What are the seraphim and their kin?

DR. RICHARD LEDERMAN: The Seraphim (TheTorah.com).

The image of YHWH accompanied by a heavenly retinue (צבאות) is ubiquitous in the Prophets and the Writings. Uniquely, in Isaiah’s call narrative, YHWH appears before the prophet accompanied by six-winged seraphim. What are these heavenly beings?

This essay is much broader than the title and abstract imply. It also deals with what I like to call the "throne vision oracles" in the Hebrew Bible by the prophets Isaiah, Micaiah, and Ezekiel (but Daniel 7 is missing). It covers not just seraphim, but also the title YHWH of Hosts, the four living creatures (chayot, hayyot), and the cherubim. And some related matters.

I noted Dr. Lederman's 2017 essay on the the flying serpent here. The forthcoming essay hinted at there seems to be this new one.

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Review essay on How Old is the Hebrew Bible?

THE BIBLE AND INTERPRETATION:

Can the Ages of Biblical Literature be Discerned Without Literary Analysis?

Review-Essay of Ronald Hendel and Jan Joosten.
How Old is the Hebrew Bible? A Linguistic, Textual, and Historical Study. (The Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library; New Haven/London: Yale University Press, 2018; xvi + 221).

Hendel and Joosten’s book is chock-full of insightful observations on a multitude of linguistic, textual, and cultural/historical phenomena, and they argue cogently that the best method for dating biblical writings should include all three of these data sources. Nonetheless, their answer to the question, "How Old is the Hebrew Bible?," is unoriginal because they do little more than offer a sophisticated repackaging of the traditional linguistic dating approach and results, and it is also unsatisfactory because they eschew literary criticism in the formulation of their model of consilience for determining the ages of biblical literature.

Ian Young
Associate Professor
Department of Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies
University of Sydney

Robert Rezetko
Research Associate
Radboud University Nijmegen & University of Sydney
January 2019

Past posts on the book are here and here.

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Feasting in antiquity and at the eschaton

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: A Feast for the Senses … and the Soul (Dorothy Resig Willette). Lots of feasting from all over the ancient world.

This BHD essay was first published in 2013, but I missed it then.

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Loebolus

FOR YOU, SPECIAL DEAL: Loebolus. Many of the Loeb Classical Library volumes (277 at current count) are out of copyright and are available as pfds for free. They are collected at this site.

I mentioned Loebolus some years ago, but more than thirty volumes have been added since then, so another mention is in order.

HT the NSEA Blog.

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Reiser on "Imagery Techniques in Modern Jewish Mysticism" (plus MOTP2 update)

THE BOOK OF DOCTRINES AND OPINIONS BLOG: Interview with Daniel Reiser – Imagery Techniques in Modern Jewish Mysticism (Alan Brill).

Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira of Piacetzna (1889-1943), also known as the “Rebbe of the Warsaw Ghetto” left behind a series of books on educating teenagers and newly married men, a diary of his Holocaust sermons, and variety of visualization techniques that he used in his work to create a modern Chassidus in the 1920’s and 1930’s.

Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman emphasized the use of imagination and vision within Torah. We are to imagine the events in the weekly Torah study as if we are there and with vivid imagery, we imagine the Biblical stories in sermons, we use the vivid element of the midrash to teach and we are to engage in specific techniques of visualization to achieve closeness to God. We can even, if needed, image God for praying. This visionary quality is what gives his tragic Holocaust sermons delivered in the Warsaw ghetto such pathos. Daniel Reiser wrote his dissertation and subsequent book on these visionary meditations. The book was translated last year.

[...]

The book is Imagery Techniques in Modern Jewish Mysticism (De Gruyter, 2018). I have not yet read it, but I must do so

This may not seem like a topic of interest to PaleoJudaica, but it is. I am currently thinking a lot about the psychology of imagery and the imagination with reference to ancient Jewish, Christian, etc. visionary and magical literature. Human psychology hasn't changed in the last few thousand years. The techniques used by ancient visionaries seem to have a lot of overlap with those used by modern practitioners. I hope to be writing more about that in the future.

Meanwhile, today is the last day of my year of research leave. During that time I have made excellent progress on the editing of the second volume of texts for the More Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Project (MOTP2). We have some distance to go, but we're getting there! And when we are done, you will see that it was worth the wait.

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More on Aramaic Week at the BL

HERITAGE MADE DIGITAL, of the British Library, has been continuing their Aramaic week, with tweets on Aramaic, Syriac, Garshuni, and even an Arabic translation of a Nabatean (Nabataean) work on agriculture. Good times!

