of the dead—which were actually the demonic spirits of the Nephilim destroyed in the Flood.
We also discuss verses related to commerce, such as God’s disapproval of dishonest weights and measures; the value of hard work and avoiding idle gossip; and allowing the Lord to work in His own time instead of taking it upon ourselves to execute what we think is His judgment.
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
——————
Follow us!
* • X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
• Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse
• YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
• Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
——————
OUR NEXT TOUR OF ISRAEL: Our 2025 tour features special guests Dr. Judd Burton and Doug Van Dorn! We will tour the Holy Land March 25–April 3, 2025, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
We are putting together another solidarity mission to Israel November 6–13, 2024. If you are interested, let us know by emailing info@gilberthouse.org, and log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel for the latest information.
——————
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square pole barn is now where we produce all of our programs. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech! The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual shop with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store/.
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
THE DANGER OF acting without thinking is a theme that runs through this week's study in the Book of Proverbs.
The value of wisdom and prudence is emphasized throughout Proverbs, and the foolishness of pride or trusting in one’s wealth instead of God are repeated throughout these chapters. It may seem repetitious to hear the same concepts again and again, but given that so many of us have failed to learn the lessons Solomon committed to papyrus nearly 3,000 years ago it seems the repetition is necessary to drive the points home.
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
——————
Follow us!
* • X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
• Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse
• YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
• Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
——————
OUR NEXT TOUR OF ISRAEL: Our 2025 tour features special guests Dr. Judd Burton and Doug Van Dorn! We will tour the Holy Land March 25–April 3, 2025, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
We are putting together another solidarity mission to Israel November 6–13, 2024. If you are interested, let us know by emailing info@gilberthouse.org, and log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel for the latest information.
——————
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square pole barn is now where we produce all of our programs. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech! The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store/.
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
WE WOULD save ourselves a lot of trouble if we were slower to anger, slower to speak, and a more worried about pleasing God than others.
The theme of this week’s study, which echoes those since we began our dive into the Book of Proverbs, is that wisdom, patience, forgiveness, and willingness to accept advice and correction will go a long way towards making life happier and more fulfilling. And, of course, all of it is grounded in a healthy fear and respect for our Creator.
Here’s the link to Derek’s talk on what we saw and experienced during our visit to Israel in early May.
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
——————
Follow us!
* • X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
• Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse
• YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
• Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
——————
OUR NEXT TOUR OF ISRAEL: Our 2025 tour features special guests Dr. Judd Burton and Doug Van Dorn! We will tour the Holy Land March 25–April 3, 2025, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
We are considering another solidarity to mission November 7–13, 2024. If you are interested, let us know by emailing info@gilberthouse.org, and log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel for the latest information.
——————
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square pole barn is now where we produce all of our programs. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech! The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store/.
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
THE WISDOM of a gentle reply seems especially appropriate in this day of flame wars on social media.
If there is a theme to Proverbs 15, it is that we do well to think before we speak (or post) and be open to correction.
We also discuss a verse that, taken in context with other verses in the Old Testament, suggests a link between Abaddon and Tartarus:
Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the LORD; how much more the hearts of the children of man! Proverbs 15:11 (ESV)
In short, we think Abaddon is to Sheol as Tartarus is to Hades.
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
——————
Follow us!
* • X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
• Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse
• YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
• Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
——————
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square pole barn is now where we produce all of our programs. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech! The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store/.
——————
NEW DATES FOR OUR NEXT TOUR OF ISRAEL! Our 2025 tour features special guests Dr. Judd Burton and Doug Van Dorn! We will tour the Holy Land March 25–April 3, 2025, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
We are considering another solidarity to mission in November of 2024. If you are interested, let us know by emailing info@gilberthouse.org, and log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel for the latest information.
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
LEANING ON OUR OWN understanding is a recipe for disaster.
We continue with the theme of the importance of wisdom and willingness to receive correction, summarized in this verse:
There is a way that seems right to a man,
but its end is the way to death. (Prov. 14:12, ESV)
We also discuss grief and its place in the human experience. Until Christ returns, pain will be a part of our journey. It’s a consequence of our fallen world, but it also helps us grow and truly appreciate joy.
Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.
Derek’s presentations from last weekend at His Call Ministries:
* The Gates of Hell: https://rumble.com/v532kvi-the-gates-of-hell.html
* A Tunnel to Hell: https://rumble.com/v533x3r-2024-06-22-a-tunnel-to-hell-sharon-gilbert-narrated-by-derek.html
* The Book of Enoch and the Valley of the Shadow of Death: https://youtu.be/ing6CBBV7fA
* Gates in Space: https://rumble.com/v5355mq-2024-06-22-gates-in-space-derek-gilbert.html
* Summoning the Dragon (AI and the Gates of Hell): https://rumble.com/v5398c6-2024-06-22-ai-summoning-the-dragon-sharon-gilbert-narrated-by-derek.html
* Solidarity With Israel: https://rumble.com/v53an64-2024-06-23-sunday-message-from-derek-gilbert-solidarity-with-israel.html
——————
Follow us!
* • X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
• Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse
• YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
• Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
——————
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square pole barn is now where we produce all of our programs. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech! The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store/.
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NEW DATES FOR OUR NEXT TOUR OF ISRAEL! Our 2025 tour features special guests Dr. Judd Burton and Doug Van Dorn! We will tour the Holy Land March 25–April 3, 2025, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel.
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Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE WISDOM of receiving instruction and correction is the theme of the proverbs in this week’s study.
Warnings of the dire consequences of ignoring discipline, advice, and direction are repeated throughout these two chapters, with an emphasis on the need for parents to instruct their children—and for children to listen and follow the guidance of their fathers and mothers.
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Follow us!
* • X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
• Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse
• YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
• Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
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Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square pole barn is now where we produce all of our programs. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech! The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
NEW DATES FOR OUR NEXT TOUR OF ISRAEL! Our 2025 tour features special guests Dr. Judd Burton and Doug Van Dorn! We will tour the Holy Land March 25–April 3, 2025, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
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Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON are a collection of short sayings organized to deal with specific topics.
This week, we read through proverbs dealing with wealth and poverty, guarding one’s speech, hard work and laziness, and pride and humility.
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Follow us!
* • X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
• Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse
• YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
• Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
——————
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square pole barn is now where we produce all of our programs. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech! The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
NEW DATES FOR OUR NEXT TOUR OF ISRAEL! Our 2025 tour features special guests Dr. Judd Burton and Doug Van Dorn! We will tour the Holy Land March 25–April 3, 2025, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
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Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
WISDOM IS NOT a female deity who’s been written out of Jewish and Christian theology over the last 3,000 years.
This week, we study three more proverbs dealing with the value of wisdom and explain why “wisdom” has female pronouns in scripture. In short, it’s because all nouns are gendered in Hebrew and “wisdom” happens to be a feminine noun. That does not make personified Wisdom a female entity, much less the consort or wife of God—especially when we read the New Testament carefully and see that Luke, Paul, and the author of Hebrews explicitly linked Wisdom to Jesus.
See these articles by Dr. Michael S. Heiser:
* Personified Wisdom in the Old Testament (bit.ly/4dKjpiC)
* Jesus as Wisdom (bit.ly/4blrCIz)
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Follow us!
* X: @pidradio | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert
* Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse
* YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation
* Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship
——————
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square pole barn is now where we produce all of our programs. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech! The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
We love coffee! We’ve partnered with Kevlar Joe’s Coffee (KevlarJoe.com) for Gilbert House blends: Amazing Grace, a mild cookies-and-cream flavored coffee; Snarling Dachshund, a medium-roast Sumatran; and Bunker Buster, a dark-roasted Colombian that’s sure to get you moving. Find them at GilbertHouse.org/store/.
——————
NEW DATES FOR OUR NEXT TOUR OF ISRAEL! Our 2025 tour features special guests Dr. Judd Burton and Doug Van Dorn! We will tour the Holy Land March 25–April 3, 2025, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
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Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
ANOTHER LONG WARNING against adultery is the theme of this week’s study.
As we noted last week, there are two layers to this fatherly warning against dallying with prostitutes or the wives of other men: On the one hand, it’s a path to disgrace, ruin, and death; and on the other, ritual sex was common among the pagans around ancient Israel, and it was forbidden. So, the path to Sheol was not simply a metaphor, it was a warning of the ultimate end of those who reject this wise counsel.
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Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square pole barn is now where we produce all of our programs. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech! The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
We love coffee! We’ve partnered with Kevlar Joe’s Coffee (KevlarJoe.com) for Gilbert House blends: Amazing Grace, a mild cookies-and-cream flavored coffee; Snarling Dachshund, a medium-roast Sumatran; and Bunker Buster, a dark-roasted Colombian that’s sure to get you moving. Find them at GilbertHouse.org/store/.
——————
NEW DATES FOR OUR NEXT TOUR OF ISRAEL! Our 2025 tour features special guests Dr. Judd Burton and Doug Van Dorn! We will tour the Holy Land March 25–April 3, 2025, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
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Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
WE RETURN to our regularly scheduled reading this week with proverbs that are paternal calls for wisdom--and a warning against communing with spirits of the dead.
Contrary to some who seen in these chapters a female deity named Wisdom, perhaps even the consort of Yahweh, the mundane explanation is simply that the word chokhmah (“wisdom”) is a feminine noun. Grammatical gender has nothing to do with biological gender. So, attempts to see in Proverbs a feminine spirit named Wisdom are misguided—an example of eisegesis, reading a desired, predetermined meaning into the text, rather than exegesis, drawing the intended meaning from the text.
We also dig deep into Proverbs 2:18:
[F]or her house sinks down to death, and her paths to the departed;
We find in the passage what may be a reference to the cult of the dead that surrounded the Israelites. First, the word translated “departed” is rephaim, the spirits of the Nephilim destroyed in the Flood. This is confirmed by the Greek Septuagint, translated about 200 years before the birth of Jesus, which translates rephaim as “giants.”
Further, the Septuagint uses axonas for the word translated “paths,” where three verses earlier the words triboi and trochiai are rendered “paths.” The Brenton translation of the Septuagint renders Prov. 2:18 this way:
For she has fixed her house near death, and guided her wheels near Hades with the giants.
We explain why this is relevant: On the Golan Heights, ancient Bashan, there are literally hundreds of funerary monuments that feature concentric rings of stone around a central tumulus or cairn. The largest is Gilgal Refaim (“Wheel of Giants”), which we visited last March, but there are three others nearly as large that are practically unknown. Gilgal Refaim appears to have been built as a cult site for ritual circumambulation around a sacred central core in which a priest or shaman would descend to make contact with spirits of the netherworld.
In short, Proverbs 2 appears to be a warning against participating in rites that were clearly still taking place in the time of Saul, David, and Solomon (see 1 Samuel 28, Saul’s visit to the medium of En-dor). In fact, based on the writings of the prophets, communing with spirits of the netherworld continued in Israel for at least another three or four hundred years, down to the time of Jeremiah and the Babylonian captivity.
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Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square pole barn is now where we produce all of our programs. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech! The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
We love coffee! We’ve partnered with Kevlar Joe’s Coffee (KevlarJoe.com) for Gilbert House blends: Amazing Grace, a mild cookies-and-cream flavored coffee; Snarling Dachshund, a medium-roast Sumatran; and Bunker Buster, a dark-roasted Colombian that’s sure to get you moving. Find them at GilbertHouse.org/store/.
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NEW DATES FOR OUR NEXT TOUR OF ISRAEL! Our 2025 tour features special guests Dr. Judd Burton and Doug Van Dorn! We will tour the Holy Land March 25–April 3, 2025, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
IRAN ATTACKED ISRAEL late last night, the first time the Islamic Republic has struck at Israel directly. The sight of missiles over the Temple Mount is startling, evoking images of the end times.
We discuss the events of the last 24 hours and what may come in the days ahead, and we look at prophecies from Jeremiah and Zechariah about the role of Jerusalem and the Jewish people—no, God is not done with Israel yet—in the end times.
The title of this week’s study comes from the Septuagint translation of Zechariah 12:2, which reads in the ESV: Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples.
In other words, at some point in the future, Israel’s neighbors will be so overcome with hatred that they will behave irrationally, as though they are drunk. What we have seen since October 7, 2023, is just prelude.
Here is a link to the online books by 19th century author and clergyman H. Clay Trumbull, author of The Threshold Covenant, The Blood Covenant, and The Covenant of Salt. All three books, along with his other works, are available to read online for free here: bit.ly/hclaytrumbull
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Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square pole barn is now where we produce all of our programs. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech! The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
We love coffee! We’ve partnered with Kevlar Joe’s Coffee (KevlarJoe.com) for Gilbert House blends: Amazing Grace, a mild cookies-and-cream flavored coffee; Snarling Dachshund, a medium-roast Sumatran; and Bunker Buster, a dark-roasted Colombian that’s sure to get you moving. Find them at GilbertHouse.org/store/.
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SOLIDARITY MISSION TO ISRAEL! We’re planning a one-week trip to Israel May 6–13, 2024 to bear witness to what’s happened there since the war with Hamas began. We plan to visit Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, Sderot, the site of the Nova Music Festival, and more. For details, go to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
NEW DATES FOR OUR NEXT TOUR OF ISRAEL! Our 2025 tour features special guests Dr. Judd Burton and Doug Van Dorn! We will tour the Holy Land March 25–April 3, 2025, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
IT’S APPARENT why the Song of Solomon is not often preached in church.
It is a beautiful and poetic description of the love and desire felt by a husband and wife, but the euphemisms that describe physical intimacy between Solomon can raise awkward questions from children in the congregation! But if you have been blessed with a loving marital relationship, you know.
We also begin the proverbs of Solomon this week. Chapter 1 emphasizes the importance of wisdom, which begins with the fear of (or reverence toward) God. We also explain why the personification of Wisdom in Proverbs 1, and later in Proverbs 8, does not mean that there is a feminine aspect to the godhead, nor does it mean that God has a “wife.”
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Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square pole barn is now where we produce all of our programs. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech! The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials! NOTE: We are moving the shipping office from our house to The Barn. Orders placed after March 9, 2024 will ship on or after March 18, 2024.
Coffee! We’ve partnered with Kevlar Joe’s Coffee (KevlarJoe.com) for Gilbert House blends: Amazing Grace, a mild cookies-and-cream flavored coffee; Snarling Dachshund, a medium-roast Sumatran; and Bunker Buster, a dark-roasted Colombian that’s sure to get you moving. Find them at GilbertHouse.org/store/.
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SOLIDARITY MISSION TO ISRAEL! We’re planning a one-week trip to Israel May 6–13, 2024 to bear witness to what’s happened there since the war with Hamas began. We plan to visit Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, Sderot, the site of the Nova Music Festival, and more. For details, go to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
NEW DATES FOR OUR NEXT TOUR OF ISRAEL! Our 2025 tour features special guests Dr. Judd Burton and Doug Van Dorn! We will tour the Holy Land March 25–April 3, 2025, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
THE SONG OF SOLOMON has layers of meaning. On the surface, it’s a beautiful depiction of the intimate relationship between a husband and wife. At a deeper level, it’s a picture of the mutual love between Christ and his church.
We discuss the first five chapters and note the bride’s description of herself as “very dark, but lovely,” which is not based on racial characteristics but implies one whose skin is darkened by the sun—a laborer, one of lower social status than her husband. Nonetheless, the husband, who may be Solomon, is clearly in love with his bride.
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Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square pole barn is now where we produce all of our programs. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech! The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
Coffee! We’ve partnered with Kevlar Joe’s Coffee (KevlarJoe.com) for Gilbert House blends: Amazing Grace, a mild cookies-and-cream flavored coffee; Snarling Dachshund, a medium-roast Sumatran; and Bunker Buster, a dark-roasted Colombian that’s sure to get you moving. Find them at GilbertHouse.org/store/.
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SOLIDARITY MISSION TO ISRAEL! We’re planning a one-week trip to Israel May 6–13, 2024 to bear witness to what’s happened there since the war with Hamas began. We plan to visit Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, Sderot, the site of the Nova Music Festival, and more. For details, go to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
NEW DATES FOR OUR NEXT TOUR OF ISRAEL! Our 2025 tour features special guests Dr. Judd Burton and Doug Van Dorn! We will tour the Holy Land March 25–April 3, 2025, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
SOLOMON’S PRAYER for wisdom pleased God, who honored Solomon’s wish and granted him more besides.
2 Chronicles picks up the story of Solomon from the beginning of his reign around 971 BC. At this time, the tabernacle of Moses was still at Gibeon, a city in the territory of Benjamin just north of Jerusalem, although the ark of the covenant was in Jerusalem.
The wealth of Solomon is legendary. It’s possible that the political situation in the eastern Mediterranean after the Bronze Age Collapse around 1200–1175 BC left a power vacuum that was filled by the kingdom of David and Solomon, but the hand of God was in all of the events. We detour briefly into the history of the era and how such seemingly unconnected events like the Trojan War (c. 1200 BC) may have created some of the political entities, like Kue (probably Mycenaean Greeks) mentioned in 2 Chr. 1:16, with which David and Solomon had dealings.
We also discuss Psalm 72, a prayer for the new king, and note the interesting connection made by the Jewish scholars who translated the Septuagint between “oppression” and usury (Ps. 72:14), the practice of lending money with an unreasonably high rate of interest. It sounds like present day credit cards!
——————
Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square pole barn is now where we produce all of our programs. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech! The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
Coffee! We’ve partnered with Kevlar Joe’s Coffee (KevlarJoe.com) for Gilbert House blends: Amazing Grace, a mild cookies-and-cream flavored coffee; Snarling Dachshund, a medium-roast Sumatran; and Bunker Buster, a dark-roasted Colombian that’s sure to get you moving. Find them at GilbertHouse.org/store/.
——————
SOLIDARITY MISSION TO ISRAEL! We’re planning a one-week trip to Israel May 6–13, 2024 to bear witness to what’s happened there since the war with Hamas began. We plan to visit Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, Sderot, the site of the Nova Music Festival, and more. For details, go to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
NEW DATES FOR OUR NEXT TOUR OF ISRAEL! Our 2025 tour features special guests Dr. Judd Burton and Doug Van Dorn! We will tour the Holy Land March 25–April 3, 2025, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
SOLOMON BEGAN his reign with a prayer for wisdom, a prayer that was answered by God in a dream.
We discuss some of the interesting differences in the Septuagint and the Masoretic Hebrew text, which is the basis for our English language Old Testament translations. It appears the Masoretes made minor changes to make David and Solomon appear even more powerful and wise than in the older Hebrew text that was translated into the Greek Septuagint.
We talk about a concept we’ve discussed before, “the Name.” This is a term used often in the Old Testament, but it’s not well understood. Jews today use the phrase ha-shem (“the name”) to avoid saying Yahweh, but since YHWH appears some 7,000 times in the Old Testament, that clearly wasn’t a problem for the Hebrew prophets.
Nor is the Name of Yahweh His reputation; it’s another aspect of the personhood of God, often described as dwelling with the Angel of Yahweh, who is Yahweh in human form. A more accurate translation of 2 Samuel 6:1–2, acknowledging the lack of a preposition (the word “by”) in the original Hebrew, the Ark of the Covenant is “is called the Name of Yahweh of hosts.” In short, “the Name” isn’t a phrase, it’s a Being.
Here’s a link to Dr. Michael Heiser’s article, “The Name Theology of the Old Testament”: https://biblia.com/books/fsb/article/SIDEBAR.THENAMETHEOLOGYOFTHEOLDTESTAMENT
PLEASE NOTE that our audio sounds different this week because we took in a new rescue puppy Friday night! We recorded this week’s study in our dining room with wireless mics because we don't trust little Glory around all the expensive lights just yet.
Also, you’ll hear the sound of dog wrestling towards the end of this week’s study. Our apologies for the distractions!
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Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square pole barn is now where we produce all of our programs. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech! The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
Coffee! We’ve partnered with Kevlar Joe’s Coffee (KevlarJoe.com) for Gilbert House blends: Amazing Grace, a mild cookies-and-cream flavored coffee; Snarling Dachshund, a medium-roast Sumatran; and Bunker Buster, a dark-roasted Colombian that’s sure to get you moving. Find them at GilbertHouse.org/store/.
——————
SOLIDARITY MISSION TO ISRAEL! We’re planning a one-week trip to Israel May 6–13, 2024 to bear witness to what’s happened there since the war with Hamas began. We plan to visit Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, Sderot, the site of the Nova Music Festival, and more. For details, go to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
NEW DATES FOR OUR NEXT TOUR OF ISRAEL! Our 2025 tour features special guests Dr. Judd Burton and Doug Van Dorn! We will tour the Holy Land March 25–April 3, 2025, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
WE OFTEN WISH that God would show us the road we’ll travel for the rest of our lives. That’s not the sense of His promise in Psalm 119:105.
The Hebrew word translated “lamp,” ner, is a small clay lamp with a single wick. In other words, it illuminates enough of the path to see that our next step or two is safe, but after that we have to trust that He’s leading us where we need to go.
The overall theme of Psalm 119 is that those who follow God’s directions will ultimately be blessed, even though present circumstances may not be pleasant.
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Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square pole barn is now where we produce all of our programs. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech! The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
Coffee! We’ve partnered with Kevlar Joe’s Coffee (KevlarJoe.com) for Gilbert House blends: Amazing Grace, a mild cookies-and-cream flavored coffee; Snarling Dachshund, a medium-roast Sumatran; and Bunker Buster, a dark-roasted Colombian that’s sure to get you moving. Find them at GilbertHouse.org/store/.
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SOLIDARITY MISSION TO ISRAEL! We’re planning a one-week trip to Israel May 6–13, 2024 to bear witness to what’s happened there since the war with Hamas began. We plan to visit Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, Sderot, the site of the Nova Music Festival, and more. For details, go to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
NEW DATES FOR OUR NEXT TOUR OF ISRAEL! Our 2025 tour features special guests Dr. Judd Burton and Doug Van Dorn! We will tour the Holy Land March 25–April 3, 2025, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
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Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
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Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
PSALM 119 is sometimes called the Mount Everest of psalms.
Not only is it long, its length is due to its unique construction: It’s an extended alphabet acrostic divided into 22 stanzas, one for each of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Further, each of the eight verses in every stanza begins with that Hebrew letter. For example, the eight verses of the first stanza all begin with alef, the verses of the second stanza with bet, and so on.
The overarching theme of the psalm is a contrast between following the ways of Yahweh and the way of wickedness, with elements of a lament as the author, possibly David, cries out for God’s help in the face of persecution.
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Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square pole barn is now where we produce all of our programs. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech! The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
Coffee! We’ve partnered with Kevlar Joe’s Coffee (KevlarJoe.com) for Gilbert House blends: Amazing Grace, a mild cookies-and-cream flavored coffee; Snarling Dachshund, a medium-roast Sumatran; and Bunker Buster, a dark-roasted Colombian that’s sure to get you moving. Find them at GilbertHouse.org/store/.
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NOTE: New dates for our 2024 tour of Israel! Our tour features special guest Timothy Alberino! We will tour the Holy Land November 3–12, 2024, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
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Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
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Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
It’s tempting, when looking at the state of the world, to conclude that God has abandoned us to the wolves—evildoers who think nothing of enriching themselves at the expense of everyone else.
The psalms in this week’s study are a reminder that God has not forsaken us, and that those who trust in Him will ultimately be rewarded while for those who do not things will not end well.
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Our Build Barn Better project is nearly done! Our 1,200 square pole barn now has HVAC, along with a new floor, windows, ceiling fans, upgraded electric service, and insulation. Wall paneling is going up, and we’ve begun producing programs out there. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
NOTE: New dates for our 2024 tour of Israel! Our tour features special guest Timothy Alberino! We will tour the Holy Land November 3–12, 2024, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
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Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
The succession of Solomon to the throne of David wasn’t secure even through the final days of the old king’s life.
Like his brother Absalom before him, Adonijah declared himself king over Israel before the death of David. The difference is that Adonijah’s insurrection took place after David publicly named Solomon his heir and successor.
We discuss the political machinations of Adonijah and why Solomon had him killed for asking to have David’s concubine Abishag for a wife. In a nutshell, Adonijah’s request was a not-very-subtle play to show Israel that he, not Solomon, was the true king by demonstrating that he’d inherited the old king’s harem.
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Our Build Barn Better project is nearly done! Our 1,200 square pole barn now has HVAC, along with a new floor, windows, ceiling fans, upgraded electric service, and insulation. Wall paneling is going up, and we’ve begun producing programs out there. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
NOTE: New dates for our 2024 tour of Israel! Our tour features special guest Timothy Alberino! We will tour the Holy Land November 3–12, 2024, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING is at the heart of this week’s collection of psalms.
From the awesome power of God and His mastery over the sea to His protection during times of distress, our God’s chesed, translated “steadfast love,” “loyal love,” “lovingkindness,” “mercy,” and other English words that don’t fully convey the concept, will never end.
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Our Build Barn Better project is nearly done! Our 1,200 square pole barn now has HVAC, along with a new floor, windows, ceiling fans, upgraded electric service, and insulation. Wall paneling is going up, and we’ve begun producing programs out there. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
NOTE: New dates for our 2024 tour of Israel! Our tour features special guest Timothy Alberino! We will tour the Holy Land November 3–12, 2024, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
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Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE AMOUNT of precious metal used in the construction of the Temple is astonishing. The gold and silver donated by King David and the leading men of Israel would be valued today at roughly $20 billion!
David alone contributed about $7.5 billion worth of gold and silver. The point of this week’s study, however, is not that one can buy God’s favor, but that whatever we have is His, to be used at His discretion and for His purposes.
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Our Build Barn Better project is nearly done! Our 1,200 square pole barn now has HVAC, along with a new floor, windows, ceiling fans, upgraded electric service, and insulation. Wall paneling is going up, and we’ve begun producing programs out there. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
NOTE: New dates for our 2024 tour of Israel! Our tour features special guest Timothy Alberino! We will tour the Holy Land November 3–12, 2024, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
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Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
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Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
DAVID PREPARED the way for his son, Solomon, to take the throne and build the Temple. As we’ll see in the months ahead, our best laid plans don’t guarantee a smooth, trouble-free life.
This week, we read through the divisions of priests, the organization of the military, and David’s farewell address to Israel. It may surprise some, like us, who thought that Solomon designed the Temple. The reading today makes it clear that it was David, guided by God, who was the architect. ——————
Our Build Barn Better project is nearly done! Our 1,200 square pole barn now has HVAC, along with a new floor, windows, ceiling fans, upgraded electric service, and insulation. Wall paneling is going up, and we’ve begun producing programs out there. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
NOTE: New dates for our 2024 tour of Israel! Our tour features special guest Timothy Alberino! We will tour the Holy Land November 1–10, 2024 (dates pending confirmation with Lipkin Tours), with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
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Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
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Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
DAVID EXPERIENCED more during his life than a Hollywood action movie character. It’s remarkable that despite his accomplishments, David recognized that his success was entirely due to God.
This week, we study a half-dozen psalms written toward the end of David’s life that explore the king’s relationship to his Creator from birth to “the eternity of the eternity.”
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Our Build Barn Better project is nearly done! Our 1,200 square pole barn now has HVAC, along with a new floor, windows, ceiling fans, upgraded electric service, and insulation. Wall paneling is going up, and we’ve begun producing programs out there. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
NOTE: New dates for our 2024 tour of Israel! Our tour features special guest Timothy Alberino! We will tour the Holy Land November 1–10, 2024 (dates pending confirmation with Lipkin Tours), with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
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Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
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Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
IMAGINE AN ORCHESTRA of 4,000 musicians playing hymns of thanksgiving and praise! That’s what David envisioned when he organized service for the temple that would be built.
This week, we read through the detailed description of the plans made by David for temple service. It may seem like a boring section of scripture, but it illustrates the central role of God in the lives of His people—at least for a while. As with people throughout history, and we include ourselves here, distractions, ambition, and the things of this world occupy our attention and take His place at the center of our lives.
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Our Build Barn Better project is nearly done! Our 1,200 square pole barn now has HVAC, along with a new floor, windows, ceiling fans, upgraded electric service, and insulation. Wall paneling is going up, and we’ve begun producing programs out there. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site: GilbertHouse.org/video.
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
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Join us in Israel! Our 2024 tour of Israel features special guest Timothy Alberino! We will tour the Holy Land March 31–April 9, 2024, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
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Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
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Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
DAVID SAW into the throne room of God—a vision used by Jesus himself to reveal his divinity.
Psalm 110:1 reads:
[Yahweh] says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”
Jesus used this verse to teach that “my Lord” (Hebrew adoni) was not David, since David was the author of the Psalm (see Matt. 22:44, Mark 12:36, Luke 20:42, and Acts 2:34). The conclusion is that the Lord to whom David referred was the Second Power in heaven—Jesus, the Messiah. (The verse is also quoted in 1 Cor. 15:25 and Hebrews 1:13.)
We also discuss “the order of Melchizedek,” which the author of Hebrews used to demonstrate the primacy of the priesthood of Jesus, our high priest before the throne of God, to the earthly Aaronic priesthood, and that Jesus was distinct and superior to the angels. See Hebrews 4:14–5:10 and 6:13–8:13.
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Our Build Barn Better project is nearly done! Our 1,200 square pole barn now has HVAC, along with a new floor, windows, ceiling fans, upgraded electric service, and insulation. Wall paneling is going up, and we’ve begun producing programs out there. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
Join us in Israel! Our 2024 tour of Israel features special guest Timothy Alberino! We will tour the Holy Land March 31–April 9, 2024, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
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Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
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Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
A PLAGUE that spread through the kingdom of David led to the consecration of a 35-acre piece of ground that is fought over to this day.
This week, we discuss the sin of David in ordering a census of his kingdom. If God “incited” David, why was the census a sin? And why is there is a difference between 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles, which names Satan (or “an adversary”) as the one who incited David to order a census?
It’s possible that this was a test of David’s faith to see whether he trusted in God or in his army for security. The account in 1 Chronicles may refer to a human adversary such as a political opponent or an enemy nation rather than Satan, since this is the only place in the Old Testament where the word saitan is not preceded by the definite article (“the satan”).
What is clear is that God allowed this test and David failed, resulting in a plague that claimed at least 70,000 lives (probably more, since the text reads “70,000 men”). God stopped the Angel of YHWH, which is the preincarnate Christ, before Jerusalem was destroyed. That prompted David to buy the threshing floor of Araunah and build an altar to the Lord. That became the spot on which Solomon built the Temple, a place now occupied by the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount.
Interestingly, below the Dome of the Rock—and thus below Solomon’s Temple—is a partly natural, partly man-made cave called the Well of Souls by Muslims. During the Crusader period, it was called the Holy of Holies. It may have been used before David’s capture of the Jebusite city in necromantic rituals. See Derek’s articles on this site and its possible use in these excerpts from his book The Second Coming of Saturn:
* The Well of Souls
* Ritual Pits and Rephaim
* Threshing Floors and Portals
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Our Build Barn Better project is nearly done! Our 1,200 square pole barn now has HVAC, along with a new floor, windows, ceiling fans, upgraded electric service, and insulation. Wall paneling is going up, and we’ve begun producing programs out there. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
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Join us in Israel! Our 2024 tour of Israel features special guest Timothy Alberino! We will tour the Holy Land March 31–April 9, 2024, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
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Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
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Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
A DAY is coming when Jerusalem becomes “a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples.”
This is a prophecy of the Day of the Lord, or the Day of Yahweh, which culminates at Armageddon. Zechariah saw the coming of Messiah, and the key verse in our view is Zechariah 12:10:
“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.”
In other words, on that day, when Jerusalem is the scene of the final battle of the age, those fighting for Jerusalem will realize that “him whom they have pierced” is the One they were waiting for.
The war between Israel and Hamas enters its third week. Aaron Lipkin, CEO of Lipkin Tours, has purchased equipment for the IDF troops defending his community in Samaria (what the world calls the West Bank). If you would like to contribute, go to https://bit.ly/lipkintours. Choose option #21 (donation).
The Hal Lindsey book Derek mentioned is The Road to Holocaust, Lindsey’s response to Dominionists and Reconstructionists who believe that the church has replaced Israel and the Jews in end times prophecy. We agree with Hal that Replacement Theology is the basis for anti-semitism, and the Israel-Hamas war is bringing it to the surface in many Christian congregations. The article by Dr. Thomas Ice on Hal Lindsey and Dominion Theology is at https://bit.ly/tommyice.
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Our Build Barn Better project is nearly done! Our 1,200 square pole barn now has HVAC, along with a new floor, windows, ceiling fans, upgraded electric service, and insulation. Wall paneling is going up, and we’ve begun producing programs out there. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
Join us in Israel! Our 2024 tour of Israel features special guest Timothy Alberino! We will tour the Holy Land March 31–April 9, 2024, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
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Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
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Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE CONFLICT between Israel and Hamas continues with a ground assault of Gaza apparently imminent.
We continue our review of scriptures that appear to prophesy a coming destruction of the territory around Gaza that was Philistine from the time of the Judges until the Persian conquest of the region in the 6th century BC.
We learned this week that the chief god of Gaza, Dagon, continued to be worshiped under the Aramaic name Marna (“lord”, similar to Canaanite baʿal and Hebrew adonai) until the 5th century AD. As Derek showed in his book The Second Coming of Saturn, Dagon was the same entity worshiped under the names Saturn, Kronos, El, Enlil, Assur, and Milcom/Molech, all of which were connected to the netherworld and most of which accepted or demanded human—especially child—sacrifice.
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Our Build Barn Better project is making progress! Our 1,200 square pole barn now has HVAC, along with a new floor, windows, ceiling fans, upgraded electric service, and insulation. Next, we’ll put up wall paneling and install an insulated door, and then we’ll move our studios, book/DVD warehouse, and shipping office out of our home. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
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Join us in Israel! Our 2024 tour of Israel features special guest Timothy Alberino! We will tour the Holy Land March 31–April 9, 2024, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
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Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
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Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
YOU KNOW by now that Israel was surprised by an attack from Gaza Saturday morning, which was essentially the 50th anniversary of the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
We set aside our scheduled reading for today to discuss the events in Israel, which as of this recording have left some 600 Israelis and 370 Palestinians dead, with thousands injured on both sides. Instead, we look at the books of Amos and Zephaniah for what may be “already-but-not-yet” prophecies of judgment on the areas currently occupied by Hamas.
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Our Build Barn Better project is making progress! Our 1,200 square pole barn now has HVAC, along with a new floor, windows, ceiling fans, upgraded electric service, and insulation. Next, we’ll put up wall paneling and install an insulated door, and then we’ll move our studios, book/DVD warehouse, and shipping office out of our home. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
Join us in Israel! Our 2024 tour of Israel features special guest Timothy Alberino! We will tour the Holy Land March 31–April 9, 2024, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
ONE OF THE JOYS of Bible study is discovering layers of meaning that you’d missed on your first reading.
This week, we run into another instance of the English phrase “worthless idols” (Ps. 97:7b). We think the context indicates that the Hebrew word elîlîm refers to supernatural beings (angels, if you like), not carvings of wood and stone. This is emphasized by the exhortation to the unseen realm in the sentence that follows: “Worship Him, all you gods!”
We submit that David, who wrote Psalm 97, knew full well that lifeless sculptures are not capable of worship. Those small-G gods are real. David’s point, which we read in Psalm 97:9, is that YHWH is “exalted far above all gods.”
As we mentioned in our study of 1 Chronicles 16 (GHF #369), elîlîm is derived from the name of the Mesopotamian father-god, Enlil, which was rendered “Ellil” in Akkadian. The elîlîm, then, were not the “imaginary friends” of Israel’s pagan neighbors, but small-E elohim who had followed Enlil (AKA El, Dagon, Molech, Kronos, Saturn, and Shemihazah, among other names) into rebellion against their Creator.
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Our Build Barn Better project is making progress! Our 1,200 square pole barn now has HVAC, along with a new floor, windows, ceiling fans, upgraded electric service, and insulation. Next, we’ll put up wall paneling and install an insulated door, and then we’ll move our studios, book/DVD warehouse, and shipping office out of our home. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
Join us in Israel! Our 2024 tour of Israel features special guest Timothy Alberino! We will tour the Holy Land March 31–April 9, 2024, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
GIVING THANKS in the middle of trouble is difficult, even contrary to our nature. But David did it again and again, even when he was surrounded by enemies—not all of which were human.
This week, we discuss a preview of the last words of David juxtaposed with a psalm he probably wrote while hiding from Saul at the cave of Adullam. The “lions” and “fiery beasts” of Psalm 57:4, while linked to “the children of man,” suggests that David was looking beyond the physical realm.
We also discuss David’s mighty men in 2 Samuel 23. This is a reminder that the Hebrew word gibborim does not always refer to literal genetic descendants of the rebellious “sons of God” in Genesis 6, but, as Sharon notes, may have been men raised in the Rephaim-worshiping culture of the Philistines and Canaanites, like the Philistine “sons of the Rapha” of 2 Samuel 21 and 1 Chronicles 20.
We also discuss the mysterious ariels (or “lion-like men”) of Moab (2 Sam. 23:20). The Hebrew word ariel literally means “lion of God” (or “lion of El”). It appears 16 times in the Old Testament and once on the Moabite Stone, the inscription by King Mesha of Moab celebrating his victories over Israel and the tribe of Gad.
The “lion-like men” were probably renowned warriors rather than supernatural beings. The passage is difficult to translate, and it may mean the men were from a town in Moab named Ariel, or even that the two Moabites were the sons of a man named Ariel.
It’s not as interesting as interpreting the verse as meaning two hybrid lion-men, but that’s where the evidence leads.
Links mentioned during the program:
The Unseen Realm by Dr. Michael Heiser: https://amzn.to/45ZDEV9
* Supernatural by Dr. Michael Heiser: https://amzn.to/44YEZKB
* The Unseen Realm: A Question and Answer Companion* by Doug Van Dorn: https://amzn.to/45ZDBsr
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Our Build Barn Better project is making progress! Our 1,200 square pole barn now has HVAC, along with a new floor, windows, ceiling fans, upgraded electric service, and insulation. Next, we’ll put up wall paneling and install an insulated door, and then we’ll move our studios, book/DVD warehouse, and shipping office out of our home. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
Join us in Israel! Our 2024 tour of Israel features special guest Timothy Alberino! We will tour the Holy Land March 31–April 9, 2024, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
DAVID WAS not perfect, but he recognized his failures. More importantly, he acknowledged that God was the source of his salvation—his yeshua.
This week, we study four psalms dated to the last part of David’s life. This followed the rebellion and death of his son, Absalom, his near-death at the hands of one of the Philistine “sons of the Rapha,” and his decision to eliminate the male heirs of the House of Saul (except for Mephibosheth) to repay the blood-guilt due the people of Gideon.
We take a long look at Psalm 42, which is well known for its beautiful, poetic language:
Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me. (Psalm 42:7, ESV)
That verse is more supernatural than is obvious on the surface. In context, it’s a cry from behind enemy lines—the Upper Galilee, near Mount Hermon, or the area that we believe was the literal Valley of the Shadow of Death.
If you can send a get-well card to young Finn Walden, who suffered a serious fall out of a tree a few days ago, the address is:
Finn Walden
14065 Road 37
Mancos, CO 81328
If you are able to help Jamie and Virginia Walden defray Finn's medical expenses, you can do that here: www.calicobuffalobasecamp.com/support.
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Our Build Barn Better project is making progress! Our 1,200 square pole barn has a new floor, windows, upgraded electric service, and insulation. Ceiling fans went up this week, and HVAC will be installed this coming week. After that, we’ll move our studios, book/DVD warehouse, and shipping office out of our home. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
Join us in Israel! Our 2024 tour of Israel features special guest Timothy Alberino! We will tour the Holy Land March 31–April 9, 2024, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THIS WEEK’S STUDY is a song of deliverance that follows the account of David’s final victory over the Philistine “sons of the Rapha.”
2 Samuel 22 is nearly identical to Psalm 18, which we studied immediately after the account of Saul’s death in battle with the Philistines. In this psalm, David expresses his gratitude to God for His salvation (which in Hebrew is yeshua), deliverance, and faithfulness.
We look at the deeper supernatural implications of this chapter, especially verses 5–16, which seem to mock language used by the pagans to describe their gods—especially the storm-god Baal, who Jesus later identified as Satan (Matt. 12:22–26; Mark 3:22–23; Rev. 2:13).
We also engage in speculation about the strategy and tactics of Satan. Did he deceive other divine rebels into rejecting the authority of God, knowing that they’d be punished—thus eliminating his rivals? Honestly, we don’t know the answer to that, but it makes sense. In the natural realm, members of a political party may be united against their opposition while fighting with one another for power.
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Our Build Barn Better project is making progress! Our 1,200 square pole barn has a new floor and new wiring. Insulation, lights, and HVAC will follow. After that, we’ll move our studios, book/DVD warehouse, and shipping office out of our home. If you are so led, you can help out by clicking here.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
Join us in Israel! Our 2024 tour of Israel features special guest Timothy Alberino! We will tour the Holy Land March 31–April 9, 2024, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE BELIEF that the Philistines were giants (or had giants among them) with six fingers and toes on their hands and feet comes from 2 Samuel 21. That’s not necessarily what those verses mean.
As we discussed in our study of 1 Samuel 17, the oldest Hebrew sources, the Dead Sea scrolls and the first-century historian Josephus, record that Goliath of Gath was four cubits (not six) and a span, or about 6’9”. That’s still big, but not as big as he’s usually depicted.
In 2 Samuel 21, the Hebrew phrase translated “descendants of the giant(s),” yelide ha-rapha, doesn’t mean that the Philistines defeated by David and his men were literal genetic descendants of the Rephaim/Nephilim. According to scholar Conrad L’Heureux, the word yelide more accurately means “one who is born into the group by adoption, initiation, or consecration;” in other words, a member of an elite warrior cult whose patron was “the rapha”—a word that is the singular form of Rephaim.
Who was “the rapha”? We can’t say for sure. The Canaanites venerated a deity called Rapiu, the “king of eternity,” who ruled at Ashtaroth and Edrei, the royal cities of King Og of Bashan, a land that was believed to be the entrance to the netherworld. While Rapiu is the singular form of rapiuma (the Canaanite form of Rephaim), we don’t have an explicit link between Rapiu and “the rapha.”
All that said, it is possible that this warrior cult engaged in rituals that enhanced its members epigenetically. After all, they were able to wield 12-pound spears with shafts “like a weaver’s beam.”
One of the clues is in the name of the Philistine warrior Ishbi-benob. That name should be rendered Ishbi ben ob, or “Ishbi, son of the medium.” The Hebrew word ôb, usually translated “medium,” means “owner of a necromantic ritual pit,” and it’s related to the Sumerian abzu, from which we get the word “abyss.”
In short, the Philistine “giants” were demon-worshipping, and possibly demon-possessed, warriors, similar to Viking berserkers.
We also note that the verse mentioning the six-fingered Philistine, 2 Sam. 21:20, doesn’t necessarily mean that this was a trait of the Nephilim. This (and its parallel, 1 Chr. 20:6) is the only verse that mentions polydactyly in the Bible. Since the giants of Noah’s day were destroyed in the Flood, this may not be a genetic trait of the Nephilim at all.
To be clear, we’re open to the idea of a post-Flood incursion of giant divine-human hybrids. But such an incursion is not explicit in the Bible and it can’t be proved archaeologically—at least, not yet.
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Our Build Barn Better project is making progress! Our 1,200 square pole barn has a new floor and new wiring. Insulation, lights, and HVAC will follow. After that, we’ll move our studios, book/DVD warehouse, and shipping office out of our home. If you are so led, you can help out by clicking here.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
Join us in Israel! Our 2024 tour of Israel features special guest Timothy Alberino! We will tour the Holy Land March 31–April 9, 2024, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE POLITICS of David’s day was just brutal and bloody as it is today.
Following the rebellion of Absalom, the people of Israel conclude that their best option is to welcome David home as king. For his part, David tried to win the loyalty of his relatives in the tribe of Judah by replacing one of his nephews, Joab, as commander of the army with another nephew, Amasa.
These moves had two consequences: First, the murder of Amasa by Joab in a bloody encounter at Gibeon; and second, another conflict between Judah and the northern tribes, which led to the rebellion of Sheba the son of Bichri.
Sheba’s rebellion ended when Joab and a small force pursued him to the northernmost city in Israel, Abel Beth Maacah, where a wise woman convinced the town that the best way to respond to Joab’s siege was to deliver the severed head of Sheba—finally bringing to an end the civil war triggered by Absalom.
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Our Build Barn Better project is making progress! Our 1,200 square pole barn has been cleared of all the junk and extra furniture. Work begins on the floor this week! The walls, windows, and electric panel will follow. After that, we’ll insulate the building, install an HVAC system, and move our studios and book/DVD warehouse and shipping office out of our home. If you are so led, you can help out by clicking here.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
Join us in Israel! Our 2024 tour of Israel features special guest Timothy Alberino! We will tour the Holy Land March 31–April 9, 2024, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
DAVID’S CAPACITY for self-examination is remarkable. Many powerful people throughout history found it difficult, if not impossible, to admit flaws and learn from mistakes.
