Najman, Scriptural Vitality (OUP, open access)

NEW BOOK FROM OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS:

Scriptural Vitality

Rethinking Philology and Hermeneutics

Hindy Najman

The Bible and the Humanities

£84.00

Hardback
Published: 16 January 2025
224 Pages
234x153mm
ISBN: 9780198865711

Access for individuals in subscribing libraries/institutions
Open Access

Description

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read on the Oxford Academic platform and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.

Scriptural Vitality challenges the view that the Persian and Hellenistic periods constitute a time of decay, a period of 'late Judaism', languishing between an original, vibrant Judaism and the birth of Christianity. Instead, Hindy Najman argues that the Second Temple period was one of untethered creativity and poetic imagination, of dynamism exemplified through philosophical translation, poetic composition, and a convergence of ancient Mediterranean cultures that gave birth to hermeneutic innovation. Building on Nietzsche's critique of classical philology and drawing on new ways of reading the Dead Sea Scrolls, the author carries out a radical rethinking of biblical studies. Instead of seeking to reconstruct the original text and to find its original author or at least the original context of its production, Najman celebrates textual pluriformity and transformation, tracing ways in which texts and meanings proliferated within interpretive communities through new performances and fresh articulations of the past. Engaging with thinkers such as Friedrich Schlegel and Peter Szondi, whom biblicists have rarely considered, biblical philology is reimagined as the forward-moving study of the poetic processes by which Jewish communities re-created their past and revitalized their present. The Second Temple period emerges as a golden age of creativity, whose traces may still be discerned in Judaism and Christianity today.

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Mysterious ancient lion-head bronze discs

THERIOMORPHIC ICONOGRAPHIC ARTIFACTS: Unique and Mysterious Lions-Head Bronze Discs Found in Roman Tomb in Israel (Unattributed, Ancient Origins).

In 2018, a salvage excavation at the ancient Roman-period site of Khirbat Ibreika in southern Israel resulted in the recovery of a true archaeological enigma. This was four striking bronze discs that featured reliefs of lion heads, each of which was adorned with a heavy ring. Found inside a sealed tomb—designated Tomb T6—these striking artifacts were neatly stacked together in one corner, separated from other grave goods that included twelve glass vessels and an iron nail.

The context and craftsmanship of the lion-head discs quickly attracted scholarly attention. Dating to the first or second century AD, the artifacts were considered quite puzzling: were they only decorative pieces or once-functional handles for a wooden coffin, or did they hold a deeper spiritual or symbolic meaning that made perfect sense within the cultural context of the time?

[...]

This is the first I've heard of this discovery. The underlying article is in the open-access, peer-review journal ‘Atiqot:

Haddad, Elie and Zwiebel, Elisheva (2025) "Unique Lion-Headed Handles from a Roman-Period Cist Tomb
South of Khirbat Ibreika," 'Atiqot : Vol. 117, Article 9.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.70967/2948-040X.2257
Available at: https://publications.iaa.org.il/atiqot/vol117/iss1/9

Unique Lion-Headed Handles from a Roman-Period
Cist Tomb South of Khirbat Ibreika

Elie Haddad (Israel Antiquities Authority) and Elisheva Zwiebel (Israel Antiquities Authority)

A salvage excavation at Khirbat Ibreika unearthed eight cist graves, one of which contained a group of four unique, bronze lion-head discs and ring-handles dated to the Roman period (first–second centuries CE). The restoration demonstrates that the ring-handles were connected to the top of the lion’s head, rather than through its mouth. This article discusses the function of the lion-headed handles, as decorative elements or as handles used for carrying a wooden coffin or lowering it into a grave. Similar lion-headed handles are presented from various contexts to reconstruct their function in funerary contexts and decipher the symbolism of the lion and its cultural affinities.

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The Codex Sassoon is going on display in Israel

EXHIBITION: Sassoon Codex, world’s oldest Hebrew Bible to date, to join ANU permanent collection. The museum will be hosting a series of events to celebrate the manuscript's new home (Jerusalem Post Staff).

The oldest and most complete Hebrew Bible in existence, the Sassoon Codex, will be on permanent display at ANU, the Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv for the first time. The holy book arrived in Israel on October 5, 2023; just two days before the war broke out.

Now that it will be on display, the museum will be hosting a series of events on the power of the Bible in uniting the masses as well as a cultural and spiritual source of inspiration for the Jewish people.

[...]

It goes on display on 4 May.

PaleoJudaica closely followed the story of its sale in 2023. See here and links.

