This paper was originally presented on August 25, 2023 at the 2023 OCABS symposium held at St. Elizabeth Orthodox Church in St. Paul, Minnesota.By The Ephesus School

The 12 Tribes of Israel: The sons of Reuben Hanoch dedicated Pallu wonder/marvelous Hezron settlement/ village Carmi my vineyard The sons of Simeon Jemuel Day of El Jamin Right Hand Ohad Joined Together Jachin He will establish Zohar Whiteness Shaul Asked for The sons of Levi Gershon Outcast/ sojourner Kohath Assembly? Merari My bitter one The sons…

This week, we continue our recitation and discussion of the book of Genesis with an emphasis on the Semitic understanding of "peace" as it relates to Joseph's reunion with his brothers. Intro and outro music Copyright © Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Brookline, MA, used by permission. All rights reserved.…

This week, Rowdy and I continue our read through of Genesis with chapter 44. Let us be attentive! Intro and outro music Copyright © Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Brookline, MA, used by permission. All rights reserved.By The Ephesus School

In the process of reuniting with his brothers, Joseph celebrates the occasion by inviting them to a common meal. Not only does he order them according to the order of their birth, he also serves the youngest brother the biggest portion. In other words, the last shall be first. Join Rowdy and I as we continue our read through of the book of Genesis.…

Continuing our recitation and commentary on the book of Genesis, we point out interesting similarities between Joseph and Cyrus. When it comes to the messiah, everybody expects a homegrown King David, but such a king is never to be found because the iniquity comes from inside the group, not outside. The cancer began in Jacob when he followed the wa…

An in-depth look at the broad Biblical narrative ranging from the Old Testament (Torah, Prophets, and Writings) to the New Testament. Intro and outro music Copyright © Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Brookline, MA, used by permission. All rights reserved.By The Ephesus School

Welcome to another episode of Tell Me the Story! Today, we will be looking at Paul’s letter to Philemon, which is the last of the so-called pastoral letters and the penultimate letter traditionally attributed to Paul. The next book in the canon of course is the monumental letter to the Hebrews, which bookends the Pauline corpus starting with Romans…

This week we look at Joseph's interactions with Pharaoh and how they determine the coming narrative and development of Joseph's impact on the Biblical story. Let us hear the story! Intro and outro music Copyright © Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Brookline, MA, used by permission. All rights reserved.…

A recitation and commentary of Genesis chapter 40 in comparison with the Lukan crucifixion account. Let us be attentive! Intro and outro music Copyright © Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Brookline, MA, used by permission. All rights reserved.By The Ephesus School

In the pericope of Joseph’s story, we have the seemingly odd narrative choice to insert a story about Judah before returning to Joseph. When taken as a totality however, it is clear that the Biblical authors are making a comparison between these two characters and their behavior. Joseph is forced out of his family tribe and thrust into the world of…

After conspiring with his brothers to remove the suspected successor to Jacob's wealth, their brother Joseph, Judah leaves to go on his own and presumably start his own tribe. This is a cruel pursuit in scripture, and it goes as expected. Come and hear the story... Intro and outro music Copyright © Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Brookline, MA, use…

In today's episode, we begin the story of Joseph. This is the climactic and lengthy finale to the book of Genesis where all of the themes introduced thus far finally come at a head in Joseph's betrayal by his older brothers and his exile to Egypt. Let us be attentive! Intro and outro music Copyright © Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Brookline, MA, …

Today’s episode is one of those where we cover a lengthy genealogy, but wait! Before we put up the walls of disinterest, let’s actually make an attempt to hear what the text is laying out. It is very likely that the clever use of words attributed as names for the various players in the stage of the genealogy paint a particular picture whether vague…

Jacob's short-lived WrestleMania results in a shameful title, that of Israel. However, in his arrogance, he wears it like a championship belt all unaware of the reasoning behind his circumstances. Now, in this chapter, God himself calls Jacob Israel, but for what purpose? What is different about this renaming from the previous one? Come and see... …

Back in chapter 17, the covenant of circumcision was imposed upon Abraham and everyone in his household. This was done in order to emasculate the males under the covenant in order to emphasize God’s authority and ownership over the progeny. So circumcision then is an invitation to God’s community, and a physical reminder of one’s obedience and subm…