However, David also understood the influence of spirits in the unseen realm on human activity, condemning the elim (“gods”) who administer affairs on Earth unjustly.
We also discuss “the proud” in Psalm 40:4. The Hebrew word rehabim may be a reference to the “helpers of Rahab” mentioned in Job 9:13, demonic minions of Leviathan—forces of chaos at work in the world even today.
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Our Build Barn Better project is making progress! Our 1,200 square pole barn has been cleared of all the junk and extra furniture. Work begins on the floor this week! The walls, windows, and electric panel will follow. After that, we’ll insulate the building, install an HVAC system, and move our studios and book/DVD warehouse and shipping office out of our home. If you are so led, you can help out by clicking here.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
Join us in Israel! Our 2024 tour of Israel features special guest Timothy Alberino! We will tour the Holy Land March 31–April 9, 2024, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
ONE OF THE hardest things you can do is give thanks to God in the middle of trouble.
This week, we read a collection of psalms composed by David while he was running from his son Absalom, who’d raised an army and was marching on Jerusalem. Remarkably, in the midst of David’s heartbreak, realizing that either he or his son would die in the battle to come and reflecting on his failures as a father, he was still able to give thanks and put his trust in the Lord.
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Our Build Barn Better project is making progress! Our 1,200 square pole barn has been cleared of all the junk and extra furniture. Work begins on the floor this week! The walls, windows, and electric panel will follow. After that, we’ll insulate the building, install an HVAC system, and move our studios and book/DVD warehouse and shipping office out of our home. If you are so led, you can help out by clicking here.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
Join us in Israel! Our 2024 tour of Israel features special guest Timothy Alberino! We will tour the Holy Land March 31–April 9, 2024, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
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Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
DAVID WAS NOT a good father. That’s obvious from the way his own children treated each other—and him.
Sometimes, kids turn out badly despite their parents’ best efforts, but David seems to have been unable to discipline his sons. Amnon, his eldest, raped his half-sister, Tamar, and was murdered by David’s second son, Absalom. After a few years in exile, he returned to Jerusalem and began plotting to overthrow David, who, as we read last week, fled Jerusalem to spare the city the devastation of war.
This week, we read that Absalom, on the advice of David’s former counselor Ahitophel, “went in” to David’s concubines—a crass but very blunt message to Israel that the old man was powerless to stop Absalom from taking over.
But God foiled the plans of Absalom, Ahitophel, and the unseen principalities and powers that schemed to hijack the House of David. In a battle that probably took place east of the Jordan River, Absalom was undone by his pride and his long, flowing hair. And tragically, even though Absalom’s rebellion led to a civil war that claimed the lives of 20,000 men, David grieved more for Absalom than for those who had risked and lost their lives in David’s defense.
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Our Build Barn Better project is making progress! Our 1,200 square pole barn has been cleared of all the junk and extra furniture. Work begins on the floor, walls, windows, and electric panel the third week in July. After that, we’ll insulate the building, install an HVAC system, and move our studios and book/DVD warehouse and shipping office out of our home. If you are so led, you can help out by clicking here.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
Join us in Israel! Our 2024 tour of Israel features special guest Timothy Alberino! We will tour the Holy Land March 31–April 9, 2024, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
TALK ABOUT ingratitude: David’s son Absalom, who’d fled to his grandfather’s kingdom of Geshur, returned to Jerusalem after a two-year exile and apparently began scheming to remove David from the throne as soon as he came home.
We discuss the ploy by Absalom’s cousin, David’s nephew Joab, to return the king’s oldest surviving son to Jerusalem, and how Absalom forced Joab to meet with him and arrange his reconciliation with David. Once Absalom had regained David’s trust, he set about undermining his father’s authority, winning over the hearts of Israel through shrewd political campaigning in the gate of the city.
David, upon (finally!) realizing that he was in mortal danger, abandoned Jerusalem—not from fear, but to spare the city and its people from the destruction of a siege. We also talk about David’s flight from the city. His route, across the Kidron Valley toward the Jordan River, foreshadowed the path of Jesus from Jerusalem to the Crucifixion on the summit of the Mount of Olives.
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Our Build Barn Better project is making progress! Our 1,200 square pole barn has been cleared of all the junk and extra furniture. Work begins on the floor, walls, windows, and electric panel the third week in July. After that, we’ll insulate the building, install an HVAC system, and move our studios and book/DVD warehouse and shipping office out of our home. If you are so led, you can help out by clicking here.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
Join us in Israel! Our 2024 tour of Israel features special guest Timothy Alberino! We will tour the Holy Land March 31–April 9, 2024, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
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Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
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Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE PSALMS this week follow our chronological reading order, meaning they were written by David after he was confronted by the prophet Nathan for conspiring to kill Uriah the Hittite so that David could take his wife, Bathsheba.
We discuss the repentant heart of David that comes through in these psalms—acknowledging his guilt and pleading with God to wipe away his sin, transgression, and iniquity.
Then we return to 2 Samuel for a preview of the turbulent period of David’s life that followed when his oldest sons began plotting to succeed David on the throne. His eldest, Amnon, sinned by raping his half-sister, Tamar; in turn, Tamar’s brother, Absalom, took revenge by plotting Amnon’s murder two years later.
In both cases, David didn’t help matters. For one thing, he didn’t punish Amnon for raping his half-sister—David’s own daughter! That was compounded by his failure to punish Absalom for the murder of Amnon.
For his part, based on what he eventually did, it’s not clear that Absalom was avenging his sister’s assault by killing his half-brother or using her humiliation to justify eliminating an obstacle between himself and the throne of David.
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Our Build Barn Better project is making progress! Our 1,200 square pole barn has been cleared of all the junk and extra furniture. Work begins on the floor, walls, windows, and electric panel the third week in July. After that, we’ll insulate the building, install an HVAC system, and move our studios and book/DVD warehouse and shipping office out of our home. If you are so led, you can help out by clicking here.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
Join us in Israel! Our 2024 tour of Israel features special guest Timothy Alberino! We will tour the Holy Land March 31–April 9, 2024, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
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Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
DAVID’S PLOY to take the wife of Uriah the Hittite is another story that shows that the Bible has not been cleaned up to make the humans used by God look more, well, saintly.
Bathsheba, whose name probably derives from Hurrian meaning “lady of Hebat,” the chief female deity of the Hurrian pantheon, was impregnated by David while her husband, Uriah the Hittite, fought with the army in Ammon. After trying unsuccessfully to avoid responsibility for his child by convincing Uriah to be with Bathsheba while on leave from the army, David plotted with his nephew Joab, who commanded the army, to leave Uriah unprotected in battle so he’d be killed.
This despicable ploy was transparent enough to Joab and anyone else with eyes to see, but it was obviously not hidden from God. This led to an epic confrontation between David and the prophet Nathan, who came to David with a story about a wealthy man stealing a lamb from a poor man. David declared that the wealthy man deserved to die—to which Nathan replied, “You are the man!”
We discuss David’s response to the decree that his child would die, and that rebellion would arise within David’s house. We also note that the entire incident with Bathsheba is missing from 1 Chronicles, possibly because the writer of the account compiled after the Babylonian captivity found the story just too distasteful to connect to David.
And we talk about the Philistine giants in 1 Chronicles 20, a preview of a deeper discussion we’ll have when we read the parallel account in 2 Samuel 21 (in about six weeks, if we keep to our posted schedule). Basically, the Hebrew phrase translated “descendants of the giants” does not mean what the English words imply. Goliath and the other Philistine “giants” were big, yes (although the Septuagint translation and the first-century Jewish historian Josephus write that Goliath was 6’9”, not 9’9”), but more importantly, they were members of a warrior cult.
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Help us to Build Barn Better! This is our project to convert our 1,200 square foot shop building from a place to park our yard tractor into usable studio and warehouse space. In 2023, we plan to fix the holes in the walls, replace windows, insulate the building, install an HVAC system, and move our studios and book/DVD warehouse and shipping office out of our home. If you are so led, you can donate by clicking here.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
Join us in Israel! Our 2024 tour of Israel features special guest Timothy Alberino! We will tour the Holy Land March 31–April 9, 2024, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
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Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE TONE of this week’s psalms seems odd given the military victories of David that we studied last week.
This is why we use a chronological reading order: We see in this week’s readings that David, despite his success on the battlefield, really grappled with the opposition he faced from enemies both from without and within his kingdom. But despite his occasional cries of despair, David always returned to give the Lord thanks and praise.
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Help us to Build Barn Better! This is our project to convert our 1,200 square foot shop building from a place to park our yard tractor into usable studio and warehouse space. In 2023, we plan to fix the holes in the walls, replace windows, insulate the building, install an HVAC system, and move our studios and book/DVD warehouse and shipping office out of our home. If you are so led, you can donate by clicking here.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
Join us in Israel! Our 2024 tour of Israel features special guest Timothy Alberino! We will tour the Holy Land March 31–April 9, 2024, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
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Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
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Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
DAVID’S KINGDOM faced a strong test from his neighbors to the east and north as a coalition of Ammonites and Arameans tried to take down the new Israelite kingdom.
We discuss the nearly identical accounts in 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles and the wonderful attitude of David’s nephew and general Joab when confronted with enemies in front and behind: “Be of good courage, and let us be courageous for our people, and for the cities of our God, and may the Lord do what seems good to him.”
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Help us to Build Barn Better! This is our project to convert our 1,200 square foot shop building from a place to park our yard tractor into usable studio and warehouse space. In 2023, we plan to fix the holes in the walls, replace windows, insulate the building, install an HVAC system, and move our studios and book/DVD warehouse and shipping office out of our home. If you are so led, you can donate by clicking here.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!
The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
Join us in Israel! Our 2024 tour of Israel features special guest Timothy Alberino! We will tour the Holy Land March 31–April 9, 2024, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
DAVID’S KINGDOM expanded outward in all directions, possibly reaching as far as the Euphrates in northern Syria.
This week, we read the records of David’s wars against the Arameans of Damascus and Zobah to the north, the small kingdoms east of the Jordan (Ammon, Moab, and Edom), and the Amalekites in the south.
We discuss the historical context of David’s reign and the recent discovery of an Iron Age kingdom in southern Turkey and northern Syria, known from inscriptions as Palistin (and probably related to the Philistines who settled between Israel and Egypt), whose best-known king, Taita, may be the Toi/Tou mentioned in 2 Sam. 8 and 1 Chr. 18.
We also discuss David’s kindness to Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth, something that would have been unusual at a time when preserving the life of a male descendant of the former king, Saul, would have been unusual.
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Help us to Build Barn Better! This is our project to convert our 1,200 square foot shop building from a place to park our yard tractor into usable studio and warehouse space. In 2023, we plan to fix the holes in the walls, replace windows, insulate the building, install an HVAC system, and move our studios and book/DVD warehouse and shipping office out of our home. If you are so led, you can donate by clicking here.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
Join us in Israel! Our 2024 tour of Israel features special guest Timothy Alberino! We will tour the Holy Land March 31–April 9, 2024, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
A SUPERNATURAL worldview was perfectly natural to King David. It’s clear from his psalms that he had a better understanding of the unseen realm.
After recapitulating the prayer of David from last week’s reading of 2 Samuel 7, we discuss references in his psalms that point to spiritual beings, such as “heavenly beings,” the bene elim (literally, “sons of God”) of Psalm 29:1. For all of his faults, David knew Who is above all other elohim.
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Help us to Build Barn Better! This is our project to convert our 1,200 square foot shop building from a place to park our yard tractor into usable studio and warehouse space. In 2023, we plan to fix the holes in the walls, replace windows, insulate the building, install an HVAC system, and move our studios and book/DVD warehouse and shipping office out of our home. If you are so led, you can donate by clicking here.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
Join us in Israel! Our 2024 tour of Israel features special guest Timothy Alberino! We will tour the Holy Land March 31–April 9, 2024, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
DAVID WAS not a perfect man by any measure, but if we draw anything from this week’s study it should be his example of humility when he realized that he’d become a little too full of himself.
The narrative is another account of bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, which we previously studied in 1 Chronicles 13–16. Afterward, David proposed building a temple to God, but the Lord appeared to Nathan and directed the prophet to tell David that it was not for him to build the House of Yahweh—and to remind David just who was responsible for elevating him to the throne.
David’s prayer in 2 Samuel 7:18–29 is a wonderful example of a man who realizes the source of his blessings and expresses his heartfelt, sincere gratitude for the blessings bestowed by God.
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Help us to Build Barn Better! This is our project to convert our 1,200 square foot shop building from a place to park our yard tractor into usable studio and warehouse space. In 2023, we plan to fix the holes in the walls, replace windows, insulate the building, install an HVAC system, and move our studios and book/DVD warehouse and shipping office out of our home. If you are so led, you can donate by clicking here.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
Join us in Israel! Our 2024 tour of Israel features special guest Timothy Alberino! We will tour the Holy Land March 31–April 9, 2024, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
DAVID KNEW that God had a divine council comprised of supernatural beings. We see more confirmation of that in this week’s study.
Psalm 89 mentions the “holy ones” (Hebrew qedoshim) and “heavenly beings” (bene elim, literally “sons of God”) who are in his assembly. The psalmist goes on to praise God for His power in mastering the sea (Ps. 89:9–10). In Hebrew, that’s yam, the Canaanite name for the chaos-dragon of the sea—their version of Leviathan. Given the reference to Rahab in verse 10, this is more than just picturesque language describing God as more powerful than the ocean; the psalmist is referring to the chaoskampf, the conflict between God and Chaos (Leviathan).
We also discuss the references to “the north and the south… Tabor and Hermon” in Psalm 89:12. The mountains mentioned were sites of cult worship in the ancient world, so we think the compass points north (tsaphon) and south (yamin) have spiritual significance as well. Zaphon was the mountain of Baal in what is today southern Turkey. “South” may be a scribal gloss (change) at some point in history, because the Septuagint translation renders verse 12:
You created the north and the west [or, “the north wind and seas”]…
Psalm 82:12a (Lexham English Septuagint)
The point being that west, the direction of the Great Sea, the Mediterranean, was the direction associated with death. Thus, “the north and the [west]”, in a pairing with two cult centers (especially since one of them is Mount Hermon, a sort of Canaanite Mount Olympus), is a polemic against spiritual evil (north, the direction of Baal’s palace) and death (west).
In Psalm 96 we find another song of praise for God, comparing Him and His power against that of “all gods” (Hebrew elohim) which are “worthless idols” (ĕlîlim; Ps. 96:5). We’ve encountered that word before, which some scholars connect to the chief god of Mesopotamia, Enlil, whose name was spelled Ellil in Akkadian. The ĕlîlim, then, were demons—the spirits of the Nephilim destroyed in the Flood. The Septuagint translators certainly connect the ideas, translating the verse this way:
For all the gods of the peoples are demons…
Psalm 96:5a (LES), emphasis added
For a deeper dive into the ĕlîlim and Enlil, see our previous study on 1 Chronicles 16 here.
And you can read the chapter of The Second Coming of Saturn where Derek cites the research here.
If you’re coming with us to Israel, we can’t wait to share the adventure with you! Here’s a link to some helpful tips to prepare from Lipkin Tours.
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TRAVEL WITH US TO TÜRKIYE! Join us and our special guests Dr. Judd Burton and Dr. Aaron Judkins as we visit the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. Tour dates are October 17–November 3, 2023. More information is available at www.gilberthouse.org/travel.
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Help us to Build Barn Better! This is our project to convert our 1,200 square foot shop building from a place to park our yard tractor into usable studio and warehouse space. In 2023, we plan to fix the holes in the walls, replace windows, insulate the building, install an HVAC system, and move our studios and book/DVD warehouse and shipping office out of our home. If you are so led, you can donate by clicking here.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our new online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THERE IS MORE spiritual warfare in the psalms than we realize!
This week, we study three of David’s psalms that have more going on under the hood than is obvious at first read. Psalm 24 praises God for founding the earth “upon the seas and… the rivers.” In Canaanite religion, Baal became king of the gods after a battle with Yam (“Sea”), the embodiment of chaos (i.e., Leviathan), who is often called “Prince Yam [Sea] and Judge Nahar [River]” in Canaanite religious texts. So, David’s psalm is more than poetic language; it’s a rebuke of the pagan belief that Baal was the one who subdued primordial chaos.
Psalm 47 is a song of triumph, encouraging all people to rejoice that God is King of all the earth, but Psalm 68 is, in our view, a prophecy of a future battle between God and the forces of darkness at a place known in the ancient world as the entrance to the netherworld, Bashan.
It begins with the declaration that “God shall arise, His enemies shall be scattered; and all those who hate him shall flee before Him!” Verses 4 through 10 use storm-god language to praise God, again rebuking the pagans around ancient Israel for ascribing to Baal the characteristics of Yahweh.
And then we get to Psalm 68:15–23, a prophecy of a future conflict at the “mountain of Bashan,” Mount Hermon.
The text of Ps. 68:15 is translated, “O mountain of God,” but the Hebrew, har elohim, can also mean “mountain of the gods.” That’s the better translation in this context. Why? Because the mountain of God is Zion—the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Verse 16 makes clear that Mount Hermon, the “many-peaked mountain” of Bashan, looks “with hatred” at “the mount that God desired for His abode” (Zion).
Verse 18, which Paul quotes in Ephesians 4:8, describes a military assault by God on Mount Hermon, after which He “ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train”.
David praises God for delivering His followers from death. The Hebrew word maveth is a cognate for the name of the Canaanite death-god, Mot, who is the equivalent of the Greek deity Thanatos—the rider on the pale horse in Revelation 6.
Finally, verse 22 describes God’s victory over chaos:
The Lord said, “I will bring them back from Bashan, I will bring them back from the depths of the sea…”
However, scholar Nicolas Wyatt argues that this difficult passage is better translated:
From Bashan I shall bring back, I shall bring back, from the depths, Sea [i.e., Yam, the Canaanite equivalent of Leviathan, or Chaos]
In other words, David prophesied God’s final assault on Mount Hermon and the land of Bashan, which in his day was believed to be the literal entrance to the netherworld (Sheol/Hades), where the Lord will finally destroy Death and Chaos.
In so doing, David presents a prophecy similar to the one recorded a thousand years later by John in Revelation 20:13–14 and 21:1:
And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire… Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and he first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
If you’re coming with us to Israel, we can’t wait to share the adventure with you! Here’s a link to some helpful tips to prepare from Lipkin Tours.
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TRAVEL WITH US TO TÜRKIYE! Join us and our special guests Dr. Judd Burton and Dr. Aaron Judkins as we visit the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. Tour dates are October 17–November 3, 2023. More information is available at www.gilberthouse.org/travel.
——————
Help us to Build Barn Better! This is our project to convert our 1,200 square foot shop building from a place to park our yard tractor into usable studio and warehouse space. In 2023, we plan to fix the holes in the walls, replace windows, insulate the building, install an HVAC system, and move our studios and book/DVD warehouse and shipping office out of our home. If you are so led, you can donate by clicking here.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our new online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
Subscribe to our YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE PSALMS OF DAVID are often prophetic. We know this. However, we often overlook just how supernatural they are.
This week, we focus on two of the most profound and stunning psalms in the Bible. Psalm 22 begins with a line quoted by Jesus on the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
It’s widely acknowledged by Bible scholars that the 22nd Psalm is a prophecy of the Crucifixion written more than 600 years before the Persians invented that horrific method of execution. However, verses 12 and 13 are usually misinterpreted. They read:
Many bulls encompass me;
strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
they open wide their mouths at me,
like a ravening and roaring lion. (Psalm 22:12–13, ESV)
Bible commentaries usually explain these verses as a reference to the well-fed livestock of ancient Bashan. That’s not what the passage means.
Bashan was a terrible place to raise cattle, which would have starved on the poor pastureland available on that rocky, volcanic soil. Goats and sheep thrived in Bashan, but the ancient kingdom of Og was not then, and is not now, a place that would support a thriving cattle operation.
The point is that the “bulls of Bashan” were not bovine, they were divine (We’re borrowing a phrase from Dr. Robert D. Miller II, whose excellent paper “Baals of Bashan” is the source of this information). These were dark spirits from the land known from the time of Abraham down to Jesus’ day as the entrance to the netherworld—an evil place with a name, Bashan, that literally means “place of the serpent.”
Then we move to the 23rd Psalm, one that many of us have memorized. We suggest that the valley of the shadow of death is a literal place—the Huleh Valley, which separates Bashan from the Upper Galilee. The valley is ringed with more than 5,000 dolmens, megalithic monuments to the dead that resemble giant stone tables (which is what dolmen means in the Brittonic language).
We base this analysis on the gospel of Matthew, where he writes:
Now when [Jesus] heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
the people dwelling in darkness
have seen a great light,
and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death,
on them a light has dawned.” (Matthew 4:12–16, ESV)
Matthew quoted from Isaiah 9:1–2, the beginning of the messianic prophecy that includes the lines, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given”. The Way of the Sea is the Roman road, the Via Maris, that ran from Egypt through Judea, north through Galilee alongside the west shore of the Sea of Galilee, north through the Huleh Valley, and then “beyond the Jordan” (i.e., east) toward Damascus.
In other words, Jesus’ move from Nazareth to Capernaum, on the north end of the Sea of Galilee, fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy of a light dawning on those living “in the region and shadow of death”.
This makes this verse all the more powerful:
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies
you anoint me head with oil;
my cup overflows. (Psalm 23:5, ESV)
In the context of the pagan rituals for the dead, especially in the region of ancient Bashan, this verse is a celebration of Christ’s victory of the fallen spirits who have rebelled against their Creator—and who want to take us to destruction with them.
If you’re coming with us to Israel, we can’t wait to share the adventure with you! Here’s a link to some helpful tips to prepare from Lipkin Tours.
Support the continuing ministry of our friend Dr. Michael Heiser, Miqlat, at www.miqlat.org.
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TRAVEL WITH US TO TÜRKIYE! Join us and our special guests Dr. Judd Burton and Dr. Aaron Judkins as we visit the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. Tour dates are October 17–November 3, 2023. More information is available at www.gilberthouse.org/travel.
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Help us to Build Barn Better! This is our project to convert our 1,200 square foot shop building from a place to park our yard tractor into usable studio and warehouse space. In 2023, we plan to fix the holes in the walls, replace windows, insulate the building, install an HVAC system, and move our studios and book/DVD warehouse and shipping office out of our home. If you are so led, you can donate by clicking here.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our new online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* SciFriday: www.YouTube.com/SciFridayTV
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
READING THE HEADLINES each day can cause anxiety, depression, and frustration at the plots and schemes of those who apparently feel qualified, if not entitled, to tell the rest of us how we should live.
When the news is getting to you, remember these words:
He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then He will speak to them in His wrath, and terrify them in His fury, saying, “As for Me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” (Psalm 2:3–4, ESV)
We discuss David’s song of thanksgiving and note a reference that’s packed with supernatural meaning: The “worthless idols” of 1 Chr. 16:26 (Hebrew ĕlîlim) may well refer to the spirits loyal to Enlil (also known as El, Dagon, and Molech), who we believe was the Watcher chief Shemihazah, leader of the Genesis 6 rebellion. Here’s a link to a short chapter from Derek’s book The Second Coming of Saturn on “Isaiah’s Worthless Idols” (link opens PDF document).
If you’re coming with us to Israel, we can’t wait to share the adventure with you! Here’s a link to some helpful tips to prepare from Lipkin Tours.
Support the continuing ministry of our friend Dr. Michael Heiser, Miqlat, at www.miqlat.org.
——————
TRAVEL WITH US TO TÜRKIYE! Join us and our special guests Dr. Judd Burton and Dr. Aaron Judkins as we visit the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. Tour dates are October 17–November 3, 2023. More information is available at www.gilberthouse.org/travel.
——————
Help us to Build Barn Better! This is our project to convert our 1,200 square foot shop building from a place to park our yard tractor into usable studio and warehouse space. In 2023, we plan to fix the holes in the walls, replace windows, insulate the building, install an HVAC system, and move our studios and book/DVD warehouse and shipping office out of our home. If you are so led, you can donate by clicking here.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our new online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* SciFriday: www.YouTube.com/SciFridayTV
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
GOD IS enthroned above the cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant. Failure to treat the ark with proper respect, according to the Law, cost a teamster his life.
This week, we discuss the move of the ark to Jerusalem and a section of scripture in 1 Chronicles 13 that’s difficult for many to accept. Why was Uzzah killed by God for putting his hand on the ark to steady it? The answer: The ark was supposed to be treated with reverence, carried by Levites with poles made specifically for that purpose (Exodus 25:12–14; Numbers 4:5–6, 15). Instead, it had been loaded onto an oxcart, like cargo in an Iron Age U-haul van.
We also discuss an interesting section of a psalm of joy and thankfulness that is more supernatural than it first appears. Psalm 107:3 refers to the people gathered “from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.” However, “north” is the Hebrew word tsaphon, a reference to “cosmic” north—the mountain sacred to the king of the Canaanite pantheon, Baal.
And “south” is yam, usually translated “west” or “sea.” This is the only place in the Bible where yam is rendered “south,” because of its opposition to tsaphon. Yam is the name of the Canaanite chaos-dragon, equivalent to Leviathan, and often used to represent the abyss—the bottomless pit, or Tartarus.
What is meant in Psalm 107:3 is that God has gathered his people from “cosmic” north, the realm of the pagan gods (fallen angels), and “cosmic” south, chaos and eternal destruction in the abyss.
Support the continuing ministry of our friend Dr. Michael Heiser, Miqlat, at www.miqlat.org.
——————
TRAVEL WITH US TO TÜRKIYE! Join us and our special guests Dr. Judd Burton and Dr. Aaron Judkins as we visit the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. Tour dates are October 17–November 3, 2023. More information is available at www.gilberthouse.org/travel.
——————
Help us to Build Barn Better! This is our project to convert our 1,200 square foot shop building from a place to park our yard tractor into usable studio and warehouse space. In 2023, we plan to fix the holes in the walls, replace windows, insulate the building, install an HVAC system, and move our studios and book/DVD warehouse and shipping office out of our home. If you are so led, you can donate by clicking here.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our new online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* SciFriday: www.YouTube.com/SciFridayTV
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
DAVID ASCENDS to the throne in Jerusalem, and we recount the history of Israel, including some startling examples of warfare in the unseen realm, in the psalms accompanying our study this week..
First, we discuss the Jebusites and the city of Jebus, which apparently was the area around the stronghold of Zion, which is the City of David—the area just south of the Temple Mount. “Jebus” means “threshing floor,” from a verb meaning “to tread down,” as in treading out the grain. In the ancient world, as Sharon wrote in Veneration, threshing floors were believed to be portals to the spirit realm.
This is an interesting connection to the Hurrian people, relevant because Araunah, owner of the threshing floor on Mount Moriah, is not a name but a title that means “lord” or “king.” The Hurrians believed that gods of the underworld, including spirits of the dead, had to be summoned from the underworld in an underground pit called the abi, from which the Hebrews got the word ôb (“medium”). It just happens that there is a cave directly below the Foundation Stone on the Temple Mount called the Holy of Holies by the Crusaders and the Well of Souls by Muslims.
We also discuss the cryptic reference to the “Ariels of Moab,” although the ESV renders it “heroes of Moab” (1 Chr. 11:22). In the King James, ariel is translated “lion-like,” based on the Hebrew ari (“lion”). So, ariels are literally “lions of God,” although “lions of El” is more likely, given that they were from Moab, where Yahweh was not normally worshiped.
What are those ariels? We don’t know. There’s an entry for ariel in the Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, and it doesn’t give a conclusive answer. We can only guess, but based on the Septuagint, which was translated into Greek from an older Hebrew manuscript by about 200 BC, the best reading might be, “[Benaiah] struck the two sons of Ariel of Moab.”
In other words, as disappointing as it may seem, it’s likely there were no “lion-like men of Moab,” just two warriors from Moab whose father’s name was Ariel.
After a celebratory psalm, Psalm 133, we read the important Psalm 106. This is where we find one of only three mentions of demons in the Old Testament. It’s a translation of the word shedim, a type of territorial spirit depicted in the ancient Near East as winged bulls—like the giant statues of protective spirits found outside the palace of the kings of Assyria now on display at museums around the world.
We also dig into Psalm 106:28–29, a passage that explains why God sent a plague against the Israelites while they camped at Shittim. The worship of Baal-Peor (“lord of the opening to the underworld”) involved eating sacrifices offered to the dead. We’ve recently learned that scholars since the 1940s believe that it’s possible Shittim was not the Jordan valley across from Jericho, but might have been the 80-acre site on the hill called Tall el-Hammam—ancient Sodom.
In other words, the tabernacle may have been directly over the site of the destroyed temple in Sodom.
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TRAVEL WITH US TO TÜRKIYE! Join us and our special guests Dr. Judd Burton and Dr. Aaron Judkins as we visit the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. Tour dates are October 17–November 3, 2023. More information is available at www.gilberthouse.org/travel.
——————
Help us to Build Barn Better! This is our project to convert our 1,200 square foot shop building from a place to park our yard tractor into usable studio and warehouse space. In 2023, we plan to fix the holes in the walls, replace windows, insulate the building, install an HVAC system, and move our studios and book/DVD warehouse and shipping office out of our home. If you are so led, you can donate by clicking here.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our new online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* SciFriday: www.YouTube.com/SciFridayTV
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
DAVID’S FRAME OF MIND was apparently much better by the time he wrote these psalms, which are dated to about the time he was anointed king over all Israel.
That took place at Hebron, but shortly thereafter he marched against the Jebusite city of Jerusalem and made that his capital city.
We discuss the Jebusites, why we believe they were Hurrians (Horites), and why that’s relevant to our understanding of the supernatural battle for control of God’s har moʿed (“mount of assembly”).
We also note differences between the Septuagint and Masoretic accounts in 2 Samuel 5: the Septuagint makes no mention of a water shaft into the City of David, and the Valley of Rephaim southwest of Jerusalem, where David fought two battles against the Philistines, was translated into the Greek Septuagint as “Valley of Titans.”
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Help us to Build Barn Better! This is our project to convert our 1,200 square foot shop building from a place to park our yard tractor into usable studio and warehouse space. In 2023, we plan to fix the holes in the walls, replace windows, insulate the building, install an HVAC system, and move our studios and book/DVD warehouse and shipping office out of our home. If you are so led, you can donate by clicking here.
Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our new online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
JOIN US IN ISRAEL! The Gilberts will be in the Holy Land March 19-30, 2023. This is a tour like no other! We’ll visit Shiloh, Joshua’s altar, Gilgal Refaim, and more. For information and to reserve your place, log on to www.gilberthouse.org/travel.
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NEW DATES FOR OUR TOUR OF TURKEY: We’re planning a tour of the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. Because of the political situation in Eastern Europe, we’ve moved the tour to October, 2023. The specific dates will be finalized by January. More information is available at www.gilberthouse.org/travel.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* SciFriday: www.YouTube.com/SciFridayTV
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
Genealogy was important in ancient Israel. It was how the Israelites kept track of the heads of the tribes and who was eligible for service in the Temple.
It also debunks the idea that the tribes of the northern kingdom were “lost” after the Assyrian invasion of 722 BC.
This week, we study the records of six of the tribes, the family of Saul, and the genealogy of the returned exiles. Then we move to Psalm 102, titled, “A Prayer of One Afflicted, When he is Faint and Pours Out His Complaint Before the Lord.”
That seems appropriate this week, as we learned that our good friend and mentor, Dr. Michael Heiser, is in the late stage of an aggressive pancreatic cancer. He is home, in hospice care, and at peace. You can read Mike’s open letter about his condition at Facebook.
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Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our new online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
JOIN US IN ISRAEL! The Gilberts will be in the Holy Land March 19-30, 2023. This is a tour like no other! We’ll visit Shiloh, Joshua’s altar, Gilgal Refaim, and more. For information and to reserve your place, log on to www.gilberthouse.org/travel.
——————
NEW DATES FOR OUR TOUR OF TURKEY: We’re planning a tour of the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. Because of the political situation in Eastern Europe, we’ve moved the tour to October, 2023. The specific dates will be finalized by January. More information is available at www.gilberthouse.org/travel.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* SciFriday: www.YouTube.com/SciFridayTV
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
Our ancestors 3,000 years ago dealt with the same pressures and problems we face today.
This week, after reading the Chronicler’s list of the descendants of Levi, we study four psalms that illustrate the frustration of God that His people do not listen; the despair that comes from feeling separated from God like the demonic spirits of the Rephaim (Ps. 88:10: “departed” = rephaim); and the joy that results from acknowledging the sovereignty of God and praising His mighty works.
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Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our new online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
JOIN US IN ISRAEL! The Gilberts will be in the Holy Land March 19-30, 2023. This is a tour like no other! We’ll visit Shiloh, Joshua’s altar, Gilgal Refaim, and more. For information and to reserve your place, log on to www.gilberthouse.org/travel.
——————
NEW DATES FOR OUR TOUR OF TURKEY: We’re planning a tour of the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. Because of the political situation in Eastern Europe, we’ve moved the tour to October, 2023. The specific dates will be finalized by January. More information is available at www.gilberthouse.org/travel.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!* Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
* SciFriday: www.YouTube.com/SciFridayTV
* These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
Remembering where we came from is the theme of this week’s study, three psalms of Asaph, a contemporary of David, that lament the trials of the faithful in contrast to the apparent success of the wicked.
Although the unrighteous appear to prosper, Asaph remembers that envy of the arrogant is a stumbling block, and that we must remember the mighty works of God in saving not just his people, but each of us—and that a day is coming when He will “receive [us] to glory.”
We also discuss some aspects of these psalms that aren’t obvious unless you’re reading with the Divine Council in mind; for example, Psalm 78:47–50, which describe several of the plagues of Egypt during the Exodus, that mention entities known to the pagan Canaanites: Barad (“hail”), Resheph (“thunderbolts”), and Deber (“plague”).
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Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs, SciFriday, Unraveling Revelation, and A View from the Bunker. The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our new online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
—————— J
OIN US IN ISRAEL! The Gilberts will be in the Holy Land March 19-30, 2023. This is a tour like no other! We’ll visit Shiloh, Joshua’s altar, Gilgal Refaim, and more. For information and to reserve your place, log on to www.gilberthouse.org/travel.
——————
NEW DATES FOR OUR TOUR OF TURKEY: We’re planning a tour of the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. Because of the political situation in Eastern Europe, we’ve moved the tour to October, 2023. The specific dates will be finalized by January. More information is available at www.gilberthouse.org/travel.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels! Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation SciFriday: www.YouTube.com/SciFridayTV These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
GENEALOGY WAS important to the Israelites. It was the basis for determining who was eligible to serve in the Temple and who was worthy to sit on the throne.
This week, we study the descendants of David, emphasizing his role as the progenitor of the kings of Judah, and then the tribes of Judah, Simeon, Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh that lived east of the Jordan River.
In the middle of the list of the Judahites, we find an anecdote about Jabez, two verses that were made famous by the David Wilkerson book, The Prayer of Jabez. We discuss the prayer itself and how it’s been misapplied by some.
As with the Lord’s Prayer, the prayer of Jabez is not a formula that obligates God to respond in the way we want. That’s dangerously close to “magic.” Rather, it’s a template—an example of how we should pray, not a script of what we should say.
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Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs, SciFriday, Unraveling Revelation, and A View from the Bunker. The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our new online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
JOIN US IN ISRAEL! The Gilberts will be in the Holy Land March 19-30, 2023. This is a tour like no other! We’ll visit Shiloh, Joshua’s altar, Gilgal Refaim, and more. For information and to reserve your place, log on to www.gilberthouse.org/travel.
——————
NEW DATES FOR OUR TOUR OF TURKEY: We’re planning a tour of the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. Because of the political situation in Eastern Europe, we’ve moved the tour to October, 2023. The specific dates will be finalized by January. More information is available at www.gilberthouse.org/travel. —————— Subscribe to our new YouTube channels! Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation SciFriday: www.YouTube.com/SciFridayTV These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
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Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE SONS OF KORAH were responsible for baking and gatekeeping in the Temple. They were also singers, and this week’s readings appears to be songs of lament and hymns of praise and joy.
Psalm 43 is interesting in that it was probably part of the 42nd psalm originally, which appears to put the psalmist in the north of Israel—specifically in the region of Mount Hermon, which, spiritually speaking, was the heart of enemy territory.
Taken together, this collection of psalms contrasts the troubles we endure in this life at the hands of the wicked, who foolishly “trust in their wealth” when “no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life” (Ps. 49:6–7) with the joy that awaits in Zion, the “dwelling place” of God.
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Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs, SciFriday, Unraveling Revelation, and A View from the Bunker. The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our new online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
JOIN US IN ISRAEL! The Gilberts will be in the Holy Land March 19-30, 2023. This is a tour like no other! We’ll visit Shiloh, Joshua’s altar, Gilgal Refaim, and more. For information and to reserve your place, log on to www.gilberthouse.org/travel.
——————
NEW DATES FOR OUR TOUR OF TURKEY: We’re planning a tour of the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. Because of the political situation in Eastern Europe, we’ve moved the tour to October, 2023. The specific dates will be finalized by January. More information is available at www.gilberthouse.org/travel.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
SciFriday: www.YouTube.com/SciFridayTV
These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
GENEALOGY IS IMPORTANT in the Bible. It not only establishes Jesus as the descendant of David, and thus the rightful king, it also shows that he was fully human during his time on Earth.
This week, we discuss the genealogies at the beginning of the chronicles, which scholars believe were written sometime after the Jews returned from Babylon beginning in 538 BC.
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Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs, SciFriday, Unraveling Revelation, and A View from the Bunker. The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our new online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
JOIN US IN ISRAEL! The Gilberts will be in the Holy Land March 19-30, 2023. This is a tour like no other! We’ll visit Shiloh, Joshua’s altar, Gilgal Refaim, and more. For information and to reserve your place, log on to www.gilberthouse.org/travel.
——————
NEW DATES FOR OUR TOUR OF TURKEY: We’re planning a tour of the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. Because of the political situation in Eastern Europe, we’ve moved the tour to October, 2023. The specific dates will be finalized by January. More information is available at www.gilberthouse.org/travel.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
SciFriday: www.YouTube.com/SciFridayTV
These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE PSALMS are filled with supernatural meaning that we often miss because we don’t have the worldview of the authors.
This week, we dig into three psalms of David that appear, on first reading, related to his ascension to the kingship over all the tribes of Israel. They are that, but on a deeper level, we find references to the the unseen realm and those spirits who rejected God’s authority.
For example, the “saints/holy people in the land” of Psalm 16:3 are, in our view, rebellious angels. The Hebrew word translated “saints” or “holy people,” qedoshim (literally “holy ones”), is used elsewhere in scripture of the Watchers (Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 4) and the heavenly beings of the divine assembly (Psalm 89:5–7; Job 15:15).
The “excellent/noble ones” (Heb. addirim) are known from pagan texts from the time of the Judges, linked to the Rephaim and threshing floors, which were considered portals to the spirit realm in the ancient world. And “land” (Heb. eretz) means “underworld” as well as “the land” or “earth.”
In short, understood in the cultural and religious context of David’s day, Psalm 16:3–4 is a condemnation of the small-G “gods” of the pagans around ancient Israel.
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Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs, SciFriday, Unraveling Revelation, and A View from the Bunker. The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our new online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
JOIN US IN ISRAEL! The Gilberts will be in the Holy Land March 19-30, 2023. This is a tour like no other! We’ll visit Shiloh, Joshua’s altar, Gilgal Refaim, and more. For information and to reserve your place, log on to www.gilberthouse.org/travel.
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NEW DATES FOR OUR TOUR OF TURKEY: We’re planning a tour of the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. Because of the political situation in Eastern Europe, we’ve moved the tour to October, 2023. The specific dates will be finalized by January. More information is available at www.gilberthouse.org/travel.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
SciFriday: www.YouTube.com/SciFridayTV
These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE PSALMS we study this week are especially timely, coming as they do after a contentious midterm election in the United States.
At the end of the day, regardless of how the vote turned out, God is still on His throne, and He, for one, was not surprised by the results.
We also discuss a psalm not usually interpreted as messianic. Psalm 8 includes several verses quoted by the author of Hebrews:
What is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?
Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet… ((Psalm 8:4–6, ESV)
These verses are quoted in Hebrews 2:6–8, where it’s clear that “the son of man” refers to Jesus, the Messiah. Most Bible teachers don’t see it that way, for some reason.
We dig deeper into the title “Son of Man” and how it emerged as a messianic title during the first century BC in the Book of Parables, chapters 37–71 of the Book of 1 Enoch. That was written by an Essene living near the Sea of Galilee before the end of the reign of Herod the Great—in other words, before the birth of Jesus.
Even though we only see the term used in a messianic context in Psalm 8:4 and Daniel 7:13 (where it’s a description—“one like a son of man”—not a title), the Book of Parables uses it 17 times of the messianic figure who is prophesied to execute judgment on the the wicked, both human and divine, and Jesus applied it to himself more than 80 times in the New Testament.
Significantly, “the son of man” does not appear in any Jewish literature from the first centuries BC or AD other than the Book of 1 Enoch and the New Testament.
For more details on the Essenes, the parables of Enoch, and their influence on the New Testament, we recommend the research of Dr. John Ben-Daniel.
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Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs, SciFriday, Unraveling Revelation, and A View from the Bunker. The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our new online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
JOIN US IN ISRAEL! The Gilberts will be in the Holy Land March 19-30, 2023. This is a tour like no other! We’ll visit Shiloh, Joshua’s altar, Gilgal Refaim, and more. For information and to reserve your place, log on to www.gilberthouse.org/travel.
——————
NEW DATES FOR OUR TOUR OF TURKEY: We’re planning a tour of the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. Because of the political situation in Eastern Europe, we’ve moved the tour to October, 2023. The specific dates will be finalized by January. More information is available at www.gilberthouse.org/travel.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
SciFriday: www.YouTube.com/SciFridayTV
These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE DEATH OF SAUL and his three eldest sons triggered a power struggle among the tribes of Israel, as you’d expect anytime humans and politics are involved.
The chapters we study this week summarize the 7-1/2 years that David ruled as king over Judah from the city of Hebron. During that time, the two youngest sons of Saul, Ish-bosheth and Mephiboseth, ruled the northern tribes from Mahanaim, east of the Jordan River. We dig into the conflict between David and the sons of Saul, and a few details that seem inconsistent in the biblical account.
Specifically, If Ish-bosheth was 40 years old when he began to reign, why wasn’t he with the army when his father and older brothers were killed by the Philistines? David and Ish-bosheth’s older brother, Jonathan, were presumably about the same age, and David was just 23 when he became king of Judah, so how could Ish-bosheth be 40 at the time of Saul’s death? (Answer: “40” in the ancient Near East represented an age of maturity, not his chronological age. Since the age of military service in Israel was 20, it’s probably that Ish-bosheth was in his teens when Abner, head of Saul’s army, made him king over the northern tribes.)
Then we wrestle with the missing Mephibosheth. There were two male descendants of Saul with that name—his youngest son, who apparently succeeded Ish-bosheth after two years, and the young son of David’s friend Jonathan, who was five years old at the time of Saul and Jonathan’s deaths. It appears the Jewish scribes who preserved the Masoretic text on which our English Old Testaments are based thought it was too confusing to have two Mephibosheths in the story, so the account of Abner’s defection to David from the House of Saul in 2 Samuel 3 and 4 was changed so that Mephibosheth was replaced by Ish-bosheth.
Of course, that raises the confusion of how Ish-bosheth became king at the same time as David, reigned for two years (2 Sam. 2:10), and was killed seven years into David’s reign (2 Sam. 4). Answer: The Septuagint translation records that it was Ish-bosheth’s younger brother, Mephibosheth, who was killed after Abner abandoned his cause, so Ish-bosheth presumably died five years earlier, possibly during the civil war between Judah and the other tribes of Israel.
Bottom line: After seven years of rule at Hebron, and war with the sons of Saul, David was in position to finally become king over all Israel.
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Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs, SciFriday, Unraveling Revelation, and A View from the Bunker. The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our new online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
JOIN US IN ISRAEL! The Gilberts will be in the Holy Land March 19-30, 2023. This is a tour like no other! We’ll visit Shiloh, Joshua’s altar, Gilgal Refaim, and more. For information and to reserve your place, log on to www.gilberthouse.org/travel.
——————
NEW DATES FOR OUR TOUR OF TURKEY: We’re planning a tour of the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. Because of the political situation in Eastern Europe, we’ve moved the tour to October, 2023. The specific dates will be finalized by January. More information is available at www.gilberthouse.org/travel.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
SciFriday: www.YouTube.com/SciFridayTV
These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
GOD IS our protector through the trials of life. That comes through in the psalms we read this week, all part of the group titled Songs of Ascents.
These come from the period of David’s life between the death of Saul and his acceptance as king over all Israel. They are a reminder that while we will endure trials in this life, God offers us His steadfast love, forgiveness, and redemption.
