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Podcast: The Bible as Literature
Episode: Bread and Stone
Description: The interplay between the terms bayt and heykal in biblical Hebrew is simple. So simple that it can be explained to a child. A heykal is a building made of stone that serves as both a temple and a palace for the king. The writers of the old TV series Stargate SG1 got the basic premise correct: people are fooled into worshiping their leaders as gods—and the bloody Pharaohs didn’t even have to be aliens. Just ordinary humans. That’s how gullible we are. Wear some flashy gold bling; execute a few poor people; build a shiny tower...