Before the exile, Israelites and Judahites wrote in Old Hebrew script. During the Second Temple period, Aramaic script slowly replaces Old Hebrew to the extent that the rabbis even disqualify a Torah scroll written in Old Hebrew.
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David A. deSilva, Judea under Greek and Roman rule. Essentials of biblical studies. New York: Oxford University Press, 2024. Pp. 216. ISBN 9780190263256.I noted the publication of the book here.Review by
Gary Gilbert, Claremont McKenna College. gary.gilbert@claremontmckenna.eduFor some time now, it has been well-accepted that when studying biblical texts and the history of Jews and Christians in antiquity one should have a solid understanding of the context, or what often used to be referred to as the background, to these texts and history. One needed, therefore, a basic familiarity with the languages, history, literatures, and cultures of the contemporary societies, be they Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek, or Roman. David A. deSilva has taken this to heart, and produced an excellent primer on the history of Judea as part of the “larger story of the activities and interests of the Seleucid, Ptolemaic, Roman and Parthian empires” ...
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Whereas until now scholars have largely dated the texts based on their paleography — the shape of their lettering — the interdisciplinary research team started its study by carbon dating pieces of parchment from 30 of the scrolls held by the Israel Antiquities Authority.The underlying, open-access PLOS One article:Once these dates were procured, high-resolution images of the Hebrew and Aramaic lettering from the securely dated scrolls were fed into an AI data-prediction model whimsically named “Enoch.”
The Enoch model, using geometry-based character shape analysis to learn the paleographic characteristics of the timestamped scrolls, could then extrapolate their paleographic shapes and date other scrolls that have not yet undergone destructive radiocarbon testing.
The system was used to investigate high-resolution images of an additional 135 scrolls. When checked by human paleographers, Enoch’s suggested dating was found to be 79% accurate.
Dating ancient manuscripts using radiocarbon and AI-based writing style analysisThe article is quite technical, with a dozen appendices filling it out.Mladen Popović , Maruf A. Dhali, Lambert Schomaker, Johannes van der Plicht, Kaare Lund Rasmussen, Jacopo La Nasa, Ilaria Degano, Maria Perla Colombini, Eibert Tigchelaar
Published: June 4, 2025
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0323185Abstract
Determining by means of palaeography the chronology of ancient handwritten manuscripts such as the Dead Sea Scrolls is essential for reconstructing the evolution of ideas, but there is an almost complete lack of date-bearing manuscripts. To overcome this problem, we present Enoch, an AI-based date-prediction model, trained on the basis of 24 14C-dated scroll samples. By applying Bayesian ridge regression on angular and allographic writing style feature vectors, Enoch could predict 14C-based dates with varied mean absolute errors (MAEs) of 27.9 to 30.7 years. In order to explore the viability of the character-shape based dating approach, the trained Enoch model then computed date predictions for 135 non-dated scrolls, aligning with 79% in palaeographic post-hoc evaluation. The 14C ranges and Enoch’s style-based predictions are often older than traditionally assumed palaeographic estimates, leading to a new chronology of the scrolls and the re-dating of ancient Jewish key texts that contribute to current debates on Jewish and Christian origins.
Live Science has an article by Ben Turner which includes some critical commentary by epigrapher Christopher Rollston: AI analysis suggests Dead Sea Scrolls are older than scientists thought, but not all experts are convinced. An AI analysis of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which include texts from the Hebrew Bible, could mean they were composed earlier than experts thought. Professor Rollston is property cautious about the results and properly criticises some overly enthusiastic rhetoric about the research.
The most entertaining result of the research:
Nonetheless, Enoch also corroborates earlier paleography, notably for a scroll titled 4Q114, which contains three chapters from the Book of Daniel. Analysts initially estimated 4Q114's writing to have been inked during the height of the Maccabee uprising in 165 B.C. (a part of the Hanukkah story) due to its description of Antiochus IV's desecration of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. The AI model's estimate also falls within this range, between 230 B.C. and 160 B.C.I can't wait to see how this will be deployed by the early daters of the Book of Daniel.
