Evans et al. (eds.), Visions and Violence in the Pseudepigrapha (T&T Clark)

NEW BOOK FROM BLOOMSBURY/T&T CLARK:

Visions and Violence in the Pseudepigrapha

Craig A. Evans (Anthology Editor), Brian Leport (Anthology Editor), Paul T. Sloan (Anthology Editor)

Hardback
$115.00 $103.50

Ebook (PDF)
$103.50 $82.80

Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
$103.50 $82.80

Product details

Published Dec 16 2021
Format Hardback
Edition 1st
Extent 280
ISBN 9780567703217
Imprint T&T Clark
Dimensions 9 x 6 inches
Series Jewish and Christian Texts
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

Description

The nine essays that make up this volume provide cutting-edge studies of how sacred tradition is given new expression through vision and interpretation. The first four essays focus on the expansion of the sacred tradition primarily through vision. The evolution of the Solomon legacy, from wise king to healer and exorcist, is explored, as well as its contribution to the demonology of the desert fathers, especially as it concerns eroticism and sexual temptation. The varied receptions of the Revelation of the Magi and Shepherd of Hermas are also considered.

The remaining five essays address important questions relating to polemic and violence in the Pseudepigrapha. How does the author of the Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum justify God's alternating judgment and favor? How does Enoch's Animal Apocalypse make use of the Exodus tradition in its expression of deliverance? On what basis can the author of Qumran's War Scroll confidently predict Israel's vindication? And finally, what accounts for the appearance of the tradition of Gehenna, in which the wicked will meet their fiery end?

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The Books of Haggai and Zechariah in their Persian Context

THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST TODAY: Visions from the Middle Territory: The Books of Haggai and Zechariah in their Persian Context (Robert L. Foster).

For the author's recent book, The Theology of the Books of Haggai and Zechariah (CUP), see here

For some thoughts on the Book of Zechariah, see here. And there are many other posts on the prophets Haggai and Zechariah and their books in the PaleoJudaica archives.

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Review of Ramos, Ritual in Deuteronomy

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Ritual in Deuteronomy: the performance of doom.

Melissa D. Ramos, Ritual in Deuteronomy: the performance of doom. The ancient word. Abingdon; New York: Routledge, 2021. Pp. xiv, 170. ISBN 9781138570986 $160.00.

Review by
Lindy Williams, Fuller Seminary. lindy@fuller.edu

... In chapter four she brings her points together, arguing that the connections between the incantation texts, STE, and other evidence makes the late Iron Age the likely date of the background setting of Deut 27–30. While many view the ritual material in Deuteronomy as a late addition that disrupts the narrative, Ramos’ study shows Deut 27 as an integral part of the surrounding legal material. ...

I noted the publication of the book here.

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Biblical Studies Carnival 191

ZWINGLIUS REDIVIVUS: The January Carnival of the Biblical Studies Carnivals: The Most Glorious Carnival from 2022 So Far (Jim West).

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Coin of Emperor Valentinian found in Israel

NUMISMATICS: Israel discovers 1,650-year-old Roman coin with emperor's portrait (Xinua via MSN). The brief article reports that the coin was discovered by school children in the Besor Stream region in Southern Israel.

I am curious why only Xinua seems to have noticed the IAA announcement.

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Is that Mount Ebal amulet inscribed?

NORTHWEST SEMITIC EPIGRAPHY AND ICONOGRAPHY? Last week I noted the report on the late second-millennium lead amulet recently recovered from the stored dust of the Mount Ebal altar excavation. The article claims that grooves inscribed on the amulet resembled the Hebrew letter "alef" (aleph) in roughly the shape of a bull's head (which sounded right for the period) and also a lotus flower.

I lamented the poor quality of the photo and asked for clarification.

Since then, Joseph Lauer has drawn my attention to a blog post by Bryan Windle which includes much better photos of the object. Bryan also links to an article by Zvi Koenigberg in the Jerusalem Report (Jerusalem Post) which gives a more detailed account of the amulet.

If am reading Koenigberg correctly, the inscription on the amulet is on the inside and is only visible on the computer 3-D model which reconstructs the view of the outside and inside. Until we see that reconstruction, it is difficult to evaluate the claim.

I see no clear indication of deliberate markings on the new photo of the still unopened amulet. But they would be visible, if at all, only as an external indentation of marks that are on the inside. So for now I withhold judgment on the claim.

If you want to know what to look for, look at the drawing of the Izbet Sarta abecedary by Frank Moore Cross in this Bible History Daily post. You may need to expand the drawing for a clear view. The Izbet Sarta inscription contains multiple copies of the Canaanite alphabet from around the same time period as the altar on Mount Ebal.

