Dr. Claude Mariottini - Professor of Old Testament

Off to New Orleans

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:39:00 +0000

I am leaving today to New Orleans to attend the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL). The SBL is an organization that promotes the scholarly study of the Bible. Every year, the SBL meets in a different city (this year is New Orleans; next year it will be in Atlanta) and brings together scholars, teachers, students, religious leaders, and other persons who are interested in the critical investigation of the Bible.

Since I will be away for several days, I will not be blogging while I am in New Orleans and possibly will not be posting until after Thanksgiving.

I wish you and your family a happy Thanksgiving. May the blessings and the abundance that only God can provide be yours during these days of reflection and meditation.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Blogging

Did David and Solomon Exist?

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:11:00 +0000

Buy the book from Amazon.

Eric Cline, Chair of the Department of Classical and Semitic Languages and Literatures at The George Washington University, has written an article, published in The Bible and Interpretation, in which he discusses the archeological evidence for the existence of David and Solomon. The article is an adaptation of Cline’s new book, Biblical Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009).

The following excerpt was taken from the introduction to the article:

The debate as to whether or not David and Solomon existed has been one of the “hot-button” topics in biblical archaeology since the early 1990s. The introduction of a variety of new data has put to rest some aspects of the debate but intensified other aspects, and the debate itself shows no sign of coming to an end. The majority of the arguments by various scholars, on both sides of the debate, have been published in scholarly journals seldom read by students or the general public.

I recommend this article to all readers because Cline’s article is an excellent introduction to the archaeological discoveries related to David and Solomon and to the discipline of archaeology.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, David, Eric Cline, Tel Dan Stele, Solomon,

The Archaeological Evidence for David and Solomon

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:02:00 +0000

Image: The Tel Dan Stele

Norman Hammond, the archaeology correspondent for the Times has a review of Eric Cline’s new book, Biblical Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction, in which Cline introduces the discipline of biblical archaeology and the results of archaeological work in the lands of the Bible.

The following is a short excerpt from Hammond’s article.

Until 15 years ago, Professor Eric Cline notes in a new book, there was no extra-biblical documentary mention of even the House of David as ruling in Judea. The fragmentary Tel Dan Stele, found reused as building material at a site in what is now northern Israel in 1993-94, provided the first evidence outside the First Book of Kings.

Dating to about 842BC, the Tel Dan inscription describes the defeat of Joram, king of Israel, and Ahaziyahu, king of Judah, by a ruler of Aram-Damascus earlier in the 9th century BC. The Israelites had invaded his territory, located somewhere in Lebanon or southern Syria, but he “slew seventy kings, who harnessed thousands of chariots and thousands of horsemen. And I killed Joram son of Ahab, king of Israel, and I killed Ahaziyahu, son of Joram, king of the House of David.”

“However, we are still lacking any contemporary or near-contemporary inscriptions that mention Solomon: at the moment we do not have a single one,” Professor Cline says. “Moreover, there is still very little archaeological evidence for the existence of David.”

The status of Jerusalem at this period is also debated, with some scholars arguing that the Bible account of a powerful capital city is true, others that it was, two millennia after its first settlement in the Bronze Age, what Professor Cline dubs “a small ‘cow town’. In fact, it is still not clear where David is positioned along the continuum from tribal chieftains to might kings.”

Hammond has presented a good review of Cline’s book. In the article there is a photo of the Tel Dan Stele. However, the caption of the photo misspelled Tel Dan; it reads “The Ten Dan Stele.”

Notwithstanding this obvious mistake, Hammond has written a good article.

You can buy the book on Amazon.com.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags:Archaeology, David, Eric Cline, Tel Dan Stele, Solomon

Women, Paris, and Pants

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:35:00 +0000

There is a law is Paris, a law that was introduced in 1800, that says that if a woman wants to wear pants like a man, she must go to the Paris police station and obtain authorization to dress like a man.

The law forbidding a woman from wearing pants in the city of Paris has survived repeated attempts to repeal it. The law was changed in 1892 to allow a woman to wear trousers but only “as long as the woman is holding the reins of a horse.” Then, the law was changed again in 1909 to allow women to wear pants on condition that they were “on a bicycle or holding it by the handlebars.”

Recently, the Paris city council asked the police chief to change the law. He refused by saying that it was “unwise to change texts which foreseen or unforeseen variations in fashion can return to the fore.”

What can I say about this law?

I am sure that this Parisian law reflects an old Catholic interpretation of Deuteronomy 22:5:

“A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment; for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD your God.”

Read my post on "Women, Pants, and Deuteronomy 22:5," Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

I wonder if the chief of police is as obtuse as those people who interpret Deuteronomy 22:5 as a prohibition against wearing pants.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Deuteronomy 22:5, Pants, Paris, Women

Hope for the Future - Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:02:00 +0000

Note: This post is a continuation of Hope for the Future - Part 1

The purpose of the use of the word “comfort” in the message of Deutero-Isaiah was to turn the lamentation of the people into a hope for the future. The coming of Yahweh to liberate his people was a source of hope. It was also the beginning of his intervention in the events of history to redeem his people, as he had done in Egypt, in order to bring them back to their land.

Deutero-Isaiah’s message of hope and the assurance that God would deliver his people was spoken with authority because the invitation to the people to find comfort in Yahweh was accompanied by an exhortation to prepare the way for the Lord (Isaiah 40:3).

Deutero-Isaiah was called and sent to proclaim two great messages of hope to the people in exile. The first message was that the physical hardship imposed upon Israel and enforced by the exile was now coming to an end. The second message was that the iniquity of the nation had been pardoned. To the prophet, the change in Israel’s fortune and the restoration of the nation was based on divine forgiveness.

It is here that Israel could see once again God’s commitment to his people. It was God’s hesed, his faithful love, a love based on a covenantal relationship that moved God to forgive his rebellious people. It was because of that unfailing love that Israel’s time of servitude to alien masters had come to an end.

The expression “my people” in Isaiah 40:1 is significant in the context of the exile. When Israel was rebellious and serving other gods, God said that Israel was “not my people (Hosea 1:9). When God was angry because Israel’s heart was hardened, Israel was “this people” (Isaiah 6:9). Now that God has forgiven Israel, they are again “my people.”

The expression “my people” comes out of covenant language: “I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jeremiah 31:33). At Sinai, Israel became God’s special people united with God by a covenant of grace. Thus, the words “my people” express God’s desire that the covenant relationship that once bound Israel to God be restored.

The exile came because of Israel’s violation of the covenant, and as a result, Israel had to suffer under the heavy hands of the Babylonians. Now, Deutero-Isaiah’s message of hope and comfort revealed that, not withstanding the overwhelming tragedy that fell upon the nation, Israel was still God’s people and they were still the object of his love and part of his redemptive purpose for the nations.