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Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs, SciFriday, Unraveling Revelation, and A View from the Bunker. The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
Check out our new online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
JOIN US IN ISRAEL! The Gilberts will be in the Holy Land March 19-30, 2023. This is a tour like no other! We’ll visit Shiloh, Joshua’s altar, Gilgal Refaim, and more. For information and to reserve your place, log on to www.gilberthouse.org/travel.
——————
NEW DATES FOR OUR TOUR OF TURKEY: We’re planning a tour of the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. Because of the political situation in Eastern Europe, we’ve moved the tour to October, 2023. The specific dates will be finalized by January. More information is available at www.gilberthouse.org/travel.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
SciFriday: www.YouTube.com/SciFridayTV
These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE PSALMS OF DAVID give us a window into his heart and mind during the ups and downs of his life. This week, we discuss a psalm written shortly after the death of Saul in battle against the Philistines.
We also look at a pair of psalms described as “songs of ascent,” two of fifteen so titled. Not surprisingly, we discover more supernatural depth and prophetic significance than we noticed our first time through the Old Testament.
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Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs, SciFriday, Unraveling Revelation, and A View from the Bunker. The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Check out our new online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
——————
JOIN US IN ISRAEL! The Gilberts will be in the Holy Land March 19-30, 2023. This is a tour like no other! We’ll visit Shiloh, Joshua’s altar, Gilgal Refaim, and more. For information and to reserve your place, log on to www.gilberthouse.org/travel.
——————
NEW DATES FOR OUR TOUR OF TURKEY: We’re planning a tour of the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. Because of the political situation in Eastern Europe, we’ve moved the tour to October, 2023. The specific dates will be finalized by January. More information is available at www.gilberthouse.org/travel.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
SciFriday: www.YouTube.com/SciFridayTV
These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
SAUL’S VISIT to the medium of En-dor is one of the more controversial chapters in the Bible. Does it prove that ghosts are real?
We discuss the recent research that shows why the Hebrew word ôb, usually translated into English as “medium,” more accurately means “owner of a ritual pit.” This is a concept that can be traced back through the archaeological record to the ancient Hurrians (the biblical Horites), who originated on the Ararat Plain—the valley below the mountains where Noah’s ark came to rest.
Here’s the excerpt from Derek’s book The Second Coming of Saturn that deals with 1 Samuel 28, the ôb, mediums, and necromancers: “Ritual Pits and Rephaim”: https://www.derekpgilbert.com/2021/12/22/the-second-coming-of-saturn-part-10-rephaim-and-ritual-pits/
Here’s a link to the article about the significance of the sacrifice of seventy bulls during the Feast of Tabernacles, “The Seventy Bulls Sacrificed at Sukkot (Num 29:12-34) in Light of a Ritual Text from Emar”: https://www.academia.edu/44462697/The_Seventy_Bulls_Sacrificed_at_Sukkot_Num_29_12_34_in_Light_of_a_Ritual_Text_from_Emar_Emar_6_373_VT_65_2015_1_11
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Get our new app! It’s free and connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs, SciFriday, Unraveling Revelation, and A View from the Bunker. The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Check out our new online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
——————
JOIN US IN ISRAEL! The Gilberts will be in the Holy Land March 19-30, 2023. This is a tour like no other! We’ll visit Shiloh, Joshua’s altar, Gilgal Refaim, and more. For information and to reserve your place, log on to www.gilberthouse.org/travel.
——————
NEW DATES FOR OUR TOUR OF TURKEY: We’re planning a tour of the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. Because of the political situation in Eastern Europe, we’ve moved the tour to October, 2023. The specific dates will be finalized by January. More information is available at www.gilberthouse.org/travel.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
SciFriday: www.YouTube.com/SciFridayTV
These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
DAVID’S PSALMS are a window into his heart and mind, and those written while he was on the run from Saul are instructive, teaching us that even in our darkest hours, God has not forsaken us.
We discuss these psalms, composed while hiding in the dry, dusty wilderness of Judah—possibly the site of the later fortress of Masada, or even further southeast, in the desert of Edom near modern-day Petra. Even then, driven from his home and family by an unjust king, David trusted in God for his ultimate salvation.
We note the verse where David asks God:
Say to my soul, “I am your yeshua!” (Psalm 35:3)
And we speculate that Psalm 17 may have a hidden reference to the practice of child sacrifice and the spirits that demand it.
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Get our new app! It’s free and connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs, SciFriday, Unraveling Revelation, and A View from the Bunker. The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Check out our new online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
——————
JOIN US IN ISRAEL! The Gilberts will be in the Holy Land March 19-30, 2023. This is a tour like no other! We’ll visit Shiloh, Joshua’s altar, Gilgal Refaim, and more. For information and to reserve your place, log on to www.gilberthouse.org/travel.
——————
NEW DATES FOR OUR TOUR OF TURKEY: We’re planning a tour of the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. Because of the political situation in Eastern Europe, we’ve moved the tour to October, 2023. The specific dates will be finalized by January. More information is available at www.gilberthouse.org/travel.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
SciFriday: www.YouTube.com/SciFridayTV
These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
ABIGAIL IS a wonderful example of wisdom and diplomacy, who acted contrary to her husband’s wishes—but in his best interests.
Nabal—certainly not his name, since it means “fool”—insulted the messengers sent by David to ask for some supplies after protecting Nabal’s flocks and shepherds in the wilderness. Abigail wisely put together a caravan of gifts for David and his men, which stopped David from slaughtering everyone in Nabal’s household.
When Abigail told her husband what had happened, Nabal suffered a heart attack (or a stroke) and died ten days later. David sent to Abigail and made her his third wife (after Saul’s daughter Michal and Ahinoam of Jezreel).
Meanwhile, Saul continued to hunt for David, who spares the king’s life a second time. Not being stupid, David decided to take his followers and his new wives to the Philistines. This time, Achish, the king of Gath, took David in. This put David in an awkward position: On the one hand, Saul wouldn’t chase him into Philistine territory. On the other, David had to show loyalty to Achish without raiding and killing his fellow Israelites.
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Get our new app! It’s free and connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs, SciFriday, Unraveling Revelation, and A View from the Bunker. The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Check out our new online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
——————
JOIN US IN ISRAEL! The Gilberts will be in the Holy Land March 19-30, 2023. This is a tour like no other! We’ll visit Shiloh, Joshua’s altar, Gilgal Refaim, and more. For information and to reserve your place, log on to www.SkyWatchInIsrael.com.
——————
NEW DATES FOR OUR TOUR OF TURKEY: We’re planning a tour of the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. Because of the political situation in Eastern Europe, we’ve moved the tour to October, 2023. The specific dates will be finalized by January. More information is available at www.SkyWatchinTurkey.com.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
SciFriday: www.YouTube.com/SciFridayTV
These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
WE GET insight into the mind of David this week as we read a collection of psalms probably written while he was hiding from Saul.
We discuss similarities in the words of David and Job. Although their circumstances were different—David being persecuted by a man while Job was being tested by “the satan”—their hope in God in the midst of their trials is very much alike.
——————
Get our new app! It’s free and connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs, SciFriday, Unraveling Revelation, and A View from the Bunker. The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Check out our new online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!
——————
JOIN US IN ISRAEL! The Gilberts will be in the Holy Land March 19-30, 2023. This is a tour like no other! We’ll visit Shiloh, Joshua’s altar, Gilgal Refaim, and more. For information and to reserve your place, log on to www.SkyWatchInIsrael.com.
——————
NEW DATES FOR OUR TOUR OF TURKEY: We’re planning a tour of the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. Because of the political situation in Eastern Europe, we’ve moved the tour to October, 2023. The specific dates will be finalized by January. More information is available at www.SkyWatchinTurkey.com.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
SciFriday: www.YouTube.com/SciFridayTV
These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
DAVID’S FLIGHT from Saul led both men to take desperate action: David sought refuge among Israel’s mortal enemies, first the Philistines and then the Moabites, while Saul ordered the slaughter of the priests of the tabernacle because they unknowingly helped David escape.
The difference between the two men is highlighted by the incident in a cave at Ein Gedi, a site on the west side of the Dead Sea. David had the opportunity to kill Saul while the king relieved himself, unaware that David and his men were hiding at the back of the cave. Instead of taking the king by surprise, David cut off a corner of the king’s robe as proof that Saul had been in David’s power, but he had forbidden his men from lifting a hand against the Lord’s anointed.
As we’ll see in the weeks ahead, Saul’s gratitude to David for sparing his life didn’t last very long.
——————
Get our new app! It’s free and connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs, SciFriday, Unraveling Revelation, and A View from the Bunker. The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Check out our new online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site (https://gilberthouse.uscreen.io)!
——————
JOIN US IN ISRAEL! The Gilberts will be in the Holy Land March 19-30, 2023. This is a tour like no other! We’ll visit Shiloh, Joshua’s altar, Gilgal Refaim, and more. For information and to reserve your place, log on to www.SkyWatchInIsrael.com.
——————
NEW DATES FOR OUR TOUR OF TURKEY: We’re planning a tour of the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. Because of the political situation in Eastern Europe, we’ve moved the tour to October, 2023. The specific dates will be finalized by January. More information is available at www.SkyWatchinTurkey.com.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
SciFriday: www.YouTube.com/SciFridayTV
These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
SAUL’S INSECURITIES were his downfall, the hole in his spiritual armor that led him to try to murder David rather than accept God’s will.
We discuss the plot to assassinate David and his first wife Michal’s scheme to buy time for David to escape, and how the account of 1 Samuel 19 shows the influence of the pagan Amorite culture, with its veneration of the ancestral dead, on ancient Israel.
Our schedule this week also takes us into the Psalms, as our chronological reading order begins interspersing the psalms of David into the account of his life. This approach will help us gain a deeper insight into the heart and mind of the man God called the apple of His eye.
——————
Get our new app! It’s free and connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs, SciFriday, Unraveling Revelation, and A View from the Bunker. The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Check out our new online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
JOIN US IN ISRAEL! The Gilberts will be in the Holy Land March 19-30, 2023. This is a tour like no other! We’ll visit Shiloh, Joshua’s altar, Gilgal Refaim, and more. For information and to reserve your place, log on to www.SkyWatchInIsrael.com.
——————
NEW DATES FOR OUR TOUR OF TURKEY: We’re planning a tour of the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. Because of the political situation in Eastern Europe, we’ve moved the tour to October, 2023. The specific dates will be finalized by January. More information is available at www.SkyWatchinTurkey.com.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
SciFriday: www.YouTube.com/SciFridayTV
These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE STORY of David and Goliath is one of the best-known in the Bible. The contrast between the faith of David (in God), Saul (in his armor), and Goliath (in himself) is just one of the lessons to draw from the account.
One of the interesting aspects of David’s battle with Goliath is the way the Masoretic Hebrew text, on which our English Old Testament translations are based, includes a big chunk of 1 Samuel 17 that is not in the older Hebrew texts translated into the Greek Septuagint 200-300 years before the birth of Jesus. 1 Samuel 17:12–31 and 55–58 are not in the Septuagint. It doesn’t change the meaning of the text, but the verses were apparently added by the Masoretes to enhance the stature of David as the founder of the bloodline that would produce the promised Messiah.
We also discuss Saul’s fall from favor as he disobeys God’s command to devote the Amalekites to destruction and then blames his failure on his fear of the people.
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Get our new app! It’s free and connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs, SciFriday, Unraveling Revelation, and A View from the Bunker. The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Check out our new online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
JOIN US IN ISRAEL! The Gilberts will be in the Holy Land March 19-30, 2023. This is a tour like no other! We’ll visit Shiloh, Joshua’s altar, Gilgal Refaim, and more. For information and to reserve your place, log on to www.SkyWatchInIsrael.com.
——————
NEW DATES FOR OUR TOUR OF TURKEY: We’re planning a tour of the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. Because of the political situation in Eastern Europe, we’ve moved the tour to October, 2023. The specific dates will be finalized by January. More information is available at www.SkyWatchinTurkey.com.
——————
Derek’s new book! The Second Coming of Saturn is available in paperback and Kindle. You can buy it at the SkyWatchTV store (https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/the-second-coming-of-saturn-the-great-conjunction-america-s-temple-and-the-return-of-the-watchers), Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/3rHgGRl), or any major bookstore.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
SciFriday: www.YouTube.com/SciFridayTV
These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
SAUL WAS a flawed man—indecisive, rash, and lacking in faith.
Although Saul led Israel to victory over its enemies, mainly the Philistines and the trans-Jordanian kingdoms of Edom, Moab, and Ammon, his insecurity and poor judgment led to God’s decree that the kingship would be stripped from his family and given to another.
We discuss Saul’s foolish decision to offer sacrifices rather than waiting for the prophet Samuel, placing himself above God’s priest and showing that he was unfit to lead God’s people.
Then we discuss a key battle in which Saul’s son Jonathan led a covert raid that God used to instill panic in the Philistines. Saul foolishly laid an oath on his soldiers: “Cursed be the man who eats food until it is evening and I am avenged on my enemies.”
Fighting is hard work, and because of his vow the Israelite forces were too weak to press their victory over the Philistines. This is another example that the characteristics we humans too often use to choose our leaders—he was tall and handsome!—are not the ones God values.
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Get our new app! It’s free and connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs, SciFriday, Unraveling Revelation, and A View from the Bunker. The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Check out our new online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
JOIN US IN ISRAEL! The Gilberts will be in the Holy Land March 19-30, 2023. This is a tour like no other! We’ll visit Shiloh, Joshua’s altar, Gilgal Refaim, and more. For information and to reserve your place, log on to www.SkyWatchInIsrael.com.
——————
NEW DATES FOR OUR TOUR OF TURKEY: We’re planning a tour of the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. Because of the political situation in Eastern Europe, we’ve moved the tour to October, 2023. The specific dates will be finalized by January. More information is available at www.SkyWatchinTurkey.com.
——————
Derek’s new book! The Second Coming of Saturn is available in paperback and Kindle. You can buy it at the SkyWatchTV store (https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/the-second-coming-of-saturn-the-great-conjunction-america-s-temple-and-the-return-of-the-watchers), Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/3rHgGRl), or any major bookstore.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
SciFriday: www.YouTube.com/SciFridayTV
These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
The story of Saul is a record of the transformation of Israel from a theocracy to a kingdom.
The sons of the prophet Samuel followed in the footsteps of the sons of the former high priest, Eli, pursuing wealth and taking bribes. (Interestingly, they set up shop in Beersheba, located in the Negev in southern Israel. We need to do more study into the significance of Beersheba to figure out why they went there instead of staying in the region of Benjamin and Ephraim like their father.)
Oppression by the Ammonite king Nahash, and the bad behavior of Samuel’s sons, prompted the Israelites to demand a king. In a classic example of being careful of what you wish for, God consented. And then He called a man based on the characteristics we humans often use to choose our leaders: Saul was tall and handsome.
As we’ll see in the weeks ahead, that’s really not good criteria for picking a national leader!
We also point out more hidden references to the Holy Spirit and the Messiah in the Old Testament. While the doctrine of the Trinity is not spelled out by the name in the Bible, we see all three members—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—throughout the scriptures if we pay attention.
For more on the Jewish belief in two powers in heaven, a teaching that was not heretical until the second century AD, visit www.TwoPowersInHeaven.com.
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Get our new app! It’s free and connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs, SciFriday, Unraveling Revelation, and A View from the Bunker. The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Check out our new online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!
——————
JOIN US IN ISRAEL! The Gilberts will be in the Holy Land March 19-30, 2023. This is a tour like no other! We’ll visit Shiloh, Joshua’s altar, Gilgal Refaim, and more. For information and to reserve your place, log on to www.SkyWatchInIsrael.com.
——————
NEW DATES FOR OUR TOUR OF TURKEY: We’re planning a tour of the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. Because of the political situation in Eastern Europe, we’ve moved the tour to October, 2023. The specific dates will be finalized by January. More information is available at www.SkyWatchinTurkey.com.
——————
Derek’s new book! The Second Coming of Saturn is available in paperback and Kindle. You can buy it at the SkyWatchTV store (https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/the-second-coming-of-saturn-the-great-conjunction-america-s-temple-and-the-return-of-the-watchers), Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/3rHgGRl), or any major bookstore.
——————
Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!
Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation
SciFriday: www.YouTube.com/SciFridayTV
These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
The ark of the covenant was not to be misused. God made that very clear to both Israel and its mortal enemies in the days of Samuel, Saul, and David, the Philistines.
The ark had been moved from Shechem to Shiloh at some point during the time of the Judges. As we discussed last week, the Samaritans believe to this day that Eli, the high priest who raised Samuel, was the one who moved the center of Israelite worship sometime around 1200 BC.
Whether that’s true or not, the tabernacle was in Shiloh by the time of Eli, and his death coincided with the capture of the ark by the Philistines. It had been brought to the battlefield by the Israelites in hope that it would guarantee a military victory.
The Bible does not record that the Israelites prayed or sacrificed to God before the battle, and we learned last week that Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phinehas, “did not know the Lord.” So, the ark was used by the Israelites as a sort of cosmic good luck charm and not as any sign of their faith in God. And it didn’t work, as Israel was routed and Eli’s sons were killed.
However, the Philistines didn’t enjoy their victory. A plague of “tumors” broke out, which was, based on a better understanding of Philistine culture and religion thanks to recent archaeological finds, probably even more painful than scripture suggests.
We briefly discuss the history of the Philistines and evidence connecting them to the early Greeks and the Amorites, links that explain the various names attached to their creator-god Dagon, also known as Saturn, Kronos, Baal-Hammon, El, Molech, Enlil, and Kumarbi—in our view, all of them identities worn by the leader of the rebellious “sons of God” from Genesis 6, the Watcher chief Shemihazah.
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Get our new app! It’s free and connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs, SciFriday, Unraveling Revelation, and A View from the Bunker. The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Check out our new online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study.
During the month of May, save 20% on all DVDs with promo code MAY20!
——————
JOIN US IN TURKEY! We’re planning a tour of the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. The dates are October 19-November 2, 2022. Complete details on cost, itinerary, and registration are available now at www.SkyWatchinTurkey.com.
——————
NEW DATES FOR THE SKYWATCH TV TOUR OF ISRAEL: The Gilberts will be in the Holy Land March 19-30, 2023. This is a tour like no other! We’ll visit Shiloh, Joshua’s altar, Gilgal Refaim, and more. For information and to reserve your place, log on to www.SkyWatchInIsrael.com.
——————
Derek’s new book! The Second Coming of Saturn is available in paperback and Kindle. You can buy it at the SkyWatchTV store (https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/the-second-coming-of-saturn-the-great-conjunction-america-s-temple-and-the-return-of-the-watchers), Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/3rHgGRl), or any major bookstore.
——————
Subscribe to our new channel at YouTube for Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation!
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
The rise of the monarchy in Israel begins with the story of Samuel.
We dive deeply into the prayer of Samuel’s mother, Hannah, and unpack its spiritual and prophetic implications. 2 Samuel 2:1 sets the tone for her prayer:
My heart exults in the Lord;
my horn is exalted in the Lord.
My mouth derides my enemies,
because I rejoice in your salvation.
Key to understanding that verse is knowing that “salvation” is the Hebrew word yeshua—Jesus!
We also discuss the references to spiritual warfare embedded in her prayer, Hannah’s humility and faithfulness, which contrasts with the sins of the sons of Eli.
We also discuss the historic significance of Eli. Samaritans, who consider themselves descendants of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh and the preservers of the true Law given to Moses, believe Eli illegally took a group of Israelites from Shechem to Shiloh. There, he built a second tabernacle and set himself up as high priest
Now, if that was true it would be in the Bible, which never hides bad behavior of the patriarchs or apostles. It’s what the Samaritans believe, however, and it’s at the root of the schism between Jews and Samaritans that continues to this day.
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Get our new app! It’s free and connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs, SciFriday, Unraveling Revelation, and A View from the Bunker. The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Check out our new online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study.
During the month of May, save 20% on all DVDs with promo code MAY20!
——————
JOIN US IN TURKEY! We’re planning a tour of the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. The dates are October 19-November 2, 2022. Complete details on cost, itinerary, and registration are available now at www.SkyWatchinTurkey.com.
——————
NEW DATES FOR THE SKYWATCH TV TOUR OF ISRAEL: The Gilberts will be in the Holy Land March 19-30, 2023. This is a tour like no other! We’ll visit Shiloh, Joshua’s altar, Gilgal Refaim, and more. For information and to reserve your place, log on to www.SkyWatchInIsrael.com.
——————
Derek’s new book! The Second Coming of Saturn is available in paperback and Kindle. You can buy it at the SkyWatchTV store (https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/the-second-coming-of-saturn-the-great-conjunction-america-s-temple-and-the-return-of-the-watchers), Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/3rHgGRl), or any major bookstore.
——————
Subscribe to our new channel at YouTube for Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation!
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
GOD IS our redeemer, a theme woven throughout the Old Testament. This is illustrated most clearly in the Book of Ruth.
This week, we finish the Book of Judges with the story of how the other tribes of Israel prevented the extinction of Benjamin after the sordid affair of the Levite’s concubine (Judges 19–20). Then we move on to Ruth, which relates the story of the great-grandparents of David.
Ruth was a Moabite woman who married a man from Bethlehem, one of the sons of Naomi and Elimelech, when they’d traveled to Moab during a famine in Israel. Elimelech died, leaving Naomi with her sons and daughters-in-law, but after ten years in Moab, Naomi’s sons died as well.
Ruth’s redemption by Naomi’s kinsman, Boaz, is a picture of our redemption by God through His sacrifice. We discuss the significance of the actions of Boaz in the context of Christ’s victory over death at the cross and the significance of the Bible recording a Moabite—a Gentile—in the line of David and Jesus. (And the mother of Boaz was Rahab, the Canaanite woman who hid the Israelite spies from the king of Jericho!)
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Get our new app! It’s free and connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs, SciFriday, Unraveling Revelation, and A View from the Bunker. The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Check out our new online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study.
During the month of May, save 20% on all DVDs with promo code MAY20!
——————
JOIN US IN TURKEY! We’re planning a tour of the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. The dates are October 19-November 2, 2022. Complete details on cost, itinerary, and registration are available now at www.SkyWatchinTurkey.com.
——————
NEW DATES FOR THE SKYWATCH TV TOUR OF ISRAEL: The Gilberts will be in the Holy Land March 19-30, 2023. This is a tour like no other! We’ll visit Shiloh, Joshua’s altar, Gilgal Refaim, and more. For information and to reserve your place, log on to www.SkyWatchInIsrael.com.
——————
Derek’s new book! The Second Coming of Saturn is available in paperback and Kindle. You can buy it at the SkyWatchTV store (https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/the-second-coming-of-saturn-the-great-conjunction-america-s-temple-and-the-return-of-the-watchers), Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/3rHgGRl), or any major bookstore.
——————
Subscribe to our new channel at YouTube for Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation!
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
SODOM AND GOMORRAH come to mind when reading the last chapters of the Book of Judges.
The disturbing events recorded in the final chapters of Judges describe a time “when there was no king in Israel.” A Levite from the hill country of Ephraim traveled to Bethlehem to bring home his wayward concubine, probably a secondary wife. On their return journey north, they stopped for the night at Gibeah, a town in the territory of Benjamin about four miles north of Jerusalem.
Then things took a horrifying turn.
The men of the city, like the men of Sodom in the days of Abraham and Lot, demanded that the owner of the home where the Levite and his concubine were staying send out the Levite so that they may “know” him—a euphemism for “have sex with.” The homeowner offered his virgin daughter instead, as Lot did with his daughters to the men of Sodom. The men of Gibeah refused—so the Levite pushed his concubine outside where she was raped so violently that she died.
The Levite brought her body home, cut her into twelve pieces and sent them to the tribes of Israel, a shocking bit of propaganda that moved the people to gather at Mizpah, about three miles from Gibeah, and prepare for war.
We discuss the fact that the Levite, who should have known better (he’s a Levite, after all!), never appealed to God for help. Nor did the people of Israel consult God before deciding to go to war with the tribe of Benjamin—who, for their part, refused to give up the guilty men of Gibeah, preferring to fight even though they were outnumbered nearly 20-to-1!
We also look at Hosea chapter 9, which references the incident at Gibeah as part of a longer polemic against Ephraim, meaning the northern tribes. Hosea wrote in the 8th century BC, just before the Assyrian conquest of Samaria, a time when the northern tribes had followed the apostasy of Jeroboam, the rebel who led the northern tribes to declare independence from Solomon’s son Rehoboam. Jeroboam set up the golden calves at Bethel and Dan, worship of the Canaanite creator-god El that was specifically condemned by Hosea (Hos. 8:5–6).
We believe the actions of the men of Gibeah and Sodom are linked to the worship of El and Baal-Peor, which Derek argues in his new book The Second Coming of Saturn are one and the same. It’s connected to the cult of the dead, a practice that was a snare to the Israelites from the time they entered Canaan (see Hosea 9:15; Gilgal was the Israelite camp near Jericho).
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Get our new app! It’s free and connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs, SciFriday, Unraveling Revelation, and A View from the Bunker. The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Check out our new online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study.
During the month of May, save 20% on all DVDs with promo code MAY20!
——————
JOIN US IN TURKEY! We’re planning a tour of the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. The dates are October 19-November 2, 2022. Complete details on cost, itinerary, and registration are available now at www.SkyWatchinTurkey.com.
——————
NEW DATES FOR THE SKYWATCH TV TOUR OF ISRAEL: The Gilberts will be in the Holy Land March 19-30, 2023. This is a tour like no other! We’ll visit Shiloh, Joshua’s altar, Gilgal Refaim, and more. For information and to reserve your place, log on to www.SkyWatchInIsrael.com.
——————
Derek’s new book! The Second Coming of Saturn is available in paperback and Kindle. You can buy it at the SkyWatchTV store (https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/the-second-coming-of-saturn-the-great-conjunction-america-s-temple-and-the-return-of-the-watchers), Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/3rHgGRl), or any major bookstore.
——————
Subscribe to our new channel at YouTube for Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation!
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
SAMSON WAS the stereotypical alpha male. Ruled by his passions, Samson fell into the hands of Israel’s enemies, the Philistines—but God used even Samson’s failings to save His people from their enemies.
We discuss Samson’s flaws, such as his pride and rather flexible approach toward keeping his vow as a Nazirite. It’s clear that Samson either wasn’t the smartest guy in Israel, or he put so much trust in his own strength that he did foolish things.
Then we move on to the story of the tribe of Dan’s relocation from its original land allotment west of Judah to the north, at the base of Mount Hermon. The Danites, unable to push the Philistines out of their territory, seized the area around the ancient city of Laish and settled there.
This story is connected to that of an ambitious Levite priest who left the territory of Judah and settled with a wealthy Ephraimite named Micah, who had fallen into the pagan practices of Israel’s Amorite neighbors. We revisit the practice of ancestor veneration and the monthly kispum ritual, which involved the household idols called teraphim, through which pagans in the ancient Near East believed they provided food and drink for their dead ancestors.
Judges 17 and 18 show the fulfillment of Moses’ prophecy over Dan in Deuteronomy 33:22: “Dan is a lion’s cub that leaps from Bashan.” Mount Hermon and the area around the city of Dan were part of Og’s kingdom, Bashan, but at the time of the prophecy, the Israelites were still camping on the plains of Moab east of the Jordan River.
The account also shows that Dan was the first of the tribes of Israel to fall back into pagan worship. By taking the Levite, Jonathan (a descendant of Moses!), as their tribal priest, they violated the Law, since the approved priesthood served at the Tabernacle in Shiloh. This may be the reason early Christian theologians such as Irenaeus believed the Antichrist would come from the tribe of Dan.
Here’s the link (https://www.hearthewatchmen.com/buffalo-base-camp) for information about Jamie Walden and the Calico Buffalo Base Camp. The first gathering will be August 4–7, 2022 at the camp, located just outside Durango, Colorado. Jamie’s website is OmegaDynamics.org. You can help support the Waldens and their work to rebuild the camp by clicking here (https://www.gofundme.com/f/helping-a-family-of-christ-do-gods-work-in-faith).
Get our new app! It’s free and connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs, SciFriday , Unraveling Revelation , and A View from the Bunker . The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Please subscribe and share our YouTube channel, www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse!
Check out our new online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. During the month of May, save 20% with promo code MAY20!
JOIN US IN TURKEY! We’re planning a tour of the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. The dates are October 19-November 3, 2022. Complete details on cost, the itinerary, and registration are available now at www.SkyWatchinTurkey.com.
NEW DATES FOR THE SKYWATCH TV TOUR OF ISRAEL: The Gilberts will be in the Holy Land March 19-30, 2023 . This is a tour like no other! See Joshua’s altar, Gilgal Refaim, and more. For information and to reserve your place, log on to www.SkyWatchInIsrael.com.
Follow our weekly studies of Bible prophecy at www.UnravelingRevelation.tv, or at www.youtube.com/unravelingrevelation!
Derek’s new book! The Second Coming of Saturn is available in paperback and Kindle. You can buy it at the SkyWatchTV store (https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/the-second-coming-of-saturn-the-great-conjunction-america-s-temple-and-the-return-of-the-watchers), Amazon (https://amzn.to/3rHgGRl), or any major bookstore.
Click here (www.gilberthouse.org/bible-study-archive/new-testament-study-archive/) for the complete archive of our New Testament Bible studies to date, and click here (www.gilberthouse.org/bible-study-archive/old-testament-study-archive/) for the Old Testament studies to date. Or go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship for all of the audio.
JUDGES 11 describes an event in Israel’s history that is difficult to reconcile with a loving God.
Jephthah, the son of man of the tribe of Manasseh by a prostitute, is called upon by the people of Gilead to lead them into battle against the kingdom of Ammon, which had invaded their territory. Jephthah, described as “a mighty warrior,” vowed to God that he would sacrifice as a burnt offering “whatever [or “whoever”] comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return.” (Judges 11:30–31).
This illustrates the foolishness of swearing a rash vow to God. It is also evidence that the Bible has not been edited over the centuries, for surely an event like this would have been deleted to remove any hint that Jephthah’s vow and subsequent sacrifice was acceptable to God.
However, not all scholars believe that Jephthah’s daughter became a burnt offering. The Septuagint translation suggests that she was instead dedicated to God through a vow of chastity. In that time, being childless was normally considered a mark of shame. For more on this, see “Did Jephthah Kill His Daughter?” by Solomon Landers at Biblical Archaeology Society Online (link: https://www.baslibrary.org/bible-review/7/4/15) and “Daughter of Jephthah: Bible” by Karla Bombach at the Jewish Women’s Archive (link: https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/daughter-of-jephthah-bible).
It appears the real sacrifice was the end of Jephthah’s patrimony, since his daughter was his only child. By dedicating her to God, the bloodline of Jephthah came to an end.
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Get our new app! It’s free and connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs, SciFriday, Unraveling Revelation, and A View from the Bunker. The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.
Check out our new online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study.
During the month of May, save 20% on all DVDs with promo code MAY20!
——————
JOIN US IN TURKEY! We’re planning a tour of the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. The dates are October 19-November 2, 2022. Complete details on cost, itinerary, and registration are available now at www.SkyWatchinTurkey.com.
——————
NEW DATES FOR THE SKYWATCH TV TOUR OF ISRAEL: The Gilberts will be in the Holy Land March 19-30, 2023. This is a tour like no other! We’ll visit Shiloh, Joshua’s altar, Gilgal Refaim, and more. For information and to reserve your place, log on to www.SkyWatchInIsrael.com.
——————
Derek’s new book! The Second Coming of Saturn is available in paperback and Kindle. You can buy it at the SkyWatchTV store (https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/the-second-coming-of-saturn-the-great-conjunction-america-s-temple-and-the-return-of-the-watchers), Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/3rHgGRl), or any major bookstore.
——————
Subscribe to our new channel at YouTube for Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation!
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE SHORT reign of Gideon’s son Abimelech lasted just three years, with a sad end to what was the first attempt to create a ruling dynasty over Israel.
Abimelech’s fratricide, killing his half-brothers to become king over Israel, reveals that Gideon, despite saying, “The Lord will rule over you,” did in fact rule as a king. (And Abimelech’s name, which means “my father, the king,” is another clue!) We discuss the work of the spirit realm in sowing discord between Abimelech and his co-conspirators from the city of Shechem.
We also discuss the spiritual significance of Shechem, the identity of Baal-Berith (Derek identifies it in his book The Second Coming of Saturn as the Hurrian god Mitra, another identity worn by El, Kronos, Saturn, etc.), and some of the biblical events that took place there. In short, it’s not a coincidence that God directed Moses and Joshua to set up an altar overlooking the city!
If you’re curious about our tour of Turkey this fall, you might want to watch our interview with Doug Hershey, author of Israel Rising and the founder of Ezra Adventures:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf1RcLfKpnU
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Check out our new online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study.
During the month of April, save 10% with promo code APRIL10!
——————
JOIN US IN TURKEY! We’re planning a tour of the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. The dates are October 19-November 2, 2022. Complete details on cost, itinerary, and registration are available now at www.SkyWatchinTurkey.com.
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NEW DATES FOR THE SKYWATCH TV TOUR OF ISRAEL: The Gilberts will be in the Holy Land March 19-30, 2023. This is a tour like no other! We’ll visit Shiloh, Joshua’s altar, Gilgal Refaim, and more. For information and to reserve your place, log on to www.SkyWatchInIsrael.com.
——————
Derek’s new book! The Second Coming of Saturn is available in paperback and Kindle. You can buy it at the SkyWatchTV store (https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/the-second-coming-of-saturn-the-great-conjunction-america-s-temple-and-the-return-of-the-watchers), Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/3rHgGRl), or any major bookstore.
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Subscribe to our new channel at YouTube for Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation!
——————
Giants, Gods & Dragons is available in Kindle and paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
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Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE STORY of Gideon is not just an example of faith in the face of overwhelming odds; it’s also another example of the Trinity in the Old Testament.
Gideon was from the weakest clan in the tribe of Manasseh, and described himself as “the least in [his] father’s house.” Yet, the angel of the Lord, the pre-incarnate Christ, assured Gideon that he would “save Israel from the hand of Midian.”
Gideon’s reluctance is understandable; the hordes of Midianites and Amalekites were so numerous that “both they and their camels could not be counted.” He tested God twice, and God confirmed that it was indeed He who had called Gideon to this mission.
In Judges 6:34, we read that “the Spirit of the Lord clothed [or “took control of”] Gideon,” giving us the third member of the Trinity in the story of Gideon.
Sadly, Gideon, like all of us, wasn’t perfect. Although he declined the offer of the Israelites to rule over them, which is understandable given that he and his 300 beat an army of 120,000, he made a gold ephod for himself, a garment reserved for the high priest, and named one of his many sons Abimelech—which means “my father is king.”
By the way, the value of Gideon’s ephod, in today’s market, is over $1.3 million. No wonder “it became a snare to Gideon and his family”!
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Check out our new online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study.
During the month of April, save 10% with promo code APRIL10!
——————
JOIN US IN TURKEY! We’re planning a tour of the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. The dates are October 19-November 2, 2022. Complete details on cost, itinerary, and registration are available now at www.SkyWatchinTurkey.com.
——————
NEW DATES FOR THE SKYWATCH TV TOUR OF ISRAEL: The Gilberts will be in the Holy Land March 19-30, 2023. This is a tour like no other! We’ll visit Shiloh, Joshua’s altar, Gilgal Refaim, and more. For information and to reserve your place, log on to www.SkyWatchInIsrael.com.
——————
Derek’s new book! The Second Coming of Saturn is available in paperback and Kindle. You can buy it at the SkyWatchTV store (https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/the-second-coming-of-saturn-the-great-conjunction-america-s-temple-and-the-return-of-the-watchers), Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/3rHgGRl), or any major bookstore.
——————
The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries is on the air! For more information, log on to www.BiblesGreatestMysteries.tv. Catch all of our studies on Bible prophecy at www.UnravelingRevelation.tv.
And subscribe to our new channels at YouTube for The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries and Unraveling Revelation!
——————
Giants, Gods & Dragons is available in Kindle and paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
ON THE surface, the song of Deborah and Barak in Judges 5 is a celebration of a miraculous military victory over a superior enemy. It is that, but it’s much more.
When we dig into the Hebrew and consider the cult of the dead from the surrounding Amorite culture, Judges 5 tells of a supernatural battle between Yahweh and His forces against the small-g gods of the Canaanites. The mentions in Judges 5:13 to “the noble” (Hebrew addirim) and “the mighty” (gibborim; also v. 23) are references to the demonic spirits of the Rephaim (i.e., the Nephilim) worshiped by the pagan neighbors of ancient Israel.
We find more evidence in verse 20:
From heaven the stars fought,
from their courses they fought against Sisera.
Stars (kokabim) in the Old Testament often refer to the sons of God, as in Job 38:7–8, the supernatural beings we usually (but inaccurately) call angels.
We also discuss the strange curse on the inhabitants of Meroz, which some have interpreted, because of verse 20, as a biblical reference to extraterrestrials. Simply put, it’s not.
Here’s the link to Dr. Mike Heiser’s article “The Torah’s Teaching on Aliens,” which he jokingly wrote might as well have been a blank page.
——————
Check out our new online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study.
During the month of April, save 10% with promo code APRIL10!
——————
JOIN US IN TURKEY! We’re planning a tour of the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. The dates are October 19-November 2, 2022. Complete details on cost, itinerary, and registration are available now at www.SkyWatchinTurkey.com.
——————
NEW DATES FOR THE SKYWATCH TV TOUR OF ISRAEL: The Gilberts will be in the Holy Land March 19-30, 2023. This is a tour like no other! We’ll visit Shiloh, Joshua’s altar, Gilgal Refaim, and more. For information and to reserve your place, log on to www.SkyWatchInIsrael.com.
——————
Derek’s new book! The Second Coming of Saturn is available in paperback and Kindle. You can buy it at the SkyWatchTV store (https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/the-second-coming-of-saturn-the-great-conjunction-america-s-temple-and-the-return-of-the-watchers), Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/3rHgGRl), or any major bookstore.
——————
The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries is on the air! For more information, log on to www.BiblesGreatestMysteries.tv. Catch all of our studies on Bible prophecy at www.UnravelingRevelation.tv.
And subscribe to our new channels at YouTube for The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries and Unraveling Revelation!
——————
Giants, Gods & Dragons is available in Kindle and paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
STRONG WOMEN rose to the occasion when Israel fell under the oppressive hand of Jabin, the Canaanite king of Hazor.
This week, we discuss the victory of Deborah and Barak, which was sealed by the decisive act of Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite. We discuss Barak’s reluctance to lead Israel’s troops against the iron chariots of Sisera, Jabin’s general, explain why Sisera was probably the leader of a mercenary band from Sardinia, and how archaeologists have confirmed the Bible’s account of Hazor’s destruction under Joshua, shortly after 1406 BC, and again in the time of the Judges around 1234 BC.
Here’s the link to the paper by Dr. Douglas Petrovich, “The Dating of Hazor’s Destruction in Joshua 11,” which corroborates the biblical account (link opens PDF document). (https://www.etsjets.org/files/JETS-PDFs/51/51-3/JETS%2051-3%20489-512%20Petrovich.pdf)
We also discuss the brief accounts of the judges Othniel (nephew of Joshua’s colleague Caleb), Shamgar (who may have been a Hurrian mercenary), and Ehud, the left-handed warrior who freed Israel from the oppression of Eglon, king of Moab.
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Save $20 on the Eyes to See Conference! The Gilberts will be in Dallas March 17–20, 2022, with L. A. Marzulli, Pastor Paul Begley, and other great speakers. Use promo code GILBERT20 for $20 off registration at www.HearTheWatchmen.com.
If you can’t be in Dallas with us, sign up for streaming video!
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JOIN US IN TURKEY! We’re planning a tour of the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. The dates are October 19-November 2, 2022. Complete details on cost, itinerary, and registration are available now at www.SkyWatchinTurkey.com.
——————
NEW DATES FOR THE SKYWATCH TV TOUR OF ISRAEL: The Gilberts will be in the Holy Land March 19-30, 2023. This is a tour like no other! We’ll visit Shiloh, Joshua’s altar, Gilgal Refaim, and more. For information and to reserve your place, log on to www.SkyWatchInIsrael.com.
——————
Derek’s new book! The Second Coming of Saturn is available in paperback and Kindle. You can buy it at the SkyWatchTV store (https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/the-second-coming-of-saturn-the-great-conjunction-america-s-temple-and-the-return-of-the-watchers), Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/3rHgGRl), or any major bookstore.
——————
The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries is on the air! For more information, log on to www.BiblesGreatestMysteries.tv. Catch all of our studies on Bible prophecy at www.UnravelingRevelation.tv.
And subscribe to our new channels at YouTube for The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries and Unraveling Revelation!
——————
Giants, Gods & Dragons is available in Kindle and paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
IT DIDN’T take long for Israel to forget God. Within thirty years of arriving in Canaan, God was compelled to tell the Israelites that because of their disobedience, He would not drive out the people before them.
This is a pattern that repeats throughout the Book of Judges. We discuss the failure of Israel to obey God’s command to push the Canaanites, Amorites, and Perizzites (Philistines) out of the land, the apparent contradiction over the destruction of Jerusalem by the tribe of Judah and the fact that the Jebusites still controlled it nearly 400 years later in the time of David, and why Jerusalem was important despite being smaller than other cities of the region at the time.
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Join us for a weekend retreat! March 4-6, 2022, we’ll be at at the beautiful Finley River Ranch in Sparta, Missouri, teaching Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday morning on prophecy, politics, and the end times. Lunch Saturday and Sunday is included.
Sparta is about halfway between Springfield and Branson in the Missouri Ozarks. For information and registration, log on to www.HisCallMinistries.com.
——————
Save $20 on the Eyes to See Conference! The Gilberts will be in Dallas March 17–20, 2022, with L. A. Marzulli, Pastor Paul Begley, and other great speakers. Use promo code GILBERT20 for $20 off registration at www.HearTheWatchmen.com.
——————
NEW DATES FOR THE SKYWATCH TV TOUR OF ISRAEL: The Gilberts will be in the Holy Land March 19-30, 2023. This is a tour like no other! We’ll visit Shiloh, Joshua’s altar, Gilgal Refaim, and more. For information and to reserve your place, log on to www.SkyWatchInIsrael.com.
——————
JOIN US IN TURKEY! We’re planning a tour of the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. The dates are October 19-November 2, 2022. More details are forthcoming soon.
——————
Derek’s new book! The Second Coming of Saturn is available in paperback and Kindle. You can buy it at the SkyWatchTV store (https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/the-second-coming-of-saturn-the-great-conjunction-america-s-temple-and-the-return-of-the-watchers), Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/3rHgGRl), or any major bookstore.
——————
The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries is on the air! For more information, log on to www.BiblesGreatestMysteries.tv. Catch all of our studies on Bible prophecy at www.UnravelingRevelation.tv.
And subscribe to our new channels at YouTube for The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries and Unraveling Revelation!
——————
Giants, Gods & Dragons is available in Kindle and paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE PEOPLE of Israel are finally dispatched to their homes after the allocation of the land and establishing the cities of refuge, sanctuaries for those who inadvertently commit what we today would call manslaughter.
Before they go, however, Joshua binds them with another oath, demanding that they choose who they will serve, “whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the [Euphrates] River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Of course, as we’ll see next week when we start the Book of Judges, it didn’t take long for the people to forget their promise.
——————
Join us for a weekend retreat! March 4-6, 2022, we’ll be at at the beautiful Finley River Ranch in Sparta, Missouri, teaching Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday morning on prophecy, politics, and the end times. Lunch Saturday and Sunday is included.
Sparta is about halfway between Springfield and Branson in the Missouri Ozarks. For information and registration, log on to www.HisCallMinistries.com.
——————
Save $20 on the Eyes to See Conference! The Gilberts will be in Dallas March 17–20, 2022, with L. A. Marzulli, Pastor Paul Begley, and other great speakers. Use promo code GILBERT20 for $20 off registration at www.HearTheWatchmen.com.
——————
NEW DATES FOR THE SKYWATCH TV TOUR OF ISRAEL: The Gilberts will be in the Holy Land March 19-30, 2023. This is a tour like no other! We’ll visit Shiloh, Joshua’s altar, Gilgal Refaim, and more. For information and to reserve your place, log on to www.SkyWatchInIsrael.com.
——————
JOIN US IN TURKEY! We’re planning a tour of the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. The dates are October 19-November 2, 2022. More details are forthcoming soon.
——————
Derek’s new book! The Second Coming of Saturn is available in paperback and Kindle. You can buy it at the SkyWatchTV store (https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/the-second-coming-of-saturn-the-great-conjunction-america-s-temple-and-the-return-of-the-watchers), Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/3rHgGRl), or any major bookstore.
——————
The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries is on the air! For more information, log on to www.BiblesGreatestMysteries.tv. Catch all of our studies on Bible prophecy at www.UnravelingRevelation.tv.
And subscribe to our new channels at YouTube for The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries and Unraveling Revelation!
——————
Giants, Gods & Dragons is available in Kindle and paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
——————
Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE DIVISION of the land continues in this week’s study as we read through the boundaries of the lands allotted to the seven tribes who had not yet claimed their inheritance.
