Operation "Rising Lion" and Balaam's oracle

THAT'S IN THE BIBLE: 'Rising Lion': How an Ancient Blessing Became Modern Israel's Battle Cry. The 12-day war between Iran and Israel was dubbed Am KeLavi in Hebrew, an example of linguistic archaeology in action (Ariel David, Haaretz).

The name Am KeLavi derives from Numbers 23:24, where the prophet Balaam declares: "הן עם כלביא יקום ומצא כליש ישתה" ("Behold, a people rises like a lion, and lifts itself up like a young lion"). ...

The operation's name illustrates Hebrew's unique capacity to collapse temporal boundaries. Languages typically evolve through gradual change, with ancient vocabulary becoming archaic and eventually unintelligible. Hebrew's peculiar history – its suspension as a spoken language for nearly 17 centuries followed by systematic revival – created different possibilities. Contemporary Hebrew speakers can employ biblical vocabulary with the same immediacy their ancestors used, creating what linguists call "synchronic archaism" – the use of genuinely ancient language in thoroughly modern contexts.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the Balaam inscription from Tel Deir 'Alla (Deir Alla), see here and links.

Balaam's biblical oracles have been influential. For use in the Dead Sea Scrolls, see here. For Balaam's influence generally in antiquity, see here. And the star that the magi followed to Bethlehem in the Gospel of Matthew arguably arose (so to speak) from a midrashic intepretation of Balaam's oracle in Numbers 24:17, "A star shall come forth (or *"rise") out of Jacob." See here and links, plus here, and here.

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

200K visitors to Reagan Library's DSS exhibit

EXHIBITION: Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition in Ventura County welcomes 200,000th visitor (Lance Orozco, KCLU).

The Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition opened at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley last November and will close on September 2. It’s the first time the scrolls have been in the U.S. in more than a decade.

The Dead Sea Scrolls always draw a lot of visitors.

For PaleoJudaica posts on this exibition, start here and follow the links.

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

Candido, Studies on the Old Latin of the Book of Esther (Peeters)

NEW BOOK FROM PEETERS PRESS:

Studies on the Old Latin of the Book of Esther

SERIES:
Contributions to Biblical Exegesis & Theology, 102.2

AUTHOR:
Candido D.

PRICE: 65 euro

YEAR: 2025
ISBN: 9789042955233
PAGES: VI-170 p.

SUMMARY:

The book of Esther is a kind of ‘laboratory’ for the study of the Textual Criticism of the Old Testament because of the diversity and complexity of its ancient textual witnesses. This volume complements the Synopsis of the Book of Esther (CBET 102.1), which presents a parallel comparison between the Masoretic Text, the Old Greek, the Alpha Text, the Old Latin, the Vulgate and Josephus’ Jewish Antiquities. Referring to the readings highlighted in the synopsis, the essays in this volume focus on the Old Latin in order to show its distinctive features and its role in the history of the transmission of the book of Esther.

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

"What is a god ..." series

THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST TODAY has been running an informative series by Michael B. Hundley on what a god is in the ancient Near East. I noted the first essay here, then lost track of the series. The remaining essays are as follows:

What is a God in the Hebrew Bible? Part I: The Divine Cast of Characters

What is a God in the Hebrew Bible? Part 2: Characteristics and Hierarchy

From Monolatry to Monotheism: The Changing Face of the Biblical Pantheon

This series is a thoughtful and wide-ranging account of divinities in the ancient Near East and in the Hebrew Bible. Well worth the read.

The series ends with the New Testament period. There's more to say about the development of divinities in the Second Temple era. Notably, there is the origin of demons as the disembodied spirits of the giants killed in Noah's Flood. These giants in turn were the hybrid divine-human offspring of the mating of the angelic Watchers with human women (cf. Genesis 6:1-4 and the story in the Book of Watchers in 1 Enoch 1-36).

The category of fallen angels, such as the Watchers (also cf., e.g., Matthew 25:41, Revelation 12:4, 7), is a different one from the demons.

