More on John Dee and OT Pseudepigrapha

HETERODOXOLOGY: On Enoch reception and Dee reception. Egil Asprem discusses (with reference to his recent book) the degree to which John Dee (and, implicitly, Edward Kelley) knew the ancient Enochian traditions. The answer is, not much.

A full answer requires more careful source study, but it is clear enough that this is a phenomenon belonging to the reception of Dee’s work. One could say that it is the convergence of “Enoch reception” and “Dee reception”.

This is correct, although Dee himself was certainly interested in ancient Enochiana. I discuss this question in the introduction to Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: More Noncanonical Scriptures vol. 1. Here is the paragraph:

In the early 1580s the English scholar and magus John Dee undertook an experiment with his "scryer," who went by the name of Edward Kelley, to try to acquire otherwise inaccessible knowledge by means of invoking and interrogating angels. Kelley, by peering into his "seer stone," mediated numerous conversations between these angels and Dee, and Dee left detailed transcripts of these encounters. He was told that the lost books of Esdras were still in the hands of the Jews. He was also told that he would be shown the lost books of Enoch quoted by Jude, but there is no record of this happening. Instead, the angels dictated a lengthy revelatory book called Liber Loagaeth, which was to restore all the lost holy books. Unfortunately, it is written in an "angelic" language (called "Enochian" by later followers of Dee) and, apart from a word or two here and there, no translation was ever forthcoming.

As far as I can tell, the only ancient Enochic text that Dee knew was the quotation in Jude 14-15. He also, by the way, knew the Latin book of 2 Esdras (= 4-6 Ezra) and quoted it from time to time. My SBL paper this year discusses some phenomenological parallels between the angelic séances of Dee and Kelley and the visionary events described in 4 Ezra 14.

I may already have mentioned that Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: More Noncanonical Scriptures vol. 1 is forthcoming in the next few months.

On a related note, I got the following in the mail this week:

Aaron Leitch, The Angelical Language, Volume I: The Complete History and Mythos of the Tongue of Angels and Volume II: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the Tongue of Angels (Llewellyn, 2010)

An interesting review and compendium by a modern practitioner.

Orlov and Boccaccini, New Perspectives on 2 Enoch

MYSTICAL POLITICS: Mystical interpolations into 2 Enoch. Rebecca Lesses discusses some chapters from New Perspectives on 2 Enoch: No Longer Slavonic Only, edited by Andrei Orlov and Gabrielle Boccaccini (Brill, 2012). More on the Enoch Seminar that generated the book here.

A translation of the Coptic fragments of 2 Enoch by their discoverer Joost Hagen is slated to be published in volume 2 of the texts edited for the More Old Testament Pseudepigraph Project.

Have I mentioned that Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: More Noncanonical Scriptures vol. 1, the first volume of texts edited for the project, is coming out this autumn?

Online Bibliography of Semitic Linguistics

AWOL: Online Bibliography of Semitic Linguistics. Updated!

A new Mikraot Gedolot

Reconstructing the Bible
Project to correct thousands of biblical mistakes discovered over the years nears completion.

By Nir Hasson | Jul.18, 2012 | 3:09 AM | 1 (Haaretz)

Prof. Menachem Cohen of the Bible department at Bar-Ilan University has no doubt that all Hebrew Bibles sitting on bookshelves in Jewish homes around the world contain errors. Sometimes scores of errors can be found in a Bible, sometimes they number in the hundreds. For the most part these are not dramatic mistakes: perhaps the absence of the letter yod, an incorrect diacritical mark, a mistaken cantillation note, and other such small inaccuracies.

But Cohen says he and his colleagues have produced the most accurate version of the Old Testament published in at least the past 1,000 years, or maybe, ever. Cohen has been working on this Bible for the past 40 years, as the director of the Mikraot Gedolot-HaKeter project. He hopes it will become the agreed-upon standard version of the Scripture that will usher the ancient text from the "age of books" into the digital age.

The last man to take upon himself a similar task was a Spanish Jew named Jacob ben Hayyim who lived in Venice circa the early 16th century, less than 100 years after the Gutenberg Bible was first printed. Like Cohen, ben Hayyim lived in an era of a technological revolution with regard to texts. Handwritten scrolls were being replaced by modern printed and bound volumes. Thus, ben Hayyim thought it necessary to preserve the ancient text.

[...]

The first volume of the Bar-Ilan "Mikraot Gedolot-HaKeter" came out 20 years ago. To date, 16 volumes have been published in all; only four volumes remain to be completed.

[...]

There is also a lot about the Aleppo Codex, which forms the basis for the new edition.

This is an important project, but it should be clarified that its goal is to reconstruct the Masoretic Text, which is not necessarily the same thing as the original text of the Hebrew Bible. The MT is a vocalized edition produced in the early Middle Ages. It is based on a generally very good text that probably goes back to one or a very few manuscripts from around the first century. But the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Septuagint show us that the textual basis of the Hebrew Bible was far wider than the manuscript(s) behind the MT, and these other resources must be used if we want to get closer to the original text of the individual books. How close we can get depends on how corrupt the text of the original book remains after we apply textual criticism to it using all our manuscript resources.

Background on the Aleppo Codex is here and here with many links.

UPDATE: Dead link at top now fixed. Sorry about that!

Review of Koren Talmud, Berakhot

BOOK REVIEW:

A different kind of Talmud

By Rabbi Jack Riemer (Sun-Sentinel Jewish Journal)
11:43 a.m. EDT, July 18, 2012

THE KOREN TALMUD BAVLI: BERAKHOT, COMMENTARY BY Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz, Editor in Chief Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, Koren Publishing Co. Jerusalem, Israel, 2012, $49.95.

It may seem presumptuous to review a volume of the Talmud because the Talmud is the central book of Jewish studies, and so who would dare to pass judgment on it? But the Koren edition of the Steinsaltz Talmud is a breathtaking achievement, both in form and in content, and so it must be called to the attention of readers.

You know that this is a different kind of a Talmud the moment you look at the cover. Every other edition of the Talmud that you have ever seen has the title of the volume on the cover, and not much else. This one has a bold picture, in bright colors, of two fruits and a plate full of pieces of fruit. Why? Because Berakhot is the first volume of the order of Zeraim — which means seeds. The cover tells you immediately that you have entered into a different kind of a volume of Talmud, one that has been designed with imagination and with skill by master typographers and book producers.

When you open the book you find more delightful surprises. The book opens from two sides. One side contains the traditional Vilna Edition of the Talmud, but now punctuated, and with vowels. The other side has the translation, which is clear, crisp and comprehensible. What makes it different from other translations is that this side also contains a thoughtful introduction to each chapter, thorough historical notes that explain the social and economic background of the text, biographical sketches of the Sages, brief summaries of the halakhic decisions that stem from the Talmudic discussions, and — most surprising of all — photographs, charts, maps and diagrams that illuminate the text.

There are other technological features that are impressive. This is the first edition of the Talmud ever to be available on an IPad app. Now, instead of schlepping a heavy volume with you, you can download the page you need and you are off to your daf yomi! And it is surely the first edition of the Talmud in Jewish history to have women involved as translators, editors, proofreaders, language consultants and designers.

[...]

The rest of the review goes over the first page of the volume. The conclusion:

Koren promises to have this entire English edition finished in just four more years, and it promises that it will contain the whole Talmud, with both its classic commentaries and these new insights, in just forty one volumes.

We wish it very well — for its sake and for ours.

Background here.

Archaeology-inspired looting

ARUTZ SHEVA: Increase in Southern Archaeological Dig Theft Attempts. The new looting appears to be inspired by a recent Crusader-era discovery that I haven't yet mentioned: Archeologists unearth massive Crusader coin cache: After 3-year-long excavation, TAU, Nature Parks Authorities archeologists discover 108 gold coins valued at over $100,000 (JPost).

Ancient port in Acre

EXCAVATION:

2,000-year old port discovered in Acre
Archaeologists believe warships docked there in the 2nd century B.C.E.

By Jack Khoury | Jul.18, 2012 | 1:09 AM (Haaretz)

Remnants of an ancient port where warships may have docked 2,300 years ago have been uncovered in Acre, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced.

The port installations date back to the Hellenistic period - the 2nd and 3rd centuries B.C.E.

In digs being conducted at the foot of the city's southern seawall, not far from the current port, and extending to the area known as Horses Beach, archaeologists have found a quay and other evidence of the port, which was probably the most important port in ancient Palestine during the Hellenistic era, they say.

[...]

The article says that they first began finding evidence of a quay in 2009, but this is the first report I've seen of it.