The prophet was commanded to speak tenderly to the heart of Jerusalem. This expression is used to identify God’s love for Israel as a husband speaks tenderly (“speaks to the heart”) to his wife (Judges 19:3). This metaphor appears again in Isaiah 54:4-8:

Do not be afraid; you will not suffer shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood. For your Maker is your husband-- the LORD Almighty is his name-- the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth. The LORD will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit-- a wife who married young, only to be rejected, says your God. For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back. In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you, says the LORD your Redeemer.

Several themes that appeared in the book of Lamentations, in the cry of distress of the lonely widow, appear again in this text of Deutero-Isaiah which is part of the message of hope and restoration that the prophet was preaching to Israel.

Israel had suffered shame, had been disgraced and humiliated. The prophet now proclaims that Israel would forget the shame it suffered, would remember no more the reproach of its widowhood, for Yahweh was her husband, the one calling back the abandoned wife who was deserted, distressed in spirit, and rejected. But that rejection was only for a brief moment: “For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back” (v. 7).

Deutero-Isaiah’s message to Israel was that her “time of service” was over. This message of hope proclaimed by the prophet to a group of people who had lost their hope, reminded them of the time when their ancestors served as slaves in Egypt. In Babylon, most people were not put to forced labor as they had labored in Egypt, but Israel’s hard service in Babylon may be a reference to the humiliations the people suffered in exile. Israel’s time of service may be also a symbolic reference to the more than fifty years the people lived in the land of alien gods.

The message of comfort proclaimed by Deutero-Isaiah was a summons to a people who had lost hope for the future. The community’s crisis of faith and loss of hope was expressed in Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones. When the Lord explained to Ezekiel the meaning of the dry bones, the Lord said: “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone’” (Ezekiel 37:11).

The crisis of faith was also expressed in the complaints of the people in which they expressed their doubt in God’s power to save them:

“Why do you say, Jacob, Why do you say, Israel, ‘The LORD is not aware of what is happening to me, My God is not concerned with my vindication’” (Isaiah 40:27 NET).

“Zion said, ‘The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me’” (Isaiah 49:14).

To counteract the despondency of the people and their hopelessness, the prophet announced that God had forgiven the nation and that announcement became a great source of hope for Israel. The people would soon return to their native land because Israel was still the object of God’s great love.

So far, in this and in my previous post, I have described the message of hope proclaimed by Deutero-Isaiah. In my next post I will focus on the messenger of hope and explain how Deutero-Isaiah’s theology provided a new understanding of Israel’s mission in the world and how his view of the transformative power of God’s word became the catalyst for the Lord’s action in history.

Other Posts on the Exile:

The Babylonian Exile

The Lonely Widow

The Tenacity of Israel’s Faith

Hope for the Future - Part 1

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Deutero-Isaiah, Exile, Lamentations, Restoration

Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:53:00 +0000

Image: Title page of the first edition of Leviathan (1660).

Very few people have ever read Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan and the majority of Americans have never heard of Thomas Hobbes or his book Leviathan. And yet, as the editors of The New York Times wrote in a recent article, “Leviathan is arguably the most influential work of Western political thought, and one of the most analyzed..”

Although Leviathan was written in 1660, the translation of Hobbes’s book into Hebrew was published for the first time last month.

To celebrate this monumental occasion, The New York Times has invited five scholars to comment on the significance of Hobbes’s book and what modern readers can learn from a book that was written in 1660.

Follow the links below to read the significance of Leviathan and Hobbes’s views on religion.

Yoram Hazony, Shalem Center

Stephen Darwall, Yale professor of philosophy

Rebecca Goldstein, author of Betraying Spinoza

Fania Oz-Salzberger, historian of ideas

Menachem Lorberbaum, Tel Aviv University

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes

Hope for the Future - Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:02:00 +0000

In a previous post, I discussed the unprecedented suffering the people of Judah experienced as the result of the destruction of the temple and of the city of Jerusalem. The book of Lamentations portrays Jerusalem as a lonely widow appealing for sympathy and comfort from anyone, especially from God.

The writer of Lamentations vividly emphasized the horrors of the devastation caused by the Babylonians and the helplessness of the population of Judah by speaking on behalf of the people and lamenting that there was no comforter for the people and the nation.

According to the writer, this lack of a comforter was evidence that God did not care for his people:

“She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has no one to comfort her” (Lamentations 1:2).

“Her uncleanness was in her skirts; she took no thought of her future; her downfall was appalling, with none to comfort her” (Lamentations 1:9).

“For these things I weep; my eyes flow with tears; for a comforter is far from me” (Lamentations 1:16).

“Zion stretches out her hands, but there is no one to comfort her” (Lamentations 1:17).

“They heard how I was groaning, with no one to comfort me” (Lamentations 1:21).

“What can I say for you, to what compare you, O daughter Jerusalem? To what can I liken you, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter Zion?” (Lamentations 2:13).

It is clear that the use of the word “comforter” in the first two chapters of Lamentations means a helper, either human or divine. In Lamentations 2:13 a voice addresses the personified city and laments his inability to help the hurt of Jerusalem and wonders who can heal her wound, a wound that is “as deep as the sea” (v. 13).

The absence of a comforter for the wounded city and the belief that God had abandoned and forsaken his people heightened the sense of hopelessness, more so as the prayers of the people went unanswered. At the time when Israel was agonizing the most, at the moment of the people’s deepest despair, two significant events took place that changed the despair of the people into a hope for the future.

The first event was the release of Jehoiachin, the former king of Judah, from a Babylonian prison, thirty-seven years after his deportation. According to the conclusion of the book of Kings (2 Kings 25:27-30), in the thirty-seventh year of his exile (560 B.C.), Jehoiachin was set free by Evil-merodach, King of Babylon, and was given preference and a position of honor above the other kings who were vassals and captives in Babylon. The news that their anointed one, their Messiah, was alive and out of prison brought great joy to the people in exile. This event gave the exiles the assurance that there was hope for the future.

The second event was the call of a prophet to announce to the people that the exile was over:

“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins” (Isaiah 40:1-2).

This unnamed prophet, popularly known as Deutero-Isaiah, came preaching a message of comfort. The message that was to bring comfort to Israel was a message of hope, a message that God had come to bring an end to the people’s suffering because he had forgiven their sins and now would deliver them from their exile.

The prophet’s use of the word “comfort” was a direct response to the cry of the people in the book of Lamentations. In Lamentations 2:13, the writer asked who could help, heal, and comfort the suffering people. Now, the prophet proclaims that the Lord was the comforter of his people:

“Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth; burst into song, O mountains! For the LORD comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones” (Isaiah 49:13).

