Dr. Claude Mariottini - Professor of Old Testament

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

Biblical Studies Carnival # 47

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:14:00 +0000

The forty-seventh edition of the Biblical Studies Carnival has been posted on Kevin Scull’s blog Paul of Tarsus. Kevin’s selection includes several links to video resources for biblical studies. Visit Kevin’s blog and read his selection for the 47th Carnival.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Biblical Studies Carnival

Biblioblog Top 50 – October 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 02:47:00 +0000

The latest release of the Biblioblog Top 50 is out. The list ranks the most visited Biblioblogs for October 2009.

My blog was listed at number 27 , up from number 35 in September.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Biblioblog Top 50

The Babylonian Exile

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

The fall of Jerusalem, the destruction of the temple, and the deportation of the people of Judah to exile in Babylon did not come suddenly, without a warning. Prophets like Jeremiah, Ezekiel and others had been warning the people of Judah that unless they repented and turned to God, the curses of the covenant would be invoked upon the nation and the people would be removed from the land which they had received as their inheritance.

The exile of Judah began when Nebuchadnezzar and his army arrived in Jerusalem. In 598 B.C. Babylon advanced against Judah. Egypt’s promised military help did not materialize because they were unable to circumvent the mighty Babylonian army: “And the king of Egypt did not come again out of his land, for the king of Babylon had taken all that belonged to the king of Egypt from the Brook of Egypt to the river Euphrates” (2 Kings 24:7).

Nebuchadnezzar’s army came up to Jerusalem and besieged the city. During the siege Jehoiakim, king of Judah died. Jeremiah 22:18-19 and 36:30 suggest that Jehoiakim was probably assassinated. Jehoiachin (his name appears as Jeconiah in 1 Chronicles 3:16 and Coniah in Jeremiah 22:24), the son of Jehoiakim, was installed as king of Judah at the age of 18 (2 Kings 24:8).

According to the Biblical text, Nebuchadnezzar himself came to Jerusalem while his servants were besieging the city (2 Kings 24:11). According to the Babylonian Chronicle, Nebuchadnezzar entered Jerusalem on March 16, 597 B.C. Jehoiachin, along with his mother and members of the royal family, his officers, advisors, and other government leaders surrendered to the king of Babylon.

At that time, the first deportation of Judah took place. According to 2 Kings 24:12-16, 10,000 people were taken into exile, including the royal family, their servants, and the palace officials. In addition, another 8,000 professional people were also taken to Babylon. However, according to Jeremiah 52:58, only 3023 people were taken captive in the 7th year of Nebuchadnezzar (597 B.C.).

The second deportation of Judah took place in 587 B.C. during the reign of Zedekiah, the last King of Judah. Zedekiah was a weak ruler who was unable to stand up against the anti-Babylonian forces in Judah and who was afraid of popular opinion. Probably incited by the prophets who were taken to Babylon and by the nobles who formed part of the anti-Babylonian forces in Judah, Zedekiah rebelled against Babylon.

In 588 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judah and Jerusalem was blockaded: “In the ninth year of his [Zedekiah’s] reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem and laid siege to it. And they built siegeworks all around it. So the city was besieged till the eleventh year of King Zedekiah” (2 Kings 25:1-2).

In 587 B.C. Jerusalem was captured and Zedekiah fled from the city, but was he captured, blinded, and deported to Babylon (2 Kings 25:5-7).

After the deportation of Zedekiah, Nebuzaradan, an army official of the Babylonian king, burned down the Temple, the royal palace, all the great houses of Jerusalem, and all the important buildings in the city. He also took into exile the people who remained in the city, including the people who had earlier deserted to the king of Babylon.

The exile of Judah brought drastic changes to the fabric of Judahite society. As a result of the exile, the history of Israel took a different turn. The political and religious structures that existed in Judah prior to the exile were no more and the lives of those who went to Babylon changed radically. Life in exile changed the people so much that they would never be quite the same again.

From a human perspective, the transformation of the political and religious life of Judah could have been considered the end of the political and religious existence of Judah. And yet, the vitality of Israel’s faith and the presence of God with his oppressed people give evidence that the history of Judah did not come to an end with the destruction of the temple and the burning of Jerusalem, nor with the murder of men, women, and children, and not even with the removal of the people from their ancestral land.

Instead, the exile can be seen as the dawn of a new beginning for Israel. Although the exile caused the end of the monarchy and the cessation of religious life in the Temple, the exile also became a time of purification, a time when Israel paid “double for all her sins” (Isaiah 40:2). But the exile was also a time when Israel would once again recognize Yahweh’s faithfulness to his people and experience the great deliverance Yahweh would again reveal to Israel.