(HT reader Yehoshua Rabinowitz.)

UPDATE: Here is the IAA press release (HT Joseph Lauer): Akko’s Magnificent Harbor from 2,300 Years Ago is Exposed on the Seabed (July 2012).

Metatron latest

ARCHANGEL METATRON WATCH: "Metatron" Star Fighter.

Latest on new Origen Psalm homilies

ALIN SUCIU: Lorenzo Perrone’s Lecture on Origen’s Homilies on the Psalms. Video!

Background here and links.

Rabbinics at ISBL

THE TALMUD BLOG: Rabbinics in the International Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature.

Edward Peck on the Iraqi Jewish Archive

PRESS TV (IRAN) interviews Edward Peck, "former US chief of the mission in Iraq" (in the Carter Administration), about the Iraqi Jewish Archive: US should send back Iraqi antique and historical treasures: Analyst.

Iraq says it wants back all the archeological treasures, stolen by US forces in 2003, but Washington has offered to return only half.

Iraq rejected the offer made by the United States to bring back half of the Iraqi Jewish Archive, previously transferred from Baghdad to the United States during the US-led invasion of the country, insisting that Baghdad had to restore the whole archive.

The archive includes centuries-old Torah scrolls and plenty of other documents in Hebrew, Arabic, and English.

Last month Iraqi media reported that America has transferred Iraqi antiquities to Israel.

[...]

The latest reports I have seen on the archive were noted here, here, and here. None of them say anything about an offer to return half the archive or about Iraqi antiquities having been transferred from the US to Israel. Neither point is raised in the Peck interview and I am skeptical about both until I see verification.

As for Mr. Peck, his answers are rambling, nonlinear, and even somewhat evasive, and he also gets in some subtle digs at both the current Iraqi Government and the US. He does in the end come down firmly in favor of the archive being safe in Iraqi hands if it is returned, although he does not quite say he himself is in favor of doing this. I hope he is right. The very confusing saga of the traditional Tomb of Ezekiel (start here and follow the many links back; see also here) raises some cause for concern whether Jewish antiquities would be treated with the same care as others. Last I heard, everything has turned out fine with the Tomb of Ezekiel. But were it not for the national and international uproar by Jews, Muslims, and Christians over reports of the tomb's mistreatment, I am not entirely confident that it would have. I hope my concerns are unfounded. See also my comments in the background links, especially the last paragraph in this post and the links therein. As always, I think the major issue is where the artifacts would be safest and best cared for as part of the heritage of humanity.

Daf Yomi again

31 JULY: World of Talmud study prepares to party hard.

Background here and links.

Noah, the movie

A FILM ON NOAH based on an ongoing graphic novel series is in the works, according to Movies.com: Just How Much of a Fantasy is Aronofsky's 'Noah'?

The author of the piece, one Peter Hall, seems to think that Darren Aronofsky is making up everything that is not in the canonical story in Genesis. It's more complicated than that, as anyone who is familiar with the Book of 1 Enoch, the Genesis Apocryphon, and the Book of Giants will realize. Hall evidently is not, so he does not realize that the Watchers come from the ancient non-canonical traditions. Perhaps Noah's consultation with Methuselah is also inspired by Methuselah's visit to Enoch at the ends of the earth in the ancient texts and Noah's dreams may be likewise inspired by the dreams of the giants. Hall also does not understand the distinction between Watchers (fallen angels) and giants (their offspring with mortal women).

True, Aronofsky seems to have made some of the story up; e.g., Noah as a "Mad Max" figure; the drought; Noah's attempt to recruit the giants; and six arms on the Watchers. But why retell this good of a story without making some more stuff up for it?

The casting of Anthony Hopkins as Methuselah just seems inspired to me. I'm looking forward to the movie.

And how could I not bring up Bill Cosby's Noah again in this post?

(HT Michael A. Lyons via my colleague William Tooman.)

Waqf construction on Temple mount for last 6 years

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH:

Police Admit Permitting Arab Construction at Temple’s Foundation Stone for Six Years

By: Jewish Press Staff
Published: July 12th, 2012

[...]

Two weeks ago, a complaint was filed with the Israel Police Commissioner by a group of Temple organizations, regarding revelations about Waqf work at the Dome of the Rock, which includes laying scaffolding, tools and debris on top of the sacred Foundation Stone.

The police responded that “the work performed by the Waqf at the Dome of the Rock have begun more than six years ago. They are being performed with the approval of the Israel Antiquities Authority and under its supervision.” The police argued that the work has not caused any damage to the foundation stone.

But the IAA denies completely the approval and supervision of works on the Mount, according to the Temple organizations’ attorney Aviad Visoly, who accused the police commissioner of outrageous, appalling, and deceitful behavior.

[...]

Background here at the bottom of the post.

"Renewed" Israel Museum

A BELATED REPORT ON THE "RENEWED" ISRAEL MUSEUM, by Edward Rothstein in the New York Times: A Haven National and Universal: The Israel Museum in Jerusalem, Renewed. Excerpt:

... The tension between the universal and the particular that you can find here may even be distinctive to Jewish modernity. There are not many other nations that so readily submerge self-celebration in homage to the universal or are so wary of the particular; it is difficult to imagine the Louvre or the British Museum taking on a comparably self-questioning perspective.

This is a subtle issue, and balances shift in different places, and, surely, among different visitors. I found that in some ways the museum leaned too heavily away from the particular.

In the immensely rich archaeological narrative, for example, we never really grasp the evolution of the Israelite religion or its transformations after exile. There is a scrupulous sensitivity to the public’s varied religions, but also a careful avoidance of seeming too national. But why should it be wary? In a way, the museum makes a compromise; it lets the Land replace the people or nation; the Land seems particular, but we are told it isn’t.

Emphasizing the point, in one gallery examples of the region’s pre-eighth-century synagogues, Byzantine-era churches, and the beginnings of Islamic mosques are displayed: we are meant to see the remarkable similarities more than the differences.

So there are ways in which the museum is making an argument in its historical survey, and evidence too of debates about just what the balance between the universal and the particular should be. That may be the way the institution reflects one aspect of the national debates now taking place in Israel.

The renovations were completed a couple of years ago. Background here and links.

ARAM meeting in Malta

TOMORROW:

Syriac and Christian Arabic Studies scholars to meet in Malta
Article published on 11 July 2012

The Committee of the Syriac and Arab Christian Symposiums, the Aram Society for Syro-Mesopotamian Studies at the Oriental Institute (University of Oxford), the Department of Oriental Studies, Faculty of Arts, University of Malta, in collaboration with the Faculty of Theology, University of Malta are holding the Eleventh Syriac Symposium between 16-18 July. Syriac is a variety of the Aramaic language.

[...]

Looks good, wish I could go. Click on the link for more on the lineup and also on the immediately following conference on Christian Arabic Studies at the same venue.

New JSIJ article

JEWISH STUDIES: AN INTERNET JOURNAL has published a new article. You can download it as a PDF file by clicking on the link below:

Joshua Schwartz and Peter J. Tomson, "When Rabbi Eliezer Was Arrested for Heresy"

Talmudic Literature contains three stories about the arrest of Rabbi Eliezer and the accusation of minut leveled against him (Tosefta Hullin 2:24; Bavli Avodah Zarah 16b-17a; Kohelet Rabbah 1:8 [3]). The three versions of the story represent different historical, social and religious realities. In the earliest version, which is found in the Tosefta, Jews and Christians are entangled with one another, as well as with the realities of Roman policy toward both Jews and Christians. The Rabbis strove to unravel the entanglement, but it is difficult to know to what extent they succeeded. By the time the story reached the Bavli and Kohelet Rabbah, the Jews and Christians had parted ways and developed distinct identities, but the Christians had now become entangled with the Romans. Old boundaries were no longer relevant, new ones were drawn and the traditions developed and were changed accordingly.

More on Samson mosaic at Huqoq

THE VOLUNTEER who discovered the Samson mosaic at Huqoq is interviewed in the Salt Lake Tribune:

BYU grad, prof help discover Samson mosaic as ancient synagogue is unearthed
Israel dig » Mosaic shows biblical hero tying torches to foxes.

By Brian maffly| The Salt Lake Tribune
First Published 7 hours ago • Updated 2 hours ago

Bryan Bozung was fresh out of Brigham Young University when he lit out for Israel this summer to volunteer on an excavation of the ancient village of Huqoq on Galilee’s western shore. Hoeing debris that filled what is believed to be a 1,500-year-old synagogue, Bozung’s tool hit what proved to be the synagogue’s floor and an important archaeological discovery.

