Best Chas Bayfield Podcasts (2024)

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105: The Queen Who Said No (Esther 1-2) 18:18

1d ago18:18

18:18

You're king of one of the largest empires ever amassed. You're hosting a banquet for the governors of all your territories. And you want your queen to make an appearance. She feels that she is only being paraded in front of the men as a trophy, and refuses. The stage is set for one of the Bible's most remarkable stories, a literal rags to riches fa…

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104: Ritual and Rage (Nehemiah 9-13) 25:32

4d ago25:32

25:32

The Jews may be back in Jerusalem but things are far from rosy. Nehemiah wades in like a teacher in an unruly classroom, desperate to create order and restore a level of godliness as Judah is resettled. His concern is that this is the Jews' last chance to get things right with God, and so they should avoid any of the behaviours that led to them bei…

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103: The Sharks (Nehemiah 5-9) 19:57

11d ago19:57

19:57

Jerusalem's wall may be rebuilt but Nehemiah's problems are far from over. There are people in his midst who are happy to betray him. There are also people within Israel who are denying their fellow citizens human rights, and who seem happy to exploit tose less well off than them. It's time to go back to basics. To reboot the nation spiritually as …

1
102: The Dung Gate and the Jackal's Well (Nehemiah 1-4) 20:07

18d ago20:07

20:07

A refined member of the Persian royal court plans a remarkable restoration project in his Jerusalem homeland. Without a building qualification to his name, Nehemiah becomes cheerleader for one of the greatest construction projects in the Bible, the rebuilding of Jerusalem's curtain wall. But before he can execute a project as near impossible as thi…

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101: The Man who Tore out his Beard (Ezra 4-10) 25:12

26d ago25:12

25:12

The embattled returnees discover that rebuilding their temple is fraught with opposition. Like modern day battles about planning permission and with much resistance from hostile locals who moved into the region while the Jews were in exile in Persia, a letter is sent to Persia's king. Jerusalem is in his jurisdiction and so Artaxerxes has the final…

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100: Weeping and Whooping (Ezra 1-4) 20:07

1M ago20:07

20:07

Episode 100! I need to say that again. Episode 100! Almost two years into the journey and we're still only 15 books into the 66 book epic that is the Bible. Still, why rush. You see a lot more from a slower bus. You join us at the start of the Book of Ezra, an exiled Jew who has returned to Jerusalem to rebuild its temple, a project that is not wit…

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99: The Few (2 Chronicles 33-36) 19:29

1M ago19:29

19:29

Told differently to a different audience, the utter collapse of Judah's monarchy, its principal city and its temple still hits home. Its kings deposed or captured, the survivors are dragged to Babylon where they languish in exile for the next seven decades. A ragged bunch of survivors eventually makes it home to the wasteland that was once Jerusale…

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98: The Pious and the Proud (2 Chronicles 31-33) 21:13

2M ago21:13

21:13

The propaganda machine continues apace. In this episode, one of Judah's most virtuous kings, Hezekiah, reinstates the religious calendar and celebrates Passover. Then his son Manasseh, the nation's most wretched and evil ruler is given a moral makeover after and leaves the Bible both reformed and forgiven. The end destination of absolute destructio…

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97: Rampage (2 Chronicles 25-31) 22:18

2M ago22:18

22:18

If nothing else, the account of the Kings of Judah who rule after David and Solomon shows a fascinating range of personalities, from psychopath to narcissist to saint, and pretty much everything in between. Given that rule one in Judah's monarchy, and in daily life for every Jew is to put God first, an amazing number of the nation's kings fail to d…

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96: Jezebel's Daughter (2 Chronicles 14-24) 21:49

2M ago21:49

21:49

To see the Books of Chronicles as a rehash of the Books of Samuel and Kings is to do them a disservice. It's actually the same events seen through a different lens, and these events are some of the most thrilling in the Bible - epic battles, assassinations, heroic act of rescue and grisly deaths from disease. But there are also unique events which …

