Jesus and Nazareth

NEW BOOK FROM ROUTLEDGE: Biblical story of Jesus possibly explained by excavations in his hometown of Nazareth (Owen Jarus, Live Science).

Nazareth's opposition to Roman cultural practices and objects would have stood in stark contrast to its neighbor, a city called Sepphoris, which embraced Roman culture, including imported objects. "Cultural separation may have created what was, in effect, an invisible barrier between Nazareth and Sepphoris," wrote study author Ken Dark, director of the Nazareth Archaeological Project, in his recently published book "Roman-Period and Byzantine Nazareth and Its Hinterland" (Routledge, 2020).

The book is not about Jesus and Nazareth, it's about the archaeology of Nazareth. But possible (somewhat speculative) connections with Jesus are the hook for this article. And it has some interesting information about Nazareth in general.

I don't see a lot on the archaeology of Nazareth in the PaleoJudaica archives, but here is one post. And, of course, there's the Nazareth inscription, which quite possibly is not from Nazareth. By contrast, the archaeology of Sepphoris ( Tzipori/Tzippori/Zippori) is well represented. Start here and follow the links.

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Overtoom, Reign of Arrows

BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Reign of Arrows. Notice of a New Book: Overtoom, Nikolaus Leo. 2020. Reign of Arrows: The Rise of the Parthian Empire in the Hellenistic Middle East. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Follow the link for description and ordering information.

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Wuppertal LXX conference postponed

WILLIAM ROSS: UPDATE: POSTPONEMENT OF 8TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE FOR SEPTUAGINT STUDIES (WUPPERTAL 2020). I noted his announcement of the conference in January here. It has tentatively been rescheduled for 2021.

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AAR/SBL program book archive

THE AWOL BLOG: Society of Biblical Literature and American Academy of Religion Program Books 1938-2019.

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Cook on resurrection in the Mediterranean world

THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST TODAY: Resurrection in the Mediterranean World (John Granger Cook).

The Christian belief in the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, following his crucifixion at the hands of the prefect of Judaea, Pontius Pilate, gradually made its way through the ancient Mediterranean world. But it fell on fertile ground. One of the primary contentions in my recent book on the topic (Empty Tomb, Resurrection, Apotheosis) is that the Christians’ proclamation of a crucified Lord found fertile ground among Mediterranean people who had long been familiar with some form of the concept of the resurrection of a body.

[...]

For more on Professor Cook's recent book, see here. And for more on his other work, see here, here, and here.

For a couple of books by Jan A. Sigvartsen on related matters, see here.

And for a related essay by Devorah Dimant, along with some of my own — I think original — thoughts on the early history of the idea of resurrection, see my post Resurrection in the Book of Ezekiel (and in Ugaritic) from a couple of years ago.

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Shankbone and egg

FOR PASSOVER: Shankbone and Egg: How They Became Symbols on the Seder Plate (Dr.Joshua Kulp, TheTorah.com).

The Talmud requires having two unspecified cooked dishes to be eaten as part of the Passover meal. How did this requirement develop into the custom of placing two particular symbolic foods, the shankbone and the egg, on the seder plate?

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The first trumpet

READING ACTS: The First Trumpet: Fire Mixed with Blood – Revelation 8:7. Phil Long continues his blog series on the seven angels of the Book of Revelation and their trumpets. This post is on the trumpet of the first angel.

Background here and links.

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Jewish Chronicle and Jewish News going into liquidation

THE BBC: The Jewish Chronicle and Jewish News to go into liquidation. I am sad to hear this. PaleoJudaica has linked to both, especially The Jewish Chronicle, from time to time. I wish everyone involved all the best.

In addition to the pandemic's toll on health and lives, it is causing immense harm to the economy. Let's hope for better news soon.

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An ancient echo of a "virtual" seder?

FOR PASSOVER: This year’s ‘virtual’ seders have an ancient echo, says Haggadah historian. Through prosperity and darkness — and now again in modernity — the retelling of the Exodus story has evolved alongside the Jewish people. Prof. Vanessa Ochs traces the journey (RICH TENORIO, Times of Israel).

Just in time for one of the most unusual Passover seder nights in recent memory, acclaimed scholar Vanessa Ochs has come out with a new book on the history of the haggadah.

“The Passover Haggadah: A Biography” is Ochs’s contribution to the Princeton University Press Lives of Great Religious Books series, which includes explorations of the Book of Genesis and the letters of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Yet the haggadah brings some unique challenges.

[...]

Regarding that ancient echo:

Ochs writes that the first haggadot were oral instructions mentioned in the Mishnah and its supplement, the Tosefta. In the Tosefta, she finds “an ad hoc Passover home ceremony taking place between 70 and 200 CE and beyond.” Citing Prof. Judith Hauptman, Ochs writes that compared with the Mishnah, the Tosefta’s haggadah “was briefer and less elaborate,” and it “may even have come first.”

Ironically for those planning virtual seders today, the original seders had their own virtual quality for Jews who could not worship at the Second Temple following its destruction in 70 CE.

“Certainly, the seder in the Mishnah grafts ancient practices of the Passover pilgrimage holiday in Jerusalem involving the sacrifice of lambs at the ancient temple,” Ochs said. “In its place, it became itself the first virtual Passover.”

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DeMille's, "Ten Commandments" (both of them)

PASSOVER RELATED: How DeMille made his ‘Ten Commandments’ Jewish again. (PJ Grisar, The Forward). I had forgotten that DeMille had done an earlier Ten Commandments movie in the 1920s, although PaleoJudaica's archive tells me that I once knew. From the description here, the first film does sound cloyingly moralizing.

