Books of Kings

Oct 27 2024 46 ep. 65 mins 52
Books of Kings Podcast artwork

The first narrative history podcast on the Bible.

  Religion & Spirituality  History
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40- Advance O Horses, Rage O Chariots

Oct 27 2024 46 mins  
After defeating Josiah at Megiddo, the pharaoh Necho uses duplicity to consolidate his control over the Levant. Meanwhile, the waxing Babylonian Empire begins to take the place of Assyria.

39- The Plain of Megiddo

Jun 16 2024 70 mins  
The Assyrian Empire is reduced to a rump state in Anatolia. Seeing an opportunity to return to its former glory, Egypt launches a lightning mission to rescue Assyria. In a move that has mystified biblical commentators, Josiah of Judah—despite having seemingly no stake in the fight—ambushes and attacks the Egyptian forces at Megiddo. The event proves to be Josiah’s Waterloo,

38- No King Like Him

Apr 20 2024 95 mins  
As Assyria disintegrates, Manasseh’s grandson Josiah declares a holy war against idolatry and invades Samaria. Ian and Caleb explain why the enigmatic “Book of the Law” brought to Josiah is thought to be Deuteronomy.

37- All the Powers of the Heavens

Feb 25 2024 71 mins  
Manasseh of Judah offers the most legendary story of personal transformation in the Old Testament. A loyal Assyrian vassal and fanatical pagan who burned his own children as a human sacrifice, Manasseh ultimately returned to the God of Hezekiah and led a Yahwist revival.

36- You Have Mocked the Lord

Dec 25 2023 127 mins  
2 Kings 19 records the most astonishing miracle in the Books of Kings. In 701 BC, an “angel of the Lord” descended upon Jerusalem and slaughtered 185,000 Assyrian soldiers, lifting Sennacherib’s siege of the city. Incredibly, the angel’s destruction of Sennacherib’s army is perhaps the most well-documented miracle in the Old Testament, with the Deuteronomist’s accoun

35- A Grain of Mustard Seed

Nov 01 2023 67 mins  
Ian and Caleb pretend to do an episode about the religious renaissance under Hezekiah. Actually, it is an episode about the Bronze Serpent of Moses, the Rod of Asclepius, and Imhotep. They also discuss the origins of the Samaritan culture.

34- Reap the Whirlwind

Oct 01 2023 70 mins  
Assyrian hordes eradicate Aram and swarm across the Levant, consuming almost all of Israel and its eight tribes. While most Israelites are led off to assimilation or death, some—like the ancestors of Anna the Prophetess—escape south to the Kingdom of Judah. In Judah, Ahaz escalates his pro-Assyrian religious reforms, effectively banning Yahwism and erecting altars to Baal in

33- The Root of Jesse

Sep 08 2023 104 mins  
Ahaz, one of the most tyrannical of the Davidic kings, aligns Judah with Assyria and begins an aggressive program to force cosmopolitanism down the throats of the Judahites. A new prophet, Isaiah, appears on the political stage and delivers the famous and controversial prophecy of “Immanuel.” Caleb introduces the career and reforms of Tiglath-Pileser III and Ian gives an intr

32- Name Her No Mercy

Aug 13 2023 57 mins  
Israel implodes after the death of Jeroboam II, its Second Golden Age empire crumbling into apocalyptic civil war. Under Tiglath-Pileser III, Assyria rises from the ashes to form a revolutionary new world empire. Despite the memorable warnings of the prophet Hosea, Israel’s elite is drawn once again into Assyria’s orbit. Ian explains his controversial position that reading

31- To the Valley of My Mountains

May 28 2023 75 mins  
With Israel flourishing, Uzziah carves out his own Judahite military empire. In 760 BC, as the prophet Amos begins to condemn the elite of Samaria, an epochal earthquake rocks the Levant, levelling whole cities to the ground. Meanwhile, pioneered by the prophecies of Isaiah, the concept of global messianic monotheism begins to take recognizable shape. Ian and Caleb discuss the gr