Series: New International Commentary on the Old Testament (NICOT)
Imprint: Eerdmans
960 Pages, 6.12 × 9.25 in
Hardcover
9780802875990
Publication Date: November 20, 2025v
$62.99 £48.99
eBook
9781467469753v
Publication Date: November 20, 2025
$62.99 £48.99
DESCRIPTION
An indispensable resource for preaching and teaching the book of Daniel
In this volume of the New International Commentary on the Old Testament, scholars Aubrey E. Buster and John H. Walton guide readers through chapters 1–6 of the book of Daniel. They provide historically informed, theologically sound interpretations of some of the most memorable stories and imagery in the Old Testament, including Daniel in the lion’s pit, the fiery furnace, the figure with feet of clay, and the writing on the wall. Buster and Walton also help readers understand the significance of the text’s composition, audience, historical context, genre, and structure. Accessible and insightful, this well-researched volume is an essential resource for preaching, teaching, and study of the book of Daniel.
All NICOT volumes combine superior scholarship, an evangelical view of Scripture as the Word of God, and concern for the life of faith today. Each volume features an extensive introduction treating the biblical book’s authorship, date, purpose, structure, and theology. The authors’ own translations of the original text and verse-by-verse commentary follow. The commentary itself carefully balances coverage of technical matters with exposition of the biblical text’s theology and implications. Readers who want to hear God’s voice anew through Scripture will find the New International Commentary on the Old Testament series to be a faithful, trustworthy guide.
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In a rare find, Israeli archaeologists recently uncovered the tools used some 1,400 years ago to make mementos for the travelers who made their way to the Land of Israel to visit the key sites associated with the life of Jesus and other saints as Christianity became firmly established as the Roman Empire’s dominant religion.
A Byzantine mold to craft small flasks featuring an elaborate cross and inscribed with the Greek words “Lord’s blessing from the holy places,” was among several notable artifacts recently unearthed at the Hyrcania archaeological site in the Judean Desert in the West Bank, researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem told The Times of Israel on Thursday. The inscription was deciphered by Dr. Avner Ecker.
For more on the many discoveries at the Hyrcania excavation, see here and links.
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In 2010, the Israeli government adopted a decision to strengthen the enforcement and protection of antiquities in the West Bank, but it was an initial move with limited budgets and minimal attention from the military and government ministries. In July 2023, nearly a year after the current government was formed, a new government decision approved a multi-year plan to combat the destruction of antiquities and heritage sites in the West Bank. The decision, initiated by Heritage Minister Rabbi Amichai Eliyahu, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Tourism Minister Haim Katz, allocated 120 million shekels over three years. The new budget fundamentally changed the work of the archaeology unit.
For more on the Sartaba-Alexandrium excavation, see here and links; on the Hyrcania excavation, see here and links (UPDATE: also the next two posts here and here); and on the new Sebastia excavation, here and links, here, here, and here; and on a recent academic boycott, here.
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I haven't really posted on Christmas this year, unless you want to count posts on the disappointing 2025 film The Carpenter's Son. I suppose we can count this one on Coptic magical infancy Christian apocrypha too. Otherwise, such Christmas stories that I've seen are recyclings of old ones that come up every year.
But just to make sure they are covered too, here are some old posts on perennial Christmas subjects. Each has plenty of links to follow.
DR. IRIVING FINKEL, well-known Assyriologist at the British Museum, was recently interviewed by Lex Fridman. In this clip, Dr. Finkel makes a couple of fascinating and somewhat controversial claims.
First, he notes that the Neolithic archaeological site at Göbekli Tepe, best known for its remarkable monolithic architecture bearing extensive artwork (noted here and here), has produced a small stone object that has the look of an administrative seal. The object has three marks on it that sure look like pictographic writing, possibly even phonetic writing. Dr. Finkel thinks that such a complex society would have needed at least pictographic writing for trade and administration and this artifact shows that they had it. Presumably they used it more extensively on perishable materials such as leaves.
Not noted in the clip, but similar decorated stone objects has been found at other Neolithic sites. An example from Jerf al-Ahmar in Syria is shown here. French scientists have already suggested a connection with pictographic writing. A cautious appraisal of the implications of such objects is in this open-access article. Note especially Fig. 3A‒D.