If the paleographic profile of Second Temple-era Hebrew needs to be adjusted backwards by some decades, that could have historical implications. But let's see how well the research holds up. Enoch disagrees with expert human paleographers 79% of the time. That is, the paleographers thought Enoch gave unrealistically high or low dates about a fifth of the time. And Enoch has only an 85% overlap with the C-14 probability distributions. Neither sounds all that impressive to me, but the samples for the latter are small and the implications of the former are unclear.
I can't pretend to be able to follow the detailed mathematical data presented in the article. I leave it for others to comment on that.
We'll see. Watch this space.
PRE-POST UPDATE: I was about to post this when I found Brent Nongbri's post over at Variant Readings: New Radiocarbon Analysis of the Dead Sea Scrolls. He has some useful comments.
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Walter Brueggemann (1933-2025)Walter Brueggemann, born on March 11, 1933, died early in the morning on June 5, 2025.
A giant in the field of Old Testament scholarship, he outpaced all others in terms of his reach and scope. Brueggemann is often the only Old Testament scholar anyone knows by name, and this is no doubt due to his staggering literary output. A bibliography of his books runs to twenty pages and contains over 120 separate titles, over 40 of which appeared with Fortress Press. Most scholars, even prolific ones, aspire to three or four books in a career; Brueggemann published fourteen in his 90th and 91st years of age. It is not only the quantity that impresses; it is the quality. Several of these books changed and defined the field—though in Walter’s case, the field in question is actually plural, fields. He was one of a precious few who wrote easily and effectively for larger publics, especially Christian clergy and laypeople.
[...]
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Readers of the Lost ArkHaha clever title. For countless PaleoJudaica posts on the Ark of the Covenant, start here and just keep following those links.Imagining the Ark of the Covenant from Ancient Times to the Present
Kevin M. McGeough
$34.99
Hardcover
Published: 08 April 2025
264 Pages | 10 photos, 2 maps
6 1/8 x 9 1/4 inches
ISBN: 9780197653883Also Available As:
E-bookDescription
The sacred chest said to have been built by the Israelites to house the stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written, the Ark of the Covenant has long captured the popular imagination. According to the Bible, the Israelites carried it with them as they wandered in the wilderness and entered the promised land. After the Temple of Solomon was built, the Ark was kept in an inner sanctum where God made his divine presence felt to the Israelites. The Hebrew Bible is unclear about what happened to the Ark after the destruction of the temple and offers vague accounts of its function. Despite (or because of) this ambiguity, the Ark continues to hold an important place in Jewish and Christian tradition, even in its absence, and has led to much popular speculation. Widely imagined and re-imagined, it is perhaps today best known in popular culture as the object sought by Indiana Jones in the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark.
In Readers of the Lost Ark Kevin McGeough explores the different ways people have interpreted and made sense of the Ark from ancient times to the present, in biblical literature, theological discourse, art, popular film, travel souvenirs, toys, faith-healing events, and alternative histories. The book recounts stories of people who have sought to find the Ark of the Covenant and examines how the Ark takes on new meanings in Europe, North America, East Asia, Ethiopia, and the modern Middle East.
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Studies in Rabbinic Narratives, Volume 2
Jeffrey L. RubensteinISBN 9781967013005
Volume BJS 375
Status Available
Publication Date March 2025Paperback $80.00
eBook $80.00
Hardback $100.00Studies in Rabbinic Narratives, Volume 2 explores rabbinic narratives found in the Mishnah, Talmuds, and midrashim. Contributors use a variety of methods drawn from literary and cultural theory to address fundamental questions such as the relationship between stories and law, between aggadic narratives and their halakic contexts, and between rabbinic narratives and their Greco-Roman, Persian-Sasanian and Syrian-Christian contexts. The volume includes eleven studies by contributors Gila Fine, Matthew Goldstone, Chaya T. Halberstam, Jenny R. Labendz, Lynn Kaye, Admiel Kosman, Avi M. Miller, Aviva Richman, Jeffrey L. Rubenstein, Mira Beth Wasserman, and Shlomo Zuckier.
