A Podcast of Biblical Proportions

On the seventh day of spring, 538 BCE, the Hebrews agreed on a covenant with Yahweh, with the spoils going to the priests. Salvation came at a price and reward. Click here to join the tribe! And click here for the updated list of biblical authors.

In the spring of 538, Cyrus King of Persia showed kindness to the inhabitants of the Persian empire and changed the world forever. Click here to join our tribe 

After going over the first layer of Passover, written by Hebrew priests in Persian times, in this episode, we'll go over the additions to Passover and how they're meant to oppress those very same Hebrew priests. Join the tribe!

The holiday of Passover appears in Exodus and includes two separate celebrations. In this episode, we'll focus on the original layer - a new year spring festival. A Mesopotamian new year spring festival celebrated since 4000 BCE.

We see the plague of the firstborn of Egypt as barbaric, but it is in fact a tragic and poetic tale imbued with elements from Greek tragedies. To join our tribe - click here.

Within the terrible ten plagues of Exodus lies a light-hearted Persian story. And all we need to do to see it is learn about Persian culture and its state religion, Zoroastrianism. Join our tribe!

Why is the Pharaoh of Exodus so fickle and can never keep his side of a deal?  To answer that question, we have to go back to the sort of Pharaohs that lived when this story was written. To Join our tribe - click here.

In our final installment about Judah the Maccabee, we go over his greatest victories, his dramatic death and how we was immortalized in the Bible. To join the tribe - click here. And check out Mark Pimenta's podcast Warlords of History

In part 2, Judah the Hammer becomes a living legend after tying together a string of unlikely victories against the Seleucids. These victories turn the ragtag Hebrew warriors into an outstanding guerilla army. I'm joined by Mark Pimenta from the podcast Warlords of History.

Judah the Maccabee is known as the hero of the Jewish holiday Hannukah, and his life offers a unique perspective into the mind of a Hebrew warlord in Hellenistic times. Mark Pimenta from the podcast Warlords of History joins me to  break it all down.

Before Ezekiel wrote the Exodus story of the plagues, he wrote a first draft which we can find in his book. Once we go over the first draft, we will be able to better understand the story of the plagues. To join the tribe, click here.

The Exodus story we know as the Ten Plagues is made up of three stories with a total of 15 plagues, edited down to 10. And 10 is not a Hebrew number - it's a Hellenistic number. You can see the separate Exodus layers here. To join the tribe click here!

Far right Israeli politicians are trying to turn Israel into an authoritarian theocratic state. They are using a blueprint financed by two Jewish American billionaires, Jeffrey Yass and Arthur Dantchick. They should be shamed for that.

In our story for today: after being oppressed for so long, the Hebrews finally fight back against the evil Egyptian empire and start a magical rebellion. To support the podcast and join the tribe - click here.

We are looking for the editors of Exodus, and we want to find them by using the available information historians and archeologists have amassed. Can we connect the dots all the way to the editors? Join our tribe! It's a lot of fun.

Read more about: the Pharisees, Shimon Thassi, Shimon the Just, the Great Assembly, the archeological research about 140 BCE.

Scientists have found that people with the last name Cohen (priest, in Hebrew) disproportionally share a common gene, which scientists named the "Aaron gene." But evolutionary biologist Dr. Rutger Vos thinks Cohens are descended from the House of Tsadok. Check out our podcast As Depicted on Film on Apple or Spotify.

Excerpt of a tribe-only episode: Samuel is a combination of absurdist comedy and savage violence, written by a Hebrew writer in Alexandria, Egypt, and a Maccabean writer 100 years later. For the full episode, click here and join the tribe.

After learning that a Hebrew king was to blame for the elimination of the fictional Tsadok from Exodus, we resume our investigation by interrogating our four suspects. To join the tribe and support the podcast click here.

In the 100s BCE, a popular Hebrew revolt ended up with an independent Hebrew state. Garry Stevens from History in the Bible Podcast joins Gil to discuss the three political groups shaped the period during which the Bible went through its final major editing.  Join our tribe to support the podcast!