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Wednesday, August 16, 2017
Ascension of Isaiah 6-11
READING ACTS: Christian Visions and the Ascension of Isaiah. Phil Long has a second post on the Ascension of Isaiah as part of his ongoing series on the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. For the preceding post on the Ascension of Isaiah, along with my comments see here. And follow the links from there for earlier posts in the series.
YHWH and Dionysus?
THE ASOR BLOG: Were YHWH and Dionysus Once the Same God? This essay sounds wildly speculative to me, although I concede that a blog post is not an adequate venue for a full defense of it. But I'm going to wait until the case passes muster in a peer-review journal before I take much notice of it.
Meanwhile, I don't doubt that there will a response from others in the Blogosphere. I'll let you know when I hear of something and you please do likewise.
UPDATE: A reader has pointed out the article (published in JSOT) on which the essay is based: Was YHWH worshipped in the Aegean? You can read it at Academia.edu. Okay, fair enough. It has been published in a peer-review journal. It will be interesting to see what responses it receives.
Meanwhile, I don't doubt that there will a response from others in the Blogosphere. I'll let you know when I hear of something and you please do likewise.
UPDATE: A reader has pointed out the article (published in JSOT) on which the essay is based: Was YHWH worshipped in the Aegean? You can read it at Academia.edu. Okay, fair enough. It has been published in a peer-review journal. It will be interesting to see what responses it receives.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Tuesday, August 15, 2017
Online database of Jewish art
DIGITAL ARCHIVE: Hebrew U Launches World’s Largest Jewish Art Index (JNi.Media).
This will be a very useful resource for the study of Jewish art in all periods.
The Bezalel Narkiss Index of Jewish Art is a collection of digitized images and information about Jewish artifacts from all over the world. The online collection includes more than 260,000 images of objects and artifacts from 700 museums, synagogues and private collections in 41 different countries, as well as architectural drawings of 1,500 synagogues and Jewish ritual buildings from antiquity to the modern day.The site can be accessed here. There are many sub-categories in the collection. There are also many indices. Especially interesting for the purposes of PaleoJudaica is the section on Ancient Jewish Art. It has two sections, one with 3428 images and the other with 310 objects.
This will be a very useful resource for the study of Jewish art in all periods.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
On the hoarding of DNA-rich ancient bones
OSTEOLOGY: Stop hoarding ancient bones, plead archaeologists. Scientists call for wider access to rare samples rich in DNA (Ewen Callaway, Nature).
Genetic analysis is becoming ever more important for the study of the ancient past. Some examples from the last couple of years are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and links.
The quest to chronicle the past using DNA from ancient humans and animals has become a cut-throat ‘game of bones’, in which a handful of genetics laboratories are hoarding precious samples, three archaeologists charge in a 9 August letter to Nature.Did you know what part of the body preserves DNA the best? This article will tell you.
The scientists call for more careful stewardship of DNA-rich bone specimens to ensure that they remain available to multiple research teams to study. They point to the example of a newly established centre in Israel that will act as a national clearing house to curate animal bones from archaeological sites, so that many researchers can access samples for genetic analysis.
[...]
Genetic analysis is becoming ever more important for the study of the ancient past. Some examples from the last couple of years are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and links.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
The Ascension of Isaiah: unity and provenance
READING ACTS: The Martyrdom of Isaiah (Phil Long).
For notice of past posts in Phil Long's ongoing series on the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, start here and follow the links.
UPDATE: At the Vridar Blog, Neil Godfrey has summarized some of Norelli's work on the Ascension of Isaiah.
The first five chapters of this work are a Jewish expansion of 2 Kings, detailing the martyrdom of Isaiah. Chapters 6-11 are a Christian work which detail Isaiah’s ascension through the seven heavens. This section is akin to the apocalyptic literature of Enoch in that Isaiah’s soul is ushered through various stages of heaven. Each section is a composite of various sources. This complicates the dating of the book. The Jewish section was likely written in Hebrew and translated into Greek. Hebrews 11 appears to refer to the martyrdom of Isaiah (“some were sawn asunder”) or the same tradition that Isaiah the prophet was martyred by being sawn in half. This would imply a date prior to the late first century.This was the state of the question until the early 1980s. But more recent scholarship on the Ascension of Isaiah (the preferred title now) doubts this division into a Jewish source and a Christian source. Rather, it seems to be a single second-century Christian composition. The work by Mauro Pesce, Enrico Norelli. et al., is in French and Italian, and so has not always received adequate attention in the English-speaking world. The work in English by Robert Hall and Jonathan Knight has also been important. Richard Bauckham has also published on this text and he surveys the major issues in his article "The Ascension of Isaiah: Genre, Unity and Date," which you can read part of here. See also Darrel Hannah's article, Isaiah's vision in the ascension of Isaiah and the early church.
[...]
For notice of past posts in Phil Long's ongoing series on the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, start here and follow the links.
UPDATE: At the Vridar Blog, Neil Godfrey has summarized some of Norelli's work on the Ascension of Isaiah.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Reform or repeal of the Fiscus Iudaicus under Nerva?
BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Roman Emperor Nerva’s Reform of the Jewish Tax. How Jews and Christians became further differentiated under Nerva (Nathan T. Elkins).
I noted a book on the Fiscus Iudaicus here some years ago.
The coins of Nerva have sometimes been interpreted as evidence of the abolition or partial repeal of the Fiscus Iudaicus by him.2 But a strong case can be made that the coins instead celebrated a reform of the tax rather than its abolition. After all, ostraca from Egypt indicate that Jews there paid the tax at least through Trajan’s reign (98–117 C.E.).3 The meaning of the coin can be sharpened as referring to the charge of atheism and the harsh prosecutions that resulted in death and/or the confiscation of property of that second group of people prosecuted by the tax under Domitian: Jewish sympathizers and gentile Christians, as these appear to have been the new victims in Domitian’s reign.This essay was first published in 2014, but I seem to have missed it at the time.
I noted a book on the Fiscus Iudaicus here some years ago.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Monday, August 14, 2017
One letter can make a big difference
PALEOLOGRAPHY: Alphabet Soup in Dead Sea Scrolls Opens a Window to an Ancient Hebrew World. With a little help from his wife, researcher Alexey Yuditsky substituted one letter for another and got a lesson on the expulsion of man from the Garden of Eden (Nir Hasson, Haaretz).
The revived paleo-Hebrew script of the Second Temple and Roman periods can be difficult to understand. And surprisingly often with the fragmentary Dead Sea Scrolls, the proper reading of a single letter, or even a single blank space, can be of significant aid for deciphering the text. For another example, see my story about 4QGenesisj here.
Bit by bit, a letter (or blank space!) at a time, whatever it takes. Until we're done.
Yuditsky says his wife proposed that if this was the story of the Garden of Eden, then one of the words he didn’t understand, dalal (thin out) should be kalal (curse). The problem was that the letter involved looked like a dalet (ד) or a resh (ר), not a qoph (ק) as kalal would seem to require.(This is a premium Haaretz article, so you may need a (free) registration to view it.)
Sure enough, things made more sense when he substituted a qoph for a dalet or a resh in a few cases. The qoph he found was part of a little-known Hebrew alphabet. Later, the researchers viewed the Israel Antiquity Authority’s new photographs of the Dead Sea Scrolls – a product of multispectral photography that can reveal letters invisible to the human eye.
Understanding the use of the qoph and examining the new photographs allowed Yuditsky to decipher 25 words from the scroll.
The revived paleo-Hebrew script of the Second Temple and Roman periods can be difficult to understand. And surprisingly often with the fragmentary Dead Sea Scrolls, the proper reading of a single letter, or even a single blank space, can be of significant aid for deciphering the text. For another example, see my story about 4QGenesisj here.
Bit by bit, a letter (or blank space!) at a time, whatever it takes. Until we're done.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
More on the Reina stone-vessel workshop
ARCHAEOLOGY: Ancient Stone Workshop Sheds New Light on Roman-era Galilee Jews' Faith. Turns out Galilee Jews were as devout as their Judean counterparts ■ Chalk cave could be source of stone jars whose water Jesus turned into wine at nearby Kafr Kana. (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz).
Much of this article recaps earlier reports on the story, sometimes with additional details. I do not post it because of any speculative connection between this workshop and the stone vessels in the water-into-wine story. I would not get too excited about that. But the article does have a worthwhile discussion of the importance of stone vessels for ritual purity in Second Temple Judaism.
Background here.
Much of this article recaps earlier reports on the story, sometimes with additional details. I do not post it because of any speculative connection between this workshop and the stone vessels in the water-into-wine story. I would not get too excited about that. But the article does have a worthwhile discussion of the importance of stone vessels for ritual purity in Second Temple Judaism.
