Trump wears an Aramaic Zohar treatise for protection?

APOTROPAIC ARAMAIC: Marla Maples: Trump carries the Zohar over his heart “for protection and healing.” (Tamar Stein, Israel365News).

Marla Maples, Donald Trump’s second wife, revealed in a new interview that the president carries an Aramaic copy of the Zohar’s Book of Pinchas inside his clothing, pressed against his heart. Speaking with Channel 12’s Jonathan Rieger, Maples said the mystical text serves a specific purpose in Trump’s life: “protection and healing.”

[...]

There is a pocket edition of Zohar treatise Pinchas in the original Aramaic, sold for just this purpose.

Cross-file under Aramaic Watch, Zohar Watch, and Politics.

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Gemstones are divine

PROF. ILONA N. RASHKOW: Gemstones of the Gods: The Symbolism of the High Priest’s Breastpiece (TheTorah.com).

Ezekiel pictures Eden as a garden filled with precious stones—the same stones that adorn the high priest’s breastpiece. Across the ancient Near East, gods inhabit a world of jewel-bearing trees, gemstone mountains, and temples of lapis and gold. By wearing these stones when he enters YHWH’s sanctuary, the high priest dresses for the divine realm.

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Antiquities looting charges in Hadera Court

APRREHENDED AND INDICTED: IAA files indictment against two Fureidis residents caught carrying illegally excavated artifacts. Distelfeld and the other officials found a total of 13 ancient bronze coins, three ancient bronze items, two ancient lead items, and another 14 unidentified metal objects in the suspects' possession (Yoav Etiel, Jerusalem Post).

The two were in the midst of an illegal excavation of the site when they were discovered by the IAA, an INPA inspector, and a local security guard. Several pieces of ancient pottery had been shattered, and layers of earth had been disturbed during the suspects’ excavation.

While transporting the suspects to the police station, a rocket siren sounded, forcing the police officers and IAA inspectors to stop and take shelter with the apprehended suspects, as well as other civilians, until the Home Front Command issued an all-clear alert.

I remember this incident from last March, but it looks like I didn't report on it. There are so many antiquities looting arrests it is difficult to keep track of them.

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Are Jeremiah's false prophet opponents imaginary?

THE BIBLE AND INTERPRETATION:

Who Are the “False Prophets” in the Book of Jeremiah?

The book of Jeremiah brims with scathing denunciations of what it casts as “false prophecy.” Scholars have long sought to reconstruct the historical realities presumed to stand behind Jeremianic discourse about prophetic conflict. The study of inner-biblical interpretation provides a productive new lens through which to reassess the problem. The “false prophets” are best understood as Jeremiah’s imagined exegetical opponents—exegetical inventions and products of scribal inner-biblical interpretation. This new approach throws into sharper relief the richness and sophistication of the exegetical imagination in ancient Israel.

See also Prophetic Conflict and Scribal Culture: Ancient Exegetical Imagination in the Book of Jeremiah (De Gruyter, 2026).

By Olga Fabrikant-Burke
University of Cambridge
Ridley Hall, Cambridge
Tutor in Old Testament
August 2026

This is a very interesting argument and it may be right. But I can think of some other possible explanations for the overlaps and interactions between Jeremiah's and Hananiah's oracles. Hananiah may indeed have been interacting with Jeremiah's orally-presented oracles. Or, vice-versa, Jeremiah with Hananiah's. They could be going back and forth. Or both could be drawing on current prophetic rhetorical conventions and using them in different ways. Or some combination of the above. Or some combination of the above with subsequent scribal touching up.

Perhaps the author addresses some of these points in her book, which I have not read. (Cross-file under New Book.)

Her argument underlines a point we should always keep in mind. None of our manuscripts of the books of the Hebrew Bible are at all close to any putative autograph text.* And there is a lot of evidence for active scribal tampering in the manuscripts we have. Any attempt to reconstruct an historical Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, or original text of other books, need to keep this point firmly in mind.

*Yes, I know the Book of Daniel is an exception. Arguably our earliest (fragmentary Qumran) manuscripts were written withing living memory of the original circulation of the book, perhaps even soon after. But the Old Greek version gives us good reason to think that what we have in the Masoretic Text has already been subject to considerable scribal intervention.

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Most of Egypt's antiquities remain to be uncovered?

EGYPTIAN ARCHAEOLOGY: Only 30% of Egypt's antiquities uncovered, more discoveries await-official (Egyptian State Information Service).

