The Bible as Divine Literary Art

00:00

What does it mean for the Bible to be both divine and a work of literary genius? The Hebrew Bible is a sophisticated piece of literary art that has a theological message, and that message is communicated through a nuanced literary medium. On this podcast, Tim and Jon spend plenty of time talking about the literary structure and design of the books of the Bible. They examine the themes in the Bible that are found throughout the entire narrative arc of Scripture. But for this episode, they back up and talk about what the Bible is in the first place.
The Bible didn’t drop out of heaven, it was produced over hundreds of years by many different authors that came from one particular people group of ancient Israel.
The story of the Bible emerged from the history of God’s people. The Bible tells a story with Israel at the center, but the main focus is the story of all of humanity.
Video:
This episode is designed to accompany our video called, “What is the Bible?” You can view it on our youtube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak06MSETeo4&t=3s
Show Music:
Defender Instrumental by Rosasharn Music
Blue Skies by Unwritten Stories
Flooded Meadows by Unwritten Stories

Released on 8 Feb 2017

Share this page...

Coming up next

What's in your Bible?

14 Feb 2017

01:10:52

Why are the books of the Bible ordered the way they are? Is there a value in reading the Bible in any other order?

The Holy Spirit Part 1: Spirit of the Old Testament vs. The Spirit of Christianity

23 Feb 2017

00:57:37

This is our first conversation about the Holy Spirit. It's a big theme in Scripture and often a controversial topic. Tim and Jon talk about how ancient Hebrews viewed the Spirit and the differences between ancient and modern views on the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit Part 2: God's Ruakh

3 Mar 2017

00:51:38

What does it mean for man to have a spirit? How does God's Spirit interact with man's spirit?

View all episodes

Request Messages Timeline Exceptions Views62 Route Queries23 Models13 Livewire1 Mails Gate Session

Settings Request history8.3.172.21s4MBGET podcasts/{podcast}/episodes/{episode}

status

200 OK

full_url

https://premier.amperative.site/podcasts/bibleproject/episodes/the-bible-as-divine-literary-art

action_name

podcasts.episodes.show

controller_action

App\Http\Controllers\PodcastEpisodesController@show

uri

GET podcasts/{podcast}/episodes/{episode}

scope_bindings

true

controller

App\Http\Controllers\PodcastEpisodesController@show

file

app/Http/Controllers/PodcastEpisodesController.php:22-38

middleware

web

duration

2.21s

peak_memory

6MB

response

text/html; charset=UTF-8

request_format

html

request_query

[]

request_request

[]

request_headers

  0 of 0   
array:15 [▼
  "host" => array:1 [▶
    0 => "premier.amperative.site"
  ]
  "connection" => array:1 [▶
    0 => "keep-alive"
  ]
  "pragma" => array:1 [▶
    0 => "no-cache"
  ]
  "cache-control" => array:1 [▶
    0 => "no-cache"
  ]
  "sec-ch-ua" => array:1 [▶
    0 => ""Chromium";v="130", "HeadlessChrome";v="130", "Not?A_Brand";v="99""
  ]
  "sec-ch-ua-mobile" => array:1 [▶
    0 => "?0"
  ]
  "sec-ch-ua-platform" => array:1 [▶
    0 => ""Windows""
  ]
  "upgrade-insecure-requests" => array:1 [▶
    0 => "1"
  ]
  "user-agent" => array:1 [▶
    0 => "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com)"
  ]
  "accept" => array:1 [▶
    0 => "text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,image/avif,image/webp,image/apng,*/*;q=0.8,application/signed-exchange;v=b3;q=0.7"
  ]
  "sec-fetch-site" => array:1 [▶
    0 => "none"
  ]
  "sec-fetch-mode" => array:1 [▶
    0 => "navigate"
  ]
  "sec-fetch-user" => array:1 [▶
    0 => "?1"
  ]
  "sec-fetch-dest" => array:1 [▶
    0 => "document"
  ]
  "accept-encoding" => array:1 [▶
    0 => "gzip, deflate, br, zstd"
  ]
]

request_cookies

[]

response_headers

  0 of 0   
array:3 [▼
  "content-type" => array:1 [▶
    0 => "text/html; charset=UTF-8"
  ]
  "cache-control" => array:1 [▶
    0 => "no-cache, private"
  ]
  "date" => array:1 [▶
    0 => "Wed, 23 Jul 2025 00:05:30 GMT"
  ]
]

session_attributes

  0 of 0   
array:1 [▼
  "_token" => "YTLQAlhZ6kRoGOQ07Egoq7g0QuIyuiuqNiwvwGxi"
]