The Bible pictures Yahweh as the one who comforts Israel (Psalm 86:17; Isaiah 12). Deutero-Isaiah used the imagery of Yahweh as the comforter of Israel to emphasize that God has heard Israel’s appeal for a comforter and to bring the good news that their exile was coming to an end:

“For the LORD will comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste places” (Isaiah 51:3).

“Break forth together into singing, you ruins of Jerusalem; for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem” (Isaiah 52:9).

The texts in Deutero-Isaiah where the word “comfort” is used have two things in common. First, the one who comforts is God and the one who is comforted is Israel. Second, the prophet uses the word “comfort” to express God’s action in helping the people and restoring them to their homeland.

Thus, the use of the word “comfort” in Deutero-Isaiah is a response to the lack of comfort in the book of Lamentations. The double use of the word “comfort” in Isaiah 40:1 expresses God’s urgency in liberating the people from their oppression. God’s urgency in delivering the exiles reflects his concern for the spiritual well-being of his people. After more than five decades in exile, many people were turning away from God and little by little they allowed their faith to grow cold, gradually accepting the culture and the religion of their captors. Thus, this threat to Israel’s faith led to the urgency of the prophet’s message. God’s urgency may also reflect his desire to renew Israel’s mission in the world, a theme that will be the subject of a future post.

Other Posts on the Exile:

The Babylonian Exile

The Lonely Widow

The Tenacity of Israel’s Faith

Hope for the Future - Part 1 (Present post)

Hope for the Future - Part 2 (Forthcoming)

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Deutero-Isaiah, Exile, Lamentations, Restoration

Biblical Feminism

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:35:00 +0000

Benjamin Ledford, a student at the University of Idaho discusses the theme of Biblical feminism in this video, which is a companion to his article, “Is God a Chauvinist?” which was published in the Argonaut, the university’s student newspaper.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Chauvinism, Feminism, Misogyny, Women

Is God a Chauvinist?

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:27:00 +0000

Benjamin Ledford, a student at the University of Idaho and a columnist for the Argonaut, the university’s student newspaper, has written an article dealing with the treatment of women in the Old and New Testaments.

The following excerpt is the introduction to the article:

One accusation often leveled at God and the Bible is that of oppressive paternalism. The Bible, so the argument goes, does not convey any unique “truth,” but was written by and for powerful, selfish men in a backwards, male-dominated time, and it reflects the views of those who were in control.

Of course, those who believe the Bible to be the word of God would disagree strongly, but setting aside the origins of the book, are the contents of the Bible chauvinistic or misogynistic? Does the Judeo-Christian tradition encourage the oppression of women?

If we want to know the answer, we will have to examine the Bible on its own terms. If we view it only from our own perspective, all we will find out is what we would have meant if we had written the Bible ourselves, which is really not at all helpful in understanding the book.

Ledford has written a good article and in general, I agree with most of his conclusions. Read the article in its entirety here.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Chauvinism, Feminism, Misogyny, Women

Praying for the Food We Eat

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:11:00 +0000

Brent Emery has written an interesting article: “On faith: Learning to pray from a Jewish perspective,” in which he discusses Jewish prayers and how Christians can learn to pray from a Jewish perspective.

One section of his article caught my attention:

We as Gentiles have much to learn from our Jewish friends who have been praying for several millennia. Allow me an example of what we can learn from our Jewish roots:

Growing up in a Christian home, we always “blessed the food” before we ate. There are two things that are fundamently un-Biblical about our Christian tradition.

First, one does not “bless” food; rather, one blesses the Lord. In both the Bible and Jewish prayer, one does not bless things but rather blesses the Lord.

In fact, many prayers in Judaism begin with the phrase “blessed are you, Lord our G-d, King of the Universe.”

Secondly, notice that we prayed a blessing before we ate (which is a good thing) but were ignorant that the Hebrew Scripture commands us to offer a blessing “after” we eat (see Deuteronomy 8:10). So when we eat, we should bless G-d beforehand and afterward.

Careful attention to Jewish prayer brings a needed corrective to prayer at meals and brings us in alignment with the Biblical text.

The concept of “blessing the food” is found mostly in the Roman Catholic tradition. Most Protestants give thanks to God for his gifts, his generosity, and for the food God has provided. Thus, in most Protestant traditions, the prayer before the meal is not an act of “blessing the food,” as is done in the Catholic tradition, but it is a prayer of thanksgiving to God.

Jesus taught his disciples to pray: “Give us day by day our daily bread” (Luke 11:3). It is because God has provided us with our daily bread that Christians pray a prayer of thanksgiving for God’s generosity. It is in this act of thanksgiving that many Christians pray from a Jewish perspective.

Emery is right: there are many Christians who still need to learn how to pray from a Jewish perspective.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Prayer, Thanksgiving

Ancient Coins from the Second Temple

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:02:00 +0000

According to a news report, ancient coins dating from the time of the Jewish revolt 2,000 years ago are on display in Jerusalem:

JERUSALEM – Israel displayed for the first time Wednesday a collection of rare coins charred and burned from the Roman destruction of the Jewish Temple nearly 2,000 years ago.

About 70 coins were found in an excavation at the foot of a key Jerusalem holy site. They give a rare glimpse into the period of the Jewish revolt that eventually led to the destruction of the Second Jewish Temple in A.D. 70, said Hava Katz, curator of the exhibition.

The Jews rebelled against the Roman Empire and took over Jerusalem in A.D. 66. After laying siege to Jerusalem, the Romans breached the city walls and wiped out the rebellion, demolishing the Jewish Temple, the holiest site in Judaism.

Read the story in its entirety here.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Ancient Coins, Numismatics

The Lost Army of Cambyses [Not?] Found

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:47:00 +0000

Several bloggers have posted on the recent news that archaeologists have found the remains of Cambyses’s army lost in the western deserts of Egypt to a sandstorm 2,500 years ago. According to news reports, a large number of human bones as well as bronze weapons and jewelry were found in the Egyptian desert and it was believed that the bones were the remains of the legendary Persian army of Cambyses.

Andie, at Egyptology News has made the following announcement:

Thanks to Bob Partridge, editor of Ancient Egypt magazine, for forwarding an urgent announcement from the Supreme Council of Antiquities:

We need to inform you that recent reports published in newspapers, news agencies and TV news announcing that “twin brothers Angelo and Alfredo Castiglioni have unearthed remains of the Persian army of Cambyses,” are unfounded and misleading. The brothers are not heading any archaeological mission in Berenike Panchrysos at the small Bahrin Oasis near Siwa Oasis. This site has been excavated since 2002 by an Italian mission led by Dr. Paulo Gallo of Turin University

The Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) has already informed the proper legal and security authorities in Egypt and are taking the necessary procedures.

