The article argues that the Bible's Joseph narrative represents the first metaphoric use of katabasis (descent to the underworld), a common mytheme employed literally and metaphorically in later Greek literature. As such, it adds more evidence for literary exchange in the ancient Mediterranean world.
This article examines the relationship between the Song of Vengeance (Isa 63:1–6), the communal lament (63:7–64:12), and Yhwh’s response in Isaiah 65. Through an analysis of their linguistic and thematic connections, the study explores the editorial logic that brought these units together. The final composition offers reassurance through a narrative of divine vengeance against a rival kin-group, seeking to restore communal self-worth and agency. Vengeance thus functions as a rhetorical substitute for actual redemption.
This paper examines Exodus 4:24-26 in its context in order to determine the function and meaning of the passage. The paper argues that Exod 4:24-26 acts as a parallel to Exod 2:3-10. In Exod 2:3-10, Moses underwent a life-threatening experience and transformed into an Egyptian. In Exod 4:24-26, he undergoes another life-threatening experience, with two results: Moses is transformed back into a Hebrew, and he transitions into adulthood, making him an appropriate leader for the Hebrews.
The article counters the common assumption that ברא (Qal) with the subject God means “to create” and the common rendering of humanity being “created in God’s image” in Gen 1:26-27. A number of scholars have expressed doubts about understanding ברא as “to create,” and concluded that ברא might be better understood in terms of separation or division. The present article builds on these arguments, extending them with an analysis of all verbal constructions of ברא (Qal) in the Hebrew Bible, and then proposes a new reading of Gen 1:26-27 based on this analysis.
Location matters, and this article explores the depiction and significance of the Esther/Mordecai (Purim) panel's placement next to the Torah niche in the Dura Europos Synagogue. It aims to answer questions such as what the visual representation may have conveyed and which memories the panel might have evoked by its presence in that particular place. To address these questions, the article probes the historical, visual, and ideological context of the panel within the Jewish synagogue in the mid-third century CE. It shows how the local Jewish population engaged with the depiction of Esther and Mordecai, not only as Diaspora heroes, but also as figures linked to Jewish memory, identity, and resistance in a Roman-Persian borderland. In doing so, it showcases how visual media in antiquity served Jewish communities in constructing sacred memory, connecting past and future hopes, and asserting their cultural identity in imperial contexts. In addition, it presents a fresh analysis of the legacy of the by then long-defunct Achaemenid Empire and its enduring presence in the memories, imagination, and minds of Jews living at the crossroads of the Parthian and Roman Empires.
This study examines the Judean community under Achaemenid Persian rule through a comparative reading of biblical texts and cuneiform sources. While cuneiform records document administrative and economic realities, biblical texts reflect theological interpretation and communal tensions. Together, they illuminate Judean interaction with Persian authority, temple practice, taxation, landholding, and the negotiation of identity within the imperial framework.
The portrayal of Nehemiah’s relationship with the Achaemenid Empire shifts significantly across four key Second Temple period texts: Nehemiah, 1 Esdras, 2 Maccabees, and Sirach. In the book of Nehemiah, the Achaemenid king Artaxerxes is depicted as a central and supportive figure, empowering Nehemiah’s efforts to rebuild Jerusalem. Later texts, however, present this relationship in more restrained or ambiguous terms. These variations mark a broader transformation in how Jewish authors of the Hellenistic period remembered and represented foreign imperial authority. As Nehemiah’s connection to the Achaemenids becomes increasingly subdued, his role in the restoration of Jerusalem also undergoes redefinition. A comparative reading of these texts reveals a dynamic memory of Achaemenid rule, shaped by changing historical and cultural contexts.
In this paper, the Story of the Three Bodyguards in 1 Esdras 3–4 is related to Persian royal power and rule as imagined in this Hellenistic-period rewriting. First, the presentation of the court is evaluated regarding Hellenistic and Persian elements. The speeches by the first two bodyguards on wine and the king are then read in the context of the book. All three speeches are shown as reflecting the complexities and ambiguities of imperial power and kingship and Judean positions towards it.
This essay explores how the book of Daniel articulates a contrast between Babylonian and Persian media. While Daniel 1–5 imagines Babylonian power as linked to monumentality, Daniel 9–12, set in the reigns of Darius and Cyrus, emphasizes circulatable writing as crucial to order and truth. This contrast is mobilized by the book’s authors to depict the Seleucids as akin to the Neo-Babylonians and in contrast to the Persians. This contrast is achieved via the book’s language of written “truth” (אמת).
This special collection contains revised essays from a 2023 SBL panel on Tamara Cohn Eskenazi’s Anchor Bible commentary on Ezra. Contributors assess her portrayal of Ezra’s political artistry and formation of “peoplehood,” engage major debates in Ezra–Nehemiah scholarship, and reflect on the role and limits of the commentator in reconstructing history and interpreting the text amid contemporary resonances.
