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In Exodus, the daughter of Pharaoh is presented as an empathetic princess who saves the infant Moses after discovering him in the Nile and raises him as one of her own. Late Second Temple and rabbinic writers reimagine her based on their own values, and even give her a name.
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Studies in the Tanhuma-Yelammedenu LiteratureSeries: The Brill Reference Library of Judaism, Volume: 70
Editors: Ronit Nikolsky and Arnon Atzmon
Tanhuma-Yelammedenu Literature enables a rare and unique look into the Jewish society of late antiquity and the early Byzantine period, especially the interaction between the beit-midrash and the synagogue cultures. This little-studied corpus is the focus of the present volume, in which various authors study historical, philological, cultural or linguistic aspects of this literature. The result is a body of work dedicated to this important corpus, and is a first step into giving it its proper place in Jewish Studies.
Copyright Year: 2022
Prices from (excl. VAT): €124.00 / $149.00
E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-46919-8
Publication Date: 15 Nov 2021Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-46918-1
Publication Date: 11 Nov 2021
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I will be curious to see how they argue that this was not a Hellenistic-era amulet written in old script; its discovery alongside Late Bronze and Iron Age pottery in a dump is not conclusive, especially at a site likely frequented by pilgrims.Could the Mount Ebal amulet be a Hellenistic-era (or Roman-era or late antique) defixio amulet written in paleo-Hebrew script? Or, for that matter, could it be a Hebrew or Phoenician amulet from any time between the sixth century BCE and late antiquity?
We know there were amulets written in paleo-Hebrew script (rather than the modern square script). The Ketef Hinnom silver amulets from around the sixth century BCE quote passages also found in the Hebrew Bible. They are written in paleo-Hebrew script. And there are reports of Phoenician and Punic amulets from around the same time period. Phoenician and Punic also used the paleo-Hebrew script.
That said, none of the ones I know of are defixiones or curse tablets. The are protective amulets.
All of the later (late-antique) Hebrew and Aramaic amulets I know of are written in the square Hebrew script and are protective (from demons mostly) or coercive (mostly love charms), but do not involve curses.
That means we do not have any metal-inscribed curse amulets in paleo-Hebrew script which would be directly comparable to what we are told about the Mount Ebal amulet.
In addition, we are told that the Mount Ebal amulet is written in "Proto-Alphabetic" (early alphabetic or early Canaanite) script, which is earlier than paleo-Hebrew. The circulated drawing by Gershon Galil of the name of God in the amulet is in early alphabetic script. (That said, Christopher Rollston wrote that the drawing is "particularly schematic in nature," so I don't know how much weight to put on it.)
There are no other Hebrew or Phoenician/Punic metal amulets written in early alphabetic script. It was no longer used in the time of these amulets. If the description is accurate, the Mount Ebal amulet could not be a defixio amulet from the sixth century or later.
That said, the scans of the inscription remain unpublished. Until epigraphers who specilize in this area have been able to evaluate it, we don't know what we have.
In sum: if the current claims are accurate, the Mount Ebal amulet does not seem to be a defixio from the Persian Period or later written in paleo-Hebrew script. But, until the discoverers produce their evidence, I am ruling nothing out.
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Capernaum The town where Jesus chose to live
Capernaum’s House Church the domus ecclesia from the first to the fourth century
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For background on the recent discovery of what appears to be a second Cairo Geniza, and the reported confiscation of its manuscripts by Egyptian authorities, see here.
And note that the world is watching.
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Queen BereniceFor PaleoJudaica posts involving Julia Berenice (Berenike), see here and links and here.A Jewish Female Icon of the First Century CE
Series: Studies in Theology and Religion, Volume: 29
Author: Tal Ilan
This is a biography of Queen Berenice, the daughter of King Agrippa I, sister of King Agrippa II, wife of two kings and lover of the emperor designate Flavius Titus. A Jew of the 1st century, she witnessed some of the foundational events of her time like the emergence of Christianity and the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, is. She met and socialized with the most important people of her day - Philo the Philosopher (who was at one time her brother-in-law), Paul the Apostle (whose trial she witnessed) and Josephus the Historian who told part of her story.