Looking at the ground, he saw a woman’s face staring up at him. For the team of archaeologists working the Huqoq dig, the striking mosaic was proof they were uncovering a structure that could shed new light on Jewish life and religious worship during the late Roman era.

"It was incredible to be the first to expose this face, this beautiful piece of art," said Bozung, a Highland resident who starts graduate work in religious studies at Yale this fall.

[...]

Fortunately, he knew there was a floor to be found and he had a gentle touch with the hoe.

Background here and links.

More on Daf Yomi

RABBI SHMUEL HERZFELD: The Completion of the Talmud is Upon Us. That is, the completion of the seven-and-a-half-year Daf Yomi cycle of Talmud reading.

Background here.

Shalom Paul lectures at SWBTS DSS exhibit

BAPTIST PRESS: Hebrew Univ. scholar praises Dead Sea Scroll exhibition.

FORT WORTH, Texas (BP) -- Hebrew University scholar Shalom Paul praised the Dead Sea Scrolls & the Bible exhibition at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in the opening lecture of a series complementing the six-month event at the Texas campus.

[...]

Background on the exhibition is here and links.

More on Origien's Greek Psalms homilies

AN INTERESTING VARIANT in one of those recently rediscovered Greek Psalms homilies of Origen: A Contemporary Reference in Origen’s Homilies on the Psalms.

(Via Alin Suciu on FB.)

Galatians conference

THE CONFERENCE ON PAUL'S LETTER TO THE GALATIANS AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY was held here at St. Andrews over the last few days. I'm in my last few weeks of research leave, finishing a book, so I wasn't able to attend. But I'm hearing from those who did that it was an outstanding event.

Drugs in the Talmud

IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING after the Iranian First Vice President raised the subject, Dr. Erica Brown has looked into Drugs in the Talmud (St. Louis Jewish Light). You can read it all, but she sums up:

In actual fact, Judaism takes an approach of moderation in regard to mind-altering substances, particularly alcohol, which is discussed at length in the Talmud. Although alcohol was regarded in Psalms as a way to make humans happy, too much happiness was regarded as a spiritual danger. A nazarite refrained from drinking to achieve a higher spiritual state, and priests were not allowed to drink during service. Judges at court were not allowed even the smallest amount of alcohol intake in the event that it would mar their judgment, and a scribe is not permitted to write a divorce document for an inebriated man who demands it. There are even later rabbinic discussions on coffee, tea and tobacco consumption because of their addictive properties.

Rahimi, get thee to a yeshiva. You need a refresher course to brush up on your Talmud. While I respect your Jewish scholarly erudition, you probably should hire a better fact-checker.

That sounds about right, but she herself could be more skeptical about Vendyl Jones and his supposed ancient stash of sacred incense.

Mor Gabriel Monastery news

THE CONTROVERSY OVER THE MOR GABRIEL MONASTERY IN TURKEY has been quiet for some time, but evidently not in a good way. The latest from the Catholic World News:

Ancient monastery in Turkey faces destruction in anti-Christian lawsuit

The world’s oldest functioning Christian monastery faces a clouded future, after an appeals court in Turkey ruled that the building sits on land not owned by the monks.

The Mor Gabriel monastery, built near the Syrian border, was established in 397 by Syriac Orthodox monks, and has been in continuous use since that time, welcoming up to 20,000 pilgrims each year.

So it's been there since 397 and someone just noticed they don't own the land? Right.

But neighboring villagers brought suit against the monks, charging that they were engaged in “anti-Turkish activities” since they educate young men in the Aramaic language and in the Christian faith. The villagers also claimed ownership of the land on which the monastery was constructed. The court sided with the villagers on that claim.

If you start letting people go around teaching Aramaic, next thing you know they'll be teaching Akkadian or Hittite or something. You have to nip these things in the bud. And let's not even get started about this whole freedom of religion thing.

Syriac Orthodox officials are likely to appeal the decision to the European Court of Human Rights, arguing that the monastery’s title to the property has been established by over 1,500 years of use.

An appeal might also highlight the lightly-veiled anti-Christian message of the villagers’ complaint.

Ya think?

The lawsuit alleged that the Mor Gabriel monastery was built on a site previously used as a mosque, when in fact the monastery was built 170 years before the birth of Mohammed.

Inconvenient, that.

As I've said before, if Turkey is serious about full EU membership, it has to start dealing with things like this on a mature basis. Apparently there is a petition to save the monastery by nationalizing its estates. I'm not sure what I think about that.

Meanwhile the appropriate response to this farce is ridicule. I'm doing my part.

Cross-file under Syriac and Aramaic Watch. Background here with many links.

Conviction in Talmudic-sage-in-back-yard case

THE VERDICT IS IN: Man Who Discovered Rabbi Yehoshua's Grave Convicted (Arutz Sheva).

Background here. And yet more background from 2009, which I hadn't remembered last May, is here and links. It is unclear just whose grave it is.

Reelin' in the years - ancient edition

WIRED.COM: Steely Dan and the Ancient Near East. Why didn't I think of that?

On another note, Roger Pearse has found the solution to the "our father was crucified" mystery.

Review of Walck, The Son of Man in the Parables of Enoch and in Matthew

RBL REVIEW:

The Son of Man in the Parables of Enoch and in Matthew
Walck, Leslie W.

New York: T&T Clark, 2011 pp. xiv + 267. $130.00

Series Information
Jewish and Christian Texts in Contexts and Related Studies, 9

Description: This book examines all the relevant passages containing the Term "Son of Man" in both Matthew and the Parables of Enoch. Depictions of the Son of Man in the Gospel of Matthew and in the Parables of Enoch (Par. En.) raise questions about their relationship. The meaning and origin of the term "Son of Man" are discussed, as well as the possible influence of Par. En. on Matthew. Literary, Redaction, Sociological and Narrative criticisms are employed. Introductory questions of date, provenance and social setting are addressed for both Matthew and Par. En. Dates as early as the early second century bce and as late as the late third century ce have been proposed for Par. En., but a consensus seems to be growing for the late first century bce. Therefore Matthew could have known Par. En. Sociological methodologies reveal that the author and audience of Par. En. may have been members of an ousted ruling elite, opposed to the current administration, and yearning for a just reversal of fortunes. Sets of characteristics of the Son of Man in Par. En. and Matthew are developed, and the term is examined briefly in the other Gospels. Then the two sets of characteristics are carefully compared. Similarities in vocabulary as well as in the pattern of relationships prove to be intriguing, showing that Matthew and Par. En., in contrast to other writings, share a unique conception of the judgment scene focussed on the Son of Man as eschatological judge. This suggests quite strongly the shaping of Matthew's concept in the direction of Par. En.

Subjects: Bible, New Testament, Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, Pseudepigrapha, Literature

Review by Donald Senior
Read the Review
Published 7/2/2012
Citation: Donald Senior, review of Leslie W. Walck, The Son of Man in the Parables of Enoch and in Matthew, Review of Biblical Literature [http://www.bookreviews.org] (2012).

I usually don't mention RBL reviews, since everyone knows about them and they are easy to find. But this book, which gets a positive review here, caught my attention here because I have written on the same subject, much more briefly, and came to pretty much the same conclusion. I'm pleased to see that a much more detailed study of Matthew and the Similitudes confirms my earlier instincts.

My article that deals with the subject is "Of Methodology, Monotheism, and Metatron: Introductory Reflections on Divine Mediators and the Origins of the Worship of Jesus," in The Jewish Roots of Christological Monotheism. Papers from the St. Andrews Conference on the Historical Origins of the Worship of Jesus (ed. James R. Davila, Carey C. Newman, and Gladys S. Lewis; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1999), pp. 3-18. An early draft of of the substance of this article can be found at my Divine Mediator Figures website as A Methodology for Studying Divine Mediator Figures and Enoch as Divine Mediator, but the comments on Matthew 25:31-46 are still embryonic. I have collected earlier posts on the Son of Man here and links.

The tombs of the Maccabees again

THE TOMBS OF THE MACCABEES are in the news again. Matti Friedman has one of his characteristically thorough articles on the subject, giving background, previous dead-ends in research, and the possibility, now being explored by archaeologist Amit Reem, that they were at the site of Sheikh el-Gherbawy:

Is the Maccabees’ ancient mystery close to solution?

New impetus in the 150-year search for the spectacular tomb of the famed Judean rebels

By Matti Friedman July 9, 2012, 11:34 am The Times of Israel

Few ancient sites in the Holy Land have ignited the imagination like the lost tombs of the Maccabees, the family that led a Jewish rebel army to victory against Seleucid religious repression in the second century BCE.

