Herodian-synagogue relocation project at Beit Shemesh

ROADWORKS VS. ARCHAEOLOGY, CONTINUED: Second Temple-era synagogue to be moved stone by stone for highway. Rare Second Temple-era synagogue uncovered near Beit Shemesh will have to be relocated to another area to allow for already approved highway widening (Paul Shindman, World Israel News). If there continues to be money for such things.

HT Joseph Lauer, who writes in his e-mail:

Readers may remember a series of articles beginning in late 2018 about the discovery of a First Temple Period village in the path of the proposed widening of Route 38 near Beit Shemesh, Israel. After much discussion, the width of the road was reduced to allow preservation of the site, with a pedestrian overpass to connect the two parts of the tel. But, as it’s Israel, when the widening began, a Second Temple Period village with a synagogue was discovered. As reported below, the “Second Temple-era synagogue [is] to be moved stone by stone for [the] highway”.

For PaleoJudaica posts on the archaeology of the Route 38 roadworks, start here and follow the links. For earlier, unrelated, posts on the site of Beit Shemesh (Beth Shemesh) see the links here. And for more recent posts, see here and here.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Lost NTA/OTP manuscript found!

RELIGION PROF: Missing Gospel Found! (Missing Ending Still Missing). James McGrath is excited about the rediscovery of the lost Akhmim Fragment. So am I.

It appears that I once knew that the manuscript had been misplaced, but I had forgotten. (I find that PaleoJudaica is the archive for a good part of my memory.)

The manuscript contains a substantial fragment of the otherwise lost Gospel of Peter, which is important. It also contains a substantial fragment of the Greek version (translated from Aramaic) of 1 Enoch, which is even more exciting to me. The full text of 1 Enoch survives only in a translation in Ethiopic Ge'ez. Some of of the Aramaic original survives among the Dead Sea Scrolls. A fair amount of the Greek translation is preserved, mainly in this manuscript and in Chester Beatty Papyrus XII.

For more on Akhmim manuscript (P.Cairo 10759) and its contents, see here. Cross-file under Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Watch and New Testament Apocrypha Watch.

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A new Sassanian-era inscription

IRANIAN EPIGRAPHY: Sassanid Inscription Unearthed In Ancient Iran Necropolis Being Deciphered (RFE/RL, The Iranian).

A very interesting site:

Naqsh-e Rostam, the site where the inscription was found, was a necropolis and religious center about 12 km northwest of Persepolis, the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire (550-300 BC). However, some of the relics on the cliffs may date as far back as the Pre-Iranian Elamite Period (2700-539 BC).

Four huge tombs from the Achaemenid period, including the tomb of King Darius the Great (550-486 CE) hewn into the cliff face and a square-shaped building made with stone blocks from the Sassanian which may also have had a significance in burial rites are among the most important relics of the necropolis.

And, of course, there are also remains from the Sassanian (Sasanian) era, on which time see here and here.

The inscription is in Pahlavi (Middle Persian), on which more here and here. The article discusses the challenges of deciphering inscriptions in this language. Alas, there is no indication of what the inscription says.

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Stinging locusts

READING ACTS: The Fifth Trumpet: Locust from the Abyss – Revelation 9:1-12. Phil Long continues his blog series on the seven angels of the Book of Revelation. This post is on the events of the trumpet of the fifth angel.

I have noted the past posts in the series here and links.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Interview with Vered Noam

TALMUD WATCH: Meet Prof. Noam Vered [sic], the 1st woman to win the Israel Prize for Talmud. As a child I felt that Talmud is a conversation that links people and creates joy and also has something different from everyday life, something higher and beautiful (LINDA GRADSTEIN, Jerusalem Post). Contra the headline (but correct in the article), her name is Vered Noam.

I noted the awarding of the Israel Prize to Professor Noam here.

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Women at Qumran?

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: No Women at Qumran? Qumran as an Essene scribal center (Marek Dospěl). This essay summarizes an article by Sidnie White Crawford in the current issue of Biblical Archaeology Review. Normally the article would be behind the subscription wall. But in response to the current crisis, BAS has made that issue available online for free. The article is here: Were There Women at Qumran?

Some related PaleoJudaica posts are here, here, here, here, and here. For past posts more generally on the archaeology of Qumran and the relationship of the Essenes to the site, start here and follow the links.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Bronze coins from Ptolemy I-IV

THE AWOL BLOG: Numismatic News: Bronze types from Ptolemy I - IV published to PCO.

For more on the coins of the Ptolemaic period, with my commentary on biblical and Second Temple Jewish connections, see here and links. For more on bronze Ptolemaic coins specifically, see here. and for the Ptolemaic Coins Online Project, see here.

Cross-file under Numismatics.

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Abysmal

DEEP QUESTION: What is the Abyss in Revelation 9:1? Over at Reading Acts, Phil Long continues his blog series on the seven angels of the Book of Revelation. The fallen star of the fifth angel's trumpet receives the key to the shaft of the bottomless abyss.

I have noted the previous posts in the series here and links.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

More from McGrath on Biblical Aramaic

RELIGION PROF: Biblical Aramaic: A Reader and Handbook. James McGrath offers a brief review of this book and asks an interesting question about an Aramaic word in the Gospel of Matthew 5:22.

Background here. I have posts on the book here and here. And for those Aramaic gravestones (there are others), see here.

As for James's question, I have some thoughts.

Mark also quotes Aramaic words attributed to Jesus in 5:41, 7:34, and 15:34 (cf. Matthew 27:46), but in those cases he translates them into Greek.

