tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112Wed, 16 Sep 2026 09:51:00 +0000Ancient IsraelAncient Judaism; Early ChristianityDavila 666ScriptureTenured professor Hebrew Bibleias<p><big><b>Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.</b></big> <p> E-mail: paleojudaica-at-talktalk-dot-net ("-at-" = "@", "-dot-" = ".")</p></p>http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)Blogger24434125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-7140262985047514702Wed, 16 Sep 2026 09:51:00 +00002026-09-16T10:51:00.117+01:00PROF. THOMAS SCHNEIDER: Moses’ Name Is Semitic, Not Egyptian (TheTorah.com).Pharaoh’s daughter names the baby מֹשֶׁה, “for I drew him out of the water”—a Hebrew wordplay from an Egyptian princess?! Since the 19th century Egyptologist, Karl Lepsius, scholars have dismissed this biblical explanation as folk etymology, and instead posited that the name derives from Egyptian mśy, “to give birth,” as http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/09/is-moses-name-really-egyptian.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-6955964315320410466Wed, 16 Sep 2026 09:40:00 +00002026-09-16T10:40:00.117+01:00PHOENICIAN WATCH: Greek Alphabet’s Phoenician Origins Questioned After 2,500 Years (Dimitrios Aristopoulos, Greek Reporter).The Phoenician alphabet myth has long dominated discussions of Greek writing. Herodotus’ prestige and clarity made his account persuasive, but evidence from other traditions, linguistic analysis, and modern archaeology challenges his claim. The phrase “phoinikeia grammata” http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/09/did-herodotus-think-that-linear-b-was.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-5093816722370658964Wed, 16 Sep 2026 09:26:00 +00002026-09-16T10:26:00.109+01:00BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Sogdian Christians. Notice of a New Book: Sheridan, Daniel . 2026. Sogdian Christians. Networks, Books, Homilies, and Medicine. Turnhout: Brepols. PaleoJudaica has considerable interest in the Sogdian Manicheans, who preserved much of our surviving material from and on the Book of Giants. More on them, it, and the ancient Sogdian language is here and links. The http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/09/sheridan-sogdian-christians-brepols.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-8959876438197847248Tue, 15 Sep 2026 09:08:00 +00002026-09-15T10:08:00.116+01:00SYMPOSIUM: I CHANGED MY MIND: Farm Boy to Biblical Scholar (Prof. Christopher A. Rollston, TheTorah.com).This pilgrimage of mine is certainly not unique to me. But it does reveal something about the way in which the texts of the Hebrew Bible and Greek New Testament themselves, knowledge about their transmission through the centuries (i.e., the copying), and knowledge about the world from which http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/09/how-did-prof-christopher-rollston.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-4103275527772173224Tue, 15 Sep 2026 08:56:00 +00002026-09-15T09:56:00.107+01:00THE AWOL BLOG: Open Access Journal: Scripta Classica Israelica. It's been a while since I noted this journal, so this is a good chance to mention it again. Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/09/scripta-classica-israelica-again.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-8210921139010009676Tue, 15 Sep 2026 08:39:00 +00002026-09-15T09:39:00.109+01:00LIBRARY TOUR: What Can Texts Do? A Morning at the National Library of Israel (Keira Kahn, Yeshiva University Commentator).The oldest items in the collection are in the first display case. They are clay incantation bowls made by the Jews of Babylonia between roughly the fifth and eighth centuries, and they look like ordinary cereal bowls, except that the inside of each one is covered in Aramaic http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/09/at-national-library-of-israel.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-1478696660605524371Mon, 14 Sep 2026 09:53:00 +00002026-09-14T10:53:00.106+01:00DOMESTIC ARCHAEOLOGY: How People Actually Lived in Ancient Israel According to Archaeology. Excavated four-room houses, ancient grains, and domestic tools reveal the daily struggles, diets, and routines of everyday life in ancient Israel (Eljoh Hartzer, The Collector).While paging through the Bible, one can find it hard to truly see the daily life of ancient Israelites. What did they eat? Where http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/09/how-did-ancient-israelites-actually-live.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-6032711139644214030Mon, 14 Sep 2026 09:41:00 +00002026-09-14T10:41:00.137+01:00EXHIBITION: ISAW presents: Cursed! The Power of Magic in the Ancient World. Exhibition explores the central role of magic in ancient societies; opens September 17 (NYU News).The Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University presents Cursed! The Power of Magic in the Ancient World (September 17 to December 13, 2026), an exhibition that examines the central role of magic in http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/09/cursed-power-of-magic-in-ancient-world.