Egypt has uncovered only about 30% of its archaeological heritage, with vast historic treasures from successive civilizations still buried beneath its soil, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Hisham El-Leithy said on Tuesday, July 7, 2026.

[...]

I would have thought that Egypt was among the most archaeological explored places in the world. Perhaps even the very most. Yet 70% of its antiquities remain to be discovered? The claim is surprising, but the discovery pace in the last few years offers it some support. Examples noted here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

The other extremely thoroughly archaeologically explored region that comes immediately to mind is, of course, the Land of Israel. How many of its antiquities remain to be discovered? Many, I hope.

For related reflections see here and here and links.

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Review of Gradel & Pedersen ,The Lost Novel of King Solomon and the Demons

THE APOCRYPHICITY BLOG: Book Review: The Lost Novel of King Solomon and the Demons (Tony Burke).

Gradel and Pedersen have made an important contribution to the study of TSol. While The Lost Novel has a few idiosyncrasies (most notably the juxtaposition of the literary qualities of Proto-TSol and TSol), it is carefully argued and clearly written. I think the arguments for an early novelistic account of Solomon and the demons could be made without appeal to the rings, but they are a fascinating example of the interplay between apocryphal texts and material culture.

I noted the publication of the book here, with a bit of commentary and a link to previous posts on the Testament of Solomon. I could have flagged posts on Solomonic artifacts here and here. If I had looked more closely I would have seen that the already-published rings are discussed in chapter 8 in the latter volume.

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The ABCs of West Bank areas

POLITICS AND ARCHAEOLOGY: Explaining the West Bank Map: What Are Areas A, B and C? (Linda Dayan, Haaretz).

The fragmented areas were created by the Oslo Accords in 1993 as a temporary measure to divide control between Israel and the Palestinians. More than 30 years later, the system remains in place

The alphabet areas are about governance in general, not just archaeology. But they come up all the time in stories about West Bank archaeology. It's good to have this overview of what they mean.

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Anything left to say about the Shroud of Turin?

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: The Shroud of Turin: Anything Left to Say? The history of Christianity’s most controversial relic (Andrea Nicolotti).

Understandably, the authenticity discussion has almost completely stalled out. With no new data to consider and the two camps entrenched in their positions, is there anything left to say about the Shroud? If we do not want to engage in the fight over its authenticity, is the Shroud still an object deserving of further study?

This BHD essay is concerned with the reception history of the Shroud and does not take a position on its authenticity.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the Shroud of Turin, some of which note arguments in favor of or against its authenticity, start here and follow the links. The vast majority of scholarship views it as a medieval forgery.

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Daniel Sivan (1949-2026)

SAD NEWS: Daniel Sivan, Leading Scholar of Ancient Hebrew and Semitic Languages, Dies at 76 (מילה, That Eric Alper).

Daniel Sivan, an Israeli Emeritus professor whose decades of scholarship reshaped the study of ancient Hebrew and Northwest Semitic languages, died on August 6, 2026, in Lehavim, Israel, at the age of 76. ...

Sivan’s research centered on ancient Hebrew and Northwest Semitic languages, including Ugaritic, Phoenician, and Punic, and he became known for demonstrating that Ugaritic constituted an independent language within the Northwest Semitic family rather than a Canaanite dialect, challenging assumptions held by earlier scholars. He also produced significant work on medieval Jewish grammarians, including an annotated critical edition of the grammatical writings of Rabbi Yehuda Hayyuj, published in 2012. Alongside Professor Maya Fruchtman, he edited the comprehensive Ariel dictionary, and co-authored the Ariel Aramaic-Hebrew Dictionary with Dr. Haim Dihi. His final book, ‘Sfat Kna’an,’ co-written with Shmuel Ahituv, was published by the Bialik Institute in 2026.

He also published on the Canaanite (Northwest Semitic) elements in the Akkadian of the Amarna letters and related texts. He studied with Anson Rainey, a previous-generation expert on that area and on Northwest Semitics more generally.

May his memory be for a blessing.

Cross-file under Northwest Semitic Epigraphy.

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Daniel's dream portrayed on an ancient Turkish liturgical vessel

CERAMIC ICONOGRAPHY: Unique 1,500-year-old liturgical vessel depicting Daniel's vision found in Türkiye (Türkiye Today Newsroom).

