Čapek & Lipschits (eds.), The Last Century in the History of Judah

NEW BOOK FROM SBL PRESS:

The Last Century in the History of Judah: The Seventh Century BCE in Archaeological, Historical, and Biblical Perspectives
Filip Čapek (Editor), Oded Lipschits (Editor)

ISBN 9781628372526
Status Available
Price: $44.00
Binding Paperback
Publication Date October 2019
Pages 324

An incomparable interdisciplinary study of the history of Judah

Experts from a variety of disciplines examine the history of Judah during the seventh century BCE, the last century of the kingdom’s existence. This important era is well defined historically and archaeologically beginning with the destruction layers left behind by Sennacherib’s Assyrian campaign (701 BCE) and ending with levels of destruction resulting from Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian campaign (588–586 BCE). Eleven essays develop the current ongoing discussion about Judah during this period and extend the debate to include further important insights in the fields of archaeology, history, cult, and the interpretation of Old Testament texts.

Features

• A new chronological frame for the Iron Age IIB–IIC
  
• Close examinations of archaeology, texts, and traditions related to the reigns of Hezekiah, Manasseh, and Josiah
  
• An evaluation of the religious, cultic, and political landscape

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Tyrell, Strategies of Persuasion in Herodotus’ Histories and Genesis–Kings

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Strategies of Persuasion in Herodotus’ Histories and Genesis–Kings

Evoking Reality in Ancient Narratives of a Past

Series: Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism, Volume: 195

Author: Eva Tyrell

In Strategies of Persuasion in Herodotus’ Histories and Genesis–Kings, Eva Tyrell comparatively analyzes narrative means in two monumental ancient texts about the past. Combining a narratological approach with insights of modern historical theory and biblical scholarship, she investigates patterns of narrative persuasion as a trans-cultural phenomenon and their connection with ancient concepts of reality and truth. The study contrasts differences in fundamental narrative structures of both narratives, such as mediacy and discursive versus diegetic text portions. It explores the role of material remains mentioned in the accounts to evoke or even create the reality of a past.

Prices from (excl. VAT): €116.00 / $140.00

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-42797-6
Publication Date: 14 Apr 2020

Hardback
Availability: Not Yet Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-42796-9
Publication Date: 14 May 2020

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Review of Nongbri, God's Library

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: God’s library: the archaeology of the earliest Christian manuscripts.

Brent Nongbri, God's library: the archaeology of the earliest Christian manuscripts. . New Haven: Yale University Press, . xi, 403 p.. ISBN 9780300215410 $35.00.

Review by
Donatella Tronca, University of Verona. donatella.tronca2@unibo.it

Excerpt:

Although Nongbri sometimes leaves the reader feeling that the only certainty is that there are no certainties, regarding both dating and information about the provenance of manuscripts, this apparent sense of defeat can be countered by adopting his approach: analysing and reconstructing all the available data about the manuscripts, the history of the collections, the cataloguing, the analytical description and—hopefully—the open access digitisation.

For earlier reviews etc. of the book, see here and links.

Brent Nongbri runs the Variant Readings blog, to which PaleoJudaica links frequently.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Moscicke, The New Day of Atonement

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: Hans M. Moscicke. The New Day of Atonement. A Matthean Typology. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2. Reihe 517. 84,00 € including VAT. sewn paper
ISBN 978-3-16-159393-2.

Published in English.
In this work, Hans M. Moscicke investigates the influence of the Day of Atonement on Matthew’s passion narrative. The author argues that the First Evangelist crafts a sustained Yom Kippur typology in the twenty-seventh chapter of his Gospel and then remodels the Barabbas episode (Matt 27:15–26) as a Yom Kippur lottery between two “goats”. Pilate acts as high priest, designating Jesus as the immolated goat and Barabbas, along with the crowd, as a sin-bearing scapegoat. Matthew also casts Jesus as a scapegoat in the Roman-abuse scene (Matt 27:27–31), in which he depicts Jesus as physically receiving the sins of the world upon himself. Finally, the author suggests that Matthew, in his death-resurrection narrative (Matt 27:50–54), conceives Jesus as offering his life-force to God as the sacrificial goat for YHWH and descending to the realm of the dead as the goat for Azazel.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

The sealed thunders

READING ACTS: What are the Seven Thunders in Revelation 10? Phil Long continues his blog series on the seven angels and their trumpets in the Book of Revelation. We are still on the sixth trumpet, which has a lot going on.