Beginning more than 140 years ago, travelers, clergymen and enthusiastic scholars of varying levels of religious fervor and competence have been looking for the tomb site – described in contemporary sources as a magnificent Hellenistic monument that included pyramids and ships of carved stone and could be seen by sailors on the Mediterranean Sea, 18 miles away. The complex was one of the greatest man-made landmarks in ancient Judea.

No trace of it has ever been found.

For the early archaeologists who arrived in Ottoman Palestine with shovels, Bibles, and a thirst for the physical traces of the events described in Scripture, the tombs were a tantalizing mystery. More than a century later, so they remain.

Today, archaeologists have their eyes on a site that might — just might — provide an answer.

I'll skip down to the end of the article, which summarizes the main issues.

All of which has led Reem and other modern scholars back to the same site that drew the interest of the French diggers all those years ago.

Though Clermont-Ganneau conclusively established that the structure at Sheikh el-Gherbawy was Christian – the mosaic cross left no doubt about it – his finding might actually strengthen the possibility that the tombs are there, Reem said.

Early Christians saw the Maccabees as martyrs and would certainly have venerated their graves, he believes: In this version, the structure could have been constructed atop the lost tombs to mark their place.

In 2009, Reem made an effort to clean and investigate the site. Many of the remains the Frenchmen had seen all those years before had been long since looted, but the team used radar to peer under the ground and detected massive walls and subterranean chambers of considerable size.

The site, he noted, has remains of monumental construction; proximity to al-Midiya, which has the best claim to be ancient Modi’in; and a clear sightline to the sea. In other words, it would seem to match the criteria from the ancient writings.

Since then, Reem has been trying, without success, to drum up funding that would allow the site to be properly excavated for the first time.

“Neither I nor my colleagues are saying that this is the site of the tombs, but it’s the leading candidate,” he said. “Only a large, methodical excavation would prove or disprove the idea and solve the riddle of this place.”

Clermont-Ganneau was pretty much the Indiana Jones of the nineteenth century and seems to have been involved with practically every interesting Bible-related find of the period.

An earlier article on this site is noted here and a related one on the possible site of Modi'in is noted here.

The Sabars and Kurdish Aramaic-speaking Jewry

ARAMAIC WATCH:

Building a bridge back to the Bible

By Jessica Elgot, July 5, 2012 (The Jewish Chronicle)

Professor Yona Sabar is one of the last Jews on the planet who could have a conversation with Jesus, in his mother tongue.

When Professor Sabar arrived in Israel from northern Iraq in 1951, he imagined the language he grew up speaking was Kurdish - until a Hebrew University academic identified it as Aramaic.

Now an LA-based academic who has devoted his life to the study of the language, Professor Sabar believes he is now one of the last speakers of the language, and has embarked on a project to find other speakers of Aramaic, which has more than 100 dialects, before the language is lost forever.

The professor and his son Ariel spoke last week at the Royal Geographical Society in London about his experiences growing up in Zakho, Iraqi Kurdistan, documented in his son's book, My Father's Paradise.

[...]

Background on Ariel Sabar's book is here.

The article concludes with this tidbit:

Since moving to the US to study, Professor Sabar has contributed lines of Aramaic to many Hollywood films and shows, including George Burns' Oh God!, The X-Files and Curb Your Enthusiasm, although not The Passion of the Christ:

"Mel Gibson wanted a Christian to do it," Professor Sabar revealed.

Some recent posts on Mel Gibson and his—now evidently defunct—Maccabees movie project are here and links.

MOTP volume one is ...

FORTHCOMING:

Old Testament Pseudepigrapha
More Noncanonical Scriptures, vol 1
Richard Bauckham
James R. Davila
Alexander Panayotov
HARDCOVER; Coming Soon: 9/30/2012
ISBN: 978-0-8028-2739-5

Available for Backorder
Price: $ 90.00

DESCRIPTION
Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (OTP) (Volume 1) stands among the most important publications in biblical studies over the past twenty-five years.

Intended to complement James Charlesworth's Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, this new two-volume collection adds a great many previously unpublished or newly translated texts. Providing the reader with virtually all known surviving pseudepigrapha written before the rise of Islam, OTP presents the sacred legends and spiritual reflections of numerous works that were lost, neglected, or suppressed for many centuries, with authoritative yet accessible introductions to each text.

The end of September may be a little optimistic, but safely this autumn. Background here and links.

More on the Huqoq synagogue and mosaic

THE RECENTLY DISCOVERED SYNAGOGUE and mosaic floor at the site of Huqoq is covered from the perspective of an excavation staff member and a volunteer in two articles. This one interviews Prof. Chad Spigel of Trinity University: Pair from Trinity help uncover ancient mosaic. He and one of his students worked at the site. Some interesting information on the mosaic:

One portion of the mosaic depicts a biblical scene: Samson exacting fiery revenge against the Philistines for giving away his wife. The other showcases what appear to be two female faces with an inscription that is likely in ancient Aramaic, Spigel said.

[...]

The portion of the mosaic with two women's faces contains a sentence fragment with a word that could mean either “commandment” or “good deed” and another word that refers to “labors,” Spigel said. The phrase might deal with the rewards for following the commandments, though researchers will compare it with inscriptions at other ancient synagogues and texts from the period to fill in the blanks.

The second image is believed to depict a passage from the Old Testament book of Judges in which Samson ties the tails of foxes together and places a torch between them to light the Philistines' crop fields on fire, an act of revenge after his wife was given away to his companion.

“There's another synagogue a few miles away that also has a scene from the Samson stories. So this is the second example we have of a mosaic with a Samson story from the general time period,” said Spigel, adding that they are now looking into this discovery's significance.

The second article interviews volunteer Sarah Nevling: Of biblical proportions: BHS grad goes on dig of ancient village of Huqoq. She made some discoveries of her own, which have not gotten quite the same press as the mosaic, but are still doubtless of interest for the big picture:

During her dig, Nevling found several ancient, dime-sized coins that turned green after years of corrosion. Once Nevling and her fellow volunteers found the coins, they immediately stopped hoeing and started sifting through the dirt so they could find more.

"We couldn't touch those with our bare hands because of the oil on our hands," Nevling said. "We had to pick them up with trowels and put them in baggies, and they were sent off to be studied in a lab in Jerusalem."

Background here.

DSS going to Cincinnati

THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS EXHIBITION currently in Philadelphia is moving to Cincinnati, Ohio, in November: Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit unites manuscripts with Cincinnati history. Excerpt:

HUC's Glueck helped save scrolls
HUC’s interest in the preservation, transcription and scholarship of the Dead Sea Scrolls started shortly after their discovery in 1948, when Jerusalem’s Hebrew University contacted HUC’s president, Nelson Glueck, for help in trying to purchase them.

Glueck, who was HUC president until his death in 1971, was an archeologist who did much work in the Mideast.

That was the start of a connection that has made HUC a center for Dead Sea Scroll scholarship to this day. In 1969, Glueck contributed $10,000 to create and store on campus a photographic security copy of the scrolls, in case anything happened to the originals while access was still limited.

So significant has been HUC’s involvement, in fact, that it actually has a professor on staff – Jason Kalman – whose specialty is studying the history of HUC’s role in Dead Sea Scroll scholarship. HUC is planning to loan items from its collection to the Museum Center. Another professor, Nili Fox, is handling that.

The Museum Center has been after a Dead Sea Scrolls show since major ones began appearing in the United States early last decade. There has been increased international interest in the subject ever since transcriptions and photographs started to become more widely available in the 1990s.

“We thought it was a significant historical and scientific exhibit, and whenever there is one, we try to bring it to the people of Cincinnati,” said David Duszynski, Museum Center’s vice president for Featured Experiences & Customer Services. “Especially when we see how popular it was in other cities, we thought we really should be after this exhibit.”

There's also a slide show of artifacts in the exhibition. And here's another, much briefer article with a photo and a video tour: Dead Sea Scrolls headline newest Museum Center exhibit.

Background on the Philadelphia exhibition is here and links.

“our father was crucified?”

A VERY ODD STORY from Arutz Sheva:

Shocking ‘Land of Israel' Exam Shows Christian Crosses
High school “Land of Israel” exam features Christian crosses. Is the Education Ministry trying to undermine students with Christianity?

By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
First Publish: 7/8/2012, 8:58 AM

High school students last week were shocked by a matriculation exam in “Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology” that showed Christian crosses and referred to a place where “our father was crucified.”

