# Biblical Sex Toys???  ## Episode metadata - Episode title: Biblical Sex Toys??? - Show: Data Over Dogma - Owner / Host: Daniel McClellan and Daniel Beecher - Episode publish date: 2025-09-22 - Episode AI description: This week dives into the intriguing tale of Gideon from the book of Judges. Discover his miraculous signs, bizarre army tactics, and the mysterious nature of the angelic encounter. The conversation then shifts to a playful examination of Ezekiel 16, exploring the sexualized metaphors of Jerusalem and the debate around its phallic imagery. Hold on tight for a lighthearted look at the unexpected intertwining of biblical narratives and adult themes! - Mentioned books: [The Bible Says So](https://share.snipd.com/book/a0b9a249-0904-4ce3-b0d7-6000458cd9b3) by [Dan McClellan](https://share.snipd.com/person/25209d25-3415-4657-89e2-eb3b0f8104cb) - Duration: 01:02:18 - Episode URL: [Open in Snipd](https://share.snipd.com/episode/c3224df9-a88a-48f7-bed5-01ab1dabc842) - Show URL: [Open in Snipd](https://share.snipd.com/show/8153b1cc-d781-49fd-92d5-a4bef70d1be5) - Export date: 2026-02-17T23:34:03 ## Snips ### [Gideon Narrative Shows Editorial Layering](https://share.snipd.com/snip/ef67ed5f-0f95-4b3e-ad7d-422178733e04) 🎧 04:30 - 07:57 (03:27) <iframe src="https://share.snipd.com/embed/obsidian-player/snip/0a97e6e1-9cb6-4031-8e4b-361b1f94618c" width="100%" height="100" style="border: none; border-radius: 12px;" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-forms allow-popups allow-clipboard-write" ></iframe> - Judges' Gideon story shows editorial layering and later additions in the text. - Scholars spot interpolations (like the prophetic sermon) and textual shifts that signal editing. #### 💬 Quote > In the SBL Study Bible, there are actually double brackets... that's usually where something has been added in. > — Dan McClellan Dan McClellan on textual evidence that parts of Judges may be later additions #### 📚 Transcript **Dan McClellan:** was this guy? Well, Gideon was the son of Joash. But I want to start at the beginning of chapter six because we have chapter five ends with, and the land had rest 40 years ah everybody's able to the land is able to relax and take a breath everybody **Dan Beecher:** chills yes 40 years is about the right amount of time for everybody to sort of forget all of the good lessons that they've learned yes and think that everything's cool forever and then start doing dumb stuff. Way to edit yourself there. **Dan McClellan:** And nothing happened. What are you talking about? And then chapter six starts the way all of the new stories start in Judges. The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. And Dun-dun Oh, you wacky, fickle Israelites. Yeah. And so then God gives them into the hands of Midian for seven years. And Midian would be this territory that's kind of south, southeast of Israel. So other side of the Jordan, but further down south, kind of on the east side of the Gulf of Aqaba. So this is where Moses is supposed to have met up with Jethro, his father-in got training in priesthood and all this kind of stuff. So the relationship of Israel to Midian is an interesting one. But when you get to verse 7, it says, when the Israelites cried to the Lord on account of the Midianites, the Lord sent a prophet to the Israelites. And so we've got this interim prophet who just pops up out of nowhere and says, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery. And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you and drove them out before you and gave you their land. And I said to you, I am the Lord, your God. You shall not pay reverence to the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live, but you have not given heed to my voice. And immediately after that, we get Gideon. And as I was reading that, it sounds a little different from the rest of the narrative, but in the SBL Study Bible, there are actually double brackets. **Dan Beecher:** Yeah, I'm seeing that in the NRSVUE as well. Yeah, yeah. So I was like, huh, **Dan McClellan:** that's usually where something has been added in. Like this is the long ending of Mark, the story of the woman taken in adultery. Those passages have the double brackets around it as well. And it looks like there's a Qumran manuscript. One of the Dead Sea Scrolls just straight up doesn't have verses 7 through 10. So we've got a little text critical. How's your father going on there? And I haven't pulled up the manuscript to see if there's a case to make for, uh, like some kind of, uh, haplography, which would be where maybe in the copying of the text, the scribe accidentally left, uh, four verses out. Like that's a lot to leave out. You usually don't see that, but maybe, maybe that's why. --- ### [Angel Versus Lord Changes Theological Reading](https://share.snipd.com/snip/9388bbea-2817-414a-9e2e-d92f78de37c9) 🎧 10:42 - 14:41 (03:58) <iframe src="https://share.snipd.com/embed/obsidian-player/snip/9c291242-8f5a-4c0a-b674-c707fefa52c4" width="100%" height="100" style="border: none; border-radius: 