Gilbert House Fellowship Derek and Sharon Gilbert

WE RETURN to our regularly scheduled reading this week with proverbs that are paternal calls for wisdom—and a warning against communing with spirits of the dead.

Contrary to some who seen in these chapters a female deity named Wisdom, perhaps even the consort of Yahweh, the mundane explanation is simply that the word chokhmah (“wisdom”) is a feminine noun. Grammatical gender has nothing to do with biological gender. So, attempts to see in Proverbs a feminine spirit named Wisdom are misguided—an example of eisegesis, reading a desired, predetermined meaning into the text, rather than exegesis, drawing the intended meaning from the text.

We also dig deep into Proverbs 2:18:

[F]or her house sinks down to death, and her paths to the departed;

We find in the passage what may be a reference to the cult of the dead that surrounded the Israelites. First, the word translated “departed” is rephaim, the spirits of the Nephilim destroyed in the Flood. This is confirmed by the Greek Septuagint, translated about 200 years before the birth of Jesus, which translates rephaim as “giants.”

Further, the Septuagint uses axonas for the word translated “paths,” where three verses earlier the words triboi and trochiai are rendered “paths.” The Brenton translation of the Septuagint renders Prov. 2:18 this way:

For she has fixed her house near death, and guided her wheels near Hades with the giants.

We explain why this is relevant: On the Golan Heights, ancient Bashan, there are literally hundreds of funerary monuments that feature concentric rings of stone around a central tumulus or cairn. The largest is Gilgal Refaim (“Wheel of Giants”), which we visited last March, but there are three others nearly as large that are practically unknown. Gilgal Refaim appears to have been built as a cult site for ritual circumambulation around a sacred central core in which a priest or shaman would descend to make contact with spirits of the netherworld.

In short, Proverbs 2 appears to be a warning against participating in rites that were clearly still taking place in the time of Saul, David, and Solomon (see 1 Samuel 28, Saul’s visit to the medium of En-dor). In fact, based on the writings of the prophets, communing with spirits of the netherworld continued in Israel for at least another three or four hundred years, down to the time of Jeremiah and the Babylonian captivity.

Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square pole barn now has HVAC, a new floor, windows, ceiling fans, upgraded electric service, and insulation. We’re now producing programs out there. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.

Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!

The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.

Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!

Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!

Coffee! We’ve partnered with Kevlar Joe’s Coffee (KevlarJoe.com) for Gilbert House blends: Amazing Grace, a mild cookies-and-cream flavored coffee; Snarling Dachshund, a medium-roast Sumatran; and Bunker Buster, a dark-roasted Colombian that’s sure to get you moving. Find them at GilbertHouse.org/store/.

SOLIDARITY MISSION TO ISRAEL! We’re planning a one-week trip to Israel May 6–13, 2024 to bear witness to what’s happened there since the war with Hamas began. We plan to visit Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, Sderot, the site of the Nova Music Festival, and more. For det

IRAN ATTACKED ISRAEL late last night, the first time the Islamic Republic has struck at Israel directly. The sight of missiles over the Temple Mount is startling, evoking images of the end times.

We discuss the events of the last 24 hours and what may come in the days ahead, and we look at prophecies from Jeremiah and Zechariah about the role of Jerusalem and the Jewish people—no, God is not done with Israel yet—in the end times.

The title of this week’s study comes from the Septuagint translation of Zechariah 12:2, which reads in the ESV: Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples.

In other words, at some point in the future, Israel’s neighbors will be so overcome with hatred that they will behave irrationally, as though they are drunk. What we have seen since October 7, 2023, is just prelude.

Here is a link to the online books by 19th century author and clergyman H. Clay Trumbull, author of The Threshold Covenant, The Blood Covenant, and The Covenant of Salt. All three books, along with his other works, are available to read online for free here: bit.ly/hclaytrumbull

Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square pole barn now has HVAC, a new floor, windows, ceiling fans, upgraded electric service, and insulation. We’re now producing programs out there. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.

Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!

The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.

Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!

Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!

Coffee! We’ve partnered with Kevlar Joe’s Coffee (KevlarJoe.com) for Gilbert House blends: Amazing Grace, a mild cookies-and-cream flavored coffee; Snarling Dachshund, a medium-roast Sumatran; and Bunker Buster, a dark-roasted Colombian that’s sure to get you moving. Find them at GilbertHouse.org/store/.