[...]

Any exam with that title ought to include some questions on Christian, Islamic, and pagan archaeology, although obviously this should be done with sympathy for cultural sensitivities all around, which does not seem to have been the case here. But I'm really scratching my head over this:

The exam included a quote from a Christian pilgrim who visited Jerusalem and wrote in a dairy about "the little hill of Golgotha ​​where our father was crucified.”

It would be very unusual for a Christian pilgrim, or any other kind of Christian, to refer to Jesus as "our father." Either this pilgrim had some confused ideas about the Trinity or Arutz Sheva has made a mistake. I would like to know more about the source of this quotation.

UPDATE (12 July): Roger Pearse has located the quotation: Hunting the wild misquotation – “our Father was crucified”. Guess what? It was the journalist's mistake, not the pilgrim's. Also, barring an unusual mental picture for the pilgrim's writing workspace, the journalist needs to learn how to spell "diary."

Ralph on "please" and "thank you" in BH

ED COOK at Ralph the Sacred River: "Please" and "thank you" in Biblical Hebrew.

New JSIJ articles

JEWISH STUDIES, AN INTERNET JOURNAL has published some new articles. Click on the links to download as PDF files.

1. S Mordechai Sabato and Rabin Shushtri, "Sugyot Which Were Emended Due to the Transition From Oral Study to Written Study" (Heb.)

In this paper, the authors discuss two adjacent pericopae from Sukkah 36b. Each of these passages presents two conflicting versions of a single dictum. By examining the text of these sugyot carefully, the authors seek to demonstrate that the original versions of each of these dicta were identical. The difference between these passages found expression not in their text, but in the intonation used during oral recitation of this material, and perhaps also in the bodily gestures which accompanied such recitation. This stems from the fact that during the period close to the redaction of the Talmud its text was studied orally, so its intonation constituted an integral part of transmission of the sugya. Once the Talmud was committed to writing, its intonation was forgotten, and so was the original sense of these sugyot. Therefore, copyists and scholars emended them in their effort to grasp the meaning that was lost with memory of the intonation.

An appendix to the article discusses the correspondence between the character of the MSS and the textual traditions of tractate Sukkah as manifest in these two passages and in the rest of the tractate.

2. Mordechai Z. Cohen, "A Talmudist's Halakhic Hermeneutics: A New Understanding of Maimonides' Principle of Peshat Primacy"

In his Book of the Commandments Maimonides makes “the peshat of scripture” the sole source of halakhah that carries biblical (de-orayta) authority, relegating laws derived midrashically to the lower, rabbinic (de-rabbanan) status. While seemingly privileging the “way of peshat” championed by his older contemporary Ibn Ezra, this Maimonidean principle has long been a source of perplexity, since Maimonides elsewhere devalues Scripture’s “literal sense.” To resolve this crux, the current study begins by clearing up a confusion created by the Hebrew translations of Maimonides’ works, in which Arabic zahir (lit. “apparent [sense]”) is rendered peshat, whereas he distinguished between the two concepts. In line with his Judeo-Arabic exegetical heritage, he did not privilege the zahir, i.e., the literal (“apparent”) sense, which, in the exegetical tradition founded by Saadia (and endorsed by Ibn Ezra), was to be adjusted in light of reason and tradition. On the other hand, Maimonides used the Hebrew/Aramaic word peshat (left untranslated in his Judeo-Arabic writings) as a technical term connoting the original (and legally authoritative) sense of Scripture—according to the “transmitted interpretation” (“Oral Law”) given at Sinai, which may diverge from the literal sense. Drawing upon hermeneutical concepts from Muslim jurisprudence, Maimonides distinguished between this source of halakhah and further laws that the Rabbis derived from Scripture via midrashic extrapolation, which he likened to qiyas (legal analogy) in Islamic law.

3. "How Does One Create Fine Children: The Views of Rabbi Eliezer and the Sages about Eugenics" (Heb.), by Yitzchak Roness and Aviad Yehiel Hollander.

In Bavli Nedarim 22b, R. Eliezer’s wife, Imma Shalom, describes her husband’s behavior during intercourse, mentioning his practice to “reveal a handbreadth and conceal a handbreadth.” This statement has been understood by most traditional commentators and academic scholars as an expression of extreme modesty, or as an attempt to avoid the experience of physical pleasure, as part of a comprehensive lifestyle governed by the ascetic ideal.

Based on comparison of this text with its counterpart in Tractate Kallah, as well as the analysis of sources attributed to R. Eliezer associating the attributes of a couple’s offspring to the couple’s comport during intercourse, we propose an additional explanation of R. Eliezer’s practice.

We suggest that the ultimate goal of this practice was to ensure the birth of worthy offspring, based on the assumption that achievement of this goal depends in large measure on the woman’s state of arousal during intercourse. Nevertheless, in line with the accepted understanding of the story as depicting the exemplary behavior of an ascetic personality, we suggest that R. Eliezer’s unusual practice be understood in light of other possibilities mentioned in the Talmud which were intended to engender the same result.

Preprint on Coptic Dormition fragments

ALIN SUCIU has published a preprint of his forthcoming article on Academia.edu: “Notes Concerning Some Coptic Fragments Related to Mary the Mother of Jesus,” Teologinen Aikakauskirja – Teologisk Tidskrift 117 (2012) 102-105.

Have you seen this papyrus?

LOOTBUSTERS has asked me to post on this missing papyrus:

Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 187
P.Oxy.187, a circa AD 150
business letter of Irene

Missing from Department of
Classical Studies, University
of Melbourne, Parkville,
Australia since 1975

Follow the link for a photo. If you find the papyrus, please contact Dorothy, not me.

Church of Nativity made UNESCO World Heritage Site

THIS STORY has been developing for the last week or so and I've been watching it, but I haven't had a chance to deal with it until now.

Unesco Adds Nativity Church in Bethlehem to Heritage List

By ISABEL KERSHNER (NYT)
Published: June 29, 2012

JERUSALEM — The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, along with the Pilgrimage Route, was added on Friday to Unesco’s World Heritage List, a move that was celebrated by Palestinians who hailed it as a significant political and diplomatic achievement as much as a cultural one.

Hanan Ashrawi, who leads the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Department of Culture and Information, called the 13-to-6 vote of the World Heritage Committee meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia, “a welcome recognition by the international community of our historical and cultural rights in this land.”

[...]

“This is proof that Unesco is motivated by political considerations and not cultural ones,” the Israeli prime minister’s office said in a statement after the vote. “Instead of taking steps to advance peace,” it added, “the Palestinians are acting unilaterally in ways that only distance it.”

“The world should remember that the Church of the Nativity, which is sacred to Christians, was desecrated in the past by Palestinian terrorists,” the statement said, a reference to Palestinian gunmen occupying the church in 2002 along with clerics and civilians who had taken refuge there as Israeli tanks and troops pushed into Bethlehem. The Israeli military action was part of a broader offensive after months of Palestinian suicide bombings inside Israel. The church remained under siege for 39 days.

[...]

The AFP has also covered the story: UNESCO urgently lists Church of Nativity as world heritage. Also Reuters: Palestinians win endangered world heritage status for Bethlehem church.

There have been lots of responses. Here are a few:

U.S. Needs Wiggle Room to Escape Unesco Trap (Bloomberg). Excerpt:

The episode offers a glimpse of the new Unesco, where the U.S. has diminished clout after having announced its intention to stop funding the organization following Palestine’s admission as a member last October. The U.S. purpose presumably was to punish Unesco. Instead, other countries -- notably China and Qatar -- have stepped in to fill the 22 percent hole in Unesco’s $325 million annual budget.

And if the U.S. goes two years without paying dues, it will be ousted from Unesco. Bad idea. Better that the U.S. resume its funding and stay in the organization.

Palestine attempts land grab at World Heritage Committee (Jerusalem Post). Excerpt:

Palestine has also filed a so-called “Tentative List” of a dozen other sites, including Ancient Jericho, Mount Gerizim, the Old City of Nablus (Shchem) and its environs, Old City of Hebron and its environs and Sebastia. The last is within the 1949 Green Line and the Scrolls pertain, we thought irrefutably; to the Jewish people.

Palestinian supercessionism has now moved beyond Jewish sites to those of Christianity, Samaritans and first-century Essenes.

Nuncio cautious about church's designation as World Heritage site (Georgia Bulletin).