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Ancient Mythologies of the WildernessNarrative, Nature, and Religious Identity Formation from the Babylonians to the Late Antique Christians
Author: Laura Feldt, University of Southern Denmark
Published: April 2025
Availability: Available
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 9781009574549£90.00 GBP
HardbackDescription
Ancient wilderness mythologies have been criticised for their role in forming anthropocentric outlooks on the natural world, and idealising human separateness from the rest of the living world. Laura Feldt here challenges these ideas and presents a new approach to the question of the formative role of ancient wilderness mythologies. Analysing seminal ancient myths from Mesopotamia and ancient Jewish and Christian texts, she argues that these narratives do not idealise the destruction of and dominion over wildlands. Instead, they kindle emotions like awe and wonder at the wild powers of nature. They also provide a critical perspective on human societies and power and help form identities and experiences that resonate with the more-than-human world. Feldt also demonstrates how ancient wilderness mythologies played a decisive role in shaping the history of religions. As a sphere of intense emotion and total devotion, wilderness generates tendencies towards the individualisation and interiorisation of religion.
- Surveys theories of religion and wilderness, offering readers a fundamentally new approach to ancient wilderness mythologies
- Offers in-depth narrative analyses of ancient wilderness mythologies stretching from the 19th century BCE to the 6th century CE
- Argues that wilderness narratives play vital roles in articulating, framing and forming wild resonance experiences and the opacity of nature for humans
Product details
Published: April 2025
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 9781009574549
Length: 354 pages
Dimensions: 229 × 152 × 24 mm
Weight: 0.625kg
Availability: Available
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The Prophet Is the People: An Answer to "Why Elijah?" in Second Temple Jewish and Early Christian LiteratureThis book is Dr. Hein's revised Ph.D. thesis completed at the University of St. Andrews.Series: Vetus Testamentum, Supplements, Volume: 199
Author: Alicia R. Hein
The question of why the prophet Elijah comes to hold such enduring significance in early Jewish and Christian tradition has previously remained largely unaddressed. Why is it Elijah, as opposed to any other prophet of the Hebrew tradition, who is associated with Israel’s future restoration? Why is his return predicted by the book of Malachi? Why are both Jesus and John the Baptist associated with Elijah in the New Testament Gospels? This study argues that Elijah’s literary character is portrayed and received throughout early Jewish and Christian literature as the paradigmatic prophet who simultaneously embodies the righteous people of God, and thereby, by his ongoing life, ensures a remnant’s survival and restoration.
Copyright Year: 2025
E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-73469-2
Publication: 28 Apr 2025
EUR €109.00Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-72976-6
Publication: 08 May 2025
EUR €109.00
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Tony Burke is on research sabbatical for the 2024-25 academic year at the University of Regensburg in Germany.
Tony reports that in May he visited Athens and Santorini, etc., he attended the annual meeting of the North American Patristics Society in Chicago, and he was briefly detained by the U.S. Government, out of abundance of caution, as a possible like-named "criminal mastermind or something."
For earlier posts in the series and more on Tony's work, see here and links.
Cross-file under New Testament Apocrypha Watch.
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Ezekiel Traditions in the Second Temple Period4QWords of Ezekiel in Its Broader Context
Series:
Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah, Volume: 151Author: Anna Shirav Hamernik
This volume offers a fresh perspective on the composition 4QWords of Ezekiel found at Qumran, and the development and transmission of the textual traditions associated with the prophet Ezekiel during the Second Temple period. As the first comprehensive monograph on this composition, it explores the intricate relationship between WoEzek and the scriptural Book of Ezekiel. The study suggests that WoEzek, through its unique structural framework and selected oracles, reflects how Ezekiel’s visions were interpreted during the Second Temple period. By placing WoEzek within its broader literary and historical context, the analysis challenges traditional views on this composition and highlights the significance of Ezekiel's prophecy in the evolution of apocalyptic literature. This resource is ideal for scholars and graduate students in Biblical Studies and Second Temple literature, especially those interested in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Ezekiel’s prophetic writings.
