Who wrote the Hebrew Bible, when, and why? Why does it contain so many competing perspectives and why do scholars sometimes disagree about what its words originally meant? In Misquoting Moses, Yale professor Joel Baden and co-host Megan Kraege explore the surprising history, authorship, translation, and interpretation of the Hebrew Bible. Each week, they bring the questions and evidence scholars have debated for centuries out of the university and into lively, accessible conversations for anyone curious about the Bible.
Curated by: Bart D. Ehrman (15 videos)
Links Mentioned in this Episode: - https://www.bartehrman.com/joinjoel - A one-day symposium, available in-person and virtually, where eight leading scholars tackle the biggest questions about how the Bible came to be, capped by a live closing debate on whether the Gospels are based on eyewitness testimony. Joel will be speaking on History and Legend in the Exodus tradition. - https://www.bartehrman.com/askjoel - submit your questions to Joel about the Hebrew Bible, or anything else in the Misquoting Moses podcast! *Episode Outline:* 0:00 How did Israel’s God evolve from a local deity into the universal God of the Bible? 2:31 Elohim: why the Hebrew word for God looks plural but functions as singular Misquoting Moses - episode 11 -… 4:59 El Shaddai: why “God Almighty” probably has something to do with mountains 7:02 Yahweh Sabaoth: what “Lord of Hosts” actually means 8:42 Yahweh: the personal name of Israel’s God hidden in English Bibles 12:55 Why “Jehovah” was never actually the original name of God 15:11 Biblical Studies Symposium: Exodus history, Gospel myth, textual criticism, and eyewitnesses 19:31 Why the Bible portrays God as personal, national, universal, angry, generous, and everything in between 23:39 How Yahweh absorbed characteristics and myths from Canaanite gods like El and Baal 24:59 Can scholars trace how Israel’s understanding of God changed over time? 29:48 Where did Yahweh come from? The mysterious southern origins of Israel’s God 33:56 Did ancient Israelites believe God literally had a body and lived on a mountain? 36:50 Hot Take: What does the name Yahweh actually mean? 38:32 “I Am Who I Am”: why Joel thinks Exodus 3:14 has been dramatically overinterpreted 40:00 Was “I Am Who I Am” actually God joking with an exasperating Moses? *Episode Description* If you read the Hebrew Bible from beginning to end, God does not appear as one completely consistent character. In this episode, host Megan Kraege and Dr. Joel Baden explore how Israel’s understanding of God developed over time, from a deity within the ancient Canaanite world to the universal creator of heaven and earth. The discussion begins with God’s many names and titles. “Elohim,” used in Genesis, is grammatically plural in form but often singular in meaning and connects Israel’s God with the wider Semitic tradition of *El*. Titles such as “El Shaddai” may mean “God of the Mountains,” while “Yahweh Tzabaot” means “Lord of Armies” or “Lord of Hosts,” reflecting the image of a divine warrior. The central focus is God’s personal name, Yahweh. In many English Bibles, YHWH is replaced by “LORD” in capital letters because Jewish tradition came to treat the divine name as too sacred to pronounce. Readers instead said *Adonai*, meaning “Lord.” Dr. Baden also explains that “Jehovah” arose from a later misunderstanding that combined the consonants of YHWH with vowels associated with *Adonai*. The existence of a personal name like Yahweh may itself reflect an earlier world in which multiple gods were acknowledged. A specific name helps distinguish one deity from others. The episode also examines the Bible’s different portrayals of God: a distant creator, intimate guide, warrior, judge, and compassionate lawgiver. Dr. Baden argues that these differences reflect the Bible’s many authors and historical layers. Yahweh appears to combine characteristics associated with other Ancient Near Eastern deities, including the authority of El and the storm-warrior traits of Baal. In the “Hot Take” segment, Dr. Baden offers a provocative reading of “I AM THAT I AM” in Exodus. Rather than treating it as God’s formal name, he suggests it may be a wordplay-filled response to Moses’s repeated questioning. The next verse identifies Yahweh as the name Israel is actually told to remember. The episode ultimately presents the Hebrew Bible as a record of evolving ideas about God, tracing a movement from a local divine world toward the later theology of one universal God.