Ehorn (ed.), Exodus in the New Testament (T&T Clark)

NEW BOOK FROM BLOOMSBURY/T&T CLARK:

Exodus in the New Testament

Seth M. Ehorn (Anthology Editor)

Hardback $115.00 $103.50

Ebook (PDF) $103.50 $82.80

Ebook (Epub & Mobi) $103.50 $82.80

Product details

Published Apr 21 2022
Format Hardback
Edition 1st
Extent 272
ISBN 9780567702777
Imprint T&T Clark
Dimensions 9 x 6 inches
Series The Library of New Testament Studies
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

Description

In focusing exclusively on the book of Exodus and its constant allusions in the New Testament, this new collection of studies seeks both to increase knowledge of the textual transmission of Exodus in the first century, and to encourage further methodological reflection on the use of Scripture vs. scriptural traditions as employed by ancient authors.

First exploring the role of Exodus within Judaism in the Second Temple Period, the contributors then reflect upon the rhetorical impact of Exodus citations and allusions in the New Testament. By taking the reader from the Four Gospels through the Pauline and Disputed Letters and Hebrews, and all the way to Revelation itself, this volume demonstrates both the unity and the diversity of appeals to Exodus traditions in Jewish and Christian literature within the Second Temple Period.

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Tobolowsky, The Myth of the Twelve Tribes of Israel (CUP)

NEW BOOK FROM CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS:

The Myth of the Twelve Tribes of Israel
New Identities Across Time and Space

AUTHOR: Andrew Tobolowsky, College of William and Mary, Virginia
DATE PUBLISHED: March 2022
AVAILABILITY: Available
FORMAT: Hardback
ISBN: 9781316514948

£ 75.00
Hardback

Description

The Myth of the Twelve Tribes of Israel is the first study to treat the history of claims to an Israelite identity as an ongoing historical phenomenon from biblical times to the present. By treating the Hebrew Bible's accounts of Israel as one of many efforts to construct an Israelite history, rather than source material for later legends, Andrew Tobolowsky brings a long-term comparative approach to biblical and nonbiblical “Israelite” histories. In the process, he sheds new light on how the structure of the twelve tribes tradition enables the creation of so many different visions of Israel, and generates new questions: How can we explain the enduring power of the myth of the twelve tribes of Israel? How does “becoming Israel” work, why has it proven so popular, and how did it change over time? Finally, what can the changing shape of Israel itself reveal about those who claimed it?

• Reveals a continuous and ongoing historical phenomenon of long duration, the efforts to claim an Israelite identity and history
• Employs a uniquely long-term comparative approach to biblical and nonbiblical accounts of the same tradition
• Tells the fascinating stories of peoples around the world who have “become Israel”

I noted an AJR essay by the author previewing the book here.

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Nongbri on unprovenanced papyri

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW:

The Ethics of Publication: Papyrology

Brent Nongbri, MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion, and Society. brent.nongbri@mf.no

The editors of BMCR have asked me to reflect on the current landscape and ethics of publishing in papyrology. ...

In fact, this essay discusses the problem of unprovenanced inscriptions more broadly, including, e.g., cuneiform tablets. Dr. Nongbri covers a broad range of views and gives us some of his own reflections.

By the way, ASOR stands for the American Society for Oriental Research. [CORRECTION: Nope, Brent was right. ASOR has changed its name to the American Society for Overseas Research.]

Regular PaleoJudaica readers are familiar with Brent Nongbri's blog, Variant Readings, to which I link from time to time.

PaleoJudaica has discussed the problem of unprovenanced antiquities, especially inscriptions, many times over many years. For some of these posts, including one addressing Frank Moore Cross's comments quoted in the essay above, start here and follow the links. And see also here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and links.

My main point has been that we should assume that an unprovenanced inscription is a forgery unless someone makes a credible case that it is genuine. I have excepted cuneiform tablets and Aramaic incantation bowls from this rule. Cuneiform tablets would be difficult – arguably currently impossible – to forge. The same is probably true about the magic bowls, for now. But as forgers become more skillful and forgery technology improves, the situation for both may change.

