Gilbert House Fellowship

A MIRACULOUS healing led to a Syrian warrior carrying mule loads of dirt from Israel back with him 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.

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 poisoned stew. 

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.

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.

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.

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? 

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).

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?).

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.

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.

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 andmiraculous 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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.)

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?

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)?

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”?

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?

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.”

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.

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.

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).

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.”

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. 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

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)

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.”

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

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.

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.

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?

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? 

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).

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-houseWe 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

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

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.

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 BCThe Book of Parables (Chapters 37–71) — completed by about 4 BCThe Book of Luminaries (Chapters 72–82) — completed by about 200 BCThe 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 BCWe 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.

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.

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, and 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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. 

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)

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.

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.

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