You should go and have a look.

Background here. Crossfile under Aramaic Watch and Philology.

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More Scott Carroll manuscripts

VARIANT READINGS: Still More Greek and Coptic Papyri from Scott Carroll. Brent Nongbri surveys another of Scott Carroll's videos and highlights many biblical manuscripts (Greek, Coptic, Hebrew; NT/OT/HB) and some other things.

Background here, here, here, here, here, and here.

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More on the statues found at Beth Shean

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Heavy Rains Reveal Limestone Funerary Busts Near Beth Shean, Israel (Samuel DeWitt Pfister). This essay has lots of new information on the finds and their background.

Also for background, here is an earlier (2012) BHD essay that has just been republished: Beth Shean in the Bible and Archaeology. The story of the death of King Saul as told by archaeology and the Bible.

I posted on the original announcement of the discovery of the statuary busts at Beth Shean (Beit Shean) here.

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Ancient cistern emerges at Jerusalem playground.

ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE: Subterranean 1,500-year-old cistern complex found under Jerusalem playground. Antiquities Authority and municipality in talks whether to make the hidden water hole — half the size of an Olympic pool — a tourist site (Amanda Borschel-Dan, Times of Israel).

Back in 2005, the Israel Antiquities Authority received word that at a Jerusalem neighborhood playground, the sand was being swallowed up into the earth. After initial testing by IAA archaeologist Dr. Yuval Baruch, it was discovered that the sand box was constructed directly above an ancient water cistern.

[...]

This opens like the beginning of a horror movie. I'm glad it was just a cistern. If you live in Jerusalem, I guess you have to get used to the earth opening up with ancient mysteries.

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(P)review of "The Golem"

GOLEM WATCH: The Golem. According to various online sources, the golem grew from ancient Jewish myths, the most common involving a 16th century rabbi who created it to protect Jews from anti-Semites (Bruce Kahn, Atlanta Jewish Times/Times of Israel).

This latest incarnation of the golem legend, filmed in English, is directed by Israel’s Paz brothers. Their extraordinary tale of good versus evil begs to be seen on a big screen. Beautifully filmed on location in Eastern Europe, the film has scary moments, but the focus on character and plot make it much more than a typical horror film.

The film is to be released next month. It is by the directors of JeruZalem.

Rotten Tomatoes, which gives it a "100% Want To See" rating, has trailers and some other pre-reviews. It looks promising.

Cross-file under Cinema. For many earlier posts on past and present manifestations of the Golem legend, start here and follow the links.

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Affect Theory and Acts

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: "What Has Affect Theory to do with Acts?": Testing Methodological Boundaries In Acts Scholarship (Teresa Calpino).

This is another paper presented in the review panel on Maia Kotrosits’s Rethinking Early Christian Identity: Affect, Violence, and Belonging (Fortress, 2015) at the 2018 Construction of Christian Identities SBL seminar. Background here and here.

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Upcoming LXX summer course at Trinity Western

THE ETC BLOG: Septuagint Summer Course at Trinity Western (Peter Gurry).

Also, William Ross has additional details at: 2019 SEPTUAGINT SUMMER COURSE AT TRINITY WESTERN UNIVERSITY.

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Ancient horse figurines found in Israel

EQUINE ARTIFACTS: Heavy Rains Unearth Ancient Horse Figurines in Northern Israel (David Israel, The Jewish Press).

The heavy rains of the past month have revealed two beautiful clay figurines of horses in northern Israel. The figurines were found by different citizens: one— from the time of the Kingdom of Israel (about 2,800 years old)—was found in the area of ​​Kfar Ruppin in the Beit Shean Valley; the other—dated to the Hellenistic period, some 2,200 years ago—near Tel Akko.

The figurines were handed over to the Israel Antiquities Authority, which will honor their finders with a certificate of good citizenship.

[...]

HT reader Yoel. Besides the heavy rain, porcupines or foxes may have contributed again with faunal-assisted archaeology.

As noted here, I found a horse figurine (well, the front half of one) at the Tel Dor excavation in the mid-1980s.

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Still looking for those new Dead Sea Scrolls

OPERATION SCROLL: Experts Racing Against Antiquities Robbers in Hunt for Dead Sea Scrolls. Recent finds have stirred fresh excitement and archaeologists are probing higher and deeper than before, as hundreds of caves remain unexcavated (Reuters via Haaretz).