12px;" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-forms allow-popups allow-clipboard-write" ></iframe> - The text alternates 'angel of the Lord' and 'the Lord,' suggesting theological smoothing. - Removing 'angel' makes the episodes of divine appearance (e.g., Gideon) read more coherently as direct Yahweh theophanies. #### 💬 Quote > We've transitioned from the angel of the Lord to the Lord. Gideon does not seem to have noticed any change here. > — Dan McClellan Dan McClellan on how the narrative toggles between 'angel' and 'Lord' in Judges #### 📚 Transcript **Dan McClellan:** we're in the middle of this. Gideon's like, did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? But now the Lord has cast us off and given us into the hand of Midian. And then verse 14 says, then the Lord turned to him and said, go in this might of yours, you wheat beater and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. I hereby commission you. And Gideon responds, but sir, how can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh and I am the least in my family. The Lord said to him. So we've transitioned from the angel of the Lord to the Lord. Gideon does not seem to have noticed any And change here. Right, right. And it's just going back and forth. And then we're going to get to Gideon's sign. But there's something interesting going on here. I and other scholars have published arguments because when you look in the Greek translation of this, the Septuagint, the verses that have angel of the Lord versus just Lord are not identical. They switch them up a little bit. And this is an indication that maybe the word angel there is a later addition, an interpolation, if you will. In other words, the story is originally Adonai is the one who shows up and goes, Zah! And sorry, Zah comes from an old Mystery Science Theater 3000 movie. It came out before I realized that nobody was going to get that reference except my wife, who doesn't listen to our show anyway. Rude. She's rude. The Hand of Satan, by the way, is the particular episode. And so an editor has probably come in here and written in Malach, Angel, in order to muddy the waters a bit regarding who it is that's talking to Gideon. Because it's theologically problematic that the Lord would appear to him. Yeah, and because Gideon wants to give the Lord a gift, a present, he goes into his house. He's like, wait right here, and runs into his house, comes back, prepared a kid, which would be an animal, and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour, the meat he put in a basket and the broth he put in a pot and brought them to him under the oak and presented them. And the angel tells him, put them on this rock, pour out the broth. And the angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. and the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. So, so God has a staff in, in their hand and God is like, boop, and consumes everything in, yeah, in a pillar of fire. And so it's, it's a little problematic to have God showing up with his staff going, hey, what's up? I was just under the shade of that tree. I heard you beating your weed in here and came to say, you've got quite the arm there. I think we could use you. It makes sense to me because right immediately after what **Dan Beecher:** you just said in verse 22, It says, then Gideon perceived that it was the angel of the Lord. And Gideon said, help me, Lord God, for I've seen the angel of the Lord face to face. And that struck me as weird because they see angels all the time and nobody's worried about it, but they're scared. They're terrified of seeing Lord. Yes. So yeah, it makes total sense to me. Like this whole chapter makes way more **Dan McClellan:** sense. If we take away the word angel. Yeah. And it's just God who shows us. God. Because there's, there's like, it kind of defeats the point. You're not supposed to be able to see God's face and live. According to Exodus 33, 20, that's what God tells Moses. God's like, I'm going to cover your face when you walk by, and I'll take my hand away, and you'll see my back, but you're not going to see my face. --- ### [Gideon's Alternate Name Reflects Older Religion](https://share.snipd.com/snip/a2a2b99b-2cd8-4969-a2d0-e713a4f45cda) 🎧 16:40 - 26:04 (09:23) <iframe src="https://share.snipd.com/embed/obsidian-player/snip/44916192-1807-4799-b345-1ad563b89020" width="100%" height="100" style="border: none; border-radius: 12px;" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-forms allow-popups allow-clipboard-write" ></iframe> - The name Jerubbaal/Jerubail likely reflects pre-Israelite theophoric naming tied to Baal. - Editors later reframed that name to distance the hero from Baal worship and explain the odd theophoric element. #### 💬 Quote > I think what happened is the editors have this story about Jerubal. And they're like, well, we got this Gideon guy. Let's fold him in. > — Dan McClellan Dan McClellan on how Jerubbaal/Jerubail may be an older name later adapted in Judges #### 📚 Transcript **Dan McClellan:** Yes. And