SOLIDARITY MISSION TO ISRAEL! We’re planning a one-week trip to Israel May 6–13, 2024 to bear witness to what’s happened there since the war with Hamas began. We plan to visit Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, Sderot, the site of the Nova Music Festival, and more. For details, go to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.

NEW DATES FOR OUR NEXT TOUR OF ISRAEL! Our 2025 tour features special guests Timothy Alberino, Dr. Judd Burton, and Doug Van Dorn! We will tour the Holy Land March 25–April 3, 2025, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.

Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!

• Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation

• These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse

Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.

IT’S APPARENT why the Song of Solomon is not often preached in church.

It is a beautiful and poetic description of the love and desire felt by a husband and wife, but the euphemisms that describe physical intimacy between Solomon can raise awkward questions from children in the congregation! But if you have been blessed with a loving marital relationship, you know.

We also begin the proverbs of Solomon this week. Chapter 1 emphasizes the importance of wisdom, which begins with the fear of (or reverence toward) God. We also explain why the personification of Wisdom in Proverbs 1, and later in Proverbs 8, does not mean that there is a feminine aspect to the godhead, nor does it mean that God has a “wife.”

Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square pole barn now has HVAC, a new floor, windows, ceiling fans, upgraded electric service, and insulation. We’re now producing programs out there. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.

Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!

The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.

Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!

Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!

Coffee! We’ve partnered with Kevlar Joe’s Coffee (KevlarJoe.com) for Gilbert House blends: Amazing Grace, a mild cookies-and-cream flavored coffee; Snarling Dachshund, a medium-roast Sumatran; and Bunker Buster, a dark-roasted Colombian that’s sure to get you moving. Find them at GilbertHouse.org/store/.

SOLIDARITY MISSION TO ISRAEL! We’re planning a one-week trip to Israel May 6–13, 2024 to bear witness to what’s happened there since the war with Hamas began. We plan to visit Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, Sderot, the site of the Nova Music Festival, and more. For details, go to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.

NEW DATES FOR OUR NEXT TOUR OF ISRAEL! Our 2025 tour features special guests Timothy Alberino, Dr. Judd Burton, and Doug Van Dorn! We will tour the Holy Land March 25–April 3, 2025, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.

Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!

• Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation

• These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse

Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.

THE SONG OF SOLOMON has layers of meaning. On the surface, it’s a beautiful depiction of the intimate relationship between a husband and wife. At a deeper level, it’s a picture of the mutual love between Christ and his church.

We discuss the first five chapters and note the bride’s description of herself as “very dark, but lovely,” which is not based on racial characteristics but implies one whose skin is darkened by the sun—a laborer, one of lower social status than her husband. Nonetheless, the husband, who may be Solomon, is clearly in love with his bride.

Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square pole barn now has HVAC, a new floor, windows, ceiling fans, upgraded electric service, and insulation. We’re now producing programs out there. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.

Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!

The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.

Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!

Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!

Coffee! We’ve partnered with Kevlar Joe’s Coffee (KevlarJoe.com) for Gilbert House blends: Amazing Grace, a mild cookies-and-cream flavored coffee; Snarling Dachshund, a medium-roast Sumatran; and Bunker Buster, a dark-roasted Colombian that’s sure to get you moving. Find them at GilbertHouse.org/store/.

SOLIDARITY MISSION TO ISRAEL! We’re planning a one-week trip to Israel May 6–13, 2024 to bear witness to what’s happened there since the war with Hamas began. We plan to visit Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, Sderot, the site of the Nova Music Festival, and more. For details, go to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.

NEW DATES FOR OUR NEXT TOUR OF ISRAEL! Our 2025 tour features special guests Dr. Judd Burton and Doug Van Dorn! We will tour the Holy Land March 25–April 3, 2025, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.

Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!

• Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation

• These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse

Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.

SOLOMON’S PRAYER for wisdom pleased God, who honored Solomon’s wish and granted him more besides.

2 Chronicles picks up the story of Solomon from the beginning of his reign around 971 BC. At this time, the tabernacle of Moses was still at Gibeon, a city in the territory of Benjamin just north of Jerusalem, although the ark of the covenant was in Jerusalem.

