Ancient coins seized at West Bank checkpoint

APPREHENDED NUMISMATICS: Ancient coins from Hasmonean kingdoms, Jewish revolts seized after suspected smuggling. Police say they found the artifacts last month as they inspected a vehicle belonging to a Palestinian doctor as he crossed the Hizma checkpoint north of Jerusalem into Israel (Rossella Tercatin, Times of Israel).

A collection of dozens of ancient coins was seized after a suspected smuggling attempt from the West Bank into Israel last month, the Israel Antiquities Authority said Monday.

Most of the coins date back approximately 2,000 years. Some were minted by Hasmonean kings (in the second or first centuries BCE), others by Jewish rebels during the Great Jewish Revolt (66-73 CE) or the Bar Kochba Revolt (132-136 CE). The collection also includes many Roman coins.

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When did the Bavli become authoritative - especially in the Land of Israel?

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Book Historical Bavli Questions (Yitz Landes).

Thus, from the vantage point of the History of the Jewish Book, the study of the Talmud’s reception can focus on many things, but there are two main questions that it must deal with: One, which I just alluded to, is a question for the historian of the modern era, or perhaps even for the ethnographer, and this is the question of how the Talmud became a popular text after many centuries of it being a text of the elite.

The book historical question that I will focus on here is the question of the Talmud’s initial reception, of what we may call its canonization. And I mean this not in the sense of its coalescing as a work, though that is still profoundly unclear, but in the sense of how the Talmud became the most central work for defining what Judaism is and should be—well before, even a millennium before, it became a popular book and a part of popular piety.

I noted the first two essays in this series here and here.

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Is the Ark of the Covenant in the Solomon Islands?

WELL THAT'S A NEW ONE: Local religious movement claims the Ark of the Covenant is in the Solomon Islands. Among the To’abaita people in the north of Malaita, a deeply rooted belief holds that they descend from the “Lost Ten Tribes of Israel” (Jerusalem Post Staff/AI).

A new theory is drawing attention to Malaita Island in the Solomon Islands as a potential hiding place of the Ark of the Covenant. Local accounts point to a lost temple deep in the jungle that was modeled on King Solomon’s Temple to safeguard the sacred chest. ...

No, I don't take this seriously, but it's fun to keep track of all the places where the Ark is supposed to be. Once someone even visited my office to tell where it was buried in Scotland.

To the Solomon Islanders and anyone else who proports to know where the Ark of the Covenant is, I say, I am fully prepared to be convinced when you produce the Ark and it is properly authenticated by professional archaeologists and specialists.

For a great many posts on the Ark of the Covenant and the many places where it's claimed to be, start here and just follow those links. For some background links, see here.

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The ANE Myth of the Servant

THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST TODAY: The Myth of the Servant: A New Tale of Kingship from the Ancient Near East (Christopher Metcalf).

This is where the mythical element becomes relevant: the central claim of the “Myth of the Servant,” I argue, is that the newcomer originally served as a servant of the existing king. This claim is embedded in a longer story-pattern, which in its fullest version extends all the way back to birth. To summarise in abstract terms: the future ruler is born in a situation of tension, and is separated from his natural parents; he is then rescued and adopted by a palace servant, and begins a career at court that eventually introduces him to the immediate entourage of the existing king; in the end, the new man takes the throne himself, typically with divine support. One notable feature is that the incumbent king (the future ruler’s master) is usually an invented figure, in the sense that we rarely possess independent historical evidence for his existence.

Cross-file under New Book:

Christopher Metcalf, Three Myths of Kingship in Early Greece and the Ancient Near East: The Servant, the Lover, and the Fool (CUP, 2026)

The book title sounds Jungian.

Our first surviving exemplar of the ANE Myth of the Servant is for the third-millennium BCE founder of the Old Akkadian empire, Sargon of Agade (Akkad). But the myth applies to a greater or lesser degree for many other ancient figures, including biblical figures, among them Jesus.

This myth has some similarities to Lord Raglan's old typology of the Myth of the Hero. On that, see here. Unfortunately, the original article is no longer up, but for more on his typology, see here and for a post on other hero typologies, see here.

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When was the Book of Daniel written?

THE IS THAT IN THE BIBLE? BLOG: Why Scholars Date the Book of Daniel to the Second Century BCE (Paul D.).

Is That in the Bible? is back with a comprehensive post on the arguments for a late dating of the Book of Daniel. Long, but well worth a read.

I have commented myself on key reasons for the late dating of the book in the links collected here.

Also, some years ago, Phil Long posted a series on the Book of Daniel at Reading Acts. I noted it as it came out and I commented on many of the issues covered in Paul D.'s new esssay. See here and here and follow the links back.

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Römer Festschrift (De Gruyter)

NEW OPEN-ACCESS VOLUME BY DE GRUYTER:

The Ancestors of Genesis and the Exodus Traditions

A Festschrift for Thomas Römer

Published by De Gruyter

Book 568 in the Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft series

Christophe Nihan, Jean-Daniel Macchi (eds.)

The volume comprises various studies about Israel’s origins in Genesis and Exodus by a broad range of international scholars. The volume is divided into five parts of similar length. Parts One and Two are devoted to the stories about Abraham, Jacob and Joseph in Genesis from a literary and historical perspective. Part Three deals with the connection between Genesis and Exodus. Part Four is devoted to the Book of Exodus and includes contributions dealing with the origins of the Exodus traditions as well as various key themes and figures found in this book. The final section addresses the early reception of Genesis and Exodus outside of these books, in the Prophets, the Psalms, Chronicles and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Overall, the volume opens several new perspectives for the discussion on Genesis and Exodus and their significance for the construction of Israel’s origins. Combining archaeological, historical and textual perspectives, it provides in-depth discussion of a wide range of key topics, including the composition of these books, their social, historical and religious background, as well as their overall role in the shaping of the Hebrew Bible.

HT the AWOL Blog.

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Ulmer, ... Studies in Pesiqta Rabbati (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Sing and Rejoice, O daughter of Zion (Zechariah 2:14)

Studies in Pesiqta Rabbati

Series:
The Brill Reference Library of Judaism, Volume: 80

Author: Rivka Ulmer

Pesiqta Rabbati is a midrashic collection of homilies derived from the Hebrew bible related to Jewish observance of festivals, fast days, and special Sabbaths. The book underscores the importance and purpose of Pesiqta Rabbati: to explain the centrality of midrash in the life, culture, and ethnicity of Jewish belief and practice, as well as the importance of practice sustaining the continuity of Jews and their identity. Textual details are drawn from contemporary events (5th- 11th century) and Jewish ethics. Topics include apocalyptic thought, the suffering Messiah ben Ephraim, the Jerusalem Temple, and reactions to Christianity and Islam. Methods applied are text linguistics, borderland theories, halachic discourse analysis, semiotics, and literary criticism.

Copyright Year: 2026

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-74830-9
Publication: 26 Jan 2026
EUR €199.00

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-74829-3
Publication: 26 Feb 2026
EUR €199.00

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