Copyright Year: 2022
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ISBN: 978-90-04-51103-3
Publication Date: 16 Mar 2022Hardback
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ISBN: 978-90-04-51090-6
Publication Date: 22 Feb 2022
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At the battle against the Philistines at Michmas, Saul asks Ahiah the priest to bring forward the ark, so that he can consult YHWH. He is not referring to the ark of Shiloh, which was safeguarded in Kiryat-yearim at the time; in the early monarchic period, each worship site had its own priestly family with its own ark.Could be. Any attempt to harmonize the texts has to read a lot into them. This suggestion also reads a good bit into the archaeology.
For many, many PaleoJudaica posts on the Ark of the Covenant, start here (cf. here) and follow the links.
For the model shrines excavated at Khirbet Qeiyafa, see here and links.
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More news relating to the Mount Ebal amulet. The most important new detail:
Stripling last week revealed that his team has just recovered an iron stylus at the dig site, which they believe to be the writing instrument used to scratch the text into the lead.The article does not include a photograph of the iron stylus. Presumably it was found during the wet-sifting of the dirt gathered from the site in 2019. If so, there is no stratigraphic context. Maybe it was the writing instrument used to inscribe the amulet. I would like to see the reasoning.
Reportedly Craig Evans (a Professor of Christian Origins) has seen the scans of the amulet and agrees with Professor Stripling's claims. Okay, but they should show it to a professional epigrapher who specializes in such inscriptions.
The article says that the amulet dates to c. 1400 BCE, which is the earliest date I have seen mentioned yet.
I don't know any biblical scholars who think the Book of Job is the earliest book in the Bible. Maybe some do. I don't think many.
All the metal "defixios" (i.e., defixiones) or curse tablets I know of come from the sixth century BCE and later, many centuries after the supposed date of this amulet. Is this the earliest one ever discovered? I have commented on this point earlier.
Both Stripling and Evans imply that other scholars think that writing didn't exist in the time of Moses. No one thinks that. The Ugaritic texts and Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions show that Northwest Semitic was already being written in alphabetic scripts in that time frame. Even if all the claims about the amulet turn out to be true, it has no bearing on the Documentary Hypothesis. (Christopher Rollston has already made this point, but it bears repeating.)
Background here and links.
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For more on the recently re-excavated basilica, see here and here.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Francesca Alesse, Ludovica de Luca, Philo of Alexandria and Greek myth: narratives, allegories, and arguments. Studies in Philo of Alexandria, 10. Leiden: Brill, 2019. Pp. xvi, 291. ISBN 9789004411609 €116,00.Review by
Maren Niehoff, Hebrew University. maren.niehoff@mail.huji.ac.il
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I said that I wanted to know more about the provenance trail of the object. This article has more information. And it asks more questions.
Unrelated to this article, but another question has been bothering me. I have not seen it mentioned elsewhere. Is there any other example of an inscribed lead amulet in a Northwest Semitic language from as early as the twelfth or thirteenth century BCE?
I am aware of inscribed metal amulets (gold, silver, bronze, lead) in Phoenician, Punic, and Hebrew, as well as Egyptian, from the seventh to fifth centuries BCE through late antiquity. And many in Greek and Latin during much of that period. But none earlier. For details, see Roy D. Kontansky, "Textual Amulets and Writing Traditions in the Ancient World," pp. 507-54 in Guide to the Study of Ancient Magic, ed. David Frankfurter (Brill, 2019).
Unless I have missed something, which is possible, the Mount Ebal amulet would be the earliest inscribed metal amulet discovered in the ANE and Mediterranean region by a good five centuries. That is possible, of course, but it is yet another remarkable feature. It makes the lottery we won even bigger.
Again, we should proceed cautiously. So far we have spectacular claims and almost no verification. I look forward to more information.
Background here and links.