The exile had a broad impact on the religious and social life of Israel. It was during Israel’s exile in Babylon that the nation’s vitality was supremely tested. The people of Judah were rooted out of their homeland, separated from their cultural values, dispossessed of their religious moorings, taken into captivity and yet, they were able to maintain their religious and ethnic identity.

However, the transition was not easy. At the beginning of their exile, there was a re-evaluation of the nation’s identity. The destruction of the temple and the deportation of the people forced the nation to look again at their relationship with Yahweh. There was a crisis of credibility in Israel’s God. Many people questioned Yahweh’s commitment to his people and his power to deliver the nation from the hands of Babylon.

This feeling of desperation and anguish is reflected in the words of the Psalmist:

By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. On the willows there we hung up our lyres. For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!" How shall we sing the LORD's song in a foreign land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill! Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy! (Psalm 137:1-6).

This psalm contains the words of an individual whose faith in God was affected by the events of the exile. With the destruction of Jerusalem, their holy city, the people of Judah were wondering about their future, whether their God had been defeated by the Babylonian god, or whether the mighty saving acts of God in the past had become irrelevant in the present.

Thus, the words of Psalm 137 is a genuine expression of what the people were thinking and feeling. These words express the confusion and despair of a people who believed that their sins had alienated them from God, so much so that some people believed that they had been summarily rejected by God.

In upcoming posts, I will continue to study the impact of the exile on the life of Israel.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Deportation, Exile, Jeremiah, Nebuchadnezzar, Zedekiah

Pregnancy Test in Ancient Egypt

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 06:00:00 +0000

Anne Hart has written an article in which she says that archaeologists examining ancient Egyptian medical training manuals have found a document that might be considered the earliest recorded pregnancy test. According to Hart, the document dates from around 1350 B.C.E.

The test consists of women who think they might be pregnant urinating on wheat and barley whole grains/seeds. The ancient papyrus translates as follows:

“If the barley seeds sprout or grow, it means a male child will be born. If the wheat sprouts and thrives, it means a female child will arrive in a few months. If the barley and wheat grains never sprout and grow when a woman urinates on the grain seeds, the woman is not pregnant and therefore, will not give birth this time around.”

Hart also reports that “Archaeologists actually tested the ancient Egyptian medicinal folklore in 1963. They had pregnant women do the test and found it to be 70 percent accurate. The reason why the ancient Egyptian and probably Sumerian test works is because the urine of pregnant women contains a high level of estrogen and progesterone, especially the estrogen that may help the grains to sprout.”

Read the article in its entirety here.

If this ancient Egyptian pregnancy test worked with a 70 percent accuracy rate, then, the test was highly reliable. The fact also that the grains sprouted only when the pregnant women urinated on the seeds, but not when women who were not pregnant urinated on them is another evidence that the procedure was truly effective.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, Egypt, Pregnancy Test

Hypatia: A Woman of Renown

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 05:11:00 +0000

Judith Weingarten at Zenobia: Empress of the East, has an excellent article on Hypatia, a woman who was a philosopher, a mathematician, a lecturer, and an astronomer.

Hypatia’s life has been made into a movie. Below is a preview of the movie.

Visit Judith’s blog and read her post on this fascinating woman.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Hypatia, Women

The Most Stressful, Lowest-paying Jobs in the U.S.

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 05:02:00 +0000

Payscale.com has conducted a survey of the fifteen of the most stressful, lowest-paying jobs in the United States (not in any particular order).

It is easy to guess which profession is number one. However, if you read the list, can you guess what all the fifteen of the most stressful, lowest-paying jobs in the USA have in common?

Read the list here.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Ministry, Work

Joe Seger

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:40:00 +0000

Joe Seger is the Director of the Cobb Institute of Archaeology at Mississippi State University and a professor of religion at that institution. I met him several years ago in a meeting where he was making a presentation.

A news report published in the Sun Herald is reporting that Patty, his wife of almost 30 years, is suffering with Alzheimer's disease. Joe and Patty met in 1976 on an excavation in Israel. She was a photographer for the excavation project.

I would like to invite those people who know Joe and even those who do not know him, to pray for Joe and Patty at this time of great need in their lives.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Joe Seger

Judaism, Halloween, and Mysticism

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 11:17:00 +0000

Peter Bebergal, in an article published in Tablet Magazine, has an excellent essay on Jewish traditions about the occult, mysticism, and the Jewish preoccupation with demons, evil spirits, and superstitions. The following is an excerpt from the article:

While some Jewish families see Halloween as a pagan holiday that should not be observed, the fact is, Jewish tradition is itself no stranger to the otherworldly, with its own history of golem-makers, sorcerers, and demon wranglers, and throughout the centuries Jews have been as afraid of evil spirits as anyone else.