We note the influence of the pagan Amorites on the people of Canaan, with cities devoted to pagan gods like Dagon, Shemesh (sun-god), Horon (an underworld deity), and Anat (war-goddess). This is significant. The pagan Canaanites were not completely driven out of the land, which created spiritual problems for Israel for centuries to come.
Join us for a weekend retreat at the beautiful Finley River Ranch in Sparta, Missouri March 4-6, 2022! We’ll be teaching Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday morning on prophecy, politics, and the end times. Lunch Saturday and Sunday is included.
Sparta is about halfway between Springfield and Branson in the Missouri Ozarks. For information and registration, log on to www.HisCallMinistries.com.
——————
NEW DATES FOR THE SKYWATCH TV TOUR OF ISRAEL: The Gilberts will be in the Holy Land March 19-30, 2023. This is a tour like no other! We’ll visit Shiloh, Joshua’s altar, Gilgal Refaim, and more. For information and to reserve your place, log on to www.SkyWatchInIsrael.com.
——————
JOIN US IN TURKEY! We’re planning a tour of the churches of Revelation, Göbekli Tepe, Abraham’s home town Harran, the “Gates of Hell,” Mount Nemrut, and more. The dates are October 19-November 2, 2022. More details are forthcoming.
——————
Derek’s new book The Second Coming of Saturn is available now! You can buy it at the SkyWatchTV store (https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/the-second-coming-of-saturn-the-great-conjunction-america-s-temple-and-the-return-of-the-watchers), Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/3rHgGRl), or any major bookstore.
——————
The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries is on the air! For more information, log on to www.BiblesGreatestMysteries.tv. Catch all of our studies on Bible prophecy at www.UnravelingRevelation.tv.
And subscribe to our new channels at YouTube for The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries and Unraveling Revelation!
——————
Our book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available in Kindle and paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
——————
Check our website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE SECOND HALF of the Book of Joshua begins with a list of kings defeated by Moses and Joshua.Interestingly, our Bibles list 31 kings while the Septuagint, translated into Greek by Jewish religious scholars about 200 years before the birth of Jesus, only names 29.
Then we begin describing the allotment of the land to the tribes of Israel, a process that will take us through the month of February. This week, we list the the territories given to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh east of the Jordan, and the land in Canaan allotted to the tribe of Judah, which included the region of Hebron, a stronghold of the Anakim, requested by Caleb.
Here are links to our previous studies where we talked about the seer Balaam son of Beor: Numbers 22–23, which includes our discussion of the famous Deir Alla inscription, and Numbers 24, which features the famous messianic prophecy of the star that comes from Jacob.
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NEW DATES FOR THE SKYWATCH TV TOUR OF ISRAEL: The Gilberts will be in the Holy Land March 19-30, 2023. This is a tour like no other! See Joshua’s altar, Gilgal Refaim, and more. For information and to reserve your place, log on to www.SkyWatchInIsrael.com.
——————
Derek’s new book The Second Coming of Saturn is available now! You can buy it at the SkyWatchTV store (https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/the-second-coming-of-saturn-the-great-conjunction-america-s-temple-and-the-return-of-the-watchers), Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/3rHgGRl), or any major bookstore.
——————
The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries is on the air! For more information, log on to www.BiblesGreatestMysteries.tv. Catch all of our studies on Bible prophecy at www.UnravelingRevelation.tv.
And subscribe to our new channels at YouTube for The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries and Unraveling Revelation!
——————
Our book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available in Kindle and paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
——————
Check our website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE CONQUEST of Canaan was a war to drive the Anakim out of the hill country of Judah and Israel.
This week, we discuss Joshua’s two campaigns in Canaan, against coalitions of Amorites, Perizzites (Philistines), Hittites, Hivites (Mycenaean Greeks), and Jebusites (probably Hurrians). We explain how the deception of the Gibeonites was perceived by the Amorite kings in the south as a divide-and-conquer maneuver by Israel, and why the Anakim were a warrior elite who venerated the Rephaim (spirits of the Nephilim; i.e., demons).
Here is an excerpt from our book Veneration at All-Pro Pastors explaining our views on the Nephilim, Rephaim, and Anakim, and why we believe Anakim ”was a title roughly meaning ‘lords’ or ‘rulers,’ and the ‘sons of Anak’ [Num. 13:21] were a warrior elite who ruled the hill country of Judah and Israel.” (https://allpropastors.org/the-nephilim-and-the-sons-of-god/)
Here is the Chuck Missler article we mentioned where he proposed that Joshua’s Long Day was the result of a near pass of Earth by the planet Mars. Besides the defeat of the Amorite kings, Chuck suggested that other significant events, like the flattening of Sodom and Gomorrah and the destruction of the Assyrian army outside the walls of Jerusalem, were also the result of a Mars flyby. Fascinating reading! (https://www.khouse.org/articles/2013/1099/)
Chuck pointed out that Jonathan Swift, in his novel Gulliver’s Travels, apparently knew about the two moons of Mars (including their sizes, periods, and orbits) 151 years before they were discovered! According to Chuck, “it is assumed that Swift simply embroidered his colorful parody drawing upon an ancient legend of some sort, probably not realizing that it was, apparently, an actual eye-witness account long prior to the development of telescopic optics.”
——————
Derek’s new book The Second Coming of Saturn is available now! You can buy it at the SkyWatchTV store (https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/the-second-coming-of-saturn-the-great-conjunction-america-s-temple-and-the-return-of-the-watchers), Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/3rHgGRl), or any major bookstore.
——————
The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries is on the air! For more information, log on to www.BiblesGreatestMysteries.tv. Catch all of our studies on Bible prophecy at www.UnravelingRevelation.tv.
And subscribe to our new channels at YouTube for The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries and Unraveling Revelation!
——————
Our book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available in Kindle and paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
——————
Check our website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE DESTRUCTION of Jericho was not just a military victory. It was another statement of God’s superiority over the gods of the Amorites, whose land was about to be given to the Israelites.
This week, we discuss the conquest of Jericho and Ai. We explain why God’s command to march around the city may have been a reversal of an ancient ritual known in Mesopotamia a thousand years before the Exodus. Sharon compares this to a pagan myth from ancient Persia, and then we explain the significance of the location of the altar on Mount Ebal, overlooking the city of Shechem.
We also note the reference to “native born” Israelites in Josh. 8:33. Who were they, assuming that all of the Israelites who entered Canaan (except Joshua and Caleb) had been born during the wilderness wanderings?
Aaron Lipkin recently shared new research with us on The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries showing that the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh were already in Canaan when the rest of Israel arrived. These, then, were the native born Israelites who joined their cousins from Egypt. You can watch that program here:
https://youtu.be/p63gymjw8a4?t=707
——————
Derek’s new book The Second Coming of Saturn is available now! You can buy it at the SkyWatchTV store (https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/the-second-coming-of-saturn-the-great-conjunction-america-s-temple-and-the-return-of-the-watchers), Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/3rHgGRl), or any major bookstore.
——————
The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries is on the air! For more information, log on to www.BiblesGreatestMysteries.tv. Catch all of our studies on Bible prophecy at www.UnravelingRevelation.tv.
And subscribe to our new channels at YouTube for The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries and Unraveling Revelation!
——————
Our book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available in Kindle and paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
——————
Check our website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE CROSSING of the Jordan River by the Israelites was more than preparation for the conquest of Canaan. It represented God breaching the veil between the spirit realm and the land of the living.
We discuss the mission of the two spies sent by Joshua and more examples of the “third day” in the Bible. It was on the third day after the spies visited the inn run by Rahab that the Israelites crossed the Jordan, and it was the third day after the circumcision of the men of Israel that the assault on Jericho began (which we’ll discuss next week).
We also explain why the Jordan River crossing was significant: We found during our research for our book Veneration that the Jordan was believed to be a boundary between the realm of the living and the land of the dead. Hence, the mountains of Moab east of the Dead Sea were called the “mountains of Abarim” (Num. 33:47), which, according to the 1899 Encyclopaedia Biblica, means mountains of “Those-on-the-other-side.”
Other definitions are similar: “regions beyond,” “going across a space or a dividing line,” or “crossing over.” But until recently, when scholars recognized the existence of a cult of the dead among the ancient Canaanites, these definitions were assumed to refer to geography—the other side of the Jordan River.
In fact, scholars now recognize that the equivalent term was used by the neighbors of the ancient Israelites to refer to spirits that “cross over” from the spirit realm into the land of the living. This was used to describe the spirits of the Rephaim, who were summoned to a ritual feast in their honor to the threshing-floor, sanctuary, or tabernacle of El—the summit of Mount Hermon—where “the blessing of the name of El” would revivify (resurrect) “the heroes” after their arrival at dawn of the third day.
Interestingly, abarim, translated into English as “travelers,” appears in Ezekiel 39:11 as a reference to the soldiers of Gog of Magog, and was used by Ezekiel to describe the valley “east of the [Dead] sea”—in other words, the very place from which the Israelites crossed the Jordan to begin the conquest of Canaan.
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Derek’s new book The Second Coming of Saturn is available now! You can buy it at the SkyWatchTV store (https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/the-second-coming-of-saturn-the-great-conjunction-america-s-temple-and-the-return-of-the-watchers), Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/3rHgGRl), or any major bookstore.
——————
The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries is on the air! For more information, log on to www.BiblesGreatestMysteries.tv. Catch all of our studies on Bible prophecy at www.UnravelingRevelation.tv.
And subscribe to our new channels at YouTube for The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries and Unraveling Revelation!
——————
Our book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available in Kindle and paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
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Check our website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
PSALM 91 is often called the Soldiers’ Psalm, but the warfare it describes is spiritual rather than physical.
The “terror,” “pestilence,” and “destruction” referenced in Psalm 91 were evil entities named Pachad, Deber, and Qeteb who were well-known to the ancient Canaanites. We also note that the “adder” of verse 13 is nachash, the “serpent” of Genesis 3, and “the serpent” of Psalm 91 is a tannin—a dragon!
We also note God’s promise to deliver those who hold fast to Him in love, and we explain why verse 16 is a promise of the coming Messiah.
Then we move to the first chapter of Joshua, an exhortation of the Israelites to “be strong and courageous” as they prepared for the conquest of Canaan. Notice Joshua 1:3, God’s promise that “every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you.” And we discuss the importance of verse 11, and why Joshua’s command to his officers to prepare the people “for within three days you are to pass over this Jordan” is a reversal of a pagan ritual intended to resurrect “those who cross over”—the Rephaim—at dawn of the third day.
For the significance of the footprint structures discovered by the late Israeli archaeologist Adam Zertal, we encourage you to watch this recent episode of our program, The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCx_nw3QY8A
——————
Derek’s new book The Second Coming of Saturn is available now! You can buy it at the SkyWatchTV store (https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/the-second-coming-of-saturn-the-great-conjunction-america-s-temple-and-the-return-of-the-watchers), Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/3rHgGRl), or any major bookstore.
——————
The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries is on the air! For more information, log on to www.BiblesGreatestMysteries.tv. Catch all of our studies on Bible prophecy at www.UnravelingRevelation.tv.
And subscribe to our new channels at YouTube for The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries and Unraveling Revelation!
——————
Our book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available now in Kindle and paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
——————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
MOSES’ FINAL blessing on Israel was in the form of prophecies over the tribes, along with a reminder that when God led the people from Sinai, He was accompanied by “ten thousands of holy ones.”
“Holy ones” is a term used elsewhere in the Old Testament, always in reference to angelic beings. Yahweh’s “march from the south” is a theme also noted in Habakkuk 3:3–7 and Judges 5:4–5. The references to Edom in those passages hint that Mount Sinai is located farther north than most people think.
We also discuss the prophecy over the tribe of Dan (“a lion’s cub that leaps from Bashan”), the absence of Simeon from the tribes blessed by Moses, and the odd reference in Jude to the dispute between Michael and Satan over the body of Moses.
——————
Derek’s new book The Second Coming of Saturn is available now! You can buy it at the SkyWatchTV store (https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/the-second-coming-of-saturn-the-great-conjunction-america-s-temple-and-the-return-of-the-watchers), Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/3rHgGRl), or any major bookstore.
——————
The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries is on the air! For more information, log on to www.BiblesGreatestMysteries.tv. And subscribe to the new YouTube channel for The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries!
——————
Our book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available now in Kindle and paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
——————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
MOSES’ LAST message was a warning—not just to the Israelites, but to the lesser elohim who had rebelled against the authority of God.
We discuss Moses’ warning to the people against disobeying the commandments of God, the commissioning of Joshua, and the Song of Moses, which lays out the consequences of following other gods.
Deuteronomy 32 makes it clear that these small-G “gods” are real and that not all of them are faithful. We explain why Deuteronomy 32:8 should read “sons of God” and not “sons of Israel” and share some background of the “demons” (Hebrew shedim) in Deut. 32:17.
Interestingly, Deut. 32:24 suggests that two entities known as deities in ancient Canaan may have been agents of God’s judgment for disobedience—Qeteb (“pestilence”) and Resheph (“plague”), who was later known to the Greeks and Romans as Apollo.
For more on the “sons of God” in Deut. 32:8, see Dr. Mike Heiser’s article “‘Sons of God’ or ‘Sons of Israel’ in Deuteronomy 32:8?” https://blog.logos.com/sons-of-israel-or-sons-of-god-in-deuteronomy-32-8-9/
——————
The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries is on the air! For more information, log on to www.BiblesGreatestMysteries.tv. And subscribe to the new YouTube channel for The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries!
——————
Our book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available now in Kindle and paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
——————
Derek's novels The God Conspiracy and Iron Dragons are available in paperback and Kindle! See the official trailers and learn more at the website for Rose Avenue Fiction (www.roseavenuefiction.com).
——————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
GOD’S COVENANT with Israel was conditional, with blessings for obedience to His commandments and curses for disobedience.
Disobedience can be summarized as serving other elohim. The promises of harsh punishment for worshiping other gods may seem extreme to us, but the consequences of following those entities are actually worse than the awful things that God warned would befall Israel the people failed to heed His warning—because those consequences are eternal.
Here’s the link to the article Derek mentioned at the end of the study: Scientist calculates precise date of final Aliyah of Jews to Israel based on Tribal borders (https://www.israel365news.com/201199/scientist-calculates-precise-date-of-final-aliyah-of-jews-to-israel-based-on-tribal-borders/)
——————
The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries is on the air! For more information, log on to www.BiblesGreatestMysteries.tv. And subscribe to the new YouTube channel for The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries!
——————
Our book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available now in Kindle and paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
——————
Derek's novels The God Conspiracy and Iron Dragons are available in paperback and Kindle! See the official trailers and learn more at the website for Rose Avenue Fiction (www.roseavenuefiction.com).
——————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
GOD’S INSTRUCTIONS to the Israelites were surprisingly progressive for the time, prohibiting His people from engaging in predatory lending practices and providing for the poor, widows, and orphans (without a government agency to collect and redistribute wealth!).
We discuss God’s command that oxen not be muzzled while they’re treading out grain and its interesting connection to the war of Gog and Magog in Ezekiel 38 and 39. And we talk about God’s command to build an altar on Mount Ebal, overlooking Shechem, when the Israelites came into the land. We’ll have more on the significance of Shechem when we get to the Book of Joshua.
We also explain why Deut. 26:14 includes a command not to take any of the firstfruits and tithes of the produce of the land as offerings to the dead. It’s another clue that the pagan cult of the dead (i.e., the Rephaim/Nephilim) was a powerful influence on the ancient Canaanites.
Take advantage of Aaron Lipkin’s online seminars about the altar of Joshua at www.AltarofJoshua.com.
——————
The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries is on the air! For more information, log on to www.BiblesGreatestMysteries.tv. And subscribe to the new YouTube channel for The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCiGKH15ypL4OkT20KlS4HQ)!
——————
New dates for the SkyWatchTV Tour of Israel! We will lead our next tour through the Holy Land March 20-April 4, 2022, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
——————
Our book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available now in Kindle and paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
——————
Derek's novels The God Conspiracy and Iron Dragons are available in paperback and Kindle! See the official trailers and learn more at the website for Rose Avenue Fiction (www.roseavenuefiction.com).
——————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
HALLOWEEN CELEBRATES death and the dead. Today, we set aside our schedule of scripture to discuss the spirits and how they’ve convinced humanity that engaging in practices forbidden by God is not only harmless, but profitable and fun.
We discuss Santa Muerte’s rise to prominence in Mexico, California’s schools embracing Aztec death cults as “ethnic studies,” and the symbolic and spiritual links between ancient Mesopotamia and the present day.
Here’s the link to Derek’s interviews with Tony Kail about Santa Muerte and Mexico’s “narco-cults.” (https://www.vftb.net/?tag=santa-muerte) You can find Tony’s book Santa Muerte: Mexico's Mysterious Saint of Death in paperback and Kindle at Amazon.com. (https://amzn.to/3buaYZG)
——————
The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries is on the air! For more information, log on to www.BiblesGreatestMysteries.tv.
——————
New dates for the SkyWatchTV Tour of Israel! We will lead our next tour through the Holy Land March 20-April 4, 2022, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
——————
Our book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available now in Kindle and paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
——————
Derek's novels The God Conspiracy and Iron Dragons are available in paperback and Kindle! See the official trailers and learn more at the website for Rose Avenue Fiction (www.roseavenuefiction.com).
——————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE PUNISHMENT God ordered for a number of sins, ranging from sexual relations before marriage (for women) to rebelling against one’s parents (for sons), seems harsh by today’s standards.
We discuss the cultural and spiritual contexts for a number of things declared sin by God. Many of these things make no sense to us today because we don’t understand the world of the prophets and apostles or how these behaviors were connected to pagan religions of the day.
——————
The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries is on the air! For more information, log on to www.BiblesGreatestMysteries.tv.
——————
The special offer for the first six books of The Redwing Saga is almost gone! Get books one through six of Sharon’s series of supernatural thrillers along with our first book Veneration, our documentary Wars of the Gods Volume 2: Search for the Rephaim, and the groundbreaking book by W. O. E. Oesterley, Immortality and the Unseen World for just $100.
Click here to see the offer at the SkyWatchTV Store: https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/veneration-expanded-collection
——————
New dates for the SkyWatchTV Tour of Israel! We will lead our next tour through the Holy Land March 20-April 4, 2022, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
——————
Our new book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available now in Kindle and paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
——————
Derek's novels The God Conspiracy and Iron Dragons are available now in paperback and Kindle! See the official trailers and learn more at the website for Rose Avenue Fiction (www.roseavenuefiction.com).
——————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE PEOPLE in Canaan engaged in what God called “abominable practices”: First, burning a child as an offering to Molech, followed by divination, reading omens, augury, sorcery, enchantment, consulting mediums, necromancy, and inquiring of the dead.
Derek argues in his forthcoming that these seven acts, which all involve contacting the spirit realm to gain influence or information, are connected to the worship of Molech, which was another name for the creator-god of the Canaanites El—also known as Dagon, Enlil, Kronos, and Saturn.
We believe this Watcher-class elohim is Shemihazah, leader of the rebels on Mount Hermon in the days of Jared, and is “the Destroyer” (Abaddon, or Apollyon), the king of those in the bottomless pit (Revelation 9).
The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries is on the air! For more information, log on to www.BiblesGreatestMysteries.tv.
The special offer for the first six books of The Redwing Saga is almost gone! Get books one through six of Sharon’s series of supernatural thrillers along with our first book Veneration, our documentary Wars of the Gods Volume 2: Search for the Rephaim, and the groundbreaking book by W. O. E. Oesterley, Immortality and the Unseen World for just $100.
Click here to see the offer at the SkyWatchTV Store.
NEW DATES FOR THE SKYWATCH TV TOUR OF ISRAEL! We will lead our next tour through the Holy Land March 20 - April 4, 2022, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
Our new book Giants, Gods and Dragons is available now in Kindle and paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store, or by itself at Amazon.com.
And Derek’s novels The God Conspiracy and Iron Dragons are available now in paperback and Kindle! See the official trailers and learn more at the website for Rose Avenue Fiction.
Download these studies directly to your phone, tablet, or iPod! Get our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
Click here for the complete archive of our New Testament Bible studies to date, and click here for the Old Testament studies to date. Or go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship for all of the audio.
GOD NEVER intended for us to be in perpetual debt. Our modern banking system is a reversal of God’s will and the fulfillment of prophecy—the work of the rider on the black horse (Rev. 6:5–6).
Financial servitude is not how God intended us to live. In our modern age of seven-year auto loans, twenty-year student loans, thirty-year mortgages, and perpetual credit card debt, the concept is almost unimaginable.
We also discuss the three main feasts required of Israel by God: Unleavened Bread, Weeks, and Booths (or Tabernacles, called Sukkot in Hebrew), and how the Feast of Booths connects to the Transfiguration, Mount Hermon, and the seventy “sons of El” who are probably the lesser elohim judged by God in Psalm 82.
Here is the link to the Institute of Biblical Anthropology, with courses taught by Dr. Judd Burton: www.tioba.org.
——————
The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries is on the air! For more information, log on to www.BiblesGreatestMysteries.tv.
——————
The special offer for the first six books of The Redwing Saga is almost gone! Get books one through six of Sharon’s series of supernatural thrillers along with our first book Veneration, our documentary Wars of the Gods Volume 2: Search for the Rephaim, and the groundbreaking book by W. O. E. Oesterley, Immortality and the Unseen World for just $100.
Click here to see the offer at the SkyWatchTV Store: https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/veneration-expanded-collection
——————
New dates for the SkyWatchTV Tour of Israel! We will lead our next tour through the Holy Land March 20-April 4, 2022, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
——————
Our new book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available now in Kindle and paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
——————
Derek's novels The God Conspiracy and Iron Dragons are available now in paperback and Kindle! See the official trailers and learn more at the website for Rose Avenue Fiction (www.roseavenuefiction.com).
——————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE PUNISHMENT for an Israelite who led people to worship other gods was harsh: Death by stoning.
We explain why God was so insistent that His people followed His commands, especially the first commandment about not worshiping other gods—because those gods are real entities bent on destroying what God created and called good, including humankind.
——————
The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries is on the air! For more information, log on to www.BiblesGreatestMysteries.tv.
——————
The special offer for the first six books of The Redwing Saga is almost gone! Get books one through six of Sharon’s series of supernatural thrillers along with our first book Veneration, our documentary Wars of the Gods Volume 2: Search for the Rephaim, and the groundbreaking book by W. O. E. Oesterley, Immortality and the Unseen World for just $100.
Click here to see the offer at the SkyWatchTV Store: https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/veneration-expanded-collection
——————
New dates for the SkyWatchTV Tour of Israel! We will lead our next tour through the Holy Land March 20-April 4, 2022, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
——————
Our new book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available now in Kindle and paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
——————
Derek's novels The God Conspiracy and Iron Dragons are available now in paperback and Kindle! See the official trailers and learn more at the website for Rose Avenue Fiction (www.roseavenuefiction.com).
——————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
OUR GOD is “God of gods and Lord of lords.” This isn’t just hyperbole; it means that Yahweh is supreme among the denizens of the spirit realm.
This week, we discuss Moses’ admonitions to the Israelites before they crossed the Jordan to dispossess the nations of Canaan, why Moses singled out the Anakim, and his warning to remember that God didn’t choose the Israelites as His inheritance because of their righteousness.
Here’s the link to the peer-reviewed paper we mentioned during the study, “A Tunguska sized airburst destroyed Tall el-Hammam a Middle Bronze Age city in the Jordan Valley near the Dead Sea.” The paper details the scientific evidence supporting the claim that Tall el-Hammam was ancient Sodom: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-97778-3
——————
The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries launches the first week of October! For more information, log on to www.BiblesGreatestMysteries.tv!
——————
The special offer for the first six books of The Redwing Saga is almost gone! Get books one through six of Sharon’s series of supernatural thrillers along with our first book Veneration, our documentary Wars of the Gods Volume 2: Search for the Rephaim, and the groundbreaking book by W. O. E. Oesterley, Immortality and the Unseen World for just $100.
Click here to see the offer at the SkyWatchTV Store: https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/veneration-expanded-collection
——————
New dates for the SkyWatchTV Tour of Israel! We will lead our next tour through the Holy Land March 20-April 4, 2022, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
——————
Our new book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available now in Kindle and paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
——————
Derek's novels The God Conspiracy and Iron Dragons are available now in paperback and Kindle! See the official trailers and learn more at the website for Rose Avenue Fiction (www.roseavenuefiction.com).
——————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
HEAR, O ISRAEL: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
This week, we discuss the Shema, the affirmation of loyalty to God that represents the greatest commandment of Christianity and Judaism. We explain why “the Lord is one” more accurately means that God is unique in substance. A better sense of the verse is, “The Lord is our God, the Lord alone,” or, “The Lord is our God, the Lord is unique.”
We also discuss the importance of figuratively committing the Word of God to our hearts and minds, a principle reflected in God’s command to Israel to bind them to their hands and foreheads with the tefillin, a practice that will be twisted by the Antichrist someday with the Mark of the Beast.
——————
The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries launches the first week of October! For more information, log on to www.BiblesGreatestMysteries.tv!
——————
The special offer for the first six books of The Redwing Saga is almost gone! Get books one through six of Sharon’s series of supernatural thrillers along with our first book Veneration, our documentary Wars of the Gods Volume 2: Search for the Rephaim, and the groundbreaking book by W. O. E. Oesterley, Immortality and the Unseen World for just $100.
Click here to see the offer at the SkyWatchTV Store: https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/veneration-expanded-collection
——————
New dates for the SkyWatchTV Tour of Israel! We will lead our next tour through the Holy Land March 20-April 4, 2022, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
——————
Our new book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available now in Kindle and paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
——————
Derek's novels The God Conspiracy and Iron Dragons are available now in paperback and Kindle! See the official trailers and learn more at the website for Rose Avenue Fiction (www.roseavenuefiction.com).
——————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
GOD ALLOTTED other gods to the rest of the world, but kept Israel for Himself.
This week, we discuss another important verse for understanding the nature of the world:
And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. Deuteronomy 4:19 (ESV)
In context, this verse tells us that God delegated responsibility for other nations to lesser elohim, but reserved Israel for “His own inheritance” (Deut. 4:20).
We also discuss God’s prohibition on idolatry and why it’s more than just carving images; what God meant when He described Himself as “jealous”; and Moses’ recapitulation of the Ten Commandments.
——————
The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries launches the first week of October! For more information, log on to www.BiblesGreatestMysteries.tv!
——————
The special offer for the first six books of The Redwing Saga is almost gone! Get books one through six of Sharon’s series of supernatural thrillers along with our first book Veneration, our documentary Wars of the Gods Volume 2: Search for the Rephaim, and the groundbreaking book by W. O. E. Oesterley, Immortality and the Unseen World for just $100.
Click here to see the offer at the SkyWatchTV Store: https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/veneration-expanded-collection
——————
New dates for the SkyWatchTV Tour of Israel! We will lead our next tour through the Holy Land March 20-April 4, 2022, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
——————
Our new book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available now in Kindle and paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
——————
Derek's novels The God Conspiracy and Iron Dragons are available now in paperback and Kindle! See the official trailers and learn more at the website for Rose Avenue Fiction (www.roseavenuefiction.com).
——————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE BIBLE is not a history book, but the history recorded in the Bible is accurate.
This week, we take a deep dive into Deuteronomy 3, in which Moses retells the history of the Israelites from the conquest of Og of Bashan through their encampment on the plains of Moab opposite Beth-Peor.
We follow a number of rabbit trails, including a discussion of new research, brought to our attention by Aaron Lipkin, that suggests that the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh were already in Canaan when the other ten tribes began the conquest.
——————
The special offer for the first six books of The Redwing Saga is almost gone! Get books one through six of Sharon’s series of supernatural thrillers along with our first book Veneration, our documentary Wars of the Gods Volume 2: Search for the Rephaim, and the groundbreaking book by W. O. E. Oesterley, Immortality and the Unseen World for just $100.
Click here to see the offer at the SkyWatchTV Store: https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/veneration-expanded-collection
——————
New dates for the SkyWatchTV Tour of Israel! We will lead our next tour through the Holy Land March 20-April 4, 2022, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
——————
Our new book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available now in Kindle and paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
——————
Derek's novels The God Conspiracy and Iron Dragons are available now in paperback and Kindle! See the official trailers and learn more at the website for Rose Avenue Fiction (www.roseavenuefiction.com).
——————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE REPHAIM were remembered by Israel as giants, or at least as people who venerated the giants of the pre-Flood world. That’s why God marked them for destruction before Israel entered the Promised Land.
This week, we discuss the history of the Israelites as told by Moses while the people camped in the Arabah, before they began their campaign to take Canaan from the Amorites.
Moses reminded the Israelites that their fear of the Anakim had caused them to rebel against God, which led to forty years of wandering in the wilderness. We give our reasons for believing that this was in the vicinity of Petra in Jordan. Moses also noted that God used the Ammonites, Moabites, and Edomites to eliminate the Rephaim, and those allied with them like the Horites (Hurrians) and Amorites, from the Transjordan.
Then we discuss Og of Bashan and why the location of his kingdom was considered the literal entrance to the netherworld. We bring in some Jewish traditions about Og, and later texts from Amorite and Phoenician sources that portray Og as a semi-mythical underworld entity connected to the deities Rapiu (“King of Eternity”) and Malik (Molech).
——————
The special offer for the first six books of The Redwing Saga is almost gone! Get books one through six of Sharon’s series of supernatural thrillers along with our first book Veneration, our documentary Wars of the Gods Volume 2: Search for the Rephaim, and the groundbreaking book by W. O. E. Oesterley, Immortality and the Unseen World for just $100.
Click here to see the offer at the SkyWatchTV Store: https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/veneration-expanded-collection
——————
New dates for the SkyWatchTV Tour of Israel! We will lead our next tour through the Holy Land March 20-April 4, 2022, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
——————
Our new book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available now in Kindle and paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
——————
Derek's novels The God Conspiracy and Iron Dragons are available now in paperback and Kindle! See the official trailers and learn more at the website for Rose Avenue Fiction (www.roseavenuefiction.com).
——————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE BOUNDARIES of the land of Israel are a lot bigger than what’s on our maps today.
This week, we discuss God’s command to drive out the inhabitants of Canaan, but the boundaries of the land promised by God to Moses extended well into what is now Syria.
We also talk about the cities of refuge and rules for female heirs, which were more progressive than many today might expect.
——————
The special offer for the first six books of The Redwing Saga is almost gone! Get books one through six of Sharon’s series of supernatural thrillers along with our first book Veneration, our documentary Wars of the Gods Volume 2: Search for the Rephaim, and the groundbreaking book by W. O. E. Oesterley, Immortality and the Unseen World for just $100.
Click here to see the offer at the SkyWatchTV Store: https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/veneration-expanded-collection
——————
New dates for the SkyWatchTV Tour of Israel! We will lead our next tour through the Holy Land March 20-April 4, 2022, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
——————
Our new book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available now in Kindle and paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
——————
Derek's novels The God Conspiracy and Iron Dragons are available now in paperback and Kindle! See the official trailers and learn more at the website for Rose Avenue Fiction (www.roseavenuefiction.com).
——————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE THREE most important things when considering real estate are location, location, and location.
This week, we discuss the request of the tribes of Gad and Reuben and the half-tribe of Manasseh to remain east of the Jordan in Gilead and Bashan. Then we recount the stations of the Exodus and explain why certain locations, especially Oboth and Iye-Abarim, were so important.
Finally, we run down a rabbit trail connecting the supernatural nature of those locations to research for Derek’s forthcoming book, The Second Coming of Saturn, recent work by Dr. Judd Burton tracing the origins of Eurasian words for “king” or “ruler” to the Ararat Plain, and the widespread practice of summoning spirits from the netherworld in and around ancient Canaan.
Cancel the cancellers! Subscribe to the new SkyWatchTV channel at Rumble: www.rumble.com/skywatchtv.
——————
The special offer for the first six books of The Redwing Saga is almost gone! Get books one through six of Sharon’s series of supernatural thrillers along with our first book Veneration, our documentary Wars of the Gods Volume 2: Search for the Rephaim, and the groundbreaking book by W. O. E. Oesterley, Immortality and the Unseen World for just $100.
Click here to see the offer at the SkyWatchTV Store: https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/veneration-expanded-collection
——————
New dates for the SkyWatchTV Tour of Israel! We will lead our next tour through the Holy Land March 20-April 4, 2022, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
——————
Our new book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available now in Kindle and paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
——————
Derek's novels The God Conspiracy and Iron Dragons are available now in paperback and Kindle! See the official trailers and learn more at the website for Rose Avenue Fiction (www.roseavenuefiction.com).
——————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
GOD ORDERED the Israelites to take revenge on the people of Midian. This is hard to understand, since Moses was married to a Midianite woman—until you consider the context of the spiritual war being waged around the Israelites.
We take a brief look at the Midianites and their identification by scholars with the Shasu, a nomadic people known from Egyptian texts. The Shasu were formerly known, in the time of Abraham, as Shutu, These are the “sons of Sheth” mentioned in the messianic prophecy of Balaam son of Beor (Numbers 24:17), who was one of the victims of Israel’s attack on the Midianites.
The Shutu were called Suteans in Mesopotamia, but prior to Abraham, they were called the Tidanu—an Amorite tribe that contributed to the downfall of the last Sumerian kingdom and from whom the Greeks took the name of their “old gods,” the Titans.
So, there was a lot more going on with the Midianites than competition for land and resources in the Transjordan. This is linked to the heresy of Baal-Peor (see our study on Numbers 24), the god called El by the Canaanites, Dagon by the Amorites and Philistines, and later, Kronos by the Greeks, and Saturn by the Romans. Derek argues in his forthcoming book The Second Coming of Saturn that these names are just alternate identities worn by the chief of the rebellious Watchers, the sons of God from Genesis 6, Shemihazah.
We also discuss briefly the significance of an inscription from the time of Pharaoh Amenhotep III (reigned c. 1408–1372 BC) that mentions “Yahweh of the land of the Shasu.” Considering that his grandfather, Amenhotep II (1455–1418 BC) was the Pharaoh of the Exodus, it’s logical to find Amenhotep III associating Yahweh with the Shasu (i.e., Midian), the land to which Moses fled.
Finally, we talk about the command God gave Moses for the men of Israel regarding vows or oaths sworn to God, and why this is consistent with His design for the family and the role of men as spiritual covering for their wives and daughters.
Cancel the cancellers! Subscribe to the new SkyWatchTV channel at Rumble: www.rumble.com/skywatchtv.
——————
The special offer for the first six books of The Redwing Saga is almost gone! Get books one through six of Sharon’s series of supernatural thrillers along with our first book Veneration, our documentary Wars of the Gods Volume 2: Search for the Rephaim, and the groundbreaking book by W. O. E. Oesterley, Immortality and the Unseen World for just $100.
Click here to see the offer at the SkyWatchTV Store: https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/veneration-expanded-collection
——————
New dates for the SkyWatchTV Tour of Israel! We will lead our next tour through the Holy Land March 20-April 4, 2022, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
——————
Our new book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available now in Kindle and paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
——————
Derek's novels The God Conspiracy and Iron Dragons are available now in paperback and Kindle! See the official trailers and learn more at the website for Rose Avenue Fiction (www.roseavenuefiction.com).
——————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE NUMBER of bulls sacrificed during the annual Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) is unparalleled in any other feast given to Moses by God.
This week, we discuss the religious calendar the Israelites were to follow when they entered the promised land, and why the sacrifice of 70 bulls over the seven days of Sukkot was so significant. It wasn’t about slaughtering a lot of beef; it was a message directed specifically at the gods of the pagan nations—the fallen angels who had rebelled against God’s authority.
Here’s a link to the fascinating paper by Dr. Noga Ayali-Darshan that Derek mentioned during the study, “The Seventy Bulls Sacrificed at Sukkot in Light of a Ritual Text from Emar.”
Cancel the cancellers! Subscribe to the new SkyWatchTV channel at Rumble: www.rumble.com/skywatchtv.
——————
The special offer for the first six books of The Redwing Saga is almost gone! Get books one through six of Sharon’s series of supernatural thrillers along with our first book Veneration, our documentary Wars of the Gods Volume 2: Search for the Rephaim, and the groundbreaking book by W. O. E. Oesterley, Immortality and the Unseen World for just $100.
Click here to see the offer at the SkyWatchTV Store: https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/veneration-expanded-collection
——————
Join us in Israel! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land October 3–18, 2021, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
——————
Our new book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available now in Kindle and paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
——————
Derek's novels The God Conspiracy and Iron Dragons are available now in paperback and Kindle! See the official trailers and learn more at the website for Rose Avenue Fiction (www.roseavenuefiction.com).
——————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
BALAAM WAS unable to curse Israel, but the people were lured into worshiping a god called Baal-Peor—with disastrous consequences.
In His anger, God sent a plague that killed 24,000 Israelites. It was only stopped when Aaron’s grandson, Phinehas, speared a young Israelite man and Midianite woman engaged in what was probably a fertility rite.
We explain why this conflict was more than meets the eye, especially from our modern perspective. The Baal of Peor, a name that means something like “lord of the gates of hell,” was connected to veneration of the Rephaim, demonic spirits of the Nephilim called “Travelers” by the pagans in the Levant. This is reflected in the names of a station of the Exodus, Iye-Abarim (“ruins of the Travelers”), which was in the vicinity of Mount Nebo—which itself was called “this mountain of Abarim [Travelers]” (Num. 27:12).
We also explain why we believe Baal-Peor was a title given to the creator-god of the Canaanites, El, who we believe is to be identified as Shemihazah, chief of the Watchers who came to earth and commingled with human woman—the story briefly described in Genesis 6:1–4 (see also 2 Peter 2:4–10 and Jude 6–7).
In short, the episode recorded in Numbers 25 (with further explanation in Psalm 106:28–29) is spiritual warfare against the spirits of the Nephilim and the chief of the rebellious “sons of God” who created them.
Subscribe to the new SkyWatchTV channel at Rumble: www.rumble.com/skywatchtv.
——————
The special offer for the first six books of The Redwing Saga is almost gone! Get books one through six of Sharon’s series of supernatural thrillers along with our first book Veneration, our documentary Wars of the Gods Volume 2: Search for the Rephaim, and the groundbreaking book by W. O. E. Oesterley, Immortality and the Unseen World for just $100.
Click here to see the offer at the SkyWatchTV Store: https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/veneration-expanded-collection
——————
Join us in Israel! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land October 3–18, 2021, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
——————
Our new book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available now in Kindle and paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
——————
Derek's novels The God Conspiracy and Iron Dragons are available now in paperback and Kindle! See the official trailers and learn more at the website for Rose Avenue Fiction (www.roseavenuefiction.com).
——————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
A PAGAN seer 3,400 years ago prophesied not just the coming Messiah, but His ultimate victory over the Watchers and their demonic offspring, the Nephilim.
This week, we discuss Balaam’s third and fourth oracles over Israel, which includes the messianic prophecy of Numbers 24:17–19. We explain why his oracle refers to the coming of Jesus and his return at the end of the age.
Subscribe to the new SkyWatchTV channel at Rumble: www.rumble.com/c/skywatchtv
——————
The special offer for the first six books of The Redwing Saga is almost gone! Get books one through six of Sharon’s series of supernatural thrillers along with our first book Veneration, our documentary Wars of the Gods Volume 2: Search for the Rephaim, and the groundbreaking book by W. O. E. Oesterley, Immortality and the Unseen World for just $100.
Click here to see the offer at the SkyWatchTV Store: https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/veneration-expanded-collection
——————
Join us in Israel! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land October 3–18, 2021, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
——————
Our new book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available now in Kindle and paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
——————
Derek's novels The God Conspiracy and Iron Dragons are available now in paperback and Kindle! See the official trailers and learn more at the website for Rose Avenue Fiction (www.roseavenuefiction.com).
——————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
A DONKEY displayed more discernment and wisdom than a man whose fame as a seer and prophet was renowned in the Jordan River valley for centuries.
This week, we begin the story of Balaam son of Beor, hired by the Balak, the king of Moab, to curse Israel. We discuss God’s warning to Balaam, the identity of the Angel of YHWH, Balak’s changes of venue as he tried to find a more effective place for Balaam to cast his curse, and the Deir Alla inscription, which is solid evidence from outside the Bible that Balaam was a real person.
To watch our episode of Unraveling Revelation about Balaam’s prophecy of the death of the gods, a preview of our next study on Numbers 24, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4INCKqx3ZoY
——————
Join us in Israel! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land October 3–18, 2021, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
——————
Our new book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available now in Kindle and paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
——————
Derek's novels The God Conspiracy and Iron Dragons are available now in paperback and Kindle! See the official trailers and learn more at the website for Rose Avenue Fiction (www.roseavenuefiction.com).
——————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
ANOTHER SQUABBLE over water points to the location of Mount Sinai being farther north than many think.
This week, we fast forward about 39 years to the fortieth year of the Israelites’ wanderings and discuss the second time Moses brought forth water from the rock called Meribah, which means “quarreling.” This site is also mentioned in Exodus 17:1–7:
“Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” — Exodus 17:6
The difference between this event and the one we discuss this week is that Moses was told to strike the rock in Exodus, whereas in Numbers 20 he’s instructed to “tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water.” Instead, Moses strikes the rock twice with his staff, an act of disobedience that compels God to bar him from entering the Promised Land “b]ecause you broke faith with Me in the midst of the people of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin” (Dt 32:51), which is more evidence supporting the connection between Meribah, Kadesh, and Horeb/Sinai.
Note that Horeb is an alternate name for Sinai, which means Meribah must have been at Mount Sinai. The important point is that Numbers 20:1 places Meribah at or near Kadesh (i.e., Kadesh-Barnea), which means Sinai and Kadesh were in the same vicinity. Also, the reference to the Wilderness of Sin in Exodus 17 identifies it as the same place called the Wilderness of Zin in Numbers 20. (It’s also called the Wilderness of Sinai in Numbers 33:17.)
We believe Kadesh and Sinai are to be found at or near Petra in Jordan rather than the sites agreed upon by most researchers, who place Kadesh-Barnea in the Negev and Sinai either in the Sinai Peninsula or at Jebel al-Lawz in Saudi Arabia, both of which are too far south. Not only did the territory of Edom not extend beyond the northern shore of the Gulf of Aqaba, Jebel al-Lawz is too distant to allow for the Israelites to travel from Horeb to Kadesh-Barnea in eleven days (Deut. 1:1) at an estimated rate of five miles per day (allowing for children, the elderly, not to mention flocks and herds of livestock that needed to be fed and watered along the way).
We also discuss the deaths of Moses’ siblings Miriam and Aaron, and we see God’s hand at work in directing the Israelites northward, around the territory of Edom, to do battle with the Amorite kings Sihon of Heshbon and Og of Bashan. We will deal with those battles in more depth in upcoming studies in the Book of Deuteronomy.
——————
Join us in Israel! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land October 3–18, 2021, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
——————
Our new book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available now in Kindle and paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
——————
Derek's novels The God Conspiracy and Iron Dragons are available now in paperback and Kindle! See the official trailers and learn more at the website for Rose Avenue Fiction (www.roseavenuefiction.com).
——————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
WE HUMANS are blinded by sight. That is, our natural senses often prevent us from seeing what’s really going on around us in the spirit realm.
This week, we discuss the rebellion of Korah and Dathan, who accused Moses of taking Israel from a land flowing with milk and honey (Egypt) to die in the wilderness. The actions of the rebels, who’d seen God part the Red Sea, provide manna and water, and other assorted miracles over the previous thirteen months, make no sense without the whisperings and proddings of spirits.
Then we discuss one of the stranger sections of scripture, a description of a purification ritual in Numbers 19, the rite of the red heifer, and its connection to the movement in Israel to build the Third Temple--another example of trying to achieve victory over the spirit realm through our actions in the natural world. We explain why, if it ever takes place, this ritual will probably be performed on the Mount of Olives.
——————
Join us in Israel! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land October 3–18, 2021, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
——————
Our new book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available now in Kindle and paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
——————
Derek's novels The God Conspiracy and Iron Dragons are available now in paperback and Kindle! See the official trailers and learn more at the website for Rose Avenue Fiction (www.roseavenuefiction.com).
——————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
ACTIONS HAVE consequences. In the case of Israel, the decision to rebel against Moses after the “bad [or ‘evil’] report” of the spies sent into Canaan led to forty years of wandering in the wilderness.
We discuss the intercession of Moses for the people when God declared that He would “strike them with the pestilence,” and the possibility that “Pestilence,” the Canaanite pestilence-god Deber, was an angel sent to carry out His judgment.
The reaction of the Israelites to God’s alternate punishment, which was to keep Israel from entering Canaan until everyone over the age of 20 (except Joshua and Caleb), was about what you’d expect: They decided to go ahead and attack the Amalekites and Canaanites anyway, and were badly defeated in battle.