Stone is heavy, chalkstone is absorbent and it’s no walk in the park to clean. This adoption of this considerable inconvenience was apparently based on evolving thought about purity, originating with a curious omission in the Bible’s Book of Leviticus, explains Yonatan Adler of Ariel University, director of the excavations for the IAA.Read on.
Background here.
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More 19th-century correspondence on the LXX
WILLIAM ROSS: A LETTER OF H. REDPATH. William publishes some correspondence relating to a Septuagint concordance project.
For his posts on some other LXX-related correspondence from the same period, see here.
For his posts on some other LXX-related correspondence from the same period, see here.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Numismatic evidence of Hannibal's defeat
PUNIC WATCH: Roman coins show evidence of Hannibal's defeat, scientists say (The Telegraph).
Study co-leader Dr Katrin Westner, of Goethe University in Frankfurt, Gemrany, said: "Before the war we find that the Roman coins are made of silver from the same sources as the coinage issued by Greek cities in Italy and Sicily.Cross-file under Numismatics and Technology Watch.
"In other words the lead isotope signatures of the coins correspond to those of silver ores and metallurgical products from the Aegean region.
"But the defeat of Carthage led to huge reparation payments to Rome, as well as Rome gaining high amounts of booty and ownership of the rich Spanish silver mines.
"From 209BC we see that the majority of Roman coins show geochemical signatures typical for Iberian silver.
"This massive influx of Iberian silver significantly changed Rome's economy, allowing it to become the superpower of its day.
"We know this from the histories of Livy and Polybius and others, but our work gives contemporary scientific proof of the rise of Rome.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Sunday, August 13, 2017
Crowdsourcing the Cairo Geniza
GENIZA WATCH: This Amazing Project Invites The Public To Help Unlock Medieval Jewish Documents (Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt, The Forward). And be sure and watch the video on the work of Professor Marina Rustow.
It happens that this summer I have been working on material from the Cairo Geniza. I have been deciphering and translating the main Judeo-Arabic manuscript of the Talmudic-era Hebrew magical treatise Sefer HaRazim ("The Book of the Mysteries"). Judeo-Arabic is Arabic written in Hebrew letters. The two alphabets match up very imperfectly, so it is quite a challenge.
This work is contributing to my English translation of Sepher HaRazim for volume two of the More Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Project.
A post on the Princeton Geniza Project from some years ago is here. For other and more recent posts on digitizing the Cairo Geniza, start here and follow the links. From this current article, it sounds as though they have made impressive progress.
For many other manuscript digitization projects, start here and here and follow the links.
It happens that this summer I have been working on material from the Cairo Geniza. I have been deciphering and translating the main Judeo-Arabic manuscript of the Talmudic-era Hebrew magical treatise Sefer HaRazim ("The Book of the Mysteries"). Judeo-Arabic is Arabic written in Hebrew letters. The two alphabets match up very imperfectly, so it is quite a challenge.
This work is contributing to my English translation of Sepher HaRazim for volume two of the More Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Project.
A post on the Princeton Geniza Project from some years ago is here. For other and more recent posts on digitizing the Cairo Geniza, start here and follow the links. From this current article, it sounds as though they have made impressive progress.
For many other manuscript digitization projects, start here and here and follow the links.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Mastrocinque, The Mysteries of Mithras
NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: ATTILIO MASTROCINQUE The Mysteries of Mithras: A Different Account. 2017. XXI, 363 pages. Orientalische Religionen in der Antike 24, 99,00 €, cloth, ISBN 978-3-16-155112-3.
Published in English.
In this work, Attilio Mastrocinque cautions against an approach to Mithraism based on the belief that this mystic cult resembles Christianity. While both Christian and pagan authors testified that Mithraic elements were indeed borrowed, according to Attilio Mastrocinque this was only done by some gnostic Christians. He counters that Roman Empire ideology and religion provide better clues on how to approach the matter, contending too that Virgil proves to be more important than the Avesta in understanding Mithraic iconography. The meaning of the central scene – the Tauroctony – thus becomes clear when the Roman triumph's central act of bull sacrifice is thought of as just that, with Mithras playing the role of victor as author of this success. The episodes depicted on many reliefs relate to a prophecy known to Firmicus Maternus and other Christian polemists, and which foretold the coming of a saviour, i.e. the first emperor, when Saturn returns and Apollo-Mithras will rule.
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Brooke and Smithuis (eds.), Jewish Education from Antiquity to the Middle Ages
NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:
Jewish Education from Antiquity to the Middle AgesCongratulations to Professor Alexander on this well-deserved honor.
Studies in Honour of Philip S. Alexander
Edited by George J. Brooke and Renate Smithuis, The University of Manchester
In Jewish Education from Antiquity to the Middle Ages fifteen scholars offer specialist studies on Jewish education from the areas of their expertise. This tightly themed volume in honour of Philip S. Alexander has some essays that look at individual manuscripts, some that consider larger literary corpora, and some that are more thematically organised.
Jewish education has been addressed largely as a matter of the study house, the bet midrash. Here a richer range of texts and themes discloses a wide variety of activity in several spheres of Jewish life. In addition, some notable non-Jewish sources provide a wider context for the discourse than is often the case.
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Engels, Benefactors, Kings, Rulers
BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Studies on the Seleukid Empire between East and West. Notice of a new book: Engels, David. 2017. Benefactors, Kings, Rulers. Studies on the Seleukid Empire between East and West (Studia Hellenistica 57). Leuven: Peeters. Follow the link for ordering information and a description.
For some comments on the importance of the Seleucid (Seleukid) Empire for biblical studies, see here.
For some comments on the importance of the Seleucid (Seleukid) Empire for biblical studies, see here.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Saturday, August 12, 2017
Chabad's citrons — archaeology to the rescue?
CITRON CATASTROPHE: As Italy’s citron crop fails, an archaeologist looks to fruit’s 2,500-year history in Israel. After a disastrous frost that looks to wipe out the majority of this year’s etrog yield, Chabad Jewry braces for a crisis ahead of the Feast of Tabernacles (Amanda Borschel-Dan).
The discovery of ancient citron pollen at Ramat Rachel was noted here in 2012. For more on the Ramat Rachel excavation, see here and links. And I noted that recent study of the ancient use of citrus fruit, including citrons, here.
The natural disaster, alongside the closure of the small family citron farms to make way for tourism, make for a dim future for Chabad Jews reliant on this citron, which has been grown in the region for at least 2,000 years.It is not clear to me whether Chabad is actually considering using Israeli citrons for Sukkot. The Calabrian ones were prescribed by their late leader Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, so there is considerable authority behind their use. But the losses of the Calabrian citron crop sound catastrophic. I suppose they may need to look to other options.
So perhaps they should look to a place where they have been cultivated for even longer — Israel.
A recent study of the migration of citrus fruit to the Mediterranean region by Tel Aviv University Prof. Dafna Langgut illustrates through archaeobotanical proof that the citron first appeared in Israel, and only about 500 years later in Italy.
Langgut’s discipline of archaeobotany involves the identification of botanical remains in archeological contexts. In the case of the citron (Citrus medica), she and her team discovered pollen from the fruit in a private garden in Jerusalem which dates back to the First Temple period.
The discovery of ancient citron pollen at Ramat Rachel was noted here in 2012. For more on the Ramat Rachel excavation, see here and links. And I noted that recent study of the ancient use of citrus fruit, including citrons, here.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Saving — and conserving — Mosul's manuscripts
SYRIAC (ETC.) WATCH: This priest preserves Iraqi culture found in historic manuscripts (Hannah Brockhaus, Catholic News Agency).
Since 1750 many antique manuscripts had been kept in the library of the Dominican monastery in Mosul. They were moved from the monastery starting in 2007, amid the backdrop of increased violence against Christians and other minorities at the hands of extremist groups. The documents include more than 25 subjects, including theology, philosophy, astronomy, medicine, history, and geography, many of which date back to the 10th, 11th, and 12th century in Aramaic, which is the language of Jesus Christ.Regular readers may remember the story of the rescue of thousands of manuscrips from Mosul by Father Najeeb Michaeel and his colleagues. PaleoJudaica followed it here and here. This article covers those events. It also tells more about the contents of the manuscripts, which are written in "Syriac, Arabic, Turkish, Armenian, Hebrew, Persian, and more." And it brings the story to the present. The rescuers and their coleagues have not been idle.
Rome hosted an exhibit and conference on just a small sample of the many photos and manuscripts June 10-17.Good news.
This exhibition was “just a small fragment of what we have in Iraq with respect to manuscripts and archives and materials and photos, because we have as well the largest deposit of photos in Iraq,” Najeeb explained.
The more than 10,000 photos “tell the story of the past: the face, the work and much more,” he continued. “Even the archaeology. And we have many archaeological documents in cuneiform as well, very ancient.”
