The Darash Chai Experiment
The Darash Chai Experiment
Aaron Bishop

In the beginning there were two trees in the Garden of Eden. One, a tree that brought life. The other, a tree that brought death. The serpent showed up and placed the focus of mankind on the tree that brought death. Is it possible that we as a race have been focusing on the wrong tree. We talk about good and evil, right and wrong. We discuss what is moral and what is immoral. All of these questions, however, were on the tree that brought death. Perhaps it is time to shift our focus. To stop looking to the tree of death by asking the question of good and evil. Rather, let's start asking the question of life and death. If we can shift our assumptions on this most basic of questions, we can change our entire paradigm. If we change our paradigm, we can change the world. What will be the result? I do not know, but you are invited to come along and join us as we Seek Life.

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Episode Listing

  • S3 E51 – The Weakness of the Strong – Judges 14

    Samson gets a bad wrap from many pastors and commentators. He is often credited with breaking his Nazarite vows. He is portrayed as a drunkard with no care for the uncleanness of corpses. The only part of the vow that Samson is said to have obeyed was the bit about cutting his hair, that is until his hair was cut. But when we read the story of Samson and pay attention, we will discover that Samson is never once recorded as having a drink or eating a grape. And the concern about corpses of often misunderstood and misapplied. Samson does have a weakness, but it is not wine. It is a much more fundamental weakness that causes him to make the terrible decisions that he makes. His weakness is women. And not just any women. Philistine women.

  • S3 E50 – Becoming Judge – Judges 13 

    In this chapter we begin the story of the final and the most popular judge of Israel. Samson, the strong man who we know to have been a man of great strength. But the story of Samson does not begin with Samson. Instead, Samson’s story begins with his parents. Specifically with an angelic visitation of Samson’s mother. In the angel’s instructions we discover some things are not quite as kosher in Samson’s family as we might expect for a man whose birth was foretold of by and angel and who would live under a Nazarite vow. But as we consider the implications of the angel’s words, we have to stop and ask ourselves. Who made us judge?

  • S3 E49 – A Conflict of Pride – Judges 12 

    Just after Jephthah’s great victory he, like Gideon is confronted by the tribe of Ephraim for the slight to their honor of not being invited to the war. Unlike Gideon, Jephthah decides to escalate the confrontation into war, and the reason is clear. Jephthah is still in pain from what he forced himself to do to his only daughter, and the way that Ephraim confronts him triggers him into a violent response. And in the end, Ephraim pokes the proverbial bear and pays the price for their own pride.

  • S3 E48 – The Hero’s Tragedy – Judges 11

    Jephthah is a Biblical character that is often trotted out as the epitome of the tragic hero. A man who gives his all, including those he loves, for the success that he so desperately craves. The tragedy of Jephthah is a profound lesson on unintended consequences, rash vows, and difficult choices, and how all three can bring a man who is on top of the world, down to the lowest place that a man can go while still alive.

  • S3 E47 – The Broken Pattern – Judges 10

    Throughout the book of Judges we have seen a pattern that was spoken of clearly in chapter 2, and which has been repeated throughout the book. Well, this chapter we see the pattern begin again, but when we examine it closely, the pattern is broken from what we have been primed to expect. The people sin, they are turned over to their enemies, they cry out for release, but when God responds, He does not do so as expected, and in this broken pattern we discover an abiding truth about God and His interactions with men.

  • S3 E46 – The Hero’s Downfall – Judges 9

    The story of Gideon is over, but for the first time in the course of Judges, we are told a story that does not include a single Judge. Instead, we are treated to a narrative that covers the lives of Gideon’s children, and in the lives of his children we find the great tragedy of Gideon. The legend and hero in his own time passed on his own self-importance to at least one of his sons, and that son takes steps that destroy Gideon’s name and legacy.

  • S3 E45 – The Hero’s Homecoming – Judges 8

    The initial battle for Israel is over, but there is more fighting to be done. Just like the heroes of legend and popular media, Gideon is on a journey, and as the war wraps up, he takes those final steps of the hero’s journey. Coming home. And just as with every other hero who completes the Hero’s Journey, Gideon returns home to find that while his home had not changed, he himself has. And in this change there is a trap and a warning about the treachery of men’s hearts when a man is thrust into fame.

  • S3 E44 – The Hero’s Weakness – Judges 7

    The story of Gideon is one of the more famous stories in the book of Judges. It is the story of a commander who is forced by God, to whittle down his own forces before facing an enemy of massive size. And when we tell of this story we often highlight Gideon, the man, the hero, the legend. But what we fail to recognize is that the reason that Gideon’s forces were whittled down was so that Gideon would be made weak. So that God would get the glory for the victory, not a man. But we, just like everyone else, we make it about the man, and in doing so we ignore the weakness inherent in this man.

  • S3 E43 – Courage and Doubt – Judges 6

    The next judge in the book of Judges is Gideon. A mighty man of valor who will fight the enemy before him with only a small band of unarmed combatants. A man who is called by many a coward when the story begins. But when we stop and consider what Gideon is doing and the opposition that he faces we find a completely different story. Gideon is a man of great courage, but he is also a man full of doubt. A combination of traits that God can work with to accomplish his plans.

  • S3 E42 – The Story of the Song – Judges 5

    Judges 5 is a unique chapter in the book of Judges. While every other chapter is narrative and tells of the exploits of one judge or another, chapter 5 is a song that was sung by Barak and Deborah in celebration of their victory over Sisera and Jabin. So why is it that this book takes a break from the story at this point in the narrative in order to hold a musical number? Well, the answer is found in the story that the song tells.