Відео

Samson came before Heracles.

Look up the word Cush in the Bible dictionary, it will tell you it has African origins

Following an account with a detailed explanation is common in history. Chapter 10 tells you where humanity went. Chapter 11 details how it happened. Who named man in Genesis? God did he put his hands in the dirt and what do they do? They put their hands in the dirt God did when he made man. Sky and heaven are one word in Hebrew and it is dual as if it there is a level beyond the sky. As the temple and Eden indicate, the third heaven is the throne room. The third heaven is still a heaven but one beyond creation or the earthly sphere as it were. Eden served as the meeting place of heaven and earth, a mountain high place (Ezekiel 37). Humanity was banned from Eden for believing the lie which is a promise to create yourself. So at Babel the people build a tower out of hands to name themselves and reach the throne room, supplanting God. They are not intending to physically reach the edge of the sky. It is a monument to how they will be as gods and create while deciding good and evil for themselves. Not all journalism is concerned with strict linearity. Nimrod if you take the ages given is a good candidate. The bible is full of accounts not a modern linear western textbook. It can be hystorical and have a specific focus, namely the promise to crush the head of the serpent in Genesis 3 that is ultimately fulfilled in Christ. There is also serious satire as God comes down to see this mighty tower that is supposed to reach his throne room as it were. This carries to "they can do anything." They won't scucceed but they will try anything and with a totalitarian state they will all be ensnared. Associates for biblical research did great work on the epic of Gilgamesh and it's potential connection to Nimrod. Worth a look.

I'm endlessly fascinated by the story of Jacob fighting Yahweh in Genesis 32. It comes out of nowhere, is never mentioned again expect a brief mention in Hosea(who says it was an angel, not Yahweh) and is smack dab in the middle of a much more grounded plot arc....and it's one of two times Yahweh names Jacob Isreal. The fact Yahweh seems eager to flee at dawn smacks Jacob hard in the lower regions and then rewards Jacob but only after losing the fight is also interesting. Like....WTF did i just read?

Excellent video! (As always!) I'm continuously flabbergasted by how your video design can match the depth of your commentary! Regarding tall tales in the Bible. One thought that struck me as interesting is that by the time you come to something like the Book of Ester, you're more dealing with what one might call "historical fiction" rather than the tall tales of Judges. As if there has been a genre shift over time.

Does this mean that when Jesus referred to the book of Daniel, as historical, he was mistaken ?

Huge improvent, kudos to you and we all look forward to newer videos. Hoping you cover Wisdom literature related topics 😊

It is hard for me to take anyone going over Biblical topics when the dating they use is BCE and CE.

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Did a bear really eat a ton of kids???

Something I've been wondering about is if the Nazerite vow in Numbers was written after, and in response to, the story of Samson since most of the limitations imposed by the vow never applied to Samson, but to his mother

I gave you a 👍 because you worked hard on this. But I have to stop early because I don't want to see any more nakedness. It's not necessary.

I remember years ago when I was not an atheist I was at church one day chatting with a friend about some things and he brought this passage up, referring to "the devil" that the "witch" brought up. I was a little shocked and said, "The Bible doesn't say it was a devil.". He didn't seem to know what to say to that.

I've been really enjoying your work, jumping around and rewatching some videos twice. Keep it up please :-)

We need more "Dr Evil"s in religious works 🤣 Ideas for other videos, as requested: Something on King David's authenticity; The staff of Aaron that was in the ark; Sacrificing the firstborn to the lord and child sacrifice in general within Judah/Israel; The names Judah (Yahwist) and Israel (Elohist); The son's of Israel attacking a town after they'd been circumcised; Daniel (take your pick there, though I know you've got one on this already there's many stories in it); Elijah and the prophets of Ba'al. I'll think of more once I hit ENTER no doubt. Edit: The "twelve" sons/tribes of Israel.

Deliberate tall tales as compared to regular tall tales? 😁 How about Jonah? I think Jonah is satire and uses humorous elements to make a point.