Since 2009 the Dominicans in Iraq have also partnered with Benedictine monks, who also help with the supply of equipment and organizing internships.
Their internship program has about 10 young university students, Najeeb said, which provides “practical information for true professionals in the field of the restoration of manuscripts, for their protection and digitization, and also the process of storing them and protecting them with sophisticated technology to be able to officially protect them in a scientific way.”
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
The Talmud in Hungarian
TALMUD WATCH: Hungary Emissary Presents Netanyahu With Translated Talmud (Lubavitch.com). Prime Minister Netanyahu visited Budapest last week.
[Hungary Rabbi Shlomo] Koves presented netanyahu with a copy of the Hungarian Talmud, which was recently published weeks after a decade of work by Hungary’s chief Chabad emissary, Rabbi Boruch Oberlander.
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Jubilees: Isaac, Jacob, the Amorites, and Esau
READING ACTS: Expansions on the Stories of Isaac and Jacob in Jubilees 24-38. Phil Long continues his series on the Book of Jubilees as part of his larger series on the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. For notice of past posts, start here and follow the links.
The stories of Judah's wars with the Amorites and with his brother Esau and Esau's sons, are not found in the Bible. But, as I have noted here, they do appear elsewhere.
Cross-file under Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Watch.
The stories of Judah's wars with the Amorites and with his brother Esau and Esau's sons, are not found in the Bible. But, as I have noted here, they do appear elsewhere.
Cross-file under Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Watch.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Friday, August 11, 2017
Privatizing Israeli salvage archaeology?
ARCHAEOLOGY: Israel to Begin Privatizing Large-scale Archaeological Excavations. Senior archaeologists warn the decision will lead to unprecedented destruction of archaeological findings and serious harm to archaeology as a science in Israel. Netivei Israel, the company that normally handles salvage excavations, has some big projects coming up. So they are planning to privatize the process. But the IAA and others see problems.
You may need a (free) registration with Haaretz to access this article.
The Antiquities Authority and university archeological institutes were shocked to discover the conditions included in the bidding process. The contractor is required to meet strict deadlines, for example in the Motza dig, the authority estimated just the initial stage would take about a year; while the tender requires the entire dig to be completed in seven months – with almost no taking into account of the findings. In addition, the experience required for the archeologist n charge of the excavation is minimal, only 10 squares over the past 10 years. Now the archeologist will be required to dig hundreds of squares in a few months. “It’s like taking a home renovator to build the runway at Ben-Gurion Airport,” said someone involved in the matter.I'm sure we'll hear more about this.
Another problem is that the tenders do not require the scientific publication of the findings, which means the results might not be available to scholars in the future, say archeologists. The bids also do not specify the depths of the excavations, giving the contractors an incentive to dig as little as possible and discover as little as possible to keep to the tight schedule.
You may need a (free) registration with Haaretz to access this article.
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Collins, The Invention of Judaism
THE ASOR BLOG: The Invention of Judaism. Torah and Jewish Identity from Deuteronomy to Paul. John J. Collins gives us a preview of his new book. Excerpt:
The official status of the Torah after the time of Ezra did not entail that it was closely observed. Rather, it had iconic importance, in the sense that people revered it even if they did not pay much attention to its content. This iconic importance can be seen in the Book of Ben Sira, in the early second century BCE. Ben Sira declares that all wisdom is the Torah of Moses, but he does not engage it in any detail.
Attitudes to the Torah changed, however, after the attempt by Antiochus Epiphanes to suppress it. The Maccabees, and their descendants, the Hasmoneans, were not especially pious, but they insisted on the observance of those aspects of the Law that had symbolic importance. During the century of Hasmonean rule, we see a “halakic turn” in the emergence of literature such as the Temple Scroll and Jubilees, that engages the legal aspects of the Torah in great detail. We also see the rise of sectarianism, fueled by disagreements over the details of the Law, as can be seen especially in the Dead Sea Scroll called the Halakhic Letter (4QMMT).
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Jubilees: Abraham
READING ACTS: Expansions on the Story of Abraham in Jubilees 11-23. Phil Long gives us a nice summary of the section on Abraham in Jubilees.
A couple of past PaleoJudaic posts on the same subject are here and here.
Phil Long has been blogging on the Book of Jubilees as part of his series on the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. For notice of past posts, start here and follow the links. Cross-file under Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Watch.
A couple of past PaleoJudaic posts on the same subject are here and here.
Phil Long has been blogging on the Book of Jubilees as part of his series on the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. For notice of past posts, start here and follow the links. Cross-file under Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Watch.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Goat's milk — A Talmudic remedy
TALMUD WATCH: How A Two Thousand Year Old Remedy Cured My Daughter (Ilana Kurshan, The Forward).
“Well,” he told me, “There is one proven remedy – you can give her fresh goat’s milk to drink. That works like a charm.” I looked at him like he was crazy. “Goat’s milk? Can I get that at the supermarket?”I post this because it is a good story that involves the Talmud. It is not medical advice. You should not look for medical advice from philologists.
“You can,” said the doctor, “But what you really want is the unpasteurized kind, and that you can only get from a farm. It’s best if they milk the goat for you, and then she drinks it right away, while it’s still warm.” I couldn’t really believe that my daughter’s recovery would come from squeezing the udders of a goat, and so I ran down the block to the pharmacy, where I was told the same thing. “Take her to a goat farm, and get her some fresh milk.” On the one hand, my heart was sinking – was there no other way to help my child? On the other hand, my mind was racing – now I was finally beginning to understand a Talmudic story that had long baffled me.
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Thursday, August 10, 2017
Another Galilean stone-vessle workshop
ARCHAEOLOGY: Galilee Excavation Reveals 2,000 Year-Old Stone Vessel Workshop (JNi.Media).
For more on stoneworking in the Roman world, see here.
A rare workshop for the production of chalkstone vessels, dated to the Roman period, is currently being excavated at Reina in Lower Galilee. The excavations are unearthing a small cave in which archaeologists have found thousands of chalkstone cores and other types of production waste, including fragments of stone mugs and bowls in various stages of production.About a year ago there were reports of a stone-vessel workshop excavated in a cave in the Galilee. The name of that site was Einot Amitai. (See here and here.) Perhaps that is the other site, the one being excavated near Reina? In any case, both sites are producing some exciting finds.
The ancient site was uncovered during the course of construction work at a municipal sports center conducted by the Reina local council. This is the fourth workshop of its kind ever to have been uncovered in Israel; an additional workshop is currently being excavated near Reina, located one kilometer from the current site. The two remaining known sites were uncovered decades ago far to the south, in the Jerusalem area.
[...]
For more on stoneworking in the Roman world, see here.
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The NLI Kitv Collection online
DIGITIZATION: Israel’s national library launches online database of Jewish manuscripts (Jewish News/JNS.org).
This collection will be an increasingly important resources as it develops.
For many other manuscript digitization projects, start here and follow the links.
The National Library of Israel (NLI) has launched a massive online database of centuries-old Jewish manuscripts from across the world.Some examples of the contents:
The archive is known as the “Ktiv: The International Collection of Digitized Hebrew Manuscripts.” Ktiv is Hebrew for “written word.” The archive contains nearly 4.5 million images from 45,000 manuscripts, including prayer books, biblical texts, commentary, philosophy, literature and scientific writings in various Jewish-related languages such as Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino and Judeo-Arabic. The Ktiv was launched at the opening of the World Congress of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem on Aug. 6.
[...]
According to the NLI, the digitized archive also contains the Leningrad Codex, writings from Maimonides, the Aleppo Codex, “some of the oldest extant Talmudic manuscripts, documents from the 13th century detailing struggles within the Yemenite Jewish community, [and] commercial and personal records chronicling Jewish life in Afghanistan in the 11th century.”You can access the Ktiv Collection here. I ran a few searches on mystical and magical subjects. Not surprisingly, the searches yielded better results if I typed them in Hebrew rather than English. The listing of manuscripts looks vast and probably comprehensive, but the digitization itself is only well started.
This collection will be an increasingly important resources as it develops.
For many other manuscript digitization projects, start here and follow the links.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
More on the St. Catherine's Monastery palimpsests
TECHNOLOGY WATCH: The Invisible Poems Hidden in One of the World's Oldest Libraries. A new technique is revealing traces of lost languages that have been erased from ancient parchments (Richard Gray, The Atlantic).
For other past PaleoJudaica posts on palimpsests, start here and follow the links.
