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An insight of Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) is that metaphor is more than a mere literary device; it influences readers through cognitive connections. Yet biblical metaphors have most often been studied in poetic, theological contexts and within linguistic rhetorical devices like "YHWH is my shepherd." In contrast, some of the most ideologically powerful metaphors are those that shape the Hebrew Bible's prose stories. These metaphors reify cultural constructs and experiences, making them seem "natural." The study of realized metaphor—metaphor embodied as a literal narrative feature—offers a new pathway for applying CMT to narrative texts, even those without overt linguistic metaphors. This article surveys the history of realized metaphors in literary theory, then provides some brief examples of biblical texts where a CMT approach reveals metaphors embedded in the fabric of the narrative. It concludes with a challenge: how can we extend metaphor theory to the full range of biblical texts, poetry and prose alike, in order to understand how metaphor shapes human perception in the past and the present? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents an overview of scholarship related to the economy in Hebrew Bible studies, focusing particularly on scholarship published in the past decade (2013–2023). For the scholarship before this past decade, please see Nam's excellent survey on the topic in Portrayals of Economic Exchange in the Book of Kings (2012: 17–70) and in 'Economics and the Bible' (2013). The article has three sections. The first explores recent discussions on various models proposed to understand the economic situation of the world behind the Hebrew Bible. The second outlines recent discussions on the components of production; namely, land access, labor relations, and the role of debt in connecting the two. The third and final section surveys scholarship on two interrelated elements responsible for the flow of resources: temple and royal administration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While many of the children who are the results of miraculous birth narratives in the Hebrew Bible proceed to lead important lives, the son promised to the Shunammite woman by Elisha in 2 Kings 4:8–37 serves no function but to be born, die, and be resurrected. In this article, the author uses the "Woman in the Refrigerator" comic book trope to examine the treatment of this child in the text as mere motivation for the protagonist of the story. The boy in 2 Kings 4:8–37 is an innocent victim who lives only to die at the whim of the biblical authors/editors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

English speakers habitually imagine and describe words as conduits through which ideas are communicated—a cognitive framework known as the “Conduit Metaphor.” Expressions of this metaphor represent words as “full” or “empty” of information or emotions. In Biblical Hebrew, however, when utterances are described as “empty” they are inefficacious, and when they are “filled” they are enacted: a metaphorical model this article describes as the “Fulfillment Metaphor.” This juxtaposition between cognitive metaphorical models reveals a more fundamental difference in how ancient Israelite and Judean authors imagined the phenomenon of speech. This difference was recognized by earlier scholarship, though these analyses were subsequently challenged on methodological grounds. In addition to introducing and describing the function of the “fulfillment metaphor” in Biblical Hebrew, this article argues that Conceptual Metaphor Theory can be used not only to describe metaphorical models within the Hebrew Bible, but also as a critical and comparative philological tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elyonim veTachtonim is a system of quantitative and qualitative analysis of the traditions involving supernatural entities and, in this article, I showcase its implementation to the construction of the biblical inventory. I start with a review of the printed and electronic resources and recognize their advantages and limitations which informed and motivated the production of the database. Next, I summarize the theoretical and methodological fundamentals of the endeavor and then scrutinize the development process emphasizing the quantitative and qualitative specificities of the biblical inventory. Finally, I sketch out the possible applications of the database and its prospective developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genesis 3:16 is arguably the most troubling biblical verse for issues of gender relations and women's roles. It figures prominently in later Jewish and especially Christian sources, and discussions in those texts have influenced subsequent understandings of the verse and of the Eden narrative in which it is embedded. This article engages in a careful reading of the biblical text in order to elucidate its meaning apart from later traditions. Recognizing the poetic character of the four lines of this verse is an important part of the analytical process, as is situating it within the Eden tale. Also, because no text arises in a vacuum, considering the Iron Age context—the world of the Israelite populace, that is, the world behind the text, a world vastly different from our own—provides the requisite socio-historical sensitivity. An awareness of that ancient context means openness to a suggestion about what Gen 3:16 may have meant to its ancient audience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The exodus event demonstrates a culture and religious shift from an Egyptian context to that of national Israel. Scholars have underplayed the influence of Egypt on Israel during the exodus while overplaying the influence of Canaan. To be sure, Canaanite mores influence the practices of the Israelites. However, the generation that left Egypt (according to the Biblical account) would have been assimilated to Egyptian mores. Thus, the present article seeks to establish the exodus event as the means by which Israel sheds its former Egyptian mores and becomes "national Israel". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of access to the American health care system seems destined to reappear in the 2024 presidential election. The political and economic debates regarding single-payer systems providing (near) universal health care are well documented. Supporters of the status quo, knowingly or unknowingly, rest their argument on the basic assumptions of utilitarianism. In response patrons investigating inequalities in access to the American health care system can turn to biblical, philosophical, and theological reflections on justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2000, David Batchelor utilized chromophobia to describe how achromaticity has been favoured among Western intelligentsia since Aristotle. In contrast to white, hues have been linked to the feminine, the dangerous and the chaotic, and they have often been perceived to be something to abandon or control. The ominous associations remain the same when hues are desired (chromophilia), but in these instances, one desires to lose oneself to the somewhat ominous realm of colour. By approaching the Hebrew Bible with Batchelor's framework, and with a view to human agency, various texts of transitions between chromaticity and achromaticity are examined (Ps 51:9; Isa 1:18; Jon 3:6; Lam 4:7–8; Num 12:10; Exod 25–31). It is argued that colours, in some cases, are abandoned and controlled and that they receive a specific evaluation depending on whether an agent voluntarily desired or involuntarily suffered a transition between chromaticity and achromaticity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides an overview of the application of a performance criticism framework within scholarship on the Hebrew Bible. A natural progression from conversations concerning orality, performance studies allows for increased explication of the biblical texts, most notably pertaining to life, religion, and culture in ancient Israel. The addition of 'lived religion' through a performance studies lens advances the understanding of peoples and areas of life commonly deemed absent from the biblical record. Instead, they are present in the form of an audience witnessing or hearing the performances of, or contained within, these texts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I identify where contemporary scholarship on Jonah continues to ask enduring questions of any biblical text like dating, structure, and message. I also outline how scholars have brought contemporary approaches to the book. Finally, I suggest some points of divergence between scholarship in the late 20thand early 21stcenturies and consider how recent scholarship has treated past contributions. This survey shows that scholarship continues to grapple with questions that have long pervaded Jonah’s interpretive history. At the same time, contemporary approaches bring exciting possibilities to a book that has often resisted a monologic interpretation.

The present article first summarizes the results of literary scholarship on the character of God in Hebrew Scripture: authors such as Jack Miles, W. Lee Humphreys, and Avivah Zornberg discern a 'round character' in biblical texts, a divine persona who acts and reacts from out of particular desires, wants, and insecurities. The second section indicates a few factors explaining why constructive Christian theology typically finds this literary God-character unusable. The third section makes an argument for the usability of the God-character in Christian theology. The term haecceity —Latin for this -ness—epitomizes its proposal, which retrieves two twentieth-century thinkers, Franz Rosenzweig and K. H. Miskotte. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Bible's central position in the Zionist movement is well-known. Most previous studies on this topic have focused on Israeli society following the establishment of the State of Israel. By contrast, this article focuses on the role of the Hebrew Bible in Jewish nationalism and early Zionist thought from the 1880s to 1948. This article examines the connection between Zionism and the Bible in the context of modern nationalism research from a cultural approach. The focus on the Bible gave Zionism the components it lacked: territory and language. Unlike other ancient Jewish texts in which national aspects were marginalized, the Bible set a model for the creation of a modern nation-state. To the Zionists, the Bible was a guide to forming the 'New Jew'. This article shows that examining the relationship between Zionism and the Bible enables better understanding of the pre-modern cultural foundations of the Jewish national movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dove, the most frequently mentioned bird in the Hebrew Bible, appears in diverse contexts, spanning its appearance as an element in the narrative (as in the case of Noah's ark), and as an allegory and metaphor (as in the cryptic "sword of the dove"—twice in Jeremiah—and "the city of the dove"—Zephaniah). The dove even appears as the proper name of a prophet (or possibly of two, both named Jonah, son of Amittai). This article applies a communication perspective to better interpret some of these texts. We argue that the dove's communicative attributes, to include unique acoustics, remarkable power of flight, but primarily the trait of returning home—the basis for the use of doves as carrier pigeons—may either explain or deepen the interpretation of many of the references to the pigeon in the Bible. In this vein, a major focus of the article is on using the dove's homing ability as a key for reinterpreting the Book of Jonah. We conclude by suggesting that the dove's trait of returning and, hence, its use as envoy made it a useful symbol of the deity's presence in the world. In the Jewish reading, it became an emblem of one of the main political and eschatological themes of the Bible: the return home from exile, beginning with the exodus and return of Jacob's sons to Canaan and ending with the Eschaton. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How did an Arab Jew read the Quran against the backdrop of contradictory ideologies and the rise of key movements, including nationalism, colonialism, and Zionism, in Mandate Palestine? Approaching Isaac Yahuda as an Arab Jew challenges the binary opposition between Arabs and Jews in Zionist discourse, a linkage perceived as inconceivable, and on the other hand, that linkage is asserted, contested, and tested in the context of nationalism. This article also challenges the advancement of Jewish singularity and superiority by exploring how Jewish writers interacted with the Islamic scripture in Mandatory Palestine rather than dismissing it. This article examines Hebrew interpretation of various passages from the Quran that produced an understanding of the Quran that advanced Zionist ideals, including the nationalization of contested religious sites and the consolidation of the indigeneity of Jews in the East. Isaac Yahuda's Hebrew commentary on the Quran challenged his Arab Jewishness in such a divisive nationalist atmosphere in Mandate Palestine. His hybrid background and dynamic connections with both Jews and Arabs enabled him to navigate these turbulent times by invoking the Quran, demonstrating respect for it, and at the same time challenging the understanding of his contemporary Muslims while utilizing German Jewish scholarship on the origins of Islam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the fear of Yhwh has been presented as an intrinsic feature of the ancient Israelite religion, the fear of God(s) is not limited to the people of Israel in the Hebrew Bible, and similar ideas of fearing deities occur in various texts produced by neighbouring cultures in the ancient eastern Mediterranean. This article investigates the prosocial role of this virtue in situations of human mobility and intercultural contact in the light of the Hebrew Bible and the Odyssey. First, I analyse those Hebrew Bible texts in which the fear of God(s) characterizes or is presented as being intelligible to non-Israelite people in situations involving movement and cultural encounter (Gen 20:11; 42:18; Exod 1:17, 21; Deut 25:18; Jon 1:9). Second, I explore the fear motif in other texts from the ancient eastern Mediterranean region and argue that biblical scholars have overlooked illuminating intertexts found in ancient Greek literature. I especially highlight the interpretative importance of the Odyssey, which frequently stresses the prosocial role of the virtue of fearing deities in the context of travel and contact with outsiders. In so doing, the Odyssey helps us see how the Hebrew Bible texts portraying the fear of God(s) as a universalistic virtue are rooted in and belong to a broader ancient Mediterranean milieu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pursuing marital partners far from home can be a complicated endeavor, and the motives to travel for a companion can be a combination of pushes from one's locality and pulls toward something new. In the Hebrew Bible, several narratives concern pursuing a partner far from home, but the motives of the person traveling have not seen much scholarly attention. In this contribution, the entangled motives are traced in three select narratives (Judg 14; Gen 24; Tob) that each represents a specific category of pursuing a partner. Samson pursues a known partner, Isaac and his family pursue an unknown partner, and Tobias unknowingly pursues a partner. These three narrative categories are explored utilizing the framework of actor-network theory to tease out the entangled human and non-human actants that affect the motives and the pursuit itself. This contribution reveals that motives are always entangled in more extensive networks, agency is distributed among various actants, and no pursuit of a companion in the Hebrew Bible is exactly like another. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The verb שׁמד is a prominent verb of destruction that appears throughout the Hebrew Bible (HB). It is well represented in both Dtn-Dtr and the Prophetic Books. Many verses related to the conquest of Canaan and the exile feature this verb. Relevant scholarly literature also indicates that some elements of its meaning and usage remain obscure. All this makes it worthy of investigation. The last few decades have seen a rise in the utilisation of cognitive linguistics (CL) for the exegesis of the HB. A review of scholarly literature did not identify any robust attempt at utilising CL to gain insight into the meaning of שׁמד. In this study, frame semantics (FS) along with several other CL methodologies are used to gain greater insight into the semantic force of שׁמד in the HB. Three major discoveries were made. (1) While there usually are severe fatalities, all-encompassing fatality (i.e. annihilation) is not at the semantic core of שׁמד. Rather, decimation is the idea. (2) The destruction envisaged by שׁמד is conceptualised as removal from a location, whether dispossession or extermination. (3) Some insight was gained into the obscurity of when שׁמד takes במות as an object. Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This study traverses the fields of CL, Semitics, Biblical Studies, and Biblical Theology. It utilises CL to gain greater insight into a Hebrew verb. This insight enabled more accurate exegesis of the HB. These exegetical findings have implications for Biblical Theology, especially divine judgement and the conquest of Canaan.