Whether scholars should work with unprovenanced inscriptions at all is a difficult question. It involves complicated moral issues and issues of international law. For now, I am content to follow the policies of the various professional societies and journals, although these are not entirely consistent among themselves. The debate continues ...

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The first recorded employee complaint based on Torah law?

NORTHWEST SEMITIC EPIGRAPHY: Jewish Chutzpah’s Ancient Precedent: Commoner Sues Toxic Boss 2600 Years Ago (Dr. Henry Abramson, Aish.com).

More specifically, this 2600-year-old clay text, called an ostracon, records a common field laborer’s complaint against his abusive employer. It is the very first lawsuit brought by an ordinary Jew that invokes the authority of the Torah to support a claim.

It is more of a complaint to HR or to a supervisor than a lawsuit, but the point remains. It does look as though the worker knows and is invoking his Deuteronomic rights.

For PaleoJudaica posts involving the Yavneh Yam (Mesad Hashavyahu) ostracon, see here and links.

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

Crawford, The Text of the Pentateuch (De Gruyter)

NEW BOOK FROM DE GRUYTER:

The Text of the Pentateuch
Textual Criticism and the Dead Sea Scrolls

Sidnie White Crawford

Volume 493 in the series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110467420

PDF & EPUB £93.50
Hardcover £93.50

eBook
Published: February 7, 2022
ISBN: 9783110467420

Hardcover
Published: February 21, 2022
ISBN: 9783110465846

About this book

In the last several decades since the first publications of the biblical Dead Sea Scrolls, a revolution has occurred in the understanding of the history of the text of the Hebrew Bible during the Second Temple period. The present volume is a collection of articles documenting that revolution, written by Sidnie White Crawford over an almost thirty-year period beginning in 1990. As a member of the editorial team responsible for publishing the Qumran scrolls, the author was responsible for the critical editions of nine Deuteronomy scrolls and the four Reworked Pentateuch manuscripts; thus, her work played a critical role in the changing understanding of the textual history of the Pentateuch,especially the book of Deuteronomy and the Rewritten Bible texts. The author’s lifework is brought together here in an accessible format. While the majority of the articles are reprints, the volume will close with two major new pieces: a text-critical study of the Deuteronomic Paraphrase of the Temple Scroll and a comprehensive overview of the history of the text of the Pentateuch.

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More on that Bar Kokhba-era tetradrachm

NUMISMATICS: Rare silver coin discovered in Israel. In the caves located on the eastern bank of the Wadi Chariton Canyon (archaeology.wiki). HT Rogue Classicism.

Among the finds is a silver coin in the value of a tetradrachm (also known as sela of the Talmudic sources) that was discovered in the Oil Lamp Cave and is considered particularl rare. Coins of this type have so far been discovered by archaeologists at just three sites (Sela Cave in the upper Naḥal Ḥever, Sabar Cave north of Ein Gedi and the Teʾomim Cave in the western Jerusalem hills), while thousands of Bar-Kokhba’s tetradrachms, known in the antiquities market and in private collections, were discovered during illegal excavations.

I noted the discovery of this coin here. This article gives a lot more information about it.

Cross-file under Archaeology.

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Review of Georgia, Gaming Greekness

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Gaming Greekness: cultural agonism among Christians and Jews in the Roman Empire.

Allan T. Georgia, Gaming Greekness: cultural agonism among Christians and Jews in the Roman Empire. Gorgias studies in early Christianity and patristics, 76. Piscataway: Gorgias Press, 2020. Pp. xiv, 358. ISBN 9781463241230 $158.00.

Review by
Matthew Kraus, University of Cincinnati. matthew.kraus@uc.edu

... “It is difficult to put the dynamic and fluid interchanges that characterize the ancient world into historically descriptive language,” (p.302) observes the author at the end of Gaming Greekness. Nonetheless, he accepts the challenge, weaving his way through selected texts produced by Jews and Christians. Connecting his analysis through the threads of cultural competition related in shifting ways to Greekness in the Roman World, the reader is left with the sense that Jewish and Christian encounters with Greekness were complicated. ...