Finkel knows much more about early writing systems than I do, but I know enough to say that his proposal has some merit. Neolithic civilizations may well have already been working on pictographic writing systems in 9000 BCE. The earliest proto-cuneiform writing is from the late 3000s BCE, nearly six millenia later.
Pair that with this year's proposal that alphabetic writing was already underway in the third millennium BCE.
For another 2025 PaleoJudaica post on an intriging story about Neolithic archaeology, see here.
Second—and here Finkel speaks directly out of his expertise—he has an arresting take on Ashurbanipal's famed cuneiform library in the ruins of Nineveh, excavated in the nineteenth century. The Library of Ashurbanipal, some 30,000 tablets or so, is a major source for the Epic of Gilgamesh and other cuneiform literature. PaleoJudaica has posted on it here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Finkel's proposal, which I have not heard before, is that the Babylonian conquerers and their allies must have looted the library before they destroyed it. It would have contain vast amounts of important information in their own language which they would have wanted to keep. The huge "library" that was excavated consists only of the duplicates and the broken pieces that the Babylonians didn't bother carting off. If he's right—and as a curator of the cuneiform collection of the British Museum, where those tablets are housed, his opinion has credibility—the loss of the bulk of the original library of Ashurbanipal is a tragedy comparable to the loss of the Library of Alexandria.
Still, we are unimaginably fortune to have what we do have of it.
PaleoJudaica has noted Dr. Finkel in connection with a British Museum exhibition on Babylon here; his work on the Mesopotamian Noah's Ark story here, here, here, and here; his work on some new Cyrus Cylinder fragments here and here; an interview with him here; his comments on the completion of the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary here; his work on the Babylonian World Map here; and a recent book he co-authored on Babylonian Chronographic Texts from the Hellenistic Period here.
If you're wondering, no, none of this has anything to do with Christmas. Except perhaps that Dr. Finkel does look a lot like Santa Claus.
UPDATE (28 December): Over at the Trowel and Pen Blog, archaeologist Jens Notroff—who specializes in the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods, who has acted as a staff member at the Göbekli Tepe excavation, and who has published on the site—has responded to Finkel's claims in the Fridman interview: Hidden in plain sight: Did archaeologists really overlook evidence for early writing at Göbekli Tepe?! It's brief, so read it all.
Mr. Notroff makes three points. First, he objects to Finkel's "subtle passive-agressive" tone toward archaeologists. Fair point. I think he was speaking tongue in cheek, but he could have skipped those opening comments.
Second, the artifact is not unique. It comes in an archaeological context of similar objects and iconography found at the site and elsewhere. Agreed. For example, I linked to a photo of the Jerf el Ahmar plaquette above.
Third, there is already a specialist literature on these objects and their iconography. Again, agreed. I cited a 2025 peer-reviewed article above as an example.
So is it proto-writing? Notroff concludes:
So, is it now writing or not? I’d still be hesitant, to be honest. These symbols are part of a communication system, I’m totally on board here. But in my humble opinion we’re not seeing phonetic values assigned to specific symbols representing spoken language here yet.
That doesn't sound far off from what Finkel (and I) said. It looks like some kind of pictographic communication. Whether it was "proto-writing," is certainly up for discussion. It could be phonetic, but need not be. We would need to know something about the language spoken by the Göbekli Tepeians to evaluate that.
If it is ever firmly established that they used (proto-)writing, that will only be through collaboration between experts on early writing systems like Dr. Finkel and specialist archaeologists like Mr. Notroff. I am glad that the latter weighed in on the subject.
I have not yet found any responses by other Assyriologists to Finkel's comments about Ashubanipal's Library.
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Megiddo, site of the biblical Armageddon and home of the discovery that capped off our top 10 list last year, continued to yield noteworthy discoveries in 2025.
This year’s archaeology stories highlight discoveries that have helped us learn more about the biblical world and the context that gave us the Bible. Some are controversial. Some are serendipitous.
The most important biblical archaeology discoveries of this year may not be known until months or years from now, as archaeologists study their findings in the lab, research them, and publish their reports in scientific journals. This list is the stories we learned about this year.
Another good list, with relatively little overlap with earlier ones.