I have noted previous posts in the series here and links.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Carthage

PUNIC WATCH: Carthage – Capital of the Carthaginian Empire (Heritage Daily). A nice capsule history.

Every so often I like to mention again why "Punic Watch" is a feature of PaleoJudaica.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Virtual DSS conference at NYU

THE AWOL BLOG: [VIRTUAL] The Dead Sea Scrolls in Recent Scholarship: A Public Conference, Day 1 [May 17 - 20, 2020]. Despite the headline, this post gives the schedule for all four days of the conference.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Crude forgeries intercepted

A FLOOD OF FAKES: A Trove of Artifacts Inscribed With Gibberish Was Intercepted at Heathrow. They May Reveal an Alarming New Front in the War on Forgery. British Museum curators explain what makes the new wave of bogus antiquities different (Taylor Dafoe, artnet news).

A Border Force officer at Heathrow Airport discovered the hundreds of clay figurines, pots, and tablets covered in cuneiform script in a pair of metal trunks last July. Intercepted en route from Bahrain to a private address in the UK, the objects were sent to the British Museum for inspection. There, they were discovered to be fakes.

The striking thing about the discovery, says St John Simpson, a curator at the British Museum, is not the number of counterfeit relics. It’s the type.

The clay tablets were inscribed with "gibberish cuneiform."

In a roundabout way, it's good news that the antiquities "market is flooded with fakes." It means that real ancient artifacts are harder to get. As long as the fakes are of poor quality, they will only fool careless collectors.

Good-quality forgeries are another matter. They are truly dangerous.

It will be interesting to hear more about that "private address in the UK."

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

More on Jesus and Nazareth – plus Enoch

RELIGION PROF: Nazareth, Sepphoris, Jesus, and Enoch. James McGrath discusses recent work on ancient Nazareth, with links, some from me.

Other PaleoJudaica posts relevant for Jesus and Enoch (or at least the Gospels and Enoch) are here, here, here, here, here, here, and links.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

The angel of the little scroll

READING ACTS: Who is the Angel in Revelation 10:1-4? Phil Long continues his series on the seven angels and their trumpets in the Book of Revelation. We are still on the events of the sixth trumpet.

I have noted past posts in the series here and links.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Western Wall reopens

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: Western Wall reopens: Worshipers' temperatures checked, details recorded. The plaza will be split into a number of prayer complexes that will follow Health Ministry regulations. 300 worshipers will be allowed in the plaza at a time while wearing masks (Jerusalem Post).

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Review of Kampen, Matthew within Sectarian Judaism - with free bonus link!!

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Book Note | Matthew Within Sectarian Judaism (Giancarlo Angulo).

John Kampen, Matthew within Sectarian Judaism (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2019).

Excerpt:

... Rather than think of Matthew as a Christian text that reflects certain Jewish qualities, Kampen frames Matthew as a Jewish composition that emerges from within a variegated sectarian environment, and that proposes its understanding of Jewish halakhah as mediated through the messianic figure of Jesus. Using this framework, Matthew’s textual and ideological context must include the arguments and declarations of Jewish groups documented in texts such as those found among the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Any of my readers interested in this book — you will also be interested in a St. Andrews PhD dissertation that I supervised some years ago. You can access it for free at the link in pdf format.

Kathleen Helen Burt, Ritual in the Damascus Document and the Gospel of Matthew (University of St. Andrews PhD thesis, 2014).

Abstract
This thesis examines the ritual content of the Damascus Document and the Gospel of
Matthew, demonstrating how community identity is constructed and developed through
the interpretation of the Law represented in each. The content is arranged according to
the ritual typology of Catherine Bell, which organises ritual into six categories:
calendrical ritual, rites of exchange and communion, political ritual, rites of passage, rites of affliction and rites of feasting and fasting. Analysis by type enables comparison and comment on the features and effects of ritual. I identify the Scriptural precedent for the discussions of ritual and any similar texts from the same period. These two ritually dense texts provide a great deal of material representing different perspectives on ritual
function and obligations within a Jewish community setting. The Damascus Document is a non-sectarian legal text from the Second Temple period. The Gospel of Matthew presents the narrative of Jesus with considerable comment on ritual matters, reflecting an audience steeped in Jewish ritual praxis while looking towards an eschatological inclusion of Gentiles who adhere to Jewish obligations. Each offers an insight into a community dissenting from aspects of mainstream Judaism without withdrawing completely. Each community maintains traditional ritual obligations to some extent, but claims additional information clarifying the correct interpretations of the Law. This thesis analyses how they negotiate the practical, and often theological, issues that accompany their distinct practices, creating a community identity through ritual.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Review of Sweeney, Jewish Mysticism

