May 23, 2020

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.

Shelley L. Birdsong, The Last King(s) of Judah: Zedekiah and Sedekias in the Hebrew and Old Greek Versions of Jeremiah 37(44):1–40(47):6
Reviewed by Jennifer Matheny

Anca Dan and Étienne Nodet, Cœlé-Syrie: Palestine, Judée, Pérée
Reviewed by Michaël Girardin

Philip A. Davis Jr., The Place of Paideia in Hebrews’ Moral Thought
Reviewed by Brian C. Small

Shawn W. Flynn, A Story of YHWH: Cultural Translation and Subversive Reception in Israelite History
Reviewed by Michael J. Stahl

David Frankfurter, Guide to the Study of Ancient Magic
Reviewed by Laura Nasrallah

Lester L. Grabbe, ed., “Even God Cannot Change the Past”: Reflections on Seventeen Years of the European Seminar in Historical Methodology
Reviewed by John W. Herbst

H. A. G. Houghton, C. M. Kreinecker, R. F. Maclachlan, and C. J. Smith, eds., The Principal Pauline Epistles: A Collation of Latin Witnesses
Reviewed by Daniel King

Ethan C. Jones, ed., The Unfolding of Your Words Gives Light: Studies on Biblical Hebrew in Honor of George L. Klein
Reviewed by Jeremy M. Hutton

Dirk Jongkind, An Introduction to the Greek New Testament: Produced at Tyndale House, Cambridge
Reviewed by Douglas Burleson

Jan Joosten, Daniel Machiela, and Jean-Sébastien Rey, eds., The Reconfiguration of Hebrew in the Hellenistic Period: Proceedings of the Seventh International Symposium on the Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Ben Sira at Strasbourg University, June 2014
Reviewed by Ethan C. Jones

Anne-Françoise Loiseau, L’influence de l’araméen sur les traducteurs de la LXX principalement, sue les traducteurs grecs postérieurs, ainsi que sur les scribes de la Vorlage de la LXX
Reviewed by David Sigrist

David K. Pettegrew, The Isthmus of Corinth: Crossroads of the Mediterranean World
Reviewed by D. Clint Burnett

Terri Moore, The Mysteries, Resurrection, and 1 Corinthians 15
Reviewed by Gudrun Nassauer

Jeremy M. Schott, Eusebius of Caesarea, The History of the Church: A New Translation
Reviewed by Michael Hollerich

Ben Witherington III, Biblical Theology: The Convergence of the Canon
Reviewed by John Goldingay

May 22, 2020

The Authorship of Ecclesiastes

John Byl argues for Solomonic authorship of Ecclesiastes here. I lean towards this view myself but a bit less dogmatically.

May 21, 2020

Bar-Ilan University Archaeology Lectures

The academic staff of the Dept. of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology at Bar-Ilan University are Zooming a series of eight lectures (schedule below) related to the history and archaeology of the Land of Israel. Three of the talks were recorded and can be found using these links. 

Dr. Nira Alperson-Afil – The Prehistoric Humans of the Hulah Valley

Shawn Zelig Aster – Shiloh and the Earliest Israelites in the Land of Israel

Aren Maeir – Excavations at Tell es-Safi, Biblical Gath of the Philistines, home of Goliath


May 20, 2020

Differences in Manasseh’s Genealogies

Aaron Demsky offers an interesting take on the change in Manasseh’s Genealogies between Numbers, Joshua, and Chronicles here.

May 19, 2020

A Fourrée and Matthew 7:21–23

I acquired a fourrée some time ago (see below). For all the non-numismatists, this is an ancient counterfeit coin that was typically made of a base metal and then overlaid with a thin sheet of silver or gold. So, from the outside, the coin looked to be solid silver or gold but in reality, it was ancient chump change. 

My coin reminds me of Jesus’ sobering words in Matthew 7:21–23. 

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” 

I wonder how many spiritual fourrées there are among us. Do you know that you know the Lord Jesus?


This is a silver fourrée of an Augustus denarius. By the way, this particular type of denarius is a less well-known candidate for the coin mentioned in Matthew 22:15–22.

May 18, 2020

The Temple Mount Sifting Project Symposium

In celebration of Jerusalem Day, the Temple Mount Sifting Project will conduct a free symposium (via Zoom) on Sunday, March 24. The lecture schedule is below and include some new finds from the Herodian Temple Mount walls. It is free but you will need to register here.

16:00 Yuval Marcus, Live Demonstration of Remote Sifting the Temple Mount Soil

16:40 Zachi Dvira, Adopting to Covid-19 Reality with New Sifting Programs

17:00 Gabriel Barkay, The Story of the Temple Mount Sifting Project

17:50 Recess

18:10 Zachi Dvira, The Archaeology of the Temple Mount During the First Temple Period

19:00 Haim Shaham, The Maccabean Mint in Jerusalem – What the Coins Tell Us Today

19:40 Daniel Shani, Facing God: Burial Eastward of the Temple Mount Throughout the Generations

20:20 Aaron Greener, The Characteristics of the Terracotta Figurines from the Temple Mount Soil

21:00 Yoav Farhi, Names and Symbols: Jerusalem on Ancient Coins of the Land of Israel

Note that this schedule reflects Israel time. For my USA readers, Israel is eight hours ahead of the Central Standard Time zone.