Divine Council in Late Canonical and Non-Canonical 2nd Temple Jewish Literature

Mike’s dissertation entitled, “The Divine Council in Late Canonical and Non-Canonical Second Temple Jewish Literature” is the most comprehensive treatment of the subject of the Divine Council available.

Mike demonstrates that divine plurality, especially the belief in two powers in heaven (a godhead) was part of Judaism until shortly after Christianity. Along with the actual dissertation, a synopsis and chart Mike used at his dissertation defense are available.

Here are just a few of the issues that Mike tackles head-on in this comprehensive analysis of the Divine Council in Late Canonical and Non-Canonical 2nd Temple Jewish Literature; Assumptions About Israelite Monotheism, Comments on Metaphor and Divine Imagery, Divine Council and Monolatry in Deuteronomy and Deutero-Isaiah, Divine Council in the Book of Daniel, Divine Council in the Qumran Sectarian Literature, Divine Council Meeting in Daniel 7, Divine Council of Pre-Exilic Israelite Religion, Divine Council Scene of Zechariah 3:1-7, Divine Council Terms and Motifs Elsewhere in Zechariah, Divine Plurality and Council Activity in the Book of Job, Divine Plurality and Divine Council Motifs in Late Psalms, Divine Plurality in Late Canonical Texts, Divine Plurality, the “Princes” of Daniel, and Yahweh’s Vice-Regent Divine Vice-Regent of the Council, Meeting Place of the Divine Council, Members of the Divine Council, Psalm 82: Yahweh-El or Yahweh and El?, Status and Role of the Vice-Regent, Structure and Operation of the Divine Council’s Bureaucracy, Terminology for the Divine Council, Text-Historical Assumptions and Late Israelite Religion.

In a field of study that has almost been untouched by contemporary Bible commentators and teachers, this scholoary treatment of the Divine Council is the definitive work. -- 268 pages. $39.95

Divine Council Dissertation Defense Papers

The papers mike used for his Divine Council dissertation defense.

From the introduction:
This dissertation deals with the intersection of three areas of scholarly inquiry related to the study of the Hebrew Bible and Judaism of the Second Temple period:1 (1) the idea of a pantheon or divine assembly in Israelite religion; (2) the trajectory in New Testament studies of the past twenty years toward establishing distinctly Jewish roots for Christianity’s high Christology—the belief that Jesus was God incarnate; and (3) the denunciation of the 2nd Temple period Jewish teaching that there were two powers in heaven by later rabbinical leaders.

If you are looking for the basic outline and key points without jumping into a ton of original Hebrew texts - this is the paper for you. It provides a general "defense" for the complete body of Mike's dissertation entitled "Divine Council in Late Canonical and Non-Canonical 2nd Temple Jewish Literature". $9.95

Divine Council Dissertation Defense Chart

The chart Mike used at his dissertation defense for his Divine Council findings. 75 cents.

Why Edens Serpent was not a Snake

"Why Eden’s Serpent was not a Snake" – by Michael S. Heiser. This paper answers the question of why Eve wasn’t surprised to have a “snake” speak to her. The answer? There was no snake—Eve was speaking to a shining, supernatural being. $4.95

Psalm 82 Gods or Men

“Psalm 82: Gods or Men?” – by Michael S. Heiser. A brief exploration of how the vocabulary and literary structure of Psalm 82 show clearly that the second occurrence of elohim in Psalm 82:1 refers to other gods in a council under the authority of the God of Israel. $9.95

Deuteronomy 32:8 and the Sons of God

Deut 32 and the Sons of God, by Michael S. Heiser. 27 Pages. Moses' farewell song in Deuteronomy 32:1-43 is one of the more intriguing portions of Deuteronomy, and has received a good deal of attention among scholars, primarily for its poetic features, archaic orthography and morphology, and text-critical problems. Among the textual variants present in the Song of Moses, one in Deut. 32:8 stands out as particularly fascinating. This is a pre-edited version of Mike’s article that was eventually published in Dallas Seminary's journal, Bibliotheca Sacra. Mike demonstrates that the Hebrew text of Deut. 32:8 should read “sons of God” instead of “sons of Israel, which is found in most English translations. $9.95

"Creation, Evolution, Intelligent Design, and the Replicating Universe: What Does the Hebrew Text of Genesis 1:1-3 Allow?"

What does the Hebrew text allow when it comes to creation, evolution, and intelligent design? A discussion for the layperson of how the clauses in these three verses are what matters for interpretation, not vocabulary.