As early as the Roman period, Jews used amulets as a best defense against evils-both real and supernatural-that lurked outside their doors, a practice that continued into the late 17th and 18th century. The amulets could be made on flattened bits of metal inscribed with the names of angels or on small, encased scrolls, much like the mezuzah. But there were other kinds of magic as well. Medieval Jews called out God's name and those of His angels to smite enemies and to gain affections. In addition, Jews of all ages practiced astrology and looked for omens in the form of animals. Since traditional liturgy made little room for personal prayers, these extra-liturgical means helped people combat what they saw as constant threats.

*****

As Judaism struggles between assimilation and the preservation of tradition, Jewish magic suggests that Jews are very much like everyone else in so many beliefs. Ghosts, evil spirits, bad luck, and good are a part of a world view that co-exists with an omnipotent God and a complex moral system. And despite how far into the modern world Jews have moved, they continue to hear the echo of Sefer Hasdim, the famous medieval text, which advised, “One should not believe in superstitions, but it is best to be heedful of them.”

I learned much by reading Bebergal’s article. What this article teaches is that the belief in the supernatural has existed throughout human history and is present in almost every culture of the world. The article also demonstrates that religious people are not immune from believing in the supernatural. Religious people believe in the supernatural because they believe in an order of existence that is beyond human understanding and that goes beyond the visible universe.

Superstition, however, is a distortion of true religious faith because it is a system of beliefs that is not based on historical facts, on human experience, or scientific knowledge. Superstitious claims are associated with the paranormal, occult practices, belief in magic and luck, and the fear that the lives of individuals can be affected by these elements.

Jewish life was not devoid of these influences, as Bebergal has demonstrated in his article

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Amulets, Demons, Evil Spirits, Gematria, Magic, Mysticism, Occult, Superstition

Lekh Lekha

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 05:02:00 +0000

According to the Biblical text, when God called Abraham and told him to leave his country, Abraham was living in Mesopotamia, in the city of Ur. In his infinite sovereignty, God singled out an individual from whom the nation of Israel was to spring.

In God’s infinite wisdom, he chose one individual and eventually one nation to become instruments for the manifestation of his redeeming love. God’s call to Abraham is described in Genesis 12:1:

“Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.’”

The expression “Go for thyself,” as expressed in the Young’s Literal Translation, is an English rendition of the Hebrew “Lekh Lekha.” In the Jewish religious community, the Parashat Lekh Lekha is a section of the book of Genesis that includes Genesis 12:1-17:27. A Parashah (a Hebrew word meaning “portion”) is a section of a Biblical book in the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) that is read weekly in the Synagogue. The Parashat Lekh Lekha is the Torah Reading for the Week of October 25-31, 2009.

Eugene Korn has written a good devotional on the Lekh Lekha which was published in the Jewish Standard. Below is an excerpt taken from his article:

The Bible tells the story of the Jewish people—who we are and who we are challenged to be. Our national birth occurs in Chapter 12 of Genesis, when God instructs Abraham to leave his family and pagan Mesopotamian culture and journey to Canaan. Here he will start a new life, a new culture and a new people: the Jewish people in covenant with God.

Genesis 12 also signals a literary and theological change of direction. Genesis’ first eleven chapters are a narrative of the cosmos and humanity, suffused with the grandeur of God’s universal concern. Yet from chapter 12 onward, the Bible’s focus narrows dramatically, restricting itself to God’s stormy relationship with a small, particular people—Abraham’s descendants. It is the story of two lovers so smitten with each other that they leave the rest of the world behind. The God of the universe has gone ethnic.

Looking closely, we can still detect the universal plan. A critical part of the particularistic covenant with Abraham is a bold challenge: “Be a blessing…. Through you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” God calls upon the Jewish people to be a partner in creation and to carry the divine blessing to all humanity. It is so essential to the covenant that the Bible repeats it twice more to Abraham, once to Isaac when he inherits the covenant and once more to Jacob when the covenant is passed to the third generation. Jews are not to be an isolated ghetto people, or an insignificant minority relegated to a footnote to the larger human story. The covenant calls on us to be a major player—the major player—in the culture and history of the world.

In his article, Korn discusses the universal implications of Abraham’s call and the mission of the Jewish people to bestow God’s blessings upon the nations of the world. He also discusses the reasons “the covenant’s universal dimension has receded into the background of Jewish life.”

It is a good article that deserves to be read by non-Jewish people who want to gain a Jewish perspective of Abraham’s call.