Look on the far left side of the first and last lines. That letter is an aleph. It was originally a drawing of an "ox" head (aleph means "ox" in Canaanite/Hebrew). The stance of the letter varies, but it looks a bit like a rounded capital letter "A" lying on its side. Turn the "A" until it is upside down and you can see the stylized head with the two horns sticking out.

That is what I would expect to see on the inside of the Mount Ebal amulet if there is a letter aleph there. Again, I await more information.

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

A Roman-era (?) site uncovered in Gaza

CHANCE DISCOVERY: Gaza bulldozers uncover ancient Roman-era burial site; some antiquities carted off. Reports say locals have been plundering site in recent weeks; archeologists say find likely points to a nearby Roman temple or a Byzantine church (AP and Times of Israel).

For the reopening of that late-antique church in Gaza as a museum by Hamas, see here.

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

More on the 13K 18K ostraca from Athribis, Egypt

EGYTPTIAN EPIGRAPHY: More than 18,000 pot sherds document life in ancient Egypt (University of Tübingen/PhysOrg).

Egyptologists have recovered more than 18,000 inscribed sherds in ancient Athribis—the remains of vessels and jars that served as writing material some 2,000 years ago. The sherds, known as ostraca, document lists of names, purchases of food and everyday objects, and even writing from a school, including lines written by pupils as a punishment. It is very rare to find such a large volume of ostraca. They were recovered during excavations led by Professor Christian Leitz of the Institute for Ancient Near Eastern Studies (IANES) at the University of Tübingen in cooperation with Mohamed Abdelbadia and his team from the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

[...]

I noted an early report of the discovery here. At that point there were only (!) 13,000 inscribed ostraca. This article has a lot of new information on their contents.

For more on the site of Athribis (Atribis), see here.

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

Ganzel, Ezekiel's Visionary Temple in Babylonian Context (De Gruyter)

NEW BOOK FROM DE GRUYTER:

Ezekiel's Visionary Temple in Babylonian Context

Tova Ganzel

Volume 539 in the series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110740844

PDF & EPUB £79.00
Hardcover £79.00

eBook
Published: September 7, 2021
ISBN: 9783110740844

Hardcover
Published: September 7, 2021
ISBN: 9783110740677

About this book

Ezekiel's Visionary Temple in Babylonian Context examines evidence from Babylonian sources to better understand Ezekiel's vision of the future temple as it appears in chapters 40–48. Tova Ganzel argues that Neo-Babylonian temples provide a meaningful backdrop against which many unique features of Ezekiel's vision can and should be interpreted. In pointing to the similarities between Neo-Babylonian temples and the description in the book of Ezekiel, Ganzel demonstrates how these temples served as a context for the prophet's visions and describes the extent to which these similarities provide a further basis for broader research of the connections between Babylonia and the Bible. Ultimately, she argues the extent to which the book of Ezekiel models its temple on those of the Babylonians. Thus, this book suggests a comprehensive picture of the book of Ezekiel’s worldview and to contextualize its visionary temple by comparing its vision to the actual temples surrounding the Judeans in exile.

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

Leipziger, Lesepraktiken im antiken Judentum (De Gruyter, open access)

NEW OPEN-ACCESS BOOK IN GERMAN FROM DE GRUYTER:

Lesepraktiken im antiken Judentum
Rezeptionsakte, Materialität und Schriftgebrauch
Reading Practices in Ancient Judaism. Acts of reception, materiality and use of writing

Jonas Leipziger

Funded by: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

Volume 34 in the series Materiale Textkulturen
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110732764

Hardcover £91.00

eBook
Published: September 20, 2021
ISBN: 9783110732764

Hardcover
Published: September 20, 2021
ISBN: 9783110737622

About this book

Open Access

Practices of reading form an important center of synagogal worship as well as Jewish scholarship. The monograph reconstructs the development of ritual reading practices in ancient Judaism based on the triad of acts of reception, materiality, and scriptural use. In this context, Greek-speaking Judaism and its reception of the Greek Bible are given greater attention than before.

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

H-Judaic on Magness, Masada

H-JUDAIC REVIEW: Yigal Levin. Review of Magness, Jodi, Masada: From Jewish Revolt to Modern Myth. H-Judaic, H-Net Reviews. January, 2022. URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=57139.

This present volume is intended for a nonprofessional readership, particularly an American one, as can be seen by both the units of measurement and the many references to the New Testament, even where they do not add to the reader’s understanding of the Masada story.[1] Despite the subtitle, “From Jewish Revolt to Modern Myth,” it is not an in-depth study of the Masada myth, nor is it a detailed description of the archaeological finds. It is also not a guidebook, despite the short epilogue in which Magness shares her insights as a former tour guide. The title for chapter 3, “Masada in Context,” may serve as a more accurate title for the book as a whole, which geographically, archaeologically, and historically contextualizes the Masada site, story, and myth.