UNESCO declares Bethlehem basilica a World Heritage site (Catholic World News). Excerpt:

Church officials in Israel welcomed the UNESCO decision, because it could provide protection for the Nativity basilica, which has been in deteriorating condition because the Christian custodians cannot agree on needed maintenance work. The administration of many shrines in the Holy Land is divided between Catholic and Orthodox custodians, under the terms of an agreement that dates back to the Ottoman Empire. Frequent clashes over territory within the shrines has often prevented cooperation on repairs. Because of the UNESCO decision, Palestinian officials will be able to raise funds for overdue maintenance work at the Nativity basilica.

In 2011 I noted (here and here and links) when the PA was admitted as a full member of UNESCO and talk began about adding the Church of the Nativity etc. as World Heritage Sites under the auspices of the former. Some relevant background on UNESCO and the politics of the region is here and links.

Mount Gerizim excavation reopens

GOOD NEWS:

Mt. Gerizim Archaeological Site Reopens After 12 Years

12 years after being closed because of the Oslo War, the archaeological site on Mount Gerizim reopened in a special ceremony.

By Elad Benari & Yoni Kempinski (Arutz Sheva)
First Publish: 7/6/2012, 4:12 AM

The archaeological excavation site on Mount Gerizim, near Shechem, was officially inaugurated in a special ceremony on Thursday.

The ceremony was attended by Environment Minister Gilad Erdan (Likud), Shomon Regional Council head Gershon Mesika, the head of the Nature and Parks Authority Shaul Goldstein, and the Head of the Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria, Brig. Gen. Moti Almoz.

Mount Gerizim and nearby Mount Eival are named in the Pentateuch as the place where the Priests and Levites addressed the tribes entering Israel after their sojourn in the desert, blessing them at Mount Gerizim if they kept G-d's commandments and elucidating the punishments they would receive at Mount Eival if they did not. Mount Gerizim is also an important place for the Samaritans, who believe that the preeminent holy spot is on the mountain and whose Temple was built there.

Mount Gerizim was excavated for more than 24 years and Thursday’s ceremony marked the archaeological site’s reopening after being closed for 12 years since the start of the Oslo War, also known as the Second Intifada.

[...]

Lots more on Mount Gerizim and the Samaritans here and links.

Woe unto Babylon

THE SITE OF BABYLON has become the victim of an oil pipeline and the dispute over the Iraqi Jewish archive: Oil and politics are ancient Babylon’s new curse (AP).

The oil pipeline seems to be a matter of putting short-term national interests ahead of long-term ones. And if anyone digs through the site of Babylon and doesn't find any artifacts, they aren't looking very hard.

As for the business about the archive, the phrase "cutting off one's nose to spite one's face" comes to mind.

Background on the 2008 British Museum exhibition on ancient Babylon is here and here and links. Background on Babylon in the Saddam era is here and here, and on the unfortunate occupation of the site by the US and Polish Armies in 2005 here, here, and here.

July 4th

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY to my American readers!

Haaretz and the Temple Institute

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH:

Messianic sect allows peek into battle to build third Temple

Messianic right-wing activists offer Haaretz a rare glimpse into efforts to Judaize the Temple Mount - including with a flood of lawsuits.

By Oz Rosenberg | Jul.03, 2012 | 4:16 AM |

The headline to this long, rambling article is misleading on a couple of counts. First of all, to my mind the Temple Mount is already kind of Judaized, it being the site of the Jewish Temple and all. The article uses this language too (some comments on which are here and links) and it isn't particularly helpful for sorting out what is actually going on. And, although it is correct that the long-term goal of the groups in question is to rebuild the Temple (when the Messiah comes), the current issue under discussion is lobbying for the right of Jews to pray on the Temple Mount.

My own view, for what it's worth, is that people should be allowed to pray—peaceably and respectfully—pretty much wherever they want, and if other people don't like it, too bad. If the people who don't like other people praying at a shared holy site want to riot about it, the authorities should deal with the rioters as harshly as becomes necessary to maintain order.

As for the proposed rebuilding of the Temple, I am not a fan of the idea and it is obviously politically impossible for the foreseeable future. Beyond that, any excavation or construction on the Temple Mount should, first, respect and preserve all existing architecture on the site, along with its normal uses. Second, such excavation should be done only under scientifically controlled conditions under the supervision of archaeologists. But I would prefer that archaeological exploration of the site wait a few years until we have non-destructive technologies to do the job. I have commented on the Temple Institute and related matters here. And there's much more on non-invasive and non-destructive technologies at this recent post and links.

Hurtado on Christology

LARRY HURTADO sets matters straight on An “Early High Christology.”

More from Bauckham on the Talpiot Tomb B inscription

RICHARD BAUCKHAM has posted A New Interpretation of the Greek Ossuary Inscription in Talpiyot Tomb B at Mark Goodacre's New Testament Blog. If he is right, the inscription just consists of a couple of names. We'll see what the response is from Greek paleographers, but meanwhile remember a good rule of thumb is that the more banal reading is to be preferred.

Background here and links.

Temple Mount Sifting Project and related

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: Here's an article in Israel HaYom on the Temple Mount Sifting Project is the context of much earlier as well as very recent developments:

Second Temple-era mikveh discovered under Al-Aqsa mosque

Al-Aqsa mosque was destroyed in an earthquake in 1927 • As it was being rebuilt, the British archaeologist Robert Hamilton documented the excavation of its foundations • He hid away the findings that the waqf found inconvenient • Today, thousands of findings, including a seal with the inscription “From Gibeon to the king” unearthed by Dr. Gabi Barkai and Zachi Dvira, shed light on the Temple Mount’s Jewish period • A peek back into history.

Nadav Shragai

I didn't know about Hamilton's excavations.

Eighty years later, Hamilton’s hidden findings are providing support for similar findings unearthed by two Israeli archaeologists, Dr. Gabi Barkai and Zachi Dvira. For the past seven years, Barkai and Dvira have been working on a unique project: sifting tons of earth that the waqf removed from the Temple Mount in the dead of night about 13 years ago. This earth is filled with tiny archaeological findings.

[...]

Beneath the floor of Al-Aqsa mosque, which had collapsed in the earthquake, Hamilton discovered the remains of a Jewish mikveh [ritual pool used for purification] that dated back to the Second Temple era.

Apparently, Jews immersed in this mikveh before entering the Temple grounds.

Barkai and Dvira found a multitude of small items from the periods of the First and Second Temples. Among these items were fragments of the small columns used in a hypocaust — a space under the floor of a room, used to heat the room above — and tubuli - hollow square bricks through which heated air passed, heating the space. Barkai believes that these are remnants of the heating system that the pilgrims, or perhaps the priests, used after completing the ritual immersion.

About half a meter (1.5 feet) under the floor of the damaged mosque, Hamilton discovered the remains of a Byzantine mosaic. When Dvira saw the photographs of it, he immediately recalled hundreds of thousands of mosaic stones and fragments of column capitals, marble used to cover stalls, and marble used for the grating of a church, all from the Byzantine period (324-638 C.E.) that had been found amid the earth taken from the Temple Mount.

That doesn't sound good.

The report of the inscribed bulla seems to be new:

One of the rare findings discovered recently is a bulla that was found in a First Temple-era trash pit on the southeastern slopes of the Temple Mount. The bulla bore the inscription: “From Gibeon to the king.” Gabi Barkai believes that the bulla, which is about 2,600 years old dating back to the seventh century B.C.E., is evidence of the tax that the inhabitants of Gibeon paid to the king of Judah, who was likely Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah.

“This is the first time that a bulla of this type has been discovered someplace other than the antiques market. It gives validity to 50 other bullae, most of which are in the collection of Joseph Chaim Kaufman of Belgium. Each bulla mentions a city whose name appears in the fifteenth chapter of the biblical Book of Joshua,” says Barkai. “This demonstrates that those cities paid taxes to the central government.”

The bulla that bears the inscription “From Gibeon to the king” was found by accident when the ground was being leveled on the eastern slopes of the Temple Mount in order to prepare for a mass given by the Pope, who visited Israel that year. Zachi Dvira, who was there when the work was going on and watched it, received permission to transfer the earth from there for sifting in Ein Tzurim National Park. This led to the discovery of amazing findings including fragments of earthenware and tools, bones and five other bullae from the First Temple era.

There is plenty more left to sift:

Dr. Gabi Barkai says that to date, about two-thirds of the earth removed from the Temple Mount has been transported to the sifting site, and about half of the total amount has been sifted. “The remaining third, which was not taken to the sifting site, became mixed in large part with other dust and earth, so we let it go. ... We have enough sifting work for another seven years,” he says, and mentions that piles of earth remain on the Temple Mount. In an extraordinary move, he High Court of Justice has ruled that the waqf is forbidden to move them.