For centuries they have gathered dust on the shelves of a library marooned in a rocky patch of Egyptian desert, their secrets lost in time. But now a collection of enigmatic manuscripts, carefully stored behind the walls of a 1,500-year-old monastery on the Sinai Peninsula, are giving up their treasures.I noted this story back in March here, but this article has much more detail. For example, Caucasian Albanian is a language whose vocabulary has been been vastly expanded. (The article is not very clear on whether it has been doubled or increased by 50%, which are not the same thing.) There are also new discoveries in Christian Palestinian Aramaic. And then there is the Syriac Galen palimpsest, on which more here, here, and here. And there is more, so read the article
The library at Saint Catherine’s Monastery is the oldest continually operating library in the world. Among its thousands of ancient parchments are at least 160 palimpsests—manuscripts that bear faint scratches and flecks of ink beneath more recent writing. These illegible marks are the only clues to words that were scraped away by the monastery’s monks between the 8th and 12th centuries to reuse the parchments. Some were written in long-lost languages that have almost entirely vanished from the historical record.
But now these erased passages are reemerging from the past. In an unlikely collaboration between an Orthodox wing of the Christian faith and cutting-edge science, a small group of international researchers are using specialized imaging techniques that photograph the parchments with different colors of light from multiple angles. This technology allows the researchers to read the original texts for the first time since they were wiped away, revealing lost ancient poems and early religious texts and doubling the known vocabulary of languages that have not been used for more than 1,000 years.
[...]
For other past PaleoJudaica posts on palimpsests, start here and follow the links.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Jubilees 1-10
READING ACTS: From Creation to Flood – Jubilees 1-10. Another post in Phil Long's series on the Book of Jubilees, which is part of his much longer series on the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. For both, start here and follow the links.
Past PaleoJudaica posts on the relationship between the Watchers, the giants, and the demons (and the role of the last in the New Testament) are here, here, here, here, here, and links. Dr. Who and Sauron come up as well.
Cross-file under Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Watch.
Past PaleoJudaica posts on the relationship between the Watchers, the giants, and the demons (and the role of the last in the New Testament) are here, here, here, here, here, and links. Dr. Who and Sauron come up as well.
Cross-file under Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Watch.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Wednesday, August 09, 2017
Judges, courts, and verdicts in the Talmud
THIS WEEK'S DAF YOMI COLUMN BY ADAM KIRSCH IN TABLET: Lest Ye Be Judged. In this week’s ‘Daf Yomi,’ how Talmudic rabbis carried the life-or-death burden of sitting in judgment of others.
It is because they recognized the moral responsibility of judging that the rabbis were so hesitant to impose extreme verdicts, especially the death penalty. The law code given in the Torah is full of capital crimes: everything from adultery to idol worship to violating Shabbat to disobeying your parents can be punished by death, often by the particularly horrible method of stoning. But by the Talmudic era, it is clear that judges had lost their taste for such bloody punishments. Indeed, they introduce such high barriers to the imposition of capital sentences that, in practice, the death penalty could almost never be used.Earlier Daf Yomi columns are noted here and links.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Kugel, The Great Shift
INTERVIEW AND NEW BOOK: Divine Encounters of Biblical Times: PW Talks to James Kugel (Lenny Picker, Publishers Weekly).
In The Great Shift: Encountering God in Biblical Times (HMH, Sept.), Bible scholar and professor emeritus of Hebrew Literature at Harvard James Kugel looks at people’s encounters with God as they are depicted in the Bible, including Moses speaking to a burning bush. Closely examining the ancient texts and drawing on modern psychology, neuroscience, and more, Kugel explores why encounters with God have changed dramatically from the Biblical Era to today.More on James Kugel, who was one of my teachers, here and links.
[...]
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Jubilees: space and time
READING ACTS: Sacred Geography and Sacred Time in Jubilees. Phil Long continues his series of posts on the Book of Jubilees as part of his larger series on the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. (See here and many links.)
Past PaleoJudaica posts on ancient Jewish calendars — particularly the solar calendar, which was important for the theology of Jubilees — are here and links.
Cross-file under Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Watch.
Past PaleoJudaica posts on ancient Jewish calendars — particularly the solar calendar, which was important for the theology of Jubilees — are here and links.
Cross-file under Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Watch.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Those 53 verified people in the Hebrew Bible again
EPIGRAPHY AND THE BIBLE: Researcher gives seal of approval to 53 biblical characters’ existence. Lawrence Mykytiuk looks for ancient personalities who have made an impression — be it on a signet ring or a monument (Rich Tenorio, Times of Israel). An interview with Dr. Mykytiuk, whose project is familiar to regular readers of PaleoJudaica. (See here and links. But this article also has some information about his new project:
The new project will have its own set of challenges. Will it be limited to mentions in inscriptions or will mentions in Philo, Josephus, and Roman writers count too? For some thematically related posts, see here and links.
Mykytiuk is continuing with his verifications — this time, involving the New Testament).Regarding the last point, the 53 verified names from the Hebrew Bible are only of men.
He said that after his first 50 Old Testament verifications, Shanks told him, “We can finish the New Testament, too.” (Shanks declined to comment for this story.)
Mykytiuk described this as “a challenge. I’m a Hebrew Bible guy. I would go on a New Testament study. It’s a very different ballgame, with Greek and Latin inscriptions and coins that you don’t deal with in Old Testament, Hebrew Bible studies.”
His next article will include verifications of 23 New Testament political figures. He expects to publish it in the September/October issue of Biblical Archaeology Review. Unlike his Old Testament verifications, the New Testament ones will include both men and women.
The new project will have its own set of challenges. Will it be limited to mentions in inscriptions or will mentions in Philo, Josephus, and Roman writers count too? For some thematically related posts, see here and links.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Tuesday, August 08, 2017
The neglected antiquities of Tiberias
THAT'S A BIG ANNIVERSARY: Celebrating 2,000 Years, Tiberias' History Is Buried Under Garbage. Ancient bathhouse under weeds, beer bottles covering a mosaic. Archaeological sites around the city could have been tourist attractions, but many are abandoned and neglected (Noa Shpigel, Haaretz).
Some past posts on Tiberias and its antiquities are collected here.
A trip down a short dirt road at the southern end of Tiberias reveals an ancient Roman theater. A wooden lookout post perched above the ruins has a commanding view of the Sea of Galilee and beyond. The spot could be a tourist magnet, but the theater was never restored and isn’t open to visitors. Not to mention that the access road remains unpaved and features mainly trash containers.I hope it gets spruced up for next year.
Next year the Jewish-Roman city of Tiberias marks its 2,000th anniversary from its foundation by the Jewish royal Herod Antipas of the Herodian dynasty in about 20 C.E. He established it as a wholly new polis (city-state), not just another town, says Prof. Michael Eisenberg of Haifa University.
[...]
Some past posts on Tiberias and its antiquities are collected here.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
On philosophy, balls, and Jewish ritual
MICHAEL SATLOW: Shared, but How?
HT AJR.
What is a “ball”? Does a ball exist when there is nobody around to see it?Despite what might seem like an unpromising opening, this blog post is actually a nice report on a recent conference on Jewish ritual practices at the University of Erfurt. The work of Bruno Latour comes in too, especially in relation to that ball.
HT AJR.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Caiaphas and Luke-Acts
THE BIBLE PLACES BLOG: Luke & Acts (7): Caiaphas (Michael J. Caba). This is number seven in the series, formerly called "Historical Reliability of Luke-Acts."
For notice of past posts in the series, see here and links. For past PaleoJudaica posts on the Caiaphas ossuaries, see here and links.
For notice of past posts in the series, see here and links. For past PaleoJudaica posts on the Caiaphas ossuaries, see here and links.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Amy-Jill Levine publishes children's book on Jesus
VANDEREBILT UNIVERSITY: Levine’s scholarship on Jesus’ parables featured in new children’s book (Ann Marie Deer Owens).
Amy Jill Levine, a Vanderbilt New Testament scholar, is the co-author of a new children’s book that imaginatively retells three of Jesus’ parables from the perspective of a first-century Jewish audience.
Who Counts? 100 Sheep, 10 Coins, and 2 Sons (Westminster John Knox, 2017) was co-written by Levine, University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies, and Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, best-selling children’s book author and Butler University faculty member.
The beautifully illustrated volume looks at three popular parables in Luke 15—the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Prodigal Son. The pictures set the three parables in modern time using multicultural, multiracial figures.
[...]
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Monday, August 07, 2017
Bathhouse at Bethsaida?
ARCHAEOLOGY: The Lost Home of Jesus' Apostles Has Just Been Found, Archaeologists Say. Archaeologists believe Julias, the home of Jesus' apostles Peter, Andrew and Philip, was located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee (Noa Shpigel and Ruth Schuster, Haaretz).
Archaeologists think they may have found the lost Roman city of Julias, the home of three apostles of Jesus: Peter, Andrew and Philip (John 1:44; 12:21). A multi-layered site discovered on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, in the Bethsaida Valley Nature Reserve, is the spot, the team believes.Yes, quite. The situation is complicated. Read on for the details.