Matthew does not translate Raka in 5:22, although the next saying does use the near-synonym "fool" (Mōre) in Greek. And it would have been awkward to use the word "fool" twice in the same sentence. Perhaps he positioned the two sayings together to give his Greek readers the sense of the Aramaic word, while keeping the Aramaic, like Mark, for vividness and local color.

But I would not rule out James's idea that Matthew's Greek-speaking readers may have used the Aramaic word raka themselve (as a swear word?). In it's favor is Matthews use of mammon, a (Hebrew/)Aramaic word for "money," untranslated in 6:24 (cf. Luke 16:9, 11, 13). Presumably his readers knew the meaning of the word and maybe they even used it.

Perhaps a closer analogy to James's idea is Paul's use of the Aramaic phrase Marana tha ("our Lord, come!") untranslated in 1 Corinthians 16:22. It looks like Paul and his readers had adopted the Aramaic phrase as a salutation for their own use.

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Double duration of postpartum purification

DR. RABBI ZEV FARBER: Postpartum Impurity: Why Is the Duration Double for a Girl?

Compared to the birth of a son, Leviticus 12 requires a double-period of purification upon the birth of a daughter. Interpreters in antiquity offered two basic models to explain this. The first approach was to utilize biological “knowledge,” the second was to ground the law in the biblical story of Adam and Eve.

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Mary as role-model in Pseudo-Matthew

THE BIBLE AND INTERPRETATION:

The Second Sex in the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew

Mary draws on a biblical tradition of male virgin asceticism that she appropriates for her own womanhood. Her purity, in other words, is based on everyday rituals and the performance of chastity as a defining identity trait throughout the narrative. As she reveals in her own speech, Mary relies on models of previous virgins even as she enacts a new model for others to follow.

See Also: The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew and the Nativity of Mary, Early Christian Apocrypha 7 (Cascade Books, 2019).

By Brandon W. Hawk
Assistant Professor of English
Rhode Island College
March 2020

I noted the publication of this book here and here. Cross-file under New Testament Apocrypha Watch.

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PhD scholarship at Groningen

THE NESEA BLOG: PHD SCHOLARSHIP IN JEWISH, CHRISTIAN AND ISLAMIC ORIGINS AT GRONINGEN.

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Is Cave 1 Really Cave 1?

VARIANT READINGS: Qumran Cave 1 Questions, Part 3: Is Cave 1 Really Cave 1? Brent Nongbri continues his series of posts with questions about the Dead Sea Scroll discoveries associated with Qumran Cave One.

I noted the earlier posts in the series here and here.

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Pilate, Jesus, and the imperial cult

THE HOLY LAND PHOTOS' BLOG: One of Pilate’s Coins — Emperor Worship in Judean Territory (Carl Rasmussen).

Background here. Cross-file under Numismatics.

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LXX links

WILLIAM ROSS: LINK ROUNDUP OF SEPTUAGINT NEWS AND RESOURCES IN THE AGE OF COVID-19. Scholarship goes on, even during the pandemic.

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The angel and the abyss

READING ACTS: Who is the Fallen Star in Revelation 9:1? Phil Long continues his series on the seven angels of the Book of Revelation. The star fallen from heaven comes with the blowing of the fifth angel's trumpet.

I have noted earlier posts in the series here and links.

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Krauß et al. (eds.), Material Aspects of Reading in Ancient and Medieval Cultures (Open Access)

NEW BOOK FROM DE GRUYTER:

Material Aspects of Reading in Ancient and Medieval Cultures

Materiality, Presence and Performance

Series: Materiale Textkulturen, Volume: 26
Funded by: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Edited by: Anna Krauß, Jonas Leipziger and Friederike Schücking-Jungblut
De Gruyter | 2020

OVERVIEW

Open Access
This publication seeks to endeavour the relationship between material artefacts and reading practices in ancient and medieval cultures.
While the acts of reception of written artefacts in former times are irretrievably lost, some of the involved artefacts are preserved and might comprise hints to the ancient reading practices. In form of case studies, the contributions to this volume examine various forms of written artefacts as to their implications on modes of reading. Analyzing different Qumran scrolls, codices, Tefillin, Mezuzot, magical texts, tablets, bricks, and statues as well as meta-textual and iconographic aspects, the articles inquire the possibilities of how to correlate material aspects to assumed modes of reception and practices of reading. The contributions stem from Egyptology, Papyrology, Qumran Studies, Biblical Studies, Jewish Studies, Ancient Christianity, and Islamic Studies.
In total, this volume contributes to the research on practices of reception in times past and demonstrates the potential hidden in text-bearing artefacts.

OPEN ACCESS
£72.50
Hardcover
Price including VAT

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"Bloods of purity?"

PROF. TAMAR KAMIONKOWSKI: Postpartum “Bloods of Purity” (TheTorah.com).

Mesopotamian gynecological texts and what we know about women’s post-partum flow are helpful in parsing the unusual Hebrew idiom demei tohorah, literally, “bloods of purity,” used in Leviticus 12 to describe the second stage of postpartum bleeding.

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Millar, Genre and Openness in Proverbs 10:1-22:16

NEW BOOK FROM SBL PRESS:

Genre and Openness in Proverbs 10:1-22:16
Suzanna R. Millar

ISBN 9781628372724
Status Available
Price: $39.00
Binding Paperback
Publication Date March 2020

A fruitful reading strategy that reveals expansive meaning in Proverbs

Interpreters often characterize Proverbs 10:1–22:16 as a dead-end of cold, disengaged dogma closed off from the realities of the world. In Genre and Openness in Proverbs 10:1–22:16, Suzanna R. Millar takes a different view, arguing that the didactic proverbs in these chapters are not dull and dry but are filled with poetic complexities open to many possible interpretations and uses. By incorporating paremiology, the technical study of the proverb genre, Millar sheds light on important debates such as character development, kingship, the connection between act and consequence, and the acquisition of wisdom.