The patriarchs – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (or Israel) – are the ancestors of the Jewish people, and their stories are recounted in the book of Genesis (chapters 12–50), covering a span of three hundred years (c. 2000–1700 BCE). God forged an irrevocable bond with them – the covenant of the patriarchs – promising their progeny the land of Canaan as an inheritance. The four matriarchs – Sarah, Rebekah, Leah, and Rachel – all played pivotal roles in determining the rightful heir to that covenant. The terms of the promise – the possession of the land of Canaan and of progeny as heirs to that land – are deferred, forming the basis for a unique yet fraught relationship with God. First, the patriarchs and matriarchs must endure barrenness and displacement, as ‘strangers in a foreign land’, before the covenant can be fulfilled. Enduring these trials forms the basis for ‘the merit of the forefathers’, a concept often inclusive of the matriarchs. These merits are invoked by the prophets in the Hebrew Bible, and throughout Rabbinic literature and liturgy, on behalf of Israel and the Jewish people in order to secure a promise of return to the Land and/or forgiveness of the nation. The Binding of Isaac (‘Aqedah) and the voice of Rachel as an intercessor play particularly poignant roles in prayer throughout Jewish history to the present day. The premise is that God’s covenant with the Jewish people remains unbroken, despite their exile from the Promised Land, because of the merits of the patriarchs and matriarchs.

The term rûaḥ (plural: rûḥôt) is usually translated into English as 'wind', 'breath', or 'spirit'. With such a wide semantic range, scholars have debated the meteorological, anthropological, and theological nuances of the term. This article surveys five themes in the history of that scholarship: (1) diachronic approaches to mapping the meaning of rûaḥ ; (2) attempts to track two modes of rûaḥ : the so-called life-giving vs. empowering aspects; (3) distinctions between the meanings of rûaḥ and nepeš ; (4) the functions of rûaḥ in designating ecstatic experience; and (5) the role of rûaḥ -language in describing notions of human subjectivity and moral agency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay explores the negotiation of Jewish-Christian difference in the beginning of the Common Era through a comparative study of the symbolic associations of midnight. It comparatively analyzes references to midnight in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, as well as their later reception in Jewish and Christian communities, with attention to how the early Christian community adopted Jewish traditions of time and revised them to reinforce emerging Christian concepts. This essay proposes that the divergent symbolic associations of midnight in the two canons illustrate some of the central concerns and self-understandings of early Christian and Jewish communities, which became thematic in the assertion of Jewish-Christian difference during the parting of the ways. It demonstrates that the midnight passages are thematically linked as a time of transformation, but the content of that transformation differs between the two canons, reflecting themes of concern to the communities that developed the texts. Across the passages in the Hebrew Bible, midnight appears to be symbolic of a transformation that leads to the creation or strengthening of the people of Israel. In contrast to the national transformation envisioned in the Hebrew Bible, references to midnight in the New Testament are thematically related in their presentation of midnight as a time of eschatological transformation, symbolizing the turning point from this world to the next world, and reflecting an emerging religious tradition focused on a redemption beyond worldly time. This essay argues that these distinct thematic associations present concepts of transformation that were asserted during the parting of the ways, as the two religious traditions formulated parameters around their identities. It concludes with an exploration of two distinct temporal visions that eventually emerged as the two traditions separated, drawing parallels [End Page 1] between the literary symbolism of midnight in the biblical text and later developments in Jewish and Christian perspectives on time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the structure of the book to its enigmatic law codes, Leviticus poses a number of interpretive questions for readers. This article aims to tackle a variety of these questions raised by the blasphemer narrative. I will consider especially the relationship between the nature of the crime committed and the legal decision that follows. I further intend to show how the internal concerns of this pericope cohere with the concerns of the H redactor and the passage's immediate context between chapters 23 and 25. While no doubt a difficult task, coming to an understanding of the blasphemer narrative is vital for grasping the structure and argument of Leviticus. Furthermore, this narrative raises obvious questions concerning the justice of God. Does the punishment of the blasphemer fit the crime? Does this sentencing fit with general notions of justice in the ancient world, or even with the God of Israel's own legal standards? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chronological/genealogical narrative structure of the Hebrew Bible points to an editorial aim: to give a history of Israel as a nation from Creation to the 6th century BCE Babylonian exile and the return to the land of Israel, and in so doing to bring to life and unite two dead Near Eastern kingdoms. This article considers the scribes and editors who created the structure of the Hebrew Bible as forerunners of modern cultural nationalists, especially of defeated or endangered peoples, who sought the survival and growth of the nation in literature. However, the monotheisms that derived from Judaism, and adopted Hebrew scripture as sacred, rarely accepted the Bible as the translation or adaptation of a Jewish work in the Jewish national language mostly on Jewish soil and under Jewish government in the 1st millennium BCE. Rather, anti-Semites taught a genealogy of Jewish guilt to the world, with extra charges based on supersessionist theology and anti-Jewish fantasies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In biblical studies, a growing interest in metaphors as the conceptual key to the ancient mind has arisen. However, in contrast with the popularity of metaphor, other tropes have received little attention. This article sheds light on another rhetorical feature: 'cumulative part-whole relations,' which construct a new whole by compounding disparate body parts, a textual and visual strategy deliberately used to cross boundaries of individual parts, to integrate the parts into a larger whole, and to demonstrate superiority and supernatural powers. Through examining visual and textual examples from the ancient Near East, including Song 7.1–6 and the composite creatures (Mischwesen) from the Levant, this article reveals that the rhetorical mechanism of the cumulation of part-whole relations follows the logic that the whole is more than the sum of its parts, while that whole remains a single one no matter how many parts are compounded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the twentieth century, at two crucial instances, comparisons with ancient Greek traditions played an important role in forwarding the argument in favor of the early origins of the pentateuchal narrative: Martin Noth’s “amphictyonic hypothesis” and Frank Moore Cross’s account of the Israelite “epic.” This article argues that success of these arguments owes to a hidden “parallelomania” at work in the mid-century, which successfully made the evidence of ancient Greek phenomena seem like something that it was not in service to desirable arguments. Finally, it explores how contemporary approaches can avoid repeating past mistakes.

The exodus event demonstrates a culture and religious shift from an Egyptian context to that of national Israel. Scholars have underplayed the influence of Egypt on Israel during the exodus while overplaying the influence of Canaan. To be sure, Canaanite mores influence the practices of the Israelites. However, the generation that left Egypt (according to the Biblical account) would have been assimilated to Egyptian mores. Thus, the present article seeks to establish the exodus event as the means by which Israel sheds its former Egyptian mores and becomes “national Israel”.

This article applies the anthropological model of apprenticeship learning as articulated by Jean Lave and Etienne Wegner to the study of ancient Israelite scribalism. Apprenticeship learning created scribal “communities of practice,” and this can be identified in the ancient Hebrew inscriptional record as well as biblical texts. The main Hebrew term for an “apprentice” is naʿar, and this term appears on Hebrew seals and seal impressions. Scribal skills were learned in a variety of professions such as administrators, soldiers, merchants, prophets, and priests, and each of these professions would have had their own “community of practice.” The close-knit relationships forged by apprenticeship learning is reflected in the use of familial language such as “son of” to express different professional scribal communities.

