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.
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Tuesday, April 14, 2020
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Monday, April 13, 2020
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).
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).
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
Sunday, April 12, 2020
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).
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."
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.
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.
Saturday, April 11, 2020
Jesus and Nazareth
NEW BOOK FROM ROUTLEDGE: Biblical story of Jesus possibly explained by excavations in his hometown of Nazareth (Owen Jarus, Live Science).
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.
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.
Friday, April 10, 2020
Cook on resurrection in the Mediterranean world
THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST TODAY: Resurrection in the Mediterranean World (John Granger Cook).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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