The wealth of Solomon is legendary. It’s possible that the political situation in the eastern Mediterranean after the Bronze Age Collapse around 1200–1175 BC left a power vacuum that was filled by the kingdom of David and Solomon, but the hand of God was in all of the events. We detour briefly into the history of the era and how such seemingly unconnected events like the Trojan War (c. 1200 BC) may have created some of the political entities, like Kue (probably Mycenaean Greeks) mentioned in 2 Chr. 1:16, with which David and Solomon had dealings.

We also discuss Psalm 72, a prayer for the new king, and note the interesting connection made by the Jewish scholars who translated the Septuagint between “oppression” and usury (Ps. 72:14), the practice of lending money with an unreasonably high rate of interest. It sounds like present day credit cards!

Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square pole barn now has HVAC, a new floor, windows, ceiling fans, upgraded electric service, and insulation. We’re now producing programs out there. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.

Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!

The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.

Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!

Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!

Coffee! We’ve partnered with Kevlar Joe’s Coffee (KevlarJoe.com) for Gilbert House blends: Amazing Grace, a mild cookies-and-cream flavored coffee; Snarling Dachshund, a medium-roast Sumatran; and Bunker Buster, a dark-roasted Colombian that’s sure to get you moving. Find them at GilbertHouse.org/store/.

SOLIDARITY MISSION TO ISRAEL! We’re planning a one-week trip to Israel May 6–13, 2024 to bear witness to what’s happened there since the war with Hamas began. We plan to visit Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, Sderot, the site of the Nova Music Festival, and more. For details, go to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.

NEW DATES FOR OUR NEXT TOUR OF ISRAEL! Our 2025 tour features special guests Dr. Judd Burton and Doug Van Dorn! We will tour the Holy Land March 25–April 3, 2025, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.

Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!

• Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation

• These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse

Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.

SOLOMON BEGAN his reign with a prayer for wisdom, a prayer that was answered by God in a dream.

We discuss some of the interesting differences in the Septuagint and the Masoretic Hebrew text, which is the basis for our English language Old Testament translations. It appears the Masoretes made minor changes to make David and Solomon appear even more powerful and wise than in the older Hebrew text that was translated into the Greek Septuagint.

We talk about a concept we’ve discussed before, “the Name.” This is a term used often in the Old Testament, but it’s not well understood. Jews today use the phrase ha-shem (“the name”) to avoid saying Yahweh, but since YHWH appears some 7,000 times in the Old Testament, that clearly wasn’t a problem for the Hebrew prophets.

Nor is the Name of Yahweh His reputation; it’s another aspect of the personhood of God, often described as dwelling with the Angel of Yahweh, who is Yahweh in human form. A more accurate translation of 2 Samuel 6:1–2, acknowledging the lack of a preposition (the word “by”) in the original Hebrew, the Ark of the Covenant is “is called the Name of Yahweh of hosts.” In short, “the Name” isn’t a phrase, it’s a Being.

Here’s a link to Dr. Michael Heiser’s article, “The Name Theology of the Old Testament”: https://biblia.com/books/fsb/article/SIDEBAR.THENAMETHEOLOGYOFTHEOLDTESTAMENT

PLEASE NOTE that our audio sounds different this week because we took in a new rescue puppy Friday night! We recorded this week’s study in our dining room with wireless mics because we don’t trust little Glory around all the expensive lights just yet.

Also, you’ll hear the sound of dogs wrestling towards the end of this week’s study. Our apologies for the distractions!

Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square pole barn now has HVAC, a new floor, windows, ceiling fans, upgraded electric service, and insulation. We’re now producing programs out there. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate.

Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech!

The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/.

Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site!

Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!

Coffee! We’ve partnered with Kevlar Joe’s Coffee (KevlarJoe.com) for Gilbert House blends: Amazing Grace, a mild cookies-and-cream flavored coffee; Snarling Dachshund, a medium-roast Sumatran; and Bunker Buster, a dark-roasted Colombian that’s sure to get you moving. Find them at GilbertHouse.org/store/.

SOLIDARITY MISSION TO ISRAEL! We’re planning a one-week trip to Israel May 6–13, 2024 to bear witness to what’s happened there since the war with Hamas began. We plan to visit Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, Sderot, the site of the Nova Music Festival, and more. For details, go to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.

NEW DATES FOR OUR NEXT TOUR OF ISRAEL! Our 2025 tour features special guests Dr. Judd Burton and Doug Van Dorn! We will tour the Holy Land March 25–April 3, 2025, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.

Subscribe to our new YouTube channels!

• Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation

• These weekly studies and Derek’s podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse

Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship a