Bible Fiber

Shelley Neese
  • 5.0 (20)
  • Christianity
  • Updated Weekly

Tired of scripture study guides that leave you wanting more substance? Discover a resource that offers comprehensive teaching and deep insights into the prophetic message.Have you been avoiding the more challenging books of the Bible because they are hard to understand or apply to your life? Let Bible Fiber build your foundational knowledge about ancient Israel’s history and culture.Welcome to Bible Fiber, where we are encountering the textures and shades of the biblical tapestry through twelve Minor Prophets, two reformers (Ezra and Nehemiah), one priest in exile (Ezekiel), and the entire Torah. Along the way, we take pauses for minicourses on peoples of the Bible and ponder why the prophetic office ended. I am Shelley Neese, president of The Jerusalem Connection, a Christian organization devoted to sharing the story of the people of Israel, both ancient and modern. You won't find another podcast so committed to teaching the parts of the Bible that get the least attention.

  1. 6d ago ·  Video

    Introduction to Samuel

    This week we launch our new series on 1 and 2 Samuel. I decided to do this series while digging at Shiloh this summer. The Associates for Biblical Research organized the excavations. Dr. Scott Stripling led our team. First Samuel feels so alive at the site. Everyone digging or sifting half-daydreams about where Hannah uttered her prayer. We imagine where Samuel heard God’s voice or where Eli fell over and broke his neck. One day, I only moved rock tumble from our square over to the dump pile. Mundane tasks on digs give you a lot of time to think. I felt convicted that not everyone has the time or resources to make a trip to Israel. Most cannot spend a week at a dig site with Iranian missiles flying overhead. I set a goal to bring Israel to you, or at least to your headphones. The books of Samuel are historical epics. They chronicle a monumental turning point in ancient Israel. The narrative captures the transition from the decentralized chaos of the Judges to a centralized dynastic monarchy under the house of David. In the final chapters of Judges, the narrator repeats a specific phrase. He says, “In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes.” He geared the audience up for the next stage in Israel’s story: the selection of a king. As the books of Samuel unfold, one thing becomes very clear. Human kings do not solve all of Israel’s problems. Israel’s true sovereign can only be, and has always been, God. Support the show Consider donating (one-time or recurring) to www.TheJerusalemConnection.us so we can continue to bring valuable content via podcasts free to the public. Help us increase our audience reach and improve production quality. Your donation is 100% tax-deductible to our non-profit organization. Bible Fiber and The Red Alert Report are available via YouTube and all major podcast platforms. The Jerusalem Connection also engages in additional educational and advocacy programs. Check our "Projects" tab for all the endeavors we invite YOU to be part of.

  2. Oct 15

    Behind the scenes

    I never intended for Bible Fiber to become a multiyear series. Yet each time I close out a book, I feel newly enthusiastic about sharing a new part of the Bible. Throughout much of Bible Fiber's life, we studied the least-read books of the Bible, like the Minor Prophets and Ezekiel. That changed with the Torah series, and it remains different with 1 and 2 Samuel. These represent some of the most famous, loved, and bewildering stories in the whole Bible. When we studied the prophets, we pieced together their biographies. Most of them remained stingy with personal details. As God’s mouthpieces, they delivered only the oracles God gave them and provided little narrative. The books of Samuel do the opposite. These books feature larger-than-life characters and hold back no biographical details, good or bad. Next week we officially start the study. Before I do, I want to share a little about my purpose and process.  Support the show Consider donating (one-time or recurring) to www.TheJerusalemConnection.us so we can continue to bring valuable content via podcasts free to the public. Help us increase our audience reach and improve production quality. Your donation is 100% tax-deductible to our non-profit organization. Bible Fiber and The Red Alert Report are available via YouTube and all major podcast platforms. The Jerusalem Connection also engages in additional educational and advocacy programs. Check our "Projects" tab for all the endeavors we invite YOU to be part of.