Features

• A clarification of the genre of the sayings in light of modern genre theory
  
• A linguistic analysis of how openness is generated in biblical proverbs
  
• An examination of the didactic use of proverbs to train the hearer’s mind

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Did the Nazis conceal an ancient synagogue in Spain?

CANDIDA MOSS: Did the Nazis Cover Up a Jewish Discovery in Spain's ‘Oldest Christian Basilica’? The dig at Elche was overseen by Nazi appointed archaeologists and a nationalist Franco supporter, and somehow a menorah discovered in the ancient mosaics went unreported... (The Daily Beast).

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The eagle and the woes

READING ACTS: What are the Three Woes in Revelation 8:13? Phil Long continues his blog series on the seven angels in the Book of Revelation. The eagle with the woes is introduced between the fourth and the fifth angel.

I have noted earlier posts in the series here and links.

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Masada

(VIRTUAL) TRAVEL: Masada – The Fortress Palace (Heritage Daily).

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Antiquities looting flourishes

UNAPPREHENDED: Antiquities thieves operate with impunity during coronavirus crisis. Grave robbers, treasure hunters take advantage of reduced enforcement to plunder archaeological sites in Judea and Samaria (Arutz Sheva).

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Jesus, Galilee, and the imperial cult

THE HOLY LAND PHOTOS' BLOG: Emperor Worship In “Israel” in Jesus’ Day (Carl Rasmussen).

For my report, with links, on a 2016 symposium in St. Andrews which dealt with related themes, see here.

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The MT and the DSS

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: The Masoretic Text and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Should the original Hebrew Bible text be modified based on information obtained from the Dead Sea Scrolls?

A couple of related PaleoJudaica posts are here and here. And for a recent post on the Masoretic Text and the pronunciation of biblical Hebrew, see here.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Tamer (ed.), Concept of Revelation in Judaism, Christianity and Islam

NEW BOOK FROM DE GRUYTER:

Concept of Revelation in Judaism, Christianity and Islam

Series: Key Concepts in Interreligious Discourses, Volume: 1
Edited by: Georges Tamer
De Gruyter | 2020

OVERVIEW

The idea that God reveals himself to human beings is central in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, but differs in regard of content and conceptualization. The first volume of the new series Key Concepts in Interreligious Discourses points out similarities and differences of "revelation". KCID aims to establish an archeology of religious knowledge in order to create a new conceptual platform of mutual understanding among religious communities.

From £22.50
Price including VAT

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The DSS are on lockdown too.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are in self-isolation — but they mean more than ever (Naomi Zeveloff, The Forward).

The Dead Sea Scrolls, which include some of the earliest biblical texts, are considered the most significant archaeological find of the 20th century. [Curator Hagit] Maoz is one of the people charged with their safekeeping. Yet when I asked if the coronavirus had spurred fears over their fate — as her dream seemed to suggest — she brushed my question away. She knows exactly where the museum’s scrolls are: behind five locked doors in a humidity and temperature-controlled vault at the Shrine of the Book. She put them there herself.

Good. I'm glad the scrolls in the Israel Museum are safe.

What about the ones in the Rockefeller Museum? I assume they are locked away too, but I can't find any specific information on its website or elsewhere. Does anyone know anything?

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No 2020 pilgrimage to Ghriba Synagogue, Tunisia

ANOTHER CANCELLATION: Virus nixes Jewish pilgrimage to Tunisia's Ghriba (AFP).

For a report on the annual pilgrimage to Djerba island in 2015, see here. And for more on the ancient Ghriba Synagogue there, see here and links.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

More fighting reported near Palmyra

PALMYRA WATCH: Syria claims that Israeli jets carried out strike near Palmyra (Jewish News Syndicate). My heart goes out to the people of Palmyra, who have seen a great deal of violence in recent years. The reports say that the bombing was "near" Palmyra, aimed at Iranian-backed militia groups and resources. I hope the local residents were spared.

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

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

50 Brown Judaic Studies volumes online

THE AWOL BLOG: Newly Open Access Monograph Series: Brown Judaic Studies. Many of the volumes involve ancient Judaism.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Wevers Institute for LXX Studies: online course and YouTube channel

THE JOHN WILLIAMS WEVERS INSTITUTE FOR SEPTUAGINT STUDIES at Trinity Western University now has a YouTube channel. Reader Jean Maurais e-mails:

I was wondering if you could add a mention in your blog of the recent creation of Youtube channel for the Wevers Institute? As a first foray, the institute has posted a video interview of Dirk Büchner concerning his upcoming course which is offered via live-streaming. The course title is Septuagint Approaches and Methods, and is held on May 4-8, 2020. Other details are available in the video description.

The video interview is here: https://youtu.be/giB3jLuWwos

Subscription to the Institute's channel is encouraged for those who would like to be notified of future updates: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcNJsVlhf5SSyuAJgxEF8cw

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Sifting Project virtual exhibition

THE TEMPLE MOUNT SIFTING PROJECT BLOG: CHECK OUT OUR NEW VIRTUAL EXHIBITION. Featuring lots of interesting artifacts from all periods. Go and have a look!

For many, many PaleoJudaica post on the Sifting Project, start here and just follow those links.

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Review of Becker, The Birth of Christian History

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Book Note | The Birth of Christian History (Jeremiah Coogan).

Eve-Marie Becker, The Birth of Christian History: Memory and Time from Mark to Luke-Acts. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2017.

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On kosher laws

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Making Sense of Kosher Laws.

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Yom HaShoah 2020

ANOTHER APRIL COMMEMORATION UPENDED: Pandemic forces first-ever digital Holocaust Remembrance Day (Michael Blum and Guillaume Lavallee, AFP).

Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Memorial/Remembrance Day) begins tonight at sundown. Past posts involving connections with ancient Judaism are here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

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Review of Jacobson, Agrippa II: the last of the Herods

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Agrippa II: the last of the Herods.

David M. Jacobson, Agrippa II: the last of the Herods. Routledge ancient biographies. London; New York: Routledge, 2019. xxviii, 232 p.. ISBN 9781138331815 $112.00.

Review by
Michael Girardin, Université du Littoral – Côte d’Opale. michael.girardin@univ-littoral.fr

The book is in English. The review is in French.

There were a lot of Herods and sorting them out can be confusing. For that, see the link here for a helpful post at the "Is That In The Bible?" Blog.

There were two (Herod?) Agrippas. Agrippa I (see here and links) is best known for being eaten alive by worms (Acts 12).

Agrippa II (see here and here and links) presided over Paul's trial, according to Acts 23-26. He was accompanied by his sister Julia Berenice (see here and links), who was the lover of the Emperor Titus.

There is some doubt about how accurate the Book of Acts is in its depiction of the two Agrippas.

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More on the Holy Fire ceremony

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC: How a sacred flame spreads across the world despite the pandemic ( Kristin Romey). The first surviving mention of the Holy Fire ceremony was in 876 CE.

Also, the article reports that the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (Holy Sepulchre) was closed in 1349 when there was an epidemic of the Black Death. That was last time public access was denied for an extended period.

Background here and here.

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LXX monograph series online

THE AWOL BLOG: Open Access Monograph Series: Mitteilungen des Septuaginta-Unternehmens Volumes Online. Free pfds of an important monograph series on the Septuagint. Mostly in German, but a few are in English.

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Holy fire and VR in Jerusalem

YESTERDAY: Orthodox ceremony of Holy Fire takes place in deserted Jerusalem (Rami Ayyub, Stephen Farrell, Reuters). In 2019 the event was crowded. (See at 2:25 for the appearance of the fire.) In 2020, just a few clerics were there, some wearing face masks. But the annual ceremony did go forward in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (Holy Sepulchre).

Background here.

By the way, today is Orthodox Easter, so best wishes to all celebrating.

And if you fancy a visit to Jerusalem from your home: With Jerusalem locked down, holy site pilgrims turn to virtual reality. Convergence of Passover, Easter and Ramadan should have been a boon for the city; now those who wish they could visit can instead turn to an immersive VR tour of the Old City (JUDAH KAUFFMAN, JTS).

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Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum vol. 4

NEW BOOK FROM DE GRUYTER:

Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum

Volume 4

Edited by: Noah Hacham and Tal Ilan
Founded by: Itzhak Fikhman z״l
In collaboration with: Meron M. Piotrkowski and Zsuzsanna Szántó
De Gruyter Oldenbourg | 2020

OVERVIEW

The edition collects and presents all papyri and ostraca from the Ptolemaic period, connected to Jews and Judaism, published since 1957. It is a follow-up to the Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum (= CPJ) of the 1950s and 60s, edited by Victor Tcherikover, which had consisted of three volumes – I devoted to the Ptolemaic period; II to the Early Roman period (until 117 CE); and III to the Late Roman and Byzantine periods. The present book, CPJ vol. IV, is the first in a new trilogy, and is devoted to the Ptolemaic period.

The present and upcoming volumes supplement the original CPJ. They present over 300 papyri that have been published since 1957. They also include papyri in languages other than Greek (Hebrew, Aramaic, Demotic), and literary papyri which had not been included in the old CPJ. Aside from quite a number of papyri in these categories, the present volume (of over 100 documents) includes 21 papyri from Herakleopolis in Middle-Egypt that record the existence of a Jewish self-ruling body – the politeuma. These papyri put an end to a long-standing dispute over whether such a Jewish institution had ever existed in Egypt.

From £118.00 Price including VAT

Hardcover
ISBN: 978-3-11-067450-7
Published: 18 May 2020

PDF
ISBN: 978-3-11-067452-1
Published: 18 May 2020

EPUB
ISBN: 978-3-11-067457-6
Published: 18 May 2020

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For reading Biblical Aramaic and Hebrew

RELIGION PROF: Keep Up Your Biblical Aramaic and/or Hebrew in Two Minutes a Day (James McGrath). Again, I've mentioned these before, but current circumstances merit another mention. That said, you can manage more than two minutes a day on your Hebrew and Aramaic right now, can't you?

I'm fortunate enough to be teaching Biblical Aramaic this semester, now remotely, but uninterrupted. So I'm good.

Related idea here (immediately preceding post).

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Loebolus once again

THE AWOL BLOG: Loebolus: Open Access to all the public domain Loeb Classical Library volumes. I have already mentioned this free online collection a couple of times. But it's worth noting again under current circumstances. How better to spend that extra time than catching up on the Greek and Latin Classics?

Well, I know one way that's just as good. But see the next post for that.

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More on ancient Nazareth

ARCHAEOLOGY: New archaeological evidence from Nazareth reveals religious and political environment in era of Jesus. Nazareth, once thought to have been a small village, likely to have been a town of around 1,000 people, new evidence suggests (David Keys, The Independent).

I've already noted one article on Ken Dark's new book, Roman-Period and Byzantine Nazareth and Its Hinterland (Routledge, 2020). But this one has additional details, notably on the rather gross contrast between fertilizing practices in Sepphoris vs. Nazareth.

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The Hodayot scrolls and Cave One

VARIANT READINGS: Qumran Cave 1 Questions, Part 2: The Thanksgiving Scrolls. Brent Nongbri has a good question or two about the Hodayot scrolls commonly accepted to have come from Qumran Cave One.