then the first thing, though, that Gideon has got to do, that night the Lord said to him, take your father's bull, the second bull, seven years old. **Dan Beecher:** Don't take the first bull. Go **Dan McClellan:** steal your dad's car, but take the bad one. Yeah, not the good one. Leave the gun. And pull down the altar of Baal that belongs to your father and cut down the sacred pole. And that is the Asherah that is beside it. And build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of the stronghold there in proper order. Then take the second bull offered as a burnt offering. And he does it at night, just he doesn't catch the attention and catch any hands. He sneaks it. He's a sneak. Yeah. But this is interesting because we're getting altars to Adonai all over the place. This is prior to the... Well, this is after Deuteronomy, ostensibly, if you're following the canon, this is supposed to be after God is like, don't build anything anywhere except for the place that I will choose, hint, hint, Jerusalem. But having, you know, the Lord appears to Gideon and Gideon's like, altar. And then the Lord's like, go build an altar, altar. And so we've got altars popping up all over the place to worship Adonai. **Dan Beecher:** So first we got to take down Baal and Asherah's. Right. So we take them down the next day. **Dan McClellan:** Everybody up and they're like, huh? Pourquoi? And who has done this? And after searching and inquiring, they were told Gideon, son of Joash did it. So they go to Joash. They say, bring out your son so that he may die for he has pulled down the altar of Baal and cut down the sacred pole beside it. And Joash, according to the text, is Joash's stuff. pull down the altar that yeah pull down the altar of ball that belongs to your father okay so it's joash's stuff but joash's is just kind of like well you got to do what you got to do and uh and just lets it go uh joash said will you contend for ball or will you defend his cause whoever contends for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself because his altar has been pulled down. And this is the story because the name Jerubal means Baal contends. Right. But and this seems to probably have been Gideon's original name. Okay. but why, why is the hero of the story, um, named after ball? Right. Well, let's tell a story that changes the significance of the name. And so now the, the name kind of becomes let ball **Dan Beecher:** contend like, right. Or, or contend against ball or something like that. something like that, yeah. Because heard names **Dan McClellan:** that mean ex-god contends before. Well, that's what Israel probably means. Right, exactly. Is El Contends. **Dan Beecher:** So it's interesting to hear it in this context now, but with a different God as the sort of the subject. **Dan McClellan:** So I don't know about you, Dan, but right now I am the busiest I've ever been. I got three girls who are just starting back at school, three different schools, and I am running all over the place. The last thing I don't want to worry about these days is phones and phone bills. I want all my girls to have phones. I want to know that I can get a hold of them whenever I need to, particularly my oldest, who's in the pep band now, which means she's going to a bunch of football games. She doesn't even know how to spell football, which is a bit of a problem as a junior in high school. But I need to know that I can get a hold of her. And luckily, we've got Mint Mobile for all of our girls, and it is plug and play. We have never had a problem. 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This year, skip the stress, skip breaking the bank, get this new customer offer and your three-month unlimited wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.com/dogma. That's mintmobile.com/dogma. Upfront payment of $45 required, equivalent to $15 a month. Limited time new customer offer for first three months only. Speeds may slow above 35 gigabytes on unlimited plan. Taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details. Hey Matt, did you know that wombats poop cubes? Nope. Never heard that before. Did you know the unicorn is the national animal of Scotland, Ken? I didn't know, nor do I care. Neil, **Dan Beecher:** did you know that Lichtenstein is the only doubly landlocked country in Europe? Jeff, isn't that an American pop artist? Well, actually, it's both. 