The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible

by Michael S. Heiser

Only he could defeat the gods of the nations and the descendants of the Nephilim whom Moses and Joshua would find there.

Cause swords and spears can do what a global flood can't

Genesis 1 and 2 don’t provide the Bible’s only creation story. Psalm 74 describes creation as well—as Yahweh’s victory over the forces of primeval chaos. Yahweh brought the world into order, making it habitable for humanity, his people as it were. The creation act as described in Psalm 74 was theologically crucial for establishing Yahweh’s superiority over all other gods. Baal was not king of the gods, as the Ugaritic story proclaimed—Yahweh was.

So from a few poetic verses you believe that a story of Baal was coopted into Israel's beliefs of Yahweh? Poets are going to poet, its not all literal.

but they became corrupt and are the object of the sentencing of Psalm 82.3

Three rebellions now. The serpent, the voyeurs, and now God's chosen council. Four if you include humanity. When human rulers have that many rebellions we blame the ruler.

The seventy nations were placed under the dominion of lesser gods in the wake of Yahweh’s judgment of the nations at the Tower of Babel.

No.

Historically, this leadership structure would continue into Jesus’ day, as the Jewish Sanhedrin, led by the high priest, numbered seventy.

So 69? Nice.

where the twenty-four elders surround God’s throne.

But doesn't that contradict your whole point about 70?

angels is depicted in Deuteronomy 33:1–4.

Which we can only take your word for it as you provided a translation of your own devising.

elohim of Yahweh’s council were not foreign gods.

Except you have already said that they are, in fact, foreign gods. Unless he replaced the entire council right after Babel.

proxy for the divine council members who witnessed the event.

Yes it is so easy. All a 21st century Christian has to do to understand all this is step into the ancient worldview of an Israelite looking at his/her/their language with Akkadian theology in mind. No wonder no one else saw this.

Yahweh’s presence in his home (Eden, Sinai, tabernacle, and eventually the temple)

None of which are Yahweh's home. God meets with people at spots on the Earth, but the whole Earth is simply His foot stool. Stop saying His home is here.

One had to believe that Yahweh was the God of all gods, trusting that this Most High God had chosen covenant relationship with Israel to the detriment of all other nations.

WHAT??? God is using Israel to bring the nations to Him and in so doing caused their detriment? This is the same God who will have blood from Jericho and Moab running through His human veins, right? What kind of Xristian National b.s. reading is this?

making the ark his footstool.

Do what?

Azazel is regarded as the name of a demon in the Dead Sea Scrolls and other ancient Jewish books.17 In fact, in one scroll (4Q 180, 1:8) Azazel is the leader of the angels that sinned in Genesis 6:1–4. The same description appears in the book of 1 Enoch

Oh good, extra biblical sources time again. I was worried the Bible may agree with you for once.

outside the confines of holy ground.

This is not a thing.

Mot,

Oh good the Ugaritic texts again. How exactly does one understand Judaism better by studying Baal worship?

Sin had to be “transported” to where evil belonged—the territory outside Israel, under the control of gods set over the pagan nations.

No. The ground is only holy when God's presence is there. The ground is not holy continually and God doesn't live on Earth. Everything in the Old Testament deals with sacred time, sacred space was a pagan thing.

divine beings producing human spawn who would oppose Yahweh’s desires does appear in Genesis 6:1–4.

No

some of whom were giants descended from the Nephilim:

Yep, God threw a global flood at them and missed.

discarded.

Yes, abandon sanity all ye who read here.

In the spiritual world, the realm of divine beings, there is no need for procreation.

So God made angels capable of procreation but unable to procreate? An eternity of abstinence and never even the possibility of understanding why they felt that way! But once human women were created they understood why they were made male. But not just this, the miracle of God assuming human form was easily replicated by every angel with a literal hard on.

The passage in Matthew is therefore useless as a commentary on Genesis 6:1–4.

Of course. But then again all this is contingent on people being able to die in paradise which is insane but whatever, let you go on that men may know you are mad.

All such instances are lesser than the incarnation. This particular supernatural approach to Genesis 6:1–4 derives from other passages that plainly have divine beings (angels) in embodied human form.

So not human, just divine beings in meat suits that could cum? Its not that the concept of angels taking on physicality and having children is more supernatural and therefore harder to believe. It is that it is too ridiculous. Besides your ridiculous idea of a one angel rebellion of the serpent and the open traitorous actions of the divine council at Babel, we are then to believe that spirits in Heaven became voyeurs, went against a celibacy rule placed on them when they were a one gendered species, became human enough to procreate, and fathered giants. All this in direct opposition to a plain thus saith the Lord that you dismiss out of hand because it proves you wrong.

corporeal.