I noted part one of this series here.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Vocalization and pronunciation of Biblical Hebrew

PROF. GEOFFREY KHAN: How Was the Hebrew of the Bible Originally Pronounced? (TheTorah.com).

Three traditions of pronouncing the Hebrew Bible existed in the first millennium C.E.: Babylonian, Palestinian, and Tiberian, each with its own written vocalization system. From the later Middle Ages on, however, biblical manuscripts have been written almost exclusively with the vowels and cantillation marks of the Tiberian system while paradoxically, the Tiberian pronunciation itself fell into oblivion.

The title of this essay could be clearer. It is really about the pronuciation of the Hebrew Bible in the early Middle Ages (when the vowel points began to be added), perhaps going back to late antiquity.

The original pronunciation of Hebrew in the late Iron Age II (the First Temple Period) is another, even more difficult problem. We have some inscriptions from that period, but they are not vocalized, apart from sparse use of consonantal vowel letters (Matres Lectionis) in the later ones). We have to infer the pronunciation based on them and, mostly, on comparative Semitics and the historical grammar and phonology of Hebrew. Iron Age Hebrew probably sounded quite different from Masoretic Hebrew.

Be that as it may, this is an interesting essay on the first-millennium CE tradition of the vocalization of the Hebrew Bible. It is technical, but illuminating.

Professor Khan mentions his open-access book on the Tiberian tradition of the pronuciation of Biblical Hebrew. I also noted another book he published on the subject in 2012.

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Qimron, The Qumran Texts: Composite Edition

THE AWOL BLOG: The Qumran Texts: Composite Edition.

Elisha Qimron's edition of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Introduction, notes, etc. in Modern Hebrew. For free online. For you, special deal!

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Al-Aqsa Mosque to stay closed through Ramadan

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: Ramadan prayers banned at Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque due to virus (Reuters).

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An arrest regarding theft of papyri in Oxford

THE LATEST ON THE MISSING OXYRHYNCHUS PAPYRI SCANDAL: Oxford professor arrested on suspicion of ancient papyrus theft. Dirk Obbink called claim about bible fragments a ‘malicious attempt’ to harm his career (Vikram Dodd, The Guardian). HT Elijah Hixson at the ETC Blog.

The story was broken by the Oxford student newspaper, The Oxford Blue: EXCLUSIVE: Christ Church professor arrested over scandal of stolen papyrus. HT Brent Nongbri at the Variant Readings Blog.

According to the Oxford Blue article, Professor Obbink was arrested on 2 March. The only source they give is a quotation from the Thames Valley Police which does not mention a name. It does, however, mention the age of the man arrested and it refers to an investigation of "a report of theft of papyrus from the Sackler Library in Oxford." That man was released "under investigation." It is not clear to me whether the Guardian article has any information about the arrest independent of the Oxford Blue article.

I note the story for information. I have no independent knowledge about it. You can decide what to make of it.

Earlier PaleoJudaica posts on this convoluted scandal are here and links.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Dijkstra (ed.), The Early Reception and Appropriation of the Apostle Peter (60-800 CE)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

The Early Reception and Appropriation of the Apostle Peter (60-800 CE)

The Anchors of the Fisherman

Series: Euhormos: Greco-Roman Studies in Anchoring Innovation, Volume: 1

Editor: Roald Dijkstra

The apostle Peter gradually became one of the most famous figures of the ancient world. His almost undisputed reputation made the disciple an exquisite anchor by which new practices within and outside the Church could be established, including innovations in fields as diverse as architecture, art, cult, epigraphy, liturgy, poetry and politics. This interdisciplinary volume inquires the way in which the figure of Peter functioned as an anchor for various people from different periods and geographical areas. The concept of Anchoring Innovation is used to investigate the history of the reception of the apostle Peter from the first century up to Charlemagne, revealing as much about Peter as about the context in which this reception took place.

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ISBN: 978-90-04-42567-5
Publication Date: 26 Mar 2020

Hardback now published.

UPDATE: A reader has pointed out to me that this book can also be downloaded for free as a pdf file. Follow the link above for info.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

The fourth trumpet

READING ACTS: The Fourth Trumpet: Unnatural Darkness – Revelation 8:12. Phil Long continues his blog series on the seven angels of the Book of Revelation and their trumpets. This post deals with the fourth angel and his trumpet.

Notices of earlier posts in the series are here and links.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Where did the Genesis Apocryphon come from?

VARIANT READINGS: Qumran Cave 1 Questions, Part 1: The Genesis Apocryphon Roll. Brent Nongbri has continued publishing blog posts on various interesting questions to do with ancient manuscript and their provenances, or lack thereof. I have not kept up with him lately. But this post looks like the first in a new series. I look forward to following it. If I get a chance, I may come back to some of his earlier posts.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Review of Material approaches to Roman magic (ed. Parker & McKie)

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Material approaches to Roman magic: occult objects and supernatural substances.

Adam Parker, Stuart McKie, Material approaches to Roman magic: occult objects and supernatural substances. TRAC Themes in Roman archaeology, 2. Oxford: Oxbow, 2018. 135 p.; 7 p. of plates. ISBN 9781785708817 £40.00.

Review by
Frances McIntosh, Newcastle University. frances.mcintosh@newcastle.ac.uk

The volume includes a chapter on a collection of engraved magical gems from Israel. And in general the work on the material culture of magic in this book sounds important for the study of all brands of ancient magic, including Jewish magic.

Recent related post here.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

The third trumpet

WAITING FOR A STAR TO FALL: The Third Trumpet: Wormwood Falls into the Fresh Water – Revelation 8:10-11. Over at Reading Acts, Phil Long continues his series on the seven angels of the Book of Revelation and their trumpets. This one is on the trumpet of the third angel.