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And so verse 32 says, therefore, on that day Gideon was called Jerubal. That is to say, let Baal contend against him because he pulled down his altar. So, you know, that's what you do when somebody destroys an altar to a deity, you name them after that deity, but in a way **Dan Beecher:** that sticks it to the deity. **Dan McClellan:** That makes tons of sense. **Dan Beecher:** Yeah. So the more likely theory that you're espousing is that his name was Jerobal because he probably worshipped Baal. And so he had a name or he was part of a group that worshipped Baal. So it made sense to give him a theophoric, is that right? That's right. Yeah, it works. See, I learned some things. But it makes sense to give him a theophoric name with Baal in the name because that would have just been natural. Yeah, and Baal just means lord or master. Right. Or **Dan McClellan:** husband. We're going to just slide right on by that. And when we get to Hosea, we can talk more about that. So it could be a title for Adonai. For all we know, he was given this name and named after Adonai. And here's what I think gives away the store. In chapter seven, it says, Then Jerubal, parenthetically, that is Gideon. So the narrator is kind of like, now remember, remember, this is the other guy when he's telling the story that is talking about Jerubal. And so what I think happened is the editors have this story about Jerubal. And they're like, well, we got this Gideon guy. Let's fold him in. You just fold him in. --- ### [Treat Biblical 'Signs' As Narrative, Not Always Faith Failure](https://share.snipd.com/snip/69242022-c511-4919-99d6-9590ce4346ab) 🎧 26:49 - 32:31 (05:41) <iframe src="https://share.snipd.com/embed/obsidian-player/snip/8bac04bc-b791-4408-9b8d-3b1cb76e4f70" width="100%" height="100" style="border: none; border-radius: 12px;" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-forms allow-popups allow-clipboard-write" ></iframe> - Question divine direction but accept signs when culturally normal in the narrative. - Note how Gideon requests two signs (fleece) despite earlier divine confirmation, reflecting ancient faith practice. #### 💬 Quote > He lays a fleece of wool... If there's dew on the fleece alone and not on the ground, then I know that it's you. > — Dan Beecher Dan Beecher recounting Gideon's fleece test as a persistent element in Judges #### 📚 Transcript **Dan McClellan:** First, Gideon is like, I need some signs, yeah **Dan Beecher:** this was this was a little baffling to me because he called he says to God I mean he met the guy he saw the magic rock flames trick yeah but he still says to God hey if I'm gonna do this you're gonna have to give me some signs uh proving that you're you and blah, blah, blah. And he does this whole thing with the fleece. before we get to the fleece, aren't there places in the Bible that specifically say don't ask for signs? **Dan McClellan:** Yes. Yes. And this is probably because the notion developed that you should have enough faith to not ask God to prove it to you. Right. But then we've got a bunch of places where God is like, you want a sign? I'll give you a sign. Where people are like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. And God's like, you're getting a sign. **Dan Beecher:** And here we have... There's no, no, no, no, no, no, here. This is just a, here, I'm going to tell you exactly what i want you to do yeah and if you do it then maybe i'll believe or maybe i'll make you do the opposite of it and then i'll believe yeah because he because because and so what he has he does just quickly is that he he lays a fleece of wool on the threshing floor because the, I guess the, the wine press was not available at the time. And he, and he said, if there's dew on the fleece alone and not on the ground, then know that it's you, that you're going to deliver Israel as you have said, blah, blah, blah. And that happens. There's no dew on the ground. He squeezes a full bowl of water out of the fleece. Yep. And then he's like, okay, but let's do it again, only reverse it, and this time no dew in the fleece and dew all over the ground. And then I'll definitely believe you. So calling for two signs, that just seems like it's pure balls at this point. That just seems like it's... **Dan McClellan:** And he's being humble about it. He's like, please don't be mad at me. Your humble and obedient servant would like you to do another sign. Yeah. And then there we have 30,000, I think, troops that they marshal, which is obviously not how many people they had available to them back then. But **Dan Beecher:** God is. Look, I've never know. It's not obvious to me because I've never known like I've always been confused about the numbers of people. I always imagine that these are smallish villages and whatever. Yeah. But then you see numbers like 30,000 troops and you're like, oh, that's way bigger than I thought it was. Yeah. **Dan McClellan:** But that's probably not **Dan Beecher:** right then is what you're saying? Correct. **Dan McClellan:** Okay. Yeah. It's going to be a lot smaller than that. **Dan Beecher:** These are little villages for the most part. I've always been so confused about that. You've got these huge numbers and it just sounds so wrong. **Dan McClellan:** Yeah. And so the Lord says to Gideons, the with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into your hand. Israel would only take the credit away from me saying my own hand has delivered me. So the idea here is you're going to route them just by pure numbers alone. And then they're not going to attribute the victory to me. They're going to say, yeah, we just had the numbers. And