The Latest Issue of the Review of Biblical Literature

The latest issue of Review of Biblical Literature is out. Reviews can be accessed by clicking the links below but unfortunately you must be a SBL member.
 
Douglas A. Campbell, Paul: An Apostle’s Journey
Reviewed by Dean Furlong

Moshe Greenberg; Jeffrey H. Tigay, ed., Understanding Exodus: A Holistic Commentary on Exodus 1–11
Reviewed by Ralph K. Hawkins

Michael Immendörfer, Ephesians and Artemis: The Cult of the Great Goddess of Ephesus as the Epistle’s Context
Reviewed by Susan M. (Elli) Elliott

R. Gregory Jenks, Paul and His Mortality: Imitating Christ in the Face of Death
Reviewed by Bryan R. Dyer

Elif Hilal Karaman, Ephesian Women in Greco-Roman and Early Christian Perspective
Reviewed by Jill E. Marshall

Tuukka Kauhanen, Lucifer of Cagliari and the Text of 1–2 Kings
Reviewed by Leonardo Pessoa da Silva Pinto

Brittany Kim, “Lengthen Your Tent-Cords”: The Metaphorical World of Israel’s Household in the Book of Isaiah
Reviewed by Torsten Uhlig

William Loader, Jesus in John’s Gospel: Structure and Issues in Johannine Christology
Reviewed by David S. Ritsema

Anne Lykke, Reign and Religion in Palestine: The Use of Sacred Iconography in Jewish Coinage
Reviewed by Michaël Girardin

Adele Reinhartz, Cast Out of the Covenant: Jews and Anti-Judaism in the Gospel of John
Reviewed by Andrew J. Byers

Susanne Scholz, The Bible as Political Artifact: On the Feminist Study of the Hebrew Bible
Reviewed by Laura Quick

Heath A. Thomas, Habakkuk
Reviewed by Jeanette Mathews

Cyril of Alexandria, Jacob and Esau, and the Future of Israel

Recently while working on Genesis 33, I came upon this interesting quote attributed to Cyril of Alexandria (AD 378-444).

"At the end of time our Lord Jesus Christ will be reconciled with Israel, his ancient persecutor, just as Jacob kissed Esau after his return from Haran. No one who listens to the words of holy Scripture can actually doubt that with the passing of time Israel also will have to be received again into the love of Christ through faith. The Lord proclaims to everybody through the voice of one of the holy prophets: “For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an altar, and without priesthood and without manifestations. And afterward the children of Israel shall return and shall seek the Lord, their God, and David, their king, and shall be amazed at the Lord and at his goodness in the latter days.” While Christ, the Savior of us all, gathers believers from the nations, Israel is deserted, since it has no law to elect its leaders, and it cannot offer to the divine altar the sacrifices prescribed by the laws. It therefore awaits Christ’s return from his action of converting the nations, so that he may receive it as well and unite it with the law of his love to the others. See how Jacob, who rejoiced in the generation of his children and in his numerous herds of sheep, came back from Haran and received again Esau into his friendship. In time Israel itself will be converted after the calling of the nations and will admire these riches in Christ" (Glaphyra on Genesis 5.3). 

Although, I don't think this allegorical reading of Genesis 33 is correct but it is interesting that Cyril sees an eschatological future for ethnic Israel. 

Mark Sheridan, ed., Genesis 12–50, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: Old Testament II, gen. ed. Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2002), 225.

Paul's Use of Law in Romans

Mike Vlach has a good post on Paul's uses of the law in Roman here.

The Latest Issue of Detroit Baptist Theological Journal

The latest issue of Detroit Baptist Theological Journal is available for free here.

Ordination

Claude Mariottini begins a three part series on ordination here.

Is Saul the Unnamed Benjamite Messenger?

I was recently watching a presentation where the speaker referred to the fact that in rabbinic tradition, Saul (later King Saul) was the unnamed Benjamite warrior who reported the defeat of Israel and the capture of the ark to Eli (1 Sam 4:12–17). This piqued my curiosity and I wanted to know more about the source of this rabbinic tradition. So, I turned to a number of commentaries. Unfortunately, many do not mention it. The earliest reference that I could find was Kyle McCarter’s anchor volume. He notes.

“Saul himself was a Benjaminite—Rabbinic sources identified him with the anonymous refugee in the present story—and the little tribe plays a big role in the stories of this period” (P. Kyle McCarter Jr., I Samuel: A New Translation with Introduction, Notes and Commentary, AB 8 [New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008], 113).

Tsumura likewise references McCarter.

“Benjamin’s territory was between Jerusalem and Bethel. Saul was a Benjamite, and rabbinic traditions identified this messenger as Saul” (David Tsumura, The First Book of Samuel, NICOT [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007], 197).

Klein adds some additional detail.

“The Rabbis thought that the Benjaminite messenger of v 12 was Saul, who had rescued the tablets of the law from Goliath, but the story teller himself leaves us uninformed about the significance of the messenger’s tribal identity” (Ralph W. Klein, 1 Samuel, WBC 10 [Dallas: Word, 1998], 43).

But note that none of these references have identified a/the source for this rabbinic tradition. Because of other projects I don’t have time to research it further. But if you do and find it, please leave me a comment.