The Book of (First) Kings, chapters 11-16, a part of the Bible that's gonna sound like we chose it specifically because it was recorded in April 2025.

• But first, did you know the names of comically large wine bottle sizes are all named after Bible guys?
• Meet the rebel who might've been a big inspiration for the Moses story set centuries prior.
• Emily's as annoyed by Solomon as she has been by just about any character so far.
• Does a failson take the throne and immediately start yelling at an angry mob about his own penis? This is a Bible story, so you already know the answer.
• The Bible's oldest archeologically confirmed newspaper headline.

• Welcome Trey Ferguson, a pastor based in the Miami area who's also an author, podcaster, and tremendous poster. You're gonna like him a lot! Find all of his work via https://www.pastortrey05.com.

"Not Like Us" harp cover by Arianna Worthen.

Stay in touch! We also have a Patreon currently on hiatus) with lots of bonus episodes stored up, and most of our posting currently happens on Bluesky, though we have accounts elsewhere too.

We are so freaking back. We're joined by Seattle University professor emeritus Wes Howard-Brook, author of works like Come Out My People: God's Call Out of Empire in the Bible and Beyond, to discuss:

• King Solomon wasn't actually all that wise ...
• ... and the cutting-a-baby story isn't about what a great guy he was.
• In fact, the Bible's authors meant for us to view Solomon as just another Exodus pharaoh!
• How the David-Solomon story is The Godfather.
• And a whole bunch of other stuff about the Bible's overarching theme of love vs. imperialism.

Thank you for listening! Support this show by GIVING US A REVIEW ON YOUR PODCAST APP PLEASE OH PLEASE, joining our ⁠Patreon⁠ (where we post monthly episodes, usually on "fun" stuff), and following our ⁠Instagram⁠, ⁠Twitter⁠, and ⁠Bluesky⁠ accounts. Also, here's where to get Jason's novel.

Hello! Let's sprint through a big (but action-packed) portion of the Book of Samuel and then focus on the story of King David and Bathsheba.

• Almost everything you've ever heard about this story has nothing to do with what's actually in the Bible, but what else is new?
• Around the 40-minute mark, we're joined by creator April Ajoy (of TikTok, Instagram, the Evangelicalish podcast, and more) to discuss the way this story constantly gets argued about by the internet's angry Christian men. Plus we talk Rapture trauma, childhood persecution fantasies, and other fun stuff!!! To be clear, this is the fun part of the episode.
• Let's also mostly wrap up the story of David, a boy who became a kingpin seemingly parodied by his own propaganda and just about the weirdest guy ever to pick as a supposed model for Jesus. His story's not quite done, but next time, we'll turn toward the original Finance Instagram bro: King Solomon.

Intro song: k.d. lang's cover of "Hallelujah"

Thank you for listening! Support this show by GIVING US A REVIEW ON YOUR PODCAST APP PLEASE OH PLEASE, joining our Patreon (where we post monthly episodes, usually on "fun" stuff), and following our Instagram, Twitter, and Bluesky accounts.