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-4661002779464750743Mon, 14 Sep 2026 09:24:00 +00002026-09-14T10:24:00.119+01:00THE OTTC BLOG: Psalms Monograph Submitted (Drew Longacre). That's good news! For more on Dr. Longacre's work on the text of the Hebrew Psalter, see here and links. And for updates on the related lawsuit, see the Critical Edition of the Hebrew Psalter Blog here. Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/09/longacres-psalms-book-is-forthcoming.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-3432181791756161064Sun, 13 Sep 2026 09:31:00 +00002026-09-13T10:31:00.107+01:00NEW BOOK FROM SBL PRESS:A Historical Archaeology of Jerusalem: Bronze and Iron Ages Yuval Gadot ISBN 9781628377910 Volume ABS 35 Status Available Price $62.00 Publication Date March 2026 Paperback $62.00 Hardback $82.00 eBook $62.00 In the first book to examine Jerusalem’s archaeological remains in detail since Kathleen M. Kenyon’s Digging Up Jerusalem (1974), Yuval Gadot reexamines thehttp://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/09/gadot-historical-archaeology-of.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-2565285022869879262Sat, 12 Sep 2026 09:14:00 +00002026-09-12T10:14:00.112+01:00NEW(ISH) BOOK FROM BRILL:Congress Volume Zurich 2022 Proceedings of the 24th Congress of the IOSOT Series: Vetus Testamentum, Supplements, Volume: 201 Volume Editors: Samuel Arnet, Konrad Schmid, and Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer This volume presents the main lectures of the 24th Congress of the International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament (IOSOT) held in Zurich, Switzerland, in http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/09/congress-volume-zurich-2022-brill.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-5590878685154947336Fri, 11 Sep 2026 09:55:00 +00002026-09-11T10:55:00.110+01:00 HAPPY NEW YEAR (ROSH HASHANAH - Jewish New Year 5787) to all those celebrating. The New Year begins tonight at sundown. Last year's Rosh HaShanah post is here. For biblical background, see here. Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/09/rosh-hashanah-2026.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-5784592496601512796Fri, 11 Sep 2026 09:29:00 +00002026-09-11T10:29:00.111+01:00FOR ROSH HASHANAH: The Ram Caught in the Thicket by Its Horns—Rosh Hashanah’s Shofar (Prof.Rivka Ulmer, The Torah.com).At the climax of the binding of Isaac, Abraham sees אַיִל אַחַר “a ram behind” (MT)... or does he see אַיִל אֶחָד “one ram” (SP, LXX, etc.)? Both readings are developed in midrash: aḥar into Israel’s future redemption through the shofar, eḥad into the primordial ram created for http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/09/rosh-hashanah-and-akedah.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-2295294409200570358Fri, 11 Sep 2026 09:13:00 +00002026-09-11T10:13:00.113+01:00SYMPOSIUM: I CHANGED MY MIND: De-anthropomorphizing God: Did It Really Begin with Onkelos? (Prof. Rabbi Phil Lieberman, TheTorah.com).Onkelos’ choice, then, to dissolve the metaphor “fat of the land” in favor of “goodness of the land,” then, may be evidence of a broader, deliberate program eschewing metaphor more generally. That might imply that when Targum Onkelos dissolves metaphors, even abouthttp://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/09/how-did-prof-rabbi-phil-lieberman.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-1103751159448708093Thu, 10 Sep 2026 09:39:00 +00002026-09-10T10:39:00.113+01:00BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Josephus and Jesus. Evaluating the earliest non-Christian source about Jesus.In this interview, BAR Editor-in-Chief Glenn Corbett speaks with Schmidt about his new book Josephus & Jesus: New Evidence for the One Called Christ. After examining how ancient translators rendered Josephus’s words, how early Christian writers understood them, and who may have supplied Josephus withhttp://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/09/interview-with-schmidt-on-josephus-and.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-5280749077579661430Thu, 10 Sep 2026 09:25:00 +00002026-09-10T10:25:00.111+01:00HERCULANEUM WATCH: Eighteenth-century scholars destroyed hundreds of Herculaneum scrolls trying to prise them open, because the eruption that buried the library had carbonised the papyrus shut — and in June a crowdsourced team that started as amateur contestants read an entire one, still rolled, without touching the inside. A machine-learning competition finally cracked a puzzle that had stumped http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/09/on-herculaneum-scrolls.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-2344560991184758474Thu, 10 Sep 2026 09:08:00 +00002026-09-10T10:08:00.109+01:00SYMPOSIUM: HOW I CHANGED MY MIND: Christianity’s Origins: They Are Jewish! (Prof. Peter Enns, TheTorah.com).To realize that Paul was actually Jewish now seems too obvious to mention, but at the time it changed everything. I walked out of class stunned with the realization that I didn’t really get Paul at all—not because I hadn’t tried, but because I hadn’t known his world. I began asking http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/09/how-did-prof-peter-enns-change-his-mind.