"Tyrants of the Tigris and Euphrates" coin collection

NUMISMATICS: Best in Show: Ancients of the Tyrant Collection (Charles Morgan, CoinWeek).

In our time, many individuals of great personal wealth prefer to keep a low profile. The identity of some of the greatest collectors is often a closely held secret. When these collections come to market, they appear under whimsical code names like “Sunrise Collection ” or “Prospero Collection .”

The Tyrant Collection is billed as “The World’s Most Valuable Coin Collection.” It will be rolled out to the public in handsomely staged displays at major coin shows over the course of several years.

“Tyrants have been the primary shapers of history for thousands of years. One of the first things tyrants do upon obtaining power is strike coins with their name and likeness, announcing their claim to their territory… Everyday coinage is the primary means by which tyrants notify their subjects and rivals of their tyranny,” the collector said.

“Coins still exist for nearly every tyrant of the last two thousand years who ever ruled a substantial country for more than a few weeks. The objective of The Tyrant Collection is to obtain a coin of every tyrant who ruled every major territory or country, preferably a large gold coin boldly displaying the tyrant’s name, likeness and titles,” he added.

This collector is evidently a person of immense wealth and exquisite taste, advised by top numismatic experts. The collection consists of parts grouped by geographic area. “Tyrants of the Thames,” covering Britain, was exhibited last year. “Tyrants of the Tigris and Euphrates” covering the Middle East appeared this year at the Long Beach, California coin show. In future years we will see ancient Egyptian (“Tyrants of the Nile”) Greek (“Tyrants of the Aegean,”) Roman (“Tyrants of the Tiber,”) French (“Tyrants of the Seine”) and other parts.

This photo essay depicts some coins from the “Tyrants of the Tigris and Euphrates” Collection. Among them are an Achaemenid gold daric from Persia, a gold stater of Antiochus I, and Parthian and Sassanian coins. They are of some indirect background interest to ancient Judaism.

I commend the anonymous collector for setting a good example by making the collection available for public viewing and scholarly study.

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Vetus Testamentum et Hellas

THE AWOL BLOG: Open Access Journal: Vetus Testamentum et Hellas. A newish journal on (broadly framed) Septuagint studies. Many of the articles are in Greek, but quite a few are in English and at least one so far is in German.

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Quinn on whether there were Phoenicians

THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST TODAY: Were There Phoenicians? (Josephine Quinn).

In their own eyes, however, the Phoenicians don’t seem to have existed. ‘Phoenician’ was a label Greek writers used for Levantine mariners who spoke similar dialects of a language very different from their own. The term implied little about those people’s cultural or ancestral ties, and it apparently meant nothing to the people themselves: no one from the coastal cities or their overseas colonies ever to our knowledge described themselves as ‘Phoenician’.

This essay gives a convenient summary of the arguments in Professor Quinn's recent book, In Search of the Phoenicians. Relevant past posts are here and links.

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Origin Stories - Part 3

MARGINALIA REVIEW OF BOOKS has its third installment of essays in its series Origin Stories: A Forum on the “Discovery” and Interpretation of First-Millennium Manuscripts. The first set of essays in the series was noted here and the second here. There are two new essays:

Nils Hallvard Korsvoll (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) – Seeing the forest but Missing the Trees

Philology and text-critical studies traditionally see manuscripts as repositories of traces and clues to discovering ancient texts. I argue here that this emphasis on text, as opposed to historical artifact, allows scholars to neglect questions concerning provenance.

[...]

His points are illustrated from the study of the Mesoptamian Aramaic incantation bowls. More on those problems is here and links. I would have found this essay more useful if the author had given specific examples of bowls that do not exhibit textual uniformity. How many bowls have their provenance checked carefully because their text is unusual and how many pass through without question because their text overlaps with already authenticated bowls?

Also, I don't understand one element of the reasoning for authentication as presented. Wouldn't it be easier to forge a bowl using text known from authenticated bowls than to try to forge a new late antique Aramaic text? Why exactly does overlap with the text of authenticated bowls confirm a new bowl's authenticity? Again, perhaps some specific examples would have made the process clearer.

Samuel Collins (George Mason University) – The Staffordshire Hoard and the Distance of the Past

The contrast, however, between the treatment of the hoard, with all its war gear and the tools of rough early medieval politics, and the kinds of overtly religious material considered elsewhere in this forum by my colleagues could not be starker. Take, as an example of the different sort of popular explanation given over to discoveries with a core of religious content, the so-called “Gospel of Jesus’s Wife.” ...

Past PaleoJudaica posts on the Staffordshire Hoard are here and here.

More essays in the series are promised.

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A child burial in Sidon (Lebanon)

PHOENICIAN WATCH: Canaanite Child's Jar Burial Revealed in Ancient Sidon. Archaeological discovery of Islamic-era fort shows the Lebanese coastal city's continuous occupation over thousands of years (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz). There is no indication in the report that this is anything but a normal burial of a child. Contrast many of the burial jars excavated in (much later) Punic Carthage, which seem to be of sacrificed children.

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Horvat Kur excavation 2018

THE CSTT BLOG: THE FINAL EXCAVATION SEASON AT THE HORVAT KUR SYNAGOGUE (Raimo Hakola).

A team representing the University of Helsinki and the CSTT has participated in what the excavation team believes to be the final season of digging at the Horvat Kur synagogue. The Kinneret Regional Project, a joint expedition of the University of Helsinki, Leiden University, Bern University and Florida Atlantic University, finished the excavations of the Byzantine-era synagogue that was first found in 2010. During this year’s excavations, led by Jürgen Zangenberg, Raimo Hakola, Stefan Münger and Byron McCane, the team tried to find traces of the earliest phase of the building, which was apparently constructed for the first time in the second half of the fourth century.

[...]

PaleoJudaica has been following the Horvat Kur excavation since 2010, the year the synagogue was discovered. The mosaic was unearthed in 2015. For past posts see here and follow the links, plus here.

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Psalms of Solomon 9

READING ACTS: The One Who Does Righteousness – Psalm of Solomon 9. Another installment in Phil Long's current summer series on the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. Past posts in the series have been noted here and links. That link leads first to more posts on the Psalms of Solomon.

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Tu B'Av 2018

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. Its first mention is in the Mishnah (Ta’anit 4). It has been revived in recent years as a kind of Jewish Valentine's Day. For more background on it, see here and links.

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A Bar Kokhba movie?

CINEMA CONCEPT: BAR KOKHBA: THE MOTION PICTURE. Spartacus has had his day in film history. It is time for Bar Kokhba (Eli Kavon, Jerusalem Post).

MY CONCEPT for a Bar Kokhba film – actually he was known by his birth name Shimon bar Koziba – is to combine the Golan-Globus action epic with some serious investigation as to why this revolt achieved success, the attitude of rabbis to Bar Kokhba, and the legacy of the last leader of a sovereign Jewish state in Eretz Yisrael before 1948. The reason that Bar Kokhba is the perfect subject of an historical film is that we have just enough information from rabbinic literature, archaeology, Greek and Roman historians, and Bar Kokhba’s letters to reconstruct the rebellion and the politics and theology that surrounded it.

The Great Revolt of 66-70 CE is recounted in great detail by the Jewish historian Josephus. But the only result of his chronicle was a horrendous television mini-series on Masada, completely ignoring the earlier stages of the revolt, the struggle between competing Jewish leadership, and the establishment of Rabbinic Judaism in Yavneh by Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai.