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95: The Glorious and the Golden (2 Chronicles 1-13) 22:53

3M ago22:53

22:53

After eulogising about King David for an entire book, the Chronicler now turns his attention to David's son, Solomon and Solomon's son, Rehoboam. The elephant in the room that is the almost complete collapse of Israel that happens on Rehoboam's watch is fabulously airbrushed out. Including it doesn't help the agenda of this book which is to make th…

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94: Spin (1 Chronicles 17-29) 25:38

3M ago25:38

25:38

I'll be honest, the Books of Chronicles are no one's go-to place for encouragement and spiritual succour. Mostly a repetition of the Books of Samuel and Kings, there is little new material and a lot of pro monarchist propaganda. However, there are unique passages and in this one, David lays out his vision for Jerusalem's first temple and encourages…

1
93: The Golden King (1 Chronicles 1-16) 20:57

3M ago20:57

20:57

Not many books have the audacity to stop in the middle of the action, go back and retell exactly the same thing, but the Bible is no ordinary book. Spun for a new generation of Jews who are struggling to rebuild their nation after returning from exile, the writer of Chronicles cherry picks history. His people need building up, not reminding of what…

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92: The Broken and the Blind (2 Kings 23-25) 23:29

3M ago23:29

23:29

Judah has one last roll of the dice. After the appalling, godless reign of Manasseh, Josiah is a complete saint. But are his virtue and his religious reforms enough to turn the ship around and avoid annihilatioon by Babylon? Will Judah survive agains almost impossible odds? It's time for Josiah's sons to take the wheel and lead their nation into ei…

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91: The Death Angel (2 Kings 19-23) 23:01

3M ago23:01

23:01

Terrified that Jerusalem will fall, one of Judah's holiest kings, Hezekiah seeks the help of the holiest man he knows, the prophet Isaiah. The result is one of the biggest acts of carnage in the Bible. However, Hezekiah's son Manasseh is an absolute horror show, a man who thinks nothing of sacrificing his own children, and it is left to Israel's fi…

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90: I Know Where You Are (2 Kings 17-19) 22:37

4M ago22:37

22:37

After centuries of autonomy and nineteen almost exclusively godless kings, God calls time on the northern kingdom of Israel. Meanwhile, an Assyrian force threatens the southern and much smaller kingdom of Judah. Is God about to call time on his chosen people and write the whole project off as an experiment that went badly wrong? Or is there still s…

1
89: The Leper King (2 Kings 14-16) 23:05

4M ago23:05

23:05

Rogue monarchs, assassins, war and intrigue. The Bible continues to toggle between the nation of Judah to the south and Israel to the north as the spiritual needle moves further away from God and edges ever closer to outright paganism. With the Jerusalem temple now seen by Judah's kings as an exercise in architecture and interior design, the outloo…

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88: The Hidden Child (2 Kings 11-13) 20:51

4M ago20:51

20:51

They don't call it the greatest story ever told for no reason. This is without doubt one of my favourite episodes in the entire Bible. At incredible personal risk, a teenage girl saves the royal bloodline by hiding her tiny nephew away, Ann Frank-style, under the radar of her psychopathic and homicidal queen. In doing so, she allows the continuatio…

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87: A Pile of Human Heads (2 Kings 8-10) 22:14

4M ago22:14

22:14

As grisly an episode as it sounds. Blood and gore abound as the Second Book of Kings goes full throttle on schadenfreude. It's not a good time to be a king or queen of Israel or Judah, or evena friend of=r relative, particularly not a pagan one. A violent end is coming and the Bible doesn't hold back. A warrior is coming. Chapters covered: 2 Kings …

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86: The Woman who Ate her Son (2 Kings 6-8) 20:55

5M ago20:55

20:55

It's hard to imagine how awful life in a besieged city was in the ancient Near East. As the title of this episode suggests, with no food, people resorted to desperate and degrading measures just to stay alive. It os during such a siege that four men with an incurable skin disease find themselves at the centre of one of the most incredible yirnaroun…

