Purity before Sinai 3: One Goat to Clean Them All - Episode 151

Genesis Marks the Spot

Content provided by Carey Griffel. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Carey Griffel or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

7d ago 1:06:36

MP3•Episode home

Concluding the mini-series reading from Udug-hul (Udug-hul) Tablet 12, a Mesopotamian exorcism/purification text, and tracing how a single goat in this ritual ends up doing several jobs—substitute, container of breath, apotropaic object, and finally the thing that carries evil away. From there, Carey compares the logic of the text with Leviticus 16 (Day of Atonement) and Numbers 19 (red heifer) and asks the hard question: where’s the line between ritual and magic? The answer is more nuanced than “the Bible isn’t magical.” Sometimes the Bible does very ANE-looking things—but without trying to force the deity. We also see that Mesopotamia loved protective objects (bells, cords, incense, figurines, “good” demons) and how Israel’s Scriptures both fit into and flip that world.

What we cover

Quick recap of the first two episodes in this series
Reading the next section of Tablet 12 (the “one goat doing many jobs” part)
Apotropaic magic 101: bells, cords, circles, incantations, and why people felt vulnerable
Why Mesopotamia can use the same class of being (storm demon) for harm or healing
Parallels and contrasts with Leviticus 16 and Numbers 19
“You don’t do a ritual if you don’t think it does something” — but what kind of “something”?
How Israel’s rituals purify space without acting like they’re trapping a stray demon
The seven protective figures and divine-council overtones
A pastoral-ish landing: how might Christians still hedge their bets with low-key magical thinking?

On This Rock Biblical Theology Community: https://on-this-rock.com/

Website: genesismarksthespot.com

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GenesisMarkstheSpot

Music credit: "Marble Machine" by Wintergatan

Link to Wintergatan’s website: https://wintergatan.net/

Link to the original Marble Machine video by Wintergatan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q&ab_channel=Wintergatan

193 episodes

#Religion #Christianity #Self-Improvement #Carey Griffel #Podcasting Education #Biblical Theology