We also look at God’s reiteration of certain sacrificial laws, including sacrifices for unintentional sin, and a death penalty for a man caught gathering wood on the Sabbath.
Then we skip to Psalm 90, a psalm of Moses that appears to have been written about this time, with special attention to his prayer for wisdom and cry for the Lord’s return.
Some striking differences were noted in this week’s reading between the Masoretic Hebrew text, the basis for our modern English Old Testament translations, and the Septuagint, which was translated around 300 BC by Jewish scholars working with older Hebrew texts. Specifically, we noticed references to other aspects of the personhood of Yahweh (such as His Name, Right Hand, Spirit, and Glory) that are missing from our English Bibles, apparently because the Masoretes, Jewish scholars who completed their Hebrew Old Testament text by the 10th century AD, de-emphasized the “Second Power in Heaven” in scripture after Christians identified that figure as Jesus Christ.
——————
Join us in Israel! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land October 3–18, 2021, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
——————
Our new book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available now in Kindle and paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
——————
Derek's novels The God Conspiracy and Iron Dragons are available now in paperback and Kindle! See the official trailers and learn more at the website for Rose Avenue Fiction (www.roseavenuefiction.com).
——————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
IT’S EASY to criticize the Hebrews of Moses’ day for their lack of faith. After all, hadn’t they seen the plagues that compelled Egypt to let them go, the parting of the Red Sea, and the manna that miraculously appeared six days a week?
We’re not in their shoes. When we take a good, hard look at ourselves, we see that we’re not all that different.
This week, we discuss that complaints of the Israelites that provoked God into sending so much quail to eat that it became “loathsome” to them, followed by “a very great plague.”
Then we look at the mission of the twelve spies sent to reconnoiter the land of Canaan. We explain why the “descendants of Anak” at Hebron were probably not literal demigods but worshipers of the demonic Rephaim (spirits of the Nephilim destroyed in the Flood), why 'Anakim,' contrary to what you may have heard, does not mean “long-necks,” and then Sharon surprises Derek with an important connection between Anak and “king” that will be in his next book.
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Join us in Israel! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land October 3–18, 2021, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
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Our new book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available now for Kindle and for pre-order in paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
——————
Derek's novels The God Conspiracy and Iron Dragons are available now in paperback and Kindle! See the official trailers and learn more at the website for Rose Avenue Fiction (www.roseavenuefiction.com).
——————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
WE’D LIKE to say that we planned to read about Israel’s first Passover celebration after leaving Egypt on this Passover weekend, but we didn’t. God’s scheduling is clearly much better than ours.
We discuss the importance of the Passover and the reason the Israelites waited more than a month to decamp and begin moving from Sinai, the connection between Sinai and Paran, and the significance of the silver trumpets God directed Moses to create to summon and warn the tribes of Israel.
We also share a few of the reasons we believe Sinai was in the vicinity of Petra in Jordan rather than further south in Arabia—and why we believe it was the site of the original Kaaba.
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Join us in Israel! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land October 3–18, 2021, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
——————
Our new book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available now for Kindle and for pre-order in paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
——————
Derek's novels The God Conspiracy and Iron Dragons are available now in paperback and Kindle! See the official trailers and learn more at the website for Rose Avenue Fiction (www.roseavenuefiction.com).
——————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE NAZIRITES were men and women set apart for God by a vow so serious that not only were they forbidden to drink wine, they couldn’t even eat grapes or raisins.
We discuss the Nazirite vow, the priestly blessing, and the first consecration of the Tabernacle before Moses and the Israelites began their journey from Sinai toward the Promised Land.
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Derek is one of the speakers for the Discerning Minds Virtual Conference March 26-28, 2021. Find out more and sign up at www.HearTheWatchmen.com. Save 10% with promo code DEREK!
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Join us in Israel! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land October 3–18, 2021, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
——————
Our new book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available now for Kindle and for pre-order in paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
——————
Derek's novels The God Conspiracy and Iron Dragons are available now in paperback and Kindle! See the official trailers and learn more at the website for Rose Avenue Fiction (www.roseavenuefiction.com).
——————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
GOD CLAIMED for Himself the tribe of Levi in lieu of the firstborn sons of all Israel. We discuss the duties of the clans of the Levites—the Kohathites, Gershonites, and Merarites—and why it was imperative that only the high priest entered the Holiest Place.
We also discuss rules concerning unclean people, confession of and restitution for sins, and a test for adultery that seems odd, if not unfair, by the standards of today.
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Derek is one of the speakers for the Discerning Minds Virtual Conference March 26-28, 2021. Find out more and sign up at www.HearThe Watchmen.com.
——————
Join us in Israel! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land in 2021. Note: The dates have been changed due to travel restrictions because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The new tour dates are October 3–18, 2021, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
——————
Our new book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available now for Kindle and for pre-order in paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
——————
Derek's novels The God Conspiracy and Iron Dragons are available now in paperback and Kindle! See the official trailers and learn more at the website for Rose Avenue Fiction (www.roseavenuefiction.com).
——————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
ISRAEL PREPARES for war: This week, we study the arrangement of the tribes around the tabernacle and their order as they organize for the march to Canaan.
We discuss traditions regarding the banners under which the tribes marched and compare that to the prophecies of Jacob over his sons in Genesis 49.
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Join us in Israel! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land in 2021. Note: The dates have been changed due to travel restrictions because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The new tour dates are October 3–18, 2021, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
————
Our new book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available now for Kindle and for pre-order in paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
————
Derek's novels The God Conspiracy and Iron Dragons are available now in paperback and Kindle! See the official trailers and learn more at the website for Rose Avenue Fiction (www.roseavenuefiction.com).
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
GOD MADE His promises to Israel contingent upon following His statutes and commandments. The blessings He promised for obedience were wonderful—harvests in abundance, peace and safety in the land—but the punishments for rebellion were severe.
We’re in the middle of a long war for control of God’s creation, Earth, and those He charged with serving as His imagers—God’s moral agents—on it. His instruction to the Israelites at Mount Sinai was intended to show them just how serious is this conflict.
We also discuss the Hebrew word translated "idols" and its origin with a fallen angel/false god who dared to call himself "god of gods," the presence of other "destroying angels" among the curses Israel would suffer for disobedience, and the connection between God's warning and the prophecy of 70 weeks in chapter 9 of the Book of Daniel.
You can download The Coming Prince by Sir Robert Anderson in PDF, EPUB (Apple Books), or MOBI (Kindle) format by clicking here: https://servantofmessiah.org/the-coming-prince-by-sir-robert-anderson/
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Join us in Israel! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land in 2021. Note: The dates have been changed due to travel restrictions because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The new tour dates are October 3–18, 2021, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
————
Our new book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available now for Kindle and for pre-order in paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
————
Derek's novels The God Conspiracy and Iron Dragons are available now in paperback and Kindle! See the official trailers and learn more at the website for Rose Avenue Fiction (www.roseavenuefiction.com).
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE JUBILEE of YHWH is diametrically opposed to the way the world has set up our modern financial system—which shouldn’t be a surprise.
This week, we discuss the Jubilee, a system that God designed specifically to prevent the kind of deb servitude that’s all too common in our modern world.
We also explain the theology of “the Name,” which does not at all refer to God’s reputation.
If you missed it, you can hear Derek’s interview with John B. Wells on Caravan to Midnight from Saturday, February 13, by clicking here: https://arkmidnight.com/ark-midnight-241-the-final-war/
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Join us in Israel! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land in 2021. Note: The dates have been changed due to travel restrictions because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The new tour dates are October 3–18, 2021, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
————
Our new book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available now for Kindle and for pre-order in paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
————
Derek's novels The God Conspiracy and Iron Dragons are available now in paperback and Kindle! See the official trailers and learn more at the website for Rose Avenue Fiction (www.roseavenuefiction.com).
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
GOD’S HOLINESS requires perfection—a standard we can never meet on our own.
This week, we discuss rules for the priesthood: Marriage, mourning, and physical qualifications; things the priests were forbidden to eat; and physical disqualifications for sacrificial animals.
We also discuss the Feasts of the Lord and discuss some of the odd connections between the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Feast of Tabernacles with the arrival of asteroid Apophis in 2029.
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Join us in Israel! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land in 2021. Note: The dates have been changed due to travel restrictions because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The new tour dates are October 3–18, 2021, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
————
Our new book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available now for Kindle and for pre-order in paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
————
Derek's novels The God Conspiracy and Iron Dragons are available now in paperback and Kindle! See the official trailers and learn more at the website for Rose Avenue Fiction (www.roseavenuefiction.com).
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
SPEAKING WITH SPIRITS was strictly forbidden by God. This might seem to be a quaint and antiquated notion, but the fact that we encounter the prohibition three times in our reading today indicates that this was a serious issue in ancient Canaan.
Scholars are not entirely agreed on the meaning of the words translated into English as “mediums” and “necromancers,” ʾobot and yiddeʿonim. There are various terms used by translators, including “spiritists,” “wizards,” “enchanters,” “divining spirits,” and “familiar spirits.” In the context of the culture of Canaan in the time of Moses and Joshua, this was a prohibition on the veneration of the “dead”—actually, demons—that was an essential part of Amorite religious and social customs.
We also discuss prohibitions on the mixing of animals, crops, and fabrics; unjust weights and measures; and various deviant sexual practices, some of which were encouraged in the worship of the goddess Astarte, better known to history as Ishtar or Inanna (or Aphrodite or Venus).
Child sacrifice is also condemned, as we encounter twice more God’s command that giving children to Molech was absolutely forbidden and punishable by death.
With all of the laws handed down by God, there was a purpose. And it appears that many, if not all, of them had been transgressed by the people of Canaan who were to be displaced by the people of Israel.
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Join us in Israel! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land in 2021. Note: The dates have been changed due to travel restrictions because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The new tour dates are October 3–17, 2021, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
————
Our new book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available now for Kindle and for pre-order in paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
————
Derek's novels The God Conspiracy and Iron Dragons are available now in paperback and Kindle! See the official trailers and learn more at the website for Rose Avenue Fiction (www.roseavenuefiction.com).
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
IT’S ANOTHER weird section of scripture this week, which, as you know by now, means it’s important.
In the middle of rules pertaining to sacrifices, God gave this to Moses:
So they shall no more sacrifice their sacrifices to goat demons, after whom they whore. (Leviticus 17:7, ESV)
What are goat demons? It’s significant that this warning comes shortly after God instructed Moses and Aaron on the atonement ritual that required a goat be sent into the wilderness for Azazel, who was named as one of the leaders of the Watchers who agreed to rebel against God on the summit of Mount Hermon.
But the Hebrew word se’irim doesn’t necessarily mean “demons.” That’s a choice made by English translators. If, as the early church believed (based on the Book of 1 Enoch), demons are the disembodied spirits of the Nephilim giants destroyed in the Flood, why would they be worshiped as goats? Answer: They probably weren’t.
English translators had to do the best they could with an imperfect understanding of the religious milieu that produced Moses and the Israelites. We discuss the se’irim and the shedim (translated “demons” in Deut. 32:17 and Psalm 106:37), who account for the three references to “demons” in the Old Testament. In fact, we now know, thanks to discoveries within the last fifty years, that the Hebrew word rephaim should be translated “demons” instead of “dead,” “departed,” or “shades.”
We also discuss the laws against sexual immorality in Leviticus 18, the Bible’s first mention of sacrificing children to Molech (or “the king”), and God’s command to “love your neighbor as yourself.”
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Join us in Israel! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land in 2021. Note: The dates have been changed due to travel restrictions because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The new tour dates are October 3–17, 2021, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
————
Our new book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available now for Kindle and for pre-order in paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
————
Derek's novels The God Conspiracy and Iron Dragons are available now in paperback and Kindle! See the official trailers and learn more at the website for Rose Avenue Fiction (www.roseavenuefiction.com).
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE SCAPEGOAT is a concept that originated at Mount Sinai.
This week, we discuss God’s commandment to send a goat into the wilderness for Azazel, similar rites in northern Syria and southern Anatolia in the days of the patriarchs, and the role of Azazel (or Asael), one of the Watchers who descended to Mount Hermon in the days of Jared, in teaching humanity forbidden knowledge.
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Join us in Israel! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land in 2021. Note: The dates have been changed due to travel restrictions because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The new tour dates are October 3–17, 2021, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
————
Our new book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available now for Kindle and for pre-order in paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
————
Derek's novels The God Conspiracy and Iron Dragons are available now in paperback and Kindle! See the official trailers and learn more at the website for Rose Avenue Fiction (www.roseavenuefiction.com).
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
ISRAEL WAS commanded to be holy because God was literally in their midst. The Law set them apart for Yahweh, distinct from other people.
We note that some foods declared unclean, especially pigs, may have been so designated because of their use in pagan rituals (in the case of pigs, as offerings to the dead). However, the bottom line is that God established very specific rituals for washing and sacrificing to maintain holiness—a Law that only changed upon Christ’s ascension to sit at the right hand of God (see Hebrews chapters 7 through 10).
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Join us in Israel next year! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land April 18-May 1, 2021, with an optional four-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
————
Our new book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available now for Kindle and for pre-order in paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
————
Derek's novels The God Conspiracy and Iron Dragons are available now in paperback and Kindle! See the official trailers and learn more at the website for Rose Avenue Fiction (www.roseavenuefiction.com).
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE FORMAL beginning of the Levitical priesthood and the sacrificial system is the focus of this week’s study.
After going through the rules for the sacrifices in our last couple of studies, this week we discuss the formal ordination of Aaron and his sons.
Sadly for Nadab and Abihu, their term as priests didn’t last very long. Leviticus 10 describes their destruction by God for offering unauthorized (or “strange”) fire before the Lord. To be honest, their specific transgression is not named in the Bible; it may be that they hadn’t prepared incense according to the instructions of Exodus 30:34-38, or it may be that they weren’t even supposed to burn incense since that task had been appointed to Aaron (Ex. 30:7-8). Perhaps Aaron’s sons thought that burning some unauthorized incense would curry God’s favor and earn them a promotion ahead of their father.
Whatever the reason, it was a hard lesson that God is to be respected and His will is to be done—a lesson the modern church seems to take all too lightly.
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Join us in Israel next year! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land April 18-May 1, 2021, with an optional four-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
————
Our new book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available now for Kindle and for pre-order in paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
————
Derek's novels The God Conspiracy and Iron Dragons are available now in paperback and Kindle! See the official trailers and learn more at the website for Rose Avenue Fiction (www.roseavenuefiction.com).
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
SINS OF omission are just as serious in the Lord’s eyes as those we commit intentionally.
We continue our discussion of the detailed laws for the burnt offering, grain offering, sin offering, guilt offering, ordination offering, and peace offering, with a reminder that all of this is just “a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.” (Col. 2:17; see also Hebrews 8:5 and 10:1).
Above all, as we begin Thanksgiving week, remember to be thankful that God will still be on the throne come January 21. This has been a trying year for most of us, but He still reigns, and His sacrifice has secured our future regardless of what happens in this life. As Paul wrote, “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Cor. 15:19). Keep looking up!
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Join us in Israel next year! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land April 18-May 1, 2021, with an optional four-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
————
Our new book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available now for Kindle and for pre-order in paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
————
Derek's novels The God Conspiracy and Iron Dragons are available now in paperback and Kindle! See the official trailers and learn more at the website for Rose Avenue Fiction (www.roseavenuefiction.com).
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
GOD GAVE very explicit instructions for the slaughter of animals required for the slaughter of animals for required offerings.
This week, we look at the first four: burnt, grain, peace, and sin offerings. (We’ll get to guilt offering next week.) We note some of the seemingly random requirements, such as slaughtering the bull for the burnt offering on the north side of the altar, and God’s repeated command to burn the long lobe of the liver, the organ used by pagans in their extispicy and haruspicy rituals to divine the future.
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Join us in Israel next year! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land April 18-May 1, 2021, with an optional four-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
————
Our new book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available now for Kindle and for pre-order in paperback! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
————
Derek's novels The God Conspiracy and Iron Dragons are available now in paperback and Kindle! See the official trailers and learn more at the website for Rose Avenue Fiction (www.roseavenuefiction.com).
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE CONSTRUCTION of the tabernacle is the focus of this week’s study—although, as usual, we follow some rabbit trails that lead us to other parts of the Bible.
We compare the number of stones in the high priest’s ephod to the precious stones covering the rebel in Eden, as described in Ezekiel 28. That led us to another discovery—namely, that the Septuagint and some modern English translations, such as the New English Translation (NET), distinguish between the rebel (Satan) and the “guardian cherub,” unlike the ESV and the King James Bible, which identify the rebel as the guardian cherub. See Ezekiel 28:14-16, and compare translations at BibleHub (https://biblehub.com/ezekiel/28-14.htm).
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Join us in Israel next year! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land April 18-May 1, 2021, with an optional four-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
————
Our new book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available for pre-order! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
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Our book Veneration is available for Amazon's Kindle e-book reader! Click here (https://amzn.to/3bobuY6) and find out why readers rate Veneration 4.7 out of 5, describing it as "a must read" that "opens up…the Bible's hidden mysteries."
And Derek's novels The God Conspiracy and Iron Dragons are available now in paperback and Kindle! See the official trailers and learn more at the website for Rose Avenue Fiction (www.roseavenuefiction.com).
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
TAKE TWO at Mount Sinai: Moses goes back up the mountain for another 40 days and nights to get two new tablets to replace the ones he smashed.
We discuss the construction of the tabernacle and the willingness of the Israelites to contribute building materials after the unpleasantness following the golden calf incident. We also explain why the famed artist Michelangelo sculpted Moses with horns — it was a translation error that confused Hebrew qaran (“shone”) with qeren (“horned”).
Here is a link to Derek’s interview with Andrew Hoy (https://www.vftb.net/?p=8312), a professional engineer and the author of The House of El Shaddai, in which he argues that the shape of the tabernacle was a dome rather than a rectangle.
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Join us in Israel next year! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land April 18-May 1, 2021, with an optional four-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
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Our new book Giants, Gods & Dragons is available for pre-order! Get it as part of a great package with more than 27 hours of our video teachings at the SkyWatchTV Store (https://bit.ly/3oLGRlU), or at Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/2GiApBH).
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'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
IT DIDN’T take long for Israel to rebel against God’s commands. They broke the first two commandments—no other gods and no idols—before Moses even came down from Mount Sinai.
We discuss the Israelites’ desire for an idol to give locality to their “god,” and whether the golden calf was supposed to represent Yahweh, the storm-god Baal, the moon-god Sîn (they were at Sinai, after all), or the creator-god of the Amorites, El, whose main epithet was “Bull El.”
And Sharon makes the astute observation that God’s promise to send His angel to push out the nations before Israel is a picture of what will happen when Christ returns.
There is a bit of archaeology this week, too, as we point out that some of the people occupying Canaan whose names have been lost to history, like the Hivites, Perizzites, and Jebusites, have actually been identified by scholars in recent years (Mycenaean Greeks, Philistines, and Hurrians respectively).
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Join us in Israel next year! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land April 18-May 1, 2021, with an optional four-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
————
Our book Veneration is available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! Click here and find out why readers rate Veneration 4.7 out of 5, described as “a must read” that “opens up...the Bible’s hidden mysteries.” (https://amzn.to/3bobuY6)
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE RULES for consecrating the Aaronic priesthood were very specific, and many of those rules were a repudiation of rituals the pagan neighbors of ancient Israel practices for their gods.
We discuss the purposed of the blood shed by the bulls and rams sacrificed during the ritual, the reasons for burning their livers and kidneys, and the restricted use of holy anointing oil. (In other words, we shouldn’t use the recipe in Exodus 30 to make our own.)
We also follow a rabbit trail back to our discussion of the Ark of the Testimony two weeks ago and its possible origin along the lines of an Egyptian sacred bark. We note the connection between the ark, the sacred boats of the Mesopotamian gods, and the pagan belief that the Amorite moon-god Sîn and the Egyptian sun-god Re (or Ra) traveled across the sky in cosmic boats.
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Join us in Israel next year! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land April 18-May 1, 2021, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
————
Our book Veneration is available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! Click here and find out why readers rate Veneration 4.7 out of 5, described as “a must read” that “opens up...the Bible’s hidden mysteries.” (https://amzn.to/3bobuY6)
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE GARMENTS worn by the high priest were a representation of the tribes of Israel, who were presented to the Lord when Aaron and his successors entered the Holy Place.
We discuss the ephod, probably a tunic or robe worn on the upper body, the breastpiece of judgment that held the twelve gemstones inscribed with the names of the tribes of Israel, and the purpose of the Urim and Thummim — about which we know very little even today.
Here is the link to the Leen Ritmeyer article at Patterns of Evidence regarding the discovery of three blocked gates that may have led to underground music rooms on the Temple Mount. https://patternsofevidence.com/2020/10/09/new-temple-mount-discovery-jerusalem/
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Join us in Israel next year! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land April 18-May 1, 2021, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
————
Our latest book Veneration is available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! Click here and find out why readers rate Veneration 4.7 out of 5, described as “a must read” that “opens up...the Bible’s hidden mysteries.” (https://amzn.to/3bobuY6)
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE ARK OF THE COVENANT is the focus of this week’s study. Contrary to Raiders of the Lost Ark, no, it was not a radio to talk to God.
The ark was, in fact, God’s throne. He sat above the mercy seat, between the cherubim—who, by the way, looked more like sphinxes than the effeminate angels typically portrayed by artists.
Cherubim, and similar throne guardians such as the lamassu of Assyria and the griffins of Egypt and the Hittites, were well known in ancient Mesopotamia. The Hebrew name of the creatures probably derives from the Assyrian kirubu
Scholar Scott B. Noegel argues that we can get a better understanding of the ark by analyzing the sacred bark of Egypt. It resembled a boat, but was rarely, if ever, put in water. According to Noegel, “its purpose was to transport a god or a mummy and sometimes to dispense oracles.” You can read his paper “The Egyptian Origin of the Ark of the Covenant” by clicking here (opens a PDF document).
This is not to say that Moses copied the Hebrew religion from Egypt. Rather, God directed Moses to construct the Ark of the Testimony as a polemic against the counterfeit religions and iconography of the pagan nations around ancient Israel.
We also discuss the design of the tabernacle and the significance of the colors and types of metal used in its construction. While it’s usually depicted as a rectangular structure, engineer Andrew Hoy has proposed a different shape altogether for the tabernacle based on the description in Exodus. You can hear Derek’s interview with Hoy on his book The House of El Shaddai by clicking here: https://www.vftb.net/?p=8312
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Join us in Israel next year! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land April 18-May 1, 2021, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
————
Our latest book Veneration is available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! Click here and find out why readers rate Veneration 4.7 out of 5, described as “a must read” that “opens up...the Bible’s hidden mysteries.” (https://amzn.to/3bobuY6)
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
MANY OF US have been taught that it isn’t possible to see God with our natural eyes and live. How do we reconcile that with the account of God personally eating a meal with Moses, Aaron, and the seventy elders of Israel?
The scripture verse is clear: And He did not lay His hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank. (Exodus 24:11)
This is an appearance by the Second Power in heaven, or Jesus in the Old Testament. This meal on Mount Sinai was a message from God to the spirit realm, aimed directly at the small-G gods of the nations, showing them God’s ultimate plan to restore humanity to His divine council.
We discuss the contrast between this encounter and the ritual Rephaim Texts from the Amorite kingdom of Ugarit. This is another example of God reversing a pagan ritual to demonstrate His power and authority.
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Join us in Israel next year! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land April 18-May 1, 2021, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
————
Our latest book Veneration is available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! Click here and find out why readers rate Veneration 4.7 out of 5, described as “a must read” that “opens up...the Bible’s hidden mysteries.” (https://amzn.to/3bobuY6)
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
WE DIG into the Law this week, as we discuss God’s commands to Israel on such things as slaves, restitution, and social justice.
Slavery, in particular, had a far different meaning in the ancient Near East than it does for us in 21st century America. “Indentured servanthood” is perhaps a better term, since Hebrew slaves were to be released after six years of service.
The roles of men and women were also different under the Law. While they appear old-fashioned (or even misogynistic) by today’s standards, they actually offered more rights and protection to women than had existed previously.
We also discuss God’s ban on sorcery and sacrificing to other gods, and the consecration of firstborn sons, and why those things were so radical and relevant to the world in which the Hebrews lived.
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Join us in Israel next year! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land April 18-May 1, 2021, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
————
Our latest book Veneration is available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! Click here and find out why readers rate Veneration 4.7 out of 5, described as “a must read” that “opens up...the Bible’s hidden mysteries.” (https://amzn.to/3bobuY6)
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS were the first instructions given to Moses upon Israel’s arrival at Sinai. And the first command was “you shall have no other gods before me.”
We discuss the commandments and the reasons God had for emphasizing that directive and the one that followed, a prohibition on carved images to represent Him or any other spirit being in heaven, on earth, or “in the water under the earth” (i.e., the abyss). In a nutshell, it’s because the small-g “gods” are real and the pagans believed that idols gave the gods “locality,” sort of like spiritual radio transceivers.
For details on the Amorite kispum ritual, drawn from peer-reviewed, academic, secular research, see our book Veneration (www.VenerationBook.com).
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Join us in Israel next year! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land April 18-May 1, 2021, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
————
Our latest book Veneration is available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! Click here and find out why readers rate Veneration 4.7 out of 5, described as “a must read” that “opens up...the Bible’s hidden mysteries.” (https://amzn.to/3bobuY6)
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE WILDERNESS OF SIN had nothing to do with naughtiness in the desert. It was, in fact, a reference to the moon-god Sîn, which is likely why Moses mentioned the day of the month Israel entered the desert (15th day of the second month, when the moon was full).
Likewise, Mount Sinai was probably named for the moon-god. We’ll see further encounters with the moon-god and his followers, the Amorites, through the period of the Judges, with one final showdown about 900 years after the Exodus in the days of the prophet Daniel.
The location of the waters of Meribah pose a problem for those who would locate Mount Sinai at Jebel al-Lawz in Arabia. Comparing Exodus 17:1, Exodus 19:1-2, and Numbers 27:14, the location of the strife at the waters of Meribah is confusing unless Kadesh and Sinai are the same place. (We plan a book on this, and we think Kadesh was near Petra in Jordan.)
We also discuss the command of God to “blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” We explain why being forgotten was the ultimate fear of people in the ancient Near East, who believed that one only truly died when one’s name was forgotten. This sheds light on Abraham’s stress at not having an heir, and on this verse from 2 Samuel 18:18:
Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and set up for himself the pillar that is in the King’s Valley, for he said, “I have no son to keep my name in remembrance.”
This is based on the ancient Amorite rite of kispum, a ritual performed at least once a month during which dead ancestors were summoned by name and “fed” with bread and water (or wine) to sustain them in the afterlife, and recruiting their help in this life, by keeping their names in remembrance.
We connect this to the modern Black Lives Matter movement. BLM’s organizers have explicitly stated that the purpose of “saying their names” is to summon spirits. See the August 19, 2020 program from AFA general counsel Abraham Hamilton, III to hear it from BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors and BLM Los Angeles founder and California State University Professor of African Studies Melina Abdulla in their own words.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGJSEoirF90
This is not a racial justice movement. Their protests are occult rituals performed openly on the streets of America, and its roots are in the sin of the Amorites who lived more than 4,000 years ago.
For details on the Amorite kispum ritual, drawn from peer-reviewed, academic, secular research, see our book Veneration (www.VenerationBook.com).
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Join us in Israel next year! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land April 18-May 1, 2021, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
————
Our latest book Veneration is available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! Click here and find out why readers rate Veneration 4.7 out of 5, described as “a must read” that “opens up...the Bible’s hidden mysteries.” (https://amzn.to/3bobuY6)
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE RED SEA crossing is an iconic moment in the Bible, the history of Israel, and in movies (thanks to legendary producer/director Cecil B. DeMille). But it’s way cooler than you might know.
We explain why this event was far more than just Israel’s escape from Egypt. For example, have you ever noticed that God directed Moses to turn around and camp—in other words, to stop and wait for the Egyptian chariots to catch up?
The significance of their campsite is also important, and we note the presence of other supernatural players in this drama. God didn’t just deliver Israel from the hand of pharaoh; He delivered Israel from the gods—the rebel angels who had rejected His authority.
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Join us in Israel next year! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land April 18-May 1, 2021, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
————
Our latest book Veneration is available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! Click here and find out why readers rate Veneration 4.7 out of 5, described as “a must read” that “opens up...the Bible’s hidden mysteries.” (https://amzn.to/3bobuY6)
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE PASSOVER is a milestone in world history. It’s a defining moment in the creation of Israel, and thus, a key event in the natural and spiritual history of the world.
We discuss the connection between the Passover and another event of primary importance, the crucifixion of Jesus. We also discuss the cross-pollination of the pantheons of the Amorites (Canaanites) and Egyptians, and why it’s so difficult to draw one-to-one connections between the plagues of Egypt and the Egyptian pantheon. Some of the gods linked to specific plagues (such as Serapis, who’s connected by some to the plague of locusts) weren’t even worshiped in Egypt until centuries after the Exodus.
Here is a link to the paper by Dr. Douglas Petrovich that Derek mentioned, Amenhotep II and the Historicity of the Exodus-Pharaoh: https://www.gilberthouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/ExodusPharaohArticle.pdf
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Join us in Israel next year! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land April 18-May 1, 2021, with an optional three-day extension to Jordan, with visits to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchinIsrael.com.
————
Our latest book Veneration is available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! Click here and find out why readers rate Veneration 4.7 out of 5, described as “a must read” that “opens up...the Bible’s hidden mysteries.” (https://amzn.to/3bobuY6)
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
IT’S A showdown on the Nile between the God of the Hebrews and the gods of Egypt. However, contrary to what we’ve been taught, the gods of Egypt in Moses’ day weren’t all Egyptian gods.
We discuss the first seven plagues of the Exodus and why we believe a one-to-one correspondence between the plagues and Egyptian gods doesn’t give us the full picture. Psalm 78:48-49 reveals that the seventh plague (hail and fire), which will be echoed in the first trumpet judgment of Revelation 8:7, was the work of supernatural entities called Barad (“hail”) and the Reshephim (“thunderbolts”), described as “a company of destroying angels.”
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Join us in Israel next year! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land April 18-May 1, 2021, with an optional three-day extension to Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum, and Petra in Jordan.
For more information, log on to SkyWatchTV.com/IsraelTour.
————
Our latest book Veneration is available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! Click here and find out why readers rate Veneration 4.7 out of 5, described as “a must read” that “opens up...the Bible’s hidden mysteries.” (https://amzn.to/3bobuY6)
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
MOSES RETURNS to Egypt with Aaron as his mouthpiece, a concession by God to Moses’ reluctance to speak to his fellow Hebrews about the Lord’s promise of deliverance.
Despite being told by God that Pharaoh’s heart would be hardened, Moses complained when the king of Egypt not only refused to let Israel go, but increased the burden on the Israelites working to make bricks.
We also discuss the strange incident of Exodus 4:24-26, where God “sought to put [Moses] to death,” apparently because his son had not been circumcised according to the covenant between God and Abraham.
————
Our latest book Veneration is available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! Click here and find out why readers rate Veneration 4.7 out of 5, described as “a must read” that “opens up...the Bible’s hidden mysteries.” (https://amzn.to/3bobuY6)
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
ISRAEL SPENT 430 years in Egypt. This is recorded in Exodus 12:40-41 and Galatians 3:17. How do we reconcile that with God’s promise to Abraham that his descendants would return “in the fourth generation” (Gen. 15:16), or the four generations between Levi and Moses (Ex. 6:16-20)?
We address that, and Derek admits his timeline of the ancient Hebrews needs to be adjusted accordingly. For the record, he now agrees with the plain reading of the 430 years, which places Jacob and his family in Egypt in 1876 BC, which means Abraham arrived in Canaan in 2091 BC.
We also discuss Moses’ encounter with God at Mount Sinai and His revelation of the divine name, and why Moses’ birth story was not copied from that of the Akkadian king Sargon the Great.
You can read a summary of the proto-Hebrew inscriptions found in the Sinai, as translated by Dr. Douglas Petrovich, at The Interactive Bible (https://bit.ly/2OXIuMO).
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Our latest book Veneration is available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! Click here and find out why readers rate Veneration 4.7 out of 5, described as “a must read” that “opens up...the Bible’s hidden mysteries.” (https://amzn.to/3bobuY6)
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
JACOB WAS buried at the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron. So, why did Joseph and his brothers take his body all the way around the other side of the Dead Sea and mourn for seven days at a threshing floor in the ruined city of Sodom?
We discuss the “physicians” of Joseph (ropheim in Hebrew) and the Rephaim of the Transjordan, explain why we believe the threshing floor of Atad was the site of Sodom, and speculate as to why Joseph and the retinue mourned Jacob for seven days “beyond the Jordan.”
————
Our latest book Veneration is available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! Click here and find out why readers rate Veneration 4.7 out of 5, described as “a must read” that “opens up...the Bible’s hidden mysteries.” (https://amzn.to/3bobuY6)
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
JACOB’S STORY comes to a close this week. He lived for seventeen years in Egypt, long enough to see Joseph use the foreknowledge given by God to concentrate power in the hands of the pharaoh (and the same number of years Joseph lived before he was sold into slavery by his brothers).
We discuss Jacob’s blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh, in which we see again an elder brother passed over in favor of the younger, and the patriarch’s prophecies over his sons. Judah, the fourth son, is elevated above his brothers, and it is from Jacob’s prophecy over him that we get Christ’s epithet, “the lion of the tribe of Judah” (Rev. 5:5).
————
Our latest book Veneration is available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! Click here and find out why readers rate Veneration 4.7 out of 5, described as “a must read” that “opens up...the Bible’s hidden mysteries.” (https://amzn.to/3bobuY6)
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
JOSEPH FINALLY reveals himself to his brothers, unable to continue his deception any longer. His brothers had returned to Egypt to buy more grain, bringing Joseph’s only full brother, Benjamin, with them as he’d ordered.
But when Judah pleaded for Joseph to allow Benjamin to return to Jacob, Joseph was overcome with emotion and told them who he was. Jacob and the entire family entourage returned to Egypt and settled in the Nile delta, a land set apart from the native Egyptians who had a strong dislike of “Asiatics,” who they called “sand-dwellers.”
We discuss the significance of Joseph’s silver cup. Did he really practice divination, or did he just say so because that’s what his brothers expected from Egyptians? We also explain why the difference in the number of Jacob’s household—70 in English Bibles, 75 in the Septuagint—is significant; the translators of the Masoretic Hebrew text deemphasized the divine council worldview because it offers scriptural support for Jesus’ claims of divinity.
————
Our latest book Veneration is available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! Click here and find out why readers rate Veneration 4.7 out of 5, described as “a must read” that “opens up...the Bible’s hidden mysteries.” (https://amzn.to/3bobuY6)
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
ALL OF us have had a wilderness experience of one kind of another. For Joseph, much of it was spent in prison cells.
Two years after interpreting dreams for the baker and cupbearer for the king of Egypt, Joseph is summoned to make sense of a pair of disturbing dreams for the pharaoh. You know the story: God showed the king that seven years of plenty would be followed by seven years of famine. Pharaoh placed Joseph in charge of storing up grain for the lean years.
We discuss the reason that God allowed Joseph to endure years in a foreign land. It was more than just saving his family from famine; this was God’s long game to set Israel apart from its pagan, Semitic-speaking neighbors.
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Our latest book Veneration is now available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! Click here and find out why readers rate Veneration 4.7 out of 5, described as “a must read” that “opens up...the Bible’s hidden mysteries.” (https://amzn.to/3bobuY6)
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Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
IF THE Bible had truly been edited to make the apostles, prophets, and patriarchs look better, chapter 38 of Genesis would have disappeared centuries ago.
This week, we discuss the unseemly episode of Judah’s relationship with his daughter-in-law, Tamar, by whom he fathered Perez, an ancestor of Jesus.
We also discuss the history of the period to explain the timeline between Abraham and the Exodus, which is variously described as “four hundred years” (Gen. 15:13, Acts 7:6), “the fourth generation” (Gen. 15:16), and “four hundred and thirty years” (Ex. 12:40-41, Gal. 3:16-17).
How do we reconcile the 400/430 year discrepancy, and how do we square that with four generations (Jacob > Levi > Kohath > Amram > Moses), since Levi was an adult before Jacob and his family followed Joseph to Egypt?
Here’s the best answer, courtesy of Answers in Genesis (https://bit.ly/3cYPWRu): In Abraham’s day, Egypt included the Levant, modern Israel, Lebanon, and western Jordan and Syria. So, the 430 years began with Abraham was called from Harran because he was in “Egypt” almost as soon as he crossed the Euphrates. The 400 years began when Ishmael, his son by Hagar the Egyptian, mocked and persecuted Isaac.
The “fourth generation,” of course, refers to Moses, counting his great-grandfather Levi as the first generation after Jacob. Here is our timeline, based on this logic:
- Amorite kingdom of Babylon founded — 1894 BC
- Abraham born — 1951 BC
- Abraham arrives in Canaan — 1876 BC
- Isaac born — 1851 BC
- Isaac marries Rebekah — 1811 BC
- Hammurabi becomes king of Babylon — 1792 BC
- Jacob and Esau born — 1791 BC
- Abraham dies — 1776 BC
- Hyksos take over Lower Egypt — c. 1750 BC
- Isaac dies — 1671 BC
- Jacob arrives in Egypt — 1661 BC
- Jacob dies — 1644 BC
- Joseph dies — 1590 BC
- Ahmose drives Hyksos out of Egypt — c. 1550 BC
- Moses leads the Exodus — 1446 BC
- Joshua leads the Conquest — 1406 BC
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Our latest book Veneration is now available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! Click here and find out why readers rate Veneration 4.7 out of 5, described as “a must read” that “opens up...the Bible’s hidden mysteries.” (https://amzn.to/3bobuY6)
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
JOSEPH APPEARS to have been something of a spoiled brat. Either he had no self-awareness at all or his self-image was so inflated that he didn’t care what his brothers thought of him.
The story of Joseph’s brothers selling him into slavery is a reminder that even in times of trouble, God has a plan, and He brings His plans to fruition through flawed and imperfect humans.
We also discuss the history of the chiefs and kings of Edom, including the interesting reference to one “Shaul of Rehoboth on the Euphrates” who ruled Edom sometime before the rise of the kingdom in Israel. Check a map—the Euphrates is a long way from Edom! Who was this Shaul, where was Rehoboth, and did he rule a kingdom that included much of modern Jordan and Syria?
Here is a link to the book Derek mentioned, Edom and the Hyksos by David J. Gibson (https://bit.ly/3cFIVok).
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Our latest book Veneration is now available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! Click here and find out why readers rate Veneration 4.7 out of 5, described as “a must read” that “opens up...the Bible’s hidden mysteries.” (https://amzn.to/3bobuY6)
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
ACOB WAS not exactly an ideal father.
His reaction to the rape of his daughter Dinah by the prince of the city of Shechem is puzzling. Genesis chapter 34 shows that he didn’t say anything when learning of Dinah’s humiliation, or while his sons Simeon and Levi, two of Dinah’s six brothers by their mother Leah, plotted revenge against the city of Shechem, slaughtering the men after deceiving them into being circumcised.
Jacob’s concern was not for Dinah or the murdered men, but for himself: “You have brought trouble on me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. My numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household.”
We also discuss Jacob’s reunion with his brother Esau, the spiritual significance of the city of Shechem (and its patron god, Resheph), and the deaths of Rebekah’s nurse, Deborah, Jacob’s wife, Rachel, and his father, Isaac.
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Our latest book Veneration is now available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! Click here and find out why readers rate Veneration 4.7 out of 5, described as “a must read” that “opens up...the Bible’s hidden mysteries.” (https://amzn.to/3bobuY6)
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
FEEDING THE dead was an integral part of the world in which Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob lived.
We’ve previously discussed Abraham’s distress at not having an heir to provide for him in the afterlife; this week, we explain why Jacob’s father-in-law, Laban, was so upset about losing his teraphim, the small idols that represented dead ancestors who had to be summoned to a meal every month with a necromancy ritual called kispum.
We also discuss Jacob’s separation from Laban, his encounter with angels along the Jabbok River, and his wrestling match with the Angel of God, another manifestation of Christ in the Old Testament.
Here’s the link for the book by Dr. Michael Heiser we mentioned during the program, Supernatural: What the Bible Teaches About the Unseen World - and Why It Matters: https://amzn.to/36qLQ2N
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Our latest book Veneration is now available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! Click here and find out why readers rate Veneration 4.7 out of 5, described as “a must read” that “opens up...the Bible’s hidden mysteries.” (https://amzn.to/3bobuY6)
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
PORTALS AND contact with the spirit realm are at the heart of this week’s Bible study.
First, we discuss Jacob’s dream during his journey from the Negev to Haran in northern Mesopotamia. We’ve heard the term “Jacob’s ladder,” but the underlying Hebrew word reveals that what he saw was more likely a ziggurat—the ancient Mesopotamian pyramid that represented a stairway to heaven.
We explain the connection between Bethel, “House (or Temple) of God,” and the stone idols later worshiped all over the Near East called baetylia by the Greeks and betyls by modern archaeologists. (Join us at Petra next spring and we’ll show you a few hundred of them!)
Then we discuss the tricking of the trickster, as Jacob’s uncle Laban deceives him into taking his eldest daughter, Leah, as his wife in exchange for seven years of labor. To marry his younger daughter Rachel, Laban demands another seven years’ work—and then tries to keep Jacob even longer because he realizes (through divination, a forbidden practice) that he’s being blessed by God through Jacob.
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Our latest book Veneration is now available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! Click here and find out why readers rate Veneration 4.7 out of 5, described as “a must read” that “opens up...the Bible’s hidden mysteries.” (https://amzn.to/3bobuY6)
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
ISAAC IS a transitional character in the Bible, serving mainly as the bridge between Abraham and Jacob. We discuss the stories of Isaac’s adult life—his lie about Rebekah to the king of Gerar and how how Jacob received the blessing that Isaac had planned to give Esau.
While it’s hard to reconcile the deception of Rebekah and Jacob, we must remember that Esau thought so little of his birthright that he sold it to Jacob for a bowl of stew (Gen. 25:29-34). We see in this story another example of God choosing the younger son as the one through whom His promises will be fulfilled.
————
Our latest book Veneration is now available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! Click here and find out why readers rate Veneration 4.7 out of 5, described as “a must read” that “opens up...the Bible’s hidden mysteries.” (https://amzn.to/3bobuY6)
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
WE REACH the end of Abraham’s time on earth this week. We discuss the death of Sarah, Abraham’s purchase of the cave of Machpelah, the marriage of Isaac, the birth of Esau and Jacob, and the short-sightedness of Esau in selling off his birthright for a bowl of beans.
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Our latest book Veneration is now available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! Click here and find out why readers rate Veneration 4.7 out of 5, described as “a must read” that “opens up...the Bible’s hidden mysteries.” (https://amzn.to/3bobuY6)
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
HE SURVIVED the destruction of Sodom, but Lot didn’t seem very happy about it.
This week, we discuss the aftermath of the fiery destruction of the cities of the plain, which also leveled Jericho, according to archaeologists. Lot and his daughters retreated into the hills and lived a hermit-like existence in a cave overlooking the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. Their isolation led to the incestuous creation of the nations of Moab and Ammon, longtime enemies of Israel in the centuries that followed.
Then we discuss Abraham’s deception of Abimelech, the king of Gerar, and one of the stranger events in the Bible, the binding of Isaac. Why would Abraham agree to God’s test, to the point that his knife was out, ready to “slaughter”—a Hebrew term (shachat) used elsewhere in the Old Testament for human sacrifice—his only son by Sarah?
Here is the timeline Derek mentioned during the study. Bear in mind that these dates are not universally accepted and mainly show the sequence of events.
- Amorite kingdom of Babylon founded — 1894 BC
- Abraham arrives in Canaan — 1876 BC
- Destruction of Sodom — 1852 BC
- Isaac born to Sarah — 1851 BC
- Isaac marries Rebekah — 1811 BC
- Hammurabi crowned king of Babylon — 1792 BC
- Jacob and Esau born — 1791 BC
- Abraham dies — 1776 BC
- Hyksos (Amorites) rule Lower Egypt — c. 1750 BC
- Jacob arrives in Egypt — 1661 BC
- Ahmose drives Hyksos out of Egypt — c. 1550 BC
- Moses leads the Exodus — 1446 BC
- Joshua leads the Conquest — 1406 BC*
————
Our latest book Veneration is now available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! Click here and find out why readers rate Veneration 4.7 out of 5, described as “a must read” that “opens up...the Bible’s hidden mysteries.” (https://amzn.to/3bobuY6)
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE DESTRUCTION of Sodom and Gomorrah was not about alternative lifestyles—and yes, it really happened.
This week, we discuss Abraham’s encounter with God and two angels at the Oaks of Mamre near Hebron, a more likely reason for God’s judgment on Sodom, and we explain why the angels warned Lot to “escape to the hills, lest you be swept away”—and why Lot’s wife really was turned into a pillar of salt.
Links you’ll want to explore after hearing this episode:
- DigSodom.com, the website of the team excavating ancient Sodom (Tall el-Hammam in Jordan)
- Archaeological architect Leen Ritmeyer’s page on Sodom, including his reconstruction of the city gate where Lot sat as a judge (https://www.ritmeyer.com/2015/05/04/the-search-for-sodom/)
- Derek’s interview with Dr. Phillip Silvia, Field Supervisor and Director of Scientific Analysis for the Tall el-Hammam Excavation Project from Trinity Southwest University (https://www.vftb.net/?p=7604)
Share this episode around—archaeology is cool!
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Our latest book Veneration is now available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! Click here and find out why readers rate Veneration 4.7 out of 5, described as “a must read” that “opens up...the Bible’s hidden mysteries.” (https://amzn.to/3bobuY6)
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
He is not here, for he has risen, as he said.
(Matthew 28:6, ESV)
That’s the beginning of our study on the Resurrection. We look at texts from the Old and New Testaments to explain that Christ’s resurrection is the template for what is in store for all who have accepted him as Lord and Savior.
From Genesis through Revelation, history is anchored to one overarching theme: Whose children will be raised up at the last trump.
Scriptures cited in this study:
- Job 19:25-27
- Psalm 82
- Isaiah 24:21, 26:13-27:1
- Ezekiel 39:11
- Matthew 27:45-54, 28:1-10
- 1 Peter 3:18-21
- 1 Corinthians 15 (especially verses 35 through 55)
- Revelation 20:1-15, 21:1
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Our latest book Veneration is now available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! Click here and find out why readers rate Veneration 4.7 out of 5, described as “a must read” that “opens up...the Bible’s hidden mysteries.” (https://amzn.to/3bobuY6)
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
WE SET aside our chronological reading order this week to look at scripture relating the Passover and Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
We explain why these events were more than symbolic; they were acts of war in the spirit realm. We discuss the specific entities targeted at Passover, explain the Amorite kispum ritual, the reason Jesus rode a donkey colt into Jerusalem, why the time and place of the Transfiguration were important in this sequence of events, how the Parable of the Tenants explains the supernatural conflict, and how baptism and the Lord’s Supper fit into the history of this long spiritual war.
————
Our latest book Veneration is now available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! Click here and find out why readers rate Veneration 4.7 out of 5, described as “a must read” that “opens up...the Bible’s hidden mysteries.” (https://amzn.to/3bobuY6)
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
ABRAHAM’S DISTRESS at being childless was caused by his concept of the afterlife. In the Amorite culture that dominated his world, it was believed that one’s quality of life after death depended on your descendants performing a monthly ritual to provide your food and drink.
We explain the Amorite kispum ritual and why Abraham’s servant Eliezer was not necessarily from Damascus. According to scholar Nicolas Wyatt, the Hebrew phrase hû dammešeq was “a scribal gloss, explaining what was felt to be a damaged text, since the meaning of mešeq was lost until the Ugaritic texts were found [in 1922]. It may be translated ‘that is, Damascus,’ but is an ill-directed attempt to explain an obscure term, and should be omitted. Ben mešeq, ‘son of the cup,’ alludes to the elder son’s ritual duties at the obsequies [funeral rites] of his father.”
We also discuss God’s covenant with Abraham, which was sealed with a ritual that’s strange to our modern eyes: Abraham cut in half a heifer, a female goat, and a ram, added a dove and a pigeon, and waited for God to send a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch between the pieces of the sacrificed animals. In Abraham’s day, this ritual would have been a common thing (although the pagan Amorites would have sacrificed a donkey).
Finally, we discuss God’s promise in Genesis 15:5 that Abraham’s descendants would be as the stars of heaven, and why that didn’t just mean “numerous,” but that they would someday be restored to the divine council alongside the angels.
Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. (1 Cor. 15:51-52, ESV)
[T]hose who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. (Luke 20:35-36, ESV)
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Our latest book Veneration is now available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! Click here and find out why readers rate Veneration 4.7 out of 5, described as “a must read” that “opens up...the Bible’s hidden mysteries.” (https://amzn.to/3bobuY6)
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
A WAR fought near the Dead Sea nearly 4,000 years ago is the focus of this week’s study.
After Abram arrived in Canaan and settled near Hebron, his nephew Lot was captured by an army from Mesopotamia that had come to put down a rebellion by the king of Sodom and his allies. We discuss the meanings of the names of the rebel kings, the possible identities of the kings of the east, and the significance of the Rephaim tribes defeated by the kings of Mesopotamia.
We also discuss Melchizedek (malki-tsedeq, "my king is righteous" or "king of righteousness"), the king of Salem, who greeted Abram upon his return from rescuing Lot and the other captives from Sodom. Was he the incarnate Christ, as some believe? We think not, but it’s a question that’s still debated after 2,000 years, and we note the link between Jesus and Melchizedek in Hebrews chapter 7.
The historical details provided by the Bible are consistent with the political situation in Mesopotamia in the early years of the reign of Hammurabi of Babylon, who may be the Amraphel of Shinar mentioned in Genesis 14. About 30 years into his reign, Hammurabi went to war with Elam, driving that kingdom out of the plains of Sumer, and then turned on his southern neighbor, Larsa (Ellasar), for not supporting Babylon in its war against their Elamite overlords.
So, the events of Genesis 14 took place after Hammurabi ascended to the throne of Babylon but before his war with Elam. Chronologies of Mesopotamia variously date Hammurabi’s reign to 1848-1806 BC (High Chronology), 1792-1750 BC (Middle Chronology), or 1728-1686 BC (Low Chronology). The High Chronology fits best with the timeline of the Bible, which places Abram in Canaan by 1876 BC
Note that since we studied this chapter in January of 2015, we’ve changed our minds about some things. Specifically:
- Amraphel of Shinar may have been Hammurabi of Babylon
- Ellasar most likely refers to the city-state of Larsa, a rival of Babylon that was conquered by Hammurabi around 1763 BC
- Tidal of Goiim was probably a leader of the Gutians, a barbaric people from the mountains of northwest Iran
- Sodom and the cities of the plain were not located southeast of the Dead Sea, but northeast, within sight of Jericho and Mount Nebo, at an archaeological site called Tall el-Hammam.
To find out more about the evidence for identifying Tall el-Hammam in Jordan as ancient Sodom, log on to www.DigSodom.com, and listen to Derek’s interview with Dr. Phillip Silvia, part of the archaeological team excavating at Tall el-Hammam.
————
Our latest book Veneration is now available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! Click here and find out why readers rate Veneration 4.7 out of 5, described as “a must read” that “opens up...the Bible’s hidden mysteries.” (https://amzn.to/3bobuY6)
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
GOD BEGINS a new phase of His plan to redeem humanity in this week’s study, as Abram is called from his homeland to journey south into Canaan.
We explain again why Abram was not from Ur in Sumer, but from a town near modern Sanliurfa in southeastern Turkey. As you can see by the map (click to enlarge), travelling to Canaan by way of Harran makes no sense. And beyond that, there are other cultural reasons that point to Abram’s northern Mesopotamian origins.
We also discuss the significance of two of the key sites in the early years of Abram’s life in Canaan. Shechem was a city sacred to the ancient Amorite god Resheph, the plague-god and gatekeeper to the underworld known in the time of Jesus as Apollo, and Sodom, which we’ll explore in more detail in a few weeks, was very possibly the center of a cult devoted to Baal-Peor—which may have been another incarnation of that fallen angel.
Articles you might find interesting:
“Why the Midrash Has Abraham Thrown into Nimrod's Furnace” — Back story on the origin of the story that Nimrod threw Abraham into a fiery furnace.
“Abraham and the Merchants of Ura” by Cyrus H. Gordon, the article that gives the scholarly evidence for Abraham’s northern origins
* “Abraham’s Real Roots” — Derek’s article for All Pro Pastors, which summarizes the arguments against putting Abraham’s home town in southeast.
To find out more about the evidence for identifying Tall el-Hammam in Jordan as ancient Sodom, log on to www.DigSodom.com, and listen to Derek’s interview with Dr. Phillip Silvia, part of the archaeological team excavating at Tall el-Hammam (www.vftb.net/?p=7604).
————
Our latest book Veneration is now available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! Click here and find out why readers rate Veneration 4.7 out of 5, described as “a must read” that “opens up...the Bible’s hidden mysteries.” (https://amzn.to/3bobuY6)
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
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Join us in Israel this year! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land October 12-25, 2020, with an optional four-day extension to the mysterious megalithic sites on the island of Sardinia to investigate the links between Sardinia and Israel.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchTV.com/IsraelTour.
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The Gilberts’ new book Veneration: Unveiling the Ancient Realms of Demonic Kings and Satan’s Battle Plan for Armageddon is available now! For a special price (better than Amazon!), log on to the SkyWatchTV Store (www.skywatchtvstore.com).
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
BEFORE WE pick up the story of Abraham, some context: When God divided the nations after the Tower of Babel incident, He placed them under the supervision of “sons of God,” angelic beings who were charged with carrying out His will while supervising His creation.
We explain why understanding what happened at and after Babel is crucial to understanding the long supernatural war depicted in the Bible, not to mention the state of our fallen world today.
Articles mentioned in this week’s study (see links in the notes at www.gilberthouse.org):
- “Deuteronomy 32:8-9 and the Old Testament Worldview” by Dr. Michael Heiser
- “Deuteronomy 32:8 and the Sons of God” by Dr. Michael Heiser
- “God vs. the Titans” by Derek P. Gilbert
- “Babel, the Abyss, and the Gate of the Gods” by Derek P. Gilbert
- “Abraham Was Not from Ur” by Derek P. Gilbert
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Our latest book Veneration is now available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! Click here and find out why readers rate Veneration 4.7 out of 5, described as “a must read” that “opens up...the Bible’s hidden mysteries.” (https://amzn.to/3bobuY6)
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
Join us in Israel this year! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land October 12-25, 2020, with an optional four-day extension to the mysterious megalithic sites on the island of Sardinia to investigate the links between Sardinia and Israel.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchTV.com/IsraelTour.
————
The Gilberts’ new book Veneration: Unveiling the Ancient Realms of Demonic Kings and Satan’s Battle Plan for Armageddon is available now! For a special price (better than Amazon!), log on to the SkyWatchTV Store (www.skywatchtvstore.com).
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
LEVIATHAN AND BEHEMOTH are featured this week as God uses them to illustrate the difference between Him and Job. While these creatures are described as possessing almost unimaginable power, they are as pets to our Lord, who made them just as He made us.
We discuss the nature of Leviathan and Behemoth (and no, we do not believe they were a whale, giant squid, hippo, elephant, crocodile, or dinosaurs) and their parallels in pagan religions such as Tiamat, the Canaanite sea-god Yam, the Sumerian Bull of Heaven, and the “calf of El.” We cite a couple of extrabiblical texts, specifically 1 Enoch 60:7-10, 24 and 2 Esdras 6:49-52, which describe the ultimate fate of Leviathan and Behemoth, which is to serve as food for the pious (compare to the feast after the war of Gog and Magog in Ezekiel 39:17-20; also Revelation 19:17-18). These help to understand what Jewish religious scholars thought about Leviathan and Behemoth before the arrival of Jesus.
Finally, we note that Job’s repentance at the end of the book is not the kind his friends encouraged; they wanted him to admit some unconfessed sin, whereas God accepted Job’s repentance for demanding an answer for his suffering.
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Our latest book Veneration is now available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! Click here and find out why readers rate Veneration 4.7 out of 5, described as “a must read” that “opens up...the Bible’s hidden mysteries.” (https://amzn.to/3bobuY6)
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Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
Join us in Israel this year! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land October 12-25, 2020, with an optional four-day extension to the mysterious megalithic sites on the island of Sardinia to investigate the links between Sardinia and Israel.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchTV.com/IsraelTour.
————
The Gilberts’ new book Veneration: Unveiling the Ancient Realms of Demonic Kings and Satan’s Battle Plan for Armageddon is available now! For a special price (better than Amazon!), log on to the SkyWatchTV Store (www.skywatchtvstore.com).
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
GOD ARRIVES on the scene to respond to Job’s complaints, and boy, does He bring the thunder. Literally.
Speaking from a whirlwind, which is an image that had been coopted by the fallen elohim to represent the Mesopotamian storm-god called Addu or Hadad (i.e., Baal).
In fact, there are multiple references to the spirit realm and its rebellion in Job 38. God establishes His unequaled status in all Creation by reminding Job that he wasn’t there when God “laid the foundations of the earth” and “determined its measurements” while “all the sons of God [angels] shouted for joy”.
God also mentions the chaoskampf (“struggle against chaos”) in verses 8-11, which are more than a description of God separating the land from the sea; this is a reference to a well-known story in the ancient Near East in which a warrior god subdues the forces of chaos represented by the sea or a sea-dragon (called Leviathan and Rahab in the Bible). We’ve encountered this already in Job 7:12, 9:13, and especially 26:5-13. (Go back to GHF #250 [http://bit.ly/2HafjlO] for a deeper dive into the chaoskampf).
————
Our latest book Veneration is now available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! Click here and find out why readers rate Veneration 4.7 out of 5, describing it as “a must read” that “opens up...the Bible’s hidden mysteries.” (https://amzn.to/3bobuY6)
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
Join us in Israel this year! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land October 12-25, 2020, with an optional four-day extension to the mysterious megalithic sites on the island of Sardinia to investigate the links between Sardinia and Israel.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchTV.com/IsraelTour.
————
The Gilberts’ new book Veneration: Unveiling the Ancient Realms of Demonic Kings and Satan’s Battle Plan for Armageddon is available now! For a special price (better than Amazon!), log on to the SkyWatchTV Store (www.skywatchtvstore.com).
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
ELIHU CONTINUES his rebuke of Job, refuting the older man’s arguments and then encouraging him to repent. As Elihu concludes his discourse by describing the thunder of God’s voice and the “golden splendor” of His “awesome majesty”—a hint of what’s to come when God arrives in a whirlwind in chapter 38.
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Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
Join us in Israel this year! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land October 12-25, 2020, with an optional four-day extension to the mysterious megalithic sites on the island of Sardinia to investigate the links between Sardinia and Israel.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchTV.com/IsraelTour.
————
The Gilberts’ new book Veneration: Unveiling the Ancient Realms of Demonic Kings and Satan’s Battle Plan for Armageddon is available now! For a special price (better than Amazon!), log on to the SkyWatchTV Store (www.skywatchtvstore.com).
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
JOB DELIVERS what is essentially his closing argument, recalling the days when his life was blessed, a respected member of the community, contrasting it with his current situation as one who’s mocked and despised. He asserts his innocence again, and issues another plea for a hearing.
And then chapter 32 opens with a new character entering the scene: Elihu, a young man who’d been listening silently to his elders, unloads on Job and his friends. He’s angry at Job for justifying himself before God, and angry at his friends for accusing Job of sin without being able to answer him.
Here's the link to the book Derek mentioned: 'A Biography of the Christian Bible' by Doug Woodward (https://amzn.to/2S3ScP1).
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Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
Join us in Israel this year! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land October 12-25, 2020, with an optional four-day extension to the mysterious megalithic sites on the island of Sardinia to investigate the links between Sardinia and Israel.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchTV.com/IsraelTour.
————
The Gilberts’ new book Veneration: Unveiling the Ancient Realms of Demonic Kings and Satan’s Battle Plan for Armageddon is available now! For a special price (better than Amazon!), log on to the SkyWatchTV Store (www.skywatchtvstore.com).
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
A DRAGON in the Bible? Yes! And we see it here in the Book of Job. What’s more, we see a connection between this primordial enemy of God and the spirits of the Nephilim.
Even before God created the heavens and the earth, He subdued Chaos—variously called Leviathan, “the deep” (the abyss; Hebrew tehom), the sea (the Canaanite sea-god Yam), or, as here in Job 26:12, Rahab, “the fleeing serpent.”
We also discuss the creation account of Job 26, which tells the story of the original chaoskampf, the struggle against Chaos (see Job 26:12-13). We also talk about the true meaning of “the north,” the personification of Sheol and Abaddon, and why “the dead” of Job 26:5 does not refer to deceased humans. (It’s another reference to the Rephaim, the spirits of the Nephilim.)
Other biblical references to God’s victory over Chaos:
- Genesis 1:2 (Tehom [“the deep”])
- Job 7:12 (“sea monster” or “dragon”)
- Isaiah 27:1 (Leviathan, “fleeing serpent,” “twisting serpent,” “dragon”)
- Isaiah 51:9 (Rahab, “dragon” or “sea monster”)
- Psalm 74:12-14 (Leviathan, “sea monsters” or “dragons”)
- Psalm 89:9-10 (Yam [“the sea”], Rahab)
- Proverbs 8:27-29 (Yam [“the sea”], Tehom [“the deep”])
Note that Hebrew tehom is essentially a cognate (same word, different language) for Tiamat, the Sumerian name for the primordial chaos-dragon.
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
Join us in Israel this year! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land October 12-25, 2020, with an optional four-day extension to the mysterious megalithic sites on the island of Sardinia to investigate the links between Sardinia and Israel.
For more information, log on to www.SkyWatchTV.com/IsraelTour.
————
The Gilberts’ new book Veneration: Unveiling the Ancient Realms of Demonic Kings and Satan’s Battle Plan for Armageddon is available now! For a special price (better than Amazon!), log on to the SkyWatchTV Store (www.skywatchtvstore.com).
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
JOB’S FRIENDS grow increasingly accusatory as we go through the book. This week, we hear the final speeches of Zophar and Eliphaz, who have gone from gently reminding Job that God punishes the wicked to accusing their miserable, suffering friend of mistreating the poor, widowed, and homeless!
We speculate on the role of the accuser (“the satan”) in provoking their aggressive responses to Job, discuss the title of God in these chapters, the Almighty, and again contrast English Bible translations based on the Masoretic Hebrew text with the Septuagint version produced by Jewish religious scholars a thousand years earlier.
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
Join us in Israel this year! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land October 12-25, 2020, with an optional four-day extension to the mysterious megalithic sites on the island of Sardinia to investigate the links between Sardinia and Israel.
For more information, log on to SkyWatchTV.com/IsraelTour.
————
The Gilberts’ new book Veneration: Unveiling the Ancient Realms of Demonic Kings and Satan’s Battle Plan for Armageddon is available now! For a special price (better than Amazon!), log on to the SkyWatchTV Store (www.skywatchtvstore.com).
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
JOB’S UNDERSTANDING of the afterlife was a reflection of the culture around him, which was dominated by the Amorites who controlled the ancient Near East from about 2000 BC to 1400 BC. They believed that the dead depended on the living to feed them to sustain them after death.
But even with that, Job knew that his Redeemer lived, “and at the last he will stand upon the earth”—and that Job would see that day with his own eyes, a clear prophecy of the resurrection of the dead described by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:35-55.
We discuss the ancient Near Eastern view of life after death, the significance of sacred mountains and tells, dolmens, and the Rephaim in the context of Job’s complaint.
Here’s the link (http://www.askelm.com/star/) to the free online and audiobook editions of The Star that Astonished the World by E. L. Martin, an analysis of the astronomical and prophetic evidence that points to September 11, 3 BC as the actual birth date of Jesus.
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
Join us in Israel in 2020! We will lead another tour through the Holy Land October 12-25, 2020, with an optional four-day extension to the mysterious megalithic sites on the island of Sardinia to investigate the links between Sardinia and Israel.
For more information, log on to SkyWatchTV.com/IsraelTour.
————
The Gilberts’ new book Veneration: Unveiling the Ancient Realms of Demonic Kings and Satan’s Battle Plan for Armageddon is available now! For a special price (better than Amazon!), log on to the SkyWatchTV Store (www.skywatchtvstore.com).
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
JOB CONTINUES his lament this week, openly wishing that he could hide in Sheol until God’s anger was past. In response, Eliphaz the Temanite accuses Job of guilt, asserting that God only punishes the wicked.
We know that's true, but judgment doesn’t always happen when we want it—right now, in the physical realm, where we can see it. Furthermore, we can see with our own eyes, as Job did, that bad things happen to good people.
We also discuss a messianic prophecy, a reference to the divine council (Job 15:17—the “holy ones” are probably the Watchers; see Daniel 4:13, 17) and what may be a reference to the dolmens of the Jordan River valley (the “heaps of ruins” in Job 15:28).
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Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
The Gilberts’ new book 'Veneration: Unveiling the Ancient Realms of Demonic Kings and Satan’s Battle Plan for Armageddon' is available now! For a special price (better than Amazon!), log on to the SkyWatchTV Store (www.skywatchtvstore.com).
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
JOB FINALLY vents, declaring that he must speak freely since his effort to forget his complaint has failed. In chapter 10, Job addresses God in forceful language, accusing Him of being unjust and demanding answers for his suffering.
Then Job’s second friend, Zophar the Naamathite, responds and offers little comfort. Zophar asserts that Job is guilty and deserving of God’s punishment—in fact, probably deserving of worse than he’s already suffered.
Job replies that everyone knows God is sovereign and accuses his friends of speaking falsely for God. Contenting to assert his innocence, Job addresses God directly, pleading with God to hear his case.
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
The Gilberts’ new book Veneration: Unveiling the Ancient Realms of Demonic Kings and Satan’s Battle Plan for Armageddon is available now! For a special price (better than Amazon!), log on to the SkyWatchTV Store (www.skywatchtvstore.com).
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
JOB REPLIES to the rebuke of Eliphaz and brings up some interesting points for our study this week. While admitting that God is just and all-powerful, the suffering Job still maintains that his complaints are justified.
We see another reference to the divine council in Job’s mention of “the arrows of the Almighty (Shaddai)” and “the terrors of God.”
Then we discuss Job’s anguished question, “Am I the sea(-god) [Yam], or a sea monster [tannin; i.e., a dragon] that you set a guard over me?” (Job 7:12) This is a reference to Genesis 1:2 and God’s taming of the forces of chaos, a theme to which Job returns in chapter 9, and which we’ll see in depth later in our study of this book.
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
The Gilberts’ new book Veneration: Unveiling the Ancient Realms of Demonic Kings and Satan’s Battle Plan for Armageddon is available for pre-order now from SkyWatchTV! Log on to the SkyWatchTV Store (www.skywatchtvstore.com) for more information.
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
WE SEE the divine council worldview in the ongoing discourse of Eliphaz the Temanite, as he mentions the “Holy Ones,” an epithet used elsewhere in the Old Testament for the Watchers (Daniel 4:13, 17).
We also discuss the hidden meaning of the “sparks” in Job 5:7, the bene resheph or “sons of Resheph,” and the significance of the Canaanite plague-god Resheph (hint: Resheph was called Apollo by the Greeks and Romans).
Question: Which god did Eliphaz serve? Was he a pagan? We assume it was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but Job lived between the time of Noah and the birth of Abraham and God had not yet revealed His name to humanity. That happened hundreds of years later with Moses on Mount Sinai (Exodus 6:3).
So, assuming Eliphaz served the same God as Job, he would probably have known Yahweh as El Shaddai, a theory supported by Eliphaz’ reference to “the Almighty” (shadday) in Job 5:17.
We also discuss other nouns such as “affliction,” “trouble,” “injustice,” “destruction,” and “famine,” because those were often considered to be demonic entities in the ancient Near East. This is a great exercise in trying to get inside the head of someone who lived more than four thousand years ago on the other side of the world, although admittedly somewhat speculative.
The takeaway: Eliphaz rebuked Job for blaming God for his troubles, which Eliphaz appears to think are Job’s fault for being insufficiently devout.
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
The Gilberts’ new book Veneration: Unveiling the Ancient Realms of Demonic Kings and Satan’s Battle Plan for Armageddon is available for pre-order now from SkyWatchTV! Log on to the SkyWatchTV Store (www.skywatchtvstore.com) for more information.
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE FRIENDS of Job are to be commended for giving up so much of their time to commiserate with him in his suffering. However, their understanding of the cause of his suffering was incomplete.
At least they were more encouraging than Job’s wife, who advised him to “curse God and die.” We discuss the divine council reference in Job 2, the nature of Satan (or “the satan”), the location of the home of Eliphaz the Temanite, another clue that Job lived somewhere in what later became Edom (possibly near Petra), Job’s wish that he’d never been born, a veiled reference to the spirits of the Rephaim in Job 3:14-15, and Eliphaz’s description of what sounds like sleep paralysis or night terrors when he was visited by Pachad, a demonic spirit called “Terror.”
The Commentary on the Book of Job by Rev. Jonathan Kelsey Burr, published in 1879, is available for free from Google Books. Click here to download the PDF or add it to Google Play Books (https://books.google.com/books?id=z5ssAAAAYAAJ&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false).
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
The Gilberts’ new book Veneration: Unveiling the Ancient Realms of Demonic Kings and Satan’s Battle Plan for Armageddon is available for pre-order now from SkyWatchTV! Log on to the SkyWatchTV Store (www.skywatchtvstore.com) for more information.
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
JOB HAS become a symbol for patient suffering in the face of overwhelming adversity, but there’s a lot more to his story than that.
This week, we begin our study of one of the most fascinating books of the Bible. We discuss the historical context of Job, the significance of Job’s probable homeland east of the Jordan River, the glimpse at the workings of the divine council, and the role of the satan in the council—because Satan wasn’t a proper name in the Old Testament.
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Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
The Gilberts’ new book Veneration: Unveiling the Ancient Realms of Demonic Kings and Satan’s Battle Plan for Armageddon is available for pre-order now from SkyWatchTV! Log on to the SkyWatchTV Store (www.skywatchtvstore.com) for more information.
————
'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
AFTER THE construction of Tower of Babel, the descendants of Noah spread across the earth. This week, we discuss the descendants of Shem, since it’s from his line that the Lord brought forth His Messiah.
We also discuss the days of Peleg, whose name means to cleave or divide. What caused the breakup of the land masses of the earth in ancient times? Was it related to the punishment of the Watchers who descended to Mount Hermon and were punished by being thrust down to Tartarus (2 Peter 2:4)?
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Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
The Gilberts’ new book Veneration: Unveiling the Ancient Realms of Demonic Kings and Satan’s Battle Plan for Armageddon is available for pre-order now from SkyWatchTV! Log on to the SkyWatchTV Store (www.skywatchtvstore.com) for more information.
————
'Realms of Fire,’ the fifth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book ‘Bad Moon Rising: Islam, Armageddon, and the Most Diabolical Double-Cross in History’ is now available! Get an unbeatable deal on the book at the SkyWatchTV Store: https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/the-vault-declassified
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE TOWER of Babel was not at Babylon. It was at a place that was at least as important in the spiritual sense: Eridu.
The Sumerians remember Eridu as the first city, where “kingship” was lowered from heaven, and, most important, it’s where the oldest and largest ziggurat in Mesopotamia was located. That was the temple of the god Enki, the E-abzu—the “House of the Abyss.”
It was believed that Enki sent the gifts of civilization to humanity with the apkallu, the Mesopotamian Watchers, angelic beings who were later banished to the abzu by the chief god Marduk. Of course, that’s a twisted version of the biblical account in which the rebellious Watchers were imprisoned by God in Tartarus (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 1:6).
We explain why Babel should not be confused with Babylon, discuss the identity of the historical character the Hebrews called Nimrod, and speculate on why God found the Tower of Babel so offensive that He personally intervened to stop it.
Here is a link to Derek’s article on Babel (https://www.thegreatinception.com/long-war/the-great-inception-part-3-babel-the-abyss-and-the-gate-of-the-gods/), an excerpt from his 2017 book The Great Inception.
And here is a link to the translation of the poem Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta (http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section1/tr1823.htm), which we think holds clues to what really happened on the plains of Shinar.
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Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
'Realms of Fire,’ the fifth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book ‘Bad Moon Rising: Islam, Armageddon, and the Most Diabolical Double-Cross in History’ is now available! Get an unbeatable deal on the book at the SkyWatchTV Store: https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/the-vault-declassified
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE NATIONS of the world have their origins in decisions made in the years immediately following the Flood. This week, we discuss the table of nations and briefly summarize the migrations of the descendants of Shem, Japheth, and Ham.
We also explain why Babel was important to Nimrod, a prelude to next week’s study on the Tower of Babel.
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
'Realms of Fire,’ the fifth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book ‘Bad Moon Rising: Islam, Armageddon, and the Most Diabolical Double-Cross in History’ is now available! Get an unbeatable deal on the book at the SkyWatchTV Store: https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/the-vault-declassified
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE SONS of Noah divided the world between them. It appears that the youngest, Ham, made a power play to usurp the birthright of his older brothers -- by having incestuous relations with his mother.
This week, we discuss the aftermath of the Flood. We talk about the symbol of the rainbow, God’s command to Noah and his sons to fill the earth, and His prohibition on eating blood.
We also unpack the odd story of the cursing of Canaan (Gen. 9:20-27) and what Ham actually did to bring that curse about his son. The Faithlife Study Bible explains:
No combination of the relevant Hebrew words—ra’ah (“see”), galah (“uncover”), and erwah (“nakedness”)—occurs in the ot in reference to homosexuality. The Hebrew phrase for “uncovering the nakedness of [a man]” actually refers to sexual intercourse with a man’s wife. For example, in a literal rendering of Lev 18:7, “the nakedness of your father” means “the nakedness of your mother”; in Lev 18:14, a literal rendering of “the nakedness of your father’s brother” is clarified as “his wife” and “your aunt” (see Lev 18:8; 20:11, 20, 21). Although the usual expression in Leviticus is to “uncover [galah in Hebrew] the nakedness,” both idioms are used in parallel in Lev 20:17. Therefore, Ham’s offense may have been maternal incest and the forcible rape of his mother. This explains the curse of Ham’s son that follows.
————
Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
'Realms of Fire,’ the fifth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book ‘Bad Moon Rising: Islam, Armageddon, and the Most Diabolical Double-Cross in History’ is now available! Get an unbeatable deal on the book at the SkyWatchTV Store: https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/the-vault-declassified
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE STORY of a global flood is common to many cultures all over the world. Today, we read the real story behind the flood of Noah.
We read the corresponding chapters in the Book of 1 Enoch that expand on Genesis 6:1-4. It was more than just human sin that led to the Flood; the Watchers and their monstrous offspring brought witchcraft, sexual depravity, and even cannibalism to the earth.
We also connect the length of time that water covered the earth, including all of the high mountains (places of spiritual significance) to the time allotted to the creatures from the abyss—the Watchers punished for their sin—in chapter 11 of the Book of Revelation.
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Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
'Realms of Fire,’ the fifth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book ‘Bad Moon Rising: Islam, Armageddon, and the Most Diabolical Double-Cross in History’ is now available! Get an unbeatable deal on the book at the SkyWatchTV Store: https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/the-vault-declassified
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
AT SOME point in our distant past, angels descended to the summit of Mount Hermon and made a pact to corrupt the earth through interbreeding and sharing knowledge that humanity was not meant to know.
This week, we begin to decipher one of the strangest, but most important, sections of scripture in the Bible. We explain why Genesis 6 means what it says and compare it to the extrabiblical account in the Book of 1 Enoch.
Here’s a link to an article Derek wrote for the All Pro Pastors website, "Sons of Gods, Fathers of Giants," explaining why the "sons of God" were, in fact, angels, and the Nephilim were, in fact, giants. http://allpropastors.org/sons-god-fathers-giants/
PRIDE AND a drift away from the Creator is evident in today’s study, which features the generations of patriarchs between Adam and Noah.
We discuss the first city built (Gen. 4:17) and explain why we think the builder was Cain’s son, Enoch (not the Enoch who “walked with God,” who was a descendant of Seth). That was probably the ancient city of Eridu, home of the god Enki, lord of the abyss, site of the oldest and largest ziggurat in Mesopotamia.
We also discuss the pride of Lamech, descendant of Cain, and his boast that his death would be avenged seventy-seven times, the reason for the sudden emergence of civilization in ancient Sumer, and why the descendants of Cain may have been lured into creating a society based around cities rather than a rural or pastoral culture.
Here’s the link to Derek’s article “Cain, Coneheads, and the Old Gods of Sumer,” which is excerpted from his book The Great Inception: http://bit.ly/2LkqDjn
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Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
'Realms of Fire,’ the fifth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book 'Last Clash of the Titans' is now available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! For more information, log on to www.LastClashOfTheTitans.com.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS have been messed up for millennia because of what happened in Eden.
This week, we discuss the consequences of eating the forbidden fruit, taking a deep dive into Genesis 3:16, a difficult passage that suggests husbands and wives have been cursed by sin to struggle with one another for control.
Then we talk about the curse directed at the serpent and explain why it has more to do with the Mesopotamian concept of the netherworld than why snakes don’t have legs. (Snakes never had legs.) We also deal with the old “serpent seed” heresy, which is debunked simply by reading Genesis 4:1. Cain was the son of Adam, not Satan.
Finally, we discuss the murder of Abel, speculating that at least one fallen entity whispered to Cain to encourage the shedding of his brother’s blood.
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Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
'Realms of Fire,’ the fifth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book 'Last Clash of the Titans' is now available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! For more information, log on to www.LastClashOfTheTitans.com.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE TREE in the middle of the garden proved to be a test and a trap—not just for Adam and Eve, but for the serpent as well.
This week, we discuss the location of Eden and explain why it was Jerusalem based on the identities of the four rivers named in Genesis 2:10-13. We also talk about the relevance of the rivers Pishon, Gihon, Tigris and Euphrates to ancient cosmology, as reflected in Isaiah 47 and the ancient myth of the descent of Inanna (i.e., Ishtar, Astarte, Aphrodite, Venus, etc.) to the netherworld.
The we dig into the relationship of Adam and Eve, why the serpent wasn’t a serpent, why the seraphim may be griffins, and why the cherubim were not feminine angels with graceful wings, much less chubby little flying babies.
Here is the link to the article by Dr. Nicolas Wyatt that Derek mentioned, "A Royal Garden: The Ideology of Eden": https://wp.me/a57OIm-15p (link opens PDF document).
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Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
'Realms of Fire,’ the fifth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book 'Last Clash of the Titans' is now available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! For more information, log on to www.LastClashOfTheTitans.com.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
GARDENS WERE not just for growing vegetables in the ancient world.
This week, as we study days five through seven of Creation Week, we discuss the spiritual significance of gardens in the ancient world and their connection to the cult of divinized ancestors, especially dead kings—in other words, the mighty men who were of old.
We also discuss the identity of the “we” and “us” whose image we bear, the importance of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and dig into the original Hebrew behind English words like “sea creatures,” “birds,” and “breath of life.”
Here’s the link to the article on the purpose of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil Derek mentioned during the study: https://answersingenesis.org/bible-questions/tree-knowledge-good-and-evil/
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Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
'Realms of Fire,’ the fifth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book 'Last Clash of the Titans' is now available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! For more information, log on to www.LastClashOfTheTitans.com.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
BACK TO the beginning! Today, we begin our study of the Old Testament for the second time, nearly five years after our very first dive into Genesis 1.
We discuss the meaning of various Hebrew words and their implications, and we explain why the first chapter of the Bible isn’t just a creation account, it’s a repudiation of the creation stories told by the cultures of the ancient world.
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Join us this Tuesday, June 18, 2019 at Morningside in Blue Eye, Mo. We will be guests on upcoming episodes of The Jim Bakker Show and the recording session is free and open to the public. For more information, log on to www.JimBakkerShow.com.
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Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
'Realms of Fire,’ the fifth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book 'Last Clash of the Titans' is now available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! For more information, log on to www.LastClashOfTheTitans.com.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
WE'RE BACK with a brief summary of highlights from our whirlwind tours of the Holy Land and the UK. We discuss sites we visited, such as Gilgal Refaim, Joshua's altar, and Harosheth Haggoyim (the headquarters of Sisera, commander of the army of the Canaanite king Jabin), the amazing artifacts at the British Museum, and an incredible divine appointment at the site of Aleister Crowley's home overlooking Loch Ness.
Our next study of the Old Testament begins with Genesis 1 next week!
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Our free mobile app for iOS and Android brings these studies right to your smartphone or tablet! Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
'Realms of Fire,’ the fifth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book 'Last Clash of the Titans' is now available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! For more information, log on to www.LastClashOfTheTitans.com.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
WE WEREN’T quite finished after all! Marilyn Abbott, who spotted our oversight of Deuteronomy 9 about six weeks ago, informed us this week that we’d also skipped over three chapters of the Gospel of John. (Thank you again, Marilyn!)
So, today we discuss Jesus’ final meeting with his disciples just before his betrayal in the garden of Gethsemane. This included his promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit, a prophecy of his return from the grave, and his prayer that the Father protect his disciples (and us) from the attacks of those who are in service to the ruler of this world (i.e., Satan).
We also talk about the concept of “the Name,” and we examine the epithet Jesus gave Judas Iscariot, the “son of destruction” (Greek apōleias), and its connection to the god Apollo, who was known to Mesopotamians as Resheph and Nergal, a god of plagues and the gatekeeper of the underworld. It’s not by coincidence that John identified the king of the entities in the Abyss as Apollyon, which is a variant of Apollo.
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Josh and Christina Peck need your help. Pray for their son, Nathan, who was recently diagnosed with T-cell leukemia. The whole family is with Nathan while he’s being treated. If you are led to help financially, you can do so at www.JoshPeckDisclosure.com/donate.
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Our free mobile app for iOS and Android brings these studies right to your smartphone or tablet! Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
'Realms of Fire,’ the fifth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book 'Last Clash of the Titans' is now available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! For more information, log on to www.LastClashOfTheTitans.com.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
WE REACH the end of the Old Testament today, the Book of Malachi, and with that we have completed our first journey through the entire Bible.
We discuss God's condemnation of faithless rituals and the priests that perform them, His anger at those who had "married the daughter of a foreign god," and His promise to return on "the great and awesome day of the Lord."
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Josh and Christina Peck need your help. Pray for their son, Nathan, who was recently diagnosed with T-cell leukemia. The whole family is with Nathan while he’s being treated. If you are led to help financially, you can do so at www.JoshPeckDisclosure.com/donate.
————
Our free mobile app for iOS and Android brings these studies right to your smartphone or tablet! Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
'Realms of Fire,’ the fifth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book 'Last Clash of the Titans' is now available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! For more information, log on to www.LastClashOfTheTitans.com.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
NEHEMIAH DISCOVERED what God had known for centuries (well, since the beginning of time, actually): His people were a stubborn lot.
After returning from a visit to the Persian king Artaxerxes to report on the work that had been done in Jerusalem, Nehemiah discovered that the reforms he and Ezra the priest had instituted, a return to the Law given to Moses, had already been forgotten. Jerusalem was open for business on the Sabbath, with people buying, selling, and working through their day of rest.
Worse, Tobiah the Ammonite had exploited a family connection to the priest in charge of the temple storerooms to get a chamber for his own use in the Temple—a room that had previously been used to store temple vessels, frankincense, and tithes of grain, wine, and oil.
We discuss Nehemiah’s response to this, move on to a passionate Psalm about the return to Zion, and then begin our study of the final book of the Bible, Malachi, which may include a veiled prophecy of Islam.
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Josh and Christina Peck need your help. Pray for their son, Nathan, who was recently diagnosed with T-cell leukemia. The whole family is with Nathan while he’s being treated. If you are led to help financially, you can do so at www.JoshPeckDisclosure.com/donate.
————
Our free mobile app for iOS and Android brings these studies right to your smartphone or tablet! Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
Update: The 2019 SkyWatchTV Wars of the Gods Tour of Israel has added a special visit to Qumran, where the Dead Sea scrolls were discovered, where Jim Barfield of the Copper Scroll Project (www.CopperScrollProject.com) will show us some of the sites where he believes some of the most important religious artifacts in history may be buried.
The tour flies from New York City to Tel Aviv Sunday, May 12, 2019, and returns Thursday, May 23. If you want to extend your trip a few days to join us in Jordan, you'd return Monday, May 27, 2019. For more information, log on to LipkinTours.com -- but don't wait!
————
'Realms of Fire,’ the fifth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book 'Last Clash of the Titans' is now available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! For more information, log on to www.LastClashOfTheTitans.com.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
PERSEVERANCE IN the face of opposition is one of the lessons from our reading today. The Samaritans, Ammonites, and Arabs in Nehemiah's day tried to discourage the Jews through threats, political pressure, and even a conspiracy to assassinate Nehemiah.
With the work completed, Ezra led the people in a reading of the Law and a restoration of the Feast of Tabernacles, which, we were surprised to learn, hadn't been observed since the Exodus!
We also discuss the meaning of God's promise to make Abraham's descendants "as the stars of heaven," which is a reference to our future restoration as members of the divine council, not the number of Jews and Christians on the earth.
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Josh and Christina Peck need your help. Pray for their son, Nathan, who was recently diagnosed with T-cell leukemia. The whole family is with Nathan while he’s being treated. If you are led to help financially, you can do so at www.JoshPeckDisclosure.com/donate.
————
Our free mobile app for iOS and Android brings these studies right to your smartphone or tablet! Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
Update: The 2019 SkyWatchTV Wars of the Gods Tour of Israel has added a special visit to Qumran, where the Dead Sea scrolls were discovered, where Jim Barfield of the Copper Scroll Project (www.CopperScrollProject.com) will show us some of the sites where he believes some of the most important religious artifacts in history may be buried.
The tour flies from New York City to Tel Aviv Sunday, May 12, 2019, and returns Thursday, May 23. If you want to extend your trip a few days to join us in Jordan, you'd return Monday, May 27, 2019. For more information, log on to LipkinTours.com -- but don't wait!
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Sharon's new novel 'Realms of Fire' is available for Amazon's Kindle e-book reader! The print edition should be available this week. For more information, see Sharon's website, www.sharonkgilbert.com, or www.TheRedwingSaga.com.
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For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
NEARLY ONE hundred years after Cyrus issued his decree allowing the Jews to return to Jerusalem, the walls of the Holy City still had not been rebuilt.
Nehemiah, cupbearer to the Persian king Artaxerxes, was granted permission to return to Judah for twelve years and oversee the rebuilding of the walls and gates of Jerusalem. We discuss the opposition to Nehemiah, from without and within, and how he directed his crews to work while prepared to defend themselves.
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Josh and Christina Peck need your help. Pray for their son, Nathan, who was recently diagnosed with T-cell leukemia. The whole family is with Nathan while he’s being treated. If you are led to help financially, you can do so at www.JoshPeckDisclosure.com/donate.
————
Our free mobile app for iOS and Android brings these studies right to your smartphone or tablet! Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
————
Update: The 2019 SkyWatchTV Wars of the Gods Tour of Israel has added a special visit to Qumran, where the Dead Sea scrolls were discovered, where Jim Barfield of the Copper Scroll Project (www.CopperScrollProject.com) will show us some of the sites where he believes some of the most important religious artifacts in history may be buried.
The tour flies from New York City to Tel Aviv Sunday, May 12, 2019, and returns Thursday, May 23. If you want to extend your trip a few days to join us in Jordan, you'd return Monday, May 27, 2019. For more information, log on to LipkinTours.com -- but don't wait!
————
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE SECOND group to return from Babylon to Jerusalem was led by Ezra the priest, who secured permission from the Persian king Artaxerxes in 458 B.C. It was a four-month journey, which the Jews undertook without an armed guard, something that was unheard of in a time when caravan raiders were likely to prey on unsuspecting travelers -- especially a group loaded down with more than 30 tons of gold and silver!
Then, in Jerusalem, the people confessed to Ezra that many of the Jews, including priests, had married pagan women during the exile. We discuss the Law concerning marriage with unbelievers and note that this was not a racial thing, it was a command against intermarrying with pagans. It was not an easy thing, but something that was necessary, especially for those who served in the Temple.
Our free mobile app for iOS and Android brings these studies right to your smartphone or tablet! Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
Update: The 2019 SkyWatchTV Wars of the Gods Tour of Israel has added a special visit to Qumran, where the Dead Sea scrolls were discovered, where Jim Barfield of the Copper Scroll Project (www.CopperScrollProject.com) will show us some of the sites where he believes some of the most important religious artifacts in history may be buried.
The tour flies from New York City to Tel Aviv Sunday, May 12, 2019, and returns Thursday, May 23. If you want to extend your trip a few days to join us in Jordan, you'd return Monday, May 27, 2019. For more information, log on to LipkinTours.com -- but don't wait!
'Realms of Stone,' the fourth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book 'Last Clash of the Titans' is shipping now! For more information, log on to www.LastClashOfTheTitans.com.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
AN ASTUTE listener pointed out that we skipped chapter 9 of Deuteronomy way back between studies #44 and #45, so we begin this week by correcting that oversight. (Thank you, Marilyn!)
We find a wonderful nugget in Moses' directions to the Israelites, based on the intriguing link between the Hebrew word for "cities" and the Aramaic word for "Watchers."
Then we move to the climax of the Book of Esther, in which Haman gets his comeuppance, which was more gruesome than you've been taught. (The Hebrew word translated "gallows" really means "pike," or something similar. Think Vlad the Impaler, and you get the idea.)
One of the main takeaways from Esther is this bit of advice from Mordecai to his young cousin, the queen:
"For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" (Esther 4:14, ESV)
Our free mobile app for iOS and Android brings these studies right to your smartphone or tablet! Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
Update: The 2019 SkyWatchTV Wars of the Gods Tour of Israel has added a special visit to Qumran, where the Dead Sea scrolls were discovered, where Jim Barfield of the Copper Scroll Project (www.CopperScrollProject.com) will show us some of the sites where he believes some of the most important religious artifacts in history may be buried.
The tour flies from New York City to Tel Aviv Sunday, May 12, 2019, and returns Thursday, May 23. If you want to extend your trip a few days to join us in Jordan, you'd return Monday, May 27, 2019. For more information, log on to LipkinTours.com -- but don't wait!
Download our free mobile app! Links to the App Store and Google Play store are posted at www.GilbertHouse.org.
'Realms of Stone,' the fourth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book 'Last Clash of the Titans' is shipping now! For more information, log on to www.LastClashOfTheTitans.com.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE STORY of Esther, a Jewish woman who became queen of Persia, is the origin of the Purim holiday, celebrating the salvation of the Jewish people from Haman, a key advisor to Xerxes, the king.
In today's #MeToo culture, however, the story has been hijacked by our 21st century Western worldview. We discuss the differences between Esther and the deposed queen Vashti; obvious changes to the Book of Esther in the Septuagint translation; and why Esther wouldn't have been in a position to help her people if she hadn't been subservient to Xerxes and her cousin and guardian, Mordecai.
Our free mobile app for iOS and Android brings these studies right to your smartphone or tablet! Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
Update: The 2019 SkyWatchTV Wars of the Gods Tour of Israel has added a special visit to Qumran, where the Dead Sea scrolls were discovered, where Jim Barfield of the Copper Scroll Project (www.CopperScrollProject.com) will show us some of the sites where he believes some of the most important religious artifacts in history may be buried.
The tour flies from New York City to Tel Aviv Sunday, May 12, 2019, and returns Thursday, May 23. If you want to extend your trip a few days to join us in Jordan, you'd return Monday, May 27, 2019. For more information, log on to LipkinTours.com -- but don't wait!
Download our free mobile app! Links to the App Store and Google Play store are posted at www.GilbertHouse.org.
'Realms of Stone,' the fourth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book 'Last Clash of the Titans' is shipping now! For more information, log on to www.LastClashOfTheTitans.com.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
APOCALYPTIC PROPHECIES of the coming Day of the Lord are the focus of the last three chapters of Zechariah. Today we discuss the prophet's vision of the final battle of the age and compare it to Armageddon and the war of Gog and Magog.
We also talk about the aftermath, the millennial reign (although Zechariah doesn't call it that), and the final world order, when God rules and reigns over the entire world from Jerusalem.
Our free mobile app for iOS and Android brings these studies right to your smartphone or tablet! Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
Our 2019 Israel trip is nearly full! Please consider joining us for the SkyWatchTV Wars of the Gods Tour of Israel.
The tour flies from New York City to Tel Aviv Sunday, May 12, 2019, and returns Thursday, May 23. If you want to extend your trip a few days to join us in Jordan, you'd return Monday, May 27, 2019. For more information, log on to www.LipkinTours.com.
Download our free mobile app! Links to the App Store and Google Play store are posted at www.GilbertHouse.org.
'Realms of Stone,' the fourth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book 'Last Clash of the Titans' is shipping now! For more information, log on to www.LastClashOfTheTitans.com.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
GOD PROMISED that the tears and fasting of the Jews who'd returned to Jerusalem would be turned to joyous feasting. Then we turn to prophecies of God's judgment against the unrepentant nations on the Day of Yahweh.
We analyze Zechariah's references to specific places, such as Tyre, Sidon, Greece, Damascus, Lebanon, and Bashan, a clear prophecy of Judas Iscariot, and a mysterious "worthless shepherd" who is almost certainly the Antichrist.
Our free mobile app for iOS and Android brings these studies right to your smartphone or tablet! Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
Come to Israel with us in 2019! Please consider joining us, Pastor Carl Gallups, messianic rabbi Zev Porat, and Justen & Wes Faull on the 2019 SkyWatchTV Wars of the Gods Tour of Israel.
The tour flies from New York City to Tel Aviv Sunday, May 12, 2019, and returns Thursday, May 23. If you want to extend your trip a few days to join us in Jordan, you'd return Monday, May 27, 2019. For more information, log on to www.LipkinTours.com.
Download our free mobile app! Links to the App Store and Google Play store are posted at www.GilbertHouse.org.
'Realms of Stone,' the fourth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book 'Last Clash of the Titans' is shipping now! For more information, log on to www.LastClashOfTheTitans.com.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
A FLYING SCROLL, a woman named Wickedness, other women with wings like storks, and four chariots pulled by red, black white, and dappled horses continue the fascinating vision of the prophet Zechariah.
Picking up from his vision of the "two anointed ones" last week, we discuss the link between the flying scroll and the one unsealed by the Lamb in Revelation 6. We speculate on the significance of the directions in which the chariots were sent (two to the north, one to the south, and another to patrol the whole earth), and the symbolic and spiritual connections between Zechariah's vision and the land of Shinar (Sumer).
We also talk a bit about the biblical references Petra, called Sela in the Bible, its connections to Moses, and the importance of the Jordan Rift Valley in the long supernatural war of the gods.
Our free mobile app for iOS and Android brings these studies right to your smartphone or tablet! Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
Come to Israel with us in 2019! Please consider joining us, Pastor Carl Gallups, messianic rabbi Zev Porat, and Justen & Wes Faull on the 2019 SkyWatchTV Wars of the Gods Tour of Israel.
The tour flies from New York City to Tel Aviv Sunday, May 12, 2019, and returns Thursday, May 23. If you want to extend your trip a few days to join us in Jordan, you'd return Monday, May 27, 2019. For more information, log on to www.LipkinTours.com.
Download our free mobile app! Links to the App Store and Google Play store are posted at www.GilbertHouse.org.
'Realms of Stone,' the fourth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book 'Last Clash of the Titans' is shipping now! For more information, log on to www.LastClashOfTheTitans.com.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
WE OPEN 2019 with a study of two of the shorter prophetic chapters of the Old Testament, but they are rich with multiple layers of meaning — messages that point forward to the end times, but also back to Babel and the spirits behind it.
We discuss the Angel of Yahweh, another appearance in scripture of the Second Power of Heaven; the symbolism of Joshua, the first high priest of the remnant that returned from exile in Babylon; the role of “the satan” (and whether that job has been held by more than one entity); the parallels between the golden lampstand and the lampstands of the first chapter of Revelation; and the stone with seven eyes.
Then we turn to the significance of the “great mountain” in Zechariah 4:7. Commentators who interpret the mountain as a challenge or difficult task, Dominionists who see it representing one of the seven mountains of societal influence that must be conquered in Jesus’ name, and those who take it as a literal reference to the rubble from Solomon’s temple completely miss a historical reference that would have been familiar to the Jews of Zechariah’s day.
Remember, the Jews had just returned from seventy years in the heart of Babylonia. It’s not a coincidence that the chief god of the ancient Sumerians was Enlil, “the Great Mountain.”
In the city, the holy settlement of Enlil, in Nibru (Nippur, a city in ancient Sumer), the beloved shrine of father Great Mountain, he has made the dais of abundance, the E-kur (“House of the Mountain”), the shining temple, rise from the soil; he has made it grow on pure land as high as a towering mountain. Its prince, the Great Mountain, father Enlil, has taken his seat on the dais of the E-kur, the lofty shrine. No god can cause harm to the temple’s divine powers. Its holy hand-washing rites are everlasting like the earth. Its divine powers are the divine powers of the /abzu/: no one can look upon them. (Enlil in the E-kur. Translation from the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature).
Note that the /abzu/ (“abyss”) was the home of the god Enki, which Derek argues in his book The Great Inception was the site of the real Tower of Babel.
And who led the Jews to rebuild the Temple on Zion? Zerubbabel, whose name meant something like “sown in Babel.”
We also talk about the importance of sacred stones in the ancient world and explain the connections between Bethel (Hebrew /ḇêṯ’êl/), the betyls (stone idols) of Petra in Jordan, and the Ka’ba in Mecca, the /bayt allah/.
Our free mobile app for iOS and Android brings these studies right to your smartphone or tablet! Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
Come to Israel with us in 2019! Please consider joining us, Pastor Carl Gallups, messianic rabbi Zev Porat, and Justen & Wes Faull on the 2019 SkyWatchTV Wars of the Gods Tour of Israel.
The tour flies from New York City to Tel Aviv Sunday, May 12, 2019, and returns Thursday, May 23. If you want to extend your trip a few days to join us in Jordan, you'd return Monday, May 27, 2019. For more information, log on to www.LipkinTours.com.
Download our free mobile app! Links to the App Store and Google Play store are posted at www.GilbertHouse.org.
'Realms of Stone,' the fourth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book 'Last Clash of the Titans' is shipping now! For more information, log on to www.LastClashOfTheTitans.com.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
NOT SURPRISINGLY, the exiles who returned to Jerusalem in 538 B.C. got discouraged pretty quickly and left off rebuilding the Temple.
About eighteen years later, in 520 B.C., God sent the prophets Haggai and Zechariah to encourage the people to get busy. Somewhat surprisingly, the people listened! We discuss the prophetic aspects of the messages given to Haggai and Zechariah, and compare them to the actions of the nascent Sanhedrin today.
Here is the link to the 3-D video walkthrough of the Temple Institute's planned Third Temple: https://youtu.be/kMIxZc_SKFo
Our free mobile app for iOS and Android brings these studies right to your smartphone or tablet! Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
Come to Israel with us in 2019! Please consider joining us, Pastor Carl Gallups, messianic rabbi Zev Porat, and Justen & Wes Faull on the 2019 SkyWatchTV Wars of the Gods Tour of Israel.
The tour flies from New York City to Tel Aviv Sunday, May 12, 2019, and returns Thursday, May 23. If you want to extend your trip a few days to join us in Jordan, you'd return Monday, May 27, 2019. For more information, log on to www.LipkinTours.com.
Download our free mobile app! Links to the App Store and Google Play store are posted at www.GilbertHouse.org.
'Realms of Stone,' the fourth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book 'Last Clash of the Titans' is shipping now! For more information, log on to www.LastClashOfTheTitans.com.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE PROPHESIED return of the exiles from Babylon is the focus of our study today.
Under the leadership of Zerbbabel, who led the first group back to Jerusalem in 538 B.C., and with the encouragement of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, the temple was rebuilt in 515 B.C. We discuss the return of the people and the overwhelming emotions of the elders who wept when they saw the foundation of the new temple -- something they probably didn't think they would live to see.
Our free mobile app for iOS and Android brings these studies right to your smartphone or tablet! Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
Come to Israel with us in 2019! Please consider joining us, Pastor Carl Gallups, messianic rabbi Zev Porat, and Justen & Wes Faull on the 2019 SkyWatchTV Wars of the Gods Tour of Israel.
The tour flies from New York City to Tel Aviv Sunday, May 12, 2019, and returns Thursday, May 23. If you want to extend your trip a few days to join us in Jordan, you'd return Monday, May 27, 2019. For more information, log on to www.LipkinTours.com.
Download our free mobile app! Links to the App Store and Google Play store are posted at www.GilbertHouse.org.
'Realms of Stone,' the fourth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book 'Last Clash of the Titans' is shipping now! For more information, log on to www.LastClashOfTheTitans.com.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
PHYSICAL RESURRECTION is an aspect of Bible prophecy that's not often discussed.
Today, we link Daniel 12:2-3 to Isaiah 26:13-19, Ezekiel 39:11, Matthew 27:52-53, and 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 to show how the prophets and apostles understood not only that we will be physically resurrected someday, but that the Rephaim -- i.e., the spirits of the Nephilim (yes, them again) -- will be "blocked" from this resurrection.
Visit www.EarthquakeResurrection.com for more information on David W. Lowe's excellent book Earthquake Resurrection.
Our free mobile app for iOS and Android brings these studies right to your smartphone or tablet! Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
Come to Israel with us in 2019! Please consider joining us, Pastor Carl Gallups, messianic rabbi Zev Porat, and Justen & Wes Faull on the 2019 SkyWatchTV Wars of the Gods Tour of Israel.
The tour flies from New York City to Tel Aviv Sunday, May 12, 2019, and returns Thursday, May 23. If you want to extend your trip a few days to join us in Jordan, you'd return Monday, May 27, 2019. For more information, log on to www.LipkinTours.com.
Download our free mobile app! Links to the App Store and Google Play store are posted at www.GilbertHouse.org.
'Realms of Stone,' the fourth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book 'Last Clash of the Titans' is shipping now! For more information, log on to www.LastClashOfTheTitans.com.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE END of the 11th chapter of Daniel reads like a prophecy of the wars of Antichrist. Since the first 35 verses of that chapter are a prophecy of wars that were over the Holy Land in the two centuries before the birth of Jesus, concluding with Antiochus IV and his abomination of desolation, this analysis makes some sense.
We revisit last week's study of Daniel 11:1-35, and then spend the rest of the study on the last ten verses of the chapter. We revisit last week's study of Daniel 11:1-35, and then spend the rest of the study on the last ten verses of the chapter. In a nutshell, they appear to foretell a war that brings the Antichrist to power in Israel, where he will be welcomed as a savior.
We also speculate on the identity of the Antichrist figure called the "king of the north," the "gods of his fathers," the "one beloved by women," the "god of fortresses" he serves, and even on the role of Islam in Daniel's vision of the end times.
Our free mobile app for iOS and Android brings these studies right to your smartphone or tablet! Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
Come to Israel with us in 2019! Please consider joining us, Pastor Carl Gallups, messianic rabbi Zev Porat, and Justen & Wes Faull on the 2019 SkyWatchTV Wars of the Gods Tour of Israel.
The tour flies from New York City to Tel Aviv Sunday, May 12, 2019, and returns Thursday, May 23. If you want to extend your trip a few days to join us in Jordan, you'd return Monday, May 27, 2019. For more information, log on to www.LipkinTours.com.
Download our free mobile app! Links to the App Store and Google Play store are posted at www.GilbertHouse.org.
'Realms of Stone,' the fourth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book 'Last Clash of the Titans' is shipping now! For more information, log on to www.LastClashOfTheTitans.com.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THIS WEEK, we dig into one of the most historically dense sections of scripture. It's especially fascinating because the history recorded here was written in advance.
Daniel was shown a vision of the wars that would rage across the land formerly held by Israel during the 3rd and 2nd centuries B.C. following the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C. Kingdoms established by two of Alexander's generals, Ptolemy I Soter and Seleucus I Nicator fought back and forth over the Levant for more than a century, and Daniel recorded the prophecy of those wars so precisely that skeptics insist it must have been written after the fact.
Except that Daniel was part of the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew scriptures, which was completed before the events described in Daniel 11.
We also discuss territorial spirits again, based on Daniel 10's reference to the princes of Persia and Greece, and the fascinating reference in Daniel 11:1, where the angelic messenger mentions in passing that he "stood up to confirm and strengthen" the king, Darius the Mede.
Our free mobile app for iOS and Android brings these studies right to your smartphone or tablet! Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
Come to Israel with us in 2019! Please consider joining us, Pastor Carl Gallups, messianic rabbi Zev Porat, and Justen & Wes Faull on the 2019 SkyWatchTV Wars of the Gods Tour of Israel.
The tour flies from New York City to Tel Aviv Sunday, May 12, 2019, and returns Thursday, May 23. If you want to extend your trip a few days to join us in Jordan, you'd return Monday, May 27, 2019. For more information, log on to www.LipkinTours.com.
Download our free mobile app! Links to the App Store and Google Play store are posted at www.GilbertHouse.org.
'Realms of Stone,' the fourth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book 'Last Clash of the Titans' is shipping now! For more information, log on to www.LastClashOfTheTitans.com.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
IT'S NO WONDER Daniel was so distressed by the visions we discuss this week that he "lay sick for some days."
Our study this week focuses on the vision of the coming of Alexander the Great and Antiochus Epiphanes, a precursor and type of the Antichrist, and the famous "seventy weeks" prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27 which includes the prophecy to the "abomination of desolation" (Daniel 9:27) used by Jesus in the Olivet Discourse (Matt. 24:15-16, Mark 13:14, and Luke 21:20-21).
We discuss the meaning and timing of the seventy weeks, why it points to a pre-tribulation rapture, and possible interpretations of "the people of the prince who is to come." (Yes, it's Rome, but "Rome" had a much broader meaning throughout most of history than we think.)
Click here for the article by Chuck Missler that explains how Jesus fulfilled the prophecy of the seventy weeks to the day: https://www.khouse.org/articles/2004/552/
Or click here for a video presentation by Chuck Missler summarizing the information in the article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycPkrVcrtFI
You can help L.A. and Peggy Marzulli, who just lost their home and everything in it to the devastating Camp fire in California. For the links to the Marzullis' Fire Relief Fund at GoFundMe, or to donate via PayPal, log on to www.lamarzulli.wordpress.com.
Our free mobile app for iOS and Android brings these studies right to your smartphone or tablet! Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
Come to Israel with us in 2019! Please consider joining us, Pastor Carl Gallups, messianic rabbi Zev Porat, and Justen & Wes Faull on the 2019 SkyWatchTV Wars of the Gods Tour of Israel.
The tour flies from New York City to Tel Aviv Sunday, May 12, 2019, and returns Thursday, May 23. If you want to extend your trip a few days to join us in Jordan, you'd return Monday, May 27, 2019. For more information, log on to www.LipkinTours.com.
Download our free mobile app! Links to the App Store and Google Play store are posted at www.GilbertHouse.org.
'Realms of Stone,' the fourth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book 'Last Clash of the Titans' is shipping now! For more information, log on to www.LastClashOfTheTitans.com.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
WHILE POLITICS hasn't changed much in the last 2,500 years, we're thankful that today being "thrown to the lions" is just a figure of speech. In Daniel's day, it was apparently an effective method for disposing of political enemies.
Unless, of course, God had other plans.
This week, we discuss the famous story of Daniel in the lion's den, and then we move on to the prophetic section of the book to analyze the four terrifying beasts of Daniel's vision, various interpretations of what they represent, and why scholars can't agree on their meaning after more than two thousand years of study and debate.
You can help L.A. and Peggy Marzulli, who just lost their home and everything in it to the devastating Camp fire in California. For the links to the Marzullis' Fire Relief Fund at GoFundMe, or to donate via PayPal, log on to www.lamarzulli.wordpress.com.
Hey, we can send these studies directly to your phone, tablet, or iPod! Download our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
Come to Israel with us in 2019! Please consider joining us, Pastor Carl Gallups, messianic rabbi Zev Porat, and Justen & Wes Faull on the 2019 SkyWatchTV Wars of the Gods Tour of Israel.
The tour flies from New York City to Tel Aviv Sunday, May 12, 2019, and returns Thursday, May 23. If you want to extend your trip a few days to join us in Jordan, you'd return Monday, May 27, 2019. For more information, log on to www.LipkinTours.com.
Download our free mobile app! Links to the App Store and Google Play store are posted at www.GilbertHouse.org.
'Realms of Stone,' the fourth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book 'Last Clash of the Titans' is shipping now! For more information, log on to www.LastClashOfTheTitans.com.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
TODAY WE discuss the fall of Babylon. It wasn't just divine punishment for the hubris of King Belshazzar; this was a smackdown in the spirit realm.
Interestingly, the target of God's wrath wasn't Marduk, city-god of Babylon and head of the Mesopotamian pantheon, it was the moon-god, Sîn. Belshazzar's father, Nabonidus, was the king of Babylon in 539 B.C., but he'd been living at Teima, an oasis in Arabia that was a center of the moon-god cult. Nabonidus was from Harran, another major center of moon-god worship, and his mother was a priestess in the temple of Sîn there.
Nabonidus had been pushing to replace Marduk in the top spot in the pantheon at Babylon with Sîn, and there is good historical and archaeological evidence to believe that Belshazzar's drunken feast -- with the sacred utensils that had been taken by Nebuchadnezzar from the Temple in Jerusalem in 587 or 586 B.C. -- was the fall /akitu/ festival, held every year in honor of the moon-god.
It also coincided with Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, arguably the most important annual festival establish by God at Sinai -- the mountain named for the moon-god.
In short, the writing on the wall was God's judgment on Babylon, of course, but more importantly it was a clear message to the fallen entity who was worshiped as the moon-god. The night of Belshazzar's feast was the last night of freedom for Babylon, a kingdom founded and ruled by worshipers of the moon-god.
Here is the link to the paper Derek mentioned during the study, "Belshazzar's Feast and the Cult of the Moon God Sîn" by Al Wolters: http://bit.ly/2Djl68A
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Hey, we can send these studies directly to your phone, tablet, or iPod! Download our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
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Come to Israel with us in 2019! Please consider joining us, Pastor Carl Gallups, messianic rabbi Zev Porat, and Justen & Wes Faull on the 2019 SkyWatchTV Wars of the Gods Tour of Israel.
The tour flies from New York City to Tel Aviv Sunday, May 12, 2019, and returns Thursday, May 23. If you want to extend your trip a few days to join us in Jordan, you'd return Monday, May 27, 2019. For more information, log on to www.LipkinTours.com.
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Download our free mobile app! Links to the App Store and Google Play store are posted at www.GilbertHouse.org.
'Realms of Stone,' the fourth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book 'Last Clash of the Titans' is shipping now! For more information, log on to www.LastClashOfTheTitans.com.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THIS WEEK'S study in the book of Daniel gives us a window into the polytheistic world of ancient Mesopotamia.
Nebuchadnezzar, the Chaldean king of Babylon, had personal encounters with Yahweh, the God of Israel. He witnessed the power of God as He saved Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego from the fiery furnace. We explain why the giant golden statue was probably an image of Marduk, the chief god of Babylon, and how an archaeologist 150 years ago found what may have been the platform on which the statue stood.
We also note that chapter 4 of Daniel is the only place in the Bible where we find Watchers, angelic beings who carried out the will of God (or rebelled, as in Genesis 6:1-4). This is biblical confirmation that the Watchers were familiar to the pagans of Mesopotamia.
We also discuss the archaeological evidence for the madness of Nebuchadnezzar -- a text in the British Museum called BM 34113, translated in 1975, that appears to refer to the king's illness, and the lack of any records of his acts or decrees for the seven years between 582 and 575 B.C.
See:
- https://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/1978/04/new-light-on-nebuchadnezzars-madness
- http://www.againstdoubt.com/seven-years-a-madman/
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Please consider joining us, Pastor Carl Gallups, messianic rabbi Zev Porat, and Justen & Wes Faull on the 2019 SkyWatchTV Wars of the Gods Tour of Israel!
The tour flies from New York City to Tel Aviv Sunday, May 12, 2019, and returns Thursday, May 23. If you want to extend your trip a few days to join us in Jordan, you'd return Monday, May 27, 2019. For more information, log on to www.LipkinTours.com.
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Download our free mobile app! Links to the App Store and Google Play store are posted at www.GilbertHouse.org.
'Realms of Stone,' the fourth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book 'Last Clash of the Titans' is shipping now! For more information, log on to www.LastClashOfTheTitans.com.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
End times prophecy are the focus of this week's study as we conclude the Book of Joel and begin our study of Daniel.
We explain why the third chapter of Joel confirms that the battle of Armageddon will be fought at Jerusalem, and we analyze the first dream of Nebuchadnezzar recorded in the Book of Daniel.
We also discuss some of the historic and cultural context of the time in which Daniel lived, and the way God used a pagan king to reveal some of His plans for humanity's future.
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Big news: Pastor Carl Gallups, messianic rabbi Zev Porat, and Justen & Wes Faull are part of the 2019 SkyWatchTV Wars of the Gods Tour of Israel!
The tour flies from New York City to Tel Aviv Sunday, May 12, 2019, and returns Thursday, May 23. If you want to extend your trip a few days to join us in Jordan, you'd return Monday, May 27, 2019. For more information, log on to www.LipkinTours.com.
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Download our free mobile app! Links to the App Store and Google Play store are posted at www.GilbertHouse.org.
'Realms of Stone,' the fourth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book 'Last Clash of the Titans' is shipping now! For more information, log on to www.LastClashOfTheTitans.com.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
WE CONCLUDE our study of Ezekiel and move on to the apocalyptic prophecy of Joel this week. Here's a hint: The soldiers of Joel's Army are the bad guys.
We discuss Ezekiel's prophecy of the division of the land among the twelve tribes of Israel, and then we analyze Joel's prophecy of the coming judgment on the Day of Yahweh (the Day of the Lord) and explain why we believe Joel's prophecy is another description of the War of Gog and Magog, which ends with the Battle of Armageddon.
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Big news: Pastor Carl Gallups, messianic rabbi Zev Porat, and Justen & Wes Faull are part of the 2019 SkyWatchTV Wars of the Gods Tour of Israel!
The tour flies from New York City to Tel Aviv Sunday, May 12, 2019, and returns Thursday, May 23. If you want to extend your trip a few days to join us in Jordan, you'd return Monday, May 27, 2019. For more information, log on to www.LipkinTours.com.
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Download our free mobile app! Links to the App Store and Google Play store are posted at www.GilbertHouse.org.
'Realms of Stone,' the fourth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book 'Last Clash of the Titans' is shipping now! For more information, log on to www.LastClashOfTheTitans.com.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
GOD PROMISED to extinguish a cult of the dead that had defiled the Temple. This is one of the surprising things we find in our study of Ezekiel this week, in which the prophet continues with his detailed instructions for a future Temple complex, the land around it, and the calendar of feasts.
In chapter 43, Ezekiel's description of the return of the glory of God to the temple includes His condemnation of its desecration by Israel:
"Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the people of Israel forever. And the house of Israel shall no more defile my holy name, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoring and by the dead bodies of their kings at their high places..." (Ezekiel 43:7, ESV)
Dr. Daniel I. Block, in his commentary on Ezekiel, explains that "Ezekiel has in mind the veneration of the deified spirits of Israel's royal ancestors, analogous to the cult of the dead at Ugarit." Click here to read the relevant excerpt from The Book of Ezekiel: Chapters 25-48 by Dr. Block (link opens a PDF document).
The deified dead at Ugarit were the Rephaim, the "warriors of Baal," who, Derek argues in his new book Last Clash of the Titans, are the "Travelers" in the army of Gog (see Ezekiel 39:11-16). The takeaway from Ezekiel 43, when considered in the context of Ezekiel 38-39, is that the worship of the dead was pervasive and long-lasting in ancient Israel, but a day is coming when God puts an end to it for all time.
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Big news: Pastor Carl Gallups, messianic rabbi Zev Porat, and Justen & Wes Faull are part of the 2019 SkyWatchTV Wars of the Gods Tour of Israel!
The tour flies from New York City to Tel Aviv Sunday, May 12, 2019, and returns Thursday, May 23. If you want to extend your trip a few days to join us in Jordan, you'd return Monday, May 27, 2019. For more information, log on to www.LipkinTours.com.
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Download our free mobile app! Links to the App Store and Google Play store are posted at www.GilbertHouse.org.
'Realms of Stone,' the fourth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book 'Last Clash of the Titans' is shipping now! For more information, log on to www.LastClashOfTheTitans.com.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
DID EZEKIEL see John the Revelator, or at least his supernatural guide? That's one of the interesting questions raised by Ezekiel's vision of a new temple in Jerusalem.
We discuss the need for the Third Temple, given that the new Jerusalem will not have temple in it (see Rev. 21:22), when this temple might be raised, and some of the differences between the temple in Ezekiel's vision and the one built by Solomon.
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Big news: Pastor Carl Gallups, messianic rabbi Zev Porat, and Justen & Wes Faull are part of the 2019 SkyWatchTV Wars of the Gods Tour of Israel!
The tour flies from New York City to Tel Aviv Sunday, May 12, 2019, and returns Thursday, May 23. If you want to extend your trip a few days to join us in Jordan, you'd return Monday, May 27, 2019. For more information, log on to www.LipkinTours.com.
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Download our free mobile app! Links to the App Store and Google Play store are posted at www.GilbertHouse.org.
'Realms of Stone,' the fourth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE INVASION of Israel led by Gog of Magog is the war to end all wars. This week, we back up to Ezekiel 39:1 and discuss the entire chapter to explain why this war ends with the Battle of Armageddon.
We also dig deeper into the description of the hordes of Magog to show why the "fat beasts of Bashan" are the old gods, the Watchers (i.e., the Titans of Greek mythology), and their demigod progeny, the spirits of the "mighty men who were of old," the Nephilim.
Derek also offers his reasons for suggesting that the Antichrist may be the spirit of chaos, Leviathan.
Go here [ https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/45173 ] to download a copy of the paper Derek mentioned, "Baals of Bashan" by Dr. Robert D. Miller II, who uses archaeology and climatology to show why the phrase "Bulls of Bashan refers not to the bovine but to the divine," because Iron Age Bashan was a terrible place to raise cattle.
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Special offer! Save $20 off registration or 20% off video streaming for the Hear the Watchmen conference on Long Island August 9-12! Use promo code GILBERT20 when you sign up at www.HearTheWatchmen.com.
Dates for our 2019 trip to Israel are confirmed! The SkyWatchTV Wars of the Gods Tour flies from New York City to Tel Aviv Sunday, May 12, 2019, and returns Thursday, May 23. If you want to extend your trip a few days to join us in Jordan, you'd return Monday, May 27, 2019.
For more information, log on to www.LipkinTours.com.
——
Download our free mobile app! Links to the App Store and Google Play store are posted at www.GilbertHouse.org.
'Realms of Stone,' the fourth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
WE CONTINUE our study of the war of Gog and Magog. To reiterate, Gog will not be a Russian leader.
We explain why we should be looking at supernatural north, not a compass point. Ezekiel, like Isaiah, recognized that the great enemy of God would come from yarkete tsaphon, Mount Zaphon -- the mountain on which the pagan neighbors of ancient Israel believed the palace of Baal was located.
We also discuss imagery that could apply to the pagan plague-god Resheph (better known as Apollo), the role of the Rephaim in the army of Gog, and the significance of God referring to Himself as the Holy One IN Israel.
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Dates for our 2019 trip to Israel are confirmed! The SkyWatchTV Wars of the Gods Tour flies from New York City to Tel Aviv Sunday, May 12, 2019, and returns Thursday, May 23. If you want to extend your trip a few days to join us in Jordan, you'd return Monday, May 27, 2019.
For more information, log on to www.LipkinTours.com.
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Download our free mobile app! Links to the App Store and Google Play store are posted at www.GilbertHouse.org.
'Realms of Stone,' the fourth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's latest book 'The Day the Earth Stands Still: Unmasking the Old Gods Behind UFOs, ETs, and the Official Disclosure Movement,' co-authored with Josh Peck, is available now in paperback and for Kindle! See www.OfficialDisclosure.com for more info.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE MYSTERY of the identities of Gog and his minions has been the subject of debate for more than 2,500 years. We tackle it in this week's Bible study.
In a nutshell, we arrive at these conclusions:
- When he named Persia, Cush, and Put along with a coalition of smaller nations from the north, Ezekiel was actually prophesying that the entire world will come against Israel in the end times.
- Gomer, Meshech, Tubal, and Beth-Togarmah were nations in what is now Turkey.
- While Sharon believes the Hebrew word rosh is a proper name in this context (Derek does not), Russia is not in view here at all.
- The phrase "uttermost parts of the north" (Hebrew yarkǝtê ṣāpôn) points to Mount Zaphon, a mountain in Turkey sacred to the storm-god who was called Baal (Hadad) by the Canaanites, Zeus by the Greeks, and Tarhunz or Teshub by the other nations mentioned by Ezekiel.
- Since Isaiah identifies that mountain as the mount of assembly of the divine rebel from Eden (Isaiah 14:13), we identify Gog as Satan, who apparently manifested to the ancient world as a storm-god.
- The prophecy of Ezekiel was directed at the spirits behind the end-times enemy of God and Israel: Satan (Gog), Leviathan (Antichrist), and the Rephaim (the hordes of Gog).
We're sure we don't have all the answers to this puzzle, but it's fascinating trying to identify the pieces!
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Dates for our 2019 trip to Israel are confirmed! The SkyWatchTV Wars of the Gods Tour flies from New York City to Tel Aviv Sunday, May 12, 2019, and returns Thursday, May 23. If you want to extend your trip a few days to join us in Jordan, you'd return Monday, May 27, 2019.
For more information, log on to www.LipkinTours.com.
——
Download our free mobile app! Links to the App Store and Google Play store are posted at www.GilbertHouse.org.
'Realms of Stone,' the fourth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's latest book 'The Day the Earth Stands Still: Unmasking the Old Gods Behind UFOs, ETs, and the Official Disclosure Movement,' co-authored with Josh Peck, is available now in paperback and for Kindle! See www.OfficialDisclosure.com for more info.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
EZEKIEL'S FAMOUS vision of the valley of dry bones has a deeper secondary meaning -- a message for a supernatural audience that had conned Israel's pagan neighbors into believing their ancestors were divine and could return to the land of the living.
God's message, here and elsewhere (for example, the raising of Lazarus), was not just that He would restore Israel to the land, but that a resurrection for the faithful was coming. We discuss the implications of the dry bones in the context of other Old Testament passages that refer to the Rephaim, the divinized dead of the pagan Canaanites/Amorites. For example:
- Isaiah 26:13-19 (but compare the different translations of verse 19 in the ESV, KJV, and especially the Septuagint, which renders the last line, "the land of the ungodly [rapha, or Rephaim] shall perish.")
- Job 26:5-6 (read "Rephaim" for "dead")
- Isaiah 14:9-10 (read "Rephaim" for "shades")
There is more going on here than is revealed by a surface level reading, and it sets up the next two chapters of Ezekiel -- his prophecy of the war of Gog of Magog.
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Dates for our 2019 trip to Israel are confirmed! The SkyWatchTV Wars of the Gods Tour flies from New York City to Tel Aviv Sunday, May 12, 2019, and returns Thursday, May 23. If you want to extend your trip a few days to join us in Jordan, you'd return Monday, May 27, 2019. More details coming soon!
Download our free mobile app! Links to the App Store and Google Play store are posted at www.GilbertHouse.org.
'Realms of Stone,' the fourth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's latest book 'The Day the Earth Stands Still: Unmasking the Old Gods Behind UFOs, ETs, and the Official Disclosure Movement,' co-authored with Josh Peck, is available now in paperback and for Kindle! See www.OfficialDisclosure.com for more info.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE ROLE and responsibility of a watchman opens this week's study. But beyond the burden watchmen carry for sounding the alert when enemies approach is a deeper sense of the word, a meaning rooted in the similarity of the Aramaic and Hebrew words for "Watcher" (Strong's H5894) and "city" (Strong's H5982), which is a place guarded by a watch.
We discuss the implications of this parallel (see Isaiah 14:21 and substitute "Watchers" for "cities") and God's promise of judgment for false shepherds. Then we move on to the prophecies of Israel's restoration and judgment against the land of Edom, which apparently allied itself with the Chaldeans of Babylon when they sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple.
Download our free mobile app! Links to the App Store and Google Play store are posted at www.GilbertHouse.org.
'Realms of Stone,' the fourth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's latest book 'The Day the Earth Stands Still: Unmasking the Old Gods Behind UFOs, ETs, and the Official Disclosure Movement,' co-authored with Josh Peck, is available now in paperback and for Kindle! See www.OfficialDisclosure.com for more info.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
NEPHILIM IN the Book of Ezekiel? Possibly, yes!
We continue our study of one of the most amazing sections of scripture this week with another condemnation of the divine rebel from Eden, the spirit of chaos (Leviathan), and the "chiefs of the gibborim," the mighty men who have gone down to the pit, to the "midst of Sheol," and we explain why Ezekiel 32:27 may actually be a reference to the Nephilim.
Download our free mobile app! Links to the App Store and Google Play store are posted at www.GilbertHouse.org.
'Realms of Stone,' the fourth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's latest book 'The Day the Earth Stands Still: Unmasking the Old Gods Behind UFOs, ETs, and the Official Disclosure Movement,' co-authored with Josh Peck, is available now in paperback and for Kindle! See www.OfficialDisclosure.com for more info.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
JUST AS God used the king of Tyre to represent His judgment against the rebel from Eden, the "anointed guardian cherub," He used the pharaoh of Egypt to describe His judgment against the spirit of chaos, which was represented by the sea monster Leviathan.
Here are the verses that describe the conflict between God and chaos:
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Genesis 1:2 ("deep" is the Hebrew tehom, a cognate for Akkadian temtum, which is the Sumerian chaos serpent Tiamat)
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Exodus 7:9 ("serpent" is the Hebrew tannin, which can also mean "dragon")
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Isaiah 51:9-10 (refers to the chaos monster as Rahab and to drying up "the waters of the great deep [tehom]")
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Isaiah 30:7 (calls Egypt "Rahab who stands still")
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Psalm 89:5-10 ("You rule the raging of the sea [Yam, Canaanite god of chaos and the sea]... You crushed Rahab like a carcass")
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Psalm 74:12-17 ("You divided the sea by your might; you broke the heads of the sea monsters[a] on the waters. You crushed the heads of Leviathan")
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Job 26:12 ("By his power he stilled the sea [Yam]; by his understanding he shattered Rahab.")
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Isaiah 27:1 ("In that day the Lord with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent [Hebrew nachash, the same word used to describe the "serpent" in Eden], Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon [tannin] that is in the sea.")
* Revelation 21:1 (Final destruction of chaos described by Isaiah: "...and the sea was no more.")
Download our free mobile app! Links to the App Store and Google Play store are posted at www.GilbertHouse.org.
'Realms of Stone,' the fourth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's latest book 'The Day the Earth Stands Still: Unmasking the Old Gods Behind UFOs, ETs, and the Official Disclosure Movement,' co-authored with Josh Peck, is available now in paperback and for Kindle! See www.OfficialDisclosure.com for more info.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
ONE OF the most cryptic and fascinating sections in the entire Bible is the focus of our study this week: On the surface, it's a message from God to the Prince of Tyre, who, at the time of Ezekiel, was a man named Ithobaal III. However, it's clear from the context that this was really directed at the divine rebel from Eden.
We discuss the location of Tyre and why the "heart of the seas" was more likely a reference to the abode of the Canaanite god El or the Sumerian god Enki; the true identity of Daniel in Ezekiel 28:3 (it probably wasn't the prophet; Danel is called a "follower of Rapiu" [a god whose name is the singular form of "Rephaim"] and a "Man of Hermon" in the Ugaritic text); the role of the cherubim on Eden, which Ezekiel called "the holy mountain of God," and the parallels to Isaiah 14.
Here is a link to a translation of the Ugaritic Epic of Aqhat (https://sites.google.com/site/collesseum/aqhat), which mentions the Amorite hero Danel, and here is a link to a brief analysis of the story (http://www.worldhistory.biz/ancient-history/61360-the-story-of-aqhat.html).
Download our free mobile app! Links to the App Store and Google Play store are posted at www.GilbertHouse.org.
'Realms of Stone,' the fourth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's latest book 'The Day the Earth Stands Still: Unmasking the Old Gods Behind UFOs, ETs, and the Official Disclosure Movement,' co-authored with Josh Peck, is available now in paperback and for Kindle! See www.OfficialDisclosure.com for more info.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
SHOCKING LANGUAGE intended to wake up the people of Judah kicks off our study of Ezekiel this week. Through the prophet, God compared the pagan practices of the nations to lewd behavior, and Ezekiel didn't soften the language at all.
God also had harsh words for Ammon, Moab, Edom, and the Philistines before turning His attention to the Phoenician city-state of Tyre. We explain why this wasn't a simple proclamation of doom on a pagan neighbor of the Israelites but an already-but-not-yet prophecy that will ultimately be fulfilled just before Armageddon.
Download our free mobile app! Links to the App Store and Google Play store are posted at www.GilbertHouse.org.
'Realms of Stone,' the fourth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's latest book 'The Day the Earth Stands Still: Unmasking the Old Gods Behind UFOs, ETs, and the Official Disclosure Movement,' co-authored with Josh Peck, is available now in paperback and for Kindle! See www.OfficialDisclosure.com for more info.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
GOD'S REASONS for His judgment against the apostate kingdom of Judah is the focus of this week's study. It reads like a list of charges against a defendant in a court case, a summary of the sins of the Israelites going all the way back to the Exodus.
Of course, it's important to remember that God doesn't grade sin on a curve. On the only report card that matters, without Jesus, we all fail.
Download our free mobile app! Links to the App Store and Google Play store are posted at www.GilbertHouse.org.
Book Three of Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, The Blood is the Life, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book The Day the Earth Stands Still: Unmasking the Old Gods Behind UFOs, ETs, and the Official Disclosure Movement, co-authored with Josh Peck, is available now! See www.OfficialDisclosure.com for more info.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE HARSHEST criticism of Israel we've encountered so far is the focus of this week's study. God calls the people of Judah a prostitute -- except that prostitutes get paid, and Judah, said God, had been whoring with other gods for free.
Worse, God said His people had actually taken the gifts He'd given them, including children, and sacrificed them to other gods.
And yet, God said a day would come when He would atone for all that they had done -- a promise He kept at Calvary.
Download our free mobile app! Links to the App Store and Google Play store are posted at www.GilbertHouse.org.
Book Three of Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, The Blood is the Life, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book The Day the Earth Stands Still: Unmasking the Old Gods Behind UFOs, ETs, and the Official Disclosure Movement, co-authored with Josh Peck, is available now! See www.OfficialDisclosure.com for more info.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE FAITHLESS prophets and elders of Israel were singled out by Yahweh for special condemnation in this week's reading. We discuss those who should have been looking after the spiritual health of God's chosen people, but who allowed Israel and Judah to fall into forbidden religious practices.
One of these was the "hunt for souls," something the women of Judah engaged in that was apparently related to necromancy rituals common in the ancient Near East.
Download our free mobile app! Links to the App Store and Google Play store are posted at www.GilbertHouse.org.
Book Three of Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, The Blood is the Life, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book The Day the Earth Stands Still: Unmasking the Old Gods Behind UFOs, ETs, and the Official Disclosure Movement, co-authored with Josh Peck, is available now! See www.OfficialDisclosure.com for more info.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
BACK TO the throne room of God this week as we discuss another visit by Ezekiel to the throne room of God. We discuss the cherubim and ophanim, the supernatural guardians of the throne, and why the cherubim depicted on most models of the Ark of the Covenant are wrong.
We also discuss the links between Ezekiel and the Revelation to John, the deeper meaning of the seal applied to the faithful in Ezekiel 10 and Revelation 7, the faces of the cherubim and the cardinal points of the Babylonian zodiac, and the bovid (bull-like) imagery of the cherubim, the Akkadian throne guardians (karibu and lamassu), and pagan deities like Canaanite creator-god El, Kronos and the Titans, and the Celtic horned god Cernunnos.
You'll find Derek's article on the cherubim and seraphim, "The Great Inception Part 1: The Mountain of Eden," at www.TheGreatInception.com.
Download our free mobile app! Links to the App Store and Google Play store are posted at www.GilbertHouse.org.
The 2018 Hear the Watchmen Conference in Dallas is just about sold out, but you can still save 20% off the video feed with the promo code GILBERT20 at www.HearTheWatchmen.com.
Book Three of Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, The Blood is the Life, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book The Day the Earth Stands Still: Unmasking the Old Gods Behind UFOs, ETs, and the Official Disclosure Movement, co-authored with Josh Peck, is available now! See www.OfficialDisclosure.com for more info.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
PROPHETIC THEATER is one way to describe the commands Ezekiel received from God. The 430 days the prophet was commanded to lie on his sides with a model of Jerusalem, which was soon to be destroyed by the army of Nebuchadnezzar, were a visual warning of God's imminent judgment on the idolatrous kingdom of Judah, and of His future punishment of an unbelieving world in the Day of Yahweh.
We also discuss the divine council implications here in the judgment against idols and high places, Ezekiel's foreshadowing of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Eze. 5:17, 6:12), and a possible reference to the Mesopotamian apkallu (the Watchers) and the Tree of Life in Ezekiel 8:17 ("Behold, they put the branch to their nose").
Download our free mobile app! Links to the App Store and Google Play store are posted at www.GilbertHouse.org.
The 2018 Hear the Watchmen Conference in Dallas is just about sold out, but you can still save 20% off the video feed with the promo code GILBERT20 at www.HearTheWatchmen.com.
Book Three of Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, The Blood is the Life, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book The Day the Earth Stands Still: Unmasking the Old Gods Behind UFOs, ETs, and the Official Disclosure Movement, co-authored with Josh Peck, is available now! See www.OfficialDisclosure.com for more info.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE TRUE test of prophets is whether they have "stood in the council of YHWH to see and hear His word." (Jer. 23:18)
This week, we discuss the calling of Ezekiel and God's first commands to the prophet -- to prophesy to "a rebellious house," the scattered people of Israel, and to do so in a rather unpleasant way.
Download our free mobile app! Links to the App Store and Google Play store are posted at www.GilbertHouse.org.