Booting (98.24ms)time
Application (2.11s)time
Routing (8.85ms)
Preparing Response (2.04s)
1 x Application (95.55%)
2.11s
1 x Preparing Response (92.16%)
2.04s
1 x Booting (4.45%)
98.24ms
1 x Routing (0.4%)
8.85ms

62 templates were rendered

1x templates.podcast-episodes.showshow.blade.php#?blade
1x livewire.section-podcast-playersection-podcast-player.blade.php#?blade
1x components.sections.header-playerheader-player.blade.php#?blade
1x components.sections.header-topheader-top.blade.php#?blade
35x components.iconicon.blade.php#?blade
1x components.player.tracktrack.blade.php#?blade
1x components.modals.modal-confirmationmodal-confirmation.blade.php#?blade
3x components.modals.generic-1generic-1.blade.php#?blade
1x components.sharethissharethis.blade.php#?blade
3x components.cards.episodeepisode.blade.php#?blade
1x components.modals.model-show-signupmodel-show-signup.blade.php#?blade
1x components.recommendations.index-bespokeindex-bespoke.blade.php#?blade
1x components.promotional-blockspromotional-blocks.blade.php#?blade
1x components.sections.footerfooter.blade.php#?blade
2x components.form.inputinput.blade.php#?blade
2x components.form.input-groupinput-group.blade.php#?blade
1x components.layouts.mastermaster.blade.php#?blade
1x components.faviconfavicon.blade.php#?blade
1x components.social-metasocial-meta.blade.php#?blade
1x components.modals.searchsearch.blade.php#?blade
1x components.toast-controllertoast-controller.blade.php#?blade
1x components.modals.model-show-thank-youmodel-show-thank-you.blade.php#?blade

uri: GET podcasts/{podcast}/episodes/{episode}
middleware: web
scope_bindings: true
controller: App\Http\Controllers\PodcastEpisodesController@show
as: podcasts.episodes.show
file: app/Http/Controllers/PodcastEpisodesController.php:22-38

23 statements were executed (13 duplicates)Show only duplicates69.37ms

RedirectMiddleware.php#49premier1.54msselect * from `redirects` where `is_regex` = 1 and `redirects`.`deleted_at` is null

Bindings	0: 1
Backtrace	app/Http/Middleware/RedirectMiddleware.php:49 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Pipeline/Pipeline.php:209 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Pipeline/Pipeline.php:127 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Routing/Router.php:807 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Routing/Router.php:786

RedirectMiddleware.php#79premier1.05ms

select * from `redirects` where `is_regex` = 0 and `match` = '/podcasts/bibleproject/episodes/the-bible-as-divine-literary-art' and `is_active` = 1 and `redirects`.`deleted_at` is null limit 1

Bindings	0: 0 1: /podcasts/bibleproject/episodes/the-bible-as-divine-literary-art 2: 1
Backtrace	app/Http/Middleware/RedirectMiddleware.php:79 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Pipeline/Pipeline.php:209 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Pipeline/Pipeline.php:127 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Routing/Router.php:807 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Routing/Router.php:786

DatabaseSessionHandler.php#97premier1.12msselect * from `sessions` where `id` = 'YqA9yMZ5ostrcxzoyR3Bl2Nm9B7D9DTyA9cgq3Ip' limit 1

Bindings	0: YqA9yMZ5ostrcxzoyR3Bl2Nm9B7D9DTyA9cgq3Ip
Backtrace	vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Session/DatabaseSessionHandler.php:97 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Session/Store.php:117 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Session/Store.php:105 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Session/Store.php:89 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Session/Middleware/StartSession.php:147