If you interested in reading my views on God’s promises to Abraham, read my post, Abraham and the Promises of God.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Abraham, Genesis 12:1

The Aper-al Tomb and the Hebrew Presence in Egypt

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:18:00 +0000

Stephen Smuts at Biblical Paths, has posted to his blog an article by Zahi Hawass published in the English edition of Asharq Alawsat in which Hawass, an Egyptian archaeologist and the Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, discusses the fact that the person buried in a tomb discovered several years ago in the Saqqara region, was named “Aper-al” and that this name is an Egyptian form of a Hebrew name

Since this information is relevant to the discussion of a Hebrew presence in Egypt during the time of Amenhotep III and Akhenaten, I will reproduce below Hawass’s article in its entirety:

In my opinion, the Israelite Exodus from Egypt will remain a point of controversy amongst scientists and researchers until the Day of Judgment or until new archaeological evidence is unearthed that is able to settle this issue. However in light of the information currently available to historians and archaeologists, we can do no more than practice moderation and caution.

There have been whispers in the archaeological community following the discovery of the Aper-al tomb in the Saqqara region in the area known as Abwab al-Qotat [Doors of the Cats] by French archaeologist Alain Zivie. Abwab al-Qotat was given its name following the discovery of thousands of mummified cats interred in the tomb. It is well known that ancient Egyptians worshipped the goddess Bastet, which had the head of a cat. The center for the worship of Bastet was located in Tell Basta, which is in the [Egyptian] city of Zagazig, and was formerly known as Bubastis, which was derived from the word ‘Bastet’.

Zivie discovered the tomb by travelling deep underground until he reached the burial chamber which was carved into the rock more than 30 meters underground. Zivie was forced to seek the assistance of French engineers working on the Cairo metro project in order to restore the tomb and strengthen its walls to allow him to safely reach the burial chamber. Zivie therefore discovered the first almost untouched Modern Kingdom tomb in Saqqara.

The discovery of this tomb which took place almost 20 years ago remains an important archaeological event. The reason for this is that the person buried in the tomb was known as "Aper-al" and this is an Egyptianized form of a Hebrew name. Aper-al was the vizier for King Amenhotep III, and later for his son King Akhenaten. Pharaoh Akhenaten was the first ruler to institute monotheism represented by the worship of the sun which he called Aten.

Excavations of this tomb continued for almost 10 years, beginning in 1980 and ending in late 1989. Amongst the artefacts discovered here were several portraits entitled "spiritual father of Aten" as well as "the Priest" and "the first servant of Aten." This means that Aper-al served as the chief priest of Aten in the Memphis region during the reign of King Akhenaten.

Of course the effects of the news of the discovery of a Hebrew tomb has raised many questions and controversies amongst archaeologists with regards to whether or not a temple for Aten existed in Memphis or not. The portraits found in the Aper-al tomb indicate that such a temple did in fact exist in Memphis, and this is contrary to the tradition accepted by archaeologists which is that monotheism [Atenism] did not exist beyond the city of Tell el-Amrana in central Egypt. Tel-Amrana was the city founded by Akhenaten for his family. Akhenaten swore never to depart the city so long as he lived, and he named it Akhen-Aten meaning the city faithful and loyal to Aten.

In addition to this, there has been prolonged controversy between Torah scholars and archaeologists over the credibility of Aper-al in fact being a Hebrew name. This creates the impression that Hebrews were present in Egypt during the eighteenth dynasty, and that some Egyptianized Hebrews held senior state positions. It is important to emphasize that all the artefacts discovered in the Aper-al tomb, such as the sarcophagus, the mummies, as well as the carvings on the walls of the tomb, are consistent with the Egyptian style of the time. Even Aper-al’s portrait, his cloths, and his jewellery, are purely ancient Egyptian. This is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

As Stephen wrote in his post, “Dr Zahi Hawass errs on the side of caution with regards to discoveries made at the Aper-al tomb in the Saqqara region, and their relationship to the Exodus, and subsequent archaeological conclusions.”

I agree that scholars must be cautious about the conclusions they develop out of this discovery. However, if Aper-al was indeed a Hebrew man and the vizier for King Amenhotep III, and later for his son King Akhenaten, then the discovery may provide a possible connection between the religious reforms of Akhenaten and the Hebrew presence in Egypt.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Akhenaten, Amarna Age, Amenhotep III, Aper-al, Aper-al Tomb

The Fate of the Lost Tribes of Israel

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:00:00 +0000

Arnold Ages, in an interesting article published in the Jewish Tribune, discusses what happened to the ten lost tribes of Israel after they were deported by Assyria to other areas of the Assyrian empire.

The following is an excerpt from the article:

One of the most intriguing questions in the Hebrew Bible is what happened to the 10 tribes after the northern kingdom of Israel was sundered and plundered by a succession of Assyrian kings whose names – Sennacherib, Shalmaneser, Sargon and Tiglat-pileser – are attached to the sacking of the territory in the eight century BCE?

Not only did these Assyrian monarchs destroy the infrastructure of the political entity that housed all but the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, they also deported, in successive waves, its entire population base to vaguely identified portions of the Assyrian Empire, some beyond a distant river. According to Zvi Benite, who has studied the question with an almost intimidating thoroughness, the “lostness” of the 10 tribes has become the stuff of mystery, folklore and Messianic speculation.