PaleoJudaica has posted on almost all the stories: on Egyptians at Josiah's Megiddo, see here; on Jerusalem's Hasmonean-era city wall, see here and here; on that new map of Roman-era roads, see here; on the somewhat controversial new excavation at Samaria/Sebastia, see here (cf. here) and on the Civil Administration's expropriation of land in the area, see here; on Egypt's also-controversial nationalization of St. Catherine's Monastery, see here (cf. here); on the cuneiform late notice from the Assyrian taxman excavated in Jerusalem, see, here; on the AI redating of 4QDanielc, see here, here, and here; on the wildfire at Tel Araj (Bethsaida?), see here (cf. here); and on Jerusalem's Siloam dam, see here.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
A 1952 English book by Robert St. John, now out of print, offers incredible detail on this process and the man called Eliezer Ben-Yehuda. In Tongue of the Prophets, St. John conveyed what he learned from a biography written in Hebrew by Eliezer’s widow.
Ben-Yehuda’s work not only benefited the establishment of “Israel,” it also served as a mighty support to the archaeological work that would come in the years to follow. Biblical archaeology without a nation of Hebrew speakers seems impossible to imagine.
Additionally, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda was himself an archaeologist—of a linguistic sort. The kind of rigorous work he did, the scientific standards to which he adhered, are relatable to anyone leading an excavation. And they make the product of his life’s devotion all the more worthy of the highest esteem.
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Archaeologists in Iran have identified a rare motif in Elymaean rock carving that may depict a scene closely resembling the famous myth of Hercules battling the Hydra, a story widely known across the Greek world and featured on coins dating to around 325 BC. ...
The relief is carved on a trapezoid-shaped rock surface measuring about 70 by 81 centimeters (2.29 to 2.65 feet). Although erosion and deliberate defacement have damaged parts of it, three figures remain visible.
On the left, a powerful nude male figure appears in three-quarter profile, lifting a large round object that may represent a ritual mace while gripping the central creature by the throat. Researchers say the carved muscles and movement stress heroic strength.
The central figure is a three-headed serpent-like being, about 83 centimeters (2.7 feet) long. Such imagery is extremely rare in Elymaean art and is key to interpretation. On the right, a man in Parthian-style clothing stands in a frontal pose, resembling priestly figures seen in other Elymaean reliefs, possibly suggesting a ceremonial role.
The relief certainly has parallels to the Heracles/Hercules myth, but it need not depict the Greek hero. Given its location, that seems less than likely to me.
The myth of a foundational battle between a god and a multi-headed dragon is much older than our Greek sources. A third-millennium BCE stamp seal depiciting a similar scene with a seven-headed dragon was excavated at Hazor last year. See here and here.
The myth is found in the ancient Near East and repeatedly in the Bible. It may well have come to this Elymais relief via ancient Near Eastern religious traditions.
For PaleoJudaica posts on Elymais, a region in the ancient Parthian Empire, see here, here, and here.
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Archaeology isn't an exact science of unearthing the past. Only so much is uncovered, much more is assumed to be lost and a geat deal is down to interpretation. But 2025 was a great year for cracking some of the mysteries that had been bedeviling archaeologists for decades.
A good list.
PaleoJudaica has posted on some, not all, of these stories. For the proposed decipherment of Cryptic B script and the Mount Zion stone cup's Cryptic A script, see here. The Magdala Stone has been around for a while, but a couple of 2025 posts on it are here and here. It's currently on display at the Museum of the Bible in D.C. Live Science also has a recent article on it by Kristina Killgrove here. For the pottery evidence for Egyptians at Megiddo in Josiah's time, see here. For the inferred different naming patterns in Judah and Israel, see here.
I didn't post on the Neolithic massebah at e-Tell, There is another recent Neolithic archaeology story worth mentioning, but it deserves a post on its own.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
British Dental Journal volume 239, pages 851–856 (2025)
Abstract
This paper – the first of two – explores the development of dentistry and dental care practices across diverse ancient civilisations. Evidence from prehistory, from a 13,000-year-old intervention at Riparo Fredian in northern Italy, to Neolithic findings in Pakistan and Slovenia, suggests that early populations attempted to alleviate pain and manage oral conditions. In Mesopotamia, cuneiform texts detail treatments for caries and periodontal disease, accompanied by recommendations and prescriptions for oral hygiene. Although these texts describe various therapeutic approaches, there is no mention of any operative procedures, and the sparse osteological record similarly offers no evidence of dental intervention. Biblical and Talmudic sources from ancient Israel emphasise the cultural significance of dental aesthetics, offering insights into remedies and practices intended to preserve the natural look of the teeth. Discoveries from Etruria and Phoenicia, dated to the first millennium BC, including dental bridges and gold-wire appliances, reveal intricate restorative and cosmetic techniques, particularly among elite women. In the Far East, ancient Chinese and Indian texts highlight preventive measures and herbal treatments, prioritising diagnostics and hygiene over operative procedures. Collectively, these findings illustrate a broad spectrum of early dental care strategies that evolved, alongside dietary shifts, cultural values, and technological innovations, providing fascinating insights into the origins and development of dentistry and dental care.