Copyright Year: 2025
E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-72558-4
Publication: 28 Apr 2025
EUR €124.00Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-72557-7
Publication: 01 May 2025
EUR €124.00
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Exactly 25 years ago, in the year 1990, a mosaic was discovered on a farm near the ruins of Be'er Shema, south of Kibbutz Urim, and it was extraordinarily beautiful.Now after being dug up again, cleaned, restored and relocated, the Be'er Shema (or Birsama) mosaic with no less than 55 medallions has been presented to the public in all its glory for the first time. It can be experienced at the Merhavim Regional Council complex, located in the western Negev, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Tuesday.
[...]
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Josephus and JesusRoger Pearse has already posted some preliminary comments on the book and the problem it addresses: T. C. Schmidt, “Josephus & Jesus: New Evidence for the One Called Christ”New Evidence for the One Called Christ
T. C. Schmidt
£99.00
Hardback
Published: 03 June 2025
336 Pages | 14 Illustrations
234x156mm
ISBN: 9780192866783Also Available As:
E-book Open AccessDescription
This book brings to light an extraordinary connection between Jesus of Nazareth and the Jewish historian Josephus. Writing in 93/94 CE, Josephus composed an account of Jesus known as the Testimonium Flavianum. Despite this being the oldest description of Jesus by a non-Christian, scholars have long doubted its authenticity due to the alleged pro-Christian claims it contains. This book, however, authenticates Josephus' authorship of the Testimonium Flavianum and reveals a startling observation: Josephus was directly familiar with those who put Jesus on trial. Consequently, Josephus would have had access to highly reliable information about the man from Nazareth. The book concludes by describing what Josephus tells us about the Jesus of history, his miracles, and his resurrection.
An open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence.
T. C. Schmidt has bravely added to the bibliography on the so-called Testimonium Flavianum in Josephus, with a new book through Oxford University Press, titled: “Josephus & Jesus: New Evidence for the One Called Christ.” The author makes the case that this much-discussed passage is “substantially authentic.” In doing so he responds to recent scholarship on the subject, some of which has been unduly sceptical. ...The most recent substantial work on the Testimonium Flavianum of which I was aware before this was by Ken Olsen, who argued that it was composed entirelyby Eusebius. Now T. C. Schmidt argues that it is "substantially authentic." And others have argued for many possibilities in between.
My own working hypothesis has become that we haven't a clue how much, if any, of the paragraph is genuine. And, barring welcome but unlikely new manuscript discoveries, we probably never will know.
PRE-POSTING UPDATE: I understand from a note from reader Stephen Goranson that, in a new commentary on Antiquities 18-20, Daniel R. Schwartz takes a intermediate position, finding some Christian interpolations in the paragraph. I'm really busy now, but I will noted Schwartz's book in more detail when I get a chance.
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Eelco Glas, Flavius Josephus' self-characterisation in first-century Rome. A historiographical analysis of autobiographical discourse in the Judaean War. Historiography of Rome and its empire, 19. Leiden: Brill, 2024. Pp. 285. ISBN 9789004697638.I noted the publication of the book here.Review by
William den Hollander, Canadian Reformed Theological Seminary. wdenhollander@crts.ca... Eelco Glas rightly treats the Judaean War as a sophisticated work of literature that has been carefully crafted to communicate to a concrete historical audience in a unique cultural context, first-century Rome. His careful historiographical analysis of Josephus’ autobiographical discourse makes it abundantly clear that Josephus’ writings need to be understood as complex rhetorical texts with their own structure, themes, and purposes, and that, consequently, they cannot simply be looked or sifted through to discover the ‘historical Josephus,’ an approach that has usually resulted in condemnation of his character. ...