We wait more news on this developing controversy.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, Cambyses

Digging at Tel Dor

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:00:00 +0000

The archaeologists in charge of the Tel Dor excavation are looking for volunteers to excavate at Tel Dor next summer. An archaeological dig needs people who are willing to work and provide the support needed to carry out the project. You do not need to have experience in archaeological work to volunteer. People of both sexes and of all ages are welcome. Recently, I received a letter from the archaeologists leading the excavation inviting people to apply to dig at Tel Dor. I am posting the letter below and inviting you to consider this request. They need your help.

Dear Madam/Sir,

The exquisite gemstone of Alexander the great that captured your attention is only the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, of one of the largest, long-lasting and high-profile archaeological projects in Israel. If you care about the archaeology of biblical times (Israelites, Phoenicians and Sea People), the Classical periods, and the cultural heritage of Israel and the Mediterranean; and if you are interested in forging a bond between Israel and the international community - please take a moment to look at the attached file. Like almost cultural projects around the globe, we need your help to endure.

We would be grateful if you could pass this message to any other interested parties.

Sincerely,

Dr. Ilan Sharon,
Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University Jerusalem
Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem 91905
Tel. 972-2-2881304

Dr. Ayelet Gilboa
Chair, Dept. of Archaeology,
University of Haifa, Mount Carmel
Haifa 31905, Israel
Tel: 972-4-8240234, 972-4-8240531

Tel Dor website: http://dor.huji.ac.il/
Email: dor-proj@mscc.huji.ac.il

If you want to read more about the gemstone carved with the head portrait of Alexander the Great, click here and here.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, Tel Dor

Book Reviews - Old Testament

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:00:00 +0000

Review of Biblical Literature has published its latest edition of review of books in the area of biblical studies. Review of Biblical Literature is a publication of the Society of Biblical Literature.

The following reviews are of interest to students of the Old Testament:

Jim W. Adams
The Performative Nature and Function of Isaiah 40-55
Reviewed by Ulrich Berges

Description: Among linguistic philosophers, speech act theory has illuminated the fact that uttering a sentence does not merely convey information; it may also involve the performing of an action. The concept of communicative action provides additional tools to the exegetical process as it points the interpreter beyond the assumption that the use of language is merely for descriptive purposes. Language can also have performative and self-involving dimensions. Despite their clear hermeneutical importance, the notions expressed within speech act theory have been generally neglected by biblical interpreters. The few who have applied speech act theory to the OT typically subsume the discipline into an eclectic type of literary/rhetorical criticism. Such an approach, though, tends to discount the distinctive notions expressed by theoreticians. This dissertation presents the basic philosophical concepts of speech act theory in order to accurately implement them alongside other interpretive tools. The above analysis leads to applying these concepts to Isaiah 41:21-29, 49:1-6, 50:4-10, and 52:13-53:12. These four sections intricately function within the overall prophetic strategy of chapters 40-55: the call to return or turn to Yahweh. The way these chapters describe the nature of this return is for the reader to forsake sin, acknowledge and confess Yahweh as God alone. The first passage represents the basic concerns of chapters 40-48 and specifically Jacob-Israel's deliverance from Babylon through Yahweh's Cyrus illocutionary act. The final three passages represent the servant leitmotif running throughout the chapters and implore the reader through self-involvement to embrace the role of Yahweh's servant.

Philip Cary
Jonah
Reviewed by Jacek Stefanski

Description: Pastors and leaders of the classical church--such as Augustine, Calvin, Luther, and Wesley--interpreted the Bible theologically, believing Scripture as a whole witnessed to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Modern interpreters of the Bible questioned this premise. But in recent decades, a critical mass of theologians and biblical scholars has begun to reassert the priority of a theological reading of Scripture. The Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible enlists leading theologians to read and interpret Scripture for the twenty-first century, just as the church fathers, the Reformers, and other orthodox Christians did for their times and places. In the sixth volume in the series, Phillip Cary presents a theological exegesis of Jonah.

Deborah L. Ellens
Women in the Sex Texts of Leviticus and Deuteronomy: A Comparative Conceptual Analysis
Reviewed by Carolyn Pressler

Description: The writers of the bibilical laws, like the writers of other legal corpora throughout history, considered the regulation of sex to be of some importance. A study and comparison of the two groups of sex laws in the Bible, those in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, reveal that factors even more narrowly focused than the general desire to control social behavior shape the texts. These factors, as reflected in the text, are responsible for the differing conceptual matrices within Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Whereas the interest of the Leviticus sex texts is ontology, that is, the classification or oder of kinds and their relationships, the interest of the Deuteronomy sex texts is property, that is, the man's ownership of the woman's sexuality and its protection. Ellens shows how these differing interests influence subtle corresponding differences in the conceptualization of women in the two groups of texts.

Tremper Longman III
Jeremiah, Lamentations
Reviewed by Francis Dalrymple-Hamilton

Description: The New International Biblical Commentary (NIBC) offers the best of contemporary scholarship in a format useful both for general readers and serious students. Based on the widely used New International Version translation, the NIBC presents careful section-by-section exposition with key terms and phrases highlighted and all Hebrew transliterated. A separate section of notes at the close of each chapter provides additional textual and technical comments. Each commentary also includes a selected bibliography as well as Scripture and subject indexes.

Paul Wilkinson
Archaeology: What It Is, Where It Is, and How to Do It
Reviewed by Aren Maeir

Description: This book has been written to be used by newcomers to archaeology in the field, and explains the techniques and methods that will help them understand and record the past.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, Deuteronomy, Hebrew Bible, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jonah, Leviticus, Pentateuch, Old Testament, Prophetic Literature

The Forgotten Euphrates City

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:02:00 +0000

Archaeologists have found a 4,500-year-old circular city has that was buried on the banks of the Euphrates river, in the Syrian region of Tall Qabr.

According to a news report, among the artifacts uncovered at the site was a collection of ceramics that will allow researchers to understand life and culture from a place for which little information is available.

Archaeologists also found a stamp of great artistic beauty, probably belonging to one of the city’s dignitaries.

According to the archaeologists involved in the discovery, “the city could represent the passage from the rural cycle to the urban cycle, in other words the first cities in history and show the border of the Mari kingdom, the ancient rivals of Babylonia.”

This discovery may be of great significance to the study of the culture of Mesopotamia in the third millennium B.C.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, Tall Qabr

The Possibility of Extraterrestrial Life

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:05:00 +0000

The other day, one of my students asked me whether I believe in extraterrestrials. That is a loaded question and in whatever way one answers it, the answer will not please some folks.

