Volunteering at Tell es-Safi

YESHIVA UNIVERSITY NEWS: Unearthing History. Yeshiva Univerity Students Wrap Up Summer Trip to Israel for Archeological Work. Three YU students give personal accounts of their season volunteering at the the Tell es-Safi (Gath) excavation.

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Moses, Sargon, and what people are saying about Deuteronomy

THE BIBLE AND INTERPRETATION:

The Impact of Sargon & Enheduanna on Land Rights in Deuteronomy Preliminary Report

Continuing work in my long-ago Deuteronomy and City Life (1983) and my recent Social World of Deuteronomy: a new feminist commentary (2015) and Land Rights of Women in Deuteronomy (2017), here I propose that Birth Stories of Moses parallel Birth Stories of Sargon to compare the way land rights were distributed in Akkad by Sargon and the woman Enheduanna with the way Moses and the women in Deuteronomy distributed land rights in ancient Israel. This paradigm suggests that the intention of Deuteronomy is to describe a utopia, where ownership, administrative and use rights are responsibly distributed as instructions on the maqom sanctuary (12: 2-28), tithing (14:22–29), pilgrimaging (16:1–17) and unresolved killings (19:1–13) reflect.

See Also: Land Rights of Women in Deuteronomy

By Don C. Benjamin
School of Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies
Arizona State University
July 2018

This article is presented as a rather technical study involving Sumerian epic. But it opens with a quite accessible discussion of the current scholarly state of the question about the Book of Deuteronomy.

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On defacing statues and nullifying idols

ROGER PEARSE: Broken noses, crosses on the forehead – the fate of statues at the end of antiquity. Late-late antiquity was not kind to sculptures produced in antiquity, particularly if they were of gods or deified people. The Mishnah offers a clue why.

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Interview with Judith Lieu

THE CHURCH TIMES: Interview: Judith Lieu, Lady Margaret’s Professor of Divinity, Cambridge (Terence Handley MacMath). She talks about her training, her work on the New Testament and Marcion, the importance of studying the NT in Greek, and ... well, pretty much everything else.

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Elman obituary

ANOTHER TRIBUTE: Professor Yaakov Elman, in memoriam. He set out to analyze the glorious messiness, complexity, and depth of thousands of years of human endeavor (Aaron Koller, Times of Israel Blog). Excerpt:

I don’t know whether he left his mark on the fields of meteorology or bookselling, but once he got rolling in Jewish Studies, nothing was safe. Yaakov was intellectually insatiable. He had intensively studied, and contributed to, essentially all of Jewish studies, from Assyriology (in which he did his MA at Columbia, and on which he published a few papers in JANES in the ’70s) through biblical studies, the Dead Sea Scrolls (on which he wrote a few papers, including important studies of MMT), especially of course rabbinics — his book and other articles on the Tosefta, his many “conventionally” significant articles on midrash halakha, the Yerushalmi, and the Bavli from the ’90s, and then his epoch-making studies of the Middle Persian background of the Bavli over the past two decades — but continuing on to medieval intellectual history with a series of articles on Nahmanides, and into the modern period, in studies of R. Zadok of Lublin, the Netziv, Benno Jacob, and his own teacher, Rav Hutner. (The relationship with the latter was never a formal one, but a deeply intimate and formative one for Yaakov.)

HT reader Ellen Birnbaum.

Background here and here.

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Berlin on Ruth

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: The Story of Ruth. Reading the Book of Ruth (Adele Berlin).

Depending on whether you’re using a Jewish or Christian version, the Book of Ruth is placed between Judges and Samuel or between the Song of Songs and Lamentations. But wherever it appears in your Bible, you will want to find it and study it again after you read “Ruth—Big Theme, Little Book,” originally published in the August 1996 issue of Bible Review. In this article, Adele Berlin argues that Ruth illuminates the main theme of the Hebrew Bible: the continuity of God’s people in their land.—Ed.

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An Iranian etymology for a BA word

BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: A (New) Old Iranian Etymology for Biblical Aramaic אֲדַרְגָּזַר‬‎. Notice of an article by Benjamin J. Noonan in Aramaic Studies. Alas, you need a paid personal or institutional subscription to access the full article. But the abstract gives the basic argument. Follow the link and it's yours.

Cross-file under Philology and Aramaic Watch.

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Psalms of Solomon 13

READING ACTS: The Life of the Righteous Goes On Forever – Psalm of Solomon 13.

Psalm of Solomon is another example of two-ways theology. There is a sharp contrast between the righteous (δίκαιος) and the sinner (ἁμαρτωλός). In this psalm, the difference between these two types of people is that the Lord has mercy on the righteous, devout person who fear him (13:12). The title of this psalm is a comfort or encouragement (παράκλησις) for the righteous. By properly understanding suffering the righteous person acknowledges they have been protected by the mercy of the Lord.