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-5517223687004130903Wed, 09 Sep 2026 09:58:00 +00002026-09-09T10:58:00.111+01:00LOST LIBRARY: What Really Destroyed the Library of Alexandria? History loves a villain, but the culprit was likely something much more mundane (Candida Moss, National Geographic).We can’t excavate the Library of Alexandria; If it is not under water, then the other place on the peninsula where it was said to be located is currently occupied by the Egyptian military. But we do know that insects, http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/09/did-conqueror-worm-consume-library-of.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-6181927248611223023Wed, 09 Sep 2026 09:39:00 +00002026-09-09T10:39:00.115+01:00THE BIBLE AND INTERPRETATION:Ḥesed in the Hebrew Bible Ḥesed is a central theological term in the Hebrew Bible that is fundamentally relational, resistant to reduction to a single-word equivalent, and semantically multivalent. While earlier scholarship often treated this ambiguity as a lexical problem, recent studies have increasingly recognized it as a source of interpretive and theological http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/09/matheny-on-hesed-in-hebrew-bible.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-3881299461017204076Wed, 09 Sep 2026 09:29:00 +00002026-09-09T10:29:00.110+01:00NEW BOOK FROM ZAPHON PRESS:Judeans in the Land of the Nile. Papers on Achaemenid Egypt, Elephantine, and the Hebrew Bible Presented in Copenhagen, August 19–20, 2024 Edited by Kacper Ziemba and Frederik Poulsen Ägypten und Altes Testament 136 75.00 € 2026 VI + 181 pp. DIN A-4 / hardcover, thread stitching ISBN 978-3-96327-350-6 (book) ISBN 978-3-96327-351-3 (e-book, via ProQuest, http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/09/ziemba-poulsen-eds-judeans-in-land-of.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-6939222907363470756Tue, 08 Sep 2026 09:31:36 +00002026-09-08T10:31:36.523+01:00NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK:Extracanonical Traditions and the Holy Land Texts, Rituals, and Material Culture in Late Antique Palestine Edited by Harald Buchinger, Laura S. Lieber, Andreas Merkt, and Tobias Nicklas, in collaboration with Andrea Ackermann and Charlotte von Schelling 2026. 331 pages. Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum / Studies and Texts in Antiquity and http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/09/extracanonical-traditions-and-holy-land.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-2216342961863717008Tue, 08 Sep 2026 08:43:00 +00002026-09-08T09:43:00.114+01:00DR. JUHA PAKKALA: Scribes Edited the Bible to Omit Problematic Texts (TheTorah.com).Did Hannah stand before YHWH in the Temple? Were Israelite males to see YHWH’s face three times a year? Did Moses and the elders see God on Mount Sinai? Were there temples to YHWH at Hebron and Samaria? The evidence shows that ancient scribes edited biblical texts to omit what they viewed as theological errors.I http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/09/did-scribes-correct-biblical-text.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-2979748079223456629Mon, 07 Sep 2026 09:44:53 +00002026-09-07T10:44:53.461+01:00PROF. JONATHAN RABINOWITZ: Jonah the Anti-Prophet (TheTorah.com).The book of Jonah is infused with allusions to earlier biblical characters: its prophet flees like Cain, wills the city overturned–unlike Abraham, collapses like Elijah, passes through a Noah-like storm, and quotes Moses’ words of compassion as a complaint. Taken together, the book invites readers to measure Jonah against Israel’s http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/09/jonah-inner-biblical-anti-prophet.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-4317557897306530233Mon, 07 Sep 2026 09:26:04 +00002026-09-07T10:26:05.118+01:00SYMPOSIUM: I CHANGED MY MIND: The Limits of Memory and Scrolls: How the Torah Was Composed (Prof. David M. Carr, TheTorah.com).I have changed my mind so often over the last decades, on so many topics, but if pressed to focus on just one instance, I would emphasize how I have come to see the formation of the Bible as part of a more complex process. ... Instead, I began to believe that a http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/09/how-did-prof-david-m-carr-change-his.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-425325336152889400Mon, 07 Sep 2026 09:08:18 +00002026-09-07T10:08:18.620+01:00NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:Administrative Reality and Scribal Apparatus in the Middle Babylonian Period, with Accompanying Texts Series: Harvard Semitic Monographs, Volume: 67 Author: Jonathan S. Tenney This book provides editions of 325 Akkadian texts, reconstructs aspects of the political recording process, and presents evidence of legal, epistolary, and administrative intertextuality at http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/09/tenney-administrative-reality-and.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)