The key discovery is of an advanced Roman-style bathhouse. That in and of itself indicates that there had been a city there, not just a fishing village, Dr. Mordechai Aviam of Kinneret College told Haaretz.
None other than the Jewish historian Josephus Flavius – in fact the only source describing this city's existence – wrote that the Jewish monarch King Philip Herod, son of the great vassal King Herod, transformed Bethsaida, which had been a Jewish fishing village, into a real Roman polis (Ant. 18:28. Though whether it was built on Bethsaida, or by it, remains unknown.)
[...]
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
On Jewish-Temple denial
I'M GOING WITH YES FOR BOTH: Was there a Jewish temple in Jerusalem? Were the pyramids built in Egypt? (Jeremiah J. Johnston and Craig A. Evans, Fox News). Regular readers of PaleoJudaica will be familiar with the stories covered in this article.
For the unfortunate 2015 article on the Temple Mount in the New York Times, see here and links. For the unhelpful comments on the Temple Mount by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, also in 2015, see here. For the recent terrorist attach just outside the Temple Mount, see here. For more on Yasser Arafat's odd claim that the ancient Jewish Temple was in Nablus, see here and here.
Cross-file under Temple Mount Watch and Jewish-Temple Denial.
For the unfortunate 2015 article on the Temple Mount in the New York Times, see here and links. For the unhelpful comments on the Temple Mount by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, also in 2015, see here. For the recent terrorist attach just outside the Temple Mount, see here. For more on Yasser Arafat's odd claim that the ancient Jewish Temple was in Nablus, see here and here.
Cross-file under Temple Mount Watch and Jewish-Temple Denial.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Spoken Biblical Hebrew?
THAT WOULD BE COOL: Could Biblical Hebrew be making a comeback? (Rome Reports). The Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome is giving it a go. But now that we have Modern Hebrew, the appeal of spoken Biblical Hebrew is likely to be to a niche market.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Jubilees: The Law
READING ACTS: The Law in Jubilees (Phil Long).
In Jubilees, the law is established in creation, therefore “Obedience to the Law is the central message of Jubilees” (Wintermute, “Jubilees,” OTP 2:40). The writer desires to place as many Jewish customs and religious features as early in the history as possible. The earlier a practice can be rooted in history, the better. As Michael Segal, states, “one of the most distinctive features of Jubilees is the juxtaposition of laws generally known from the legal corpora of the Pentateuch with stories of the patriarchal period” (in Reworking the Bible: Apocryphal and Related Texts at Qumran, 204.For past posts in Phil's long series on the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, start here and follow the links. The last couple posts have been on the Book of Jubilees.
[...]
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Sunday, August 06, 2017
Tu B'Av 2017
THE FESTIVAL OF TU B'AV begins this evening at sundown. Best wishes to all those celebrating.
Tu B'Av (which just means the 15th day of the month of Av) is an ancient matchmaking festival. It has been revived in recent years as a kind of Jewish Valentine's Day. For more background on it, see here and links.
Tu B'Av (which just means the 15th day of the month of Av) is an ancient matchmaking festival. It has been revived in recent years as a kind of Jewish Valentine's Day. For more background on it, see here and links.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
The Huqoq mosaics
BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Huqoq 2017: Mosaics of Jonah and the Whale, the Tower of Babel and More. Huqoq excavations expose vibrant Greco-Roman and Biblical scenes (Nicola McCutcheon). A brief, but good overview of the many mosaic discoveries at the Huqoq excavation in Israel. Some of them have been found quite recently.
For past PaleoJudaica posts on Huqoq and its mosaics, start here and follow the links.
For past PaleoJudaica posts on Huqoq and its mosaics, start here and follow the links.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Nineteenth-century correspondence on the LXX
WILLIAM ROSS has been at the Cambridge University Library reading other people's mail. In two blog posts he shares some of what he's found:
SOME LETTERS OF H. B. SWETE – PART I
Regular PaleoJudaica readers will recall Williams past interviews with Septuagint scholars posted on his Septuagint & C. Blog. For notice of these, start here and follow the links.
SOME LETTERS OF H. B. SWETE – PART I
Although you may think reading hundred year-old mail to learn more about a failed project is bizarre, the fact is that the correspondence I’ve been sorting through is over two thousand years more recent than the Egyptian personal correspondences I typically mull through in papyri.SOME LETTERS OF H. B. SWETE – PART II
But I digress. The point is, I haven’t yet found anything more about this delicious hint of a Cambridge Lexicon of the Septuagint that never was. However, I have found some other fascinating items, which I’d like to share here in a few posts.
I’ve been giving in to the temptation somewhat recently as I’ve been reading through most of Swete’s mail and wandering off into interesting subjects not directly relevant to what I’m actually looking for. Oh well.There's more coming and I look forward to it. But I also hope William keeps focus on his doctoral dissertation!
Regular PaleoJudaica readers will recall Williams past interviews with Septuagint scholars posted on his Septuagint & C. Blog. For notice of these, start here and follow the links.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
The purposes of Jubilees
READING ACTS: Why Was Jubilees Written? This is the second recent post on Jubilees in Phil Long's ongoing series on the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. For previous posts in the series, start here and follow the links.
Cross-file under Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Watch.
Cross-file under Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Watch.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Saturday, August 05, 2017
Should looters go to jail?
BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: First Person: Should These Looters Go to Jail? As published in the July/August 2017 Biblical Archaeology Review (Hershel Shanks). Much of this essay is about an imaginary looter and a (regrettably) imaginary inscription. But the question in the headline is about some real looters. More on their story is here. And more on Operation Scroll is here and links.
I leave it to you readers to decide on your own answer to the question.
I leave it to you readers to decide on your own answer to the question.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
The "Arabic" Infancy Gospel at ISBL 2017
APOCRYPHICITY BLOG: 2017 ISBL Preview: “‘Arabic’ Infancy Gospel No More” (Tony Burke).
The 2017 ISBL is taking place on 7-11 August. I am not attending this year. I hope everyone has fun. Please post reports!
Cross-file under New Testament Apocrypha Watch.
I am about to depart for the 2017 International Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature in Berlin. Slavomír Céplö and I will be presenting at the first of four Christian Apocrypha sessions; for a full listing of the Christian Apocrypha papers at this year’s ISBL see this post. The paper, entitled “‘Arabic’ Infancy Gospel No More: The Challenges of Reconstructing the Original Gospel of the Infancy,” has two aims: to present the current status of our work on the Arabic Infancy Gospel (aka Gospel of the Infancy), and to interact with the session’s theme of “Is this a ‘text’?” (questioning practices of how we title texts and if these titles capture the dynamic, fluid natures of verbal communication). Here is the abstract for the paper: ...This text presents some methodological challenges that are not untypical for Christian Apocrypha.
The 2017 ISBL is taking place on 7-11 August. I am not attending this year. I hope everyone has fun. Please post reports!
Cross-file under New Testament Apocrypha Watch.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Saving the Mar Behnam manuscripts
THE ASOR BLOG: Rescuing Syriac Manuscripts in Iraq (Amir Harrak).
Over the centuries, the monastery of Mar Behnam amassed various Syriac and Arabic manuscripts, as well as books recording the names of royal and other historically important visitors. During the Islamic State’s more than two-year occupation of Mār-Behnam, there was great concern about the fate of these precious documents. The Islamic State is renowned for their fanatical destruction of churches, shrines, and at times even mosques, and so when the Iraqi army liberated the Plain of Nineveh, a surprise came concerning the Mār-Behnam manuscripts.I followed the story of ISIS capturing the Mar Behnam Monastery in 2014, its liberation in 2016, and the recovery of its manuscripts after the liberation. See here, here, here, here, here, and here. Cross-file under Syriac Watch.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Website creation as a teaching tool
ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Website Construction as Introduction to Academic Research (Rebecca Falcasantos).
For the past three semesters, students in my introductory Bible course have created websites as a way of learning the basic methods of academic research, analysis, and argumentation.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Friday, August 04, 2017
Is Hobby Lobby being held to a double standard?
RELIGION NEWS SERVICE: Despite smuggled antiquities purchase, some say criticism of Bible museum is unfair (Menachem Wecker). Some prominent scholars are pointing out that Hobby Lobby's antiquities-acquisition misadventure is hardly unique in the museum world. And they are wondering if a double standard is being applied because of hostility to the Green family's evangelical Christianity. But others disagree. Read the article and see what you think.
HT Jim West. For background on Hobby Lobby's recent settlement with the U.S. Justice Department over improperly acquired antiquities, see here and links. And follow the links there for past posts on the Green Collection and the soon-to-open Museum of the Bible.