Background here and links.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Faghfoury (ed), Ancient Iranian Numismatics

BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Ancient Iranian Numismatics. Notice of a New Book: Faghfoury, Mostafa (ed.). 2020. Ancient Iranian Numismatics: In Memory of David Sellwood. Irvine: Jordan Center for Persian Studies.

With lots of information about Seleucid, Arcasid, and Sasanian coinage in ancient Iran.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Schäfer, Two Gods in Heaven

NEWLY TRANSLATED BOOK FROM PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS: Two Gods in Heaven: Jewish Concepts of God in Antiquity. Peter Schäfer. Translated [from German] by Allison Brown. A book that challenges our most basic assumptions about Judeo-Christian monotheism.

ISBN: 9780691199894
Published: 03/03/2020

Contrary to popular belief, Judaism was not always strictly monotheistic. Two Gods in Heaven reveals the long and little-known history of a second, junior god in Judaism, showing how this idea was embraced by rabbis and Jewish mystics in the early centuries of the common era and casting Judaism’s relationship with Christianity in an entirely different light.

[...]

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

A Temple Mount Sifting Project discovery

THE TEMPLE MOUNT SIFTING PROJECT BLOG: PASSOVER UPDATE. The staff are still stifting at an appropriate social distance. And they have found what seems to be a Mishnaic-era clay sealing. It still needs cleaning before it can be fully analyzed.

Background on the Project is here and a great many links (cf. here).

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Safed spells to protect from plagues

APOTROPAIC MAGIC: Prayers, amulets and spells to ward off plagues The sages of Safed created amulets, the Jews of Italy wrote prayers and other Jews warned of less conventional plagues (CHEN MALUL, Jerusalem Post).

The sages of Safed (also spelled Zefat, Szfat, Tzfat and Sfat) flourished in the sixteenth century. Past PaleoJudaica posts on Isaac Luria and Lurianic Kabbalah are here and links.

In Jewish magic, healing spells are common, going back to late antiquity. But I don't know offhand if any include spells to ward off plague.

The Talmudic-era magical handbook Sefer HaRazim has healing rites for individuals; rites for foreknowledge of coming disasters, including abundant death among mortals (presumably plagues); and a spell to protect cities from wild animals and floods. It has nothing specific about protection from plagues.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Ancient recipes

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Recipes from the BAR Test Kitchen. Ancient dishes from biblical times to cook and enjoy.

Download Recipes from the BAR Test Kitchen and start receiving Bible History Daily — both absolutely free!

For you, special deal!

Cross-file under Culinary Archaeology. Noted earlier here. But if you have extra cooking time now, you may want to revisit.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Shedding light on Isaiah 53:11

THE ETC BLOG: “He will see light” in Isaiah 53:11 (John Meade). A good analysis of the text-critical evidence for a striking and probably original variant found in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Septuagint.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Review of Spittler (ed.), The narrative self in early Christianity

BYRN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: The narrative self in early Christianity: essays in honor of Judith Perkins.

Judith Perkins, Janet E. Spittler, The narrative self in early Christianity: essays in honor of Judith Perkins. Writings from the Greco-Roman world supplement series, 15. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2019. xi, 245 p.. ISBN 9781628372519 $40.00 (pb).

Review by
David Brakke, The Ohio State University. brakke.2@osu.edu

Excerpt:

This collection of twelve essays honors Perkins by exploring the ways that ancient narratives construct identities, develop ideas, and circulate through culture. The essays are framed by an Introduction that discusses the significance of Perkins’s work and by a Bibliography of the honoree’s publications through 2018. With the exception of MacDonald’s chapter on Judith, all the essays focus on early Christian works and traditions. Five of the twelve study or take as their point of departure the Acts of Thomas and its “spin-off,” so to speak, Acts of Thomas and his Wonderworking Skin. Together they validate Perkins’s view that narrative can function in powerful ways to form and disseminate religious selves and concepts.

I didn't know that there was an Acts of Thomas and his Wonderworking Skin.

Cross-file under Old Testament Apocrypha Watch and New Testament Apocrypha Watch.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

The second trumpet

I WAS EXPECTING AN EARTH-SHATTERING KABOOM: The Second Trumpet: A Mountain Thrown Into The Sea – Revelation 8:8-9. Over at the Reading Acts Blog, Phil Long continues his series on the seven angels of the Book of Revelation. This post is on the trumpet of the second angel.

I noted earlier posts in the series here and links.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE, see here and links and here.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Did that Western Wall ceremony violate social distancing rules?

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: U.S. Ambassador to Israel Prays at Western Wall in Violation of Coronavirus Guidelines. The prayer in which Ambassador David Friedman took part in included more than ten people. U.S. Embassy says he followed guidelines (Noa Landau and Josh Breiner, Haaretz premium).

The resolution in the photo for the first story I linked to was poor. It was hard to count the number present. But the photo in this article clearly shows more than ten people. If this article's account of the rules is accurate, they are not following the social distancing rules for public prayer. But I don't know how much the Israeli government is enforcing these rules in general.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Virtual exhibitions revisited

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Virtually Explore Holy Land Artifacts.

These look like some good online exhibitions.

I noted this column when it came out a couple of years ago. But BAS has just republished it. Current circumstances make it worth noting again.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Ben Ezra Synagogue in VR

CAIRO GENIZA WATCH: Ben Ezra synagogue is today’s virtual tour by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (Ahram Online).

With a breathtaking lack of common sense, this article neglects to give a link to the announced virtual tour. It took me some searching to find it on the Facebook site of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (scroll down on the timeline to 7 April). The tour seems to be posted on the website of the American Research Center in Egypt, although it displays no obvious link.