For those people like me and millions of others who were fans of Star Trek and enjoyed Mr. Spock, the half-human and half-Vulcan, the character who played a major role in the TV series and in the movies, and who served as the science officer and the first officer of the USS Enterprise, the existence of extraterrestrials is an intriguing possibility.

The existence of extraterrestrial life has not been proved and the likelihood of life outside the planet Earth remains only a possibility. However, my student’s question reminded me of a press release, published in 2008, in which it was reported that the Vatican was looking for the implications of the existence of life on other planets.

In that news release, the Pope’s chief astronomer, Father Jose Gabriel Funes, said he believed that intelligent life may exist on other planets and that the Vatican was studying the question of extraterrestrial life and its implication for the Catholic church.

The following is an excerpt from the news release:

[T]he Vatican has called in experts to study the possibility of extraterrestrial alien life and its implication for the Catholic Church.

"The questions of life's origins and of whether life exists elsewhere in the universe are very suitable and deserve serious consideration," said the Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, an astronomer and director of the Vatican Observatory.

Funes maintained that if intelligent beings were discovered, they would also be considered "part of creation."

In an article titled “Aliens Are My Brothers,” published in the official Vatican newspaper, Funes said that just as there are different forms of life on earth, so there could exist intelligent beings on other planets who were also created by God. Funes also believes that some of these aliens could even be free from original sin.

The acknowledgment by the Vatican of the possibility of life on other planets is a radical shift for the Holy See. During the days of Galileo, the Vatican was willing to put scientists to death for saying that the Earth moved around the Sun. In fact, the Italian philosopher Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake as a heretic in 1600 for speculating, among other ideas, that other worlds could be inhabited. But as Father Funes said, “mistakes were made, but it is time to turn the page and look towards the future.”

Beam me up, Scotty.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Aliens, Extraterrestrials

A Minoan Wall Painting Found at a Canaanite Palace

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:45:00 +0000

A press releases issued by the University of Haifa is reporting that the remains of a Minoan-style wall painting was discovered at the Canaanite palace at Tel Kabri. The following is an excerpt from the new release:

The remains of a Minoan-style wall painting, characterized by a blue background, the first of its kind to be found in Israel, was discovered in the course of the recent excavation season at Tel Kabri. This fresco joins others of Aegean style that have been uncovered during earlier seasons at the Canaanite palace in Kabri. "It was, without doubt, a conscious decision made by the city's rulers who wished to associate with Mediterranean culture and not adopt Syrian and Mesopotamian styles of art like other cities in Canaan did. The Canaanites were living in the Levant and wanted to feel European," explains Dr. Assaf Yasur-Landau of the University of Haifa, who directed the excavations.

The remains of a Canaanite city from the Middle Bronze Age (2000-1550 B.C.) have been exposed at Tel Kabri, next to Kibbutz Kabri near Nahariya. A palace for the city's rulers stands in the center of the city, which was the most important of the cities in the Western Galilee during that period. Excavations began at Tel Kabri in 1986, conducted by the late Prof. Aharon Kempinski, and were halted in 1993. Over the past years, excavations have been renewed by teams directed by Dr. Yasur-Landau of the Leon Recanati Institute for Maritime Studies at the University of Haifa and Prof. Eric Cline of The George Washington University. Tel Kabri is unique in that after the city was deserted, no other city was built over its remains. Therefore, this is the only Canaanite city that can be excavated in its entirety. The palace too, which has been measured with geophysical tools at 1 to 1.5 acres, is the only such palace of this period that can be excavated fully. "The city's preservation enables us to get a complete picture of political and social life in the Canaanite period. We can reveal whether or not it had a central government, whether taxes were levied, what sort of agriculture there was and how politics were conducted at the time," Dr. Yasur-Landau explains.

Read the press release in its entirety here.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, Canaanites, Tel Kabri

The Value of Small Things

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:21:00 +0000

Many people today have a stereotypical view of Jews when it comes to the matter of money. Most of these stereotypes about Jews and money reinforce anti-Semitic views and should be strongly condemned by all.

Rabbi Avi Shafran, writing for the Jewish World Review, has a good article about Jews and money and the secret of their economic success. He wrote that the Hebrew people, “at least the materially successful among us — [have] a keen awareness of the fact that even a small thing has value.”

To illustrate his point, he used as an example the patriarch Jacob and what the Talmud has to say about him. He wrote:

As the Talmud puts it, "Each and every penny contributes to a large sum" (Bava Basra, 9b).

As it happens, the Jewish ideal of valuing even the smallest thing goes beyond the realization that things add up. It is a recognition of the inherent value of every thing.

In mere weeks, Jews in synagogues the world over will read the Torah portion in which our forefather Jacob, after transporting his family and possessions across a river, took pains to cross back over again, endangering himself. The Talmud conveys a tradition that the reason Jacob returned was to retrieve some "small jars."

"From here we see," the Rabbis went on to explain, "that the possessions of the righteous are as dear to them as their bodies."

That comment is not counseling miserliness; Jacob is the forefather emblematic of the ideal of "truth" or honesty. What the Talmud is conveying, rather, is a quintessentially Jewish truth: Material things, no matter how seemingly "worthless," have worth.

The lessons we learn from Jacob’s life and Rabbi Shafran’s conclusion is worth pondering:

Possessions are tools, in their essence morally neutral; put to a holy purpose, they are sublime. And so, Judaism teaches, valuing a simple, small coin can be a sign not of avarice but of wisdom. And what is more — and even more important — just as small amounts of money can in fact be worth much, so can small acts of goodness.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Frugality, Jacob, Material Possessions, Money

The Kristallnacht’s Bible

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:42:00 +0000

Kristallnacht (“Crystal Night”) or the “Night of Broken Glass” was a coordinated attack on the Jewish community by Nazi Germany. On November 9, 1938 thousands of Jews were killed or arrested, hundreds of synagogues were destroyed, and thousands of homes and businesses were ransacked.

The New York Times is reporting that a two-volume Hebrew Bible that was looted from a library in Vienna on that night has been found and will be returned to the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York. The following is an excerpt from the article:

On Nov. 9, 1938, a two-volume black-leather-clad Hebrew Bible vanished from a library in Vienna after that city’s Jewish community came under assault from soldiers during Kristallnacht, the start of the Nazi pogrom against Jews.

As is the case with much art looted during World War II, the Bible’s location during the following few decades was mostly unknown.

But last winter, the two volumes, printed 493 years ago, were smuggled into New York City, according to federal authorities, who noticed them advertised in a catalog of a New York auction house and confiscated them.

On Monday afternoon, at a repatriation ceremony at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Lower Manhattan, the historic Bible began its journey home, 71 years to the day after it was seized.