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

PA President says the Jewish Temple was in Yemen

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: PA’s Abbas claims ancient Jewish temples were in Yemen, not Jerusalem. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas claimed “[Israel] is trying to change the historical and legal status of the Islamic and Christian holy places, especially the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque” (Danielle Greyman-Kennard with Yuval Barnea, Jerusalem Post).

The verbatim quotes are given in the article. The specific claim is that the Qu'ran and "other divine books" say that the Jewish Temples were in Yemen. He gives no citation. This sort of thing is not helpful, but Jewish-Temple denial has been coming in various forms from the Palestinian Authority and other pro-Palestinian sources for a long time. I noted the ridiculous claim that the Temple was located in Yemen back in 2007.

I have noted the Temple denial from the PA and others many times over the years. I discussed it in some detail here and here with links (cf. here).

As for President Abbas, he gets an F in history. But I do give him some credit for this (noted in the JP article):

Despite the historical revisionism, in his latest speech, Abbas demanded Hamas return the hostages to Israel and called them “Sons of dogs.”

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A new UFO book by David J. Halperin

NEW BOOK AND REVIEW: Chariot and Saucer (Daniel Socher, Jewish Review of Books).

In Intimate Alien: The Hidden Story of the UFO, David J. Halperin, a distinguished historian of religion who has published studies of the prophet Ezekiel, Merkavah mysticism, and other Jewish visionary experiences, seeks to explain the long-smoldering American fascination with aliens through the lenses of religious studies and Jungian psychology. In doing so, he aims to build what he calls a bridge between “reported existence and postulated cause” for a series of famous UFO cases and motifs, including Roswell.

David Halperin's work on the Hekhalot literature and Merkavah Mysticism has been inspirational and influential (e.g., here) for my own work. I am very pleased to see he has a new book out.

I noted his UFO novel here, with reviews etc. noted here and links. For his book on Shabbetai Zvi, see here.

This article by Socher amounts to a biographical review of Halperin's career and work. It is very good.

I am puzzled, though, about one point. Socher says that Halperin's book Seeking Ezekiel is a "Jungian psychbiography." No. It is definitely Freudian.

For more on Erich Von Däniken and his very early influence on me, see here and links. And yes, Mr. Von Däniken is still around, although he is reportedly "somewhat ailing." His 90th birthday was last month.

Thanks to my University of St. Andrews colleague Michael Lyons for drawing Socher's review to my attention.

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A mysterious menorah artifact

ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE: Mysterious capital depicting menorahs found in 1,500-year-old Roman site in Jerusalem. Artifact, made of local limestone, was discovered in a settlement dating from a time when no Jew was allowed to live in the region (Rossella Tercatin, Times of Israel).

An impressive limestone capital decorated with menorahs (Jewish ritual candelabras) unearthed in Jerusalem and dating from a period when Jews were barred by the Romans from living in the holy city will be on display for the first time on Independence Day, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced Tuesday.

The artifact was discovered in 2020 during excavations ahead of constructions in the Motza neighborhood at the city’s entrance. It lay upside down in the room of a Byzantine structure dating to the 6th or 7th centuries CE. Experts believe the capital is more ancient and was repurposed for the building in what is known as “secondary use.”

[...]

Ruth Schuster also has good coverage at Haaretz:

'Menorah' Artifact Found in Byzantine Home by Jerusalem Baffles Archaeologists. Unique pillar top featuring what looks like a menorah where none should be triggers argument: What are we seeing, and why are we seeing it?.

Question one is – is that a menorah we see? Some think it can't be or at least, shouldn't be because it makes no sense in the context.

Maybe it's just a pretty decoration, though it could be a pretty decoration of a menorah. The stonemason had seen menorah images and possibly without even realizing they were a Jewish symbol, copied it on his lovely column, [IAA archaeologist Uzi] Ad explains that line of thinking. ...

First of all, one reason the archaeologists are so baffled is that they've never found a capital like this before. The decoration on Corinthian pillar capitals was typically floral, Ad explains to Haaretz by telephone on Tuesday. When engaging in interpretation of an artifact, comparison with parallels is helpful but in this case, there are none.

Also, if that is an eight-branched candelabra – and frankly, it looks like one – what is a structure decorated with it doing in an area that had no Jews and hadn't for quite some time? For the last five years the experts at the IAA and Hebrew University have been trying to work that out through analysis of the artifact and its context. Some information has been forthcoming, if no concrete conclusions. Here we go.