We are showing our hubris as a people thinking we can determine whether Biblical events actually physically "happened" or were meant to be taken some other cryptic way... I think it is a mistake to assume that because some stories about the creator of the universe, we cannot simply wrap our head around or begin to imagine/ believe... But God counts righteousness towards faith and faith alone... Jesus many times had to prove to his disciples... Even after his resurrection; showing them the scars of where his hands were pierced to the cross.... So just because we cant begin to imgaone Gods glory, and yes i do believe there are clear as day parables in the bible too.... But that being said i also truly believe that it is factual that Jesus performed REAL LIFE MIRACLES and truly brought the dead back to the living at the absolute disbelief and astonishment of those witness.... I believe a child names David slayed a literal 9ft tool Giant and it literally happened the way the Bible says, not that he threw a metaphorical rock and played a guitar so good he literally "blew Goliaths mind" , it was all a metaphor... Absolutely not, God means what he says and his miracles are not meant to be interpreted by our inexperienced minds and discounted as this or that because out faith is too little to believe God's glory is really that great and out of this world with his amazing and astonishing miracles.... They still happen and people have stories to this day they may not even share because they are so unbelievable and amazing because our GOD is out of this world and above our understanding!!

Intresting1

Heyo, the 3d render looks sick!

Has anyone else noticed the underlying premises that dictate the interpretation of the Samson story here? 1. It isn't literally true. The story is metaphorical. The old ''take an old historical anecdote about some Israelite pre-monarchy-era hero and exaggerate it to make ourselves look better'' approach. 2. Suggest that the Jews ''borrowed'' / ''were influenced by'' (read: 'stole') the Samson story from ANYONE other than it being their own original story about their own hero. Jews aren't capable of having their own superheroes. They MUST have stolen the story from somewhere else. All similarities between Samson's heroic deeds and that of ANY other culture's heroes, becomes immediate proof that the Jews stole the story. 3. Here's what we believe the gates of Late Bronze Age citadels were like... so that means that the story is talking about gates that WE have decided... not ones that we actually know about. How about we try a very different approach? The narrative makes it clear from the start that the conception of Samson was something unusual. The time-period of the story (Late Bronze Age) is a time during which many other cultures speak of certain persons of extraordinary abilities. These 'super' humans all seem to have something peculiar about their conception; something that is often spoken of having involved some supernatural Beings or beings. Why shouldn't we take these records at their word? Why shouldn't we take it all literally? Because those who made record of the exploits of these ancient heroes weren't into making up literary metaphors for the spiritual development of later readers. They told what they observed about a person or persons whose abilities were way beyond those of normal men. Looking for metaphors and spiritual applications is a relatively modern approach; something that belongs to the Late Classical period, not that of ages earlier. From legends and anecdotes all around the world's cultures, we can deduce that these super humans seem to have occurred within three or four generations; around the time of the collapse of the Late Bronze Age kingdoms. It was a period of great upheavals, accompanied by strange phenomenon. The people who recorded what occurred were not stupid superstitious idiots who ran around terrified of anything that went 'boom!' or looked different. They were people who could build pyramids and temples with huge stones... they understood the complexities of running empires. They were NOT idiots who invented a god for everything that happened... all that came much later.... and the Jews were last of all people to want to have yet another 'god'. They recorded what they saw... not what they thought might make a good yarn for some later audience. Samson wasn't just some local big lad who ate all his veggies and grew up big and tough... and beat up a few Philistines. He was the offspring of an Israelite woman and something - or someone - totally out of the ordinary. I argue that the same situation was going on in cultures all over the world at that time. Those supermen... what the Greeks called 'heroes'... were a special breed. We're not using the word 'hero' to mean a sporting star of today. It is a term denoting a specific gene-set: they were not entirely human. We don't have such people today. But the records speak of such persons in Antiquity. They were totally out of the ordinary and their exploits were phenomenal. If the story has it that Samson could carry the gates of a Philistine city dozens and dozens of miles uphill, then that's what happened.

If Samson's shoulders were 90 feet as described at 7:02 in the video, the his height would have been around 300 to 450 feet tall, and at that height no one would have to warn the guards that he is in the city.

I recall a paper arguing that Samson is being envisioned as a giant when he is depicted as pushing down the pillars of the philistine temple. The argument being that pillars of that sort in antiquity would have been too far apart for a normal sized man to grab with outstretched arms.