I discuss the Watchers-giants-demons tradition in detail in my article introducing the ancient Book of Giants, published in MOTP2 and reprinted online here. And for some addition informed speculation about the use of ancient Near Eastern divinity traditions (about Baal) in this late period, see here.

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

People re-inhabited post-eruption Vesuvius

VESUVIUS WATCH: Life After Vesuvius: Archaeologists Uncover Post-eruption Return to Pompeii. The ancient Romans attempted to rebuild after the disaster of 79 C.E., and continued to eke out a post-apocalyptic living among the ruins of Pompeii for centuries, archaeological finds show (Ariel David, Times of Israel).

In the aftermath of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 C.E., the once-bustling city of Pompeii was a smoldering landscape of ash covering wrecked buildings and decomposing corpses. But life, as the saying goes, found a way.

Either by choice or because they had nowhere else to go, people returned and continued to live for at least four centuries among the ruins of Pompeii, Italian archaeologists say. A new dig at the magnificently preserved Roman site has uncovered evidence of this post-eruption existence, showing that Pompeii never went near its former grandeur, but also didn't completely disappear.

[...]

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE and its destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum, and, notably, on the efforts to reconstruct and decipher the carbonized library at Herculaneum, start here and follow the links. For posts that are more archaeology and history related, see here and links.

For more research on the survivors of the eruption, see here and here.

The 1946th anniversary of the eruption of Vesuvius will be on 26th August 2025. For more on Pliny the Elder's daring rescue mission, which may have cut the death toll at Pompeii by as much as half, see there and here and links.

For evidence for a Jewish presence at ancient Pompeii, see here and follow the links.

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

Deuteronomy's antecedents and influences

PROF. TAMAR KAMIONKOWSKI: Deuteronomy: Canonizing Interpretation (TheTorah.com).

Deuteronomy describes itself as the words of Moses expounding upon revelation. At the same time, it commands that all Israelites—including the king—learn Moses’ words exactly and never add to or subtract from them, even though Deuteronomy itself reworks earlier texts such as the Covenant Collection in Exodus. Despite this attempt to establish final authority, Deuteronomy undergoes the same process it models: it is combined with other texts and reinterpreted by later works such as Ezra–Nehemiah.

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

Zoom course: The Land of Israel in the Religious Imagination

MICHAEL L. SATLOW: The Land of Israel in the Religious Imagination.

This fall I will be teaching the course “The Land of Israel in the Religious Imagination: From Antiquity to the Present” as a continuing education course. It is open to all and will have a hybrid format. You can attend in person in Providence or over Zoom from elsewhere. It is open to all. To register, follow the instructions on the flyer.

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

Tu B'Av 2025, belatedly

THE FESTIVAL OF TU B'AV was on the 8th-9th of August this year. Best wishes to all those who celebrated.

Tu B'Av (which just means the 15th day of the month of Av) is an ancient matchmaking festival. Its first mention is in the Mishnah (Ta’anit 4). It has been revived in recent years as a kind of Jewish Valentine's Day.

For past posts on it, see here and links.

Excuse my tardiness. The holiday overlapped with birthday celebrations and I was distracted.

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

Leung Lai, Ecclesiastes (SBL)

NEW BOOK FROM SBL PRESS:

Ecclesiastes
Barbara M. Leung Lai

ISBN 9781914490484
Status Available
Publication Date October 2024
Hardback $70.00

For readers of Ecclesiastes, the first impressions of the book can be perplexing, paradoxical, elusive and pessimistic. First-time readers may be discouraged to engage in understanding this difficult and strange book. Yet, against our collective lived experience under the sun, there are others who find this book ‘on the meaning of life’ exceptionally intriguing and inviting. The ‘search’ for a fitting reading strategy to unpack the complexity of the book; and a logical structure amidst the fragmented, thinking-out-loud mode of expressions presents a great challenge to all commentators.

