Is the Book of Daniel really about predicting the future… or is it revealing something even bigger?

Daniel Commentary:

https://www.amazon.com/Daniel-Chapters-International-Commentary-Testament/dp/0802875998

The conversation dives deep into one of the most debated books in the Bible—Daniel. With Dr. Aubrey Buster joining Dr. Mark Chavalas, the discussion explores authorship, prophecy, and how ancient readers would have actually understood this text.

➡️ Why Daniel may not be primarily about predicting the future

➡️ The difference between prophecy and apocalyptic literature

➡️ How ancient audiences understood authorship and authority

➡️ Why the debate over who wrote Daniel is more complex than you think

➡️ How understanding the ancient world strengthens—not weakens—faith

Instead of reading Daniel through a modern lens, this episode challenges us to step into the ancient world—where genre, symbolism, and cultural context completely reshape what the book is claiming.

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What if you’ve been reading the Bible the wrong way your entire life?

Rico Cortes joins us to share his journey from traditional teaching into his deep study of ancient cultures, covenants, and biblical backgrounds — and how that shift completely transformed his understanding and appreciation of Scripture.

Together we explore how Western assumptions often distort the Bible's meaning, leading to confusion, division, and surface-level faith. Drawing on the work of scholars like John Walton, Jacob Milgrom, and Mark Chavalas, Rico unpacks the complexities of biblical interpretation — with a particular focus on the book of Leviticus — and why reading the Bible through an ancient Near Eastern lens changes everything.

In This Episode:

➡️ Why modern readers misunderstand the Bible

➡️ The difference between Western vs. ancient thinking

➡️ How studying the ancient Near East changes everything

➡️ Why Leviticus is one of the most misunderstood books

Ultimately, the episode emphasizes that studying the Bible in its original context doesn’t weaken faith—it strengthens it—by revealing a deeper, more relational picture of God rooted in holiness, justice, and covenant relationship.

More From Rico:

💻 https://wisdomintorah.com

📧 info@wisdomintorah.com

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Why didn’t God just abolish slavery?

This episode tackles one of the hardest and most uncomfortable questions in the Bible—why slavery continues to appear in the New Testament without being directly abolished.

Dr. Mark Chavalas explores key passages from Paul and Peter, examining how early Christians understood slavery within the Greco-Roman world and what the biblical authors were actually trying to do.Rather than offering easy answers, this conversation dives into the tension between justice, theology, and history—revealing a deeper perspective on how the gospel transforms people from the inside out.

📚 Sources & References

- The Anchor Bible Dictionary (Article on Slavery – Scott Bartchy)

- The Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon

- The Letters to Timothy and TitusThe First Epistle of Peter

- The First Epistle to the Corinthians

- Ancient Slavery and Its New Testament Contexts

- Letters of Pliny the Younger (Epistles 9.21, 9.24)

📖 Primary Biblical Texts Referenced:

Galatians 3–4

Colossians 3–41

Peter 2

1 Corinthians 7

1 Timothy 6

Titus 2

Philemon

💬 Let’s Talk....What do you think—should God have abolished slavery immediately? Or is there something deeper going on in the biblical story?

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What was slavery in the New Testament world?

This episode shifts the conversation onto the Greco-Roman world and New Testament slavery, examining how slavery actually functioned in that cultural context.

Dr. Mark Chavalas critiques modern claims—like those in God's Ghostwriters by Candida Moss—that enslaved individuals played a major role in writing the New Testament, arguing that these ideas are largely speculative and lack solid evidence.

The discussion then explores how widespread and complex slavery was in the Roman world, where enslaved people could hold skilled positions, gain education, and even achieve freedom—making it very different from modern assumptions shaped by more recent history. Ultimately, the episode challenges listeners to rethink their definitions of slavery and recognize how deeply cultural context shapes the way we interpret the Bible.

📚 Sources:

Candida Moss — God’s Ghostwriters

Benjamin Laird — Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society

Anchor Bible Dictionary (Greco-Roman Slavery)

Moses Finley — Ancient Slavery and Modern Ideology

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Does Exodus 21 really give permission to beat a slave—as long as they survive?

