Bashan: The Place of the Serpent

About this episode

This episode explores the significance of Bashan in the Bible and the discrepancies in Paul's quotation of Psalm 68 in Ephesians 4:8.

One of the most head-scratching verses to me in the entire Bible is Ephesians 4:8. In this verse, Paul quotes Psalm 68. And Paul is known to quote various passages from the Old Testament; that’s not weird. What’s weird is that Paul quotes it wrong. As in, he quotes one line saying the exact opposite of what the David originally wrote in this Psalm. Psalm 68 says You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train and receiving gifts among men, But in Ephesians 4:8 Paul applies this to Christ, saying “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” One version says “receiving gifts.” The other says “he gave gifts.” Those are two opposite ideas. And that might seem like a tiny mistake in the grand scheme of things, but it bothers me because I always say my bible ain’t got no mistakes . So I had to look more deeply into this one. And as I did, I learned something that brought yet another dimension to these words: the quotation in Psalm 68 is in a context of addressing Bashan. Bashan, as in, the spiritually dark region that was a stronghold of giants and demons in the Bible. Bashan, a location whose name means “the place of the serpent.”…

People in this episode

Host: Luke Taylor

Topics covered

• Biblical interpretation
• Ephesians 4:8
• Psalm 68
• Bashan
• spiritual warfare
• giants and demons

Keywords

• Bashan
• Ephesians 4:8
• Psalm 68
• spiritual darkness
• giants
• demons
• Watchers
• Book of Enoch

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Ephesians, Psalm 68, Book of Enoch

Places: Bashan, Mount Hermon

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