[...]

Another installment in Phil Long's current summer series on the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. Past posts in the series, including many on the Psalms of Solomon, have been noted here and links.

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Proposal for another Masada movie

CINEMA PITCH: Shira Geffen unveils family drama set in Israel's Masada plateau (MELANIE GOODFELLOW, ScreenDaily).

Cannes regular Shira Geffen, whose debut feature Jellyfish won the festival’s Camera d’Or for first films in 2007, has launched financing on her third feature A Responsible Adult, a coming-of-age tale set against the backdrop of Israel’s mythical Masada plateau.

[...]

The plot is set in the present, but ...

Geffen has also intertwined Masada’s historical connotations – as the site of the famous siege of Masada in which Jewish rebels resisted Roman soldiers before committing suicide rather than be captured – into the screenplay.

That, of course, could mean just about anything. We'll see if the proposal attracts supporters.

Other Masada films (miniseries) have been discussed here and links.

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Nephilim Magazine

REMNANT OF GIANTS: Nephilim Magazine: A Recent Development in the unfolding Nephilim legend (Deane Galbraith). It just keeps unfolding.

I asked the editors of Nephilim Magazine via Twitter why they chose the name, and they provided another good reason for it. “According to legend,” replied the editors, “the Nephilim are the beings that taught mankind art, science, and magic.” That’s quite appropriate for a magazine featuring contemporary art and photography!

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Biblical Studies Carnival 149

KAREN R. KEEN: Biblical Studies Carnival 149 Has Come to Town!

To her list of women bloggers add Liv Ingeborg Lied at Religion - Manuscripts - Media Culture. Professor Lied hasn't posted since late 2017, but there's a lot in her archive. Also, the Second Temple Early Career Academy (STECA) Blog is directed by Professor Charlotte Hempel. Her blogging team includes, among others, Dr. Marieke Dhont, Dr. Jessica M. Keady, and Dr. Elisa Uusimäki.

Also, Phil Long is "borderline desperate" for volunteers to edit carnivals late this year. Drop him a note if you're interested.

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A tribute to Yaakov Elman

THE TALMUD BLOG: Prof. Yaakov Elman Z”L, 1943-2018 (Shai Secunda). Background here.

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Review of König and Woolf (eds.), Authority and Expertise in Ancient Scientific Culture

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Book Note | Authority and Expertise in Ancient Scientific Culture (Jessica Wright).

Jason König and Greg Woolf, eds. Authority and Expertise in Ancient Scientific Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017

Excerpt:

While the ancient texts examined in this volume are marginal to the classical canon, the chapters are exemplary in their accessible presentation of the material for non-specialist audiences, and individual chapters could fruitfully be included in advanced undergraduate or graduate syllabi. As a whole, the volume provides compelling evidence that various, interrelated “techniques of self-authorisation” were employed across (what the modern reader might categorize as) different scientific and technical genres, as a means not only for professionals to establish their credentials, but also for non-professionals to situate themselves in the social and political networks of the late Republic and the Roman Empire.

This book was edited by two of my St. Andrews colleagues in Classics and a number of other colleagues contributed to it.

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Rashi - apologist or polemicist?

DR. YEDIDA EISENSTAT: Does Rashi’s Torah Commentary Respond to Christianity? (TheTorah.com).

Moses promises that if Israel forsakes the covenant, God will destroy them permanently (Deut 4:25-26). Drawing on a midrash, Rashi explains that God exiled Israel early to avoid having to wipe them out; thus, God never actualized this threat. Considering Rashi’s responses to Christian ideas in other biblical texts, Rashi’s comment on Deut 4:25 may well be an apologetic effort to prove that God’s covenant with the Jews remains intact.

The essay also involves Talmudic exegesis of this passage, with gematria, alongside Daniel 9.

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Psalms of Solomon 12

READING ACTS: The Lawless and Slanderous Tongue – Psalm of Solomon 12.

James and Paul both stand within the same stream of Second Temple Jewish wisdom literature as Psalms of Solomon 12 by contrasting a life of wisdom (quiet, peaceful, respectful) with the slanderous unthinking speech of the lawless ones.

Another installment in Phil Long's current summer series on the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. Past posts in the series, including many on the Psalms of Solomon, have been noted here and links.

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New TC articles

THE ETC BLOG: New Articles in TC: A Journal of Biblical Textual Criticism (Tommy Wasserman). One is on the Septuagint Psalter. Another is on textual division markers in Codex Vaticanus. Plus, Garrick Allen offers this eye-catching title: "'There Is No Glory and No Money in the Work': H. C. Hoskier and New Testament Textual Criticism."