For other PaleoJudaica posts on the book, start here and follow the links. For more on the archaeology of Masada and the question of the reliability of Josephus' account of its fall to the Romans, start here and follow the links.

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

More on the Victorian archaeology of Jerusalem

HISTORY OF ARCHAEOLOGY: How Bible Scholars and Treasure Hunters Unearthed Modern Jerusalem. They were looking for the past. They created the present (Andrew Lawler, Christianity Today).

For more on the work of Andrew Lawler, including his recent book on the same subject as this article, see here and links.

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

An inscribed amulet from the Mount Ebal altar excavation

NORTHWEST SEMITIC EPIGRAPHY AND ICONOGRAPHY: Ancient Hebrew Amulet Discovered at Joshua’s Altar in Samaria (Aryeh Savir, Tazpit News Agency, trans. the Jewish Press).

An ancient amulet made of lead and written in ancient Hebrew was found among the remains of the excavation carried out at the archeological site on Mount Ebal in Samaria, where the biblical-era altar of Joshua bin Nun is located.

The amulet is inscribed with the letter Alef and a mark reminiscent of a lotus flower.

[...]

The amulet was recently sifted out of stored dirt that was excavated in the 1980s at the Mount Ebal site. It sounds as though the dirt was associated with the altar, and so presumably came from the closing centuries of the second millennium BCE. That fits with the description of the alef later in the article:

The results showed many grooves in the amulet, one of them resembling a bull’s head, known in ancient times as an “Alef,” the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet.

But the account is not very clear. The photo is terrible. I await clarification.

For PaleoJudaica posts on the Iron Age I altar on Mount Ebal, start here and follow the links. The altar is often, as in this article, called "Joshua's altar." That is a possible interpretation. But absent an an inscription saying "Joshua built this," it remains speculative.

UPDATE: Incorrect link now corrected!

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

Phoenician inscriptions excavated in Cyprus

PHOENICIAN WATCH: Phoenician Plaque Unearthed in Cyprus Archaeological Excavation (Patricia Claus, Greek Reporter).

The site is at Kition-Pampoula. There is a good photo of the plaque. Three lines have readable letters. The article does not attempt a translation. I've had a pile-on of work lately (hence the light blogging) and don't have time to hazard a dating or transcription.

Beyond the headline lapidary inscription, the article reports that the site included a pit containing Phoenician administrative ostraca, arguably from a royal administrative facility. If I am reading it correctly, the pit is in a stratum dating to 510-323 BCE. I think of that as the Persian Period. There is also a lot of information on the archaeology of the site.

I look forward to further news. Cross-file under Northwest Semitic Epigraphy.

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Jeon & Jonker (eds.), Chronicles and the Priestly Literature of the Hebrew Bible (De Gruyter open access)

NEW BOOK FROM DE GRUYTER:

Chronicles and the Priestly Literature of the Hebrew Bible

Funded by: Schweizerischer Nationalfonds (SNF)
Edited by: Jaeyoung Jeon and Louis C. Jonker

Volume 528 in the series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110707014

Hardcover £79.00

eBook
Published: November 8, 2021
ISBN: 9783110707014

Hardcover
Published: November 8, 2021
ISBN: 9783110706598

About this book

Open Access

The study of the Books of Chronicles has focused in the past mainly on its literary relationship to Historical Books such as Samuel and Kings. Less attention was payed to its possible relationships to the priestly literature. Against this backdrop, this volume aims to examine the literary and socio-historical relationship between the Books of Chronicles and the priestly literature (in the Pentateuch and in Ezekiel).

Since Chronicles and Pentateuch (and also Ezekiel) studies have been regarded as separate fields of study, we invited experts from both fields in order to open a space for fruitful discussions with each other. The contributions deal with connections and interactions between specific texts, ideas, and socio-historical contexts of the literary works, as well as with broad observations of the relationship between them.

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

Bledsoe, The Wisdom of the Aramaic Book of Ahiqar (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

The Wisdom of the Aramaic Book of Ahiqar

Unravelling a Discourse of Uncertainty and Distress

Series: Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism, Volume: 199

Author: Seth Bledsoe

This book offers fresh readings of the Aramaic book of Ahiqar, an oft underappreciated ancient wisdom text. In undertaking a comprehensive literary analysis, incorporating both the drama and the sayings together, Bledsoe shows that Ahiqar’s didactic impulse is founded on a sense of uncertainty about life, offering advice for those in times of distress, much like the titular character himself. While Ahiqar shares many features with instructional literature like Proverbs, the ambiguous cosmic and social order imagined in the text resonate more strongly with the likes of Qoheleth or Job. Bledsoe also takes seriously the Elephantine context, suggesting that the social and political ethic evinced by the work would have resonated strongly with the Judean community in Achaemenid Egypt.