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Phoenician shipwrecks: "They Are Ours!"

PHOENICIAN WATCH: They Are Ours: Mazarron fights to keep Phoenician ships in the Murcia coastal town. Mazarrón's Department of Historical Heritage is collecting signatures to ensure the Mazarrón I and II remain in the municipality (Mazzaron Today).

A concerted effort is being made by Mazarrón Council to keep the Phoenician ships, Mazarrón I and II, which were discovered in 1994 and 1995 respectively off the coast of the La Isla beach, with the launch of a petition.

Announcing the 'They Are Ours!' ('¡Son nuestros!') campaign, which is supported by all groups represented in the Town Hall, Mazarrón's Mayor Gaspar Miras demanded that the Phoenician wreck Mazarrón II return to the town after its excavation and restoration in Cartagena alongside Mazarrón I for conservation and exhibition.

It's refreshing to see so much enthusiasm for ancient relics. I hope Mazarrón and Cartagena can reach an amicable settlement of this dispute.

For more on the Mazarrón I, currently being restored in Cartagena, see here. I didn't know about the Mazarrón II.

Cross-file under Marine (Maritime, Underwater) Archaeology. For more PaleoJudaica posts on ancient shipwrecks, see here and links, here, and here.

UPDATE (22 June 2023): I have corrected some confusion above about which ship is which above. I did know about the Mazarrón II. See here. The variable spelling of Mazarrón/Mazzarón seems to have thrown me off.

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

Why did an ancient Galilean family flee from their home?

ARCHAEOLOGY: Stilled life: Why did farmers flee a homestead 2,100 years ago in the Galilee? A salvage excavation uncovers a frozen scene of existential distress during the Hellenistic era and an earlier agricultural community from the Iron Age (Amanda Borschel-Dan, Times of Israel).

Just what made the family of still unknown origins pack up its precious belongings and quickly flee — leaving behind evidence at Horbat Asad of their everyday occupations through piles of loom weights and other domestic artifacts including large vessels and iron farm tools — is fodder for more research, said [IAA archaeologist Dr. Amani] Abu-Hamid.

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Hawass on the world of Cleopatra (3)

THE SERIES CONTINUES: The world of Cleopatra – III. Zahi Hawass continues his four-part series of articles with the search for the tomb of the ancient Egyptian queen Cleopatra and her Roman lover Mark Antony (Ahram Online).

However, no one has ever begun a massive search for the tomb of Cleopatra. This is likely because everyone thought that her tomb was next to her palace, which we know is now underwater in the royal quarter of Shatby.

In October 2004, Kathleen Martinez, an archaeologist and historian from the Dominican Republic, came to Egypt to meet me and present to me her theory. She had developed a theory that Cleopatra and Mark Antony were buried inside a temple dedicated to Isis and Osiris at Taposiris Magna, a location about 45 km west of Alexandria near an area called Borg Al-Arab.

The rest of the essay gives a detailed account of the excavation history of this site at Taposiris Magna.

I noted the first essay in the series here and the second here.

PaleoJudaica posts on Taposiris Magna, and the so-far unsuccessful search for Cleopatra's tomb there, are here, here, here, here, and here. The site was in the news last year with the discovery there of some mummies equipped with golden tongues.

For many posts on Cleopatra VII (the Cleopatra), see here and links. She spoke Hebrew and Aramaic and she had quite a few connections with the land of Israel and ancient Judaism.

UPDATE: I may as well take this opportunity to note a couple of recent articles speculating on Queen Cleopatra's personal affairs.

A Pair of Jeans Actually Made to Fit Cleopatra are Part of Campaign to Curb Textile Waste (Branding in Asia).