No one is arguing they can't be corporeal. Sexually compatible on the other hand is ridiculous.

rival gods produced offspring

But all life comes from God. He is the only creator. How could these supposed rival gods do something that only God could do?

All of this sets the stage for Numbers 13.

So God either tried to kill all the giants with a local flood not knowing there were giants elsewhere, or God literally couldn't stop voyeur angels from doing this again and again. Not powerful enough or completely inept. Your view of God is appalling.

competing human bloodlines

So God is racist now and commiting an ethnic cleansing? Cause this isn't about the sins of the people any more, but how they happen to be born.

Its dimensions (9 × 4 cubits) are precisely those of the cultic bed in the ziggurat called Etemenanki—which is the ziggurat most archaeologists identify as the Tower of Babel referred to in the Bible.

Yeah because everyone would have got that reference.

Marduk, like other deities in antiquity, was portrayed as superhuman in size.

Because the statues were big? Ramses must have been a beast too.

The lives of Israel’s enemies were to be “devoted to destruction” as an act of sacrifice to Yahweh.

And now you say that your god wanted rational beings sacrificed to him. This is worse than any other explanation.

Consequently, it is much more coherent to read the statement as indicating that the Israelite spies saw unusually tall people groups everywhere

And not one comment about the ground eating people? The verse also says the land devored the people, if we're going to get nuts then lets get nuts!

Other people living in those regions and towns were naturally also under threat—they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

So kill them all, the Lord knows his own?

It is not, however, an excuse for a reading of the text that is cartoonish or bizarre.

So that's where you draw the line?

didn’t solve the problem of cosmic geography

That's because cosmic geography isn't a thing. The two words don't even belong together.

Since believing loyalty to Yahweh was foundational to Yahweh’s protection and remaining in the land, the spiritual battle was just as much a threat as the physical one.

This is that bad fantasy trope of the gods needing the faith of their followers. Keep your D&D, just keep it out of your theology.

This threshold was now Yahweh’s geography—they

Then how did they get the Ark out, I wonder.

FEW BIBLE READERS KNOW MUCH ABOUT THE PROPHETS,

And yet you evangelicals dare to dictate what passes for "standard" Christianity. The mind reels.

The caricature is not completely without foundation,

...and that's when I shot him your honor. Really! Turn in your credentials. You obviously learned nothing.

implies that Adam had listened in the council of God.

Unless Adam was made before the landscape it implies no such thing. Did you even read what you just typed?

In the book of 1 Enoch

By the same token, at the end of one of the books of Enoch, Enoch becomes the angel Metatron but let's leave that part out. Don't want to sound crazy.

The prophetic message would change to judgment and redemption—but

No, it was always that way.

prompted a change in Yahweh’s approach to restoring his rule on earth.

Um...no. This was the plan from before the beginning. Hence the prophecy given in Eden. Your god gets surprised a lot.

The pieces were kept separate to obscure the big picture.

Then boy does Jesus owe the pharisees an apology. I mean they were just conned by god. You're blameless if a divinity is the one messing with your head.

These Old Testament passages and others have been made by modern commentators to speak about the messiah and his work in ways the New Testament authors don’t claim. We shouldn’t create connections where the biblical text doesn’t. Instead, we need to think more carefully about what we do find in the text.

Wow, just handwave anything that proves you wrong to say that isn't what it means.

Baal was the main source of consternation about Israel’s propensity toward idolatry.

Well since you claim that the OT writers stole everything from Baal worship, is it any wonder? If it wasn't for the Ugartitc texts you wouldn't have this theory...you don't worship Baal do you?

consigning the existing nations to the dominion of lesser gods at Babel.

How does one explain Melchizidek if all the other nations worshipped false gods?

was not his but God’s.

But in your belief it was a position claimed by Satan when God abdicated his duty. This is less redemption and more taking back the toy you had given away.

The gospels themselves give no name, and so the tradition has no biblical precedent.

But it must be Mt. Hermon because 1 Enoch says so? Stop using that profane book to stitch all your theories together.

unholy slopes

One, that's not a thing, and two, didn't the priests of the other temples see this? You just said it was an active cult site of the Phonicians and the Romans/Greeks, surely someone else would have seen it.

rebellious sons of God

Ah yes, the Pornoangels. Must not forget them.

Jesus descended into the underworld to confront the “spirits in prison”—the

No.