The atlas-size Bible, which was printed by Daniel Bomberg in Venice in 1516, several generations after the Gutenberg Bible, according to scholars, bears faded gold Hebrew characters on its three-inch-thick spines. And, “for the first time in a Hebrew Bible, the chapter numbers appear in the margin,” according to the catalog issued by Kestenbaum & Company, the auctioneer, which estimated its value at $20,000 to $30,000.

The owner of the Kristallnacht’s Bible was unaware that the Bible had been stolen. The placement of the Bible in the Museum of Jewish Heritage will serve as a vivid reminder of the suffering inflicted by the Nazis on the Jewish people.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Kristallnacht, Kristallnacht’s Bible

The Tenacity of Israel’s Faith

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:02:00 +0000

In my last post on the exile, I described the devastation of Judah caused by the Babylonian invasion and the anger and despair of the people as expressed in the book of Lamentations. When one considers the devastation caused by the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem, the destruction of the temple, and the deportation of the people to Babylon, one would expect that such a comprehensive devastation of a nation might bring about the end of their religious life. However, it did not.

The history of Israel during the Babylonian exile is very sketchy. Since the biblical sources do not provide enough information about Israel’s life in Babylon, it is difficult to recreate the conditions of the people in exile. The book of Kings ends with the destruction of Jerusalem to which an appendix was added to announce the release of Jehoiakim in 560 B.C., after thirty-seven years in prison, by Evil-merodach, the son and successor of Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings 25:27-30).

A sketchy history of the exile can be developed by compiling information from several different sources. The book of Chronicles ends with the fall of Jerusalem, although some of the narratives dealing with the temple and its cultic functionaries may reflect a post-exilic situation. An appendix to the book of Chronicles describes Cyrus’s proclamation giving liberty to the exiles (2 Chronicles 36:22-23). The writings of Ezekiel and Deutero-Isaiah also give a snapshot of life during the exile. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah deal with events that happened at the end of the exile, primarily the return of the Jewish people from Babylon and the rebuilding of the temple.

The people of Judah not only adapted to their circumstances, but they emerged from exile with a renewed sense of mission and with a new form of religious faith that developed through the adversity of life in Babylon. In fact, it was the suffering and affliction of the exile that forced the leaders of the nation to reevaluate their religious experience in Babylon, an act that eventually gave birth to Judaism.

There is no denial that many Judeans lost their faith in Yahweh, since they were unable to understand how the devastation of their nation fit into the faith they had come to embrace, a faith which declared that Yahweh was their protector and the one who fought for them. Many people were unable to reconcile the destruction of Jerusalem and of the temple by the Babylonian army with their view of the inviolability of Zion in a way that could preserve their faith.

The vast majority of Judeans, however, emerged from the ordeal of the exile with the belief that Yahweh had brought about the events that led to the destruction of the nation because of the disobedience of the people. They concluded that Yahweh had evoked the curses stipulated by the covenant and had exacted judgment and punishment on his people for their violation of the demands of the covenant. Although many Judeans were indignant with the initial devastation, a feeling expressed in the book of Lamentations, the people came to accept God’s judgment upon the nation. It was in the midst of the paroxysms of hopelessness that the people’s faith matured and they learned to accept the affliction they had suffered at the sovereign hand of their God.

The people who were deported to Babylon were deprived of the moorings that gave them their identity as the people of God. They were uprooted from their native land and taken to a pagan environment. They were removed from their cultural environment, from their place of worship, and from their ancestral land and forced to sing the songs of Zion in a foreign land (Psalm 137:4). Many of those who were forcibly taken to Babylon, died there and never again saw their homeland.

As a result of the exile, many changes took place in the religious and social life of Israel. There was a challenge for the people to change and to innovate if they were to survive as a people and as a nation. As a result of the exile, there were three main areas where changes precipitated radical results.

First, the monarchy had ceased to exist, and kingship was never reconstituted. The end of kingship challenged the divine promise that David’s dynasty would continue forever. The possible end of the Davidic dynasty created a crisis of credibility: Would God honor his promises to David?

Second, the temple was in ruins and the rituals carried on there were no more. The destruction of the temple was devastating to the religious faithful because they thought that the temple was inviolable. The destruction of the temple by the Babylonians shattered that theology. The destruction of the temple created a crisis of faith: How could God be worshiped without a temple?

Third, the land, which was considered holy, had been a unifying factor in the religious formation of the nation. However, as the result of the exile, Yahwism had been torn from its nation, cult, and land. As a result of the loss of the land, an important change took place in the people’s understanding of their God. The people understood that Yahweh was not a God localized within the boundaries of the land, but that he was a universal God, a God who also could be worshiped in Babylon.

Other changes took place in exile that would forever change the character and the nature of the people of Judah. The new generation of Judeans who were born in Babylon forgot their native language, Hebrew, and adopted Aramaic, the language of their conquerors, as their new language.

The exile revealed the tenacity of Israel’s faith. Deprived of the temple and of a holy city, the exile brought about the need for personal religious response. Religion became individualized and Jerusalem ceased to be the only place where the worship of God was possible.

The exile brought about the need for an agonizing reappraisal and refinement of their religious traditions. When the people were taken to Babylon, they took with them many records and documents that later were used to preserve their legal, historical, and religious traditions.

In exile a greater emphasis was placed on preserving their religious and cultural heritage in writing. The preservation of the ancient heritage of the nation included many of the traditions that were transmitted orally from generation to generation, the preaching of the prophets, the rituals of the temple, and the teachings of the priests. Canonical activity quickened in Babylon as holy books began to replace the holy temple. In exile, Israel became the people of the book.

Although the synagogues probably existed before the destruction of the temple, in exile the synagogue became a place for prayer, study, and local worship and it served as a temporary replacement for the temple in Jerusalem. The synagogue “contributed to the continuity of the Jewish people by maintaining a unique identity and a portable way of worship despite the destruction of the Temple.”

Finally, the exile brought about the need for a theological response to the events leading up to the exile. The people understood that Israel had been unable to keep the covenant. All three major prophets of the exile declared the need for a new kind of covenant, a new saving act of God. In exile there was the development of the idea of monotheism, remnant theology, and the concept of the suffering servant, an idea that grew out of the remnant concept.

Although living in a strange land, the people never forgot the heritage they left behind and Jerusalem remained in their thoughts and their hearts. The longing of the people for their native land was expressed by the words of the psalmist: “If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither! Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy” (Psalm 137:5-6).

In exile, many of the people maintained their distinctiveness as a people and it was this tenacity that saved the religious traditions of the nation and gave birth to Judaism. Also living in a foreign land, the exiles retained the belief that the land of Canaan was theirs. The people never abandoned the desire and the hope to return to the land that was given to them by God as their eternal inheritance.

