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.