ContentFamilyTrait.php#42premier1.36msselect * from `podcasts` where `slug` = 'bibleproject' and `is_active` = 1 and `podcasts`.`deleted_at` is null limit 1

Bindings	0: bibleproject 1: 1
Backtrace	app/Models/Traits/ContentFamilyTrait.php:42 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Routing/ImplicitRouteBinding.php:61 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Routing/Router.php:961 vendor/livewire/livewire/src/Features/SupportPageComponents/SupportPageComponents.php:214 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Routing/Middleware/SubstituteBindings.php:42

ContentFamilyTrait.php#59premier32.5ms

select * from `podcast_episodes` where `podcast_episodes`.`podcast_id` = 36 and `podcast_episodes`.`podcast_id` is not null and `slug` = 'the-bible-as-divine-literary-art' and `podcast_episodes`.`deleted_at` is null order by `published_at` desc limit 1

Bindings	0: 36 1: the-bible-as-divine-literary-art
Backtrace	app/Models/Traits/ContentFamilyTrait.php:59 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Routing/ImplicitRouteBinding.php:56 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Routing/Router.php:961 vendor/livewire/livewire/src/Features/SupportPageComponents/SupportPageComponents.php:214 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Routing/Middleware/SubstituteBindings.php:42

PromotionalBlockCacheMiddleware.php#24premier1.27ms

select * from `promotional_blocks` where (`display_from` is null or `display_from` < '2025-07-23 01:05:30') and (`display_to` is null or `display_to` > '2025-07-23 01:05:30')

Bindings	0: 2025-07-23 01:05:30 1: 2025-07-23 01:05:30
Backtrace	app/Http/Middleware/PromotionalBlockCacheMiddleware.php:24 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Cache/Repository.php:427 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Cache/CacheManager.php:453 app/Http/Middleware/PromotionalBlockCacheMiddleware.php:23 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Pipeline/Pipeline.php:209

PodcastEpisodesController.php#24premier770μsselect exists(select * from `brands` where `brands`.`id` is null and `brands`.`deleted_at` is null) as `exists`

Backtrace

app/Http/Controllers/PodcastEpisodesController.php:24
vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Routing/Controller.php:54
vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Routing/ControllerDispatcher.php:44
vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Routing/Route.php:266
vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Routing/Route.php:212

PodcastEpisode.php#193premier1.27ms

select exists(select * from `musicables` where `musicables`.`musicable_type` = 'App\\Models\\PodcastEpisode' and `musicables`.`musicable_id` = 9717 and `musicables`.`musicable_id` is not null) as `exists`

Bindings	0: App\Models\PodcastEpisode 1: 9717
Backtrace	app/Models/PodcastEpisode.php:193 app/Livewire/SectionPodcastPlayer.php:74 app/Livewire/SectionPodcastPlayer.php:29 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Container/BoundMethod.php:36 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Container/Util.php:43

PodcastEpisode.php#100premier710μsselect * from `podcasts` where `podcasts`.`id` = 36 and `podcasts`.`deleted_at` is null limit 1

Bindings	0: 36
Backtrace	app/Models/PodcastEpisode.php:100 app/Models/PodcastEpisode.php:193 app/Livewire/SectionPodcastPlayer.php:74 app/Livewire/SectionPodcastPlayer.php:29 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Container/BoundMethod.php:36

Podcast.php#215premier870μs

select exists(select * from `music_genres` inner join `musicables` on `music_genres`.`id` = `musicables`.`music_genre_id` where `musicables`.`musicable_id` = 36 and `musicables`.`musicable_type` = 'App\\Models\\Podcast' and `music_genres`.`deleted_at` is null) as `exists`

Bindings	0: 36 1: App\Models\Podcast
Backtrace	app/Models/Podcast.php:215 app/Models/PodcastEpisode.php:193 app/Livewire/SectionPodcastPlayer.php:74 app/Livewire/SectionPodcastPlayer.php:29 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Container/BoundMethod.php:36

SectionPodcastPlayer.php#78premier570μs

select * from `listenable_progress_items` where `listenable_progress_items`.`listenable_type` = 'App\\Models\\PodcastEpisode' and `listenable_progress_items`.`listenable_id` = 9717 and `listenable_progress_items`.`listenable_id` is not null and `user_id` is null limit 1