Myself, I think the work is glorious. I concede that it could involve more money.

The issue also includes several book reviews, including one of Lundhaug and Lied (eds.), Snapshots, on which more here and links

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Entertainment center excavated at ancient pottery workshop

ARCHAEOLOGY: Spa and game room — with mancala — found at ancient pottery workshop in Israel. Ancient work and play: With 20 hot and cold baths and a kitted-out break room, a 1,700-year-old ceramics factory near Gedera could teach employee-friendly Google a thing or two (Amanda Borschel-Dan, Times of Israel).

I suspect many readers had the same immediate response as mine. What the heck is mancala? It is a game.

Third-century Roman potters were, apparently, early adopters of the elusive work-life balance. At the central Israel town of Gedera, an Israel Antiquities Authority team has uncovered an impressive 20-bath spa and robust game room alongside evidence of 600 years of a massive ceramic industry.

Boards for still-popular games are etched into large stone benches at the 3rd century CE site. Among the game boards, the IAA archaeologists identified mancala, an ancient one- or two-player game using a board and seeds or marbles that is still an international bestseller.

[...]

Nowadays you can even play mancala online.

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The Talmud on the priestly right to eat sacrificial meat

THIS WEEK'S DAF YOMI COLUMN BY ADAM KIRSCH IN TABLET: Who Gets to Eat Sacrificial Meat? In this week’s ‘Daf Yomi,’ Talmudic rabbis raise contradictions in the rules governing ritual purity, ‘acute mourning,’ and imperfections in the priesthood.

By the time the Talmud was compiled, in the first centuries CE, these sacrifices were a thing of the distant past; they lapsed after the destruction of the Temple in 70. Yet the rabbis continued to pay a great deal of attention to priestly rites and privileges: Who is entitled to eat terumah, how tithes are properly separated, and of course how animals are to be sacrificed in the Temple.

Chapter Twelve of Zevachim, which Daf Yomi readers read last week, focuses on the right of priests to consume sacred meat. ...

Earlier Daf Yomi columns are noted here and links.

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Mandeism, Manicheism, and Aramaic

BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: The Mandaean religion and the Aramaic background of Manichaeism. Notice of a new book: Ionuţ Daniel Băncilă. 2018. Die mandäische Religion und der aramäische Hintergrund des Manichäismus: Forschungsgeschichte, Textvergleiche, historisch-geographische Verortung. (Mandäistische Forschungen 6). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. Follow the link for a description.

Cross-file under Aramaic Watch, Mandean (Mandaean) Watch, and Manichean (Manichaean) Watch.

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Psalms of Solomon 11

READING ACTS: Sound the Trumpet in Zion – Psalm of Solomon 11.

Psalm of Solomon 11 seems to be solid evidence that a biblically literate Second Temple Jewish listener would hear echoes of Isaiah 40-55. This is a call to Jewish captives in far distant lands to return to Zion at the end of the Exile. Although it cannot be said Jesus is using Psalm of Solomon 11, he certainly stands within the same traditional as this psalmist as he interprets Isaiah 40-55 (and his messianic role as the one calling Israel to gather around himself).

Another installment in Phil Long's current summer series on the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. Past posts in the series, including many on the Psalms of Solomon, have been noted here and links.

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The god Bethel

IS THAT IN THE BIBLE? Bethel, the Forgotten God of Israel (Paul Davidson). Arguably, the god Bethel is mentioned in the Bible, but the fascinating evidence explored in this essay is mostly from extra-biblical texts: the Aramaic papyri from Elephantine and Aramaic and Canaanite hymns from Papyrus Amherst 63.

For many past PaleoJudaica posts on Elephantine and the Elephantine Aramaic papyri, start here and follow the links. And for past posts on Papyrus Amherst 63 see here and links.

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Prof. Yaakov Elman (1943-2018)

SAD NEWS FROM H-JUDAIC: Obituary: Prof. Yaakov Elman.

H-Judaic is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Prof. Yaakov Elman (1943-2018), Herbert S. and Naomi Denenberg Chair in Talmudic Studies at Yeshiva University. Prof. Elman founded the field now known as Talmudo-Iranica, which seeks to understand the Babylonian Talmud in its Middle-Persian context.

[...]

A Festschrift for Professor Elman was published in 2012, noted here and here.

May his memory be for a blessing.

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Video: removal of third Lod mosaic

DRAMATIC: WATCH: Ancient Roman-era mosaic floor discovered near Tel Aviv carefully removed. Background here.