Masada, a literal and figurative dead end, has been hijacked for an audience that is deemed too stupid to follow the complexities of Jewish history, ancient and modern. The time has come for a thinking person’s film that combines military heroism and its dissent among the Jews of ancient Israel. As for the Diaspora rebellion against the Emperor Trajan in 115-117 CE, there is simply not enough information to reconstruct those events, although we know the Romans put down the rebels with great bloodshed.

We have just enough information about the Bar Kokhba rebellion to reconstruct it with fact and imagination and address issues that are relevant to this day. As the screenwriter, I would infuse my narrative with assessments of the Bar Kokhba legacy from two modern studies: The Image of Bar Kokhba in Traditional Jewish Literature by Richard G. Marks and the study of Recovered Roots by Yael Zerubavel.

I would say we don't have nearly enough evidence to reconstruct even the basic facts and events in the Bar Kokhba Revolt, let alone its politics and theology. Not that that would (or should) prevent a cinematic interpretation of it.

By the way, there have been two mini-series on Masada. Recently there was The Dovekeepers on which PaleoJudaica posted a number of times. See here and follow the links. There was also the Masada miniseries with Peter O'Toole back in 1981.

This is an interesting idea. The author clearly has his own vision for an interpretation of the Bar Kokhba Revolt, one that would not be uncontroversial. Let's see what happens.

For many past PaleoJudaica posts on the Bar Kokhba Revolt, see here (cf. here, here, and here) and follow the links.

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Boulder removed from Temple Mount platform

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: Western Wall stone that fell near worshiper removed with crane. Officials mulling what to do with fallen 100 kg masonry due to its sacred status, considering reinserting it (Stuart Winer and TOI Staff, Times of Israel).

Officials blocked public access to the prayer platform, but is was later reopened.

Checks are still underway to find out why the block suddenly fell from its place. The Israel Antiques Authority is of the opinion that the stone’s fall was due to natural causes. Teams of experts are planning to use ultrasound and other means to further investigate the incident.

Amit Ram, an archaeologist from the Jerusalem division of the IAA, assessed that water seepage, roots from bushes or trees on the other side of the wall, or just the result of bearing the weight for so long may have caused the stone to dislodge.

I think the first quoted sentence is saying that the site has reopened (read "it" for "is"). But the article seems to imply later on that the mixed-prayer area is not yet reopened. Can anyone confirm what is happening?

Background here and here.

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There's a Daf Yomi for the Yerushalmi

TALMUD WATCH: ArtScroll Yerushalmi Prepares for New Learning Cycle (JLNJ Staff).

(Courtesy of Artscroll) It was at the Sixth Knessiah Gedolah of Agudath Israel, in Jerusalem, that a historic proclamation was made. The day was 18 Teves, 5740/1980. The speaker was the Lev Simchah, the Gerrer Rebbe. The proclamation was that it was time for the Torah world to begin a new Daf Yomi program, the daily study of Talmud Yerushalmi. The Yerushalmi Daf Yomi program takes 4.5 years and it is now celebrating its ninth siyum. The next Daf Yomi begins on August 4.

The Schottenstein Editions of the Talmud Bavli in Hebrew and English—and in French, as the Edmond J. Safra Edition—have contributed tremendously to the spread of Talmud study in general, and Daf Yomi study in particular. It has been estimated that of the 90,000 participants at the MetLife Stadium celebration of the last siyum, more than half were there thanks to ArtScroll’s authoritative editions. Now the same is happening regarding the Yerushalmi.

[...]

PaleoJudaica has been following a Daf Yomi cycle for the last six years with Tablet columnist Adam Kirsch. It covers the Babylonian Talmud (the Bavli). Daf Yomi means "daily page," because participants study one page of the Talmud each day.

The Yerushalmi is the less-known and, until recently, much-less-studied Palestinian Talmud. I didn't know that there was a Daf Yomi cycle for it too.

Incidentally, there is also a Daf Yomi cycle for the Zohar.

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The Talmud on sacrificial-blood laundry

THIS WEEK'S DAF YOMI COLUMN BY ADAM KIRSCH IN TABLET: Dirty Laundry. In this week’s ‘Daf Yomi,’ Talmudic rabbis decide how to clean the garments used in ritual slaughter (using urine). Also: When is a garment just a cloth?

With all this blood present, it was inevitable that sometimes blood would spill or spray onto the garments of the officiating priests. What should be done with such stained garments?

Earlier Daf Yomi columns are noted here and links.

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Is the Western Wall safe?

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: Western Wall not about to crumble, experts say after stone comes crashing down. Hebrew University academics emphasize that while constant monitoring and a early warning system are necessary, the monumental Herodian-era site should stay open to the public (Amanda Borschel-Dan, Times of Israel).

Speaking with The Times of Israel on Tuesday, Earth Sciences Prof. Simon Emmanuel and archaeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar both emphasized that rocks crumbling from the Western Wall is “very rare.” But there is a need for serious and continuous checks around the wall’s perimeter.

While the Robinson’s Arch egalitarian prayer platform remains closed to the public since the incident, neither academic saw a need to shutter the entire archaeological site or the Western Wall Plaza at this time.

Their view stood in contrast to the analysis of an archaeologist who visited the site on Monday afternoon and warned that the entire Western Wall is a “danger zone.”

The latter archaeologist is Zachi Dvira, whose view was noted in earlier media coverage.

As far as I know, the site is still closed to the public. If it reopens and you visit it, please be careful!

Background here.

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Babylonian Judeans in cuneiform sources

DR. LAURIE PEARCE: Judean Life in Babylonia (TheTorah.com).

Upon the conquest of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar deported many Judeans to Babylonia. What was their life like there? Were they assimilated, or did they stand out? What language(s) did they speak and what religious practices did they maintain? What was their social and economic standing? Babylonian records allow us glimpses into the lives of some of the deportees.

This essay is a really useful overview of what we know about Judeans in Babylonia during the Exile and beyond, based on cuneiform sources. And it highlights one tablet that has a Hebrew name written on in paleo-Hebrew script. This is quite important.

For more on sepīru scribes and tupsharru scribes, see here and here. And for many past posts on the Babylonian-Judean cuneiform archive, start here and follow the links.

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A new edition of the Dublin Kephalaia

MANICHEAN (MANICHAEAN) WATCH: Lost and found literature: NAU professor translates ancient Manichean papyrus manuscript (Julie Hammonds, NAU NEWS).

Over the past 16 centuries, it’s been buried, soaked, lost, looted, sold across international borders, feared, destroyed by war, painted with shellac and set between sheets of glass.

Its writers, followers of a visionary named Mani, wrote their religion’s oral traditions on papyrus. Damaged by moisture and blackened by age, this precious manuscript—known as the “Dublin Kephalaia”—was almost unreadable in 2007 when Northern Arizona University professor Jason BeDuhn, an expert in comparative religions in the Department of Comparative Cultural Studies, began a translation.

An NAU seed grant gave BeDuhn and two colleagues their start; larger grants from the Australian Research Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities totaling $500,000 followed. This month, after 10 years of analysis, the manuscript’s ancient stories will be heard again.

[...]

The title of the edition seems to be The ‘Dublin Kephalaia Codex’ and it is the first of four volumes. I'll let you know when I find more information on it.

Meanwhile, past posts noting an earlier book on the codex cowritten by Professor Debuhn are here and here.

Cross-file under Coptic Watch.

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Beit Lehi

TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Advancing technology unearths 'lost city of ancient Israel' (Ilan Ben Zion, Al-Monitor).