so God's like, send some of them home and so getting is like if you're afraid you can go home and 20 000 men uh are like thanks great thanks all right i'm out of here and so there are 10 000 left and god is like still too many and so which is crazy but **Dan Beecher:** yeah okay god mean, God really wants to pare this down. **Dan McClellan:** Yeah. And so here we have this weird thing and we're not sure, we're still not sure exactly what's going on here, but God is like, hey, take them down to the water. I want to show you something. Tell everybody to go get a drink. Yeah, get a drink. And if they just slurp the water straight out of the lake, the whatever, the river, put them in one side. If they use their hand to cup water and slurp from their hand, they're on the other side. And then you're going to send all the hand slurpers home so that it's just the people who bent down and knelt down to drink. I think you got it backwards. I think the hand people are the ones who stay. All those who lap the water with their tongues as a dog laps, you will put to one side. All those who kneel down to drink, put in their hands to their mouths, you should put to the other side. And then the Lord said to Gideon, with the 300 who lapped, I will deliver you and give the Midianites into your hand. **Dan Beecher:** Right. Okay. Yeah. I got confused. It's a very confusing test. Yes. And we're not sure exactly **Dan McClellan:** what it's supposed to indicate. **Dan Beecher:** Yeah. Apparently lapping water like a dog is a good sign for a soldier. **Dan McClellan:** Yeah, so there are 300 who lapped. And so we've whittled it down from 30,000 to 300. So we've got 10%, or excuse me, a lot less than that. I don't know where my math went. --- ### [Why God Shrinks Gideon's Army](https://share.snipd.com/snip/c54903fd-1979-4be7-981e-b938955f4e26) 🎧 30:01 - 32:28 (02:27) <iframe src="https://share.snipd.com/embed/obsidian-player/snip/ac5adb0e-84a1-416c-95d8-bce96373b766" width="100%" height="100" style="border: none; border-radius: 12px;" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-forms allow-popups allow-clipboard-write" ></iframe> - The divine motive in reducing Gideon's army is theological not military. - God narrows forces so Israel cannot credit numerical advantage instead of divine deliverance. #### 💬 Quote > The troops with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into your hand. Israel would then say, 'my own hand has delivered me.' > — Dan McClellan Dan McClellan explaining the stated reason God reduces Gideon's troops #### 📚 Transcript **Dan McClellan:** Yeah. And so the Lord says to Gideons, the with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into your hand. Israel would only take the credit away from me saying my own hand has delivered me. So the idea here is you're going to route them just by pure numbers alone. And then they're not going to attribute the victory to me. They're going to say, yeah, we just had the numbers. And so God's like, send some of them home and so getting is like if you're afraid you can go home and 20 000 men uh are like thanks great thanks all right i'm out of here and so there are 10 000 left and god is like still too many and so which is crazy but **Dan Beecher:** yeah okay god mean, God really wants to pare this down. **Dan McClellan:** Yeah. And so here we have this weird thing and we're not sure, we're still not sure exactly what's going on here, but God is like, hey, take them down to the water. I want to show you something. Tell everybody to go get a drink. Yeah, get a drink. And if they just slurp the water straight out of the lake, the whatever, the river, put them in one side. If they use their hand to cup water and slurp from their hand, they're on the other side. And then you're going to send all the hand slurpers home so that it's just the people who bent down and knelt down to drink. I think you got it backwards. I think the hand people are the ones who stay. All those who lap the water with their tongues as a dog laps, you will put to one side. All those who kneel down to drink, put in their hands to their mouths, you should put to the other side. And then the Lord said to Gideon, with the 300 who lapped, I will deliver you and give the Midianites into your hand. **Dan Beecher:** Right. Okay. Yeah. I got confused. It's a very confusing test. Yes. And we're not sure exactly **Dan McClellan:** what it's supposed to indicate. **Dan Beecher:** Yeah. Apparently lapping water like a dog is a good sign for a soldier. **Dan McClellan:** Yeah, so there are 300 who lapped. And so we've whittled it down from 30,000 to 300. So we've got 10%, or excuse me, a lot less than that. --- ### [Gideon's Trumpet-And-Jar Ruse](https://share.snipd.com/snip/e64d60c9-e236-4b09-9dd9-d9850a0b06d4) 🎧 34:10 - 36:00 (01:50) <iframe src="https://share.snipd.com/embed/obsidian-player/snip/8786cfb8-7a26-4f3a-8e0c-18885ddb03f8" width="100%" height="100" style="border: none; border-radius: 12px;" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-forms allow-popups