HT Jim West. For background on Hobby Lobby's recent settlement with the U.S. Justice Department over improperly acquired antiquities, see here and links. And follow the links there for past posts on the Green Collection and the soon-to-open Museum of the Bible.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Early Judaism position
JOB OPENING AT UCLA: Assistant Professor in Early Judaism.
The Department of Near Eastern Languages & Cultures at the University of California, Los Angeles, announces a search for a tenure-track position in early Judaism at the rank of Assistant Professor to be filled effective July 1, 2018. Applications are invited from scholars with research and teaching interests in the cultures (especially 2nd Temple Judaism) and primary languages (especially Aramaic) of eastern Mediterranean world from the Achaemenid through the Sasanian periods. Candidates will teach a variety of classes including large undergraduate courses, such as an Introduction to Judaism, literature of the Second Temple period, history of ancient Judaism, history of early Christianity, and small graduate text seminars (Hebrew, Aramaic and/or Syriac). We encourage the development of new courses in a candidate’s field of expertise.The application deadline is 15 October 2017. Follow the link for further particulars and application information.
We value candidates whose experience in teaching, research, or community service has prepared them to contribute to our commitment to diversity and excellence. Women and underrepresented minorities are encouraged to apply.
Eligible applicants will have a Ph.D. or equivalent in hand by June, 2018.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
CFP: The Dead Sea Scrolls at Seventy
FROM THE ORION CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS:
Open Call for Papers
An International Symposium: The Dead Sea Scrolls at Seventy: “Clear a Path in the Wilderness”
Date: 29 April–3 May, 2018
Conveners: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the University of Vienna, New York University, the Israel Antiquities Authority, The Israel Museum
Venues: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and The Israel Museum
To mark seventy years since the initial discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, an international symposium will be held in Jerusalem, April 29–May 3, 2018. The overarching symposium theme will be “The Wilderness”—as a real place; as the location of biblical episodes, most notably during the formative years of Israel's wandering from Egypt to the Promised Land; as a motif; and as a concept (sometimes idealized, sometimes demonized).
The wilderness figures prominently in biblical texts and in the literature of the Second Temple, rabbinic, early Christian, and early Islamic periods. It was also a place of habitation by various groups during these periods, which have left us archaeological sites, artefacts, documents and the more than 1500 Dead Sea Scrolls. Conference papers may address any aspect of the wilderness as it relates to Qumran; other Judean Desert sites; the Dead Sea Scrolls; and the associated late antique literatures, cultures and religions—particularly, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Papers may focus on such topics as the reception of biblical figures (e.g., Moses, Aaron, Phineas, Miriam, Balaam), events (e.g., the giving of the law, the sin of the golden calf, the building of the tabernacle, covenant ceremonies), and themes (e.g., revelation, law, covenant, rebellion against God, sanctuary, water, and manna) connected with Israel’s time in the wilderness; relevant textual and philological analyses; the use of the relevant biblical passages in shaping later texts; the influence of the desert climate, flora, and fauna on the ancient texts and their state of preservation.
The conference will feature invited lectures; open sessions; and two public lectures.
Papers will be accepted for the open sessions in accordance with the relevance of the topic to the overall program. Please send a proposal of no more than 250 words to the Orion Center email address (orioncenter@mail.huji.ac.il). Deadline for receipt of proposals is September 20, 2017; responses will be mailed by October 31.
Symposium organizers:
Esther Chazon, Director, The Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Associated Literature, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem;
Armin Lange, Professor of Second Temple Judaism and Director of the Institute for Jewish Studies, University of Vienna;
Lawrence H. Schiffman, Judge Abraham Lieberman Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies, Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies, New York University;
Pnina Shor, Curator and Head of Dead Sea Scrolls Projects, The Israel Antiquities Authority;
Adolfo D. Roitman, Lizbeth and George Krupp Curator of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Head of The Shrine of the Book, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem.
We are grateful to the organizing bodies, as well as the Austrian Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration, and Foreign Affairs, for their sponsorship of symposium expenses.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Vista survey results
THE BIBLE PLACES BLOG: Survey Results: Favorite Vista (Todd Bolen). My vote was for the Mount of Olives, which came in at second place.
Background here.
Background here.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Thursday, August 03, 2017
Comprehensive report on the Jordanian lead codices
THE CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF THE JORDANIAN LEAD BOOKS has published its comprehensive report on the metal codices, by Samuel Zinner, on its website. You can download the pdf file here: Son of the Star: Bar Kokhba and the Jordanian lead books. It's a big file, so be patient with the download.
[UPDATE: I have now reviewed the report in a series of four posts. The series begins here.]
The abstract of Dr. Zinner's report is as follows:
I have read the (long!) introductory sections and the conclusion and have read and skimmed some of the core chapters. That took up most of a day of my vacation. I'm not ready to comment yet, but I will post some comments once I have time to look at it a little more and to digest the material.
I should also note that the Lead Book Centre has published a number of films on the codices. I will respect their wish that the videos not be embedded, but you can go to their YouTube site here to view them.
Background here and many, many links. Cross-file under Fake Metal Codices Watch. I acknowledge that various elements of the current discussion may point to some of the codices being something other than fake, but I remain to be convinced. I will have more to say in due course. In any case, I continue to include this cross-file rubric so that readers can search it to find all my posts on the subject.
[UPDATE: I have now reviewed the report in a series of four posts. The series begins here.]
The abstract of Dr. Zinner's report is as follows:
SON OF THE STAR: BAR KOKHBA AND THE JORDANIAN LEAD BOOKS OVERVIEW, ASSESSMENT, INTERPRETATIONIt is lengthy: over 1100 pages, although that includes many images. It addresses the issues that need to be addresed and does so thoughtfully and in great detail. Rather than coming to a final conclusion, Dr. Zinner explores the evidence for what he understands to be the full range of possibilities.
In this report, Samuel Zinner examines the controversial ‘Jordan codices,’ addressing the complex ethical and legal issues involved in undocumented, non-provenanced artefacts. There is much to be wary of in enthusiasts’ and naysayers’ claims, both of whom fall prey to emotionalism. Aligning his position with that of André Lemaire, Zinner cautiously leaves open the possibilities of ancient authenticity (for a core group) and an elaborate pre-modern fake, carefully weighing the evidence for each. Zinner demonstrates that at least some of the artefacts are modern copies of older exemplars.Samuel Zinner studied ancient and modern languages, literatures, and histories, and museum and archival studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where he received his PhD in 2002. His coursework included intensive studies in Shem-Tob’s Hebrew Matthew gospel and in ancient Jewish, Christian and Greco-Roman texts. Other areas of concentration included modern German and Russian literatures, poetics, linguistics, philology, and cryptography. His training in modern European history involved research in Holocaust and genocide studies, ethnic cleansing, and indigenous issues. He is author of several monographs and essays that have appeared in English, German, and Russian.
If ancient, the Jordanian artefacts are apotropaic grave objects designed to afford protection to the deceased and information relevant for their afterlife. Their contents would date from the immediate post-Bar Kokhba period to the time of Julia Domna and beyond (ca. 136-217 CE). Ancient or modern, the artefacts’ contents retrospectively view Jewish history from the Maccabees to Bar Kokhba principally through the prism of the latter’s revolt and its demise.
The artefacts’ main inspirations were ancient Jewish and Greco-Roman coinage, which naturally suggested to their creators the choice of a metal medium. The sheet format was dictated by apotropaic grave precedents such as Orphic tablets. With some exceptions, each Jordanian ‘book’ consists of a large image-text design that has been arbitrarily cut down to smaller-sized individual sheets subsequently bound together in order to retain the separate leaves’ association. ‘Book’/‘codex’ is not the most fitting terminology for these artefacts. The closest comparative parallels are the Martin Schøyen/Würzburg ancient Greek alphabet copper plaques, the Orphic lamellae, the Gnostic lead book in the National Museum at Rome, and the Mandaeans' lead books.
I have read the (long!) introductory sections and the conclusion and have read and skimmed some of the core chapters. That took up most of a day of my vacation. I'm not ready to comment yet, but I will post some comments once I have time to look at it a little more and to digest the material.
I should also note that the Lead Book Centre has published a number of films on the codices. I will respect their wish that the videos not be embedded, but you can go to their YouTube site here to view them.
Background here and many, many links. Cross-file under Fake Metal Codices Watch. I acknowledge that various elements of the current discussion may point to some of the codices being something other than fake, but I remain to be convinced. I will have more to say in due course. In any case, I continue to include this cross-file rubric so that readers can search it to find all my posts on the subject.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Buried at the Carthage racetrack
NEO-PUNIC WATCH: Buried at the Racetracks: 1,500-year-old Grave Discovered at Carthage Circus. The ancient Carthaginians were so obsessed with gambling that some may have chosen the races as their final resting place, archaeologists suspect (Phillippe Bohstrom, Haaretz).