The article is open access. The section on ancient Israel is brief. It mostly has information from the Talmud.
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Thinking about the letters of Augustine reminds me of one of the more interesting manuscripts I encountered this year. Among the many remarkable manuscripts in the Cairo Genizah is Cambridge University Library ADD.4320. It’s a collection of fragments of a palimpsest with an upper text containing masoretic notes on various texts from the Hebrew scriptures and a lower erased text that has been identified as a collection of Augustine’s sermons.
The hand of the Latin script is a clear uncial that has been assigned to the sixth century, making these folia some of the oldest surviving copies of Augustine’s writings.
[...]
For more Cairo Geniza stories, start here and follow the many links. And for a recent book on Augustine, see here and here.
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Finally, standing alone in the tallest tower was a single figure. He’s the only individual in the entire city. And he’s holding a standard, suggesting royal status. If Slab 28 depicts a scene from King Sennacherib’s invasion of Judah, and if the city depicted was Jerusalem, then this lone royal figure had to be King Hezekiah!
Compton's JNES article is behind the subscription wall, but Nagtegaal gives a detailed summary.
If the depicted figure is King Hezekiah, that's a significant discovery. Alas, the stylized figure leaves us little the wiser about what the king actually looked like.
For PaleoJudaica posts on Sennacherib's siege of Jerusalem, its archaeology, and what may have happened there, start with the links collected here.
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A naturally offensive stance earns him many critics, especially among the educated Romanised elites, each of them eager to turn his poor, provincial, Punic origins against him. Combined with his sexually liberal years as a Manichean cultist, there is no shortage of ammunition to use against him when he was ordained, in 391, as presbyter of Hippo. Allusions to his treacherous ‘Carthaginian’ nature punctuate the work of his opponents, from the biblical scholar Jerome to the excommunicated aristocrat, Bishop Julian, who readily derides him as a ‘Punic pamphleteer’ of oriental disposition.
The book under review is Catherine Conybeare, Augustine the African (Blackstone, 2025). I noted another review of it here.
Cross-file under (Neo-)Punic Watch.
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Raja, Rubina & Eivind Heldaas Seland. eds. 2025. Palmyra, the Roman Empire, and the Third Century Crisis: Zooming in and Scaling up from the Evidence. Stuttgart: Steiner.
Cross-file under Palmyra Watch.
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Maturity, Marriage, Motherhood, Mortality is a deft study of women's life-cycle rituals in ancient Israel. These include rituals that marked a young woman's coming of age (“maturity”) and her betrothal and wedding (“marriage”); rituals undertaken by women during pregnancy, parturition, and their first days and early years after giving birth (“motherhood”); and rituals that were enacted at the time of a woman's death and in the months and years that followed (“mortality”).
The book's aims are tripartite. The first is to sketch as fully as possible a picture of women's life-cycle events and rituals from preexilic and early postexilic Israel, using both evidence that can be gleaned from our primary source for the religious traditions of ancient Israel-the Bible-as well as extrabiblical data, including ancient Israelite archaeological data and archaeological, iconographic, and textual data that come from the many peoples of the ancient Near East and eastern Mediterranean by whom the Israelites were influenced or with whom they interacted.
The second is to highlight the several distinctive features that characterized women's life-cycle events and rituals: for example, the way women's life-cycle events can flow as a virtually uninterrupted ritual continuum, from, say, coming of age, to betrothal, to marriage, to motherhood, and also the ways in which Israelite women's experiences during life-cycle events and rituals differed from those of their male counterparts. The experience of a bride who is “given” to her prospective spouse during betrothal and wedding rituals is different, for example, than the experience of a groom who “takes” a woman in marriage. Finally, the book offers a six-part theoretical model that explains the distinctive features that appear within Israelite women's life-cycle rituals and that accounts for the differences between women's life-cycle rituals and men's.
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