While they may look like a ‘normal’ pair of jeans, these were tailored to the long-deceased Egyptian queen. Through cutting-edge 3D scanning, plus historical and genetic research to calculate the timeless style icon’s body shape, these jeans demonstrate the possibility of creating a perfect fit for anyone in the world. As a call to arms, these jeans pave the way for a future where every order can be tailored perfectly to the customer – meaning no returns, and no waste.

The video explains the process in more detail. If they actually do find Cleopatra's tomb, and her body is still in it, it may be possible to test the effectiveness of the process.

What Did Cleopatra Smell Like? Researchers are using chemical analysis to concoct the fragrance possibly worn by the last Egyptian pharaoh (Elaine Velie, Hyperallergic).

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The Urfa Mosaic Museum

SYRIAC WATCH: Urfa mosaic museum reflects ancient history of the Turkish city. Roman, Christian and unique Seleucid-period mosaics in Turkey’s third-largest mosaic museum (Judith Sudilovsky, Jerusalem Post).

In 2006 when the southeastern Turkish city of Urfa, officially known as Şanlıurfa, was undertaking a construction project next to renovation work on the Şanlıurfa Archaeological Museum, workers unearthed sections of such Roman mosaics. Work was halted and in the subsequent three years of excavations, the spectacular mosaic floors of an entire Roman villa were revealed.

[...]

In antiquity, Urfa was known as Edessa, and it is believed that as early as 190 AD Christianity had taken root among the people of Edessa and its surroundings, and was soon made the official religion by King Abgar IX. It became a prominent center of Christian learning but under Roman rule, many Christians were martyred. Following numerous changes of rulers, the area adopted Islam as the official religion.

Cross-file under Decorative Art.

As the article notes, the Aramaic dialect spoken at Urfa in the early centuries CE became known as Syriac. It became the religious language of the eastern church for many centuries. It is still the liturgical language of the Syriac Orthodox Church and the Assyrian Church today.

For more on the Agbarid dynasty and the apocryphal Syriac correspondence between King Abgar V and Jesus, see here, here, here, and here. For some other PaleoJudaica posts on ancient Edessa, modern Urfa, see here, here, here, here, here here and links.

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A Jewish gladiator's helmet in Pompeii?

MARTIAL MATERIAL CULTURE: A JEWISH GLADIATOR IN POMPEII. Gladiatorial games were not uncommon to the Jews before the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, says a noted historian in Jews and Judaism Professor Samuele Rocca. (Brenda Lee Bohen, Toronto Tribune).

In his essay “A Jewish Gladiator in Pompeii,” Rocca focuses on a bronze gladiatorial helmet that depicts a seven-branched palm tree.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the eruption of Vesuvius and its destruction of Pompeii and Heculaneum, see here and here and follow the links. For additional evidence for a Jewish presence in Pompeii, see here and links.

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Dobroruka, Persian Influence on Daniel and Jewish Apocalyptic Literature (T&T Clark)

NEW BOOK FROM BLOOMSBURY/T&T CLARK:

Persian Influence on Daniel and Jewish Apocalyptic Literature

Vicente Dobroruka (Author)

Hardback $115.00 $103.50
Ebook (PDF) $103.50 $82.80

Product details

Published Apr 21 2022
Format Hardback
Edition 1st
Extent 264
ISBN 9780567205056
Imprint T&T Clark
Dimensions 9 x 6 inches
Series Jewish and Christian Texts
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

Description

Vicente Dobroruka explores Iranian influence on Second Temple Judaism, providing a new explanation of Persian culture and history in the context of biblical accounts by focusing on the spread of Zoroastrian ideas in the period c.300 BCE–200 CE.

Dobroruka begins his investigation with an overview of the problems posed by a dualistic worldview-he examines the Indo-European origins of Zarathushtra and his ideas, explores the long-term implications for the notion of free-will, and clarifies the lightness/darkness paradigm that originated in Persia. Following this, Dobroruka discusses a variety of concepts that illustrate this influence, such as the role of matter and the material world, aspects of dualism and the cosmic struggle, the perspectives on the rewards for the just and the opposing punishments for the wicked, the idea of an 'Anointed One', shamanistic visionary experience, the resurrection, and the concepts of Sheol and Paradise.

