GSI Greek Psalter Project

TRINITY WESTERN UNIVERSITY: TWU scholar to lead significant Septuagint project.

TWU professor and Septuagint scholar Rob Hiebert, Ph. D., has been invited to serve as a supervisor for the Green Scholars Initiative’s (GSI) Greek Psalter Project. Hiebert, who has served as a Professor of Old Testament studies since 1998, is the Director of the University’s John William Wevers Institute for Septuagint Studies.

The GSI Greek Psalter Project is a collaborative undertaking focused on an important, well-preserved papyrus containing the text of Septuagint Psalms. Papyrus Bodmer XXIV, dating to the third or fourth century, contains Psalms 17-118 (according to Septuagint numbering) in a text form that is proving to be immensely valuable for reconstructing the original text of the Greek translator. A key aspect of this GSI project will be to prepare and publish a new edition of the papyrus text, one that both corrects the errors that appeared in the first edition in 1967, and that includes new material that did not make its way into that first edition.

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Although the project is sponsored by the Green Scholars Initiative, the subject of study, Papyrus Bodmer XXIV, is not part of the Green Collection. Background on the Green Collection is here and here and many links.

CORRECTION (18 July): Michael Holmes has written to tell me that Papyrus Bodmer XXIV is in fact in the Green Collection. Apologies for the error.

Gignoux, Mazdéens et chrétiens en terre d’Iran à l’époque sassanide

BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Zoroastrians and Christians in Sasanian Iran. Notice of a new book: Gignoux, Philippe. 2014. Mazdéens et chrétiens en terre d’Iran à l’époque sassanide. (Ed.) Matteo De Chiara & Enrico G. Raffaelli. (Serie orientale Roma 3). Roma: Scienze e Lettere.

Judean Desert flyover video

JAMES MCGRATH: Dead Sea Drone. Amir Aloni presents us with another of his excellent, unnarrated flyover videos, this one including the Dead Sea region and Masada. More here and links.

Ellis, The Hermeneutics of Divine Testing

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK:

The Hermeneutics of Divine Testing
Cosmic Trials and Biblical Interpretation in the Epistle of James and Other Jewish Literature

Nicholas Ellis examines the interplay present in early Jewish literature between authors' theological assumptions on divine agency in evil and their readings of biblical testing narratives. Ellis takes as a starting point the Epistle of James , and compares this early Christian work against other examples of ancient Jewish interpretation. Ellis shows how varying perspectives on the divine, satanic, and human roles of testing exercised a direct influence on the interpretation of popular biblical testing narratives such as Abraham and Isaac, Job, and the Trials in the Wilderness. Read in light of the broader Jewish literature, Ellis argues that the theology and hermeneutic found in the Epistle of James as such relate to divine testing are closely paralleled by the so-called 'Rewritten Bible' tradition. Within James' cosmic drama, God stands as righteous judge, with the satanic prosecutor indicting both divine integrity and human religious loyalty.

R.J. Zwi Werblowsky 1924-2015

SAD NEWS FROM H-JUDAIC: Obituary: Prof. R.J. Zwi Werblowsky.

H-Judaic is greatly saddened to learn of the passing of Prof. R.J.Zwi Werblowsky (1924-2015), a towering figure in the field of Comparative Religion, and a senior scholar and Dean for many years at the Hebrew University. Werblowsky burst upon the academic scene with his brilliant doctoral dissertation, published under the title LUCIFER AND PROMETHEUS: A STUDY OF MILTON'S SATAN (1952), with an introduction by C.G.Jung, but is best known to scholars of Judaica for his important biography of JOSEPH KARO: LAWYER AND MYSTIC and for his magnificent translation of Gershom Scholem's SABBATAI ZEVI: THE MYSTICAL MESSIAH. He also coedited the ENCYCLOPEDIA OF JEWISH RELIGION. ...

Parchments from Oxyrhynchus

BRICE C. JONES: Parchment Manuscripts Discovered at Oxyrhynchus. Most of the Oxyrhynchus texts are papyri (i.e., paper made from reeds), but there are a few parchments (made from animal leather. Brice Jones lists them here. There are a couple of New Testament manuscripts, one may be an otherwise unknown NT apocryphon, one is an amulet that quotes the NT, and another is a copy of LXX Genesis.

Much more on the Oxyrhynchus papyri can be found here and links.

The Temple Institute and the red heifer

CROWDSOURCING THE RED HEIFER: Raise a Red Heifer in Israel. The Temple Institute has set up an Indiegogo project for producing a herd of red heifers in preparation for the rebuilding of the Temple. Their goal is $125,000 and they have already raised nearly $10,500.

HT reader Yehoshua Rabinowitz.

We last saw the red heifer in a post on the television series Dig. We last saw the Temple Institute in a post about their gold-prospecting on Mount Eilat, and then before that in a post also about Dig. Follow the links there for more on them.

Regarding this project to rebuild the Temple, I seem to need to repeat myself endlessly: no excavation or building on the Temple Mount! Let's wait to study its contents until we have non-invasive and non-destructive technologies that allow us to study its contents without damaging the site or the buildings that are already there.