Bindings	0: App\Models\PodcastEpisode 1: 9717
Backtrace	app/Livewire/SectionPodcastPlayer.php:78 app/Livewire/SectionPodcastPlayer.php:29 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Container/BoundMethod.php:36 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Container/Util.php:43 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Container/BoundMethod.php:95

SectionPodcastPlayer.php#138premier9.05ms

select * from `podcast_episodes` where `podcast_id` = 36 and `published_at` < '2017-02-08 16:00:00' and `podcast_episodes`.`deleted_at` is null order by `published_at` desc limit 1

Bindings	0: 36 1: 2017-02-08 16:00:00
Backtrace	app/Livewire/SectionPodcastPlayer.php:138 app/Livewire/SectionPodcastPlayer.php:31 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Container/BoundMethod.php:36 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Container/Util.php:43 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Container/BoundMethod.php:95

SectionPodcastPlayer.php#148premier9.08ms

select * from `podcast_episodes` where `podcast_id` = 36 and `published_at` > '2017-02-08 16:00:00' and `podcast_episodes`.`deleted_at` is null order by `published_at` asc limit 3

Bindings	0: 36 1: 2017-02-08 16:00:00
Backtrace	app/Livewire/SectionPodcastPlayer.php:148 app/Livewire/SectionPodcastPlayer.php:32 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Container/BoundMethod.php:36 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Container/Util.php:43 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Container/BoundMethod.php:95

PodcastEpisode.php#193premier870μs

select exists(select * from `musicables` where `musicables`.`musicable_type` = 'App\\Models\\PodcastEpisode' and `musicables`.`musicable_id` = 9717 and `musicables`.`musicable_id` is not null) as `exists`

Bindings	0: App\Models\PodcastEpisode 1: 9717
Backtrace	app/Models/PodcastEpisode.php:193 view::livewire.section-podcast-player:4 vendor/livewire/livewire/src/Mechanisms/ExtendBlade/ExtendedCompilerEngine.php:38 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/View/Engines/CompilerEngine.php:75 vendor/livewire/livewire/src/Mechanisms/ExtendBlade/ExtendedCompilerEngine.php:16

Podcast.php#215premier780μs

select exists(select * from `music_genres` inner join `musicables` on `music_genres`.`id` = `musicables`.`music_genre_id` where `musicables`.`musicable_id` = 36 and `musicables`.`musicable_type` = 'App\\Models\\Podcast' and `music_genres`.`deleted_at` is null) as `exists`

Bindings	0: 36 1: App\Models\Podcast
Backtrace	app/Models/Podcast.php:215 app/Models/PodcastEpisode.php:193 view::livewire.section-podcast-player:4 vendor/livewire/livewire/src/Mechanisms/ExtendBlade/ExtendedCompilerEngine.php:38 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/View/Engines/CompilerEngine.php:75

Setting.php#20premier950μsselect * from `settings` where `setting_key` = 'web_donation_link' limit 1

Bindings	0: web_donation_link
Backtrace	app/Models/Setting.php:20 app/Helpers/Settings.php:6 vendor/livewire/livewire/src/Mechanisms/ExtendBlade/ExtendedCompilerEngine.php:38 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/View/Engines/CompilerEngine.php:75 vendor/livewire/livewire/src/Mechanisms/ExtendBlade/ExtendedCompilerEngine.php:16

Setting.php#20premier510μsselect * from `settings` where `setting_key` = 'web_donation_link' limit 1

Bindings	0: web_donation_link
Backtrace	app/Models/Setting.php:20 app/Helpers/Settings.php:6 vendor/livewire/livewire/src/Mechanisms/ExtendBlade/ExtendedCompilerEngine.php:38 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/View/Engines/CompilerEngine.php:75 vendor/livewire/livewire/src/Mechanisms/ExtendBlade/ExtendedCompilerEngine.php:16

PodcastEpisode.php#193premier940μs

select exists(select * from `musicables` where `musicables`.`musicable_type` = 'App\\Models\\PodcastEpisode' and `musicables`.`musicable_id` = 9717 and `musicables`.`musicable_id` is not null) as `exists`