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85: The Grateful and the Greedy (2 Kings 4-6) 22:59

5M ago22:59

22:59

Elisha continues to pull off some of the Bible's most extraordinary miracles - one of these is the kind of showstopper that only Jesus might attempt. From lowly holy men to foreign dignitaries, the miraculous makeovers show no favouritism. However, Elisha's servant is less of a saint than his master. His head is turned and his fall is mighty. Chapt…

1
84: The Firestorm (2 Kings 1-4) 21:36

5M ago21:36

21:36

Seson 11 begins. When a king of Israel decides to consult a pagan deity to see whether he will recover from an accident, the Jewish prophet Elijah steps in with dramatic effect. Elijah then departs the earth in spectacular fashion leaving his protégé, Elisha to steer Israel back towards some form of godliness. It's an uphill battle. Israel's kings …

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83: Licked up by Dogs (1 Kings 21-22) 19:29

5M ago19:29

19:29

Jezebel proves her creds as Israel's most evil queen when she plots to kill a nighbour just because she covets his vineyard. Then Ahab ignores a prophet's dire warning that he will die in battle because he has a plan that will help him evade death - he will wear a disguise... Without giving too much away, the First Book of Kings does not end well f…

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82: The Dainty and the Damned (1 Kings 19-21) 20:22

6M ago20:22

20:22

On the run from his homicidal queen, the prophet Elijah is given a heads up by God as to how things are about to play out. Israel may be an ungodly nation but its king, Ahab is given an opportunity to see God in action when his meagre fighting force goes into battle against a vastly superior enemy. However, the king's inability to follow actions an…

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81: The Greatest Showman (1 Kings 15-18) 21:51

6M ago21:51

21:51

As Israel spirals into paganism, a new hope rises in the shape of a Jedi-like holy man, Elijah. Elijah's showdown against the shamans sponsored by Israel's evil queen, Jezebel is one of the most dramatic in the Bible. Without giving away any plot spoilers, it's quite a show. Chapters covered: 1 Kings 15-18 Written and produced by Chas Bayfield Musi…

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80: Man Whores (1 Kings 13-15) 21:35

6M ago21:35

21:35

The Kingdom of Israel has split into two. Judah is tiny but retains Jerusalem and its temple, and a dynasty descended from David. Israel is vast in comparison but in separating from Judah, it appears to have also separated itself from God. In these chapters, Israel enters a kind of death spiral from which it seems impossible to pull out, while Juda…

1
79: 1000 Wives (1 Kings 11-13) 19:49

6M ago19:49

19:49

It's fair to say Israel's King Solomon doesn't hold back when it comes to getting married. His enthusiasm for the opposite sex is legendary, as is his immense harem. However, according to the Bible this does not sit well with God, especially as some of Solomon's wives are from pagan nations, and the women prove as seductive as their religions. The …

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78: Gold, Ivory and Baboons (1 Kings 8-11) 29:50

6M ago29:50

29:50

Solomon's reign is spectacular, if only for its opulence. Foreign rulers make pilgrimages just to marvel at the wealth and wisdom of Israel's king. But all is not golden in this particular kingdom. Solomon slowly begins to lose his grip on what being king of Israel actually means. His marriages are foreign alliances and he appears to be putting his…

1
77: The Half Child (1 Kings 3-7) 23:56

7M ago23:56

23:56

After the roller coaster of David's warlike reign, things settle down a little with his son, Solomon in charge. This is where Israel enters a golden age. Where David fights and suppresses rebellions from his own sons, Solomon builds. Using the wealth hoarded by his father, he constructs a temple and palaces and enjoys a life of unrivalled opulence.…

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76: The Playmate (1 Kings 1-3) 21:21

7M ago21:21

21:21

Season 10 begins. David hands over his reign to his chosen heir, Solomon, just as another of David's sons, Adonijah makes his own bid for the crown. Solomon's reign begins with bloodshed. There is no room for pretenders, traitors or sentimentality, and no one can stand in the way of Israel's Sun King. Chapters covered: 1 Kings 1-3 Written and produ…