The article includes some information on curse tablets (intended to influence the races) and on ancient gambling. It also reports on some older, Punic, remains found at the site.
I noted another story on the archaeology of the Carthage Circus here.
How crazy do you have to be about gambling to have your nearest and dearest inter you at the racetrack? Archaeologists excavating the ancient Roman racing course in the North African city of Carthage have found a burial in the heart of the spectator section in the bleachers around 1,500 years ago.You can't take it with you, but you can try to stay.
Whether or not the deceased was a dice-crazed adult remains to be seen, but the choice of venue was certainly striking.
[...]
The article includes some information on curse tablets (intended to influence the races) and on ancient gambling. It also reports on some older, Punic, remains found at the site.
I noted another story on the archaeology of the Carthage Circus here.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
The Terra Sancta Museum in Jerusalem
RENOVATION: Travel back in time at this secret cool oasis in Jerusalem’s Old City. The first stage of the 100-year-old Terra Sancta Museum’s reboot offers a multi-media tour of the holy city from a Christian perspective (Amanda Borschel-Dan, Times of Israel).
(Cross-file under Palmyra Watch.)
Moving lithely in his brown Franciscan monk’s habit and sandals, Father Eugenio Alliata stoops next to a newly discovered Second Temple period flagstone to pick up a mosaic piece overlooked by the Israel Antiquities Authority crew that morning. Such finds, he confirms, are a typical byproduct of the ongoing expansion and renovation of the Terra Sancta Museum in Jerusalem’s Old City.The displays include a section of Jerusalem's bedrock. The museum's collection of artifacts from ancient Palmyra is currently on display in Italy.
Located on the second station of the Via Dolorosa — the 14-station path Jesus walked from sentencing to crucifixion — the museum is housed in the lush Flagellation Monastery compound. Archaeological finds are sprinkled among the chapels and well-kept gardens that form an oasis away from the cramped hustle and bustle of the narrow street beyond its gates.
Alliata, the 70-something scientific director of the museum and a professor at the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, exhibits a curious combination of old school archaeologist — he enthusiastically points out a recently discovered Byzantine cistern and Crusader period tunnels forgotten by time — and an eagerness to adapt modern technology to enhance the museum’s vast collection’s records and display.
Implementing his vision is the museum’s reboot project director, Sara Cibin, who is on extended loan from the government in her native Italy.
[...]
(Cross-file under Palmyra Watch.)
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The Book of Jubilees
READING ACTS: What is the Book of Jubilees? Phil Long continues his blog series on the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. He also dealt with Jubilees in an earlier post, noted here.
The Jubilees Palimpsest Project is currently working on recovering more of the Latin translation of Jubilees. See here and links.
Other past posts in Phil's Pseudepigrapha series are noted here and links. Cross-file under Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Watch.
The Jubilees Palimpsest Project is currently working on recovering more of the Latin translation of Jubilees. See here and links.
Other past posts in Phil's Pseudepigrapha series are noted here and links. Cross-file under Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Watch.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Wednesday, August 02, 2017
More on the arrest of antiquities dealers in Israel
MORE FALLOUT: Arrest of Jerusalem antiquities dealers opens a smuggling Pandora’s Box. Use of Israel as a way station to legitimize sale of looted artifacts to Hobby Lobby prompts Antiquities Authority to seek ban on all dealing (Amanda Borschel-Dan, Times of Israel). Regarding the last point in the headline:
In a conversation with The Times of Israel, Eitan Klein, deputy director of the IAA’s Unit for the Prevention of Antiquities Looting, said the case is significant in that it highlights the fraudulent use of Israeli law in the dealing of artifacts looted across the Middle East.Background here and follow the links.
As Israel is the only country in the region that legally allows antiquities commerce, dealers of looted antiquities and smugglers from neighboring countries make use of the Jewish state as a clearance point for resale in order to give their wares a veneer of legitimacy.
“In all other countries — Jordan, Lebanon, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iraq — it is illegal to deal antiquities. The problem is that the dealers that we gave permission to deal antiquities are using our law to deal in looted artifacts,” said Klein.
The position of the IAA is that antiquities sales should be forbidden in Israel, said Klein, and it is in exploratory talks with the Justice Ministry to investigate legal options after twice failing in the Knesset to amend the existing law.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Vista survey
THE BIBLE PLACES BLOG: Reader Survey: Favorite Vista. Todd Bolen has another Bible Places survey:
Your turn.
As usual, I will link to the results when they come out.
I thought that this week we would solicit your perspective on the best vista on your itinerary. The site can be in Israel or any other biblical land.My experience of vistas in biblical lands is less comprehensive than I wish, but I did submit a good one.
Your turn.
As usual, I will link to the results when they come out.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Steinsaltz recovery update
THE LATEST: An exciting conversation with Rabbi Steinsaltz. President Rivlin calls Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz on prolific scholar's birthday, wishes him continued health and many more years of teaching (Arutz Sheva).
Background here and links. For further background on Rabbi Steinsaltz and his work, especially his Hebrew and English translations of the Talmud, keep following those links.
President Reuven Rivlin called Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz Sunday to congratulate the rabbi and wish him good health on his 80th birthday.It is good to hear that Rabbi Steinsaltz is back at work. I wish him good health and a full recovery.
Rabbi Steinsaltz is considered one of the great rabbinical commentators and scholars of this generation, and has written numerous world-renowned commentaries on the Bible, the Talmud, and many other religious Jewish texts. Rabbi Steinsaltz suffered a stroke six months ago.
[...]
Background here and links. For further background on Rabbi Steinsaltz and his work, especially his Hebrew and English translations of the Talmud, keep following those links.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
On this day in 216 BCE: the Battle of Cannae
PUNIC WATCH: Today, in the Boston Globe's This day in history.
Every so often I also like to link to this post, which explains why PaleoJudaica pays attention to the Phoenicians, Phoenician, the Carthaginians, and Punic and Neo-Punic.
In 216 B.C., during the Second Punic War, Carthaginian forces led by Hannibal defeated the Roman army in the Battle of Cannae.Past posts involving the Battle of Cannae are here and here, and links. You can find the whole story there.
Every so often I also like to link to this post, which explains why PaleoJudaica pays attention to the Phoenicians, Phoenician, the Carthaginians, and Punic and Neo-Punic.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Tuesday, August 01, 2017
Antiquities dealers arrested in connection with Hobby Lobby?
THIS IS GETTING COMPLICATED: Israeli Authorities Arrest Antiquities Dealers In Connection With Hobby Lobby Scandal (Daniel Estrin, NPR).
Background on the recent arrests in Jerusalem is here. Background on the recent Hobby Lobby settlement with the U.S. Justice Department is here and links.
At 3:30 a.m. on Sunday, Israeli police say, authorities arrested five Palestinian antiquities dealers in Jerusalem and confiscated items dating back thousands of years from their homes and shops: papyrus fragments from the Egyptian Book of the Dead, the bust of an Etruscan woman, a fresco from Pompeii depicting swimming fish. They also seized more modern objects — two black luxury Audi vehicles — and more than $200,000 in cash.The specifics are not very clear, but this seems to be what the case is about:
NPR has learned the reason for the early Sunday morning arrests: Israel's Antiquities Authority says the dealers were involved in sales of antiquities — including items that U.S. authorities determined were smuggled — to Hobby Lobby, the national U.S. arts and crafts chain.
[...]
On Sunday, Israeli police and tax authorities issued a statement saying the dealers provided fictitious invoices for the sales and an American allegedly used the invoices to receive large-scale tax breaks — and paid dealers kickbacks in return. They declined to name the American.Watch this space.
But later in the day, in a court hearing, Israeli police said the arrested Jerusalem antiquities dealers are suspected of tax evasion for failing to report the $20 million in earnings to Israel's tax authority — and are also suspected of money laundering for an alleged scheme in which fictitious receipts and invoices were issued for antiquities sold to [Hobby Lobby president Steve] Green.
Background on the recent arrests in Jerusalem is here. Background on the recent Hobby Lobby settlement with the U.S. Justice Department is here and links.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Og's bed or sarcophagus?
REMNANT OF GIANTS: Is Og with the Quick or the Dead? New article from Laura Quick.
Past PaleoJudaica posts on Og the Giant are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Laura Quick has just published a useful discussion of the issues surrounding interpretation of King Og’s ערשׂ, in Deuteronomy 3.11, which she interprets as a literal sleeping bed rather than as a coffin or sarcophagus:Deane Galbraith has a detailed response to the article. He's not convinced.
“Laying Og to Rest: Deuteronomy 3 and the Making of a Myth,” Biblica 98:2 (2017): 161–172.