The man Jacob wrestled with was a foreshadowing of his expected battle with Esau, the brother who swore to kill Jacob 20 years prior. However, Jacob sees that he is outmatched this time, so instead of squaring up for a fight, he falls to the ground in humility, fully expecting his brother's wrath. To Jacob's surprise, the only thing he receives fro…

Genesis is the key to understanding the entire scriptural story and the function of Israel is one of the most critical to understand. To be an Israelite is to be constantly reminded that your forefathers acted against the will of God and acted violently against men. That’s a tough pill to swallow, but that’s scripture. Intro and outro music Copyrig…

Today we look at Genesis 31, continuing the saga of the Old Testament patriarch Jacob. Intro and outro music Copyright © Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Brookline, MA, used by permission. All rights reserved.By The Ephesus School

The namesake of all Israel is not a mighty king who was suddenly blessed by God in the land God directed him to, he is a con man who left that land promised to him to secure wealth for himself by his own craftiness in a foreign land. Jacob is a conman, and Laban is a theologian. Things are going downhill. Come and hear the story. Intro and outro mu…

Remember how straightforward the story of Abraham’s servant and Rebekah was? The servant simply went to Mesopotamia, trusted God to find a wife for Isaac, was presented with Rebekah, and then the two made their way back to Canaan. Well, it’s time to throw that out of the window. At this point in the story we have Isaac and Rebekah’s son, Jacob, who…

All Christians today are likely familiar with the concept of being “transformed” by scripture or Christ or however you want to phrase it. This, and the idea of being a “born again Christian” which has been in vogue in evangelical circles for the last 50 years or so, speaks to a certain reality of a scriptural life and transformation. The true scrip…

This week we present one of our two papers as they were presented at the 2022 OCABS symposium. This week is Blaise's "The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus as a Retelling of Genesis 15". Intro and outro music Copyright © Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Brookline, MA, used by permission. All rights reserved.…

This week we present one of our two papers as they were presented at the 2022 OCABS symposium. This week is Rowdy's "Ultimate Spiritual Gift's Test." https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tyedblYUUIl1kl76c3_tAQp1g_uhWlDc/view?usp=sharingBy The Ephesus School

Like all names in the Bible, Jacob's has a clear function which is explored in Genesis chapter 27. Let us be attentive! Intro and outro music Copyright © Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Brookline, MA, used by permission. All rights reserved.By The Ephesus School

We’ve spent the last few months laboring in detail the often complicated and frustrating story of the patriarch Abraham in the Bible. Surprisingly, Isaac’s story is fleeting like a vanishing vapor. He shows up, and almost instantly the text seems more concerned with his son Jacob than with Isaac. But in chapter 26, we get Isaac’s only real narrativ…

We come to scripture this week expecting to hear more about our new focal character Isaac, but we are shocked to find out that the story in Genesis 25 has already moved on to new characters: Isaac's two sons. Why the quick progression? What's the deal with Esau and his obsession with pottage? Come and see... Intro and outro music Copyright © Holy T…

Today we hear the mashal of Genesis 24! Let us be attentive. Intro and outro music Copyright © Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Brookline, MA, used by permission. All rights reserved.By The Ephesus School

Today we hear the mashal of Genesis 23 where Abraham is curiously rejecting the mercy of his enemy and seeks to buy the gift of the land as a possession for himself. Let us be attentive! Intro and outro music Copyright © Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Brookline, MA, used by permission. All rights reserved.…

In today’s episode we hear the story of Abraham being commanded by the Scriptural God to sacrifice Isaac. This is a very famous story from the Bible and is used by various different people to make various different assertions about God and the Bible, but today you will hear from us not an assertion, not simply another manipulation of the Biblical s…

This week we cover chapter 21 of Genesis. This is the story of Isaacs's birth and the surrounding events. Join us as we discuss the story and the overlooked but incredibly important detail which is Isaac's conception and birth seeming to happen without any involvement from Abraham. Intro and outro music Copyright © Holy Transfiguration Monastery, B…

As already discussed many times in this podcast, Abraham's story in the book of Genesis is anything but linear. For every move in obedience to God, there is a countermove in disobedience. We will see this play out for the final time in the Abraham cycle before his full character actualization in chapter 22. What is the point of all this? Precisely …

Join us as we read through Genesis 19 and critique the popular reception of the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Intro and outro music Copyright © Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Brookline, MA, used by permission. All rights reserved.By The Ephesus School