Bindings	0: App\Models\PodcastEpisode 1: 9717
Backtrace	app/Models/PodcastEpisode.php:193 app/Livewire/SectionPodcastPlayer.php:102 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Container/BoundMethod.php:36 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Container/Util.php:43 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Container/BoundMethod.php:95

Podcast.php#215premier760μs

select exists(select * from `music_genres` inner join `musicables` on `music_genres`.`id` = `musicables`.`music_genre_id` where `musicables`.`musicable_id` = 36 and `musicables`.`musicable_type` = 'App\\Models\\Podcast' and `music_genres`.`deleted_at` is null) as `exists`

Bindings	0: 36 1: App\Models\Podcast
Backtrace	app/Models/Podcast.php:215 app/Models/PodcastEpisode.php:193 app/Livewire/SectionPodcastPlayer.php:102 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Container/BoundMethod.php:36 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Container/Util.php:43

PodcastEpisode.php#100premier810μsselect * from `podcasts` where `podcasts`.`id` = 36 and `podcasts`.`deleted_at` is null limit 1

Bindings	0: 36
Backtrace	app/Models/PodcastEpisode.php:100 app/Models/PodcastEpisode.php:127 view::livewire.section-podcast-player:194 vendor/livewire/livewire/src/Mechanisms/ExtendBlade/ExtendedCompilerEngine.php:38 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/View/Engines/CompilerEngine.php:75

PodcastEpisode.php#100premier900μsselect * from `podcasts` where `podcasts`.`id` = 36 and `podcasts`.`deleted_at` is null limit 1

Bindings	0: 36
Backtrace	app/Models/PodcastEpisode.php:100 app/Models/PodcastEpisode.php:127 view::livewire.section-podcast-player:194 vendor/livewire/livewire/src/Mechanisms/ExtendBlade/ExtendedCompilerEngine.php:38 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/View/Engines/CompilerEngine.php:75

PodcastEpisode.php#100premier740μsselect * from `podcasts` where `podcasts`.`id` = 36 and `podcasts`.`deleted_at` is null limit 1

Bindings	0: 36
Backtrace	app/Models/PodcastEpisode.php:100 app/Models/PodcastEpisode.php:127 view::livewire.section-podcast-player:194 vendor/livewire/livewire/src/Mechanisms/ExtendBlade/ExtendedCompilerEngine.php:38 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/View/Engines/CompilerEngine.php:75

Setting.php#20premier950μsselect * from `settings` where `setting_key` = 'web_donation_link' limit 1

Bindings	0: web_donation_link
Backtrace	app/Models/Setting.php:20 app/Helpers/Settings.php:6 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Filesystem/Filesystem.php:124 vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/View/Engines/PhpEngine.php:58 vendor/livewire/livewire/src/Mechanisms/ExtendBlade/ExtendedCompilerEngine.php:22

App\Models\Podcast: 5Podcast.php#?
App\Models\PodcastEpisode: 5PodcastEpisode.php#?
App\Models\Setting: 3Setting.php#?

section-podcast-player #AzAlC8DXQFCVOPppnmAG: array:4 [ "data" => array:8 [ "podcast" => App\Models\Podcast {#2301 #connection: "mysql...

_token: YTLQAlhZ6kRoGOQ07Egoq7g0QuIyuiuqNiwvwGxi

AutoshowClear Show all

	Date ↕	Method	URL	Data
#1	2025-07-23 01:05:32	GET	/podcasts/bibleproject/episodes/the-bible-as-divine-literary-art	62 23 13 1

The Bible as Divine Literary Art

Sorry, this content isn’t currently available in your region

Coming up next

What's in your Bible?

The Holy Spirit Part 1: Spirit of the Old Testament vs. The Spirit of Christianity

The Holy Spirit Part 2: God's Ruakh

Please sign in to your
FREE Premier Plus account*

Trending Audio

1 x Application (95.55%)	2.11s
1 x Preparing Response (92.16%)	2.04s
1 x Booting (4.45%)	98.24ms
1 x Routing (0.4%)	8.85ms