The Hebrew Bible is not only an ancient religious text, but also imbues information about the lives of people. Beyond controversial matters in the text, links can be found to common humanity with ancient roots. This renders the text not only relevant for adherents to the religions based on this text, but to all people. The exemplar followed in this article is standing stones. Biblical authors frequently refer to standing stones. These references are sharply contrasting, with some condoning and others condemning, causing contention. Archaeologically, standing stones are a ubiquitous phenomenon all over the world throughout time. They abound in the southern Levant, the region for which the Hebrew Bible is a sacred text. The meaning of standing stones is multifarious, but ultimately relates to the numinous. Among other meanings, like other vertical elements, such as mountains and trees, they play a role in shamanism, an ancient and extensive worldview. Exploration of common human traits, ascribed to inborn neurophysiological and psychological factors, divulges explanations for universal phenomena such as shamanic worldviews and the physical manifestations of such worldviews, of which the standing stone is one. Multidisciplinary evidence from archaeological, ethnographic, and textual analysis reveals that both standing stones of the southern Levant and those in the Hebrew Bible exhibit meanings related to this cosmology which flows from unconscious properties common to all people. Going beyond controversial topics allows access to common human traits linking all people, in this case adding relevance to the biblical text. This approach could elucidate the human commonality hidden behind other dissonant subjects in the Hebrew Bible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to analyze the circumstances of cultural transfer between the Southern Levant and Greece in the Achaemenid period in order to assess the plausibility of Greek influences on the Hebrew Bible. First, the article addresses the theoretical question of possible "contact zones" between Greek and Levantine cultures. Second, it presents evidence of Greek presence in the Ancient Near East in that epoch. Third, it tries to estimate the possible extent of Greek influence in the Southern Levant. The next question to discuss is the presence of Levantines in Mainland Greece and the meaning of this phenomenon for understanding the situation in Yehud. Finally, the paper deals with the question of the mobility of the inhabitants of Yehud. In conclusion, the authors wonder whether the collected data allow for the creation of a coherent model of intercultural exchange between Greece and Yehud, as postulated by some scholars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ordering of the OT books in both the Hebrew and Greek canonical traditions provides a theological framework consistent with a Christian perspective that sees the OT as a prophetic corpus fulfilled in Jesus Christ. The placement of the prophetic books at the end of the Greek OT is an effective segue to the NT presentation of Jesus as the fulfillment of prophetic hopes. On the other hand, four books that are classified as histories in the Greek OT are put under the banner of prophecy in the Hebrew Bible (Joshua–Kings). As well, the third and final section of the Hebrew canon (Writings) contains several major books that either prominently feature prophetic figures or reflect prophetic teaching. Neither the Greek nor the Hebrew order of the OT books should be given absolute priority over the other, but both canons must be allowed to inform and enrich the Christian reading of the OT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of “empire” is of great significance in the history of the Hebrew Bible Development. It influenced the development and formation of various narrative traditions in the Hebrew Bible in different ways, in different historical periods. The Priestly texts, through the themes of “world history”, “ancestral narrative”, and the “Exodus tradition”, appropriate the concepts of “nation”, “land”, and “covenant” which are related to this imperial ideology and discourse, with its imperial imagination. On the one hand, the Priestly texts indicate a realistic acceptance of the rule of the Persian empire in terms of monotheism within the context of theocracy; on the other hand, in the process of dialogue with different traditions, the Priestly texts endow the concept of “empire” with new connotations that are important for the history of ancient Israel in the postmonarchic period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Burton Mack's 1996 article "On Redescribing Christian Origins" was a classic of the discipline. In my view, one of its most enduring contributions is its recognition that the centrality of the New Testament's view of Christian Origins survives despite a growing recognition that, technically, it ought to be sidelined – that it is protected by a "ring of fire." Further, he argued that the perseverance of this centrality was a major factor inhibiting the influence of New Testament studies on other disciplines. In this essay, I argue that the centrality of the Hebrew Bible's vision of Israelite origins as a starting point for contemporary debates, even among those who regard it as