One of the most controversial texts in the Old Testament is Exodus 21—but does it actually say what many people claim it says?

In this episode, Dr. Mark Chavalas examines how Exodus 21 functions in context, why biblical law may work more like case verdicts than a modern code, and how the passage fits into the Bible’s larger concern for vulnerable people.

The discussion explores how personal injury laws, compensation, legal protection for vulnerable people, and the wider theological framework of Israel’s anthropology all shape how this passage should be read—and raises bigger questions about how biblical law works, how vulnerable people are protected, and why slavery remains such a difficult tension in the Old Testament.

The result is not an attempt to explain slavery away, but to wrestle honestly with the ambiguity, difficulty, and moral tension in the text.

📚 Primary Sources:

- Gregory Chirichigno, Debt-Slavery in Israel and the Ancient Near East (1993)

- Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus (Anchor Bible Commentary)

- Mendelsohn, Slavery in the Ancient Near East (1949)

- John Walton, The Lost World of the Torah; Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament

Biblical Passages Discussed:

- Exodus 21–22

- Leviticus 25

- Deuteronomy 12, 16, 24

- Genesis 1; 16–21

- Numbers 27; 36

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When the Old Testament talks about slavery, is the Bible approving it—or addressing a broken reality with legal remedies?

This episode continues our series on slavery in the Old Testament by turning to some of the Bible’s hardest passages in Genesis, Deuteronomy, and Exodus 21.

Dr. Mark Chavalas explores the world behind these laws, asking whether the “if…then” structure of biblical case law should always be read as permission—or whether many of these laws are actually responses to situations that were already unjust, messy, and morally broken.

Rather than offering easy answers, this conversation wrestles with the tension head-on. From Hagar and Sarah to Deuteronomy’s runaway slave law to the controversial “slave wife” passage in Exodus 21, this episode asks what biblical law is trying to do inside an ancient world shaped by hierarchy, poverty, patriarchy, and survival.

Sources and themes discussed:

Genesis 16; Genesis 21; Genesis 29–30

Deuteronomy 21; Deuteronomy 23

Exodus 21

Leviticus 25

Joseph Fleishman on Exodus 21:7–11

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What did slavery actually mean in the Old Testament world?

Dr. Mark Chavalas turns to the Old Testament—especially Leviticus 25—to show that Israel’s slavery laws exist in the same broader ancient system, but with important theological differences tied to Genesis 1–2, the Exodus, and God’s concern for the vulnerable.

The episode wrestles honestly with the hardest tensions in the text, especially the distinction between Israelite debt-servants and foreigners who appear to remain permanent slaves. We do not try to explain away the difficulty. Rather than forcing easy answers, this discussion zooms out to consider Genesis 1–2, the Exodus, covenant theology, and the purpose of biblical law itself. If the laws of the Old Testament function more like covenant case wisdom than modern statutory code, that changes how we read them—but it does not remove the difficulty.

📚 Sources and texts discussed:

Leviticus 19, 24, and 25

Exodus 21

Jeremiah 29

Lamentations 5

Joshua 9

Genesis 1–2

Anchor Bible Dictionary, article on slavery

Neo-Babylonian trial recordsAncient Near Eastern law and judicial texts

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Dr. Mark Chavalas continues the slavery series by reading ancient Near Eastern legal texts and contracts to show that “slavery” wasn’t one simple category—it was fluid, layered, and often temporary, tied to debt, restraint, famine survival, marriage arrangements, and social rank.

Then the real question comes into focus: if the biblical world shares the same environment, does Israel respond the same way—or does biblical monotheism and Genesis 1–2 shift the value of the human person underneath the system?

📜 Sources mentioned:

Code of Hammurabi (laws discussed: 115–116; also 146 referenced)

- Code of Ur-Namma (early laws on slaves and marriage)Muhammad A.

- Dandamayev, Slavery in Babylonia (and his Anchor Bible Dictionary article)

- Gender and Law in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East (ed. Victor H. Matthews, incl. Raymond Westbrook, “The Female Slave”)

- Marten Stol, Women in the Ancient Near East (c. 2016)

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