This article has some rehashing of old news, but it does give some information about a "Cave 52b" that is new to me. It also interviews some people and expresses hope that the new, so far undiscovered, Dead Sea Scrolls may help clarify who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls and illuminate the text of the mysterious Copper Scroll. That would be nice.

It doesn't seem likely that any major scroll finds remain in the Dead Sea area, but I'm still glad they are looking. They may well find some small scroll fragments. And maybe more. Who knows?

Background on Operation Scroll is here and links. I have suggested a couple of other places to watch for new scroll fragments (the Timna Valley here and links; Megiddo here and links). But both are long shots.

Background on the "Jerusalem papyrus," which could well be a forgery, is here and links. And for many past PaleoJudaica posts on the Copper Scroll, start here (cf. here) and follow the links.

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Another review of Sanders, From Adapa to Enoch

REVIEWS OF BIBLICAL AND EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES:

2019.1.1 | Seth L. Sanders. From Adapa to Enoch: Scribal Culture and Religious Vision in Judea and Babylon. Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism 167. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2017. pp xiv + 280. ISBN 978-3-16-154456-9.

Reviewed by Ryan D. Schroeder, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver.

Excerpt:

Sanders’ From Adapa to Enoch is a must read for scholars of scribal culture(s) and will offer insights to specialists in fields as diverse as ancient cuneiform scholarship, West Semitic epigraphy, prophecy and divination, early Jewish apocalyptic literature, and the Aramaic and sectarian Dead Sea Scrolls.

Earlier reviews etc. of the book are noted here and links.

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Fake archaeology can be good

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Tel Achzib in Arkansas Is Fake—And Everybody Knows It! Learn about Harding University’s Biblical archaeology field school (Megan Sauter). As usual, this essay is a summary of a recent BAR article that is behind the subscription wall. But it gives you a taste of it.

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Aramaic Week at the BL

THIS IS ARAMAIC WEEK AT HERITAGE MADE DIGITAL WEBSITE of the British Library.

Yesterday they posted a Monday Mystery, a fourth-century manuscript from Egypt in Hebrew script. And they have retweeted another Aramaic mystery manuscript here.

Can you help? So far, the comments are uninformative.

They have also posted on a Syriac lectionary and on Aramaic Targums of Esther, the Pentateuch, and the Song of Songs. Plus some other books in Syriac and Aramaic.

The week is not over, so stay tuned. Cross-file under Aramaic Watch.

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Alter, Kafka, and the Bible

INTERVIEW: Robert Alter sets a new literary tone with his translation of the Hebrew Bible (John Hickey, Berkeley News).

There aren’t many stories surrounding the Bible that begin with Czech novelist of the fantastic Franz Kafka, but Robert Alter’s does.

[...]

The article includes a video clip in which Professor Alter discusses Kafka and the Bible. He also criticizes biblical scholars for trying to "disambiguate" the Hebrew Bible by translation.

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More on Scott Carroll's papyri

OVER AT VARIANT READINGS, Brent Nongbri continues to analyze Scott Carroll's videos to learn more about the papyri to which he has access or, in some cases, which he apparently himself owns:

Scott Carroll’s Classical Papyri

So again, these papyrus manuscripts of classical authors seem to be the property of Scott Carroll himself and not the Green Collection. This was news to me.

More of Scott Carroll’s Papyri?
More classical and biblical papyri.

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Catalogue of Rylands Greek papyri

THE AWOL BLOG: Catalogue of the Greek papyri in the John Rylands Library by John Rylands University Library of Manchester. It's a bit out of date (1911), but has lots of interesting material, including Old Testament and New Testament fragments.

I see that Brent Nongbri has also noted the catalogue here.

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Haaretz on Alter's translation of the Hebrew Bible

THAT CAN HAPPEN. How a Literature Professor Found Himself Translating the Entire Bible From Scratch. I kind of fell into it,’ says Robert Alter of his decades-long project of retranslating the Bible, ensuing from a request to write ‘about Genesis or Kafka’ (Elon Gilad, Haaretz premium).

Really? All the hundreds of different translations of the Hebrew Bible into English have something wrong? Including the celebrated translation published by the Jewish Publication Society in 1985? In his opinion, yes.

“The language of the Bible is quite beautiful – that is, both the narrative prose and the poetry are finely wrought literary artifacts,” Alter explains. “What I found was that none of the existing English versions, with the limited exception of the King James Version, does any justice to the literary artistry of the Hebrew.” The other translations fail to adequately convey – to the extent that any translation can – the power, subtlety and precision of the Hebrew, he says, and that was what he set out to accomplish.