READING ACTS: Book Review: Marvin Sweeney, Jewish Mysticism: From Ancient Times through Today (Phil Long).

Sweeney, Marvin A. Jewish Mysticism: From Ancient Times through Today. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2020. 432 pp. Hc; $60.

This sounds like a useful textbook.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Dura-Europos website

THE AWOL BLOG: Dura-Europos, 'Pompeii of the Syrian Desert.' A website run by Professor Simon James, one of the recent excavators of the site.

I noted a review of Professor James's recent book on Dura-Europos here. And follow the links from there for many past posts on Dura-Europos, know in particular for the remarkable biblical murals in its third-century CE synagogue, as well as for its ancient house church and Mithraeum.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

More on the arrests in Samaria

ARCHAEOLOGIST APPREHENSION UPDATE: IDF investigating PA confiscation of Israeli archaeologist gun in Area C. COGAT said that the archaeologists had sought and failed to receive IDF permission to visit the site precisely because of the Palestinian COVID-19 roadblock (Tovah Lazaroff, Jerusalem Post). With some clarifications to the earlier report. Not surprisingly, the story becomes more complicated as more of it comes out.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Magness to deliver Schweich Lectures

THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF AMERICA: Jodi Magness To Deliver Schweich Lectures.

AIA Past President Jodi Magness has been invited by the British Academy to deliver the Schweich Lectures on Biblical Archaeology in 2022.

[...]

Hopefully things will have settled down by then.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Berthelot (ed.), Reconsidering Roman power

THE AWOL BLOG: Reconsidering Roman power: Roman, Greek, Jewish and Christian perceptions and reactions. This volume, edited by Katell Berthelot, is online in the open-access series, Collection de l'École française de Rome.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

No repentance

READING ACTS: Why Do People Refuse to Repent? Revelation 9:20-21. Phil Long continues his blog series on the seven angels of the Book of Revelation. We are still on the events of the trumpet-blowing of the sixth angel.

I have noted earlier posts in the series here and links

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Review of James, The Roman military base at Dura-Europos, Syria

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: The Roman military base at Dura-Europos, Syria: an archaeological visualisation.

Simon James, The Roman military base at Dura-Europos, Syria: an archaeological visualisation. . Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2019. xxxiii, 345 p.. ISBN 9780198743569 $175.00.

Review by
Matthew M. McCarty, University of British Columbia. matthew.mccarty@ubc.ca

Excerpt:

James’ work on the military zone demonstrates both the need and potential for full re-analysis of legacy data from Dura and other sites with similar excavation histories. It offers a methodologically robust paradigm for doing so, whose value is apparent from the way James is able to re-write the history and archaeology of Roman-controlled Dura. This is an auspicious opening to mark the centenary of Dura studies, and a model starting point for reevaluating one of the most important archaeological sites in the Roman East.

For many past posts on Dura-Europos, know in particular for the remarkable biblical murals in its third-century CE synagogue, start here and follow the links. The city also had a house church and a Mithraeum.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Branch-Trevathan, The Sermon on the Mount and Spiritual Exercises

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

The Sermon on the Mount and Spiritual Exercises

The Making of the Matthean Self

Series: Novum Testamentum, Supplements, Volume: 178

Author: George Branch-Trevathan

What, in Matthew’s view, should a human being become and how does one attain that ideal? In The Sermon on the Mount and Spiritual Exercises: The Making of the Matthean Self, George Branch-Trevathan presents a new account of Matthew’s ethics and argues that the evangelist presents the Sermon on the Mount as functioning like many other ancient sayings collections, that is, as facilitating transformative work on oneself, or “spiritual exercises,” that enable one to realize the evangelist’s ideals. The conclusion suggests some implications for our understanding of ethical formation in antiquity and the study of ethics more generally. This will be an essential volume for scholars studying the Gospel of Matthew, early Christian ethics, the relationships between early Christian and ancient philosophical writings, or ethical formation in antiquity.