The book of Esther, particularly at the very beginning, features distinctive language that implies a contrast between the flamboyant and self-indulgent Ahasuerus, on the one hand, and the ideal Israelite king, on the other. The text draws this contrast by way of multiple allusions to kings who, consistent with the law in Deuteronomy, adhere to the teachings found in “the Scroll of the Torah.” This conclusion supports the view that the Jews, under the rule of Ahasuerus, confront a religious challenge in addition to the existential threat initiated by Haman, and that the transformation achieved by Esther and Mordecai bears an implied theological dimension.
This article examines how Yahweh is depicted as writing in Exod 32:32–33. It dispels the notion that the scroll in Exod 32:32–33 is a book of life, and instead shows that Yahweh performs administrative writing duties by (1) analyzing how scholars often historicize Exod 32:32–33, (2) showing that כתבת in Exod 32:32–33 indicates that Yahweh wrote the scroll, and (3) situating Yahweh’s scroll and writing in the context of non-numinous ancient administrative writing.
The article presents a critical edition and exegesis of Psalm 45’s superscription, examining its textual, lexical, and semantic dimensions. Through analysis of ancient versions, it reassesses key terms (למנצח על ששנים לבני־קרח, ידידות), proposes alternative readings, and suggests a revised heading, highlighting prophetic-messianic links and the superscription’s role in illuminating the Psalm’s themes and characters.
The narrative of the blasphemer (Lev 24:10–23)—the only narrative segment within the Holiness Code (Lev 17–26)—has long been a subject of scholarly debate. Discussions have primarily focused on issues of textual coherence and thematic connections, such as the link between the prohibition against desecrating God's name and the subsequent inclusion of case laws that align with the principle of lex talionis (the law of retaliation). In this article, I aim to address the complex questions raised by this passage and propose that it should be understood as a cohesive unit consisting of two sequential stages. The arrangement of these stages not only emphasizes their inherent connections but also sheds light on the underlying rationale that shapes the structure and purpose of this narrative unit.
This article explores how the pressures of empire inspired comparable processes of ritual textualization in Persian-period Jerusalem and Late Babylonian temple communities in Uruk and Babylon. We provide the first detailed comparison of the Priestly rituals texts of the Pentateuch and the Late Babylonian temple ritual texts, highlighting several distinctive features they have in common: namely, their concern to integrate their ritual materials into larger corpora that promote priestly hegemony, their interest to articulate ritual behavior in a way that does not rely on royal agency, and their tendency to describe ritual action in an idealized manner. These similarities, we argue, add powerful weight to the theory that the textualization of ritual in the Priestly traditions was inspired by similar historical dynamics to those that informed the textualization of ritual in the Late Babylonian materials; namely, the cultic disruption caused by foreign imperial interference and temple destruction, and the resulting challenges of rebuilding the temple in the absence of a local king with a stake in the cultic restoration.
Despite the long-standing tradition of translating תשׁוקה as “desire” in its three biblical occurrences (Gen 3:16; 4:7; Cant 7:11 [Eng. 10]), recent studies have put forth alternatives such as “turning, return,” “preoccupation, devotion” and “driving.” This essay examines these possibilities in light of the usage of תשׁוקה in the Dead Sea Scrolls (1QM 13:12; 15:10; 17:4; 1QS 11:22; 4QInstrb 2:4). The meaning “desire” is shown to be particularly problematic, not only as a result of its absence in the earliest biblical versions, but also due to the expression לעפר תשׁוקתו immediately after a depiction of mankind being created from dust (עפר) in 1QS 11. The standard translation, “for dust is [mankind’s] desire,” appears incongruous, and parallels in Hodayot reinforce the likelihood that a “return” to dust is in view. The meanings “preoccupation, devotion” and “driving” also lack plausibility in 1QS 11, and “turning, return” proves problematic in 1QM 13 and 15. It is suggested the semantic range of תשׁוקה includes both “a focused movement toward” and “a focused movement back toward.” As such, it denotes “preoccupation, devotion” in most of its occurrences, yet indicates “return” in 1QS 11, and possibly Gen 3:16.
The purpose of this discussion is to assess the ability of the Documentary Hypothesis to provide a compelling reading of Genesis 37. Is the literary reconstruction of the J/E source divisions able to offer a compelling, internally consistent text? As a counter proposal, I consider the framework of coherence theory as a means of evaluating the central claim of documentarians that Genesis 37 lacks compositional cohesion and coherence. The method of this discussion takes the following course. First, I sketch out a brief overview of the various compositional approaches to Genesis 37 and its place in the Joseph story. Second, I consider the nature of narrative cohesion and coherence and how these concepts inform one’s reading of Genesis 37, arguing that the markers of cohesion embedded in the narrative provide a means of guiding the reader coherently through the twists and turns of the plot line. Third, I highlight several narrative links that cross proposed source boundaries, functioning as linguistic signals for cohesion, and that suggest literary coherence. Fourth, I re-assess the so-called Ishmaelite/Midianite problem that has served a central role in most source divisions of Genesis 37.