Great video, Paul! I have a lot of thoughts on this one. First, I'm totally with you that various elements of the Bible likely contain mythologized or exaggerated details. Exaggeration was a very commonly used literary device in the ancient near east, even necessarily describing events which were reported to have occurred historically. Hence the unrealistically large number of Israelites leaving Egypt. One story that likely I would consider to be a tall tale would be that of Daniel 3 with the worshiping of the image of Nebuchadnezzar which I think even an ancient audience would have considered to be absurd. In regards to Samson, I do think there is a connection between him and solar deities for the reasons that you mentioned in the video. I'm especially intrigued by the idea that his journey from east to west is meant to signify the course of the Sun. However, I do disagree with you in regards to the story of Hercules serving as an influence upon the legend of Samson. My reason for saying this is that I believe it is more plausible that the story of Samson was inspired by Near Eastern motifs (which I also believe influenced the story of Hercules). For example, the idea of Samson killing a lion or being associated with a lion would fit the ancient near Eastern archetype of a king or hero fighting a lion. Curiously there was a stone seal found at Beth Shemesh from repeatedly the 12th century BCE of a man battling a lion, which while I hesitate to say proves that the story of Samson is historical it would show that at least some kind of lion battling legend was known in the local area and likely influenced the development of the Samson story. Gilgamesh for example was associated with the lion as well, and is stated to have worn a lion's skin as part of a mourning ritual for his friend Enkidu. While to my knowledge we don't know of any story of Gilgamesh killing a lion, Hercules most certainly did. So here we have three heroes associated with leonine imagery. We also have the association between Hercules and Gilgamesh and the underworld, which would imply some degree of influence. While there is nothing to my knowledge in the Samson story that reflects a connection with the underworld, I do find it rather interesting that the 6th century Christian theologian Jacob of Serugh in his Homily on Samson typologically connects the story of Samson and the gates of Gaza with the descent of Christ into Sheol who is described as having broken the bars of iron and bronze and freed the righteous who were awaiting his resurrection. Not sure if there is any deeper knowledge that Jacob knew of here or not, but I did find this connection between Samson, Jesus and the underworld very similar to the connection between Gilgamesh and Hercules and the Netherworld. Now of course I won't rule out the possibility that perhaps some elements of the Hercules stories may have been placed upon the story of Samson in a later reaction, I do think that the motifs which underlie the stories of Samson, Gilgamesh and Hercules reflect the mutual influence of Near Eastern sources, and as I mentioned earlier the idea of somebody fighting a lion in Samson's neck of the woods was apparently known in the late bronze age and probably served as some kind of influence upon the eventual formulation of the legend. But with that aside, I enjoyed the video and I look forward to the next one! Also, this video has made me interested in Reading Jack Sasson's paper on Samson. I enjoyed his commentary on Judges 1 - 12 earlier this year along with Mark Smith and Elizabeth Bloch-Smith's Hermeneia commentary on the first half of Judges. I hope that both parties will bring forward the second halves of their commentaries in the years to come because the story of Judges is absolutely fascinating to me.

Great analysis! It's fascinating to think that stories like Samson's might be intentionally exaggerated to highlight traits or convey deeper lessons. The idea that biblical authors used humor and over-the-top details to signal a non-literal reading is eye-opening. Thanks for shedding light on this perspective-it adds so much depth to how we understand these narratives!

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Canaan was named after Canaan, son of Ham, who was the son of Noah. The linage Abraham came from Shem, also son of Noah

It's perfectly still. and every December 25th the sun sits still for 3 days , We inhabit a motionless realm covered by an impenetrable dome. We use gas pressure to debunk space that directly represents the heliocentric model. Space is a direct violation of the 2nd law of thermodynamics. Using science to disprove the heliocentric model is the best way to get people to learn the truth. If you believe in a globe earth, outer space travel, or virus transmission.... YOU ARE NOT AWAKE Inflation is Dangerous , you can Loose your Car or your House .

Release the Kraken!

Dude this channels awesome how do you not have more subs I'm binge watching everything

Yahweh vicious

I wonder if the name Baal has any connection to the word Bell.

This event contravened physical laws, but that is exactly what a miracle is all about.

Is this material available without music. The music is a distraction to great lessons

The prophecy of Alexander The Great is pretty amazing. God literally knows the beginning and end. And he gives the knowledge and wisdom of his plans to those who follow Him.

The common denominators between the story of Bathseba and the story of Jezebel are pretty arbitrary. I mean, like finding a common theme in covetousness... which is one of the biggest issues of our times today. Jezebel has more in common with Thyatira and Mystery Babylon than she does with Bathseba.