HeyJaredWise Counsel
Welcome to Wise Counsel, a daily five-minute devotional hosted by RM Smith. Each episode dives deep into biblical scholarship and Ancient Near Eastern context, offering concise insights into Scripture to illuminate its timeless truths and practical applications.
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 43
- Latest publication
- Sep 29, 2026
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- Earliest in this view
- Jul 6, 2026
Latest episodes
Joel 2 The Shofar in Zion: The Day of Yahweh, Heart Repentance, and the Eschatological Spirit (opens the original)
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What happens when a national agricultural disaster transforms into a terrifying apocalyptic crisis? As the second chapter of Joel opens, the prophet commands the blowing of the shofar on Mount Zion, warning that a cosmic invasion from the north—the vector of divine judgment—is marching toward Jerusalem. Yet, at the very moment when covenantal destruction seems inevitable, Yahweh Himself interrupts the judgment with an unprecedented call: "Rend your hearts and not your garments" . In this deep-di
Joel 1 The Swarm and the Sovereign: Unpacking the Cosmic Courtroom (opens the original)
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Welcome back to the podcast. Today, we are dissecting the terrifying and urgent alarm sounded in the opening chapter of Joel, drawing heavily from the file "Biblical Scholarship". To grasp the gravity of Joel's message, we must first step into the sun-drenched streets of the mid-eighth century B.C. during a period of intense false security. Under the prolonged reign of King Jeroboam II, the nation was enjoying an unprecedented economic boom and territorial expansion, with ruling elites lounging
Jonah 4: The Prophet Who Sued God: Weaponized Grace and the Fury (opens the original)
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Welcome back to the podcast. Today, we are looking at the shocking, unresolved cliffhanger of Jonah's story, drawing directly from the file "Biblical Scholarship". Most people assume the narrative ends with a massive revival in Nineveh, but the true emotional climax occurs in chapter 4 when the prophet spirals into a bitter, existential crisis because the Creator extended a protective canopy over his worst enemies. In this episode, we step into the volatile geopolitical landscape of the eighth-c
Jonah 3: Grace for the Enemy: Unpacking Nineveh’s Shocking Repentance (opens the original)
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What happens when God shows grace to the people you detest most? In Jonah 3, after being vomited back from the subterranean depths of Sheol, the reluctant prophet receives a second chance—and a command to march directly into Nineveh, the terrorizing capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Infamous across the ancient Near East for brutal, public atrocities, the Assyrians were effectively the terror state of their era. Jonah didn't run away out of fear; he fled because he knew Yahweh was gracious and
Jonah 1-2: Swallowed by Chaos: Jonah and the Dragon of Sheol (opens the original)
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Forget the sanitized Sunday School imagery of a friendly marine mammal; to ancient audiences, the sea was an untamable, otherworldly realm symbolizing dread, destruction, and the chaos of death. When the prophet Jonah fled his divine commission to Nineveh, he wasn't just avoiding an uncomfortable trip—he was actively volunteering to become an agent of chaos against God’s wishes. In this episode, we explore the murky, terrifying depths of Jonah 1-2 to uncover the ancient Near Eastern imagery of t
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