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AmosA Handbook on the Greek Text
Baylor Handbook on the Septuagint
by W. Edward Glenny
Imprint: Baylor University Press
336 Pages, 5.25 x 8.00 in
PAPERBACK
9781481316705 $49.99
PUBLISHED: MARCH 2022DESCRIPTION
In Amos, W. Edward Glenny provides a foundational analysis of the Greek text of the Septuagint version of Amos. The analysis is distinguished by the detailed yet comprehensive attention paid to the text. Glenny's analysis is a convenient pedagogical and reference tool that explains the form and syntax of the biblical text, offers guidance for deciding between competing semantic analyses, engages important text-critical debates, and addresses questions relating to the Greek text that are frequently overlooked by standard commentaries. Beyond serving as a succinct and accessible analytic key, Amos also reflects recent advances in scholarship on Greek grammar and linguistics and is informed by current discussions within Septuagint studies. These handbooks prove themselves indispensable tools for anyone committed to a deep reading of the Greek text of the Septuagint.
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Witherington said that most of the citations are from Isaiah chapters 40 through 66, emphasizing judgment and restoration. He said that the themes used from Isaiah in the New Testament are reflective of the fact that the New Testament writers believed they were living in the eschatological age, the age of prophecy fulfillment.In general, the writers of the New Testament used the same exegetical rules as the writers of Second Temple Jewish literature, except that the NT writers also assumed that difficult passages in scripture really were saying something about Jesus. Modern historical biblical exegesis is very different from either type of ancient exegesis.
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Published in English.
Ezekiel 16 conveys a well-known portrayal of Israel's checkered history. Its borrowed metaphors, textual reuse, and developing content defy a transparent explanation of its origins. In this monograph, Tracy J. McKenzie explores the methods and motivations for textual expansions. After surveying how secondary literature has addressed the interpretive nature of additions, traditions, redactions, and Fortschreibungen in prophetic texts, he provides a new translation and text-critical judgment of Ezekiel 16. He then analyzes how linguistic elements diachronically achieve a composite unity in the passage. This composite unity sets up the analysis that explores the ways in which the expansions have built on pre-existing texts, rewritten them, and developed their content. The author's conclusion focuses on how the interpretive moves in the expansions disclose possible motives and social settings in Yehud.
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A lot of advances in biblical studies and related areas are coming from re-examining the things we know and confidently repeat and discovering that we don't know them after all.
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For many PaleoJudaica posts on the site of Dura-Europos, its late antique synagogue, and that synogogue's remarkable murals, start here and follow the links.
Oh, and by the way, congratulations to AWOL: AWOL won the 2021 Digital Humanities Award.
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A Jewish BestiaryFred Reiss has a review of the new edition at San Diego Jewish WorldFabulous Creatures from Hebraic Legend and Lore
Mark Podwal
“A children's book for grown-ups, A Jewish Bestiary is modest in appearance, broad in learning and deep in subtle humor.
The New York Times$14.95 | Hardcover Edition
ISBN: 978-0-271-09173-0Available as an e-book
88 pages
7.125" × 9"
35 color illustrations
2021Description
“Ask the beast and it will teach thee, and the birds of heaven and they will tell thee.” —Job 12:7
In the Middle Ages, the bestiary achieved a popularity second only to that of the Bible. In addition to being a kind of encyclopedia of the animal kingdom, the bestiary also served as a book of moral and religious instruction, teaching human virtues through a portrayal of an animal’s true or imagined behavior. In A Jewish Bestiary, Mark Podwal revisits animals, both real and mythical, that have captured the Jewish imagination through the centuries.
Originally published in 1984 and called “broad in learning and deep in subtle humor” by the New York Times, this updated edition of A Jewish Bestiary features new full-color renderings of thirty-five creatures from Hebraic legend and lore. The illustrations are accompanied by entertaining and instructive tales drawn from biblical, talmudic, midrashic, and kabbalistic sources. Throughout, Podwal combines traditional Jewish themes with his own distinctive style. The resulting juxtaposition of art with history results in a delightful and enlightening bestiary for the twenty-first century.
From the ant to the ziz, herein are the creatures that exert a special force on the Jewish fancy.
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