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Utah Valley University (UVU) are expected to roll out in August a one-of-a-kind multimedia guide integrating 3D imaging and virtual reality to bring the ancient city of Beit Lehi, touted as “the lost city of ancient Israel,” to life. The digital guide to the site is slated to be launched next month.

The site has ruins extending from the Iron Age II to the Mamluk period. Epigraphers will recall one particularly important, if difficult, Hebrew inscription found there:

Archaeologists have found over 50 different inscriptions at various places around the site in Hebrew, Greek and Arabic, including a 6th century B.C. Hebrew inscription bearing the name of Jerusalem and the Israelite god Yahweh.

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The Shakespeare of Hebrew

INFLUENCE: The Prophet Whose Glorious Words Permeate Jewish Consciousness. Isaiah’s unforgettable language serves much the same role in spoken Hebrew that Shakespeare’s does in English (Atar Hadari, Mosaic Magazine).

But his people still say those words, daily, monthly, and annually, in the synagogue and in the street. They say them because the words are surpassingly beautiful, because of their eternally relevant warning to beware the temptation of straying too far from the law, and because they are true.

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Where are those DSS scribes?

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Scribes in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Looking at scribal figures at Qumran (Megan Sauter).

What’s in the Dead Sea Scrolls about writing and scribes? Not as much as one might expect from a community that clearly valued scribal activity, as evidenced by their abundance of scrolls. In her Biblical Views column “Where Are the Scribes in the Dead Sea Scrolls?” published in the July/August 2018 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, Charlotte Hempel examines the paucity of scribal figures in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

As usual, the BAR article is behind the subscription wall. But the BHD summary is worth reading.

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Coptic job in Münster

COPTIC WATCH: Coptology Job, WWU-Münster (Peter Gurrey, ETC Blog). An actual full professorship in Coptic doesn't come around very often. The deadline for applications is 15 August 2018.

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Boulder falls on that TM prayer plaza, no one hurt

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH (YIKES!): Ancient boulder dislodges from Western Wall, crashes onto egalitarian plaza. Dramatic footage shows large stone coming loose from revered site, shattering on platform below; no injuries reported (Marissa Newman and Amanda Borschel-Dan, Times of Israel).

The fallen boulder weighed about 220 pounds (100 kilos), Israel Radio said.

The incident came a day after the platform was filled with worshippers marking the Tisha B’Av fast, which honors the destruction of the two Jewish temples in Jerusalem. Tens of thousands of Jewish Israelis also flocked to the main prayer plaza of the Western Wall between Saturday night and Sunday evening to solemnly mark the day.

I'm glad no one was injured. The controversial prayer plaza has been in the news for other reasons recently. Background here and links.

UPDATE (24 July): The article has been revised to indicate just what a close call this was:

There were no injuries in the incident near Robinson’s Arch, south of the main prayer plaza, but the rock landed very close to a female worshiper.

“I didn’t hear or feel anything until it landed right at my feet, ” said Daniella Goldberg, 79. She said she was praying at the site, as she does regularly, when suddenly the boulder crashed down. She told Hadashot TV news she “tried not to let the incident distract me from my prayers” and refused to be drawn on whether divine providence had spared her. “May we all be blessed,” she said.

She tried not to let the incident distract her from her prayers. That's the spirit!

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On what day were the Temples destroyed?

FOR THE NINTH OF AV, JUST PAST: Tisha B’Av: On What Day Were the Jerusalem Temples Destroyed? (Dr. Rabbi Zev Farber, TheTorah.com).

The First Temple was destroyed either on the 10th of Av (Jeremiah 52:12) or the 7th (2 Kings 25:8). The Second Temple, according to Josephus, was destroyed on the 10th. How did Rabbinic Jews come to commemorate the destruction of both Temples on the 9th of Av?

This year's Tisha B'Av post is here.

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Wold, 4QInstruction: Divisions and Hierarchies

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

4QInstruction: Divisions and Hierarchies

Series:
Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah, Volume: 123

Author: Benjamin Wold

In 4QInstruction: Divisions and Hierarchies, Benjamin Wold challenges the interpretation of 4QInstruction as a deterministic and dualistic composition. In a re-examination of key fragments he offers new reconstructions and translations that indicate 4QInstruction envisaged wisdom available to all humanity, divisions among humankind and communities as the result of individual adherence to wisdom, and a hierarchy of authority as a result of individual merit.

Publication Date: 25 July 2018
ISBN: 978-90-04-36144-7

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Meyers on motherhood in the NT

THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST TODAY: Blessed Among Women? Mothers and Motherhood in the New Testament (Alicia D. Myers).

Although mothers, as well as themes of motherhood, appear throughout the New Testament, male figures attract the most attention from biblical scholars. But as feminist and womanist scholars have shown, this male-focused lens has left much unnoticed, including mothers. While readers might be quick to note Jesus’ own mother, we overlook others, including those mentioned in the Gospels and later texts, as well as those invisible behind the texts in groups of gathered saints listening to these works.

In my new book, Blessed Among Women? Mothers and Motherhood in the New Testament I argue that when we remember the unavoidable fact that we are all “of woman born”—including early Christian authors—we begin to see the theological import of these characters and metaphors. Rather than an easy acceptance of all things maternal as mere ornamental flair for more “substantive” theological positions, the constructions of mothers and motherhood in the ancient Mediterranean world helps demonstrate not only developing Christianity’s ambivalence toward maternal presence and motifs, but also its inherently gendered presentations of salvation

[....]

Cross-file under New Book (from OUP).

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More on opposition to Temple Mount prayer plaza

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH ON THE NINTH OF AV: Is evidence of Temple’s destruction being destroyed by a bid for Jewish unity? Archaeologist Prof. Dan Bahat files a High Court petition to stop Western Wall construction. What is the archaeology that is currently covered, and what is in the provisional plan? (Amanda Borschel-Dan, Times of Israel). The situation:

Standing in the park, what immediately captures the imagination is the massive stone rubble, lying exactly where it landed when Roman soldiers pried the huge ashlar stones from the Temple Mount high above. Here, more than in any other place in the park, can one resoundingly conceptualize the horror of the fall of the Second Temple and the destruction wrought there.

However, since a High Court case in 2000, the archaeological park is also officially used as a space for egalitarian prayer. And now, after decades of contentious struggle and negotiations between all major Jewish denominations in Israel and abroad, under the auspices of the Prime Minister’s Office, a large permanent prayer platform is in the final planning stages for construction.

“The Western Wall is sacrosanct,” said [archaeologist Dan] Bahat, now retired from a career as a prominent archaeologist. “But out of a national monument, it has become a synagogue.”

In this article:

Ahead of Tisha B’Av, the Jewish day of mourning over the destruction of the two Temples, The Times of Israel spoke with archaeologists about what exactly is currently being “destroyed” at the Robinson’s Arch prayer area, and, after getting a glimpse of still unfinalized plans for the new expanded permanent platform, what other evidence of Judaism’s historical past may be “desecrated” — or even potentially better preserved.

The article has very full background and it interviews many of the people whose opinion about the situation matters. Pour some coffee, or whatever you drink, sit down, and read it all.

Archaeologist Eilat Mazar formerly opposed the construction of the plaza along with Dr. Bahat. But, according to this article, she feels that progress has been made in addressing the objections of the archaeologists.

The debate over whether the development of this site as a place for egalitarian prayer takes adequate care of the archaeological ruins has been going on for a while. Background here and follow the links.