“We are willing to allow the waqf to remove the earth from there under certain conditions that will allow us to carry out a better archaeological examination of it, or if they allow us to sift it there. Meanwhile, the waqf refuses to allow either option. Not only that, but it is deliberately mixing this earth with modern-day trash and construction debris in order to reduce our ability to get something out of it in the future,” he says.

That doesn't sound good either.

I noted the 2006 discovery of the inscription mentioning Flavius Silva here.

Finally, there is this:

This week, a rare photograph was taken on the Temple Mount. Taken inside the Dome of the Rock, it shows construction materials and rebar placed on the Foundation Stone, the place where the Holy of Holies and the Ark of the Covenant are believed to have been. While there does not appear to be any archaeological damage, this state of affairs is an expression of the weakness of the Antiquities Authority in the place that is the most important to the Jewish people. This weakness takes the form of the authority’s complete dependence on the police and also of the contempt that the Muslims show toward Jewish archaeological remnants on the Temple Mount.

You can see the photograph here at the Jerusalem Post blog.

The article has a lot of other interesting information, so read it all. Background on the Temple Mount Sifting Project is here with many links.

Synagogue and mosaic floor excavated in Galilee

IAA PRESS RELEASE:

Monumental synagogue building discovered in excavations in Galilee

A monumental synagogue building dating to the Late Roman period (ca. 4th-5th centuries C.E.) has been discovered in archaeological excavations at Huqoq in Israel's Galilee.

The excavations are being conducted by Jodi Magness of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and David Amit and Shua Kisilevitz of the Israel Antiquities Authority, under the sponsorship of UNC, Brigham Young University in Utah, Trinity University in Texas, the University of Oklahoma and the University of Toronto in Canada. Students and staff from UNC and the consortium schools are participating in the dig

Huqoq is an ancient Jewish village located approximately two to three miles west of Capernaum and Migdal (Magdala). Thissecond season of excavations has revealed portions of a stunning mosaic floor decorating the interior of the synagogue building. The mosaic, which is made of tiny colored stone cubes of the highest quality, includes a scene depicting Samson placing torches between the tails of foxes (as related in the book of Judges 15). In another part of the mosaic, two human (apparently female) faces flank a circular medallion with a Hebrew inscription that refersto rewards for those who performgood deeds.

"This discovery is significant because only a small number of ancient (Late Roman) synagogue buildings are decorated with mosaics showing biblical scenes, and only two others have scenes with Samson (one is at another site just a couple of miles from Huqoq)," said Magness, the Kenan Distinguished Professor in the department of religious studies in UNC's College of Arts and Sciences. "Our mosaics are also important because of their high artistic quality and the tiny size of the mosaic cubes. This, together with the monumental size of the stones used to construct the synagogue's walls, suggest a high level of prosperity in this village, as the building clearly was very costly."

Excavations are scheduled to continue in summer 2013.

Click on the link below to download high resolution photographs

Photographic Credit: Jim Haberman

SWBTS DSS exhibit opens

THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS EXHIBITION IN FORT WORTH (Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary), which opened yesterday, is reviewed in the Star-Telegram: Collection of Dead Sea Scroll fragments on display at Southwestern Seminary. That should be Peter Flint, not Peter Finch. There is also a nice photo gallery: Dead Sea Scrolls on Display.

Background here and links.

More on SWBTS DSS exhibit

THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS EXHIBITION at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminar is covered by the Christian Post, Singapore edition, and has some information I don't recall seeing before:

Largest Ever Dead Sea Scroll Fragments on Display

Saturday, Jun. 30, 2012 Posted: 9:46:03PM HKT

Visitors at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary's exhibition, "Dead Sea Scrolls & the Bible: Ancient Artifacts, Timeless Treasures" in Forth Worth, Texas, will be able to view the largest Dead Sea Scroll fragments to ever be placed on public display starting July 12.

"The chance to view portions of the Dead Sea Scrolls usually requires an overseas trip to a Near East nation, such as Israel or Jordan," said Bruce McCoy, the exhibition director.

The elaborate display will include the Genesis 37-38 fragment, which is owned by the Kando family of Bethlehem and is considered to be the largest Dead Sea Scroll segment held by a private collector. Five other major fragments will also be on display, including Genesis 33, 1 Kings 13:22-22, Isaiah 28:23-29, Amos 7:17- 8:1 and Joel 3:9-10.

These fragments account for only the latest additions to the impressive ancient artifact display – passages from Nehemiah, Ezekiel, and Jonah are all also featured, and with the help of the Green Collection and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Southwestern's total display has reached 21.

In addition, other rare and interesting artifacts that will be present at the MacGorman Performing Arts Center will include the Isaiah scroll, the Habakkuk Commentary, the Manual of Discipline, and the full Copper Scroll, which were all found at the archaeological site in Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered.

[...]

I think there is something wrong with the last paragraph. Granted, the exhibition website (http://www.seethescrolls.com/) is very weak on particulars, but if these superstar scrolls were actually part of it, I would think that would be mentioned somewhere. Not only that, the Copper Scroll was sliced up into a bunch of narrow segments in order to read it and I would be very surprised if all of them were allowed to travel to one exhibition. Moreover, the Copper Scroll is held by Jordan, but there is absolutely nothing on the website about a Jordanian connection.

Not mentioned in the article, but the St. John's Bible and the Gabriel Revelation are also part of the exhibition.

Background here and links.

UPDATE: Reader Theophrastus has e-mailed to point me to the press release on which the article is based and which says clearly that the scrolls I had doubts about are facsimiles.

Moses and Greco-Egyptian magic

JARED CALAWAY has a post on the post-biblical pagan Moses tradition at Antiquitopia: Moses and Greco-Egyptian Practices: Contextualizing the Christian Moses. In brief:

In this post, I would like to delve a little deeper in the Moses of the Greek and Demotic Magical Papyri: a Moses to be emulated; a Moses who belongs to an environment where his name had value and influence even beyond Jewish and Christian circles, and whose experiences upon the mountain provided a model to emulate as you, too, could call upon and see God on the mount.

Incidentally, The Eighth Book of Moses in PGM 13 has been translated by Todd Klutz for the first volume of texts from the More Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Project (working title: Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: More Noncanonical Scriptures). Should be out in the autumn.

What is a redactor?

ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: What is a Redactor? (Ron Naiweld at the Talmud blog).

This is not just an issue for rabbinic texts. In antiquity it was the norm for writers to be both authors and compilers and they saw no particular distinction between the two.

$500,000 Talmuds?

TALMUD WATCH:

Rare Edition of Talmud May Yield Big Bucks

(Tuesday, June 26th, 2012) (The Yeshiva World)

The starting price for volumes of Shas Bavli and Yerushalmi with handwritten notes from the Vilna Gaon offered for sale is $500,000. The sale offered by the Kedma Company includes mesechtos Rosh Hashanah, Taanis, Yoma, Sukka, and Megilah, as well as Talmud Yerushalmi Meseches Shekalim.

Editions containing the Gra’s notes were reprinted in 1880-1886 but according to the seller, the volumes for sale do not include all the notes from the Gra or those that were printed were amended. The volumes being offered for sale are from those with the Gra’s original comments, and these comments have been lost over the years.

[...]

That sounds pretty cool, but whether it is cool to the tune of $500,000 we shall see.

Talmud and drug trade?

TALMUD WATCH: Iran VP Says Talmud to Blame for Drugs Trade.

Of course he did. He did not, however, cite a specific passage.

Another circumcision ban

I SEEM TO RECALL that banning circumcision didn't work out very well for Antiochus Epiphanes.

Cherub Press trilogy on ancient Jewish mysticism

MORE FROM CHERUB PRESS:

Cherub Press is proud to announce
A trilogy of studies in Hebrew on ancient Jewish mysticism by
Michael Schneider

THE FIRST TWO VOLUMES
ARE NOW AVAILABLE !