Archaeologists working at the ancient city of Antioch of Pisidia in Isparta, southwestern Türkiye, have uncovered an approximately 1,500-year-old liturgical vessel that researchers say has no known parallel in Christian art history.

Dating to the sixth century A.D., the two-handled vessel brings together the Prophet Daniel, the four beasts from his prophetic vision and a lion within the same composition, according to excavation director Professor Mehmet Ozhanli of Suleyman Demirel University's Department of Archaeology.

[...]

It is difficult to make out anything from the photos, but scroll down for a helpful drawing depicting the scene on the vessel.

For PaleoJudaica posts on the dream of the four beasts in Daniel 7 and it reception, see the links collected here. A late-antique mosaic depicting the dream was excavated at the Huqoq synagogue.

There were many Antiochs in antiquity. Two of the best know are Antioch on the Orontes in Syria, where Jesus followers were reportedly first called "Christians" (Acts 11:26). The other one, where this jar was found, was Antioch of Pisidia (Pisidian Antioch) in Turkey, also mentioned in Acts 13:13-52.

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No Aramaic in Gibsons "Resurrection of the Christ"

CINEMA: Mel Gibson Says ‘Resurrection of the Christ’ Not in Aramaic Because the Story Is Too “Complex” for Subtitles (Jordan Ruimy, World of Reel).

That’s a significant departure from “The Passion of the Christ,” where the use of Aramaic and Latin was central to the experience. Audiences were unbothered by the experience as, at the time, it was the most profitable R-rated movie in history, grossing $612M worldwide, which today would amount to $1.1 billion.

Gibson has been working on this film for a long time. Reportedly, it includes the fall of the angels and the descensus ad infernos, so, yes, there could be a lot of mythology and theology to work through. Pity about the Aramaic, though.

Follow the link in the previous paragraph for more posts on the forthcoming two-part film. Cross-file under Aramaic Watch (Not).

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Carbajosa, A Step Back to the Original Old Testament Peshitta (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

A Step Back to the Original Old Testament Peshitta

Textual Development of the Syriac Version in Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy

Series: Monographs of the Peshitta Institute, Volume: 23

Author: Ignacio Carbajosa

For many years, textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible relied on low-quality editions of the Syriac version (Peshitta). The Leiden critical edition was an improvement, but it still depended on a manuscript (7a1) with many secondary readings. This thorough study of the textual development of Syriac versions in Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, creates the first genealogical tree of the manuscripts, thereby recovering the most original text of the Peshitta. This research sheds light on the origins of the translation and paves the way for a future, eclectic edition of the Syriac version.

Copyright Year: 2026

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-76305-0
Publication: 01 Jun 2026
EUR €159.00

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-76302-9
Publication: 02 Jul 2026
EUR €159.00

Cross-file under Syriac Watch.

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Scarlata, Wine, Soil, and Salvation in the Hebrew Bible and New Testament (CUP)

NEW BOOK FROM CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS:

Wine, Soil, and Salvation in the Hebrew Bible and New Testament

Author: Mark Scarlata, St Mellitus College, London
Published: July 2026
Availability: Available
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781009551106

£24.99 GBP
Paperback

£90.00 GBP
Hardback

$120.00 USD
eBook

Description

Biblical authors used wine as a potent symbol and metaphor of material blessing and salvation, as well as a sign of judgement. In this volume, Mark Scarlata provides a biblical theology of wine through exploration of texts in the Hebrew Bible, later Jewish writings, and the New Testament. He shows how, from the beginnings of creation and the story of Noah, wine is intimately connected to soil, humanity, and harmony between humans and the natural world. In the Prophets, wine functions both as a symbol of blessing and judgement through the metaphor of the cup of salvation and the cup of wrath. In other scriptures, wine is associated with wisdom, joy, love, celebration, and the expectations of the coming Messiah. In the New Testament wine becomes a critical sign for the presence of God's kingdom on earth and a symbol of Christian unity and life through the eucharistic cup. Scarlata's study also explores the connections between the biblical and modern worlds regarding ecology and technology, and why wine remains an important sign of salvation for humanity today.

• Organizes the biblical data on wine into logical categories that provide an overarching framework for how wine connects as a sign of salvation and/or judgment in the Hebrew Bible and New Testament
• Addresses environmental, technological and agricultural questions that emerge from the biblical text and offers modern parallels that relate to how we might address the challenges facing humanity today
• Makes a biblical theology of wine accessible to readers without specialised training in biblical studies or languages while still offering a critical and scholarly treatment of the subject

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On John Dee's Enochian writings

THE ANXIOUS BENCH: The Wizard, The Thief, Their Angels, And The Lost Language (Philip Jenkins).