But fear not! You can access the virtual tour of the Ben Ezra Synagogue here.

Enjoy this and the many other online virtual tours while you stay home and stay safe.

The Ben Ezra Synagogue in Cairo is famous for its "Cairo Geniza," a repository of a thousand year's worth of worn Jewish manuscripts. The Geniza manuscript fragments are a precious primary source for Jewish history. They are as important for a later period as the Dead Sea Scrolls are for Second Temple Judaism.

For PaleoJudaica posts on the Ben Ezra Synagogue, see here and links. And for many, many posts on the Cairo Geniza and its manuscripts, see here and links and also here and links (cf. here and here).

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

On Passover, Zionism, and the Bar Kokhba Revolt

FOR PASSOVER: Passover, Bar Kochba and Zionism (Dr. Tuvia Book, Times of Israel Blogs).

In contrast to the tendency of the rabbinic tradition to gloss over the revolt, early Zionists eagerly seized on the story as proof that Jews, when faced with persecution, were capable of fighting for their dignity and self-respect.

The article does also bring in a Passover connection that isn't too far fetched.

For many, many past posts on Shimon Bar Kokhba and the Bar Kokhba Revolt of 132-135 CE, start here and follow the links. A few more recent posts with related content are here, here, and here. For a famous story about archaeologist Yigael Yadin, Bar Kokhba, and the President of Israel, see here and here.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

A woman on the road to Emmaus?

THE ANXIOUS BENCH: The Missing Woman of Emmaus [Link now fixed!] (Philip Jenkins).

Various moments of the Emmaus story are very frequently represented in art, and most follow this general theme. But here is the thing. The story tells of two people walking along, and then inviting a stranger to come back to the house where they live, and giving him a meal. In the context of the time, is it not very, very likely, to the point of certainty, that such a pair would in fact be a man and a woman, a married couple, who live in their house at Emmaus? Yet in the whole history of art, I know of vanishingly few depictions that actually show such a couple, as opposed to two men.

I looked up the passage in Luke 24 just now in the Revised Standard Version. It translate's Jesus' rebuke to the couple as "O foolish men ..." But the word "men" is not present in the Greek, and the grammar of the verse could refer to two men or to a man and a woman.

I first assumed that this was a holdover from the KJV, but in fact it translates the verse with the same ambiguity as the Greek. So do the NIV and the NRSV.

Belatedly for Easter.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Disinfecting Egypt's ancient religious sites

PANDEMIC PURGING: Egypt concludes sterilisation of major ancient religious sites. Egypt concluded the sterilisation of historical Islamic, Christian and Jewish religious sites nationwide under its campaign to disinfect all its museums and ancient sites (Ahram online).

But don't visit them yet! For now, stay home and visit the online tours mentioned in the final paragraph. More on those soon.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Easter 2020

HAPPY EASTER to all those celebrating. My 2016 Easter post contains links leading to biblical and related passages concerning Easter and to correct information on the origin of the word. And this post gives biblical references for the Passion narrative.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

The Nazareth inscription again

EPIGRAPHY AND MATERIAL CULTURE: Hi-tech test shatters claim ancient inscription is 1st proof of Christianity. Study indicates the marble bearing the ‘Nazareth Inscription,’ a mysterious 1st century text linked by some to Jesus’s resurrection, was quarried in Greece, not the Holy Land (Amanda Borschel-Dan, Times of Israel).

The headline, which I do not blame on the article's author, overstates the case.

The tests establish that the marble of the inscription came from the Greek island of Kos, not from Nazareth. This fails to support the claim that the inscription was produced (on imported stone) and displayed in Nazareth.

But that claim itself is tenuous. It is based on a brief provenance note left by a collector in 1925. In fact it's possible that the inscription is a nineteenth-century forgery. And even if it is genuine and it came from Nazareth, the idea that it reflects a knowledge of Jesus' empty tomb is speculative.

This is a very good article that sums up the latest on the Nazareth Inscription. Background here and links (cf. here).

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Mine blowing!

I WAS EXPECTING AN EARTH-SHATTERING KABOOM. AND I GOT ONE!

A few days ago I noted a report that Qasr al-Yahud, one of the possible sites for the baptism of Jesus, had been fully cleared of landmines. Nearly 500 of them were detonated at once. The mines were placed at the site just after the Six-Day War.

I inquired about video of the detonation event, and alert reader Yehoshua Rabinowitz has supplied me with a link. The Hebrew caption says, "IDF engineering forces detonated no less than 446 mines in the northern Dead Sea."

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Saving the Jewish Chronicle?

APPEAL: Will someone please save the Jewish Chronicle? - opinion. According to its statement, the weekly newspaper ‘will not be able to survive the impact of the current coronavirus epidemic in its current form’. In truth, its problems predate the pandemic (DAVID ISAACSON, Jerusalem Post).

Background here.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Western Wall priestly blessing downsized

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH, FOR PASSOVER: Passover blessing at Western Wall downsized due to coronavirus (Reuters). From 100,000 worshippers last year to 10 this year.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Jesus and Nazareth

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

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

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

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

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Overtoom, Reign of Arrows

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

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Wuppertal LXX conference postponed

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

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

AAR/SBL program book archive

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

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Cook on resurrection in the Mediterranean world

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

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

[...]

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

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

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

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Shankbone and egg

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

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

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

The first trumpet

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

Background here and links.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Jewish Chronicle and Jewish News going into liquidation

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

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

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

An ancient echo of a "virtual" seder?

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

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

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

[...]