For PaleoJudaica posts on the many discoveries at the site of Tel Motza (Tel Moza, Tel Moẓa, Tel Moẓah), start here and follow the links.

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When did Jews first identify as "Israel?"

HISTORICAL RECONSTRUCTION: When Did Jews Begin Calling Themselves 'Israel'? On the evolution of Jewish self-identification from Judah to 'Israel' (Yonatan Adler, Haaretz).

As Israel celebrates 77 years of independence this week, it bears exploring how the name "Israel" itself first came to be associated with the Jewish people. "Israel" is not just the name of a modern nation-state – it is a term laden with deep historical, religious, and symbolic significance.

But when did Jews begin identifying themselves as "Israel"? The answer is more complex, and more revealing, than commonly assumed.

[...]

For another popular article on this question from a decade ago, see here. Not surprisingly, the Merneptah Stele also figures in it. For the implications of the terms Jew vs. Judean, see here and links.

Alder's reconstruction is thoughtful and takes into account the available evidence. Unfortunately, there are great gaps in that evidence, which makes any reconstruction speculative. One key question is whether there was an historical Davidic and Solomonic United Monarchy and, if so, to what degree the Deuteronomistic History describes it accurately.

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Vargas, The Oniad Sibyl (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

The Oniad Sibyl

How a Greek Prophetess Became a Revolutionary Mouthpiece for Egyptian Jews

Series:
Studia in Veteris Testamenti Pseudepigrapha, Volume: 29

Author: Miguel Vargas

The Oniad community was a mercenary and priestly Jewish settlement in Greco-Roman Egypt. This community recognized an exiled high priest of the Jerusalem Temple as its founder and met its end after a Mediterranean-wide uprising that shook the foundations of the Roman Empire. This monograph attributes a group of rather puzzling prophetic narratives—filled with coded language, reused lines from Greek and Jewish literature, and confused historical references—to the Oniads. The thesis of this study is that each prophetic treatise responds to crises experienced by the Oniad settlement and, as a result, evidences its unfolding historical consciousness and hybrid literary culture in distinct phases of its existence.

Copyright Year: 2025

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-72274-3
Publication: 10 Mar 2025
EUR €105.00

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-72266-8
Publication: 14 Mar 2025
EUR €105.00

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Clines, The Shorter Dictionary of Classical Hebrew Revised (Sheffield)

REVISED BOOK FROM SHEFFIELD ACADEMIC PRESS:

The Shorter Dictionary of Classical Hebrew Revised
By David J.A. Clines

£250.00

The Shorter Dictionary of Classical Hebrew Revised (2024) is a single volume desk dictionary abridgement of The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew Revised (DCHR) (2018–2028). The Shorter Dictionary is over 825,000 words in length, placing into a single volume 1/6th of the material of the complete DCHR (over 5 million words), and is designed to be a replacement for BDB (the standard 1906 English lexicon of Hebrew).

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Samuel vs. Chronicles: Why did Uzza die for touching the Ark?

SCRIPTURAL REWRITTEN SCRIPTURE: Uzza Touches the Ark and Dies—Why? Samuel vs. Chronicles (Dr. David A. Glatt-Gilad, TheTorah.com).

In the Book of Samuel, no clear explanation is given as to why Uzza’s offense is so grave that it warrants instant death. The author of Chronicles, finding this unsatisfactory, rewrites parts of the story and provides a concrete explanation for Uzza’s fatal punishment.

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BMCR reviews Mazza, Stolen fragments

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Stolen fragments: black markets, bad faith, and the illicit trade in ancient artefacts.

Roberta Mazza, Stolen fragments: black markets, bad faith, and the illicit trade in ancient artefacts. Stanford: Redwood Press, 2024. Pp. 272. ISBN 9781503632509.

Review by
Christos Tsirogiannis, Allard Pierson Museum, University of Amsterdam. christos.tsirogiannis@cantab.net

... Overall, this book recounts the most recent major scandal concerning illicit antiquities—one that has profoundly impacted the antiquities market, the museum world, and academia, particularly the field of papyrology. ...

I have noted other reviews of the book here and here.

Roberta Mazza's blog is Faces and Voices: People, Artefacts, Ancient History.

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Gupta on the Dead Sea Scrolls

SUBSTACK SERIES: Studying Early Judaism: The Dead Sea Scrolls. A Guide to Resources for New Testament Studies (Nijay K. Gupta, Studying Early Judaism Substack).

And a good, basic collection of DSS resources in general.