The exile had a deep impact on the religious and cultural life of the people of Judah. The exile destroyed the belief in the inviolability of the temple. The exile produced the view of the universality of God and that he would be with his people even in a pagan land. The exile forced the people to reevaluate the view of the uniqueness of God and reject polytheism, the worship of images, and other pagan practices. In exile, faithful observance of the Sabbath, circumcision, and strict adherence to the Law became the signs of loyalty to God.

The exile produced reactions ranging from anger and despair to acceptance and hope. In an upcoming post, I will address the message of hope proclaimed by the exilic prophet known as Deutero-Isaiah.

Other Posts on the Exile:

The Babylonian Exile

The Lonely Widow

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Babylon, Exile, Judaism

Quote of the Day

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:02:00 +0000

Think about the implications of this statement:

The reification of normative values is homologous with the historicization of pedagogical institutions.

What does this statement say to you?

Think about the “The reification of normative values.”

Think about the fact that the reification of normative values “is homologous with the historicization of pedagogical institutions.”

Once you think about this statement, you will realize how profound are the implications of this statement.

But what does it mean?

Absolutely nothing!

Th sentence above was created by the University of Chicago Writing Program’s academic-sentence generator.

The program works like this: you select four words from a given list and the sentence generator will create an academic statement that you can use to show people how brilliant you are.

Here are the same four words in a different arrangement:

The reification of pedagogical institutions is homologous with the historicization of normative values.

The historicization of pedagogical institutions is homologous with the reification of normative values.

Do you want to write like an intellectual? Try the sentence generator.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Sentence Generator

The Translation of “Secret Mark”

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:05:00 +0000

A few days ago, I wrote a post, The Secret Gospel of Mark, in which I announced that Biblical Archaeology Review had published an informative article on the “Secret Gospel of Mark.” Now BAR has published Morton Smith’s translation of the “Secret Gospel of Mark.”

Visit BAR online and read the translation of the “Secret Gospel of Mark.”

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Secret Mark

The New Simplified Bible.

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:40:00 +0000

There is a new version of the Bible on the market (not another version!). This one is free and it is available online. James R Madsen is the translator and editor of the New Simplified Bible. This new translation of the Bible comes in three different editions:

The Jehovah Version

The New Simplified Bible Jehovah Version is an easy to read Bible Translation that faithfully presents the name Jehovah wherever the Tetragramiton YHWH is found in the Holy Scriptures. This traditional name for the Almighty God of the universe offers a rich and spiritually rewarding Bible reading experience.

The Yahwist Version

The New Simplified Bible Yahwist Version a new and exciting way to read the Holy Scriptures using words similar to the origional text. It contains a number of Hebrew words including Yahoshua in place of the English name Jesus. Words such as "shalom-peace, ahavah-love, shamayim-heaven(s) and eretz-earth. The name Yahowah is offered in representation of the Divine Name. It comes from the Tetragramiton: YHWH transliterated to YaHoWaH. A complete Hebrew Word List is provided.

The LORD Version

The New Simplified Bible LORD Version uses the title LORD where the Hebrew letters for God's name YHWH is in the text. It is important to honor God's divine name. However there are millions of sincere individuals who honestly don't know His name. They only read translations that use the substitute title "the LORD." The New Simplified Bible LORD Version uses the title LORD while injecting the most accepted names for God thru out the publication. It gives the reader an opportunity to become familiar with the Name of God. Try it...you might like it.

The translator offers a disclaimer that his translation of the Bible is not related to the Jehovah’s Witnesses work and ministry and that it is not endorsed by the Watch Tower Society:

The NSB is self-published by the translator. It is not influenced by any Christian denomination or sect. An honest attempt has been made to give you the accurate translation from the original language. The New Simplified Bible is not related to the publishing and preaching work of Jehovah's Witnesses. It is not endorsed by the Watch Tower Society.

Although the translator makes the disclaimer that his version of the Bible is not related to the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the New Simplified Bible could be classified as “Jehovah’s Witnesses lite.” Below are two passages from the Gospel of John and the explanation offered by the NSB:

John 1:1 (from The Lord Version)

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was like God.*

Note:

*1:1 Son of God like God: At John 10:33 Jesus was accused of making himself God or a god. The word used here is “theos.” It means: devine, god-like, a god, God. (God-like) (Strong’s G2316)Jesus clearly stated in reply: “Do you say you blaspheme, because I said, I am God’s Son?” He identified himself as the Son of God, not God!

John 1:18

18 No man has ever seen God. The only begotten God-like* one (G2316) who is closest to the Father (in the bosom of the Father) tells us about him. (Psalm 8:5)

Note:

*1:18 only begotten God-like one: The term “begotten God” is found only once in the Holy Scriptures at John 1:18. The phrase comes from the Greek monogenes theos, meaning only born God or god. It can also mean “born from God.” Scripture context proves that God was not begotten or born, his son was. However, because the oldest manuscripts state “monogenes theos” the proper translation must be “begotten god,” “begotten God,” or “begotten God-like one.” In keeping with the context of the entire Bible the New Simplified Bible will not call the Almighty God begotten! The context of John 1:18 shows that it is talking about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Therefore the term “God-like one” has been used.

Below are the same two passages from the Yahwist Version:

John 1:1

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with the Almighty One, and theWord was like the Almighty One

John 1:18

18 No man has ever seen the Almighty One. The only brought forth-Mighty One who is closest to the Father (in the bosom of the Father) tells us about him. (Psalm 8:5)

You can read the New Simplified Bible here.

As I have said before in one or two posts, any translation of the Bible that depends on Strong’s Concordance with Hebrew and Greek Lexicon should be considered suspect. And any translation of the Bible that says that it is not endorsed by the Watch Tower Society should be rejected.

In conclusion, I cannot recommend the New Simplified Bible.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Bible Translation, New Simplified Bible

The Character of the God of the Hebrew Bible

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:16:00 +0000

The Center for Philosophy of Religion at the University of Notre Dame hosted a conference about the moral character of God as portrayed in the texts of the Old Testament.

The Center has made available online the videos of all of the conference sessions. Below is the program and the lectures presented at the conference

Thursday, September 10, 2009:

Mike Rea: Welcome and Introduction
Louise Antony: Does God Love Us?

Friday, September 11, 2009:

Edwin Curley: The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
Evan Fales: Satanic Verses: Moral Chaos in Holy Writ
John Hare: Animal Sacrifices
Mark C. Murphy: God Beyond Justice
Eleonore Stump: The Problem of Evil and the History of Peoples: Think Amalek

Saturday, September 12, 2009:

Richard Swinburne: What does the Old Testament Mean?
Nicholas Wolterstorff: Reading Joshua
Gary Anderson: What about the Canaanites?
Christopher Seitz: Canon and Conquest: The Character of the God of the Hebrew Bible
Concluding Remarks: Howard Wettstein
Panel Discussion: Gary Anderson, Paul Draper, Daniel Howard-Snyder

The videos of the conference are posted here.