For past posts on both movies, alas with some rotted links, see here and links (cf. here).

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Wolters, Proverbs (LXX commentary)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Proverbs

A Commentary based on Paroimiai in Codex Vaticanus

Series: Septuagint Commentary Series

Author: Al Wolters

In the Proverbs volume in the Septuagint Commentary Series Al Wolters gives a meticulous philological commentary on the text of Proverbs as found in the important fourth-century Codex Vaticanus, together with a careful transcription of the Vaticanus Greek text and a fresh English translation thereof. The focus of the commentary is on the semantic and grammatical aspects of the Greek, relying primarily on general Greek usage rather than on the underlying Hebrew, and drawing on a broad array of lexicographical and grammatical resources, as well as a detailed examination of twelve previous translations of LXX Proverbs. In the process, many new interpretations of the often difficult Greek are proposed.

Prices from (excl. VAT): €121.00 / $146.00

E-Book
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-42559-0
Publication Date: 17 Mar 2020

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-42558-3
Publication Date: 19 Mar 2020

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Qasr al-Yahud is de-mined

PILGRIMAGE MINEFIELD CLEARED: Last landmine cleared from biblical Jordan Valley site. Holy site to be restored after 53 years as landmines finally cleared (Nicky Harley, The National). I have been following this story about Qasr Al-Yahud, which is a possible site for the baptism of Jesus, since the de-mining project was announced in 2016. This article reports the good news that the site is now fully de-mined.

The Halo Trust told The National restoration work can finally begin on the buildings to enable them to be reopened to pilgrims and visitors in the near future.

Apparently the charity blew up 500 mines in a "daisy chain explosion." I hope there's video of that.

Alas, the site will still be short of pilgrims and visitors for some time, but the Halo Trust is clearly working to make sure that it is ready when they come back.

UPDATE: Excuse me for forgetting the background link. It's here and links.

UPDATE: For the video of the detonation, see here.

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Passover 2020

HAPPY PASSOVER (PESACH) TO ALL THOSE CELEBRATING! The festival begins this evening at sundown. Stay safe and be well!

Last year's Passover post is here and it has many Passover links. Relevant biblical texts are collected here. Passover-related posts for 2020's pandemic Passover are here, here, here, here, here, and here.

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Are the SWBTS DSS fragments fakes?

MORE PROBLEMS WITH POST-2002 DEAD SEA SCROLL-LIKE FRAGMENTS: Southwestern Seminary’s Dead Sea Scrolls ‘likely fraudulent’ (Baptist Press).

FORT WORTH (BP)—Pieces of papyrus sold as rare fragments of Dead Sea Scrolls to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary a decade ago are “likely fraudulent” and the seminary might seek financial restitution, the school announced in a statement April 6.

[...]

Background on the question of the post-2002 Dead SeaScroll-like fragments is here and many links. Another recent post on SWBST is here.

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The angel of the censer

READING ACTS: Who is the Angel with the Incense from the Altar of God? – Revelation 8:3-5. Phil Long continues his series on the seven angels of the Book of Revelation. This post is on the first angel.

Background here.

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Solace from ancient apocalyptic texts?

WHATEVER WORKS FOR YOU: Why religious apocalyptic texts can offer us solace during the coronavirus crisis (Siobhan Hegarty, ABC News [Australia]). By the way, 4 Ezra was written around 100 C.E., not the later date given in this article.

Cross-file under Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Watch.

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Review of Krag & Raja (eds.), Women, children and the family in Palmyra

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Women, children and the family in Palmyra.

Signe Krag, Rubina Raja, Women, children and the family in Palmyra. Palmyrene studies, 3. Copenhagen: The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, 2019. 228 p.. ISBN 9788773044193 DKK 250 (pb).

Review by
Leonardo Gregoratti, Durham University. DerGrego@gmail.com

Cross-file under Palmyra Watch. For more on the Palmyra Portrait Project, see here and here. Past posts on the Empress Zenobia are here and links.

Many other posts on Palmyra, its history, the ancient Aramaic dialect spoken there (Palmyrene), and the city's tragic reversals of fortune, which more recently were trending for the better, are here and links.

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The beauty of the beloved

DR. ELAINE T. JAMES: The Poetry of Beauty: What Does it Mean to See the Beloved? (TheTorah.com).

Three descriptive poems in the Song of Songs wrestle with the experience of being in the beloved’s presence. In each case, the woman’s body is described using layered landscape imagery and complex, overlapping angles of vision. These poems ask us to consider what it means to see.

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The seven angels of Revelation

READING ACTS: Who Are the Seven Angels in Revelation 8:2? Looks like Phil Long's series in the Book of Revelation is continuing.

Background here and here.

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SWBTS discontinues its archaeology program

ANOTHER CANCELLATION: Southwestern Ends Largest Evangelical Archaeology Program. Coronavirus interrupts excavation projects across Israel (Gordon Govier, Christianity Today).

The nation’s leading evangelical archaeology program is closing, partly in response to COVID-19. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS) will shut down its archaeology program in May, terminating five professors and discontinuing its degree program, which currently has more than 25 graduate students.

The decision came as “part of campus-wide budgetary reductions necessitated by the financial challenges associated with COVID-19,” according to a statement SWBTS sent to Christianity Today.

[...]

That's a pity. The publication prospects for the SWBTS Gezer excavation are also now up in the air.

As the subheading indicates, excavations are halting all over Israel:

The end of SWBTS’s program will not be the only setback for biblical archaeology this year. Across Israel, excavation plans are being canceled or postponed in response to the spread of coronavirus.

The article goes on to discuss the situation of a number of prominent digs in Israel.

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