Copyright Year: 2022

Prices from (excl. VAT): €138.00 / $166.00

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-47312-6
Publication Date: 25 Oct 2021

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-47311-9v Publication Date: 08 Dec 2021

The Wisdom of the Aramaic Book of Ahiqar. Unravelling a Discourse of Uncertainty and Distress.

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Moore, Literary Depictions of the Scribal Profession in the Story of Ahiqar and Jeremiah 36 (De Gruyter)

NEW BOOK FROM DE GRUYTER:

Literary Depictions of the Scribal Profession in the Story of Ahiqar and Jeremiah 36

James D. Moore

Volume 541 in the series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110753042

PDF & EPUB £79.00
Hardcover £79.00

eBook
Published: December 6, 2021
ISBN: 9783110753042

Hardcover
Published: December 20, 2021
ISBN: 9783110752540

About this book

This is the first study to compare the allusions to scribal culture found in the Aramaic Story of Ahiqar and the Hebrew Tale of Jeremiah and Baruch’s Scroll in Jeremiah 36. It is shown that disguised in the royal propagandistic message of Ahiqar is a sophisticated Aramaic critique on the social practices of Akkadian scribal culture. Jeremiah 36, however, uses loci of scribal activity as well as allusions to scribal interactions and the techniques of the scribal craft to construct a subversive tale. When studied from a comparative perspective it is argued that the Story of Ahiqar, which has long been associated with the well-known court tale genre, is an example of a subgenre which is here called the scribal conflict narrative, and Jeremiah 36 is found to be a second example of or a response to it. This observation is arrived at by means of rigorous manuscript examination combined with narrative analysis, which identified, among other things, the development of autobiographical and biographical styles of the same ancient narrative. This study not only provides new perspectives on scribal culture, Ahiqar studies, and Jeremiah studies, but it may have far reaching implications for other ancient sources.

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The first University of Chicago PhD

HISTORY OF SCHOLARSHIP: How the University’s first Ph.D. graduate strengthened ties between Chicago and Japan. Eiji Asada, who earned his doctorate in 1893, helped bring English education to his native country (Max Witynski, uchicago news).

In the late 1880s, a young Japanese scholar named Eiji Asada came to the Chicago area to pursue a bachelor’s degree in theology. He took a summer course from William Rainey Harper, and the two developed a friendship based on their shared interest in Semitic studies and linguistics.

[...]

That's right. He was a Hebraist and a Semitist.

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

Grappe, La Maison de Dieu / Das Haus Gottes/ The House of God (Mohr Siebeck)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: La Maison de Dieu / Das Haus Gottes. Edité par / Herausgegeben von Christian Grappe. [The House of God.] 2021. IX, 425 pages. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 471. 149,00 € including VAT. cloth ISBN 978-3-16-161008-0.

Published in German.
The present volume seeks to shed light on various facets of the theme of the House of God, primarily in biblical and parabiblical writings, but also in the writings of Jewish and Christian authors of antiquity and, beyond that, in the Qur'an, the Reformers, and up to the present day.

The essays are in German, French, and English.

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Feder, Purity and Pollution in the Hebrew Bible (CUP)

NEW BOOK FROM CAMBRIDGE UNIVERISTY PRESS:

Purity and Pollution in the Hebrew Bible
From Embodied Experience to Moral Metaphor

AUTHOR: Yitzhaq Feder, University of Haifa, Israel
DATE PUBLISHED: November 2021
AVAILABILITY: Available
FORMAT: Hardback
ISBN: 9781316517574

Description

In this book, Yitzhaq Feder presents a novel and compelling account of pollution in ancient Israel, from its emergence as an embodied concept, rooted in physiological experience, to its expression as a pervasive metaphor in social-moral discourse. Feder aims to bring the biblical and ancient Near Eastern evidence into a sustained conversation with anthropological and psychological research through comparison with notions of contagion in other ancient and modern cultural contexts. Showing how numerous interpretive difficulties are the result of imposing modern concepts on the ancient texts, he guides readers through wide-ranging parallels to biblical attitudes in ancient Near Eastern, ethnographic, and modern cultures. Feder demonstrates how contemporary evolutionary and psychological research can be applied to ancient textual evidence. He also suggests a path of synthesis that can move beyond the polarized positions which currently characterize modern academic and popular debates bearing on the roles of biology and culture in shaping human behavior.

• Offers a thoroughly interdisciplinary account of pollution, incorporating theoretical and empirical developments in psychology and anthropology
• Demonstrates the role of pollution as an ancient concept of infectious disease
• Contextualizes the attitudes regarding pollution in Israel through comparison with comparable phenomena cross-culturally

I have noted essays by Yitzhaq Feder on related matters here, here, here, here, here, and here.

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