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75: The Plague (2 Samuel 21-24) 24:25

7M ago24:25

24:25

The judge, Samuel is long dead. His lasting legacy is Israel's monarchy. The nation's first two kings, Saul and David were chosen by him. As the book that bears his name draws to an end, so does the life and reign of David. These closing chapters are a summing up, a kind of who's who at the end of David's rule. However, the drama isn't over, and an…

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74: Ten Widows (2 Samuel 18-21) 20:31

7M ago20:31

20:31

Blindsided by an unexpected assault on the monarchy by his son Absalom, David has had to gather an army and prepare to fight back. Having spent much of his reign defeating enemy nations and winning security for Israel, the king is now facing down ever more threats from his own people. Will blood prove thicker than water, or will the old king manage…

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73: The Mole (2 Samuel 15-18) 22:21

8M ago22:21

22:21

Out of nowhere, David suddenly has to face a coup from within his own family. With no time to prepare, he must evacuate the royal compound and quickly assess who is with him in his fight to maintain the throne. Helping him is an underground network of spies and a faux adviser who he is depending on to feed the wannabe king bad counsel. It's a long …

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Coalition Alpha & The Destiny of Eracing 1:54:31

8M ago1:54:31

1:54:31

It's been three years since we recorded 'The State of Racing', so we decided it was time the Coalition Alpha team got together to see what has changed (and what hasn't). We discuss racing on Zwift, elite racing and the Zwift Grand Prix, MyWhoosh, and the UCI World Championships. Not to mention, we finish off the episode with some predictions! Which…

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72: Rape and Revenge (2 Samuel 13-15) 20:06

8M ago20:06

20:06

Surely one of the most sordid episodes in the entire Bible, and certainly one of the saddest, a bored young prince convinces himself that he is in love with his half sister. The event escalates and David has a choice, to deal with his son or to let things get completely out of hand. Chapters covered: 2 Samuel 13-15 Written and produced by Chas Bayf…

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71: The Lustful and the Lost (2 Samuel 10-12) 20:28

8M ago20:28

20:28

A beautiful woman takes a bath on the flat roof of her house in plain view of a bored and randy king. Whatever the worst is that can happen, happens, as David manages to break all ten of the Ten Commandments, all at once. This isn't a section of the Bible that regularly gets aired in church services, for good reason. It's around 1000BC, and it's ba…

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70: The Crippled Child (2 Samuel 6-9) 22:41

8M ago22:41

22:41

David's rule begins as he crushes army after army, builds his citadel in Jerusalem and adopts his best friend's son. It all starts off so well... Chapters covered: 2 Samuel 6-9 Written and produced by Chas Bayfield Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music Cover Art by Lisa Goff Download Snakes and Angels, a Secular Walk through the First Five Bo…

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69: Death in the Afternoon (2 Samuel 1-4) 22:15

9M ago22:15

22:15

With Saul dead, a power vacuum opens up in Israel. David believes that God has chosen him to be the nation's next king, but Saul still has sons and grandsons who survived the battle at Gilboa. One in particular believes that he is his father's heir apparent and assumes the crown for himself. His fall is an object lesson in how treating the true pow…

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Special Episode: Not in the Bible 30:16

9M ago30:16

30:16

Spoiler alert: God might give you more than you can handle, and he doesn't necessarily help those who help themselves. If that revelation hasn't shocked you off your chair, get ready for more bombshells. In this special episode, I cover off a number of myths that people assume must be biblical, but aren't. Nativity lovers be warned, you'll never lo…

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68: The Witch (1 Samuel 28-31) 19:02

9M ago19:02

19:02

The First Book of Samuel reaches its season finale - and it's a satisfying one. A giant enemy army is bearing down on Israel as Saul and the rest of the Israelite force prepare to make a heroic last stand. Yet incredibly, Israel's most loyal soldier - and potentially its next king - is marching with the enemy. What gives? Those who think the Bible …

