In medieval castle, the swamps of Dagobah, a haunted house, the Roman Colosseum.

These are all examples of places, and when these places are used in stories, they become

what we call settings.

One of the primary vehicles of meaning in biblical narratives is when they highlight and repeat

where events take place.

I'm John Collins, and this is the Bible Project Podcast.

Today, we're talking about settings.

Settings are crucially important to storytellers.

If a scene takes place and a creepy rundown house, you as a reader now have an expectation

of what is going to happen.

Something scary.

If a story takes place in a courtroom, you now expect a story about crime and justice.

And settings are a big deal in the Bible.

Egypt, Bethlehem, Moab, Nineveh, Babylon.

And what you're supposed to be doing with the biblical author's assume you're doing

is keeping a little tally of where every story happens.

This is not unique to biblical stories.

Places become symbolic and full of meaning just by nature of the things that have happened

there.

Okay, we talk about the significance of setting.

Thanks for joining us.

Here we go.

...