Two spots have just opened up on the True Legends Expedition to Rome and Sardinia May 20-27! If you'd like to join us, log on to www.GenSix.com.
The 2018 Hear the Watchmen Conference in Dallas is just about sold out, but you can still save 20% off the video feed with the promo code GILBERT20 at www.HearTheWatchmen.com.
Book Three of Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, The Blood is the Life, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book The Day the Earth Stands Still: Unmasking the Old Gods Behind UFOs, ETs, and the Official Disclosure Movement, co-authored with Josh Peck, is available now! See www.OfficialDisclosure.com for more info.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
EZEKIEL DID not see a spacecraft. Those who think he did are mistaken.
We conclude our study of the Book of Lamentations, which describes the desperate conditions of those in Jerusalem at the time of its destruction by Babylon. We note the parallel between "kings of the earth" in Lamentations 4:12 and Canaanite texts that refer to the "Rephaim of the earth" (i.e., a possible reference by Jeremiah to spirits of the evil dead).
Then we begin our study of Ezekiel with the account of Ezekiel's Wheel. Contrary to the belief of many in the UFO community, Ezekiel wasn't witness to an ancient spaceship. In our modern age, we simply don't recognize divine throne room imagery that would have been recognized not only by Ezekiel, but anyone living in Mesopotamia 2,600 years ago.
Reference links:
- Dr. Michael Heiser's notes on Ezekiel (www.SitchinIsWrong.com/ezekielnotes.htm)
- Derek on seraphim, cherubim, and ophanim (www.TheGreatInception.com)
- Dr. Heiser's explains why Ezekiel's Wheel was a throne chariot, not a UFO (www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_1X78IHsRQ)
- Dr. Heiser's presentation on Ezekiel's Wheel and Chapter 1 Vision (www.youtube.com/watch?v=sflMu19t3QE)
Download our free mobile app! Links to the App Store and Google Play store are posted at www.GilbertHouse.org.
Two spots have just opened up on the True Legends Expedition to Rome and Sardinia May 20-27! If you'd like to join us, log on to www.GenSix.com.
Join us in Dallas March 22-25 for the 2018 Hear the Watchmen Conference! Save $20 on registration or 20% off the video feed with the promo code GILBERT20 at www.HearTheWatchmen.com.
Book Three of Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, The Blood is the Life, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book The Day the Earth Stands Still: Unmasking the Old Gods Behind UFOs, ETs, and the Official Disclosure Movement, co-authored with Josh Peck, is available now! See www.OfficialDisclosure.com for more info.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THERE ARE times when God brings correction into our lives, although not always as drastically as He did to the kingdom of Judah in 586 B.C.
The Book of Lamentations is a series of five poems, possibly written by the prophet Jeremiah, in the wake of the destruction of the city of Jerusalem by Babylon. Today, we look at the first three chapters, which are filled with heart-rending grief and loneliness, even as the author acknowledges that the disaster wrought by Babylon was deserved because of the sin of God's people.
Two spots have just opened up on the True Legends Expedition to Rome and Sardinia May 20-27! If you'd like to join us, log on to www.GenSix.com.
Join us in Dallas March 22-25 for the 2018 Hear the Watchmen Conference! Save $20 on registration or 20% off the video feed with the promo code GILBERT20 at www.HearTheWatchmen.com.
Book Three of Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, The Blood is the Life, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book The Day the Earth Stands Still: Unmasking the Old Gods Behind UFOs, ETs, and the Official Disclosure Movement, co-authored with Josh Peck, is available now! See www.OfficialDisclosure.com for more info.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
JEREMIAH'S PROPHECY of doom against Babylon concludes this week as he declares the kingdom's destruction at the hands of the Medes. The prophecy was fulfilled some fifty years later in 539 B.C.
Digging deeper into the prophecy, we see more evidence for the divine council in action, especially God's decree of judgment on the fallen bene elohim and demonic spirits behind the pantheon of Babylon. The promised punishment would make no sense if they had been directed at lifeless idols or carved images (see Jeremiah 51:47 and 51:52).
We also discuss the significance of the "burnt mountain" in Jeremiah 51:25 and its possible connection to the Book of Enoch.
The book of Jeremiah concludes with a review of the final years of the kingdom of Judah, from the beginning of Zedekiah's reign in 597 B.C. until the destruction of the Temple and the walls of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.
Book Three of Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, The Blood is the Life, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book The Day the Earth Stands Still: Unmasking the Old Gods Behind UFOs, ETs, and the Official Disclosure Movement, co-authored with Josh Peck, is available now! See www.OfficialDisclosure.com for more info.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
PROPHECIES AGAINST Ammon, Edom, and Babylon are the focus of this week's study. Again we find that by looking closely, we see references to rebellious supernatural entities: Milcom (or Molech), the national god of the Ammonites, and Marduk, king of the pantheon in Babylon, as well as demonic entities known in ancient Israel such as Pachad ("terror").
We discuss the near-term fulfillment to Jeremiah's prophecy, the destruction of the kingdoms of Ammon, Moab, and Babylon, but also the last days fulfillment, especially of Babylon, and we review the meaning of herem -- a Hebrew word usually translated "devoted to destruction."
Book Three of Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, The Blood is the Life, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book The Day the Earth Stands Still: Unmasking the Old Gods Behind UFOs, ETs, and the Official Disclosure Movement, co-authored with Josh Peck, is available now! See www.OfficialDisclosure.com for more info.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE SOJOURN in Egypt was such a defining moment in the history of Israel and Judah that you would think the last thing Judeans would want is to go back there. You would be wrong.
This week's study begins with the immediate aftermath of Nebuchadnezzar's destruction of the Temple. A remnant in Judah, afraid of retribution from Babylon because of the assassination of the governor appointed by Nebuchadnezzar, asked Jeremiah to ask YHWH whether fleeing to Egypt was His will. Thing is, they'd decided to go regardless of His answer (which, for the record, was, "No.")
We also begin a series of prophesied judgments against the neighbors of Israel with destruction decreed on the Philistines and the people of Moab. In these prophecies are some fascinating glimpses into the workings of the divine council, as we find a description of another judgment by God on the gods of Egypt, as well as references to Chemosh, the Queen of Heaven (probably Ishtar/Astarte), Plague (Deber), Pestilence (Maveth, known to the Canaanites as Mot, the god of death), and the Destroyer (possibly the Semitic deity Resheph), all of which were understood to be real entities by the prophets.
Book Three of Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, The Blood is the Life, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book The Day the Earth Stands Still: Unmasking the Old Gods Behind UFOs, ETs, and the Official Disclosure Movement, co-authored with Josh Peck, is available now! See www.OfficialDisclosure.com for more info.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE LAMENT of Habakkuk and his vision of supernatural war are the focus of this week's study.
The prophet, who wrote in the second half of the 7th century B.C. (probably 640-615 B.C.), was shown the destruction coming to the kingdom of Judah from Babylon. But he was also given a vision of God's victories over chaos -- Tiamat, represented by the sea (the god Yamm in Canaanite religion) -- and the rebel from Eden, along with a promise of "trouble to come upon the people who invade us."
Book Three of Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, The Blood is the Life, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book The Day the Earth Stands Still: Unmasking the Old Gods Behind UFOs, ETs, and the Official Disclosure Movement, co-authored with Josh Peck, is available now! See www.OfficialDisclosure.com for more info.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
THE LAST king of Judah, Zedekiah, was obviously more afraid of his countrymen than he was of Nebuchadnezzar -- or God, for that matter.
This week's study covers the last couple years of the kingdom of Judah before Nebuchadnezzar lost patience and destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple altogether. Zedekiah appears to have been sympathetic to Jeremiah, but he was intimidated by nationalist Judeans into continuing their rebellion against Babylon against the warnings of God through His prophet, Jeremiah.
For reference, here is the timeline of the events we've been discussing in our last few studies:
609 B.C. - Josiah, king of Judah, dies in battle with Pharaoh Necho II of Egypt
609 B.C. - Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, made king of Judah by Necho
597 B.C. - Jehoiachin, son of Jehoiakim, reigns three months, then carried into captivity in Babylon.
597 B.C. - Nebuchadnezzar makes Zedekiah, son of Josiah, king of Judah.
589 B.C. - Egypt leads rebellion against Babylon, which includes Ammon and Judah.
586 B.C. - Babylon takes Jerusalem, breaks down its walls, and captures Zedekiah with his men as he flees.
Book Three of Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, The Blood is the Life, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.
Derek's new book The Day the Earth Stands Still: Unmasking the Old Gods Behind UFOs, ETs, and the Official Disclosure Movement, co-authored with Josh Peck, is available now! See www.OfficialDisclosure.com for more info.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
SPEAKING TRUTH can be dangerous. The last days of Judah's independence before the destruction of the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar are chronicled in this week's study of the book of Jeremiah.
We discuss the message given to the prophet by God and what happened as a result. It's a reminder that preaching the actual Word of God is not a path to popularity and prosperity.
Book Three of Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, The Blood is the Life, is available now at Amazon!
Derek's new book The Day the Earth Stands Still: Unmasking the Old Gods Behind UFOs, ETs, and the Official Disclosure Movement, co-authored with Josh Peck, is available now! See www.OfficialDisclosure.com for more info.
For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.
JEREMIAH'S LIFE wasn't easy. His message was so unpopular that he was put in stocks and later imprisoned, and he had to live through two invasions by the Babylonians. Of course, that could explain why his message wasn't well received: "Yahweh says we're being punished, so settle into your exile for the next seventy years and pray for the pagan cities in which you've been settled."
But even then, God had a message of hope for Israel and the world: A day was coming when Israel would be restored to the land and preserved through the coming judgment during the end times, the Day of Yahweh.
THE PROPHETS didn't have easy lives. Today's study follows Jeremiah through the last years of the kingdom of Judah, and the message God gave the prophet wasn't popular.
Because of his warnings of the imminent invasion by Babylon, Jeremiah was mocked and threatened with death even after Nebuchadnezzar had carried off the king of Judah and most of the country's ruling elites! We discuss parallels with our day, messianic prophecies within Jeremiah's warnings, and subtle references to Mount Hermon and enemies from the north, which were probably meant to indicate supernatural foes as well as the invaders from Babylon.
Here is the link to the article by Dr. Michael Heiser that Derek mentioned during the study: http://www.thedivinecouncil.com/DT32BibSac.pdf
The section referring to the references to the divine council (Jeremiah 23:18-22) begins near the bottom of page 14. The money quote:
[V]isions or auditory revelations of Yahweh and His divine council were viewed in the Hebrew Bible as an authentication of the veracity of the prophet's message and status -- a sort of test of true "propheticity."
Book Two of Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, 'Blood Rites,' is available now at Amazon! 'Blood Lies: Book One of The Redwing Saga' is available in paperback and now as a Kindle e-book!
Derek's book 'The Great Inception: Satan's PSYOPs from Eden to Armageddon' is now an e-book for the Kindle and Nook! For free samples, visit www.TheGreatInception.com.
And Derek's new book 'The Day the Earth Stands Still,' co-authored with Josh Peck, is available now! See www.OfficialDisclosure.com for more info.
JEREMIAH'S PROPHECIES get even darker this week, and God tells him to proclaim famine, destruction, and pestilence for the rebellious kingdom of Judah.
The words given to him by the Lord are so dark that Pashhur, a priest whose father was in charge of temple supplies, had Jeremiah beaten and locked up in stocks. The calling of a true prophet is often unpleasant from a human perspective.
Book Two of Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, Blood Rites, is available now at Amazon! Blood Lies: Book One of The Redwing Saga is available in paperback and now as a Kindle e-book.
Derek's book The Great Inception: Satan's PSYOPs from Eden to Armageddon is now an e-book for the Kindle and Nook!
CONDEMNATION AND promise are the themes of Jeremiah's prophecy against Judah in this week's study. Continue reading →
THE HEARTBREAK of Jeremiah at the prophesied destruction of Jerusalem is evident in this week's reading: My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh the walls of my heart! My heart is beating wildly; I cannot keep silent, for I hear the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. Continue reading →
YOU'D THINK that prophets of Yahweh during the reign of good king Josiah would have been a little more upbeat. Not so much. Continue reading →
JOSIAH IS remembered as one of the best kings of the House of David — indeed, he was the last good king of Israel. Continue reading →
ISAIAH'S PROPHECY of a new heaven and new Earth is the focus of this week's Old Testament study. We note sections where Isaiah is cited by later prophets, highlight another example of the divine council worldview (God's condemnation of a ritual meal for the Canaanite gods Gad and Meni), and discuss the parallels between the last chapters of Isaiah and the last chapters of Revelation. Continue reading →
THE DESTRUCTION of Assyria and the prophetic implications of its destruction are the focus of this week's study. Continue reading →
GOD ALLOWED Assyria and Babylon to oppress His people because they had turned away from Him. In our study this week, we discuss Isaiah's prophecy of a day when the world will come to Israel to bring tribute to the Lord. Continue reading →
ALTHOUGH ISAIAH had been told by the Lord that judgment was coming to the house of Israel, it would not be forever. This week's study includes condemnation for unjust rulers but also a promise of future redemption and restoration on the holy mountain of God. Continue reading →
THERE IS a chapter in the Book of Isaiah that is so clearly about the suffering servant, the Messiah, that have tended to avoid it for centuries. Continue reading →
ISAIAH'S PROPHECY of Cyrus the Great, king of Persia, about 150 years before he conquered Babylon is one of the remarkable sections of the Bible that proves its authenticity. Continue reading →
THE SCENE shifts from Isaiah's prophecies of imminent invasion by Assyria to looking ahead to the Medo-Persian conquest of Babylon. At the heart of it all is God's plan to restore the fortunes of His people, Israel. Continue reading →
GOD CAN deliver us in the face of overwhelming odds. We discuss two examples of this from the book of Isaiah this week--the miraculous healing of Hezekiah, marked by the backwards movement of the sundial's shadow, and the deliverance of Jerusalem from the unstoppable might of the Assyrian army. Continue reading →
This week, we read Hosea's prophecy against the northern kingdom of Israel, a final warning that was fulfilled when Assyria destroyed Samaria in 722 B.C. Continue reading →
HISTORY, PROPHECY, and a glimpse of a future war in heaven -- what more could we pack into this week's Bible study? Continue reading →
WHY DID God link the return of Israel from Egypt to "the iniquity of the Amorites"? Continue reading →
THE LONG rebellion by the small-G gods is all about getting control of God's mount of assembly, the Temple Mount. Continue reading →
GOD INSPIRED the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel to use the image of Israel as an unfaithful wife. He called Hosea to take it a step farther, directing the prophet to actually marry an adulterous woman to serve as an image of Israel's unfaithfulness to God. Continue reading →
HEZEKIAH WAS a better king than any since David, and better than all those who followed. He repaired and restored the Temple, reinstituted the worship of Yahweh, and tore down the high places devoted to Baal and Astarte (not just in Judah, but in Israel, too). Continue reading →
ISAIAH PROPHESIED the fall of Babylon before it had risen. At the time of the prophesies we read this week, Assyria was still the dominant power in the ancient Near East, but the phrase, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon," was revealed to … Continue reading →
THE FUTURES of Damascus, Moab, Egypt, and a mysterious foreign superpower -- possibly the USA -- are the meat of our Old Testament study this week. Continue reading →
WE REACH the end of the New Testament this week. The Revelation of John concludes with final judgments against Satan, the Beast, Death, Hades, and all whose names are not written in the Book of Life. Continue reading →
ALREADY BUT not yet. That's a phrase we use often when discussing Bible prophecy, and it's appropriate again this week. We discuss the destruction of the northern kingdom, Israel, by the Assyrians as punishment for abandoning the LORD. Then we look at two chapters of the fascinating Book of Isaiah. Continue reading →
FALLEN, FALLEN is Babylon the Great! Who or what is Babylon the Great? After 2,000 years that's still a mystery. Continue reading →
GOD'S JUDGMENT on Israel and Judah was not going to be pleasant, but it was not to last forever. This week, we read prophecies of Isaiah and Micah on the coming destruction of the northern kingdom by Assyria and the southern kingdom by Babylon. Continue reading →
TIMES WILL be hard during the seven-year period called the Great Tribulation. You don't want to be here for it. Continue reading →
HE HADN'T intended to be a prophet, but that's the work to which the Lord called him. Amos, a contemporary of Isaiah, was a shepherd from south of Jerusalem in the kingdom of Judah. However, he devoted most of the nine chapters of his book to warning the northern kingdom of Israel about its imminent doom -- a judgment decreed by God. Continue reading →
GOD'S JUDGMENT on an unrepentant world is the focus of this week's New Testament study. Continue reading →
PROPHESYING DURING a time just before a calamity has to be one of the worst jobs ever. Isaiah was called to be a prophet during a visit to the throne room of God, but his orders were to make sure the people of Judah didn't listen to God. Continue reading →
THE FIRST six seals are opened in our study of Revelation this week. Bearing in mind that the meaning of these seals has been debated for 2,000 years, we offer our best understanding of the images and prophecies recorded by John the Revelator. Continue reading →
PRIDE AND repentance are the themes of this week's Old Testament study. Continue reading →
NOW WE get to the prophetic stuff! The Book of Revelation was written by John, either in the mid-60s A.D. or around 95 A.D. Most scholars believe it was the later date, during the reign of Domitian, although some believe it was thirty years earlier, during the reign of Nero. Continue reading →
IRON AGE history is a bloody business, and the history of the kings of Israel and Judah is no different. This week's Old Testament study looks at transfers of power -- somewhat less than peaceful -- in the generation following Ahab and Jehoshaphat. Continue reading →
THE EARLY church had to deal with a number of heretical teachings. The idea that Jesus was not fully God and fully man was one of them. In his gentle style, John counseled believers to love one another, to recognize false teachings, and to test the spirits, because not everything that manifests from the supernatural realm is from God. Continue reading →
THE CONCEPTS of holy ground and cosmic geography are behind most of the stories in today's Old Testament study. As we saw in the life of Elijah, God often did things to teach a lesson and/or send a message. In this case, it was the clear message that Israel belongs to Him. Continue reading →
SPIRITUAL WARFARE and the sin of the Watchers are the focus of this week's New Testament study. Peter and Jude were in accord with the letters we read this week, and there is a lot of meat in these four short chapters. Continue reading →
THE DIVINE COUNCIL in action and prophecy is the focus of this week's Old Testament study. Psalm 82 depicts a courtroom scene in the divine council with Yahweh declaring judgment on the lesser gods who "judge unjustly and show partiality … Continue reading →
FAITH AND perseverance are at the heart of today's New Testament study. We conclude the remarkable Book of Hebrews with a discussion of the Old Testament patriarchs who were accounted righteous because of their faith. Then we move to Paul's second letter to Timothy, in which he exhorts the young man to keep fighting the good fight. Continue reading →
GOD HAS a council that carries out His commands, and this week we get one of the few glimpses into its workings recorded in the Bible. It's the story of Ahab's demise in battle against the Syrians at Ramoth-Gilead, where the king of Israel is enticed by lying spirits to go to his doom. Continue reading →
AGAIN WE find it impossible to get through more than a few chapters of the incredible Book of Hebrews. These chapters systematically make the case for the superiority of Jesus and the new covenant in his blood to the old … Continue reading →
THE MOST famous confrontation between a prophet of the Lord and prophets of a fallen lesser elohim is at the center of today's study. Of course we're referring to the showdown between Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. Continue reading →
THE SUPREMACY of Jesus is the theme of the Book of Hebrews. This week, we discuss his mission to restore humanity to the divine council. Continue reading →
THE TALE of two kingdoms continues in our Old Testament study this week. We get the stories of the northern kings of Israel Nadab, Baasha, Elah, Zimri, and Omri, and the southern kings of Judah Abijah, Asa, and Jehoshaphat. Continue reading →
ENDURANCE THROUGH suffering. That's the overarching message of the epistle of 1 Peter. But there's a lot more in there that we had forgotten. Continue reading →
THE DIVISION of the kingdom of Israel is the focus of our Old Testament study this week. Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, gets some bad advice from his young friends, not just rejecting the request of the northern tribes for tax relief, but doing so with a rather crude euphemism. Continue reading →
CHURCH LEADERSHIP and proper behavior for Christians is the focus of Paul's letters that we study this week. Timothy had been left in charge of the church Ephesus, while Titus had been left on the island of Crete to shepherd the new church there. Continue reading →
ENTANGLEMENTS WITH cares of the world, whether it's business, politics, or personal relationships, can distract us from what we're called to do by God. Continue reading →
OUR STUDY in the New Testament this week focuses on military formations and tactics, although it might not seem that way at first. Continue reading →
ANOTHER BOOK of wisdom attributed to Solomon is our Old Testament study this week. The collected sayings of "the Preacher" are generally gloomy, but only in that they remind us of the folly of pursuing material things apart from God. Continue reading →
LETTERS FROM Paul in Rome are the focus of this week's New Testament study, and there is a lot of meat here. Paul addressed errant teachings that threatened to undermine the gospel of salvation by grace through faith at Colossae and Ephesus. Continue reading →
PROVERBS OF Solomon copied at the direction of King Hezekiah are the focus of our Old Testament study this week. Themes include the wisdom of accepting correction, the foolishness of contending with fools, and the happiness that results from pursuing righteousness instead of wealth. Continue reading →
PAUL TRAVELED to Rome in A.D. 60, but not the way he would have wanted. Continue reading →
PRAISE THE Lord! That's the theme of the Psalms in today's Old Testament study. We examine a half dozen psalms of praise and find divine council language, making it clear that the psalmists knew that other gods existed, but only one God, Yahweh, created all the rest. Continue reading →
PAUL RETURNS to Jerusalem in this week's study, in spite of warnings from believers from Asia to Judea that he would be arrested and possibly killed. But Paul already knew that. Continue reading →
THE CONSECRATION of the Temple on Mount Zion is the focus of this week's Old Testament study. Solomon prays a prayer of dedication and asks the Lord to always see and hear his people when they call on His Name for forgiveness. Continue reading →
IT IS appropriate that our last New Testament study before the U.S. presidential election includes Romans 13:1-7. It is a command to Christians to "be subject to the governing authorities." That's not necessarily a message we want to hear right now. Continue reading →
WE RETURN to history in our Old Testament study this week. Our readings describe the process and design of the Temple built by Solomon. Continue reading →
THE RELATIONSHIP between the Law and grace is central to our New Testament study this week. Paul makes it clear that while the Law instructs us as to the nature of sin, it does not help us overcome sin. That is the work of grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Continue reading →
WE CONTINUE through the Book of Proverbs in this week's Old Testament study. Included are exhortations to seek and value wisdom, to avoid laziness and women of ill repute, and to train children in the way they should go -- a command that is increasingly out of step with our world today, which is embracing the idea that children should be free to choose their own paths even when they run counter to the wishes of their parents. Continue reading →
Our study of 2 Corinthians concludes this week as Paul counters criticism from "super-apostles" who had apparently wormed their way into the church at Corinth and turned them away from the gospel with impressive public speaking skills. Continue reading →
A COMMON thread through the Proverbs is the wisdom of listening to correction or reproof. As hard as it can be to hear that we need to rethink the way we're doing things, true wisdom comes from listening to guidance. Continue reading →
THE GIFTS of the Spirit are just part of this week's study based on Paul's letters to the church at Corinth. We discuss the resurrection of the dead, apologetics based on eyewitness testimony, and the death of the gods as we cover some of the most remarkable chapters in the New Testament. Continue reading →
WISDOM IS a goddess? There are some who would draw that conclusion after reading Proverbs 8. However, in Hebrew, the word "wisdom" is grammatically feminine although there is nothing physical about the term. Continue reading →
WE CONTINUE our study of the most remarkable books of the Bible, 1 Corinthians. This week, we cover Paul's instructions to the church concerning sexual immorality, lawsuits against fellow believers, the right of those in full-time ministry to earn their living … Continue reading →
SOLOMON'S WISDOM is legendary, and to the extent it is recorded in the Bible, it is also divinely inspired. This week, we begin our study of the Book of Proverbs. Continue reading →
PAUL'S SECOND missionary journey takes him through Corinth and Ephesus, where Paul's preaching triggers a riot. Apparently his preaching was drawing people away from the patron goddess of the city, Artemis (the Greek version of the Roman goddess Diana). Continue reading →
KING SOLOMON and his assumption of the throne in Jerusalem is the focus of our Old Testament study this week. We discuss his request for wisdom and a psalm asking God to bless the new king, and then we read one of the most unusual books of the Bible, the Song of Solomon. Continue reading →
WE CONTINUE our study of Paul's Second Missionary Journey. This week, we discuss the run-in with the citizens of Thessalonica and why they were upset by the gospel. Then we turn to Paul's letters to the church at Thessalonica and the prophecies he shares of the Lord's return. Continue reading →
THE LONGEST Psalm in the Bible is part of our study this week. Then we look at the first acts of the reign of Solomon--his request for wisdom and the famous Judgment of Solomon. Continue reading →
THE BALANCE between grace and Law is the focus of this week's New Testament study. We discuss the Council of Jerusalem, and then we read Paul's letter to the Galatians, who had apparently come under the influence of Judaizers. Continue reading →
ANOTHER SON, another rebellion. Adonijah, son of Haggith, makes his play for the throne before David's death. Continue reading →
THE HOLY Spirit finally reveals His true purpose for Saul of Tarsus, called Paul for the first time in the readings that we study this week. Then we turn to the epistle of James, a remarkable letter from the half-brother of Jesus. Continue reading →
DAVID PROCLAIMS Solomon his successor and announces the construction of the Temple. Interestingly, the account of Solomon's anointing in 1 Chronicles skips over the rebellion of his half-brother, Adonijah (spoiler!). Continue reading →
OUR JOURNEY through the book of Acts continues with the account of Saul's vision on the road to Damascus and the beginning of the outreach of the church to Gentiles. Continue reading →
AS DAVID approached the end of his life, he focused his efforts on handing power to Solomon and preparing things for the Temple. Today we read several Psalms from this time in David's life and the details of how the priests and musicians were organized. Continue reading →
THE EARLY church grows by leaps and bounds in the days after Pentecost. But things aren't perfect because (surprise!) the apostles were human, too. Continue reading →
WE CONCLUDE our study of the gospels this week with the accounts of the Resurrection. Continue reading →
DAVID NEARS the end of his life as our chronological study of the Old Testament continues. Continue reading →
THE REBELLION of Absalom has been quashed but a new one rises up in its place. Continue reading →
JESUS LEAVES his disciples with some final teachings before the Crucifixion. We discuss the accounts of the Last Supper, his declaration that no one comes to the Father except through him, and Jesus' clear claim of divinity before the Sanhedrin. Continue reading →
THE REBELLION of Absalom comes to a quick and bitter end. The wise counsel of David's former adviser, Ahitophel, is disregarded, giving David and his loyal forces much-needed time to regroup and rest. Continue reading →
MATTHEW 24 and 25 are among the most important chapters in the New Testament. Jesus spells out the future days of vengeance on Israel, the days of Tribulation, and the return of the Messiah to reign on Earth. Continue reading →
THE PSALMS in our study this week reflect the mood of David after his sin in sending Uriah the Hittite to his death. Continue reading →
JESUS IS in Jerusalem and, knowing that his time is short, begins to speak of his return, both directly and in parables. Continue reading →
DAVID IS at the high point of his kingship, and -- as happens all too often with us mortals -- he decides he isn't satisfied with the blessings that God has bestowed. Continue reading →
OUR NEW Testament study moves to the events of the final week of Jesus' ministry before the Crucifixion. Continue reading →
The War of the Beards is the core event of this week's Old Testament study. Continue reading →
MARRIAGE AND divorce are sensitive topics, so it's no wonder the scribes and Pharisees tried to use them to trip up Jesus. Continue reading →
DAVID CONSOLIDATES control over his kingdom, extending his control from the border with Egypt to the Euphrates River. We also study a number of Psalms, including one that is clearly a polemic against Ba'al. Continue reading →
THE PLOT against Jesus escalates after Lazarus is raised from the dead. Continue reading →
More references to the divine council, this week in the context of Yahweh's establishment of His covenant with David and His holy mountain, Zion. Continue reading →
THE TROUBLES of this world can be a huge obstacle to following Christ. Money, family, social status, possessions, and even religious tradition can distract us from prioritizing our lives in the proper order. Continue reading →
THIS WEEK'S Old Testament study is another lesson in how much depth the scriptures contain when we actually look. Continue reading →
JESUS POKES the rebellious Fallen in the eye again this week as he sends out 72 disciples to witness and cast out demons. Continue reading →
PSALMS OF thanksgiving and a retrospective of Israelite history are the focus of our Old Testament study this week. Continue reading →
THE CONSPIRACY to kill Jesus of Nazareth begins to gain momentum as the Pharisees begin to look for reasons to stone him. We also discuss the disbelief of his brothers and why Jesus' reference to Psalm 82 does not debunk the Divine Council paradigm. Continue reading →
DAVID'S CORONATION as king over all Israel is the focus of this week's Old Testament study. Continue reading →
JESUS TAKES command of the enemy's holy mountain, demonstrating his authority through the Transfiguration on Mount Hermon, the site of the Watchers' descent. Continue reading →
MORE GENEALOGIES and a recap of the death of Saul, as well as several psalms from the period around the time of Saul's demise, are the focus of our Old Testament study this week. Continue reading →
PARALLEL ACCOUNTS of Peter's declaration of faith at Caesarea Philippi, a site sacred to Pan at the base of Mount Hermon, are featured in our New Testament study this week. Continue reading →
TODAY WE discuss the accounts of Jesus walking on water and feeding the five thousand from the perspectives of Luke and John. Continue reading →
PSALMS AND genealogies again this week in our Old Testament study, but even here we find some very interesting nuggets. Continue reading →
THREE OF the most iconic moments of Jesus' ministry are the focus of this week's New Testament study. Continue reading →
THE PSALMS of David take center stage this week. The tone of the psalms changes as well, as David's circumstances have shifted from running and hiding to ascending to the throne of Israel. Continue reading →
This week: Jesus calms the storm, drives out the demons who call themselves Legion, and brings back the daughter of Jairus, the synagogue leader, from the dead. Continue reading →
OUR OLD Testament study this week moves to a new phase of David's life as he is declared king of Judah. Continue reading →
JESUS SAVED his harshest criticism for the self-appointed gatekeepers of the faith, the scribes (lawyers) and Pharisees who became stumbling blocks between the people and God. Continue reading →
THE ONLY place in the Bible where we see the appearance of a human ghost is part of our Old Testament study this week. Continue reading →
TODAY'S STUDY is one of the most important of the time we'll spend in the New Testament as we focus on Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. Continue reading →
OUR OLD TESTAMENT study this week continues through the period of David's life in the wilderness, on the run from Saul. Continue reading →
OUR NEW TESTAMENT study this week clearly illustrates the viewpoints of the gospel writers with parallel accounts of several episodes from the ministry of Jesus. Continue reading →
DAVID IS on the lam as our Old Testament study continues, running for his life from the mad king, Saul, and we discuss five psalms written during this period of David's life. Continue reading →
JESUS' MINISTRY of healing and casting out demons is a key part of our New Testament study today. But more important, and the reason for the miracles, is the clear message that Jesus did, in fact, claim to be divine. Continue reading →
THE TRANSITION from Saul to David is the focus of this week's study, which includes the famous confrontation between David and the giant, Goliath of Gath. Continue reading →
TODAY WE encounter the Devil as Jesus is led into the desert for 40 days and then tempted -- or, more accurately, tested. Thankfully, Jesus resisted the snares of physical gratification (bread), public acclaim, and earthly power. Continue reading →
ISRAEL RECEIVES its first king, who turns out to be something less than ideal. Anointed by Samuel at God's direction, Saul shows his true colors right from the start. Continue reading →
WE BEGIN to study Jesus' ministry, the early days, beginning with his appearance to John the Baptist at the Jordan River and the calling of the first disciples: Andrew, Simon (Peter), James, and John.
We also spend some time discussing the Magi, the virgin birth of Jesus, and the geopolitical climate of Judea at the time of Jesus' birth. Continue reading →
OUR STUDY of the Old Testament now moves to the time of the creation of the monarchy in Israel. Continue reading →
TODAY WE begin our study of the New Testament, which we will follow in chronological order just as we're doing with the Old Testament. Our readings today begin the story of Jesus, the Christ. Continue reading →
THE ROLE of the kinsman-redeemer and God's willingness to accept Gentiles who seek Him are the themes of the Book of Ruth, which records the story of a young widow from Moab who finds favor and "rest"--security--in the person of Boaz, a relative of her late father-in-law. Continue reading →
WE CONCLUDE our study of the Book of Judges today with several incidents from the period between the conquest of Canaan and the establishment of the monarchy in Israel. Continue reading →
TODAY WE discuss a test of faith most of us hope we never experience: God chose Gideon to lead Israel against the armies of Midian and Amalek--then He ordered Gideon to send most of the troops so that he was outnumbered 400-to-1. Continue reading →
WE BEGIN our study of the second of the Historical Books, Judges. It chronicles Israel's slide into apostasy and chaos, showing the need for a godly king to lead them. Continue reading →
JOSHUA NEARS the end of his life. He sends a surveying team to divide Canaan which is then assigned to tribes by casting lots. We also look at his final instructions for Israel which include the declaration, "As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." Continue reading →
THE ISRAELITES have crossed the Jordan and defeated the giant clans in two separate campaigns through the hill countries of Judah and Israel. Today we look at the division of Canaan among the 9-1/2 tribes still waiting to occupy their inheritance. Continue reading →
WE ALL remember the song: Joshua fit the battle of Jericho, and the walls came tumbling down. Today, we study the conquest of Canaan by the Israelites, examining what appears to be military campaigns that specifically targeted the giant clans known as the Anakim. Continue reading →
TODAY, WE begin studying the fulfillment of the patriarchal promise, the occupation of the land that Yahweh had allotted to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Continue reading →
WE REACH the end of the life of Moses today, concluding the Book of Deuteronomy with a more detailed discussion of the Divine Council, the warnings of Yahweh to the Israelites, and prophecies over the tribes. Continue reading →
OUR STUDY nears the end of the life of Moses, as the prophet gives final instructions to Israel before turning them over to Joshua and sending them across the Jordan River into Canaan. Continue reading →
GOD'S STANDARDS of morality as revealed in His word is a lot more egalitarian than skeptics will admit. Today we discuss God's instructions for caring for the poor, widows, and orphans, and we go into some depth on marriage, divorce, and gender roles for men and women Continue reading →
THE CONCEPT of holy war is developed in the passages we read today (specifically Deut. 20:16-18), where the Hebrew verb kharam is translated "devote to complete destruction". The concept relates to the coming war between Israel and enemies who served -- and were spawned by -- lesser gods. Continue reading →
OUR STUDY this morning is very timely. The chapters we discuss include descriptions of the three major feasts decreed by Yahweh for Israel: Unleavened Bread, Weeks, and Tabernacles (Booths), or Sukkot, which begins at sundown tonight along with the fourth "blood moon" of this tetrad. Continue reading →
UPDATE 2/10/19: An astute listener pointed out this week that we overlooked chapter 9 of Deuteronomy when we recorded this in 2015, something neither we (nor anyone else, apparently) had noticed before! We corrected that today. For our study on Deuteronomy 9, see GHF #222.
OUR STUDY this week is a reminder of the deadly seriousness of the spiritual war that's been waged for millennia. Continuing his address to the people on Mount Nebo, Moses reminds the Israelites of the blessings and curses promised by Yahweh.
HEAR, O ISRAEL, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. We continue our study of Deuteronomy with a discussion of the Shema, the promises and warnings from Yahweh to the Israelites, and how these passages relate to prophecies fulfilled and yet to be fulfilled. Continue reading →
MOSES CONTINUES his review of the Law and the history of the Israelites from the time Yahweh brought them out of Egypt. We discuss the land of Bashan and its evil reputation, hints in the text that argue for its authenticity, and the prophecy of Israel's future dispersal among the nations. Continue reading →
PEOPLE BEING what we are, the Lord had to set rules for dealing with the shedding of human blood. We discuss the avenger of blood, the kinsman-redeemer, and Jesus Christ--our kinsman-redeemer and the future Avenger of Blood on all who reject his offer of salvation. Continue reading →
THE ISRAELITES time in the wilderness is drawing to a close. Today, we discuss instructions from Yahweh to Moses about vows to the Lord, the military operation against the Midianites, and the death of the prophet-for-hire, Balaam son of Beor. Continue reading →
JUST AS Israel seemed to be on a spiritual high, the people again found a way to squander the blessings of God. The Israelites began to worship Baal of Peor, which provoked the wrath of Yahweh. Then a prince from the tribe of Simeon brought a Midianite princess into the camp and had relations with her--possibly inside the Tent of Meeting itself. Continue reading →
Balaam son of Beor was a prophet for profit. The frightened king of Moab hired him to curse Israel so that his tiny nation would not be overrun. Instead, Balaam blesses Israel three times. We also discuss the incident in the desert with the fiery serpents (saraph nachash) and the Israelites' defeat of the giant kings Sihon and Og. Continue reading →
ONE OF the great mysteries of the Bible is the sacrifice of the red heifer. According to Numbers 19, it is required to purify those who come into contact with corpses. In Jewish tradition, the sacrifice of an unblemished red heifer is required before the prophesied Third Temple can be built. Continue reading →
THE ISRAELITES have traveled to the border of the Promised Land. We discuss the post-Flood incursion of giants in Canaan, yet more rebellion by the Israelites, and God's decision to make His people wait a full generation to cross the Jordan River. Continue reading →
IT IS easy for us, with 3,500 years of hindsight, to be surprised at how quickly the Israelites rebelled against God after their rescue from Egypt. Yahweh was right there in the midst over the Tent of Meeting as a cloud by day and pillar of night by night--and yet the people complained. Continue reading →
WE BEGIN a new book this morning, concluding the book of Leviticus and moving to the book of Numbers. The emphasis begins to shift from Yahweh teaching the Law through Moses to counting and organizing the tribes of Israel for war. Continue reading →
THE FEASTS of the Lord present an outline for God's historical plan for our salvation. The seven feasts represent prophetic events, some fulfilled and some still ahead. We discuss their meaning, and we revisit the issue of God's holiness and the first recorded case of blasphemy in Israel's history. Continue reading →
This week, we read and discuss God's statutes for holiness relating to sexual immorality, contacting the supernatural realm, and child sacrifice. The Israelites haven't entered Canaan yet, and already God is warning them to avoid worshipping the evil god of the Ammonites, Molech. Continue reading →
GOD TAKES His sanctity, His holiness, very seriously. We discuss His standards of sexual morality (which make it appear that “Canaanite morality” was an oxymoron), and we examine the ritual of atonement, which features a mysterious entity named Azazel. Continue reading →
YAHWEH WILL not allow his holiness to be violated, especially not by those called to serve Him. That is the takeaway from today's study, in which Nadab and Abihu, sons of Aaron, are destroyed by God with a blast of fire. Continue reading →
YAHWEH HAD very specific instructions for offerings. We discuss those instructions and compare the sacrifices under the old covenant to the once-for-all sacrifice of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Continue reading →
We resume our Bible study with the concluding chapters of Exodus. We will discuss the making of the Ark of the Covenant, the priestly garments, the table and altars for the Tabernacle, and the erection of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting. Continue reading →
The incident of the golden calf, the presence of the Angel of Yahweh on the mountain, and the theology of the Name are part of this week's study. Continue reading →
OUR WEEKLY study continues in the Book of Exodus. Moses is on the holy mountain receiving the Testimony from Yahweh: Instructions on how to build the altar of sacrifice, the altar of incense, and the importance of blood for purification. Continue reading →
Our weekly Bible study continues (live this week, we hope) with the 22nd chapter of Exodus. This is where Moses begins to receive the Law from Yahweh and instructions on how to build the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant. Continue reading →
THE ISRAELITES escaped the hand of Pharaoh, but now they're in the desert wilderness and tempers are growing short. Continue reading →
WE PICK up the story of Moses as the Lord prepares to visit his final plague upon Egypt, one that requires an act of faith and obedience on the part of the Hebrews. What follows is a classic adventure story: … Continue reading →
THIS WEEK we encounter a man who may be the most stubborn person in all of history, the pharaoh of the Exodus. Despite plagues of terrifying proportions and horrific consequences, Pharaoh refused to allow the Hebrews to leave, just as God knew he would. Continue reading →
THE STORY of Moses begins as our Bible study continues with the Book of Exodus. We look at Moses' birth, rescue from the river, sojourn in Midian, and his encounter with a bush that burned without being consumed. Continue reading →
OUR BIBLE study continues as we dig into the last three chapters of the book of Genesis. We look at Israel's blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh and his prophecies over his sons -- especially Judah, Joseph, Ephraim, and Dan. Continue reading →
OUR FIRST Bible study from the Ozarks! We pick up our study of the Book of Genesis at chapter 43: Famine grips the Ancient Near East, forcing Joseph's brothers to return to Egypt. They discover his true identity, which sets up the big reunion between Joseph and Jacob. Continue reading →
OUR VIRTUAL house fellowship continues with our study of the book of Genesis. We begin at chapter 37, picking up the story of Joseph, with an interlude that gives us the story of the foundation of the tribe of Judah. Continue reading →
OUR BIBLE study continues with Jacob's return to Canaan. We also look at the early revelation of the Godhead--the view that God comprises more than one personage, each of whom is identified as the presence of Yahweh. Continue reading →
HOW EASY it is to rationalize bad behavior by claiming it's for a good cause! This week, we see a classic example as Rebekah conspires with Jacob to deceive Isaac and Esau to confirm the blessing that God had promised to Jacob before his birth. Continue reading →
THE PROMISE of God to Abraham was fulfilled through Isaac and Jacob. That is made clear in the chapters we studied this week, Genesis 23 through 26. We look at the death of Sarah, the faithfulness of Abraham's servant, the birth of Esau and Jacob, Esau's disposition of his birthright, and Isaac's sojourn in Gerar. Continue reading →
We continue in the book of Genesis with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the departure of Hagar and Ishmael, Abraham's sojourn in the land of the Philistines, and the test of Abraham on Mount Moriah. Continue reading →
WE PICK up the story of Abram at Genesis chapter 15. We talk about Yahweh's covenant with Abram, including the land promised to his descendants; Sarai's impatience with the promise of an heir, and the trouble that created with (and for) Hagar and Ishmael; Yahweh's promise of Isaac and the new names He gave to Abraham and Sarah; and Abraham's humble, reverent intercession for Sodom. Continue reading →
OUR WEEKLY study continues as we return from Job to the Book of Genesis and take up the story of Abram. We'll discuss his journey from Ur of the Chaldees, the War of the Nine Kings, and the mysterious King of Salem, Melchizedek. Continue reading →
OUR STUDY of the Bible continues as we conclude the Book of Job this morning. Talk about your big finish -- Yahweh Himself appears to rebuke Job and his three friends. Continue reading →
WE CONTINUE our study of the Book of Job beginning with chapter 32. Job's friends, Eliphaz, Zophar, and Bildad have run out of things to say, Job has exhausted his defense, and so today we meet Elihu, a new character in this drama.
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WE REACH the conclusion of what reads like the trial of Job by his friends as Bildad delivers a very short speech, his third, followed by Job's eloquent and impassioned closing statement. Continue reading →
OUR STUDY of the Book of Job continues with chapters 18 through 24. Today, we see his friends go beyond just criticizing Job to flat-out lying about the wicked things he must have done to deserve the punishment of God! Continue reading →
THE FRIENDS of Job continue to accuse him of speaking rashly and insist that he must have committed some sin to provoke Yahweh's punishment. For his part, Job rebukes his friends and longs for death. This week, we see references to the Divine Council, an understanding of the afterlife, and possibly even a glimpse of the Messiah. Continue reading →
WE CONTINUE of study of the Book of Job with chapter 6. We begin to understand the depth of Job's despair as he declares that God has already judged and found him guilty so that his only possible release is the ultimate darkness of Sheol. Continue reading →
Join us as we dig into the history and the mystery behind Job and Satan's desire to test him. Continue reading →
We pick up in Genesis chapter 10, the Table of Nations, and continue through the Tower of Babel episode. What was so important about the tower that Yahweh was compelled to personally intervene? Continue reading →
WE PICK up the story of Noah just before the waters of the Flood sweep over the land. We compare the biblical account of the Flood with the Mesopotamian epics featuring Atra-Hasis, Utnapishtim, and Ziusudra. Was Noah a Sumerian king? And why, after the Flood, was Noah so angry with Ham that he cursed Ham's son, Canaan? Continue reading →
We advance through history from the Garden to the Flood and look at the Enemy's response to the Protoevangelium, the first prophecy of a coming Savior--the genetic corruption that followed the decision of the Bene Elohim to leave their first estate and take wives from among the daughters of man. Continue reading →
When is a serpent not a serpent? Randall and Stacy Harp of Bible News Radio join Derek to discuss chapters 3 and 4 of the Book of Genesis. Continue reading →
Our first episode of our new virtual house fellowship! We begin with a study of Genesis 1 and 2. Continue reading →