Isbell, "Emic or Etic?"

THE BIBLE AND INTERPRETATION:

Emic or Etic?
Interpreting the Hebrew Scriptures

A tangential issue that must be addressed is the idea that the negative language the gospels direct against Jews represents nothing more than a family squabble, or conflicts between different groups of first century Jews, and does not reflect Gentile Christians speaking ill of Jews. The evidence offered below indicates that the etic readings of Judaism by the writers of the Synoptic gospels were not part of either mainstream Judaism or any identifiable Jewish sub-group of the era. The ideology presented in these gospels is clearly Christo-centric, and the points being made far too often fit a Roman or Hellenistic context to sustain the idea that we are reading nothing more than the saga of some Jews involved in a petty dispute. In addition, the church fathers, who were certainly not Jewish, had no difficulty in using the NT to denigrate Judaism in a most derogatory fashion. This they could do without the necessity of rephrasing as Gentiles what they read in a Jewish New Testament. All they needed to do was to take seriously the NT on its own terms as they read and understood it. As it stood, it fit well with the decidedly non-Jewish world views and cultures of the church fathers.

See Also: How Jews and Christians Interpret Their Sacred Texts (Resource Publications, 2014).

By Charles David Isbell
Director of Jewish Studies
Louisiana State University
July 2015

Interesting perspective, but I would like to see some interaction with the Second Temple Jewish literature, notably the Qumran sectarian texts and the Enochic literature.

Holiday

I'M TAKING THE REST OF THE WEEK OFF to get out of St. Andrews, both to escape the British Open and to get some rest. I don't intend to keep up with news blogging while I'm away, unless someone finds the Ark of the Covenant or something. But I will try to post now and then, and I have already pre-posted lots of things, so do keep coming back as usual. Have a good week.

Good and bad vow-work-arounds in the Talmud

THIS WEEK'S DAF YOMI COLUMN BY ADAM KIRSCH IN TABLET: What’s Mine Is Mine and What’s Yours Is Mine, Too. Giving, taking, owning, donating, and other elements of property law, in this week’s ‘Daf Yomi.’

Reading Tractate Nedarim over the last several weeks, it has become clear that the rabbis of the Talmud walk a fine line when it comes to vows. On the one hand, they disapprove of the institution of vowing and offer many opportunities for a Jew to annul his or her vows. We saw, for instance, that a vow made in exaggerated terms, or one made in the heat of a business negotiation, can be canceled by the court. On the other hand, the rabbis do not want people to use deliberately dishonest means to get out of their own vows—for instance, by claiming that they didn’t use the words they seemed to use, but meaningless homonyms. After all, if people could get out of their vows so easily, it might have the perverse effect of making vowing more common—not to mention encouraging contempt for the law. Threading this needle—making it easy to get out of your vows, but not too easy—is an ongoing challenge for the rabbis.

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Earlier Daf Yomi columns are noted here and links.

More on Aksum

TRAVEL: AKSUM, HOME OF STUNNING ANCIENT CRAFTS (Mamo Gebrehiwot, Ethiosports). "Crafts" is a modest term for the massive stone monuments on the site. Aksum (Axum), in Ethiopia, has been getting quite a bit of media attention lately.

Background, including why PaleoJudaica is interested in the site, is here and links.

More mosaics at Huqoq

ANOTHER SITE THAT KEEPS ON GIVING: Unique Images Uncovered in Fifth-Century Synagogue (Archaeology Magazine).

This summer’s excavations have revealed images surrounding a dedicatory inscription that include animals, male figures supporting a garland, a rooster, and male and female faces in a wreath. There are also winged putti, or cupids, holding roundels with theater masks. The team also uncovered columns inside the synagogue that had been covered in plaster and painted ivy leaf designs.

The following article by Daryl Worthington at New Historian gives another detail or two (the dedicatory inscription mentioned above is in Hebrew) and some more background on other mosaic finds at Huqoq: Unique Mosaics Found in Synagogue in Galilee.

Background on Huqoq and its mosaics is here and many links.

Why the GJW is a fake

WORTH REPEATING: 5 Reasons Why the Gospel of Jesus' Wife Is a Fake (Simon J. Gathercole, Christianity Today). Regular readers of PaleoJudaica will be well familiar with all of these points, but Dr. Gathercole has done a service by gathering them all in one brief article.

Background here with oh so many links.

The Messiah and the Nephilim?

ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: No Fairy Tale: Will Giants Return to Usher in the Messianic Era? ( Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz, Breaking Israel News). Without endorsing this or any other eschatological scenario, I thought the mix of traditional sources cited in this essay was worth noting.

Lots more on the Zohar is here and links. The Zohar is written in the name of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai (Shimon ben Yohai), but was composed long after his time. An excellent collection of midrashic material by Jack Collins, relating to the Flood, the watchers, and the giants, is noted here. The Midrash of Shemihazai is to be translated in the second volume of the More Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Project, along with the rest of the Book of Giants material. More on Og the giant is here and links. The Nephilim have appeared frequently in PaleoJudaica and you can find the many posts through the search engine.