Our ideologies are our downfall. We cannot use scripture to suit our desires and our ideological premises. We should not even come to scripture with our questions. We must only seek to hear what scripture is saying. Join us today as we attempt to do just that in light of historic sociological shifts in the United States. Intro and outro music Copyr…

Join us this week as we hear the pericope of Abraham's hospitality toward YHWH, his master. YHWH is identified in the appearance of three men- who are these three men? Three angels? Two angels and The LORD? Three shepherds? Is it even important? Come and see... Intro and outro music Copyright © Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Brookline, MA, used by…

In this interlude episode, I argue that the fundamental problem with "theology" is that it reduces scriptural faith into something that is to be "believed" rather than "lived out" in obedience to a command. Intro and outro music Copyright © Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Brookline, MA, used by permission. All rights reserved.…

Perhaps you’ve heard before that God has a sense of humor. Well, that is true but not in the way you might think. Often, if we say God has a sense of humor it is so that we can relate with God. We want him to be the father we didn’t have, the friend we need, the brother who will watch out for us, and if he has a good sense of humor, that makes him …

Circumcision is probably the most controversial covenant in the entire scriptural story. From the onset of the common era, the implications of this covenant for the gentile world was the primary basis for the rift that would eventually split Pharisaical Judaism into two major groups, those of the Pauline persuasion which would evolve into Christian…

Something that Rowdy and I have pressed many times throughout these podcasts is the fact that names not only have special meanings in the Hebrew text, they define the function of the characters bearing those names. In other words, the names offer critical context to the overall narrative and without a clear understanding of the names in the origina…

Today we will hear chapter 16 of Genesis. We are coming off of last weeks reading, chapter 15, when we heard of God’s first covenant with Abram where he promised to him to give his offspring the land of Canaan. Abram was promised peace and a great future for his children and in this chapter we will hear of Abram and Sarai’s quick backstep as they f…

If you’re familiar with St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians, the next few chapters of Genesis will be extremely familiar to you. This is because St. Paul almost exclusively sources his arguments on the content of these chapters. In essence the Pauline New Testament is simply reinforcing the correct reading of the Old Testament against the abuses of …

Chart: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GDDYCyPjGwVpB-K21AKgoq-oOo7c2Ilh/view?usp=sharingBy The Ephesus School

01. Be always with Christ, and trust God in everything 02. Pray as you can, not as you think you must. 03. Have a keepable rule of prayer, done by discipline. 04. Say the Lord’s Prayer several times each day. 05. Repeat a short prayer when your mind is not occupied. 06. Make some prostrations when you pray. 07. Eat good foods in moderation, and fas…

In today’s episode we will read the rest of chapter 12 as well as chapter 13. This is the story of how Abram ignored God after walking according to his command and passed into the land that was promised to Abram’s offspring. Instead of staying and relying on God, he kept walking down to a land we can easily assume was more appealing than that which…

Today we will jump right into the story of Israel starting with the father of faith- Abram. But, as we will see, he is not the wonderful example of faith we often like to think of him as… at least not at first. We often read our own ideas of who we like to think of Abraham as back into the earliest parts of the story and that causes us to miss impo…

Today we hear the story of the Tower of Babel and the fools who built it. We must remember always that the fools in scripture, that is, all characters in scripture, are examples for us and examples of us. So without any further ado, let us hear the story. Intro and outro music Copyright © Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Brookline, MA, used by permi…

Today we conclude our reading of chapter 10 of Genesis. We will hear the remainder of the names featured in this section, as well as an interesting grammatical device used by the authors which can only be heard in the Hebrew language: men producing progeny, or more literally, birthing children. What does it mean for a man to birth offspring in the …

Chapter 10 features what many call “The Table of Nations,” which lays out Biblical geography and cultural dispersion across the Scriptural authors’ known world. There is a lot packed away in this chapter thanks to the brilliance of the Scriptural Hebrew language and the intelligence of the authors. We will put in the work to introduce these names i…

God does not endorse human behavior. God is not a cheerleader. If we are hearing scripture we will understand that humans are wicked and God stoops down to their level and provides commandments and circumstances that will bring about people who will bear fruits worthy of repentance. Today we will read Genesis chapter 9 and hear of God’s covenant fo…

Today we pick apart the intricacies of Genesis chapter 8. From wordplay to metaphor, the authors are making distinct choices to cause us to hear a specific story- not just another diluvian epic. Let us hear. Intro and outro music Copyright © Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Brookline, MA, used by permission. All rights reserved.…