The Bible Geek Podcast 16-029

Was there an OT prototype for the Zaccheus episode in Luke 19? What is the Griesbach hypothesis? In Bible times, how high up did people assume the firmament was from the earth? In the 1st centuries BC and AD around the Mediterranean, especially in the city of Rome, was Greek the lingua franca? Did Roman citizens in Rome talk with one another in Greek? How do Christian apologists deal with the fact that the Gospels disagree on the names of the 12 Disciples? Would you please restate the case for there being an error in the traditional dating of the Gospels and Acts, that putting these events at the turn of 1st centuries BC and AD puts the Gospels and Acts in the wrong century because they occurred decades earlier or later? Jacob wrestles with an angel, or maybe with God. The next day he reconciles with his brother Esau and says that Esau's face is like unto the face of God. Was Esau the wrestler? On the subject of Esau, doesn't he get a bad rap? The reunion with Jacob is a touching example of forgiveness. Moses and Aaron, as sons of an incestuous union, are mamzers (children of a married woman and a man other than her husband, or a child of incest). So aren't all the Hebrew priests, the Levites, mamzers?