allow-clipboard-write" ></iframe> - Gideon's night trick used trumpets, torches in jars, and shouting to create the illusion of a vast army. - The ruse startled Midianites into chaos and mutual slaughter rather than a conventional melee. #### 💬 Quote > Holding in the left hands the torches and in their right hands the trumpets... suddenly it's bright... that would give them the impression of thousands. > — Dan McClellan Dan McClellan describing Gideon's deceptive battlefield tactic #### 📚 Transcript **Dan McClellan:** so uh what Gideon's idea is okay everybody get a trumpet and a jar here's your truck everybody so yes all 300 of the guys nobody **Dan Beecher:** grab a sword everybody just grab a trumpet and a jar and then a uh a a lantern yeah or something he splits them **Dan McClellan:** into three companies of 100 each and they and they basically are scattered around the the the midianite camp and at gideon's signal uh this **Dan Beecher:** is at night by the way so presumably everybody's asleep and they just sneak in and infiltrate the camp yeah **Dan McClellan:** and so when gideon blows his trumpet they're all going to blow their trumpets and then they're all going to smash the empty jars that they have. And I think the idea here is probably to give the Midianites the perception of significantly inflated numbers. Right. trumpeter per 10 50 hundred soldiers or whatever and so if you suddenly hear 300 trumpets right that's a buttload of soldiers right and then the smashing of the jar i guess is supposed to make a really creepy sound that that is supposed to freak well **Dan Beecher:** i i the sense that i got because it says there's torches inside the jars so the sense that i got was that like they were they had the jars over the torches to like keep it dark oh yeah broke the jars **Dan McClellan:** holding in the left hands the torches and in their right hands the trumpets **Dan Beecher:** to blow so **Dan McClellan:** that suddenly it's bright **Dan Beecher:** in the camp or something **Dan McClellan:** well well they see all the they if if that's what's going on they would see all of the the lights yeah and that would give them the impression of they're surrounded by thousands and thousands of men. In other words, they had the numbers they originally had. --- ### [Victory Spoils Become A Dangerous Ephod](https://share.snipd.com/snip/58604d68-e0f5-4a3e-a07f-6a6aeba11f00) 🎧 44:57 - 48:30 (03:32) <iframe src="https://share.snipd.com/embed/obsidian-player/snip/3ae9b3b3-fb58-41ba-b2e3-b4469d1ee5ed" width="100%" height="100" style="border: none; border-radius: 12px;" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-forms allow-popups allow-clipboard-write" ></iframe> - Gideon's golden ephod became a cult object that led Israel astray. - Ritual objects fashioned from victory loot can shift into local shrines and cause syncretic worship. #### 💬 Quote > Gideon takes that and makes an ephod... This has been put up in Ofra, and all Israel prostituted themselves to it there. > — Dan McClellan Dan McClellan on how Gideon's ephod turned into a focal point for Israelite unfaithfulness #### 📚 Transcript **Dan McClellan:** And then Gideon takes that and makes an ephod out of it and put it in his town in Ophrah. So an ephod, in Exodus, the ephod is like a priestly vestment, like a vest, the thing that goes over the tunic that is supposed to carry the precious stones and things like this. But it also seems to be used to refer to some kind of divine image, some kind of tool of divination. So it's a way to inquire of God. But it's functioning like a divine image. And it's kind of like that in Exodus, because it seems like there's a pouch, and the Urim and Thummim go into the pouch. And according to ancient Jewish tradition, that was kind of how the priests divined God's will, was they used these seer stones, for lack of a better word, to somehow divine God's will. So the ephod of the priestly ephod is functioning like a tool of divination as well. But this can't be that. **Dan Beecher:** I mean, you can't have 1,700 shekels worth of gold in an ephod and wear that. **Dan McClellan:** Yeah. And so there are scholars who think this is some kind of cult object that is not necessarily a vestment, whether it's a standing stone or some kind of anthropomorphic statuary or whatever it might be. This has been put up in Ofra, and all Israel prostituted themselves to it there. I'm going to look up what the word translated prostituted there is. **Dan Beecher:** Yeah, because I saw that and was like, I don't know what we're talking about now. Because it does seem like to this point, Gideon hasn't really done anything bad. He's been great. And now suddenly they're using what seems to be a very negative word for what Israel is doing with this ephod. **Dan McClellan:** It like the season finale of a TV show where the hero in the very last scene, you're like going behind into his private time. And you know, the out of the shadows comes some kind of evil that is associated with your hero. So the verb is