In proposing an answer to the first conundrum – why deport people in the first place? – Benite suggests that the vastness of the Assyrian realm permitted its rulers to gather conquered peoples into its different spaces and use them to consolidate their hold on the empire while granting the deportees a modicum of independence and identity. This thesis, however, stands on some pretty thin gruel. Conquered and deported nations do not generally blend in and become supporters of the regime or empire that carted them off from their native lands.

Be that as it may, Benite’s study does not rest on the questionable idea that the lost tribes somehow serviced the imperial aims of the Assyrians. The quality of his essay resides in the way in which the idea of the ten lost tribes became part of the religious folklore of the Jewish people. In illustrating this, the author ferrets out every last verse of the Hebrew Bible in alluding to the anticipation with which Biblical authors awaited the return of the tribes. The books of Kings, Isaiah and Ezra are especially targeted to place in relief the contemporary view of the fate of the 10 tribes.

According to Benite, the return of the inhabitants of Judea from Babylon and their reconstruction of the Great Temple of Jerusalem sharpened interest in the following question. If Cyrus, the Persian monarch and successor to the Assyrian Empire, decided to return the captives of Judea to their ancestral homeland, how is it that the 10 tribes did not somehow return at the same time as the Judeans? No definitive answer to that question was found.

I have written several posts dealing with the fate of the ten lost tribes of Israel. You can read some of my posts here, here, and here.

To read my evaluation of Zvi Ben-Dor Benite’s book The Lost Tribes of Israel: A World History, click here.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Assyrian Deportation, Lost Tribes, Northern Kingdom

The Sea of Galilee Boat

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 05:02:00 +0000

The Archaeological Institute of America will sponsor a lecture on the Sea of Galilee boat. The lectures is free to the public, and all are welcome.

Lecture

The Sea of Galilee Boat
Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 7:00 PM
Lecturer: Shelley Wachsmann, Institute of Nautical Archaeology, Texas A&M University
Where:
Oriental Institute
University of Chicago
1155 East 58th St.
Chicago, IL 60637

Lecturer

Shelley Wachsmann is with the Institute of Nautical Archaeology, and the Meadows Professor of Biblical Archaeology with the Nautical Archaeology Program and Texas A& M University. He received his degrees from the Institute of Archaeology at Hebrew University (M.A. and Ph.D.), and his areas of specialization are Biblical archaeology, nautical archaeology, the Near East, trade, and archery. He has done extensive fieldwork, and his publications include “The Sea of Galilee Boat” (3rd edition 2009) and “Seagoing Ships and Seamanship in the Bronze Age Levant” (1998, 2nd printing 2009). He is an active member of the AIA Underwater Archaeology Committee/Interest Group, and is the 2009/2010 Joukowsky Lecturer.

Abstract of the Lecture

In 1986 a 2,000-year-old boat was discovered in Israel on the banks of the Sea of Galilee (Yam Kinneret) near the ancient site of Migdal. In a daring and hair-raising non-stop adventure, directed by the speaker, the boat was excavated, packaged in its entirety, and moved to a specially-prepared conservation pool. The boat lived its life during the first centuries B.C.-A.D. This vessel is apparently representative of the large-type all-purpose fishing boats common on the lake during that time. Research reveals, beyond reasonable doubt, that this is the type of boat mentioned in the Gospels, used by the disciples of Jesus. It is also the type of boat used by the Jews in the brutal nautical Battle of Migdal in A.D. 67, against a makeshift Roman fleet. The lecture describes the adventure of the boat’s discovery and excavation, and then delves into what research has revealed about the boat and its milieu.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Galilee Boat, Shelley Wachsmann

The Hyksos, the Babylonians, and Egypt

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:56:00 +0000

A news release published in the Austrian Times is reporting that “Austrian archaeologists have found a Babylonian seal in Egypt that confirms contact between the Babylonians and the Hyksos during the second millennium B.C.”

The report says that “Irene Forstner-Müller, the head of the Austrian Archaeological Institute’s (ÖAI) branch office in Cairo, said today (Thurs) the find had occurred at the site of the ancient town of Avaris near what is today the city of Tell el-Dab’a in the eastern Nile delta.” She said a recently-discovered cuneiform tablet had led archaeologists to suspect there had been contact between the Babylonians and the Hyksos.

This discovery is important because the Hyksos were a Semitic people who conquered Egypt, probably at the time when Israel entered Egypt, and established their own dynasty there for almost two centuries. Many Hyksos’s names come from West Semitic languages. Thus, this archaeological discovery, which shows contact between the Babylonians and the Hyksos, is significant because it may provide additional information that will help scholar develop a better understanding of Hyksos’s history and culture.