a fiction, is characterized by a similar avoidance of certain necessary recognitions and is inhibiting to a similar degree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper concerns an enigmatic mark found in BnF Héb. 20—an early fourteenth-century Bible codex associated with the workshop of scribe, masorete, and painter Joshua Ibn Gaon. The dull black ovoid shape (on folio 194v) precedes the Bible portion that recounts the events leading up to King David's death (1 Kings 1). It is interesting for its divergence from the codex's extensive pericope marks (which likely served as aids to Bible use and memorization) and from its marginal decoration, which has been presented as a nascent example of Bible illumination in manuscripts made for Iberian Jews. Here, the mark, which is placed above the chapter within the confines of the text column, may be understood as "commenting" on David's complicated life as well as heralding his imminent demise. My paper suggests that the mark was originally silver and represents a contemporary mirror, making it an early example of a late medieval iconography linking mirrors and death. This reading underscores the intimate relationship between a patron/viewer and his Hebrew Bible codex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The written sources from the ancient Near East are for the most part authored from the perspective of the dominant group and yield a very limited view on people’s identities from an emic point of view that would correspond to their own self-identification. Self-defined minority groups in Mesopotamia have not left behind written evidence about themselves and their identity strategies. A notable exception to this rule is the book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible. This book documents an intense and enduring attempt at reconstructing the identity of a dislocated group of people. The book of Ezekiel is produced by a group that constructed a diaspora identity from the early sixth century onwards, whether in Babylonia or in Jerusalem; in any case, it is written in an environment where the adaptation of a wide array of Mesopotamian linguistic, iconographic, literary, and theological motifs was possible. Wherever and whenever the book of Ezekiel was produced, it presents itself as a document of an explicit identity strategy of a minority group, unique among written sources from any part of Mesopotamia. It can be read as an example of the survival strategy of a group that distinguishes itself from others by way of self-reidentification. The book does not reflect a stable and universally shared identity of the Judeans. On the contrary, it creates and constructs an inner-Judean antagonism between Ezekiel’s in-group and the delegitimized out-group. The book of Ezekiel, therefore, does not convey much about the integration of the Judean minority into Babylonian society but all the more about conflicts among Judeans themselves.

There is an unusual phrase that occurs only fourteen times in the Hebrew Bible. Those fourteen occurrences mark the accounts of ten highly consequential days. The essential messages of those ten accounts, when taken together, create and convey a unified and coherent communication. The presence of the phrase, its uniqueness to those days, and the message it creates, are hidden in translations. Readers of the biblical text in English, Greek, Latin, and German versions have no reason to associate the ten marked days. The phrase and its message are effectively hidden even from those who use the Hebrew text; having been obscured by the tradition of interpretation extending through rabbinic literature and commentary. The message created by reference to those ten marked days is representative of early Jewish apocalypse literature. This paper identifies and analyses the marker phrase, identifies the days that it marks, interprets the message created, demonstrates the hiddenness of that message, and argues its character as an apocalypse.

Although the fear of Yhwh has been presented as an intrinsic feature of the ancient Israelite religion, the fear of God(s) is not limited to the people of Israel in the Hebrew Bible, and similar ideas of fearing deities occur in various texts produced by neighbouring cultures in the ancient eastern Mediterranean. This article investigates the prosocial role of this virtue in situations of human mobility and intercultural contact in the light of the Hebrew Bible and the Odyssey. First, I analyse those Hebrew Bible texts in which the fear of God(s) characterizes or is presented as being intelligible to non-Israelite people in situations involving movement and cultural encounter (Gen 20:11; 42:18; Exod 1:17, 21; Deut 25:18; Jon 1:9). Second, I explore the fear motif in other texts from the ancient eastern Mediterranean region and argue that biblical scholars have overlooked illuminating intertexts found in ancient Greek literature. I especially highlight the interpretative importance of the Odyssey, which frequently stresses the prosocial role of the virtue of fearing deities in the context of travel and contact with outsiders. In so doing, the Odyssey helps us see how the Hebrew Bible texts portraying the fear of God(s) as a universalistic virtue are rooted in and belong to a broader ancient Mediterranean milieu.