To address these challenges, this commentary distinguishes itself on three grounds. First, Barbara Leung Lai intentionally hammers out a five-fold interconnected perspectival reading strategy toward interpretation: as a ‘Grand Narrative’ of all humanity; as a multi-voiced book; as a dialectic composition; as an enriched whole through reading ‘cross the grains’; and as a ‘memoir’. This approach to reading Ecclesiastes opens an expanded window of perception toward interpretation.

Second, she foregrounds the five identifiable voices embedded in this polyphony: i.e. the voice of the narrator, the ‘I’-voice of the Preacher/Qohelet, Qohelet’s ‘inner voice’, the collective voice of wisdom, and the voice of the epilogist. The result of this innovative task provides for us a comprehensive, sensible, and cohesive analytical outline demonstrating the trajectory of the flow of thought within the twelve chapters.

Third, in keeping with the objective of the Readings series (for first-time commentary readers of Ecclesiastes), Leung Lai invites all readers to read and practise hearing this polyphonic text self-engagingly. Be encouraged and empowered to develop our own readerly interpretive voice.

In terms of the originality of its five-fold approach to reading and its structural outline based on multi-voice analysis, this commentary is a groundbreaking endeavour—a fresh and invigorating read for all readers.

SBL Press is the North American distributor for Sheffield Phoenix Press. Customers outside of North America can purchase this book directly from Sheffield Phoenix by clicking here.

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

Schiffman, Sources and Interpretations (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Sources and Interpretations

Studies in Ancient Jewish History, Literature, and Religion.

Series: The Brill Reference Library of Judaism, Volume: 78

Author: Lawrence H. Schiffman

This volume brings together over fifty of Schiffman’s Studies on Ancient Judaism that have helped to shape this emerging field. Throughout, these studies display a wide-ranging perspective, bringing together all kinds of sources, written or archaeological, to illuminate ancient Judaism and its complex history. Topics explored include the history of the Jews and Judaism in Late Antiquity, the Bible in Jewish tradition, ancient Jewish thought, law, and liturgy, magic and mysticism, relation of the Dead Sea Scrolls to Rabbinic Literature, Judean Desert texts, and Judaism and Christianity. The volume concludes with studies of the work of several modern rabbis and academic scholars.

Copyright Year: 2025

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-71572-1
Publication: 16 Jun 2025
EUR €183.00

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-71571-4
Publication: 26 Jun 2025
EUR €183.00

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

A rediscovered Coptic-era city in Egypt

COPTIC ARCHAEOLOGY WATCH: From Pagan Temples to Coptic Prayers: New Discovery Sheds Light on Early Christianity in Egypt (Jerusalem Post Staff).

Archaeologists working in the Bagawat necropolis, which contains 263 standing structures behind the Hibis Temple, uncovered mud-brick houses, tombs, two churches, wall paintings, large pottery jars for grain, cooking ovens, pottery and glass fragments, stone pieces, and burial spaces—evidence of a self-sustaining desert community.

The larger church followed a basilica plan with a central nave, side aisles, square columns, and a hall that suggested the community’s status. The second, smaller and rectangular, bears Coptic texts on its interior walls. A mural shows Jesus healing a sick person, while other chapel domes display Torah scenes. Thousands of inscriptions in Greek, Latin, Coptic, and Arabic span several centuries.

Another lost city in Egypt?

It sounds like this site at the Kharga Oasis is important for the study of the rise of late-antique Coptic Christianity.

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

Update on the Critical Edition of the Hebrew Psalter Project

THE OTTC BLOG: CEHP Transcription Update (Drew Longacre).

For more on the Critical Edition of the Hebrew Psalter Project, see here, here, and here. It is good to hear that it has received new funding and it can continue.

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

Bruce Chilton's Bible and Interpretation essays

THE BIBLE AND INTERPRETATION: Writings of Bruce Chilton.

Since the launch of The Bible and Interpretation in 2000, Bruce Chilton has been a leading contributor to the site. In recognition of his outstanding scholarship and his invaluable contributions over the past 25 years, we are pleased to honor him with a curated list of his articles.

