★★★★★ 5
Eye-opening Exposition of the Bible
Format: Paperback
I have the paperback which is 387 pages, plus Acknowledgments and Index. The book is well-written. I am a Christian and have read the Bible many times. Dr. Heiser's exposition on portions of the Bible were not something I had encountered before. I'll let Dr. Heiser speak for himself: "My goal is simple. When you open your Bible, I want you to be able to see it like ancient Israelites or first-century Jews saw it, to perceive and consider it as they would have. I want their supernatural worldview in your head." Pg. 13.
Genesis 6:1-5, Psalm 82, Deuteronomy 32 and other Biblical passages, including New Testament passages reflect a worldview that at least to me was unfamiliar. His approach to exegesis of the Bible seems orthodox to me. Once again, I'll let Dr. Heiser speak for himself: "I still believe in the uniqueness of the God of the Bible. I still embrace the deity of Christ." Pg. 13. Nevertheless, looking at the Bible through this worldview is, for me, deeply affecting and not in a negative way.
The existence of a heavenly host, not all of which honor God, God's desire for an Eden even after the failure of the first Eden, and three rebellions, not just one, all based on divine Scripture, were deeply educational and enlightening to me. The author argues for his points carefully and cites numerous scholarly treatises to support his arguments.
The book also makes connections within the Bible to connect various passages, which a first-century Jew or Christian, assuming some literacy, would have recognized that a 21st century Christian, such as me, completely misses. The cosmic geography idea is not something I have encountered before.
The book also provides background on the interpretation of Hebrew words and the author is careful to focus the range of acceptable interpretations. Elohim, in particular, gets careful exposition.
If the topic interests you, I recommend the book highly. If you'd like to try out the late Dr. Heiser's thoughts first, he has a number of YouTube videos running from 15 minutes to 1+hour in length for you to watch.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 6, 2025