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67: The Fool and his Wife (1 Samuel 23-28) 21:40

9M ago21:40

21:40

Everyone loves a bad guy getting their come-uppance and in this episode, a surly and ungrateful farmer provides listeners with that satisfaction. However, the predominant baddie in this particular Bible book is Israel's king, Saul who narrowly misses assassination not once, but twice. And not only does David have to slip into a neighbouring country…

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66: 200 Foreskins (1 Samuel 18-22) 22:54

9M ago22:54

22:54

These are some of the liveliest pages in the Bible - and some of its most bloody. David may be the golden child of Israel, but Saul's jealousy is about to get the better of him. His hunt for David is relentless, and aided by a psychopathic Edomite shepherd, he unleashes one of the most appalling attacks in the entire Bible. Chapters covered: 1 Samu…

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65: Giantkiller (1 Samuel 15-17) 23:19

10M ago23:19

23:19

It's one of the world's most famous stories, and one of only a few Bible stories that has achieved fame outside of religious circles. It's so famous that it has become an archetype, but David vs Goliath is so much more than the little guy overcoming the big guy. As Goliath taunts the Israelite army for its cowardice, a young shepherd arrives with f…

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64: Fatal Honey (1 Samuel 11-14) 22:47

10M ago22:47

22:47

Saul's reign begins well and then gradually freewheels downhill, increasing speed and the likelihood of a pile up as it does so. As this episode proves, even having a brave and gifted warrior for a son can't help this klutz of a king rule his kingdom properly. The fall of Saul begins here. Chapters covered: 1 Samuel 11-14 Written and produced by Ch…

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63: The Golden Rats (1 Samuel 5-10) 22:24

10M ago22:24

22:24

It’s the end of an era. From the Patriarchs to the Judges, Israel has been looked after by leaders which it believes God has given it, and who appear to have been hand-picked because of their inherent faithfulness to God and the courage which this gives them. Now, Israel's people are in uncharted territory. The age of the Judges is over. The age of…

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Peredur ap Gwynedd – Taking Wales on Tour! 1:13:45

10M ago1:13:45

1:13:45

Welcome back to another episode of the Torque Show podcast. This week we are talking to legendary Welsh rocker Peredur ap Gwynedd. Peredur is a man of many talents – he not only plays guitar in Drum n Bass band Pendulum, but is also a TV presenter covering professional cycling for Welsh language channel S4C. We sat down to have a natter about the i…

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62: The Fat and the Fallen (1 Samuel 1-4) 22:23

10M ago22:23

22:23

The epic account of Israel's monarchy begins. Books 1 + 2 of Samuel are some of the most page turning in the whole Bible as the writers build tension, hop between locations and include dramatic points of jeopardy from which it seems impossible to seize victory. These are chapters that you can properly binge. As expected by now, God uses the least e…

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61: Romance in the Fields (Ruth 1-4) 24:01

10M ago24:01

24:01

An unmarried young woman puts on her best clothes, fixes her makeup and sashays out into the night. She finds a wealthy older man who is sleeping off a banquet and lies down next to him. Who is she? What did she hope might happen as a result of this midnight liaison. And why do more people not know this story? Season eight begins. Chapters covered:…

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60: Gang Rape (Judges 16-21) 28:20

11M ago28:20

28:20

My my my Delilah - Episode 60 and Season 6 finale! This is a longer and usual podcast and the action doesn't stop. Samson's unfortunate love affair is one of the few stories that has escaped the Bible and into popular culture. But it is what happens next that sees Israel spiral into a self destructive vortex. It's one of the most appalling and depr…

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59: Firefoxes (Judges 11-15) 22:17

11M ago22:17

22:17

Animal lovers look away! Israel is about to get a leader who thinks nothing of killing wildlife to help him wreak revenge. As for the content, this episode provides the backstory to one of the most famous romantic relationships in the Bible - Samson and Delilah. But before Samson meets Delilah, he falls in love with another absolute heartbreaker. C…

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