HT: Jim West

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, Hyksos

A New Version of the Bible

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:43:00 +0000

Image: The Lolcat Bible

Guess what? There is a new version of the Bible coming to the market soon. The Lolcat Bible will be published in 2010. I have decided to give you an introduction to this new translation by reproducing below the beloved and well-known Psalm 23.

Lolcat Bible
Psalm 23

1 Ceiling Cat iz mai sheprd (which is funni if u knowz teh joek about herdin catz LOL.)
He givz me evrithin I need.

2 He letz me sleeps in teh sunni spot
an haz liek nice waterz r ovar thar.

3 He makez mai soul happi
an maeks sure I go teh riet wai for him. Liek thru teh cat flap insted of out teh opin windo LOL.

4 I iz in teh valli of dogz, fearin no pooch,
bcz Ceiling Cat iz besied me rubbin' mah ears, an it maek me so kumfy.

5 He letz me sit at teh taebl evn when peepl who duzint liek me iz watchn.
He givz me a flea baff an so much gooshy fud it runz out of mai bowl LOL.

6 Niec things an luck wil chase me evrydai
an I wil liv in teh Ceiling Cats houz forevr.

I guess, I will keep on using the NIV.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: The Lolcat Bible

The Secret Gospel of Mark

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 03:15:00 +0000

My friend Charles Hedrick, professor of religious studies at Southwest Missouri State University has written a very informative article on the “secret gospel of Mark.” The article was published in the November/December 2009 issue of theBiblical Archaeology Review. The article is available online. If you want to know more about the “secret gospel of Mark” or if you have never heard of it, you should visit BAR and read the article.

The following is the introduction to the article according to BAR:

In 1958, while searching through the library of the desert monastery of Mar Saba, Biblical scholar Morton Smith made an astounding and controversial discovery: portions of a "secret" gospel of Mark. The handwritten Greek manuscript he found purported to be a copy of a letter by the second-century church leader Clement of Alexandria, in which Clement evidently responds to inquiries about "Secret Mark." Morton's subsequent publication of his discovery incited a maelstrom of controversy and speculation that continues 50 years later.

Below are two excerpts from the article:

The first quotation from Secret Mark describes the resuscitation of a young man who had died. The youth’s sister pleads for help from Jesus, and both go to a garden tomb from which a great cry is heard. Jesus rolls away the stone from the door of the tomb, enters and resuscitates the youth. The youth “looking upon [Jesus], loved him.” They go to the youth’s house, “for he was rich.” Jesus remains there for six days, and then advises the young man what he must do. The unnamed youth then comes to Jesus in the evening “wearing a linen cloth over his naked body. And he remained with him that night, for Jesus taught him the mystery of the kingdom of God.”

******

When Smith published the results of his study of the Clement letter 15 years after its discovery, scholarly responses were harshly negative, even caustic. Many of the published reactions were inflammatory personal assaults on Smith himself,7 and in particular at his interpretation of the text, rather than concerned with the question of whether or not the letter was forged. (The forgery issue was first raised by Quentin Quesnell in 1975.8) Smith’s conclusion was that Clement’s letter was a genuine second-century text and that Secret Mark was also genuine—from the late first century. The Secret Gospel of Mark demonstrated that the Jesus movement had begun with a mystery-religion baptismal initiation: Jesus baptized each of his closest disciples into the mystery of the kingdom of God, “singly and at night.” In his larger study Smith wrote: “In this baptism the disciple was united with Jesus. The union may have been physical ... (there is no telling how far symbolism went in Jesus’ rite), but the essential thing was that the disciple was possessed by Jesus’ spirit.” This is how Smith put it in his more popular book: The disciple ecstatically “entered the kingdom of God, and was thereby set free from the laws ordained for and in the lower world. Freedom from the law may have resulted in completion of the spiritual union by physical union.”

I hope these two excerpts from the article will motivate you to read the article in its entirety.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Charles Hedrick, Morton Smith, Secret Mark

Aaron the Priest and His Modern Day Descendants

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:10:00 +0000

Dr. Karl Skorecki, a former professor at the University of Toronto, has applied genetics to study Jewish genealogies. After studying the genetic make-up of modern-day Jewish priests, Skorecki has concluded that today’s Cohanim (Jewish priests), “are descended from a single common male ancestor - biblically said to be Aaron, the older brother of Moses.”

In an article written by Peter Goodspeed for the National Post, Skorecki is quoted as saying that today’s Cohanim have been geographically separated for at least a thousand years but they share “a Biblical oral tradition of common male ancestry dating back more than 100 generations.” According to the Bible, the priestly work was assigned to Aaron and his descendants, and has been passed on from father to son ever since the Exodus of the people of Israel from Egypt.