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Review of Koskenniemi, Greek writers and philosophers in Philo and Josephus

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Greek writers and philosophers in Philo and Josephus: a study of their secular education and educational ideals.

Erkki Koskenniemi, Greek writers and philosophers in Philo and Josephus: a study of their secular education and educational ideals. Studies in Philo of Alexandria, volume 9. Leiden: Brill, 2019. Pp. x, 352. ISBN 9789004391932 €138,00.

Review by
Maren Niehoff, Hebrew University in Jerusalem. maren.niehoff@mail.huji.ac.il

This monograph aims at identifying the explicit references to Greek writers and philosophers in the vast corpora of two Greek-speaking, Jewish authors, namely Philo of Alexandria and Josephus Flavius. ...

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Steven Fine on the Arch of Titus

INTERVIEW: THE ARCH OF TITUS WITH PROFESSOR STEVEN FINE. (Brenda Lee Bohen, Toronto Tribune).

For more on Professor Fine's recent book and on the YU exhibition, see here and links. Follow the links from there for many other posts on the Arch of Titus. For more on the "second" Arch of Titus, see here. And for many other posts on ancient menorahs and representations of menorahs, see here and links.

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"A 'material historical, scroll approach' to the Bible"

PROF. DAVID M. CARR: What Ancient Scrolls Teach Us about the Torah’s Formation (TheTorah.com).

Examining ancient Egyptian papyri, as well as scrolls from animal skins in Levantine sites such as Deir Alla and Qumran, highlights how scribes would add text to preexisting scrolls and showcases the limited size of scrolls intended for regular use.

Cross-file under Material Culture.

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Press Conference After Daniel Didn't Get Eaten By Lions

THE TEN MINUTE BIBLE HOUR: Press Conference After Daniel Didn't Get Eaten By Lions. HT Bible Places Blog

Somewhat related PaleoJudaica posts are here, here, and here.

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Restoration of Palmyra's Arch of Triumph begins

PALMYRA WATCH: Restoration work for ancient Arch de Triumph in Palmyra begins (SANA).

Palmyra, SANA- In the archaeological city of Palmyra located about 250 kilometers northeast of Damascus, the first phase of the project to restore the ancient Arch de Triumph, which was destroyed by Daesh (ISIS) terrorist organization in 2015, has started on Friday

[...]

[Deputy Director of Antiquities and Museums Hammam] Saad revealed other archaeological restoration projects in Palmyra will be started after completing the Arch restoration project, including the restoration of the Temple of Baal Shamin, the Tetrapylon, the façade of Palmyra amphitheater and the famous Temple of Bel, all of which were attacked by terrorists.

This is very good news.

Six years ago I noted some hope of restoring Palmyra's monuments. Meanwhile, reconstructions of the Arch of Triumph have been created in London, New York, and Florence.

For many posts on the ancient metropolis of Palmyra, its history and archaeology, the Aramaic dialect once spoken there (Palmyrene), and the city's tragic reversals of fortune, now trending for the better, start here and follow the links.

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Nelson & Ulmer (eds.), ... 21st Century Approaches to the Study of Midrash (Gorgias)

NEW BOOK FROM GORGIAS PRESS (VIA DE GRUYTER):

Emerging Horizons. 21st Century Approaches to the Study of Midrash
Proceedings of the Midrash Section, Society of Biblical Literature, volume 9

Edited by: W. Nelson and Rivka Ulmer

Volume 26 in the series Judaism in Context
https://doi.org/10.31826/9781463243661

eBook £85.00
Published: March 21, 2022
ISBN: 9781463243661

About this book

The chapters in Emerging Horizons: 21st Century Approaches to the Study of Midrash pertain to an intriguing midrash that appears in a Masoretic context, the Qur’anic narrative of the red cow, midrashic narratives that rabbinize enemies of Israel, the death of Moses, emotions in rabbinic literature, and yelammedenu units in midrashic works.

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