That is, his articles at The Bible and Interpretation.

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

Aramaic epitaph discovered in the sword cave

ARAMAIC WATCH: ‘Abba of Naburya has perished’: Unique 1,900-year-old inscription found in Dead Sea cave. Four-line Aramaic text, one of the few legible inscriptions from the era, may be tied to the Bar Kochba Revolt. The words were spotted only inches away from hidden Roman swords (Rossella Tercatin, Times of Israel).

“Abba of Naburya has perished,” the first line reads. Only isolated words or letters in the additional three lines have been deciphered, including the words “on us,” “he took,” and “the.”

The inscription was discovered in a cave near the Ein Gedi National Park in the Dead Sea region. The cave was already known to archaeologists as it contains a stalactite with a fragmentary ink inscription written in ancient Hebrew script characteristic of the First Temple period.

The inscription sounds poignant. During the Bar Kokhba Revolt, the Romans sometimes besieged groups of rebels in caves until they starved. The Cave of Horror contained what appear to be similar epitaphs on ostraca and parchment associated with graves there. If the inscription dates to this revolt, it may have a like context.

For more on that Hebrew inscription in this cave and the four swords found near the two inscriptions, see here.

Cross-file under Northwest Semitic Epigraphy and Technology Watch..

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

The Talmudic sages and late-antique viticulture

TALMUD WATCH MEETS ARCHAEOBOTANY: Talmudic sages were active participants in ancient Mediterranean wine culture. According to a new study, the sages "sought ways to allow Jewish farmers to remain part of the wine industry without compromising Halacha” (Joanie Margulies, Jerusalem Post).

The researchers used an interdisciplinary approach, combining textual analysis of rabbinic literature like the Mishna, the Tosefta, and the Jerusalem Talmud with archaeological evidence and Classical Greek and Latin agricultural treatises. This integration of evidence demonstrated the sages’ deep familiarity with vineyard planning and growing techniques.

A key finding of the study was that the distances mandated by the sages between vine rows to prevent crossbreeding were “nearly identical” to those found in Classical-era vineyards in Italy and France.

The underlying article is published in the Journal of Interdisciplinary History. It is behind the subscription wall.

Mediterranean Viticulture in Late Antique Palestine

Shulamit Miller, Guy Bar-Oz, Eyal Ben-Eliyahu, Gil Gambash The Journal of Interdisciplinary History (2025) 56 (1): 43–79. https://doi.org/10.1162/jinh.a.3

Abstract

Viticulture in Late Antiquity was a widespread, economically vital, and regionally diverse form of horticulture in the Mediterranean world, and archaeological and textual sources such as rabbinical literature shed light on viticulture, particularly in Palestine. Vineyard cultivation was shaped by local geography, climate, and religious norms, with techniques ranging from dryland farming to terracing, and from small plots to industrial-scale wine production. Rabbinical texts highlight Jewish legal and theological concerns—such as prohibitions on mixed planting and non-kosher wine—yet also show that rabbis operated within a shared Mediterranean viticultural koiné. Despite religious distinctions, vintners engaged in trade, adapted common practices, and contributed to a vibrant, interconnected viticultural economy. This article’s multidisciplinary perspective positions Palestine as a fully integrated participant in Late Antique Mediterranean wine culture, with its own regional adaptations shaped by religious, economic, and environmental factors.

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

The fate of the Crosby-Schøyen Codex

IT BELONGS IN A MUSEUM. AND THAT'S WHERE IT IS: The Anonymous Buyer of One of World’s Oldest Books? The Green Collection. Scholars worried that the text had disappeared from the public, but the Crosby-Schøyen Codex is now on display at the Museum of the Bible (Emily Belz, Christianity Today).

The buyer of one of the oldest books in existence is no longer anonymous, and the book is viewable by the public after scholars fretted that it had disappeared into unknown private hands.

