The Wilderness E3 — In the Bible, the wilderness is a hostile, dangerous place where humans can’t survive. Because of this, the wilderness also reminds us that we all live on the precipice of life and death, and our survival depends on the one who is greater than us. The Bible’s earliest wilderness stories depict humans finding themselves in this setting due to their own foolish choices or the foolish choices of others. In this episode, Jon and Tim look at the wilderness stories of Adam and Eve, Hagar, and Moses, highlighting how God responds with surprising compassion.

CHAPTERS

1. Recap and Setup for Today’s Stories (0:00-11:36)
2. Adam and Eve Exiled Into the Wilderness (11:36-20:31)
3. Hagar Flees From Abraham and Sarah Into the Wilderness (20:31-45:13)
4. Moses Flees From Pharaoh Into the Wilderness (45:13-1:08:15)

OFFICIAL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

View this episode’s official transcript.

REFERENCED RESOURCES

• Tim references an episode from The Exodus Way series about Abraham and Hagar. You can find that episode here: How Did Israel End Up in Egypt?
• For more on the seven women in Exodus, check out our Scholarship Team’s article, “7 Powerful Women in the Bible Who Help Rescue God's People.”
• You can view annotations for this episode—plus our entire library of videos, podcasts, articles, and classes—in the BibleProject app, available for Android and iOS.
• Check out Tim’s extensive collection of recommended books here.

SHOW MUSIC

• “Beach Chilling” by Lofi Sunday, Just Derrick
• “Blissful Thoughts ft. TBabz” by Lofi Sunday
• “Grey ft. PAINT WITH SOUND.” by Lofi Sunday
• BibleProject theme song by TENTS

SHOW CREDITS

Production of today’s episode is by Lindsey Ponder, producer, and Cooper Peltz, managing producer. Tyler Bailey is our supervising engineer, who also edited today’s episode and provided the sound design and mix. JB Witty does our show notes, and Hannah Woo provides the annotations for our app. Our host and creative director is Jon Collins, and our lead scholar is Tim Mackie.

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The Wilderness E2 — In the Bible, the wilderness is an uninhabitable, hostile place for human life. And in the creation narratives of Genesis 1 and 2, the wilderness symbolically represents the chaos of a pre-creation state. In this episode, Jon and Tim explore the wilderness language in the creation narrative and how it contrasts with Eden, God’s oasis of beauty, order, and abundance.

CHAPTERS

1. Recap on the Meaning of the Wilderness (0:00-9:16)
2. Pre-Creation Wilderness and the Eden Oasis (9:16-40:27)
3. Wilderness and Eden Imagery in the Prophets (40:27-57:32)

OFFICIAL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

View this episode’s official transcript.

REFERENCED RESOURCES

• Check out Tim’s extensive collection of recommended books here.
• You can view annotations for this episode—plus our entire library of videos, podcasts, articles, and classes—in the BibleProject app, available for Android and iOS.

SHOW MUSIC

• “Break Bread” by Lofi Sunday, Oly.Lo
• “Refuge ft. Just Derrick” by Lofi Sunday
• BibleProject theme song by TENTS

SHOW CREDITS

Production of today’s episode is by Lindsey Ponder, producer, and Cooper Peltz, managing producer. Tyler Bailey is our supervising engineer, who also edited today’s episode and provided the sound design and mix. JB Witty does our show notes, and Hannah Woo provides the annotations for our app. Our host and creative director is Jon Collins, and our lead scholar is Tim Mackie.

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The Wilderness E1 — This year, we are looking at themes that play a prominent role in the Exodus story. And today, we’re starting a new series on the theme of the wilderness. The wilderness is a setting that shows up constantly in the Bible, and it mainly represents a hostile, barren place where humans can’t survive. So why does God repeatedly lead his people through it? In this episode, Jon and Tim introduce the theme and discuss how the biblical authors portray the wilderness as a place of testing, character formation, and even an Eden-like refuge.

CHAPTERS

1. The Breadth and Meaning of the Wilderness in the Bible (0:00-12:30)
2. A Place Hostile for Human Life (12:30-30:35)
3. A Place of Testing and Refuge (30:35-47:09)

OFFICIAL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

View this episode’s official transcript.

REFERENCED RESOURCES

• Tim alludes to this past episode about the function of settings in the Bible: Setting in Biblical Narrative from our How to Read the Bible series.
• Check out Tim’s extensive collection of recommended books here.
• You can view annotations for this episode—plus our entire library of videos, podcasts, articles, and classes—in the BibleProject app, available for Android and iOS.

SHOW MUSIC

• “Pearly Gates ft. Isaac Wheadon” by Lofi Sunday
• “Sunrise ft. Jk Beatbook” by Lofi Sunday
• BibleProject theme song by TENTS

SHOW CREDITS

Production of today’s episode is by Lindsey Ponder, producer, and Cooper Peltz, managing producer. Tyler Bailey is our supervising engineer, who also edited today’s episode and provided the sound design and mix. JB Witty does our show notes, and Hannah Woo provides the annotations for our app. Our host and creative director is Jon Collins, and our lead scholar is Tim Mackie.

Powered and distributed by Simplecast.