Volume I
The Appearance of the High Priest
Theophany, Apotheosis and Binitarian Theology
From Priestly Tradition of the Second Temple Period through Ancient Jewish Mysticism (in Hebrew)
מראה כהן
תיאופניה, אפותיאוזה, ותיאולוגיה בינארית
בין ההגות הכהנית בתקופת הבית השני לבין המיסטיקה היהודית הקדומה

Volume II
Scattered Traditions of Jewish Mysticism
Studies in Ancient Jewish Mysticism in Light of Traditions from the Apocrypha, the Pseudepigrapha
Hellenistic Literature, Christian and Islamic Sources (in Hebrew)
המסורות הגנוזות של המיסטיקה היהודית
מחקרי המיסטיקה היהודית הקדומה
על פי עדויות של ספרים חיצונים, ספרות הלניסטית, מקורות נוצריים ומוסלמיים

Volume III
The Divine Retinue
Variety of Jewish Mysticism (in Hebrew)
פמליא של מעלה
ריבוי פניה של המיסטיקה היהודית
(forthcoming, this summer)
The Divine Retinue: Variety of Jewish Mysticism, פמליא של מעלה: ריבוי פניה של המיסטיקה היהודית, by Michael Schneider (Sources and Studies in the Literature of Jewish Mysticism 32; 2012, in Hebrew, FORTHCOMING). This is the third book in a trilogy of studies on Jewish mythical and mystical traditions from the Second Temple period through the early medieval ages. One of the main purposes of this study is to show variegation in early Jewish mysticism that cannot be reduced to a few major trends. One of its cross-cutting themes is the images of multiplicity – like the rainbow and the multi-faced theophanic angels – as a revelation of the One God. The book traces mythic and mystical traditions and motifs through sources belonging to a variety of languages, cultures and religions, mainly Jewish, Christian, gnostic, Muslim, Zoroastrian and Buddhist.
ORDER HERE: Atlas Books

Scattered Traditions of Jewish Mysticism: Studies in Ancient Jewish Mysticism in Light of Traditions from the Apocrypha, the Pseudepigrapha Hellenistic Literature, Christian and Islamic Sources המסורות הגנוזות של המיסטיקה היהודית: מחקרי המיסטיקה היהודית הקדומה על פי עדויות של ספרים חיצונים, ספרות הלניסטית, מקורות נוצריים ומוסלמיים, by Michael Schneider (Sources and Studies in the Literature of Jewish Mysticism 31; 2012, 336 pages, ISBN 1-933379-26-X, in Hebrew). This is the second volume in a trilogy of studies on Jewish mythical and mystical traditions from the Second Temple through the early medieval ages. The book includes three extensive studies. The first deals with pseudepigraphic book of Joseph and Aseneth and explores the topics of ritual, initiation, mystical transformation and sacred marriage. The second chapter contains a thorough revision of the scholarly consensus about the pargod as a medium of mystical vision in Hekhalot literature and in the Apocalyptic. The third chapter is devoted to the ‘Prince of peace’, the divine-angelic-human messianic figure that embodies the principle of ‘coincidentia oppositorum’.
ORDER HERE: Atlas Books

The Appearance of the High Priest – Theophany, Apotheosis and Binitarian Theology: From Priestly Tradition of the Second Temple Period through Ancient Jewish Mysticism, by Michael Schneider, מראה כהן: תיאופניה, אפותיאוזה, ותיאולוגיה בינארית – בין ההגות הכהנית בתקופת הבית השני לבין המיסטיקה היהודית הקדומה (Sources and Studies in the Literature of Jewish Mysticism 30; 2012, 384 pages, ISBN 1-933379-25-1, in Hebrew). This volume is the first of three volumes in a major scholarly reassessment of mystical traditions in the Second Temple period, which explores the variety of early religious traditions across diverse bodies of literature and in various languages. The symbolic, mythic and mystical features of these traditions, their transmission and migration histories and their reappearance in some medieval texts is further investigated. At the heart of this volume is the concept of the encounter and communion between the high priest and God, which implies an anthropomorphic theophany (the appearance of the God in human form) and the apotheosis (deification) of the high priest. This phenomenon is understood in the framework of a binitarian theology that distinguishes the hidden God from His visible appearance. These concepts appear as sources for many latter mystical traditions.
ORDER HERE: Atlas Books

Volume one has been noted already here.

SWBTS DSS exhibition

A DEAD SEA SCROLLS EXHIBITION at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary opens on Monday. Here is some information: Southwestern report highlights Scrolls.

Background on the SWBTS scrolls is here and links.

Daf Yomi celebrations coming

THE DAF YOMI ("A Page a Day") cycle of Talmud study is coming to another conclusion in about a month: Preparations for Talmud Conclusion Celebrations under Way.

The cycle last ended in 2005. More on Daf Yomi here and here.

Iraqi Jewish archive controversy escalates

IRAQ is taking some action in order to get the Iraqi Jewish archive back from the United States: Iraq cuts US archaeology cooperation over archives (AFP).

This article is much better researched than some of the other recent ones covering the controversy and I don't see any errors in it. The article reports that the US position is that the archive is being held temporarily in the US for it to be conserved and digitized, which was what I understood. I have commented on the situation here (with many background links going back to 2003). All I will add is that cutting off cooperation with the United States on these matters is likely to do Iraq's archaeology more harm than good. I hope they reconsider and find another way forward.

The Arch of Titus in color

TECHNOLOGY WATCH:

Technology Identifies Lost Color at Roman Forum

By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO (NYT)
Published: June 24, 2012

ROME — Historical sources describe the menorah looted by the Romans when they destroyed the Second Temple in Jerusalem in A.D. 70 as made of gold, as God instructed Moses in Exodus.

So the recent discovery that a version of the menorah in a bas-relief on the first-century Arch of Titus in the Roman Forum was originally painted a rich yellow should not come as much of a surprise. But given that the image faded to the color of its underlying stone long ago — like so much else in and around the Forum — precise knowledge of its once-bright pigmentation comes as an exciting revelation to historians and archaeologists.

“The Bible said it was gold, but the monument, as it was seen for centuries, told us it was white,” said Steven Fine, the director of the Arch of Titus Digital Restoration Project and a professor of Jewish history at Yeshiva University in New York, which is sponsoring the project. “Isn’t it cool to be that much closer to the viewers of the first and second century?”

The findings were made possible using noninvasive spectrometry readings carried out on the arch this month.

[...]

The latest generation of ultraviolet-visual absorption spectrometers are more manageable and more sensitive, “so we can get a reading analyzing a grain of pigment on a square centimeter, and that is very helpful,” said Heinrich Piening, a conservator with the State of Bavaria Department for the Conservation of Castles, Gardens and Lakes in Germany.

Mr. Piening did spectrometric readings on the arch and compared them with a database of pigments and dyes to identify the original color. The menorah, he said, was painted a particular yellow ocher “that would have looked like gold from far away.”

[...]

I keep saying it: non-invasive and non-destructive technologies are the way of the future. Relevant posts here, here, here, here and here and links.

Azazeel in English

THIS BOOK caused a stir in Egypt when the original Arabic version was published a couple of years ago:

Youssef Ziedan, Azazeel (Atlantic Books, English translation 2012)

Set in the 5th century AD, Azazeel is the exquisitely crafted tale of a Coptic monk's journey from Upper Egypt to Alexandria and then Syria during a time of massive upheaval in the early Church. The monk, Hypa, embarks on a journey both physical and spiritual, encountering, the devil, Azazeel, and the hardship of severe temptation. At times able to resist, while at others bending to the strengths of his desire, Hypa learns that physical pleasure and spiritual enlightenment can be two sides of the same coin.
Winner of the Arab Booker Prize, Azazeel highlights how the history of our civilization has been warped by greed and avarice since its very beginnings and how one man's beliefs are challenged not only by the malice of the devil, but by the corruption with the early Church. In sparse and often sparkling prose that reflects the arid beauty of the Syrian landscape, Azazeel is a novel that forces us to re-think many of our long-held beliefs and invites us to rediscover a lost history.

HT my St. Andrews colleague Grant Macaskill. Background here and here.

A good name for a band

EPHREM THE SYRIAN has a band named after him:

Blood Donation Campaign in Appreciation of the Sacrifices of Homeland's Defenders

Jun 12, 2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA)- 'The Youth of Love and Peace' group and the Syriac Mar Afram musical band on Tuesday carried out a blood donation campaign under the title 'The Syrian Blood Is Precious' to stress the Syrians' commitment to national unity and their steadfastness in the face the conspiracy targeting their homeland.

[...]

Another review of Philly DSS exhibit

EXHIBITION REVIEW: ‘Dead Sea Scrolls' at Franklin Institute ties present to past (Howard Shapiro, Philly.com). He writes of an exhibited incense holder:

It is 3,000-odd years old. The first thing I noticed is the burn mark on its surface — the legacy of incense, as if it had been lit last night.

Shivers crept along my spine — a feeling that, instantly, a piece of something inanimate had melded me to a person who lived very differently, eons ago, but in a culture that over time also became mine.

Background here and links.