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Nongbri, God's Library

FORTHCOMING BOOK FROM YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS: God's Library: The Archaeology of the Earliest Christian Manuscripts. Hardcover – August 21, 2018. by Brent Nongbri (Author).

A provocative book from a highly original scholar, challenging much of what we know about early Christian manuscripts

In this bold and groundbreaking book, Brent Nongbri provides an up-to-date introduction to the major collections of early Christian manuscripts and demonstrates that much of what we thought we knew about these books and fragments is mistaken. While biblical scholars have expended much effort in their study of the texts contained within our earliest Christian manuscripts, there has been a surprising lack of interest in thinking about these books as material objects with individual, unique histories. We have too often ignored the ways that the antiquities market obscures our knowledge of the origins of these manuscripts.

Through painstaking archival research and detailed studies of our most important collections of early Christian manuscripts, Nongbri vividly shows how the earliest Christian books are more than just carriers of texts or samples of handwriting. They are three-dimensional archaeological artifacts with fascinating stories to tell, if we’re willing to listen.

Regular readers will recognize Dr. Nongbri from his blog Variant Readings, to which PaleoJudaica links from time to time.

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Schiffman on the significance of the DSS

PROF. LAWRENCE H. SCHIFFMAN: A REFLECTION ON THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS. This post links to a reprint of his recent article in the Jerusalem Report. It's a good summary of the current state of the question.

See also Professor Schiffman's recent article on The Dead Sea Scrolls at 70.

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Dershowitz on the redaction of Leviticus 18

REDACTION CRITICISM: The Secret History of Leviticus Idan Dershowitz, NYT).

Like many ancient texts, Leviticus was created gradually over a long period and includes the words of more than one writer. Many scholars believe that the section in which Leviticus 18 appears was added by a comparatively late editor, perhaps one who worked more than a century after the oldest material in the book was composed. An earlier edition of Leviticus, then, may have been silent on the matter of sex between men.

But I think a stronger claim is warranted. ...

This is a quite interesting reconstruction of the composition history of Leviticus 18 and its prohibitions of male-to-male sex and incest. The essay is based on a scholarly article that you can read in full on Dr. Dershowitz's Academia.edu page: Pre-print: Revealing Nakedness and Concealing Homosexual Intercourse: Legal and Lexical Evolution in Leviticus 18.

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Tisha B'Av 2018

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.

Last year's Tisha B'Av post is here. There are additional links there. A related recent post is here. Also, TheTorah.com has collected essays relevant to Tisha B'Av here.

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Pinnochio as a Gnostic myth?

APOCRYPHYCITY: The Gnostic Pinocchio (Tony Burke).

Disney’s Pinocchio is simultaneously considered an adaptational travesty and a cinematic masterpiece. It was not well-received in Italy, particularly by the surviving members of the Collodi family who felt that the film misused the strong social satire of the original book. Changes were made also to reflect new conceptions of childhood, and the violence, such as the burning of Pinocchio’s feet and the killing of the cricket, was reduced. These changes were received positively by children’s book author Maurice Sendak. Reflecting on the original stories, he commented, “Children, Collodi appears to be saying, are inherently bad, and the world itself is a ruthless, joyless place, filled with hypocrites, liars, and cheats. Poor Pinocchio is born bad.” Expressed this way, Collodi’s world sounds, surprisingly, gnostic.

Well, that's a new one.

I've noted any number of other Gnostic interpretations of modern films, including The Truman Show, The Matrix and Inception, Knight of Cups, and Mother. And there was recently a Gnostic Film Festival at Rice University.

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Review of Balberg, Blood for Thought

JEWISH REVIEW OF BOOKS: Sacrificial Speech (Shai Secunda). Review of:

Blood for Thought: The Reinvention of Sacrifice in Early Rabbinic Literature

by Mira Balberg

University of California Press, 304 pp., $95

Excerpt:

Just a few years after the publication of her Purity, Body, and Self in Early Rabbinic Literature, Mira Balberg has somehow managed to write another path-breaking work on another formidable and arcane section of rabbinic literature—sacrificial law. Like her first monograph, which redescribed and reclaimed the complex and seemingly irrelevant rabbinic rules of purity, Blood for Thought: The Reinvention of Sacrifice in Early Rabbinic Literature shows how an ancient Jewish Temple rite persevered—nay, flourished—for centuries after the Second Temple lay in ruins, its cultic theater shuttered. This was again thanks to the Rabbis of late antiquity, who cut away the melodrama and distilled the sacrificial act into a sparse, almost modernist ritual. In her reconstruction of the rabbinic conception of sacrifice, Balberg challenges the equation of sacrifice with heady romantic cultism and the idea that Judaism as we know it—rabbinic Judaism—is an inherently postsacrificial religion. Along the way, Blood for Thought provokes much thought about the distinction between religious and secular rituals and ancient and contemporary “high priests,” be they Second Temple Jerusalemites or 21st-century New Yorkers.

I noted the publication of the book here. Shai Secunda also reviewed her eariler book, as noted here.

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Annuling a woman's Nazirite vow

PROF. FRANCIS LANDY: Can a Husband Annul His Wife’s Nazirite Vow? (TheTorah.com).

Numbers 6 allows women to take the nazirite vow, rendering them “holy to YHWH” with a temporary, quasi-priestly status. Numbers 30, however, grants fathers and husbands veto power over vows made by women under their auspices, but without mentioning the nazirite vow. How are we to understand the relationship between these two chapters?

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Update on the Iraqi Jewish Archive

STILL NEGOTIATING: State Department working to keep Iraqi Jewish Archive in US. US State Department says working to renegotiate return of ancient Jewish documents to Iraq as Senators work to keep trove in US (JTA via Arutz Sheva).

The State Department says it is working with Iraq to extend the stay of a trove of Jewish artifacts from the country, while a bipartisan group of senators introduced a resolution recommending that the items not be returned as planned in September.

“We continue to work with the Government of Iraq and relevant stakeholder[s] to extend the exhibition in the U.S.,” a State Department official told JTA in an email on Thursday.

[...]

Background here, with many links going back to the recovery of the archive in 2003.

Several years ago, I gave my own thoughts on how the situation should be handled here. I stand by what I said there. I would only add that feedback from the American public has made it clear that they are opposed to the return of the archive to Iraq. The State Department seems to have taken that on board. And I don't see that it is in Iraq's interest to have a falling out with the U.S.A. over this comparatively small issue. I hope that the agreement to return the archive to Iraq can be renegotiated to the satisfaction of both sides.

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CFP: Sacred Troubling Topics in HB, NT, and Qur'an

H-JUDAIC: CFP: Sacred Troubling Topics in Hebrew Bible, New Testament, and Qur’an.

Abrahamic sacred texts continue to inspire a diversity of scholarship that seeks to transform the ancient into the contemporary, the remote into the immediate, and the distant into the visceral experience. This seminar of three panels takes that process into the examination of troubling topics, often overlooked, yet found in the Tanakh, New Testament, and Qur’an. Building from foundational texts, other sacred works such as Talmud, Apocrypha, Patristics, and Hadith as well as philosophy, textual satire, and the arts may be brought into play.

This is for the American Comparative Literature Association's annual meeting in March of 2019. The call-for-papers period is August 30-September 20, 2018. Follow the link for further particulars.

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Ethiopian Jews didn't know the Second Temple had been destroyed.

THAT MUST HAVE BEEN A SHOCK: We did not know: How Ethiopian Jews discovered the Second Temple was gone. We Ethiopian Jews simply had no idea that God's holy site on earth was gone -- and we are bereft (Michal Avera Samuel, Times of Israel Blog).