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Abstract: This position paper issues a call for editors and publishers with oversight over peer-reviewed publications of inauthentic post-2002 Dead Sea Scroll-like fragments to embark on the processes that would consider (and likely result in) retraction. By common consent, findings in the publications identified in this essay are unreliable at best; many present material subsequently deemed falsified. Retraction is the proper and justified measure to take regarding these publications in order to correct the academic record and alert any and all potential readers to the untrustworthy nature of their content.For related PaleoJudaica posts regarding biblical-related forgeries and the like, follow the links here and here, and see also and here.
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Egypt has reaffirmed its unwavering commitment to safeguarding the Monastery of Saint Catherine of Sinai, emphasizing that a recent court ruling has further solidified its protected status.This story made a splash last week, but I'm only getting to it now.Cairo said that the court ruling, which was mistakenly interpreted as a prelude to the seizure and closure of the world’s oldest continuously functioning Christian monastery, does the exact opposite: It safeguards its future.
[...]
I don't really understand what was going on. That is, I don't know whether this legal ruling opens the door to the seizure of the site from the monks (the original media narrative) or closes that door and protect the site. Or whether that depends on its intepretation. I don't know where to read the actual ruling and I doubt I could be confident of understanding all its implications anyway.
But in any case, it appears that the Egyptian Goverment recognized that the story was getting a lot of bad publicity, so they stepped in to assure the Monastery that it was safe. There are more details of the Government's respose here.
I commend the Egyptian Government for clarifying its position. They clearly understand the reputational damage that would result from any effort to interfere with the long-established operations of Saint Catherine's Monastery.
But let's do keep an eye on this and make sure they stick to it.
For many PaleoJudaica posts on Saint Catherine's Monastery and its important collection of manuscripts, start here and follow the links.
PRE-POSTING UPDATE: As I was about to post this I found a post by Luke Coppen in his Substack, The Pillar: What’s happening at Egypt’s St Catherine’s Monastery? A controversial court ruling over the ownership of the ancient monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai has caused outcry. He seems to have more information on the Egyptian ruling, based on Greek media. He says:
On May 28, the Egyptian Court of Appeals issued a ruling widely interpreted as declaring the monastery state property, while recognizing the monks’ right to perform their religious duties at the site.I can't vouch for his assessment, having not seen the information directly. But I was worried about this. If the ruling is actually this complicated, then how it is implemented is a matter of goodwill. So, as I said above, let's keep an eye on the situation.But the 160-page text was of such complexity that even legal professionals struggled to grasp it fully.
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The “Damascus Crowns” are some of the oldest Torah manuscripts in existence, featuring cantillation marks, vowel notation, and intricate masoretic commentary. They were preserved for generations in Damascus synagogues and were smuggled out using creative and covert methods.For more on the Crowns of Damascus—eleven very early vocalized Hebrew Bible manuscripts—see here and links. For a summary overview of their story, see this Chabad essay by Yehudis Litvak: The Untold Story of the Crowns of Damascus.
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Travelers who visit the springs of Paneas in the Hermon Stream Nature Reserve in Northern Israel, at the foot of Mt. Hermon, are amazed by the cliff, water, and forest scenery. However, the most impressive feature of that landscape is a big natural cave on the cliff, which, during the Hellenistic and Roman periods, was associated with the cult of Pan, the god of the wild and shepherds.For more on Herod Agrippa II and his Pan sanctuary at Paneas (a.k.a. Bania), see here and links.[...]
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H-Judaic is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Prof. Leonard J. Greenspoon (1945-2025), Klutznick Chair (emeritus) at Creighton University, Omaha, where he also served as Professor of Classical and Near Eastern Studies and Theology.Lennie was a great guy, always full of good cheer, and an accomplished Septuagint scholar and expert on the history of Jewish Bible translations. May his memory be for a blessing.[...]
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Last year's Shavuot post is here, linking back to previous years' posts. For biblical references, see here.
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