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IOSCS 50th anniversary celebration

GET READY TO PARTY: PRELIMINARY DETAILS FOR THE IOSCS 50TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION (William Ross, Septuaginta &C. Blog).

In any case, the society is on the verge of crossing a significant milestone when it reaches its 50th anniversary later this year. Since the first official meeting of the IOSCS occurred at the national meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature in 1968, it is fitting that the celebration will occur at the same event this year in Denver at the 2018 AAR/SBL conference.

IOSCS stands for The International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies.

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A third Lod mosaic has been excavated

DECORATIVE ART: While building museum to house stunning Lod mosaic, researchers unearth another. Fresh piece falls into place to the 1,700-year-old puzzle of who was the wealthy -- maybe Jewish -- owner of a sumptuous Roman villa discovered 20 years ago under a garbage dump (Amanda Borschel-Dan, Times of Israel plus AP).

Much like the other eye-widening mosaics found in Lod, this new floor depicts realistic and fantastical animals and designs, but no human figures.

“Thankfully, the main central panel of the mosaic was preserved. The figures, many similar to the figures in the earlier mosaics, comprise fish and winged creatures. A fairly similar mosaic was found in the past in Jerusalem, on the Mount Zion slopes.

The Lod mosaics, however, do not depict any human figures that are present in the Mount Zion mosaic,” said [dig director Amir] Gorzalczany, who believes both sites’ mosaics may have been produced by the same artist, or working from similar designs. “This type of mosaic is better known in the Western part of the Roman Empire.

The original Lod mosaic traveled around the world in exhibitions and returned to Israel in 2017. For it, start here and follow the links. The second one (see here and here). Now the site has produced a third one at the villa of the same rich merchant.

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Apostolic reliquary found in Bethsaida?

ARTIFACT: Archaeological Discovery: Huge Block Once Containing the Remains of Peter, Philip and Andrew Found? (Stoyan Zaimov, Christian Post).

A reliquary that once could have held the remains of the apostles Philip, Andrew and Peter, has been discovered in the ruins of what may be the ancient Israeli city of Bethsaida, a top archaeologist has said.

Professor Mordechai Aviam of the Kinneret Academic College revealed that a 661-pound basalt block, with three smooth compartments on top, was found in the biblical town, also known as el-Araj, according to Haaretz.

"We suggest, cautiously, that this could be the reliquary of Peter, Philip and Andrew. This could have been the reliquary of the Church of the Apostle," he said.

[...]

Maybe, although it requires a chain of inferences to get us from the stone box, which is a real thing, to its use to hold remains of apostles. For starters, the identification of el-Araj as Bethsaida is debated. The alternative site is et-Tell. More on that debate here and links.

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The Silwan royal steward's tomb inscription

THE HOLY LAND PHOTOS' BLOG: Jerusalem — The Neighborhood of Silwan — The Royal Steward’s Tomb (Carl Rasmussen).

This seems to be a re-post from October of 2016. That post, however, is now deleted, so I have noted this one to replace it.

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Apocryphal Saint Jerome and Church Slavonic

OLD CHURCH SLAVONIC WATCH: Professor Debunks the Mistaken Origins of the Creator of the Slavonic Language (Anne Snabes, Cornell Daily Sun).

Prof. Julia Verkholantsev, Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Pennsylvania, discussed how St. Jerome — a scholar who came from Dalmatia and lived from the mid 300s to the early 400s — became mistakenly known as the creator of the Slavonic language in a talk Thursday.

In the mid-13th century, people started to think that St. Jerome had translated liturgical texts into Slavonic, Verkholantsev explained. However, St. Jerome did not create the Slavonic language.

“Among the Christian saints, St. Jerome has always occupied a special place as a translator and exegete of the Bible whose labors brought the faithful closer to God,” she said. “A native of Dalmatia, Jerome became recognized for allegedly translating the liturgical books of the Croatian clergy in Dalmatian monasteries into Church Slavonic and for having supplied them with their special Slavic letters.”

Verkholantsev said historical and archeological evidence has shown that the Slavs did not come to Dalmatia until the 6th century, which was after Jerome’s life. This means Jerome “could have no connection, either to Slavs or to their writing,” she said.

[...]

This tradition is new to me. The actual inventors of the Slavonic script were Saints Cyril and Methodius in the ninth century. More on them and their work is here and links. Their work led to the conversion of the Slavs and the preservation of much interesting literature, including some important Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, in Old Church Slavonic. I keep up with Old Church Slavonic news for that reason.

For more on the real Saint Jerome and his translation work, see here and here and links.

This story is from March of 2017, but for some reason it only just showed up in my searches.

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