By the way, more or less related, the Ninth of Av (Tisha B'Av), which commemorated the loss of both Temple etc., starts tomorrow at sunset.

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On Og the giant

THIS WEEK'S PARSHA (TORAH READING): They Might Be Giants – Parshat Devarim (Rabbi David Kasher, Boulder Jewish News).

This [Deut 3:11] is the only place in the Torah that makes reference to Og’s size – though only indirectly, through this “bed.” The cubit measurement here would come out to approximately 14 feet by 6 feet; and if it was roughly proportional, then Og must have been at least 10 feet tall. Now that’s a big bed by anyone’s standards, but the Rashbam tells us that the unusual word for bed here – eres (ערש) – actually means crib! So if this was Og’s bed when he was a baby, there’s no telling how massive he became eventually! (Nachmanides adds that the bed had to be made of iron, and not the standard wood, so that it wouldn’t break under Og’s weight.)

These are the technical attempts to prove Og’s gigantic stature. But much more interesting are the many strange stories of Og the Giant recorded in the Talmud and Midrash. Taken together, they constitute one of the most fascinating legends in rabbinic literature. Og is a shadowy figure who seems to always have been around, and – according to the rabbis – keeps popping up at key moments in the Torah’s narrative.

This essay is a nice collection of rabbinic traditions about Og. His story is complicated by the fact that the ancient noncanonical work the Book of Giants features a giant character named Ohyah. Later on, traditions about him were mixed into the Og tradition. Hence the placing of Og at the time of the Flood and his connection with the angelic watcher Shemichazai (Shemihazah). The latter is another character in the Book of Giants.

The many past PaleoJudaica posts on Og the giant are collected here. And if you didn't get the allusion in "They Might Be Giants," this might help.

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Review of Wendt, At the Temple Gates

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Book Note | At the Temple Gates: The Religion of Freelance Experts in the Roman Empire (Brigidda Bell).

Wendt, Heidi. At the Temple Gates: The Religion of Freelance Experts in the Roman Empire. Oxford University Press: New York, 2016.

Including ancient Jewish freelancers, among them the Apostle Paul.

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Making models of Nag Hammadi Codices

MATERIAL CULTURE: As part of a book-writing project, Dr. Brent Nongbri has been crafting reconstructions of some of the Coptic Gnostic Codices from Nag Hammadi. This project is not about the texts in the codices, but rather it seeks a better understanding of the physical structure of the objects.

This is a brilliant way to extract more information about antiquity through the study of ancient artifacts. The more we know about ancient book production, the better we can put the surviving ancient books in a material and social cultural context. And the better we will understand those ancient books.

Brent discusses the project, and what he has learned so far, in two posts:

A Model of Nag Hammadi Codex VI

A Model of Nag Hammadi Codex III (and Some Thoughts on Large Single-quire Codices)

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ISBL 2018 - Helsinki

THE CSTT BLOG: WELCOME TO HELSINKI! A LIST OF CSTT CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE EABS/ISBL MEETING (RICK BONNIE).

In only two weeks, hundreds of biblical scholars will gather in Helsinki to attend the combined meetings of the European Association of Biblical Studies (EABS) and the International meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL), which takes place from 31 July to 3 August.

As the meetings are held in our hometown, we hope to showcase to you all the diverse and wide range of research the CSTT is currently engaged in. To make your conference experience easier, we have brought together all contributions by our research centre to this year’s EABS/ISBL meeting.

[...]

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Reynolds and Boccaccini (eds.), Reading the Gospel of John’s Christology as Jewish Messianism

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Reading the Gospel of John’s Christology as Jewish Messianism
Royal, Prophetic, and Divine Messiahs

Series: Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity, Volume: 106

Editors: Benjamin Reynolds and Gabriele Boccaccini

The essays in Reading the Gospel of John’s Christology as Jewish Messianism: Royal, Prophetic, and Divine Messiahs seek to interpret John’s Jesus as part of Second Temple Jewish messianic expectations. The Fourth Gospel is rarely considered part of the world of early Judaism. While many have noted John’s Jewishness, most have not understood John’s Messiah as a Jewish messiah.
The Johannine Jesus, who descends from heaven, is declared the Word made flesh, and claims oneness with the Father, is no less Jewish than other messiahs depicted in early Judaism. John’s Jesus is at home on the spectrum of early Judaism’s royal, prophetic, and divine messiahs

Publication Date: 17 July 2018
ISBN: 978-90-04-34975-9

This is the conference volume for the 2016 "John the Jew" Enoch Seminar, on which more here and links. I attended the Seminar but did not present a paper.

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Climbing Masada in July

PHOTO ESSAY: What it's like visiting one of the world's greatest treasures, the 2,000 year-old mountaintop fortress Masada (Ben Gilbert, Business Insider).

Visiting Masada, the ancient fortress built atop a mountain plateau in modern day Israel, is a life-changing experience. No caveats necessary.

There's simply nothing like visiting an ancient mountaintop fortress that overlooks the Dead Sea. It doesn't feel real. But because of its isolation and the arid desert climate, the fortress once occupied by King Herod is a remarkably well-preserved relic of humanity's ancient past, one you can climb to on the same paths used by visiting dignitaries and invading Roman troops.

Here's what that experience is like based on my visit last week ...

Many years ago I too climbed the Snake Path in July. It was an insane thing to do. I recommend you try it in a cooler month.

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Moschos the Ioudaios and his dream

VARIANT READINGS: The Moschos Ioudaios Inscription (Brent Nongbri). People in antiquity are much like people in the present. They stubbornly refuse to do what we expect them to do.

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Review of Halbertal and Holmes, The Beginning of Politics

H-JUDAIC REVIEW:

Brody on Halbertal and Holmes, 'The Beginning of Politics: Power in the Biblical Book of Samuel'
Author: Moshe Halbertal, Stephen Holmes
Reviewer: Sam Brody

Moshe Halbertal, Stephen Holmes. The Beginning of Politics: Power in the Biblical Book of Samuel. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2017. 232 pp. $27.95 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-691-17462-4.

Reviewed by Sam Brody (University of Kansas) Published on H-Judaic (July, 2018) Commissioned by Katja Vehlow (University of South Carolina)

Printable Version: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=51066

There is a long tradition of claiming that politics and political theory in the West belong to Athens, rather than to Jerusalem, and another tradition just as long of rebutting this claim. Moshe Halbertal and Stephen Holmes join the latter tradition with their new work, The Beginning of Politics: Power in the Biblical Book of Samuel. The book will sit nicely on the shelf next to Eric Nelson’s The Hebrew Republic (2010) and Michael Walzer’s In God’s Shadow (2012). The former argues for the centrality of the Hebrew Bible in general and Samuel/Kings in particular to seventeenth-century European political theory, and the latter asserts that the absolute dominance of God in the life of ancient Israel left no room for the development of an autonomous human political sphere. Halbertal and Holmes have set themselves the task of rejecting the latter claim, and judging by Walzer’s blurb (“a wonderful discovery”), they appear to have convinced him.

[...]

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Gad and Reuben, P and E, in the Transjordan

SOURCE CRITICISM: Gad and Reuben Receive Land in the Transjordan: A Documentary Approach (Dr. Liane Feldman, TheTorah.com).

The tribes of Reuben and Gad ask Moses for permission to settle in the Transjordan (Num 32). A look at this lengthy narrative, what exactly they request and what Moses answers, uncovers several contradictions and inconsistencies. Separating the contradictory elements in the story allows for the identification of two parallel accounts.