zana, which just means to be a sex worker or to engage in sex work. Okay. To ply your sexy wares. Sure. The King James Version has all Israel went thither a whoring after it. I **Dan Beecher:** love the KJV so much. We're going to go a whoring, thither and **Dan McClellan:** yon. Yeah. Hey, let's go thither and a whore. All right. Have you been beating your wheat? No, I swear, I've been a whoring. I've **Dan Beecher:** been a whoring by the ephod. Yeah. So, okay. So Israel prostituted themselves to the ephod. Yeah. And it became a snare. Yeah. To Gideon and to his family. Yes. So Midian was subdued before the Israelites and they lifted. So it doesn't say much after that. Like it's. Yeah. He doesn't seem to be condemned for it. It's just noting, by the way, he made this thing and everybody was kind of a whore --- ### [Rest-And-Relapse Pattern In Judges](https://share.snipd.com/snip/7a7892c6-5874-4402-bb81-06a423882a7b) 🎧 48:42 - 50:04 (01:21) <iframe src="https://share.snipd.com/embed/obsidian-player/snip/fe29f406-3224-44fb-886e-76938614a485" width="100%" height="100" style="border: none; border-radius: 12px;" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-forms allow-popups allow-clipboard-write" ></iframe> - Israel repeatedly lapses after deliverance; Gideon's family line fails to secure lasting fidelity. - The pattern of 'rest then relapse' is a theological motif explaining recurring apostasy in Judges. #### 💬 Quote > As soon as Gideon died, the Israelites relapsed. They returned and prostituted themselves with the Baals. > — Dan McClellan Dan McClellan summarizing Judges' recurring cycle after Gideon's death #### 📚 Transcript **Dan McClellan:** And then we get the death of gideon yeah so like **Dan Beecher:** so like god doesn't punish anybody for this prostituting before the ephod uh he just he's gonna let him have it they had a hard time with the with this battle so might as well just let him have the little **Dan McClellan:** bit of and we and get in verse 29, it goes back to calling him Jerobal. So Jerobal, son of Joash, went to live in his own house. Now Gideon had 70 sons, his own offspring, for he had many wives. His concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech. And he died at a good old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash at Ophrah. And as soon as Gideon died, the Israelites relapsed. That's a great rendering there, NRSVUE. I wonder what relapse is. That's got to be Shuv. It's just got to be returned. Yeah. Yep, Shuv. They returned and prostituted themselves with the balls, making Balberit their God or ball of the covenant, Lord of the covenant. The Israelites did not remember the Lord their God who had rescued them from the hand of all their enemies on every side. And they did not exhibit loyalty to the house of Jeroboam. By the way, that's Gideon. In return for all the good that he had done to Israel. --- ### [Ezekiel's Sexualized Metaphor For Unfaithfulness](https://share.snipd.com/snip/92eb7a40-5236-46dc-82ae-6e006969c4db) 🎧 53:24 - 59:20 (05:55) <iframe src="https://share.snipd.com/embed/obsidian-player/snip/6207a01d-4d25-4332-b462-d0099d3a5b04" width="100%" height="100" style="border: none; border-radius: 12px;" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-forms allow-popups allow-clipboard-write" ></iframe> - Ezekiel 16 uses vivid sexualized metaphor to depict Jerusalem's unfaithfulness. - The prophet explicitly accuses the city of crafting 'male images' from God's gold, blending cultic and sexual imagery. #### 💬 Quote > You took your beautiful jewels of my gold and silver that I had given you, and you made for yourself male images and with them prostituted yourself. > — Dan McClellan Dan McClellan reading Ezekiel on Jerusalem's metaphorical prostitution #### 📚 Transcript **Dan Beecher:** The chapter starts with the Lord coming to our... Who is the Lord coming to? Who's writing this, theoretically? It says, the Lord came to me. Well, this is Ezekiel. Oh, it's Ezekiel, right. Okay. So Ezekiel's writing, and he says, the word of the Lord came to me. And then he goes into this very long, the Lord is doing a metaphor. **Dan McClellan:** Yes. God is fond of metaphors. **Dan Beecher:** And Jerusalem in this metaphor is a lady, starts out as a baby. And interestingly, this is God talking to Jerusalem and says, origin and your birth were in the land of the Canaanites. Your father was an Amorite and your mother was a Hittite. I think that's really interesting because you and I have, you've talked about how the Israelite people were probably of Canaanite origin. Yeah. And this seems to just overtly confirm that. Is that what this is doing or is that, am I being too literal in metaphor land? **Dan McClellan:** Well, it says your birth were in the land of the Canaanites. It says your father was an Amorite. And that might have reference to the notion that Abraham was an Amorite. Oh, okay. And then your mother, a Hittite. I'm curious about that because they don't say a lot about the Hittites, but you are the daughter of your mother who loathed her husband and her children, and you are the sister of your sisters who loathed their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. Okay, why are you saying this? Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelled of elderberries. Yes. Let me see one other passage. Yeah, I think that it might just be saying that bad-mouthing Israel. There's probably something there. I have just not looked into it. Okay, so anyway, we **Dan Beecher:** know the parentage. As for your birth, on the day you were born, it basically just says you popped out, nobody care of you as a baby, did all of the birth things, and then they just plopped you in a field. **Dan McClellan:** Yeah. You were abhorred on the day **Dan Beecher:** you were born. Right. And I, meaning I, the Lord, passed by and saw you flailing about in your blood. As you lay in your blood, I said to you, live and grow up like a plant of the field. So anyway, Jerusalem grows tall and arrives at full womanhood. It gets very explicit here. Your breasts were formed and your hair had grown and yet you were naked and bare. It's all very sexy uh and it's about to get sexier um but but anyway the lord clothes jerusalem uh i pledged myself to you and entered into a covenant with you says the lord god and you became mine then i bathed you with water and washed off the blood from you and anointed you with oh she left the blood on her the whole time that's that's weird uh and uh i clothed you with embroidered cloth and with sandals of fine leather i bound you in fine linen and covered you with rich fabric rich in this case i assume means actually very expensive fabric because **Dan McClellan:** uh... Yeah, it looks like the word is silk. **Dan Beecher:** Oh, okay. I adorned you with ornaments. I put bracelets on your arms, a chain on your neck, a ring in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown upon your head. That is some fancy stuff. Mm-hmm. You are adorned... So she is richly adorned. She's got embroidered cloth. It just goes on and on and on. You had choice flower and honey and oil for food. You grew exceedingly beautiful, fit to be a queen. Everybody loved you. You're hot. Blah, blah, blah. But you trusted in your beauty. This is where it takes a turn in verse 15. You trusted in your beauty and you prostituted yourself because of your fame and lavished your prostitutions on any passerby. You took some of your garments and made for yourself colorful high places, and on them you prostituted yourself. Nothing like this has ever been or shall ever be. And here's verse 17. You took your beautiful jewels of my gold and silver that I had given you, and you made for yourself male images and with them prostituted yourself. Yeah. Now, I'm going to **Dan McClellan:** guess that you're pausing me on that. Yes. This is an interesting little reference here. Because it says, so you made for yourself, which would mean images of men or images of male or male images. And so the tselem, the image probably refers to a divine image. --- ### [Ezekiel May Allude To Phallic Cult Objects](https://share.snipd.com/snip/629e68e4-32a4-4fa8-80ae-73e6f41f5432) 🎧 59:20 - 01:01:03 (01:43) <iframe src="https://share.snipd.com/embed/obsidian-player/snip/b6408d53-c7f7-4c35-ae14-25c9a0ed128c" width="100%" height="100" style="border: none; border-radius: 12px;" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-forms allow-popups allow-clipboard-write" ></iframe> - The 'male images' phrase may intentionally imply phallic cultic objects or sexualized divine images. - Scholars consider the provocative possibility that Ezekiel alludes to ritual phallic devices or sexual acts with cult images. #### 💬 Quote > This could be a reference to phallic images... We've got a holy dildo, potentially, potentially in Ezekiel 16, 17. > — Dan McClellan Dan McClellan entertaining scholarly view that Ezekiel's 'male images' may be phallic #### 📚 Transcript **Dan McClellan:** So this would be some kind of cultic object, but it's male. So maybe it's anthropomorphic or maybe it is an image of the male member. Yeah. Because it then says, and yourself with them, or as Zana, so you, KJV, didst commit whoredom with them. Yes. And so there is, we could think of this two ways. The metaphor could be saying you prostituted yourself in the sense that I am your husband, yet you worshipped other gods. And so that is the metaphor of prostitution in Hosea and Ezekiel and the other texts. Okay. Except the metaphor seems to be pretty on the nose, because it's not just that they worshipped other gods, but specifically made male images. Yeah. So there are scholars who think this could be a reference to phallic images. And the idea is you are having actual sex with the male images that you created with my gold and my silver. In other words, we've got a holy dildo, potentially, potentially in Ezekiel 16, 17. This could be a divine image functioning as a dildo. **Dan Beecher:** Right. In metaphor in --- Created with [Snipd](https://www.snipd.com) | Highlight & Take Notes from Podcasts