Levy, The Dawn of Agriculture and the Earliest States in Genesis 1-11 (Routledge)

NEW BOOK FROM ROUTLEDGE:

The Dawn of Agriculture and the Earliest States in Genesis 1-11

By Natan Levy
Copyright 2024

Hardback £104.00
eBook £31.19

ISBN 9781032446882
218 Pages 10 B/W Illustrations
Published November 29, 2023 by Routledge

Description

This book invites a close textual encounter with the first 11 chapters of Genesis as an intimate drama of marginalised peoples wrestling with the rise of the world’s first grain states in the Mesopotamian alluvium.

The initial 11 chapters of Genesis are often considered discordant and fragmentary, despite being a story of beginnings within the context of the Bible. Readers discover how these formative chapters cohere as a cross-generational account of peoples grappling with the hegemonic spread of domesticated grain production and the concomitant rise of the pristine states of Mesopotamia. The book reveals how key episodes from the Genesis narrative reflect major societal revolutions of the Neolithic period in Mesopotamia through a three-fold hermeneutical method: literary analysis of the Bible and contemporary cuneiform texts; modern scholarship from archaeological, anthropological, ecological, and historical sources; and relevant exegesis from the Second Temple and rabbinical era. These three strands entwine to recount a generally sequential story of the earliest archaic states as narrated by non-elites at the margins of these emerging state spaces.

The Dawn of Agriculture and the Earliest States in Genesis 1–11 provides a fascinating reading of the first 11 chapters of Genesis, appealing to students and scholars of the Hebrew Bible and the Near East, as well as those working on ecological injustice from a religious vantage point.

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Dead Sea Scrolls horoscopy

ANCIENT ASTROLOGY: Ancient 'horoscope' scroll unveiled: A glimpse into the mysterious sect of the Judean Desert. This ancient text unveils a worldview where an individual's birth date doesn't just hint at their zodiac but dictates their physical traits and the balance of light and darkness within their soul (Jerusalem Post).

The "Horoscope" scroll, distinguished by its reverse Hebrew writing and incorporation of Greek, Aramaic, ancient Hebrew, and cipher symbols, is believed to have been accessible only to those initiated into its mysteries. Dr. Oren Ableman, a researcher at the Israel Antiquities Authority's Dead Sea Scrolls Unit, emphasized the exclusivity of its content. "The writing style suggests the text was intended solely for those in the know," he stated. "It appears the writings were secret, understood only by the sect's leadership."

I'm not sure why this scroll is suddenly getting so much attention in the media and on Facebook (IAA page). It is 4Q186, a long-known Dead Sea Scroll, published by Allegro in the 1960s.

It does have astrological connections, but it is more of a physiognomic tractate, a work that claims to deduce what a person is like on the basis of their physical characteristics (length of fingers and toes, eye color, height, voice, etc.). 4Q561 and 4Q534 have related traditions in Aramaic. Such tractates also circulated in Hebrew in the Middle Ages.

For whatever reason, it's nice to see some notice taken of this remarkable text.

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Roman roads in Israel

ANCIENT INFRASTRUCTURE: Roman Roads Connected Gaza, Hebron, Jerusalem and Tiberias. What Is Left of Them Today? Israel used to build its main arteries on top of or parallel to the great roads of antiquity. New technology has changed this, but the Roman routes remain an unexploited tourist opportunity (Moshe Gilad, Haaretz).

In the 1970s, Tel Aviv University professors Israel Roll (archaeology) and Benjamin Isaac (ancient history) surveyed the Roman roads here and produced a map of their finds. The map bears a striking resemblance to the layout of roads we use today, but now a great change is taking place: Israel's new roads don't follow the network that crisscrossed the country for two millennia.

The most obvious reason, as Hebrew University geography professor Rehav Rubin says, is that until 50 years ago, when road-construction technology allowed for leveling, tunneling and excavating, natural topography dictated the route. Now that routes can be shortened by blasting and tunneling through mountains and/or leveling steep grades, the topography issue is almost a thing of the past.

For more on Roman roads and milestones, see here and links, plus here, here, here, and here.

For the obligatory Life of Brian reference, see here.

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CFP: Worlds Above and Below Conference

CALL FOR PAPERS:

Click on the image for a larger version. Note that the deadline for proposals is in a week.

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Coptic Museum exhibits restored oldest Coptic Psalter

COPTIC WATCH: Oldest complete Coptic Psalter re-exhibited at the Coptic Museum after restoration. After undergoing a meticulous five-year restoration, the Coptic Museum in Old Cairo has re-exhibited its most treasured artefact – the oldest complete Coptic Psalter ever discovered. (Nevine El-Aref, ahramonline).

“This is the first time we possess a complete book of Psalms dating to late fourth century AD, making it the oldest complete Psalms book unearthed to date. We've never encountered such an early book in Egypt, and I've found no evidence of an earlier genuine book anywhere else,” said the late director of the Coptic Museum and Coptic studies expert Gawdat Gabra when he first saw the book days after its discovery in 1984.

[...]

For more on the Mudil Coptic Psalter, see here.

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Review of Amsler, Babylonian Talmud and late antique book culture

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: The Babylonian Talmud and late antique book culture.

Monika Amsler, The Babylonian Talmud and late antique book culture. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2023. Pp. 243. ISBN 9781009297332.

Review by
Noah Benjamin Bickart, John Carroll University. nbickart@jcu.edu

Open access

It is a distinct pleasure to recommend Monika Amsler’s well written and carefully argued new monograph, “The Babylonian Talmud and Late Antique Book Culture,” not despite this reviewer’s strong disagreement with many of the claims made in the book, but because of them. ...

I noted the publication of the book here.

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Biblical Studies Carnival 215

BELATEDLY: Biblical Studies Carnival #215 – February 2024 (Ben - The Amateur Exegete).

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Were Torah rituals meant to be performed?

PROF. WILLIAM MORROW: Are Torah Rituals Just Literary Compositions? A Comparison with Namburbis (TheTorah.com).

Both namburbi anti-omen rituals (1st millennium B.C.E.) and priestly Torah rituals were preserved in collections in multiple versions that show evidence of intertextuality and innovation. Were these rituals meant to be performed?

Spoiler: arguably, yes.

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Michael Knibb obituary

THE GUARDIAN: Michael Knibb obituary (Paul Joyce).

My former colleague Michael Knibb, who has died aged 84, was a professor of theology at King’s College London. His research focused on ancient texts that tell of heavenly journeys and visions of the end times associated with the mysterious patriarch Enoch, known from the Book of Genesis in the Bible.

[...]

Background here.

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