Could be. It's been a while since I've heard much talk about the Elohistic source. But I don't make a big effort to keep up with Pentateuchal source criticism these days.

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Gate etc. excavated at et-Tell

ARCHITECTURE AND ARTIFACTS: ARCHAEOLOGISTS UNCOVER GATE TO BIBLICAL CITY OF ZER (TAMARA ZIEVE, Jerusalem Post).

Archaeologists have uncovered the entrance gate to the biblical city of Zer during excavations carried out in the Golan Heights over the past two weeks, the Golan Regional Council said Sunday.

[...]

The Iron Age II gate was excavated on the site of et-Tell, which is one contender for being the city of Bethsaida in the New Testament era. The other contender is the site of el-Araj. Background on the two sites and the debate is here (cf. here) and links.

I don't know how secure the identification of et-Tell with Zer is.

Of more interest to PaleoJudaica are some other recent discoveries at et-Tell:

Another finding made in the past two weeks was discovered underneath what was seemingly the floor of a Roman temple built by Herod’s son Philip, which he dedicated to Julia, the daughter of Augustus.

There archaeologists found coins, beads, jugs and house keys as well as a shield that belonged to a Roman soldier. The most significant finding was a coin dated to 35 BCE, which was minted in Acre on the occasion of the arrival of Cleopatra and Marc Antony. There is a total of 12 of these coins.

See the article for photos of the house key and the coin.

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The Talmud and sacred airspace

THIS WEEK'S DAF YOMI COLUMN BY ADAM KIRSCH IN TABLET: Cooking Times and Air Rights. In this week’s ‘Daf Yomi,’ Talmudic rabbis determine the finer points of animal sacrifice and follow their logical reasoning to the limits of the absurd.

Tractate Zevachim is all about the recognition that, when human beings come together to slaughter animals, things will sometimes go wrong: An animal will wander into the wrong area of the Temple, or the blood will spill on a priest’s robe, or a burning limb will fall off the pyre. A realistic Judaism has to make provisions for what to do when the physical world fails to obey the strict laws of the spiritual world. Rather than see such ruptures as defeats—evidence that the physical can never achieve the perfection of the spiritual—the rabbis see them as opportunities. By extending the safety net of the law to cover moments of error and lapse, the Talmud brings them back within the orbit of the divine.

Earlier Daf Yomi columns are noted here and links.

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Strange obituary

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Giant of New Testament Archaeology. James F. Strange (1938–2018) (Daniel A. Warner, Donald D. Binder, Eric M. Meyers, and James Riley Strange).

Jim developed a range of archaeological skills that few possess. His work with his father taught him surveying with an optical transit. He drew balks, top plans, pottery, glass, and artifacts with precision. He wrote excavation manuals for Caesarea and Meiron and published articles on archaeological method and theory. Early on, he established himself as a ceramicist, and his work in the MEP allowed him to contribute to the typology of Hellenistic- through Byzantine-period pottery widely in use in Israel today. Jim was a polyglot, speaking four languages and reading 12 in addition to English. His desire to disseminate his research resulted in an impressive body of published works.

Background here.

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The Passion narratives and Roman and Jewish calendars

THE BIBLE AND INTERPRETATION:

Roman Days, Jewish Nights, and the Gospel Calendar Problem

At the time of Jesus, there was no such Jewish term as “day of Preparation” in Jewish usage. Strangely, virtually the only time that term appears in any literature from that era, it is, for all practical purposes, only from texts written by the four gospel authors, or, perhaps, from someone quoting the gospel sources. But it is not independently attested outside of the gospel sources, a good indication that this was not actually a Jewish term.

By Gary Greenberg
President of the Biblical Archaeology Society of New York>
http://ggreenberg.tripod.com/
July 2018

I didn't think it was possible for me to feel more confused about the chronology of the Gospel Passion narratives. But after reading this I am. Some past posts on that question are here, here, here, here, and here.

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Trip to Hadrian's Wall

MY TRIP TO HADRIAN'S WALL AND ITS ROMAN SITES began with Vindolanda, just as my 2006 trip did.


This is a current photo of the site of Vindolanda. If you compare this photo from 2006, you will see that the wooden replica tower on the left has been rebuilt. You can click on this and all the other images to see a larger version.


That newly-excavated bronze Hand of Jupiter was on display in the Museum. It was tiny, just a few inches across.

We found one other new thing at Vindolanda, but I'm not going to post on it until later this summer. The reason why will become clear then.

I won't go into detail about Vindolanda here. For a report on my visit there in 2006, see here. Other posts involving Vindolanda, its archaeology, and the extraordinarily important archive of documentary texts excavated there, are here and links, and here, here (on a similar find in London), here, and here. In some of those posts I also discuss some indirect points of contact between the Vindolanda and London texts and the Judean Desert Scrolls etc.

I should also mention the Minimus the Mouse books, for any parents who are looking for an entertaining way to introduce their children to Latin. The books are set in Vindolanda and are based on the epigraphic discoveries there. I went through them with my son when he was a wee lad. I recommend them highly.

On the same day as the current Vindolanda visit, we went to the Roman Army Museum. It is also managed by the Vindolanda Trust. It is situated beside the site of the Carvoran Roman Fort. I don't have any photos of the fort area. The fort pre-dates the Wall and is not directly associated with it. There's not much left visible to the eye, although it has never been properly excavated.

Finally, the next day we visited the Housesteads Roman Fort, which is built directly on the Wall. It is one of fifteen forts built along with the Wall to monitor it. I posted a photo of the fort and Hadrian's Wall here.


Here is another of the fort. As you can see, the site has been excavated and conserved. This is the barracks for the soldiers.


This is a photo of the granaries.





The chief claim to fame of the Housesteads Fort is its ruin of an ancient Roman latrine. It is the oldest and best-preserved toilet in Britain, as recognized by English Heritage. The staff are very proud of it. It is especially popular with school children on field trips. It was hard to get good photos of it, because most of the time it was swarming with said children. But a couple of passable images are above. (An ancient toilet seat was also excavated at Vindolanda several years ago.)

A comparably old toilet was excavated near Qumran. Posts on it are collected here. An even older one was excavated at Lachish. And there's more on ancient toilets here.

There is also a nice museum for the Housesteads site.

I have no expertise in Roman Britain, so this more a question than an observation or suggestion. Are the Carvoran and Housesteads Forts situated in areas where anaerobically-sealed layers of soil are likely to have preserved discarded writings like those at Vindolanda? If so, they could be sitting on archives as significant for ancient British and Roman history as the Dead Sea Scrolls are for Israel. Perhaps someone should organize expeditions to have a look. I know there's no money for that now, but some publicity could probably raise some. Just a thought for you specialists in Roman Britain.

That was this year's trip to Roman sites around Hadrian's Wall. I love the area and I imagine I'll be back. The rest of the holiday was at the Lake District and no ancient ruins were involved.

While we're on the subject of ancient Roman sites in Britain, see also my past post on Roman Chester.

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Do you want a libation with that?

YHWH'S FAST-FOOD RECIPES? Which Sacrificial Offerings Require Libations? (Dr. Naphtali Meshel, TheTorah.com).

A burnt offering (olah), described as “sweet smelling” food for YHWH, always includes grain and wine libation “side-dishes,” constituting a complete meal. A purification offering (chattat), however, is a cleansing ritual. Should it also have an accompanying libation? The Masoretic Text of Numbers 28-29 offers an inconsistent answer that differs from that of the Septuagint and Samaritan Pentateuch.

