The most popular podcast in the United States is (or was according to the National Review in Jan 2021) "The Bible in a Year" by Father Mike Schmitz. In it, Father Mike reads the Bible to you, and explains it all for you.
Father Mike gets through the whole thing, from Genesis to Revelation in 365 twenty-five minute episodes - including the apocrypha or what Catholics call the Deuterocanonical books. Which is pretty darned impressive. But then he's a very fast reader.
Still, he doesn't just read the Bible for you. He also explains it.
Here, for example, is the podcast's synopsis for "Day 56: Jealous Husbands":
Fr. Mike explains how God elevates the dignity of women by providing new laws around husbands accusing their wives of unfaithfulness.
Now that sounds nice, doesn't it? God elevates the dignity of women with the law of jealousies in Numbers chapter 5.
Carole and I recently covered Numbers 5 in a recent podcast. Here is the text for that part of the episode.
(You can listen to the podcast and read the text that we read from here.)
11 God said to Moses,
12-15 When the spirit of jealousy comes upon a man, and he suspects that his wife has had sex with another man, he shall bring his wife to the priest. 16 And the priest shall set her before me.
19 The priest shall say to the woman,
20-21 "If you’ve had sex with a man who is not your husband, God will cause this water to make your thigh rot and your belly swell."
22 And the woman shall say, "Amen. Amen."
24 Then the priest will make her drink the bitter water that causes the curse.
27 If she is defiled and has had sex with a man who is not her husband, God will make her belly swell, her thigh will rot, and she will be a curse among her people.
28 But if she is not defiled, then she shall be free and will conceive seed.
29 This is the law of jealousies, when a wife has sex with a man who is not her husband.
31 Or when the spirit of jealousy comes on a man, and he is jealous over his wife.
31 The man is guiltless, and the woman shall bear her iniquity.
Notice that this is God's law that he gives directly to Moses in his own words.
This is one of the most misogynistic passages in the Bible (perhaps even in all literature).
Is there anyone besides Father Mike who believes that this law "elevate the dignity of women"?
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