Past PaleoJudaica posts on Og the Giant are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Mystery inscription at Gath
THE TELL ES-SAFI/GATH ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECT BLOG: INSCRIPTION!!! That's right. A new inscription was discovered Gath last month. So far details are scarce.
This post does say that "it is quite similar, in its general characteristics, to the “ALWT/WLT” inscription that we published about a decade ago." There is a link that I can't get to work. But I did have a post about that inscription when it was found back in 2005.
There was a mixup at first that led the media to conclude that it bore the name of the biblical giant "Goliath," who was from Gath. But it actually had two names that are structurally similar to Goliath, but which are not that exact name. Deane Galbraith gives a chronicle of the misunderstanding here.
Beyond that, we are told that the new one is a nice little inscription and another post refers to the very interesting inscription found in that area. I will keep an eye out for more news.
HT the Bible Places Blog.
This post does say that "it is quite similar, in its general characteristics, to the “ALWT/WLT” inscription that we published about a decade ago." There is a link that I can't get to work. But I did have a post about that inscription when it was found back in 2005.
There was a mixup at first that led the media to conclude that it bore the name of the biblical giant "Goliath," who was from Gath. But it actually had two names that are structurally similar to Goliath, but which are not that exact name. Deane Galbraith gives a chronicle of the misunderstanding here.
Beyond that, we are told that the new one is a nice little inscription and another post refers to the very interesting inscription found in that area. I will keep an eye out for more news.
HT the Bible Places Blog.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Gallarreta, Household and Family Religion in Persian-Period Judah
BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Household and Family Religion in Persian-Period Judah. Notice of a new book: Gallarreta, Jose E. Balcells. 2017. Household and Family Religion in Persian-Period Judah: An Archaeological Approach (Ancient Near East Monographs 18), SBL Press. Follow the link for ordering information and a description.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Monday, July 31, 2017
Tisha B'Av 2017
TISHA B'AV (THE NINTH OF AV) begins this evening at sundown. An easy fast to all those observing it.
The Ninth of Av is not specifically a biblical holy day. Rather, it commemorates a number of disasters that happened to the Jewish people, traditionally all on that same day. These include the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple by the Babylonians, the destruction of the Herodian Temple by the Romans, and the fall of Betar during the Bar Kokhba revolt.
A couple of recent PaleoJudaica posts involving the Ninth of Av are here and here. See also Lawrence Schiffman's recent post, When the Talmud Was Burned.
The Ninth of Av is not specifically a biblical holy day. Rather, it commemorates a number of disasters that happened to the Jewish people, traditionally all on that same day. These include the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple by the Babylonians, the destruction of the Herodian Temple by the Romans, and the fall of Betar during the Bar Kokhba revolt.
A couple of recent PaleoJudaica posts involving the Ninth of Av are here and here. See also Lawrence Schiffman's recent post, When the Talmud Was Burned.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Newly elected members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE NEW MEMBERS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES! I learned about this year's round when I received an announcement from the Orion Center that Professor Emeritus Emanuel Tov of the Hebrew University had been elected. Professor Tov is one of the world's foremost experts on the Dead Sea Scrolls.
When I looked at this years list of newly elected members, I saw that Peter Schäfer, Professor Emeritus at Princeton University and current Director of the Jewish Museum Berlin, has also been elected. Professor Schäfer has vast accomplishments in the field of Jewish studies. I am best acquainted with his foundational work on the Hekhalot literature, the texts of pre-Kabbalistic Jewish mysticism.
In addition, Professor Carl R. Holladay of Emory University has been elected. Again, his accomplishments are wide-ranging. I am best acquainted with his important multivolume commentary on the fragments of Hellenistic Jewish authors.
I am delighted to congratulate all three (and anyone else in the field whom I may have missed) on this outstanding achievement.
When I looked at this years list of newly elected members, I saw that Peter Schäfer, Professor Emeritus at Princeton University and current Director of the Jewish Museum Berlin, has also been elected. Professor Schäfer has vast accomplishments in the field of Jewish studies. I am best acquainted with his foundational work on the Hekhalot literature, the texts of pre-Kabbalistic Jewish mysticism.
In addition, Professor Carl R. Holladay of Emory University has been elected. Again, his accomplishments are wide-ranging. I am best acquainted with his important multivolume commentary on the fragments of Hellenistic Jewish authors.
I am delighted to congratulate all three (and anyone else in the field whom I may have missed) on this outstanding achievement.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Antiquities dealers arrested in Jerusalem
APPREHENDED: POLICE ARREST 5 IN $20 MILLION BLACK MARKET ANTIQUITIES, TAX FRAUD STING. Rare antiquities, NIS 800,000 in cash, and luxury cars were seized from east Jerusalem suspects’ homes and businesses (Daniel K. Eisenbud, Jerusalem Post).
Following a protracted international joint undercover investigation, police on Sunday arrested five east Jerusalem antiquities dealers accused of a $20 million tax-fraud and artifacts scheme reaching as far as America.There is some information on the antiquities recovered:
According to police, the investigation was launched several months ago with US law-enforcement agencies, the Antiquities Authority and Israel Tax Authority after evidence surfaced that the dealers were involved in illegal transactions for seven years.
[...]
“The antiquities that were seized included ancient parchment pieces written in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and Latin; ancient weapons; sculpture items from the Hellenistic and Roman periods; high-level murals; pottery and figurines; and many bronze, silver and gold coins,” he [police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld] said.If these artifacts are genuine (a very big if at this stage) they sound quite important.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Modern Canaanites
RELIGION PROF. BLOG: Canaanites Among Us. James McGrath has some sensible commentary on the recent excited reports that DNA analysis shows that the modern Lebanese are descended from the Canaanites. This isn't exactly a surprise.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Sunday, July 30, 2017
Tarbiz 84.3-4
THE HEBREW-LANGUAGE JOURNAL TARBIZ HAS A COUPLE OF NEW ISSUES OUT:
Tarbiz Vol. 84, No. 3
Tarbiz Vol. 84, No. 3
Nili Samet - New Light on the Administrative Term bēn bayît in Biblical and Rabbinical SourcesTarbiz Vol. 84, No. 4
Bezalel Bar-Kochva - The Religious Persecutions of Antiochus Epiphanes as a Historical Reality
David Henshke - Between Blessings and Prayer: On the History of the Amidah Prayer
Mordechai Sabato - On the Inclusion of the ‘Mikan Ameru’ Homilies in the Halakhic Midrashim
Michael Rand - Surviving Fragments of the Qillirian Heritage in Provence/Catalonia and in Spain: In the Wake of New Materials from the Genizah
Jonathan Vardi - Between Shemuel Ha-Nagid and the Poets of Zaragoza
Hallel Baitner - The Unintentional Killer and the Blood-Avenger –New Perspectives in the Rabbinic Exegesis of Num 35You may find that you have to reload the web pages to get them to work. There is a link to English abstracts of the Hebrew articles on both pages.
Shulamit Elizur - The Origins of the Seliḥot Piyyutim
Shalem Yahalom - The Pilpul Method of Talmudic Study: Earliest Evidence
A. Bar-Asher - The Earliest Sefer ha-Zohar in Jerusalem: Early Manuscripts of Zoharic Texts and an Unknown Fragment from Midrash ha-Neʿlam [?]
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Sauer, Sasanian Persia
BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Sasanian Persia. Notice of a new book: Sauer, Eberhard. 2017. Sasanian Persia: Between Rome and the steppes of Eurasia. Edinburgh University Press.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
More on Brill's Textual History of the Bible
ETC BLOG: Introduction to Brill’s Textual History of the Bible (John Meade).
What follows is not a review. It is a teaser and brief orientation to one of the most comprehensive projects on the text of the Hebrew Bible. Brill’s Textual History of the Bible (THB) is a four volume work in process. ...Background on the series is here and here.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Youngberg, "Identity Coherence in the Chronicler's Narrative"
NEW ARTICLE IN THE JOURNAL OF HEBREW SCRIPTURES: Identity Coherence in the Chronicler's Narrative: King Josiah as a Second David and a Second Saul (BRENDAN G. YOUNGBERG; Volume 17, Article 4 DOI:10.5508/jhs.2017.v17.a4).
Abstract:
Abstract:
Among the variants in Chronicles and Samuel-Kings is the inclusion of Samuel in Josiah's narrative (2 Chr 35:18) compared to “the judges who led Israel” (2 Kgs 23:22). Samuel's appearance occurs at a major transition in the Chronicler's narrative, which links Josiah to not only David, but Saul. While there is yet to be a consensus among scholars as to why a negative death scene follows Josiah's laudable Passover, the social memory associated with Samuel adds rhetorical weight to the Chronicler's narrative.
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