Allow me a cultural side note, with reference to this:

A burger with fries and a soda is common—hence the typical adage, “Do you want fries with that?” A combination of only fries and a soda, however, is not licit: that is, while it is not illegal to order fries and a drink separately, they do not constitute a meal. This is reflected in the absence of such an option from most “combo” menus.

That's from an American perspective. In Britain, a fast-food meal consisting of starch and a drink is not uncommon. The first time an American sees someone here order a chip butty, it is mind blowing.

What constitutes a meal, for God or anyone else, is very much culturally conditioned.


Wikimedia Commons

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Davies on (mental) biblical maps

THE BIBLE AND INTERPRETATION:

Mapping Palestine

The effort of rationalizing biblical time-maps into the semblance of a critical modern history, as was the custom until late in the twentieth century, has thus been abandoned by all but a few scholars. Instead, we are obliged to see biblical narratives of the past as testimonies to the ways in which the creators of those texts imagined worlds and stories where their Israel and its deity played out their identities and their destinies—and would continue to do so.

Chapter from: History, Politics and the Bible from the Iron Age to the Media Age (T&T Clark, 2018).

By Philip R Davies (1945-2018)
Palestine Exploration Fund
Emeritus, University of Sheffield
July 2018

For more on the work and career of the late Philip R. Davies, see here and links.

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Stern obituary

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Giant of the Persian Period. Ephraim Stern (1934–2018) (Hillel Geva).

Professor Ephraim Stern was one of Israel’s foremost archaeologists, a pioneer in his field with numerous achievements to his credit and an international reputation as a scholar. Alongside his academic pursuits, he devoted considerable effort to promoting public interest in archaeological excavations and research.

[...]

Background here.

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Coins galore!

NUMISMATICS: NGC Ancients: Classic Greek Coins, Part 5 (CoinWeek). With nice images and descriptions of coins from ancient Carthage, Persia, Phoenicia, and Judea, as well as other place of less direct interest for the study of ancient Judaism.

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Enoch obsession

WHY INDEED? Why is Everyone Obsessed With the Book of Enoch? The uniqueness and mystery of this ancient text have captivated millions (Stephanie Hertzenberg, Beliefnet).

As interest in Enoch grew, the book began to appear in various media outlets. The History Channel referenced it repeatedly in various shows. Blogs and websites that dealt with everything from scholarly articles about ancient texts to attempts to predict the end of the world began to reference Enoch. Interest grew, and more people began to look for information on Enoch. This led to more people putting out information on Enoch. A feedback loop formed, and it has not collapsed yet.

This article isn't exactly a comprehensive account of 1 Enoch. But it does flag the increasing popular interest in the book and things in it which appeal to a popular audience.

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So much Psalms of Solomon!

READING ACTS has been busy while I was away. Phil Long has put up many posts on the Psalms of Solomon. These are all installments in his current summer series on the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. Past posts in the series have been noted here and links. The latter post gives an introduction to the Psalms of Solomon. Here are the rest:

The Death of a Tyrant – Psalms of Solomon 2

Psalm of Solomon 2 is a lament for Jerusalem after Pompey captured the city in 63 B.C. Although his name is not specifically mentioned, the author of the psalm clearly has Pompey in mind. He is called an “arrogant sinner” who brought battering rams against the walls of the Temple (2:1). According to Josephus, the city surrendered to the Romans but the Temple itself was captured. Pompey therefore brought “mechanical engines, and battering-rams from Tyre” (Antiq. 14.4.2).

[...]

The Lord Will Cleanse the Devout – Psalm of Solomon 3

This psalm reflects a “two ways” ethic found in Second Temple wisdom literature. Building on the covenant renewal in Deuteronomy 30:11-20, there are only two ways the people can go, either toward life or toward death. If Israel follows the Law, they will be blessed and have peace and material prosperity. However, if they do not follow the Law, they will be cursed and not experience peace and prosperity. Psalm 1 contrasts two kinds of people, the righteous person and the sinner. The righteous is like a tree planted beside water (prosperous and bearing fruit), but the sinner is like a bush growing in the desert, barely surviving and never bearing fruit.

[...]

A Dialogue Concerning The Hypocrite – Psalm of Solomon 4

Psalm of Solomon 4 is labeled a dialogue (Διαλογὴ) although not in the sense of a conversation between Solomon and the hypocrite. The Psalm stands in the “two ways” tradition. It begins with a stunning condemnation of those who sit in the council but are “far from the Lord” and ends with a blessing on “those who fear the Lord in their innocence” (4:23).

[...]

Moderate Wealth with Righteousness – Psalm of Solomon 5

There is nothing in Psalms of Solomon 5 to hint at a date or historical circumstance. The psalm begins with praise to God for his gracious provision during a time of affliction (v. 5). Several times the author describes himself as hungry (v. 8, 10, 11) or in need of kindness (v. 13), but there is no specific historical situation in mind. Most Jews living in the Diaspora would hear their own experience in this Psalm.

[...]

A Restoration of Israel – Psalm of Solomon 7

The title of this short psalm is significant. R. B. Wright translates the Greek title ἐπιστροφῆς as “about restoring” since verses 1-3 call on the Lord to restore his people after a time of discipline. Likewise, Atkinson renders the phrase “of returning” in the NET Septuagint. The Lexham LXX renders the word “on conversion.” In the New Testament the word is rare, only appearing in Acts 15:3 for the “conversion of the Gentiles.”

[...]

Do Not Neglect Us, O God! – Psalm of Solomon 8

This psalm is a description of the invasion of Jerusalem by Pompey. The invading army is foreshadowed by “the blast of the trumpet sounding slaughter and destruction.” Since the sound of destruction is in the holy city of Jerusalem, the writer is crushed by what he heard and becomes physically ill (8:5). The writer sees himself as one of the innocent (8:23) who are devout (8:34).

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Review of Orlov, Yahoel and Metatron

READING RELIGION:

Yahoel and Metatron
Aural Apocalypticism and the Origins of Early Jewish Mysticisim

Andrei A. Orlov
Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism
Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck , August 2017. 238 pages.
$125.00. Hardcover. ISBN 9783161554476.
For other formats: Link to Publisher's Website.

Review
The study of Jewish apocalypticism and mysticism has been enriched in recent years by a revival of the study of the Slavonic pseudepigrapha. Andrei Orlov has been at the forefront of that discussion. His study of The Enoch-Metatron Tradition (TSAJ 107; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2005) has rightly been hailed as a major contribution. Orlov has now followed this with a study comparing the figure of Yahoel in the Apocalypse of Abrahamand Metatron in Sefer Hekalot (3 Enoch), arguing for continuity between the apocalypses and later mystical traditions.

[...]

The review is by Professor John J. Collins. I noted the publication of the book here last year.

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Back from Hadrian's Wall

I'VE BEEN ON HOLIDAY for the last week, including a stay around Hadrian's Wall. I visited Vindolanda again, of course, and also other Roman sites. I will report in due course.

Meanwhile, there's a lot of blogging to catch up with in the coming days.


Hadrian's Wall, behind the Roman Fort at Housesteads.

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More mosaics from Huqoq!

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Huqoq Mosaic Depicts Israelite Spies from Numbers 13 (Robin Ngo). There is also a Hebrew quotation from Isaiah 11:6 and another fragmentary Hebrew inscription.

