The Bet that Built a Temple (Dan McClellan and Dan Beecher; Data Over Dogma podcast)

This episode, we'll be talking about 1 Esdras. It's a book you won't find in most Bibles these days, yet you will find most of the stories it contains. And if Esdras sounds a lot like the name of another Biblical book to you, that's not a coincidence. So what is Esdras? Why is it different from its biblical cousin, and why was one chosen over the other (unless you're in Ethiopia)? 

Chapters:

0:00 Intro
1:25 The Missing Book: Introducing 1 Esdras
2:24 Where Does 1 Esdras Come From?
4:41 Chiasmus & Biblical Structure
8:29 Why Cyrus the Great is Called "Christ"
10:52 The Bizarre Bodyguard Bet
15:40 Which is Strongest: Wine, The King, Women, or Truth?
21:36 The Zerubbabel Reveal & Rebuilding the Temple
25:02 Why Did They Pray Toward Jerusalem?
27:03 The Babylonian Origin of the 7-Day Week
28:07 Parallels to Ezra and Nehemiah
30:12 The Court Tale Motif in the Bible
31:05 Outro

Interview: 

https://youtu.be/HdGS_nAYFw0?si=8h1cAk25umzPiJUP