Prices from (excl. VAT): €109.00 / $131.00

E-Book
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-42554-5
Publication Date: 31 Mar 2020

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-42444-9
Publication Date: 02 Apr 2020

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Archaeologists arrested in Samaria

CONTROVERSIAL APPREHENSION: PA Police Arrest Israeli Archaeologists Investigating Arab Robberies in Northern Samaria Site (David Israel, Jewish Press). The site is Tel Parsin. It was occupied over a long period and there are Second Temple-era remains there.

Again, the story involves plenty of politics. You can read one take on them in the article.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

The Romans built the Pools of Solomon?

CANDIDA MOSS: The Secrets of Bethlehem’s Controversial Pools of Solomon Have Been Unlocked (The Daily Beast).

Analysis of the layers of plaster in the walls of the pools only confirmed this assessment. The Pools were first built by the Romans in the second century. A period of major reinforcement took place in the early middle ages, after an earthquake had rendered them unusable. A restoration and enlargement program, likely conducted under the auspices of Suleiman the Magnificent, took place in the 16th century. A final phase, begun by the British military in the early twentieth century, rounded out the evidence.

I was not aware that there were any current claims that the Pools of Solomon actually went back to the time of Solomon. Such claims do not sound credible. Discussion that I have seen of the site (here and links) dated the Pools to the late Second Temple period, from the Maccabean to the Herodian eras. The current evidence seems to indicate that they were built by the Roman army during the Bar Kokhba Revolt.

I'm not going to go into the political implications, but you can read one take on them in the article.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Two paintings of Judith

OLD TESTAMENT APOCRYPHA WATCH: Art history: Two artistic interpretations of Judith killing Holofernes (Regina Haggo, Hamilton Spectator).

One of Gentileschi’s Judith paintings, produced around 1615, was to travel from Italy for the London exhibition. Let’s compare it with one painted in 1596 by Fede Galizia, a Milanese painter. Both women focus on Judith and Abra moments after the decapitation.

The exhibition at the National Museum has, alas, been postponed for obvious reasons. But you can see images of both paintings at the link.

Judith's slaying of Holophernes has long been a popular artistic theme. For more paintings (here, here, and here), as well as opera, modern mosaics, theatre, and intepretive dance, see the links.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Free Temple Mount articles

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Temple Mount. Library Explorer. This collection of articles from Biblical Archaeology Review is available online for free until 11 May.

Cross-file under Temple Mount Watch.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Azazel's billy goat

DR. NOGA AYALI-DARSHAN: The Scapegoat Ritual and Its Ancient Near Eastern Parallels (TheTorah.com).

In the scapegoat ritual of Yom Kippur and the bird ritual of the metzora, sin/impurity is transferred onto an animal and it is sent away. These biblical examples have parallels in Eblaite, Hittite, Ugaritic, and Neo-Assyrian apotropaic rituals.

A few PaleoJudaica posts on the possible historical background of Yom Kippur are here, here, and here. For more on the mysterious figure of Azazel, about whom there is a substantial postbiblical tradition, see here.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Entangled Religions 11.2 (2020)

BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism and Christianity in Contact. A new volume of the open-access, online journal Entangled Religions. Even though it is not mentioned in the volume's title, late-antique Mesopotamian Judaism figures in one of the articles.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Lee, Moral Transformation in Greco-Roman Philosophy of Mind

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: Max J. Lee. Moral Transformation in Greco-Roman Philosophy of Mind. Mapping the Moral Milieu of the Apostle Paul and his Diaspora Jewish Contemporaries 2020. XXXV, 658 pages. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2. Reihe 515. 139,00 € including VAT sewn paper ISBN 978-3-16-149660-8.

Published in English.
Max J. Lee examines the philosophies of Platonism and Stoicism during the Greco-Roman era and their rivals including Diaspora Judaism and Pauline Christianity on how to transform a person’s character from vice to virtue. He describes each philosophical school’s respective teachings on diverse moral topoi such as emotional control, ethical action and habit, character formation, training, mentorship, and deity.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.