Which takes us back to the question of forgery. The Enochic texts are mysterious in many ways, not least because they do appear to be in some form of language: you can even find a whole Enochian dictionary. Where was all this coming from? Assuming they were not angelic in origin, was Dee composing the whole thing? Was Kelley? Kelley was a much sketchier character, with a reputed background in counterfeiting: hence the “thief” of my title here. Was it a kind of folie a deux? I don’t know for sure, but I am quite prepared to believe that Dee was uttering sayings and writings that he sincerely believed to be supernatural in origin. Did he really believe that angels were delivering these great secrets to him? Who can say? Did Joseph Smith?

Ah, Professor Jenkins has come to Dr. John Dee and his mysterious Enochian revelations in the lost Enochian language, mediated by his sketchy scryer and surprisingly successful alchemist, Mr. Edward Kelley. I have been interested Dr. Dee's Enochiana for a long time. For many posts, start here and follow the links.

Prof. Jenkins gives a good overview of Dee's life and accomplishments, with some attention to the afterlife of his work. I published an article in the Boccaccini Festschrift which indirectly address some of the questions he raises in the quotation above:

J Harold Ellens (et al.), Wisdom Poured Out Like Water: Studies on Jewish and Christian Antiquity in Honor of Gabriele Boccaccini (Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature Studies 38; de Gruyter, 2018).

James R. Davila, "The 94 Books of Ezra and the Angelic Revelations of John Dee," pp. 32-44. Full text at the link.

John Dee's 500th birthday is next July 13th. I imagine there will be an event somewhere in the UK to commemorate it. I expect you will see me there.

This Anxious Bench post is a continuation of Professor Jenkins's Lost and Found Scriptures series. For earlier posts, see here and links.

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Video reconstructions of Herod's Temple courts

THE TEMPLE MOUNT SIFTING PROJECT: VISUALIZING THE SPLENDOR: NEW 3D RECONSTRUCTIONS OF THE TEMPLE MOUNT COURTS.

Frankie [Snyder] conducted the most comprehensive research ever done in Israel on the subject. Thanks to the extensive knowledge she acquired, her mathematical skills, and her photographic memory, she managed to restore quite a few tiles and reconstruct seven paving patterns used in the Herodian Temple Mount.

We assume that these patterns were used in roofed areas – both because of the size of the stones and their aesthetics, and because of the absence of plaster marks on their edges (a prominent feature of an Opus Sectile floor, which does not allow for flexible paving exposed to the elements). However, it is important to note that we do have quite a few tiles that can indeed be reconstructed as having been set in an open plaza, and as mentioned, we are still waiting for additional data on the matter. ...

Recently, two new videos were published online showcasing a reconstruction of the Temple Mount during the Second Temple period, incorporating the floor patterns we published. The videos were produced by Daniel Smith, Director of Messages of Christ at Scripture Central. Smith is a biblical history enthusiast whose lifelong dream is to visually make the scriptures and the Holy Land accessible, teaching others in a way that has never been done before.

In our judgment, it is safe to say that Smith’s reconstructions are the best and most up-to-date digital reconstructions made so far in relation to the research literature on the subject. ...

Follow the link for links to the two videos.

I noted the 2016 announcement of Ms. Snyder's reconstruction of the Temple courtyard floor tiles here. The first I heard of the tile fragments was in 2010. For subsequent posts, start here and follow the links back.

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When did Nash buy the papyrus?

VARIANT READINGS: The Purchase of the Nash Papyrus, Again (Brent Nongbri).

I continue to be puzzled by the problem of the purchase of the Nash Papyrus. In an earlier post, I noted that one finds two different dates in the literature, 1898 and 1902. I cited Emanuel Tov among those who have given the 1902 date. But I now see that in a more recent volume (2020) Tov has also noticed the problem already: ...

And the problem remains unsolved, because the people who gave the dates gave no supporting information.

We think we can reconstruct the history of the Qumran community, but we can't even figure out what year the Nash Papyrus was purchased.

Background here and links.

UPDATE: I wrote the above yesterday, but didn't get around to posting it. Meanwhile Dr. Nongbri has a new post on the subject:

Early Publications on the Nash Papyrus

The weight of evidence is now in favor of the 1902 date, but the matter remains complicated.

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