elstaffe’s Reviews > Murder-Bears, Moonshine, and Mayhem: Strange Stories from the Bible to Leave You Amused, Bemused, and (Hopefully) Informed > Status Update

"Johanna Stiebert, First-Degree Incest in the Hebrew Bible: Sex in the Family (New York: Bloomsbury, 2016), 158." (199) book titles that I wish couldn't exist, example 5000

"It's sort of like how cable companies make you pay for Syfy, even though no one you've ever met or heard of actually watches Syfy." (196) I think you must run with a very different crowd than I do, Luke T. Harrington

"Having the donkey speak here isn't an entirely random choice; animals gaining the gift of gab to suggest the presence of deities is a bit of a motif in Near Eastern literature (which also accounts for that talking snake in Genesis, in case that was also still bothering you, Mr. Dawkins)" (164) weird "gotcha" attempt--if the Bible were just lit, there'd be less scrutiny of this stuff. But it's claimed it isn't just.

"Ezekiel, who lived about two hundred years after Hosea, returns to that same well and then drinks it dry" (158) aqueous example of eats and leaves no crumbs

"I used to wonder why Jerusalem itself would be 'troubled' along with Herod, but when you're ruled by a despot, his problems tend to be yours, whether you want them to be or not." (88)

"Horrific Violence, Some of It Involving Bears" (85) a good chapter subtitle