  3. Oct 1

    Vezot HaBerachah (Deuteronomy 33:1–34:12)

    Deuteronomy 34 brings us to the heartbreaking conclusion of Moses’s life. In the final verses of the book, the biblical narrator pens an epitaph that crowns Moses above all others. No other prophet has ever arisen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. He was unequaled in all the signs and wonders God sent him to perform, and unrivaled in the mighty power and terrifying deeds he displayed before all Israel. Within the Old Testament, no one was greater than Moses. Abraham was the father of the nation, David was the beloved king, and Elijah was the fiery prophet, but Moses stood in a category of his own. He was the architect of the nation, the deliverer from Egypt, the recipient of the law, and the intimate friend of God. Yet what makes Moses’s greatness so compelling is that it came with humility. The book of Numbers tells us that Moses was humbler than any person on the face of the earth. When God first called him at the burning bush, Moses did not leap at the chance for power; he pleaded his inadequacy. He begged God to send someone else. Alongside his humility, Moses always remained human. The Bible never mythologizes him into a flawless superhero. We see him in his human exhaustion, breaking down in the wilderness and telling God that the burden of this people is too heavy for him to carry alone. Support the show Consider donating (one-time or recurring) to www.TheJerusalemConnection.us so we can continue to bring valuable content via podcasts free to the public. Help us increase our audience reach and improve production quality. Your donation is 100% tax-deductible to our non-profit organization. Bible Fiber and The Red Alert Report are available via YouTube and all major podcast platforms. The Jerusalem Connection also engages in additional educational and advocacy programs. Check our "Projects" tab for all the endeavors we invite YOU to be part of.

  4. Sep 16

    Ha’azinu (Deuteronomy 32)

    Deuteronomy 32 breaks in style and format with the rest of the covenant book. The chapter is a seventy-line poem that tradition holds Moses sang to the people on his last day. The song begins as a reminder to the Israelites of this generation to pass their story on to the next generation. They must tell their children and grandchildren about the miracles they witnessed in their deliverance from Egypt and their wanderings in the desert.  After Moses recites the song, God instructs him to go up on the mountain so he can look out on all the land (Deut 32:48–52; Num 27:12–14). Then the Bible states, in a few words, that Moses was gathered to his people. He was 120 (Deut 31:2; Deut 34:5–7). This moment is the most desperate in the entire Torah. It makes the reader who has followed Moses from the burning bush to the rebellion of Korah scream out and beg God to reconsider.  Support the show Consider donating (one-time or recurring) to www.TheJerusalemConnection.us so we can continue to bring valuable content via podcasts free to the public. Help us increase our audience reach and improve production quality. Your donation is 100% tax-deductible to our non-profit organization. Bible Fiber and The Red Alert Report are available via YouTube and all major podcast platforms. The Jerusalem Connection also engages in additional educational and advocacy programs. Check our "Projects" tab for all the endeavors we invite YOU to be part of.

  5. Sep 10

    Are there shofars in the Bible?

    When you hear a shofar, you are hearing an instrument unlike any other. It is not made of hammered metal, crafted by human hands and refined through metallurgy, like the silver trumpets described in Numbers 10. Instead, the shofar is organic, taken directly from the natural world—almost always from the curved horn of a kosher ram. The shofar is intentionally unadorned. When air is forced through it, it does not produce a conventional melody; it produces an elemental cry. It’s a sound that is supposed to bypass human intellect and speak directly to the soul.  Support the show Consider donating (one-time or recurring) to www.TheJerusalemConnection.us so we can continue to bring valuable content via podcasts free to the public. Help us increase our audience reach and improve production quality. Your donation is 100% tax-deductible to our non-profit organization. Bible Fiber and The Red Alert Report are available via YouTube and all major podcast platforms. The Jerusalem Connection also engages in additional educational and advocacy programs. Check our "Projects" tab for all the endeavors we invite YOU to be part of.

  6. Sep 2

    Nitzavim−Vayelech (Deuteronomy 29:9–31:30)

    This week we are reading a double Torah portion. The reading portions are called Nitzavim and Vayelech, and together they cover Deuteronomy 29:10–31:30. They capture Moses’s final charge to the assembled Israelites as his life nears its end. For the last time as their leader, Moses exhorts them to commit themselves to an enduring covenant with God. Moses transfers leadership to Joshua and arranges for the written law to be preserved alongside the Ark of the Covenant. Although much of God’s covenant with his people was revolutionary, the literary framework in which Moses presented it was familiar to the Israelites. In fact, the covenant was arranged in a format that any nation in the ancient Near East would have recognized. This understanding, that the covenant is following a common format, is something relatively new to biblical historians. Only in the last century have we learned a great deal about bilateral covenant-making in the ancient Near East. Support the show Consider donating (one-time or recurring) to www.TheJerusalemConnection.us so we can continue to bring valuable content via podcasts free to the public. Help us increase our audience reach and improve production quality. Your donation is 100% tax-deductible to our non-profit organization. Bible Fiber and The Red Alert Report are available via YouTube and all major podcast platforms. The Jerusalem Connection also engages in additional educational and advocacy programs. Check our "Projects" tab for all the endeavors we invite YOU to be part of.