The excavation of the late-antique synagogue at the site of Huqoq continues to produce remarkable mosaics, year after year. For past posts on the excavation of the site and the remarkable discoveries there, start here and just follow those links back.

Cross-file under Decorative Art.

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The Talmud on disqualified sacrifices

THIS WEEK'S DAF YOMI COLUMN BY ADAM KIRSCH IN TABLET: Suited to the Fire. In this week’s ‘Daf Yomi,’ Talmudic rabbis continue their investigations into sacrificial offerings and remain dispassionate in their analysis of sexual sins. Plus: the origin of the word ‘treyf.’

The general hermeneutic principle of the Talmud is that every Torah verse comes to teach a point of law. Understanding the Torah requires parsing the verse very carefully, paying attention to each word and even to pronouns and articles. If two authorities disagree on the law, therefore, they also disagree on the interpretation of the Torah verse.

Earlier Daf Yomi columns are noted here and links.

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Olyan and Wright, Supplementation and the Study of the Hebrew Bible

NEW BOOK FROM SBL PRESS:

Supplementation and the Study of the Hebrew Bible
Saul M. Olyan, Jacob L. Wright

ISBN 9781946527059
Status Available
Price: $30.95
Binding Paperback
Publication Date April 2018

Explore the role supplementation plays in the development of the Hebrew Bible

This new volume includes ten original essays that demonstrate clearly how common, varied, and significant the phenomenon of supplementation is in the Hebrew Bible. Essays examine instances of supplementation that function to aid pronunciation, fill in abbreviations, or clarify ambiguous syntax. They also consider more complex additions to and reworkings of particular lyrical, legal, prophetic, or narrative texts. Scholars also examine supplementation by the addition of an introduction, a conclusion, or an introductory and concluding framework to a particular lyrical, legal, prophetic, or narrative text.

Features:

• A contribution to the further development of a panbiblical compositional perspective
• Examples from Psalms, the pentateuchal narratives, the Deuteronomistic History, the Prophets, and legal texts

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A letter from Claudius

BRICE C. JONES: Roman Emperor Claudius' Letter to the Alexandrian Embassy. This is a papyrus found in Egypt which contains the text of a letter sent by Claudius to Alexandria in 41 C.E. in response to a letter sent to him by the Alexandrians. In it he tells the Alexandrian gentiles and the local Judeans to just get along. Or else.

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Online Digital Manuscripts and Editions updated

THE OTTC BLOG: Online Digital Manuscripts and Editions. Last updated 3 July 2018 (Drew Longacre).

This page is a list of digital images of manuscripts and editions available online. This catalogue should be viewed as a work in progress, and I will continue to update it with new resources. It is by no means complete, but I hope it will be helpful for those looking for a one-stop portal for finding online primary resources that are significant for the study of the Old Testament text. Please post any additional sources you may be aware of in the comments, and I will incorporate them into the main list.

Last updated two years ago, so worth a look again. It's a good list. The focus is Hebrew Bible, but it has lots of cognate material (LXX, Targums, NT, rabbinics, etc.) as well.

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Tomás García-Huidobro's blog

BLOG OF NOTE: Tomás García-Huidobro. Tomás García-Huidobro Misticismo judío y orígenes del cristianismo. I have mentioned this blog a couple of times in the past, but it has moved to a new address. So here it is again. I generally only link to English-language blogs, but I do keep an eye on this Spanish one and I have recently added it to my blogroll. It often deals with matters of interest to PaleoJudaica. If you read Spanish, it's worth keeping an eye on.

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Interview with Batsheva Goldman-Ida (Hasidic Art and the Kabbalah)

THE BOOK OF DOCTRINES AND OPINIONS BLOG: Interview with Batsheva Goldman-Ida-Hasidic Art & the Kabbalah (Alan Brill).

In the past, Jewish ceremonial art was treated as decorative and functional. This book, in contrast, explicitly investigates the symbolism and theological meanings of the objects. It is as if we merged the studies of Moshe Idel with art history. Hasidic Art and the Kabbalah presents eight case studies, almost as exhibits, of manuscripts, ritual objects and folk art developed by Hasidic masters in the mid-eighteenth to late nineteenth centuries. Goldman-Ida investigates the sources for the items in the Zohar, German Pietism, Safed Kabbalah and Hasidism. She shows Kabbalah embodied in material culture, not just as abstract ideas. In addition, we are treated to discussions of magical theory from James Fraser and on the subjective experience of the user at the moment of ritual using the theories of Wolfgang Iser, Gaston Bachelard, and Walter Benjamin.”

This is on a period later than PaleoJudaica's usual interests, but I try to keep an eye on the full range of developments in the study of Jewish mysticism. There is lots of room for this sort of groundbreaking work in earlier periods too, even if the surviving artifacts are fewer.

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Reed, Jewish-Christianity and the History of Judaism

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: Annette Yoshiko Reed. Jewish-Christianity and the History of Judaism [Judenchristentum und die Geschichte des Judentums.] 2018. XXX, 505 pages. forthcoming in July. Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism 171. 174,00 €. ISBN 978-3-16-156060-6.

Published in English.
“Jewish-Christianity” is a contested category in current research. But for precisely this reason, it may offer a powerful lens through which to rethink the history of Jewish/Christian relations. Traditionally, Jewish-Christianity has been studied as part of the origins and early diversity of Christianity. Collecting revised versions of previously published articles together with new materials, Annette Yoshiko Reed reconsiders Jewish-Christianity in the context of Late Antiquity and in conversation with Jewish studies. She brings further attention to understudied texts and traditions from Late Antiquity that do not fit neatly into present day notions of Christianity as distinct from Judaism. In the process, she uses these materials to probe the power and limits of our modern assumptions about religion and identity.

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Did Jesus really say "Render unto Caesar ... ?"

NUMISMATICS MEETS THE HISTORICAL JESUS: Numismatic Evidence that Corroborates Suetonius’ Life of Otho and Contradicts the Gospels (Matthew Ferguson, Κέλσος Blog). I'm not a coin specialist, or, for that matter, a Historical Jesus specialist. So I won't take a position on the argument. But I thought it was interesting enough to mention.

A couple of past posts on the numismatics of the relevant New Testament passage (Mark 12:13-17 and parallels) are here and here.

By the way, Matthew has been blogging since 2012. I know I have seen his blog before, but I don't seem to have linked to it. It looks like it has some stimulating posts. Cross-file under Assimilated to the Blogosphere (Belatedly Noted).

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Meiser et al. (eds.), Die Septuaginta – Geschichte, Wirkung, Relevanz

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: Die Septuaginta – Geschichte, Wirkung, Relevanz. 6. Internationale Fachtagung veranstaltet von Septuaginta Deutsch (LXX.D), Wuppertal 21.-24. Juli 2016. Hrsg. v. Martin Meiser, Michaela Geiger, Siegfried Kreuzer u. Marcus Sigismund. [The Septuagint – History, Impact, Relevance. 6 thInternational Conference held by the Septuaginta Deutsch Project (LXX.D), Wuppertal July 21–24, 2016.] 2018. XII, 947 pages. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 405. 219,00 € cloth. ISBN 978-3-16-155638-8.

Published in German.
As the central biblical reference text for ancient Greek-speaking Judaism and Christianity alike, the Septuagint both aids and challenges expressions of Jewish and Christian identity. The diversity of its current debates are reflected in this volume, which brings aspects of textual criticism, textual history, philology, theology, reception history, and Jewish identity in the Second Temple period together to provide an up-to-date overview of the latest in international research.

Published in German, but many of the articles are in English.

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