Includes both positive and negative evaluations from biblical scholars.

Background here and links.

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An algorithm to restore archaeological artifacts

TECHNOLOGY WATCH: How This New Algorithm Is Helping Restore Archaeological Artefacts (Ambika Choudhury, Analytics India Magazine).

Since the 1960s researchers have been exploring ways to overcome these challenges. There are findings which suggest that in 1964, computational solver was introduced that could solve a nine-piece puzzle. While these were rudimentary efforts, researchers are now using state-of-the-art techniques based on natural images, colour matching, shape matching, and others to design algorithms and solve twisted puzzles in archaeology.

In a recent development, researchers at Technion and University of Haifa, Israel have proposed a new algorithm that is able to fix these issues with computer vision.

This isn't specifically about ancient Judaism, but the technology is potentially widely applicable to ancient decorative art. As before, the current algorithm is primitive and fallible, but algorithms can learn from experience. Give it some time and it may someday be able to outdo human archaeological art historians.

Cross-file under the Singularity is Near.

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Digital resources for ancient Judaism

MICHAEL SATLOW: Resources for the Digital Study of Jews and Judaism in Antiquity. It's a good list. How about adding a section on blogs?

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Knoppers remembered by Notre Dame colleagues

MEMORIAL: Theology department remembers Gary N. Knoppers (Mary Steurer, The Notre Dame Observer).

{Department chair Timothy] Matovina said Professor Knoppers’ work will shape Notre Dame for years to come.

“He was only here five years, but already he was working with, doing some great work with graduate students who will carry on his legacy, because they’ll go off and be professors themselves with the formation and the training they had from Professor Knoppers,” he said. “But in the department, just his goodness, his community spirit will be his legacy and will be deeply missed.”

Background here and links.

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Tu B'Shevat 2019

TU B'SHEVAT, the New Year for Trees, begins tonight at sundown. Enjoy!

Last year's Tu B'Shevat post is here. Follow the links there for past posts of interest.

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More on Beit Shemesh and Route 38

ROADWORKS VS. ARCHAEOLOGY: ANCIENT CITY AROUSES CONTROVERSY IN BEIT SHEMESH. Archeological dig exposes conflicting interests with no simple solution (Meir Ekstein, Jerusalem Post).

The present plans for the road would decimate the site forever – a third destruction (churban shlishi) of a 2,700-year-old site. How does one weigh the immediate economic needs and those of the present community against the preservation of Jewish/Israeli history for generations? There are alternatives that would save the site entirely, such as building a tunnel underneath the excavations, building a bridge over the excavations or rerouting the road near Moshav Yishi. Each of these solutions poses problems, is expensive and will significantly delay the completion of the road. But they are not insurmountable. In contrast, this site is a non-renewable resource. Once destroyed, it will be gone forever.

This article advocates a particular position about the road controversy. For an earlier article that presented a wider range of views, see here. I take no position on the matter myself.

I was about to post this when I saw that Joseph I. Lauer had a new e-mail on the topic. He notes this article and also another from Haaretz Hebrew here, Google English translation at: An achievement for archaeologists: Route 38, which is supposed to cross Tel Bet Shemesh, will be reduced (Nir Hasson).

Netivei Israel agreed to significantly reduce the width of Highway 38, which crosses Tel Bet Shemesh, after archaeologists have warned that it may bury rare and unusual findings from the First Temple period that were discovered there. The Antiquities Authority claims that according to a summary reached a week ago between the IAA CEO and Netivei Israel's CEO, the width of the road will be reduced from 80 meters to 20 meters only. Israel's roads said the road plans were being re-examined in light of the findings, but did not confirm that the road would be reduced to a quarter of its planned area. Even in its narrow form, the road is expected to cause great damage to the findings.

[...]

That seems to represent some progress.

UPDATE (21 January): The article is now published on the Haaretz (premium) English site: Victory for Archaeologists: Planned Road Expansion Cut in Bid to Save Ancient Treasures. Route 38 will cut through a major 7th century BCE site. Roads company: Plans are being ‘reexamined.’

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Ben Wright interviewed on academic co-authorship

THE STECA BLOG: Co-authoring Academic Publications: A Conversation with Ben Wright (Elisa Uusimäki).

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Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (OSHB)

THE AWOL BLOG notes an open-source online resource for the Hebrew Bible:

Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (OSHB) version 2.0

unfoldingWord Hebrew Grammar

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