  7. Aug 27

    Ki Tavo (Deuteronomy 26:1–29:8)

    This week’s Torah portion covers Deuteronomy 26:1 to 29:8. It takes its name, Ki Tavo, from its opening Hebrew words, which mean “When you come” or “When you enter.” The commandments that follow are for when Israel crosses the Jordan River, takes possession of the land, and settles into its new national life. Before Moses hands the people off to their new leader, Joshua, he reminds them of the laws and teachings they received at Sinai. The new generation did not witness, or was too young to remember, God descending upon Sinai with the rumble of thunder and flash of lightning. They did not smell the thick smoke or feel the ground shaking beneath them. Of course, they heard the stories from their parents and believed the witness of the tribal leaders. However, they needed their own Sinai moment, led by their appointed leader with the full participation of the rising generation. They needed their own founding story. Support the show Consider donating (one-time or recurring) to www.TheJerusalemConnection.us so we can continue to bring valuable content via podcasts free to the public. Help us increase our audience reach and improve production quality. Your donation is 100% tax-deductible to our non-profit organization. Bible Fiber and The Red Alert Report are available via YouTube and all major podcast platforms. The Jerusalem Connection also engages in additional educational and advocacy programs. Check our "Projects" tab for all the endeavors we invite YOU to be part of.

  8. Aug 20

    Ki Tetze (Deuteronomy 21:10–25:19)

    This week’s Torah portion covers Deuteronomy 21:10–25:19. It is named Ki Tetze, which translates to “When you go out.” Of the Torah’s 613 commandments, this portion covers 74 of them. This is more commandments than any other weekly reading.  The long list of laws jumps from wartime rules to family inheritance to animal rights to marriage laws. A significant percentage of the laws address the upstart nation’s public health policies, agricultural standards, and financial guidelines. The sheer volume of laws demonstrates how faith must permeate every aspect of life. Admittedly, plenty of them leave modern readers scratching their heads. Like, what does mixing wool and linen have to do with faithfulness to God. However, some laws clearly call the Israelite nation to a higher ethical order than any other ancient people. Many laws focus on defending people who lacked societal power. The Israelites had to care for the marginalized. In Deuteronomy 24, God commands: Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether that worker is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner residing in one of your towns. Pay them their wages each day before sunset, because they are poor and are counting on it. Otherwise they may cry to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin. (24:14−15). Support the show Consider donating (one-time or recurring) to www.TheJerusalemConnection.us so we can continue to bring valuable content via podcasts free to the public. Help us increase our audience reach and improve production quality. Your donation is 100% tax-deductible to our non-profit organization. Bible Fiber and The Red Alert Report are available via YouTube and all major podcast platforms. The Jerusalem Connection also engages in additional educational and advocacy programs. Check our "Projects" tab for all the endeavors we invite YOU to be part of.

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About

Tired of scripture study guides that leave you wanting more substance? Discover a resource that offers comprehensive teaching and deep insights into the prophetic message.Have you been avoiding the more challenging books of the Bible because they are hard to understand or apply to your life? Let Bible Fiber build your foundational knowledge about ancient Israel’s history and culture.Welcome to Bible Fiber, where we are encountering the textures and shades of the biblical tapestry through twelve Minor Prophets, two reformers (Ezra and Nehemiah), one priest in exile (Ezekiel), and the entire Torah. Along the way, we take pauses for minicourses on peoples of the Bible and ponder why the prophetic office ended. I am Shelley Neese, president of The Jerusalem Connection, a Christian organization devoted to sharing the story of the people of Israel, both ancient and modern. You won't find another podcast so committed to teaching the parts of the Bible that get the least attention.

Information

  • Creator
    Shelley Neese
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    202
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Bible Fiber
  • Show Website
    Bible Fiber

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