HT: Michael Rea

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Divine Command, Hebrew God, Problem of Evil, Theodicy

The Lonely Widow

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:53:00 +0000

In my previous post, I gave a brief introduction to the events that led to the fall of Jerusalem, the destruction of the temple, and the exile of Judah to Babylon. In this post I will describe the horrors experienced by the covenant community in the aftermath of the siege of Jerusalem. The despair of the people and the intense agony that followed the destruction of Jerusalem was poignantly expressed by the author of the book of Lamentations.

The readers of Lamentations are given a vivid picture of the pain and the suffering faced by the covenant community during and after the Babylonian invasion of Jerusalem. The writer gives the reason for the incomprehensible tragedy that befell the nation: “The LORD gave full vent to his wrath; he poured out his hot anger, and he kindled a fire in Zion that consumed its foundations” (Lamentations 4:11).

The book opens with of portrayal of the city of Jerusalem as a widow that has been shamed, rejected, and abandoned: “How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow has she become, she who was great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces has become a slave” (Lamentations 1:1).

The book of Lamentations portrays the city of Jerusalem as a woman in the deepest state of desolation. The city now is left desolate, a city that once was full of people. Jerusalem is portrayed as a widow suffering and mourning for her children. The city that once was a great city receiving the homage of the nations is now but a vassal, paying tribute to its overlord.

The portrayal of Jerusalem as a widow conveys the idea of mourning and abandonment, and it is meant to evoke pity from the reader. Pity is what Israel desires to receive from God, but the writer welcomes pity from anyone who will hear the people’s cry: “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which was brought upon me, which the LORD inflicted on the day of his fierce anger” (Lamentations 1:12).

The image of the city as a widow is also meant to evoke a sense of desolation and loneliness, of pain and suffering, of horror and outrage. The outrage of the women of Judah was to watch the death of their own children: “Should women eat their offspring, the children they have borne?” (Lamentations 2:20). The reason for this outrage is because without children, there is no future.

The graphic picture of Jerusalem as a lonely widow provides a small glimpse of the great devastation that came upon the nation. Kings and people had built an impregnable city hoping to find protection behind its walls, trying to escape the judgment and the death proclaimed by the prophets, but not knowing that those mighty walls of protection were no protection at all against the God who had brought in the Babylonians as his instrument of divine justice. No city is so impregnable that it might become immune to God’s righteous judgment.

Before disaster fell on Jerusalem, optimistic prophets proclaimed that the temple of God in Jerusalem would guarantee that the city would never become a desolation. But now the ruins of the city have become a striking reminder that those prophets were wrong: “Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; they have not exposed your iniquity to restore your fortunes, but have seen oracles for you that are false and misleading” (Lamentations 2:14). It was because the people believed the message of the optimistic prophets that they neglected their duties to God and failed to heed the call to repentance.

The ruins of the city and of the temple were also vivid reminders to the people who took a low view of human life. Jeremiah had warned the people: “For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever” (Jeremiah 7:5-7).

The devastation of Judah was a visible demonstration of the great moral failure of the people who refused to respect the dignity of the poor and the other weak members of their society. The tears shed by the lonely widow were the tears of remorse for the people’s violation of the covenant. Judah did not go into exile because of their faithfulness to God. Rather, the nation was driven into exile and hard servitude because of the people’s disobedience to their God.

The desperate situation of Judah after the destruction of Jerusalem is forcefully expressed in Lamentations 1:2: “She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has none to comfort her; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they have become her enemies.”

Judah’s friends and allies not only abandoned her but they also dealt treacherously with her. Faced with the possibility of reprisal for supporting Judah, her allies not only assumed an attitude of indifference but they also became hostile to her situation. Left alone to confront the powerful Babylonian army, Judah’s army was no match against the invading forces.

With the destruction of the temple, the roads leading to Jerusalem were empty, people did not come to the city to worship and celebrate, for the gates of the city were desolate and the temple servants had been taken away to Babylon (Lamentations 1:4).

The pathetic picture of a community mourning the destruction of its religious life reflects the pain and devastation caused by the Babylonian army. The city now remains desolate. The people, with their eyes full of tears, express their bitterness over the destruction of their beloved city and temple. As in the days of old, the people were crying: “Ichabod, the glory has departed” (1 Samuel 4:21).

The devastation of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple took place because the people had forgotten the Lord. The people of Judah abandoned the covenant, they had trusted in themselves, and had put all their hopes on deceptive words, words that could not deliver them from the appointed hour of judgment.

How could such a judgment of unbelievable proportion afflict Judah? How could so much sorrow, and so much pain come upon the city of God, upon his holy mountain, a city beautiful in elevation, the city of the great king (Psalm 48:1-2)?

The writer again gives the reason for the catastrophe that came upon Jerusalem: “Because the LORD has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions” As a result, Jerusalem’s children have gone away, captives before her enemies. Because of her rebellion, Zion’s majesty has departed, her princes fled without strength before the pursuer ((Lamentations 1:5-6). These words are very descriptive of the reason for Judah’s exile. The punishment was from above, but the cause was from within.

Israel had rebelled against their God. They had gone after other gods and now they are experiencing the consequences of that disobedience. Now, in their distress they cry out to God. Their lament is a cry for help and a plea for mercy, which they cannot find. It is for this reason that the people acknowledged that God has brought this devastation: “It was for the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, who shed the blood of the righteous in the midst of her” (Lamentations 4:13). With the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of the people, the threat of the covenant curse had been invoked (Deuteronomy 28:47-57), and the righteousness of Yahweh had been vindicated.

The cry of the lonely widow is the voice of a woman who was alive, but a woman in pain, broken by her suffering. The nation was taken by force from her heritage. The exile of Judah raised questions about the destiny of the nation. Although the exile had diminished the hope of the people, they were still the people of God, even though they were in a strange land.

The people of Judah still had a hope for a future because their relationship with Yahweh was based on hesed, on covenantal love, a love that is faithful, a love that forgives and redeems. In the midst of the hurt and suffering experienced by the community, the writer of Lamentations appeals to Yahweh’s faithfulness: “Restore us to yourself, O LORD, that we may be restored; renew our days as of old – unless you have utterly rejected us, and are angry with us beyond measure” (Lamentations 5:21-22).

But, the Lord had not utterly rejected his people. To the contrary, the exile served as an opportunity for Yahweh to renew Israel’s mission in the world, as we shall see in an upcoming post.

Posts in the Series:

The Babylonian Exile

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Exile, Lamentations, Widow