I have never before seen b. Sanhedrin 97a brought into the discussion of the Nephilim and I am skeptical that "Bar Nafli" has anything to do with them. It looks to me to be a messianic title based on the phrase "the fallen booth of David" in Amos 9:11. But I am willing to hear the case made if someone wants to make it.

Report on damage to Palmyra

PALMYRA WATCH: Palmyra: Heritage Adrift. A Special Report from the Association for the Protection of Syrian Archaeology (APSA) (Cheikhmous Ali, June 29, 2015). A report on damage to the site from February 2012 to June 2015. From the ASOR Syrian Heritage Initiative and the Association for the Protection of Syrian Archaeology. A downloadable pdf file.

Background on Palmyra is here and links.

"Please, do not steal antiquities!"

SOUNDS LIKE THEY WERE BAD LUCK: Ancient Roman Sling Stones Returned by Repentant Robber. 20 years after stealing 2,000-year-old sling stones, thief turns them in with note: 'they brought me nothing but trouble. Don't steal!' (Ari Yashar, Arutz Sheva).

In a surprising turn of events, an antiquities robber last week handed in two 2,000-year-old Roman sling stones that he had stolen 20 years ago, leaving them in the courtyard of the Museum of Islamic and Near Eastern Cultures in Be'er Sheva.

Amos Cohen, an employee of the museum, made the surprising discovery of the stones together with a typed note left by an anonymous individual in a bag in the courtyard.

"These are two Roman ballista balls from Gamla, from a residential quarter at the foot of the summit. I stole them in July 1995 and since then they have brought me nothing but trouble. Please, do not steal antiquities!," read the note from the repentant robber.

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Well, the thief did the right thing and I hope his or her luck improves now.

Arrests in the Church of Loaves and Fishes arson case

PROGRESS: Police Arrest Suspects in Church of Bread and Fish Arson (JNi.Media).

The arrests followed an intense, undercover investigation conducted by Internal Security (Shin Bet) and the special Nationalistic Crime unit of the Judea and Samaria police. The suspects were interrogated by the Shin Bet, and will be arraigned Sunday in Nazareth Magistrate Court. The police will request the suspects’ remand. A gag order has been imposed on the investigation and the identities of the suspects.

The Shin Bet and the police issued an edict preventing the suspects from meeting with a lawyer for five days. Attorneys Aaron Rosa and Adi Keidar from the Honenu legal aid organization have filed urgent appeals in both Magistrates and District courts in Jerusalem against the order.

I am glad that there is progress on the case, but if the article is accurate and the arrested suspects are being denied legal counsel, I find that disquieting and heavy handed. The vile nature of the crime should not have a deleterious effect on the civil rights of the accused, who, after all, should be assumed to be innocent until proven guilty in court.

Background here and here.

Name that Phoenician city

PHOENICIAN WATCH: The rise and fall of a forgotten Phoenician city (and its connection to the Israelites) (Ayelet Gilboa, Jerusalem Post). Looks like it started out as an Phoenician city until the Israelites took it over. By the way, as I think I've mentioned before, I was a lowly assistant square supervisor at Tel Dor during the 1987-88 seasons.

The site of Jesus' baptism? Maybe.

NOT SETTLED: UNESCO backs Jordan as Jesus’ baptism site as debate goes on (KARIN LAUB AND SAM MCNEIL, AP). UNESCO is being called out by archaeologists for taking a position on this archaeological debate. Readers of PaleoJudaica were already aware of the issue.

Aramaic death metal

ARAMAIC WATCH: KATAKLYSM: New Song 'Soul Destroyer' Available For Streaming (Blabbermouth.net).

Montreal-based death metallers KATAKLYSM will release new album, "Of Ghosts And Gods", on July 31 via Nuclear Blast. The cover artwork for the follow-up to "Waiting For The End To Come" was created by up-and-coming dark and macabre artist Art By Surtsey and can be seen below.

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According to KATAKYSM [sic], the "cover art echoes a sinister artwork depicting the reality of humanity's beautifully disturbing existence and its impending death through the mortal and the everlasting. The background shows an ancient Incantation written in Aramaic."

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I've been aware of this forthcoming album cover for some time, but until now none of the photos have been large enough for the incantation to be very visible. The photo in this article (follow the link above, bottom photo) is somewhat better, although I still cannot make out any connected sense. The upper image on the right shows a circular, spiralling text with a drawing in the middle, partially obscured by the bird's head, and another drawing at the top. The script looks like Syriac and the layout makes me think it is based on a Babylonian incantation bowl. (For comparison, see the image of a Syriac incantation bowl in the article linked to in the post immediately preceding this one.) Below this image is another inscription written in the square Hebrew script with a normal page layout. What little text I can make out does look like Aramaic. On the left is another spiral inscription with an image in the center, again probably based on an incantation bowl. The inscription is too blurred to read, but it is written in the square Hebrew script.

So I see three Aramaic inscriptions here rather than just one.

The streamed songs from the album are ... vigorous.

Death and black metal bands often draw on interesting ancient traditions. Relevant past posts are here, here (near the end), here, and here. And for lots more on Aramaic incantation bowls, see here and here and links.