Goodspeed wrote:

He reasoned the Cohanim should all have a common set of genetic markers at a higher frequency than the general Jewish population. After consulting Dr. Michael Hammer, a geneticist at the University of Arizona and a pioneer in studying the Y chromosome, the two men developed an experiment to test his thesis.

Besides determining maleness, the Y chromosome consists almost entirely of non-coding DNA, which is passed from father to son without recombination. Therefore the genetic information on a Y chromosome of a man living today is basically the same as that of his ancient male ancestors, with rare mutations that occur along hereditary lines.

By tracking those neutral mutations or genetic markers scientists can come up with the genetic signature of a man's male ancestry.

Dr. Skorecki's test found an array of six common chromosomal markers in 97 of the 106 Cohens he tested. Calculations based on variations of the mutations rooted the men's shared ancestry 106 generations in the past - 3,300 years ago, or the approximate time of Exodus.

Skorecki’s conclusions are controversial because they depend on a new technology that is still in the developmental stages. However, many scientists are using genetical research in historical study and the results are confirming the reliability of the technology. If the genetic evidence shows that Jewish priests today are related to a common ancestor that lived more than three thousand years ago, then this information can have a bearing on information provided by the Biblical record.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Aaron, Karl Skorecki, Priests

The Books of the Old Testament

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 05:02:00 +0000

The Bible is a collection of books. There are sixty-six books in the Bible: thirty-nine books in the Old Testament and twenty-seven in the New Testament. The word “Bible” comes from the Greek word biblia, a word which means “books.” The Greek word is plural, indicating that the Bible is a collection of books, written by several authors over a period of more than 1,000 years.

The Christian Bible is divided into two sections: the Old Testament and the New Testament. The word “Testament” comes from a Hebrew word, by the way of the Greek, which means “covenant.” The name “Old Testament” reflects the Christian belief that the promise of a new covenant in Jeremiah 31:31-34 was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Many Christians prefer to call the Old Testament “Hebrew Bible” or “First Testament.”

In antiquity, the Jewish people called the whole collection known today as the Old Testament by the three divisions of which the Bible is composed. In the Prologue to the book of Sirach, they are called “the Law and the Prophets and the other books.” In the Gospel of Luke the books of the Old Testament are called “the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalm” (Luke 24:44).

The Old Testament is a collection of thirty-nine books written in Hebrew and Aramaic. The whole Old Testament was written in Hebrew, with the exception of Daniel 2:4-7:28; Ezra 4:8-6:18; 7:12-26; and Jeremiah 10:11, which were written in Aramaic.

The apocryphal books which were included in the Alexandrian canon and eventually became part of the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, were the work of the post-exilic community and they were never recognized as sacred scriptures by the Jewish community. Many of the apocryphal books were written in Greek.

The Jewish people today call their scripture Tanak or Hebrew Bible. The word Tanak comes from an acronym made up of the initial consonants of the three major parts of the Hebrew Bible: Torah (Law), Nebiim (Prophets) and Kethubim (Writings).

The order and division of the books of the Old Testament are different in the Hebrew Bible and in the English Bible.

English Bible

The Old Testament in the English Protestant Bibles contains 39 books and is divided into four sections:

Pentateuch: 5 books
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy

Historical Books: 12 books
Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther

Poetical Books: 5 books
Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs

Prophetical Books: 17 books
(a) Major Prophets: 5 books
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel

(b) Minor Prophets: 12 books
Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi

Hebrew Bible (Tanak)

The Hebrew Bible contains 24 books and it is divided into three sections:

Torah (Law or Teaching): 5 books
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy

Nebiim (Prophets): 8 books
(a) Former Prophets: 4 books
Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings

(b) Latter Prophets: 4 books
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve

Kethubim (Writings): 11 books
(a) Poetry: 3 books
Psalms, Job, and Proverbs

(b) Megilloth (Festal Scrolls): 5 books
Song of Songs: read at Passover
Ruth: read at the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost
Lamentations: read on the ninth of Ab, the day Jerusalem was destroyed in 587 B.C.
Ecclesiastes (Qoheleth): read at the feast of Tabernacles (Feast of Booths)
Esther: read at the feast of Purim

(c) The Other Writings: 3 books
Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, and Chronicles

When comparing the two divisions, the following things must be remembered:

1. In the English Bibles, the book of Daniel is included among the Prophets while in the Hebrew Bible Daniel is included with the Writings. The reason Daniel is included among the Prophets is because the Christian Bibles follow the division of the Septuagint. The inclusion of Daniel among the Writings in the Hebrew Biblemay indicate that Daniel probably was one of the last books of the Old Testament to be written.