Regarding that ancient echo:

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

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

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

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

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

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

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

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Wolters, Proverbs (LXX commentary)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Proverbs

A Commentary based on Paroimiai in Codex Vaticanus

Series: Septuagint Commentary Series

Author: Al Wolters

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

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

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Availability: Published
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Publication Date: 17 Mar 2020

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

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Qasr al-Yahud is de-mined

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

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

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

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

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

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

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Passover 2020

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

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

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Are the SWBTS DSS fragments fakes?

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

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

[...]

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

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

The angel of the censer

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

Background here.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Solace from ancient apocalyptic texts?

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

Cross-file under Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Watch.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

The beauty of the beloved

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

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

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

The seven angels of Revelation

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

Background here and here.

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SWBTS discontinues its archaeology program

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

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

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

[...]

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

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

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

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

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Gnosticism and those other Judean temples?

RELIGION PROF: Elephantine, Leontopolis, and Gnosticism. James McGrath provides some interesting links and comments.

For more on the Aramaic Elephantine papyri, written by Judeans in Egypt in the fifth century BCE, see here and many links. For more on the Temple of Onias at Leontopolis, Egypt, see here and links. For more on the recently discovered temple at Tel Moza (Tel Motza, Tel Moẓa, Tel Moẓah), see here and for the Canaanite temple at Lachish, see here. And for more on the question of ancient Jewish priestesses, see here.

I look forward to hearing more from Professor McGrath about his ideas connecting the Judean temples above with the origins of Gnosticism.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

MOTB seeks to repair its reputation

TRANSPARENCY: Bible Museum, Admitting Mistakes, Tries to Convert Its Critics. In acknowledging that many of its artifacts had tainted histories and that others were fake, the institution hopes candor will build trust (Tom Mashberg, NYT).

“The museum did come clean here,” said Christopher A. Rollston, an associate professor of Near Eastern languages and civilizations at George Washington University who reviewed the findings about the scrolls. “But the museum will need to continue to engage in this sort of openness if they are to demonstrate that they are fair brokers of the public trust.”

That about sums it up.

By the way, there is some confusion in the article about the cuneiform Gilgamesh fragment. It reports that it is a fragment of the Epic of Gilgamesh written in Sumerian.

The Gilgamesh Epic is in Akkadian (a Semitic language) not Sumerian. (Both languages were written cuneiform script on clay tablets.) Some Gilgamesh legends were written in Sumerian, but the Epic was not.

This is a fragment of the Gilgamesh Epic and it is written in Middle Babylonian (Akkadian). Details are here. The statement in the Times is a rather careless error.

According to the Times, this is one of the artifacts being returned because its provenance is "tainted." But this 2017 Science Magazine article reports the claim by a Museum representative that it was obtained from a private collector and that it had "clear provenance." I don't know what happened in the interim.

Background on the Museum of the Bible and the Green Collection is here and many links.

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Conference on Faith, Heresy, Magic

THE NSEA BLOG: CONFERENCE: FAITH – HERESY – MAGIC. This conference is scheduled to take place at Christian-Albrechts-Universität of Kiel in Germany in September. (Or October? Both are mentioned). In any case, hopefully things will settle down enough by then that it can proceed.

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The Assyrian New Year has been canceled in Syria.

CHALDO-ASSYRIAN WATCH: Assyrian new year canceled in Syria amid fear of coronavirus outbreak (Rana al-Ahmde, Al-Monitor). HT AINA.

The Akito (or Kha b-Nisan) normally occurs on 1 April and the celebrations last for some days. I noted it once some years ago here.

I only just found out that this holiday is a modern revival of the ancient Mesopotamian spring New Year, the Akitu Festival, on which more here and links.

Cross-file under Syriac Watch. For more holy days affected by the pandemic (pretty much all of them in April), see here.

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McGrath minute on Mandaeism and more!

RELIGION PROF.: Guest Lecture and Academic Minute on Mandaeism (James McGrath). Actually, Professor McGrath gives us more than an hour on the Mandeans in this blog post.

Cross-file under Mandean Watch (Mandaean Watch).

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The world's holy days in April are upended.

ADAPTATIONS: Coronavirus Is Upending Many Of The World's Biggest Religious Holidays. Nearly every major religion has an important holiday in April — which means it will be a month of surreal new changes for American believers (Carol Kuruvilla, HuffPost).

As Americans enter another month of fighting COVID-19, the country’s major religious groups are heading into one of the holiest seasons on their calendars. Nearly ever major American religious group has a holiday in April. Christians, Jews and Muslims, will observe Easter, Passover and Ramadan. Hindus honor the birth of the Lord Rama on Rama Navami this month. Buddhists who belong to the Jodo Shinshu tradition are preparing for Hanamatsuri, which celebrates the birth of the Buddha. Sikhs will commemorate Vaisakhi in recognition of the moment Sikhism was born as a collective faith. And at the end of April, Bahá’ís will celebrate Ridvan, to honor when their faith’s founder declared himself to be a manifestation of God.

In normal circumstances, these holidays would be occasions for large gatherings ― parades, concerts, packed houses of worship, living rooms full of visiting extended family and friends. But this year, the parades are canceled, pews will lie empty, and many people of faith are counting on watching livestreamed services while staying at home.

The article is about the major religions in American, but the points apply internationally. I was surprised to see how many of the world's religions have a significant celebration in April.

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"Three Ways to Look at the Ten Plagues"

PASSOVER IS COMING: Exodus in the Bible and the Egyptian Plagues. Can we make sense of the Biblical plagues? (Bible History Daily). Includes the complete 1990 BAR article "Three Ways to Look at the Ten Plagues" by Ziony Zevit.

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Biblical epic films for the holidays

NEWS YOU CAN USE: 6 biblical epics to stream for Easter and Passover (Dann Gire, Daily Herald).

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