The Green Collection, connected to the Museum of the Bible, revealed that it purchased the Crosby-Schøyen Codex, which contains what is perhaps the earliest complete versions of Jonah and 1 Peter, at an auction last year.

[...]

HT Brent Nongbri at Variant Readings.

This is very good news!

We last saw the Coptic Crosby-Schøyen Codex when it was sold at a Christie's auction in June of 2024. For many PaleoJudaica posts, follow the links from there. Two substantive posts are here and here.

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

Greek Matthew and 6 Ezra fragments from Oxyrhynchus

VARIANT READINGS: New Article on P.Oxy. 1 2 and P.Oxy. 7 1010 (Brent Nongbri).

Behind the bland title of Brent's post lies a very interesting article on two long-known manuscripts that deserve more attention:

AnneMarie [Luijendijk] and I gave a general overview of Christian codices among the Oxyrhynchus papyri and then focused on two pieces, P.Oxy. 1 2, a papyrus bifolium containing the beginning of the Gospel According to Matthew in Greek and P.Oxy. 7 1010, a parchment leaf from a codex containing 6 Ezra.

The Matthew papyrus is dated to the third century and is of interest to New Testament scholars.

The second manuscript is of particular interest to PaleoJudaica. The full text of 6 Ezra is known only in a Latin translation appended to the Latin version of 4 Ezra. This Latin combination of 4-5-6 Ezra is known as 2 Esdras. This small, late-antique parchment fragment preserves the little that we have of the Greek original of 6 Ezra.

This open-access article gives background on Christian papyri from Oxyrhynchus. It discusses the details of this manuscript and explores the question of its provenance (Jewish or Christian). The authors also argue that the manuscript was a stand-alone one containing only 6 Ezra. This is an important datum for questions about the text's origin, transmission, and attachment to 4-5 Ezra. The article also points to an intriguing reference to a copy of an Ezra book–conceivably this very manuscript—in a fourth-century personal letter, also discovered at Oxyrhynchus.

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

Conference: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Apocalypticism in the 7th-9th Centuries

H-JUDAIC: EVENT: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Apocalypticism in the 7th-9th Centuries (September 1-3).

Conference
Date September 1, 2025 - September 3, 2025
Location United Kingdom
Subject Fields Jewish History / Studies

Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Apocalypticism in the 7th-9th Centuries
Parkes Institute for the Study of Jewish/non-Jewish Relations, University of Southampton
1-3 September 2025
All times are British Summer Time or UTC+1

The conference marks the final event of a funded project examining apocalyptic literature of Jews, Christians, and Muslims in this formative period of contact and conflict. The aim is to bring together scholars from different disciplines to inspire innovative discussion about the nature of apocalypticism and Jewish-Christian-Muslim relations at the emergence of Islam.

Follow the link for the conference schedule and free online-attendance registration information. It's not clear to me whether registration for in-person attendance is still possible.

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

More on the possible synagogue in Castulo

ARCHAEOLOGY UPDATED: Study suggests 4th-century prayer site may be one of Spain’s earliest synagogues. Oil lamps decorated with menorahs and architectural evidence uncovered in the Roman city of Castulo suggest that the building was not a church, but served as Jews’ place of worship (Rossella Tercatin, Times of Israel).

A 4th-century building in the Ibero-Roman city of Cástulo in south-central Spain, traditionally interpreted by experts as an early Christian church, might have instead been a synagogue, a group of Spanish archaeologists has argued.

[...]

I've covered this story and the underlying technical article already here. But this article includes some new details from an email interview with an excavator.

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

Ezra and Nehemiah pseudepigrapha?

AN EXPERIMENT:

There are a number of Old Testament pseudepigrapha associated with the name of Ezra: 4 (5-6) Ezra, Greek/Latin Apocalypse of Ezra, Apocalypse of Sedrach(?), Vision of Ezra, Questions of Ezra, Revelation of Ezra. Yet no pseudepigrapha survive which are attributed to his contemporary Nehemiah. Not one.

Why?

What do you think? Comments enabled.

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