For those researchers in this category, it must be understood that the debate over how to understand Genesis 1 and 2 does NOT hinge on word meanings. It hinges on grammar and sentence structure, specifically of Genesis 1:1-3. You cannot get that kind of data from word study dictionaries. You have to understand Hebrew grammar to deal with these issues. If your analysis of Gen. 1:1-3 relies on Strong’s Concordance and other lexicons, you are already down the wrong path. This paper will supply you with the necessary bibliography for reading what Hebrew scholars have said about these verses, but even those will do you little good if you do not have at least a year of biblical Hebrew. $4.95

Did Jesus Allow for Reincarnation

“Did Jesus Allow for Reincarnation?” – by Michael S. Heiser. 18 Pages. This is a scholarly article on John 9:3-4 on whether Jesus left the door open for reincarnation in his theology. Heavy use of Greek. $4.95

"Moses as High Priest and Sorcerer? A Response to Graham Hancock's Egyptian Explanation for the Ark of the Covenant

Text of Mike's 1995 scholarly article demonstrating Hancock's misuse of biblical data and flawed logic applied to that data. $9.95

Thinking Clearly about the Jesus Family Tomb

Does the world now have proof that traditional Christianity has been little more than a historical contrivance? Mike’s take on the so-called lost Jesus tomb, explaining in plain language the gaps in the data, poor logic, and sloppy scholarship of the documentary’s producers. $6.95

The DaVinci Code as New Age Cosmology

There is no doubt that Dan Brown’s recent novel, The Da Vinci Code, has been a significant publishing event. Unless you’ve spent the last year in Plato’s cave you know that Brown’s cryptic thriller sent shockwaves through the Christian Church, evangelical and otherwise. $9.95

The Bible Code Myth

This is the only book ever written that takes on the Bible Code from the perspective of what is known about the textual transmission of the Hebrew text of the Old Testament. The fundamental premise of all Bible code research is that the every-letter sequence of the Hebrew text of the Old Testament has remained unaltered since God prompted the biblical authors to compose their documents. The actual manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible, however, inform us very plainly that no two manuscripts are identical, different versions of biblical books exist in those manuscripts (sometimes involving thousands of letters), and the scribes who transmitted the Hebrew text at times made mistakes in transmission, and left notes in their copies about suspect readings in the manuscripts. These data testify unequivocally that the preservation of the every-letter sequence of Hebrew letters is uncertain. The author introduces the English reader to these phenomena so as to visually demonstrate that the certitude of the every-letter sequence required for the Bible code to be real is a demonstrable myth.

"The Bible Code Myth by Michael Heiser gives an excellent introduction to the history of the Hebrew Bible and how we received it. Heiser explodes the myth that our text differs by only a few letters from the original autographs. Yet he does so without demolishing belief in the inspiration or authority of the Bible. It is hard to see how very much encoded material could have survived the hundreds of letter-variations in the original text. If I ever teach a class on the Bible code, The Bible Code Myth will be required reading." -- Randall Ingermanson, PhD, computational physicist and author of Who Wrote the Bible Code? $12.95

The Meaning of the Word Nephilim: Fact vs. Fantasy

From the introduction:
There’s a lot said and written about the word nephilim. I know it may sound incredible, but practically all of it is wrong—even what’s written by Old Testament scholars. It’s a case of one scholar parroting what the scholar before him or her has said, and so on down the line. If you’re not a Hebrew scholar, have no fear. You’ll be able to understand this. That is, you don’t need to know how to read Hebrew to follow what I’ll say. If you’re a follower of ancient astronaut theorist Zecharia Sitchin, you may want to run the other way since this short paper will not only show you how the meaning Sitchin’s says is impossible really IS what the word means, but you’ll see how sadly inept Sitchin’s work in Hebrew is. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

If you are a Hebrew scholar, please note that I’m serious about the above claim that most of what’s written about this word is wrong. You’ve probably accepted the idea that the word nephilim is simply the masculine plural participle of Hebrew naphal. It isn’t. As you read, ask yourself a fundamental question: Have I ever asked myself why the typical explanation that nephilim comes from Hebrew naphal doesn’t jive with Hebrew morphological patterns for a masculine plural participle in any stem? $4.95

Since the publication of The Façade, many readers have asked for more information on the themes introduced in book. Toward meeting these requests, Mike decided to create a monthly newsletter called "BEHIND THE FACADE". Each monthly issue contains the following items for readers:

News and Headlines

News stories devoted to the subject matters related to the book. You could spend a couple hours each day looking for these headlines, or you can let Mike do it for you.

The Briefing Room

Aside from news and information, there is a good bit of material out there on the web that can expand on subjects broached in The Facade. This section is devoted to filling in the gaps on varied subjects.

Book & Article Reviews

Each issue provides reviews of both academic works and popular books in the areas relevant to the content of The Facade. There's no better way to learn what the best (or perhaps worst) books are on the subjects you care about with respect to the subject matter of The Facade.

Divine Council Forum

Many readers have discovered that there is no available book for non-specialists on the divine council. In this monthly feature, I provide readers with the latest text of the first draft of my book manuscript on the divine council. The planned title is The Myth that is True. Readers can respond with feedback (and often do!).

Behind The Façade: The Arcive currently contains 30 back-issues!

Each issue is jam-packed with content, the typical newsletters run around 50 pages of content, some are way more. This is about 10 Megabytes of content in PDF form. $39.95