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

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

Review of Perrin, Lost Words and Forgotten Worlds (Lexham)

READING ACTS: Andrew B. Perrin, Lost Words and Forgotten Worlds: Rediscovering the Dead Sea Scrolls (Phil Long).

Perrin, Andrew B. Lost Words and Forgotten Worlds: Rediscovering the Dead Sea Scrolls. Bellingham, Wash.: Lexham Academic, 2024. xxv+322 pp.; Hb.; $25.99. Link to Lexham Press

... Conclusion: Perrin states in his introduction that he is not writing for an academic audience. This is a presentation of the Dead Sea Scrolls for a general Christian readership. The book is easy reading, filled with good humor, personal anecdotes, and pop cultural references. The endnotes point the way for readers interested in more detailed, scholarly work. The book is richly illustrated with full-color photographs to enhance the reading experience. Your parent does not shy away from controversy. Chapter 3 discusses the problem of forgeries. Whenever money is to be made, quality forgers will find willing victims. He names, names, including the Museum of the Bible, the Schøyen Collection, and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Perrin’s Lost Words and Forgotten Worlds is an excellent introduction to the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

I'm guessing that the mysterious references to a "parent" in this review are autocorrect relics.

Cross-file under New Book.

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Review of Ruzer, The Writings of the New Testament as Jewish Literature (Hebrew)

BOOK REVIEW SUMMARY: Israeli professor praises Hebrew book on New Testament, says most Israelis know almost nothing about Christianity’s shared roots with Judaism. 'The Hebrew-speaking public needs this book now more than ever' (All Israel News).

In a detailed review, Professor Ishay Rosen-Zvi of Tel Aviv University recently introduced Hebrew readers to The Writings of the New Testament as Jewish Literature, a new and exceptional book by Dr. Serge Ruzer, a leading scholar of comparative religion at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Ruzer’s work traces the profound ties between early Christian texts and Jewish tradition, shedding light on the rich presence of Hebrew and Jewish ideas within the New Testament.

According to Rosen-Zvi’s enthusiastic review, the book is not merely a valuable academic contribution but a true milestone in the field of Jewish studies. Rather than engaging in apologetics or polemics, Ruzer focuses on the theological ideas reflected in the various New Testament writings.

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Guide to ethnographic passages by Pliny the Elder

ETHNIC RELATIONS AND MIGRATION IN THE ANCIENT WORLD: Guide to Pliny the Elder (Philip A. Harland).

This post is aimed at providing a guide for reading sequentally through ethnographic passages dealing with peoples other than Greeks or Italians in Pliny the Elder’s Natural History. Books 3-6 are focussed primarily on geography and peoples, but there are other ethnographically important sections as well:

includes that famous passage on the Essenes.

For more on this blog, see here and here and links.

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Barton (ed.) Understanding the Hebrew Bible (OUP)

NEW BOOK FROM OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS:

Understanding the Hebrew Bible

Essays by Members of the Society for Old Testament Study

Edited by John Barton

£119.00

Hardback
Published: 27 February 2025
448 Pages
234x156mm
ISBN: 9780192845788

Also Available As:
E-book

Description

This is the latest in a series of volumes, published about every twenty-five years since 1924, surveying the current state of the academic study of the Old Testament—more often called the Hebrew Bible in scholarly contexts. It is written by leading members of the Society for Old Testament Study, the professional organization for scholars in that field in the UK and Ireland, but with international members too, some of whom have contributed to the volume. It provides academics, students of the Bible, clergy and rabbis, and intelligent general readers, with a snapshot of the main approaches and issues in the study of the Hebrew Bible since (approximately) the year 2000.

There are chapters on specific biblical books in their ancient context, grouped mainly by genre, but also on methodological aspects of biblical studies today, including interdisciplinary perspectives and contemporary questions, such as the Bible in sociological, theological, historical, archaeological, literary, and linguistic perspectives, and the influence of concerns about gender, race, visual culture, and psychology. A particular recent interest is represented by a chapter on the reception history of the Hebrew Bible in the visual arts, music, and literature (including drama and film). The concern throughout, is to encapsulate contemporary currents in interpretation, rather than to put forward the contributors' personal views, but also to suggest how biblical study may or should develop next in these areas. As with previous volumes, what is provided is a view of global scholarship as seen from these islands that will be useful to serious students of the Hebrew Bible throughout the world. As well as describing their field, the contributors also provide substantial bibliographies pointing readers to other modern discussions.

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