Hello, I'm Jada Boomrod.

And I'm Robert Krollwich. This is Radio Lab, the podcast. The podcast. Now, one of the things that we do on this program, of course, is look at big ideas, trying to figure out how the world works. And to do that, we often talk to scientists who are, you know, asking questions, doing experiments, giving us data and statistics. But there are some questions that science just can't get to.

Well, this is Holy Week, so there's Easter being celebrated, and then we're going to have

Passover, and so it seemed like an appropriate time to not ignore the fact that for most of

the world, some of the deepest and the most unknowable questions are examined through Bible stories.

That's right. And Robert, this is a sermon that you gave at a synagogue, right?

It's my attempt to try to reason, to try to make sense out of one of the darkest and most difficult stories that humans have ever told each other.

The chapter in the Bible begins with the question.

It's only one word long, one word.

Abraham is at home with his family, his servants, his wife.

We don't know what he's doing at this moment.

The story doesn't say.

It's probably an ordinary day, a day in his life.

And suddenly, Abraham hears a voice. and the voice says to him one word,

Abraham? And Abraham answers, here am I. This is not just a voice, this is the voice of God,

the Bible says, God, the creator of the universe, calling down to one man, calling to Abraham,

not for the first time, not at all.

When Abraham was younger, God appeared to him and told him to leave his home, which Abraham did.

And then God told Abraham to go to a strange land, which he did.

And then God and Abraham exchanged promises and had a covenant together,

and God told Abraham to send his first son, Ishmael, away into the desert, which Abraham

did. And God told Abraham he had a plan to destroy the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. And this time,

...