2. In the English Bibles, the book of Lamentations follows the book of Jeremiah based on the belief that Jeremiah wrote Lamentations. In the Hebrew Bible the book of Lamentation is included among the Festal Scrolls, reflecting the view that the book is exilic or post-exilic.

3. In the English Bibles the books of the twelve Minor Prophets are numbered separately, while in the Hebrew Bible they are counted as one book, probably because they fit in one scroll.

4. In the English Bibles, the books of 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles are counted as two books each while in the Hebrew Bible, Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles are counted as one book each.

5. In the English Bibles, Ezra and Nehemiah are two books. In the Hebrew Bibles the two books are counted as one.

The Apocrypha

The word “Apocrypha” means “hidden thing.” The term “Apocrypha” is used to designate the books that were not included in the Hebrew scriptures. When Jerome translated the Bible into Latin in the 4th century B.C., he included these extra books because he believed these books could be read for edification. These books became known as the Deuterocanonical books (second canon). Jerome’s translation of the Bible into Latin is called the Vulgate. This version of the Bible became the official Bible of the Catholic church.

The following books are listed as the Old Testament Apocrypha that appear in the Catholic and the Orthodox Bibles. However some of the Apocryphal books do not appear in both Bibles. The order of the books listed below follows the order of the Apocryphal books that appear in the New Revised Standard Bible:

The Apocryphal Books
Tobit, Judith, The Additions to Esther, The Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, Baruch, the Letter of Jeremiah, The Additions to Daniel (The Prayer of Azariah, The Song of the Azariah and the Song of the Three Jews, Susanna, Bel and the Dragon), 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, 1 Esdras, The Prayer of Manasseh, Psalm 151, 3 Maccabees, 2 Esdras, and 4 Maccabees.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Hebrew Bible, Old Testament

Egyptian Scarabs

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 20:00:00 +0000

Andie Byrnes at Egyptology News has a good review of the book Egyptian Scarabs by Richard H. Wilkinson (Shire 2008).

Here is what she has to say about commemorative scarabs:

5. Commemorative scarabs

These are scarabs that were commissioned specially to celebrated specific occasions and which date to the New Kingdom, principally during the reign of Amenhotep III. They are an important source of historical information. Wilkinson gives examples of particular scarabs and classes of commemorative scarab. All consist of scarab amulets with hieroglyphic inscriptions on the bases, some texts quite short, others remarkably long. Wilkinson points out some gaps in knowledge. For example, why only some subjects appear to have been commemorated by Amenhotep III, and why commemorative scarabs do not appear to have been produced after the 11th year of Amenhotep's reign but were resumed under the reign of Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten). Wilkinson highlights the differences between scarabs of Amenhotep III and IV. None are known after the Amarna period.

Those who are interested in Egyptian history and Egyptian scarabs will enjoy Andie’s review.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, Egyptian Scarabs

The Temple of the Storm God

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:22:00 +0000

Andrew Lawler, in an article published in the November/December 2009 issue of Archaeology Magazine, discusses the 5,000-year-old sanctuary found beneath Aleppo’s medieval citadel. The following is an excerpt taken from the abstract to article published by Archaeology:

A massive citadel built atop a 150-foot-tall hill of solid rock looms over Aleppo's old quarter. Fortresses have risen above this northern Syrian city since Roman times. But at the heart of the citadel, amid ruins of Ottoman palaces and hidden behind high walls that date to the Crusader era, a team of German and Syrian archaeologists is clearing debris from a large pit that shows this hilltop was significant long before the Romans arrived. Here, amid clouds of dust, a battered basalt sphinx and a lion--both standing seven feet tall--guard the entrance to one of the great religious centers of ancient times, the sanctuary of the storm god Adda.

Kay Kohlmeyer, an archaeologist at Berlin's University of Applied Sciences and the excavation codirector, has spent more than 10 years peeling away the layers of rubble that conceal the rich history of this temple. He's found that it was first constructed by Early Bronze Age peoples, then rebuilt by a succession of cultures, including the Hittites, the Indo-European empire-builders whose domain spread from Anatolia to northern Syria in the 14th century B.C. Through the millennia, as Syrian, Anatolian, and Mesopotamian cultures mixed and blurred at this ancient crossroads, Adda was known variously as Addu, Teshup, Tarhunta, and Hadad. But as artistic styles and languages came and went, the storm god's temple endured.

Read the abstract of the article in its entirety by visiting Archaeology Magazine online.

The abstract also contains a beautiful relief of the Storm God Adda.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Adda, Aleppo, Archaeology, Hadad, Teshup

Public Domain Multimedia for Blogs

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Claude Mariottini) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:10:00 +0000

Don Reisinger, in an article written for CNET, discusses how bloggers can use public domain images, videos, and audio for their blogs without worrying about copyright issues.

If you are a blogger, you will find good information here on how to add copyright-free media to your blog.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Public Domain