How did an Arab Jew read the Quran against the backdrop of contradictory ideologies and the rise of key movements, including nationalism, colonialism, and Zionism, in Mandate Palestine? Approaching Isaac Yahuda as an Arab Jew challenges the binary opposition between Arabs and Jews in Zionist discourse, a linkage perceived as inconceivable, and on the other hand, that linkage is asserted, contested, and tested in the context of nationalism. This article also challenges the advancement of Jewish singularity and superiority by exploring how Jewish writers interacted with the Islamic scripture in Mandatory Palestine rather than dismissing it. This article examines Hebrew interpretation of various passages from the Quran that produced an understanding of the Quran that advanced Zionist ideals, including the nationalization of contested religious sites and the consolidation of the indigeneity of Jews in the East. Isaac Yahuda’s Hebrew commentary on the Quran challenged his Arab Jewishness in such a divisive nationalist atmosphere in Mandate Palestine. His hybrid background and dynamic connections with both Jews and Arabs enabled him to navigate these turbulent times by invoking the Quran, demonstrating respect for it, and at the same time challenging the understanding of his contemporary Muslims while utilizing German Jewish scholarship on the origins of Islam.

The dove, the most frequently mentioned bird in the Hebrew Bible, appears in diverse contexts, spanning its appearance as an element in the narrative (as in the case of Noah’s ark), and as an allegory and metaphor (as in the cryptic “sword of the dove”—twice in Jeremiah—and “the city of the dove”—Zephaniah). The dove even appears as the proper name of a prophet (or possibly of two, both named Jonah, son of Amittai). This article applies a communication perspective to better interpret some of these texts. We argue that the dove’s communicative attributes, to include unique acoustics, remarkable power of flight, but primarily the trait of returning home—the basis for the use of doves as carrier pigeons—may either explain or deepen the interpretation of many of the references to the pigeon in the Bible. In this vein, a major focus of the article is on using the dove’s homing ability as a key for reinterpreting the Book of Jonah. We conclude by suggesting that the dove’s trait of returning and, hence, its use as envoy made it a useful symbol of the deity’s presence in the world. In the Jewish reading, it became an emblem of one of the main political and eschatological themes of the Bible: the return home from exile, beginning with the exodus and return of Jacob’s sons to Canaan and ending with the Eschaton.

Pursuing marital partners far from home can be a complicated endeavor, and the motives to travel for a companion can be a combination of pushes from one’s locality and pulls toward something new. In the Hebrew Bible, several narratives concern pursuing a partner far from home, but the motives of the person traveling have not seen much scholarly attention. In this contribution, the entangled motives are traced in three select narratives (Judg 14; Gen 24; Tob) that each represents a specific category of pursuing a partner. Samson pursues a known partner, Isaac and his family pursue an unknown partner, and Tobias unknowingly pursues a partner. These three narrative categories are explored utilizing the framework of actor-network theory to tease out the entangled human and non-human actants that affect the motives and the pursuit itself. This contribution reveals that motives are always entangled in more extensive networks, agency is distributed among various actants, and no pursuit of a companion in the Hebrew Bible is exactly like another.

This article examines the various biblical terms for epidemics and their etymologies in order to define their meanings in their literary and theological contexts. It considers the possible divine or demonic background of the lexemes for epidemics, from the triad of Hebrew terms deber, qeteb and rešep, which are used in some of the mythological passages of Bible. Major works on the subject proceed from the assumption that these terms were demons in the ancient Near East or that they were deities who became demonised by the authors of the Hebrew Bible. Close attention is paid to the linguistic and semantic aspects of the texts in their immediate contexts in order to determine the function of each term. The study shows a clear difference in meaning between the terms, although in some cases their semantic contents overlap. However, their function as God’s negative agents prevail regardless of their original meaning and this is a consistent phenomenon with other Hebrew concepts of mythological origins in the Bible. https://doi.org/10.17159/2312-3621/2023/v36n2a13