The Bible Rules

In this episode, we explore the ways ancient people attempted to control the dark forces in their lives. The Bible rules warn people about cursing their parents, consulting wizards, breaking their promises or even wearing blended fabrics. It's a launch pad for a deep investigation into the mindset of people who walked the earth millennia ago. Did the ancients really practice child sacrifice? One rule opens a window on this almost unimaginable practice.

Sex is a major focus for the Bible rules, and in this episode, we find some of the more surprising commands in the Bible, including one that warns a woman against grabbing the crotch of an attacking man in order to defend her husband. The penalty? If she grabs, she gets her hand cut off. For people today, that sounds harsh. But once we start to decode the world in which this law is set, investigating everything from Greek statues to mortality rates, we gain a new understanding of the reality of human sexual relations three thousand years ago.

The Bible rules forbid Israelite armies from cutting down the trees of enemy cities. Is this a clue to a 3000-year-old green movement or is something else going on here? Hint: It's all about the olives. By deconstructing the rules about war, this episode uncovers an entire bloody landscape of divine conquest and violent retribution. You'll be amazed at what a seemingly simple command reveals about the way nations made war--and peace.

The use and abuse of alcoholic beverages goes back to deepest antiquity, and so it comes as no surprise the Bible has a lot to say on the subject. Yet wine and spirits played a very different role in the ancient world than they do today. They could be both medicine and miracle, sin and salvation. In this episode, the rules lead us to a bottomless sea of information on the importance of wine and the dangers of debauchery. If you think vampires are the only creatures to drink human blood, it's time for a voyage to the ancient world.

These days, most people don't worship golden idols, but it's amazing how many of the Bible rules about graven images still sound relevant. In this episode, we plunge back into a world of otherworldly gods, who had to be fed, clothed and coddled by their believers. Yet that's just the beginning of a journey that will then shoot forward into outer space to explore the possibilities of prayer on other planets. For anyone who ever asked God to determine the outcome of a football game, this investigation into the rules is a must.

Slavery was a fact of life in the ancient world, as the Bible rules make clear. Whether in Rome or Greece, Egypt or Israel, human beings lived under bondage, but there were surprising laws in place to regulate the practice. Some slaves could automatically be freed after six years while others actually seem to have preferred the yoke. And one astonishing Bible rule tells owners they aren't allowed to hunt down escaped slaves. We follow the trail of shackles back to a world where freedom looked very different.