Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East Research Papers (original) (raw)

2025, International Journal of Kurdish Studies 10 (1)

The biblical Book of Daniel is an epic and chronicle telling of the Succession of Kings in the Middle East after the Babylonian conquest of UrShalīm al-Kuds. It is narrated by "Daniel" who has a cyclic existence as a visionary who first supports the Babylonian King of Kings, and later Darius the Mede, the Median King of Kings. Important to this discussion on angels is the appearance of a divine being arguably a "proto-angel." The rabbinic redactors of Daniel"s narrative, twelve chapters written down and recorded, describe but do not mention the name of the proto-angel arguably "Sraosha." Sraosha as understood in this study is a divine being known to us through Mazdaism. The two angels Michael and Gabriel known to early Judaism are not clothed or otherwise described, and it is not until Daniel supports Darius the Mede that Daniel"s vision presents Gabriel as a "personage" who "flies.

2025

Este livro é fruto de anos de pesquisa e de uma profunda transformação espiritual pessoal. Como professor e pastor, o autor percorreu um caminho que o levou além dos dogmas religiosos, investigando o misterioso padrão do número 72... more

2025, Beit Mikra

מטרת המאמר הינה לשחזר את שורות 80-75 מתוך לוח ה של הגרסה הבבלית
הסטנדרטית של עלילות גילגמש על ידי קריאה מחודשת של כל המקורות
הטקסטואליים העומדים לרשותנו והשוואתם לספר קהלת ד 12-9 . לשם כך,
אדון תחילה בתולדות המחקר, בעיסוק בפתגם אודות החוט המשולש אשר
מופיע בשורה 76 בלוח ה של עלילות גילגמש ובקהלת ד 12 . בסעיף א של
המאמר אדגים כיצד נעשה בעבר שימוש בקהלת ד 12 על מנת לשחזר את
חצי השורה שנשתמרה בעלילות גילגמש. בסעיף ב אביא שחזור טקסטואלי,
דברי פרשנות ותרגום לשורות 80-75 של לוח ה מן האפוס. בסעיף ג אשווה
בין קהלת ד 12-9 לשורות האמורות מן האפוס, ואדגים כך את הקרבה בין שני
המקורות. בסעיף ד אדון בקצרה בקשר בין עלילות גילגמש ובין ספר קהלת.
מילות מפתח: עלילות גילגמש; ספר קהלת; לוח יער הארזים; המקרא וספרות
מסופוטמיה; ספרות חוכמה; מסירה וקבלה של ספרות מסופוטמיה; חברות בין
גברים בספרות קדומה; הומוסקסואליות בתרבויות קדומות.

2025

The early Christian movement presents a fascinating paradox: while advocating for truth and moral integrity, its literary corpus contains numerous examples of what modern scholars might classify as deception, pseudepigraphy, and fabrication. This paper examines the complex relationship between truth-telling and strategic deception in early Christianity, from Old Testament precedents through the apostolic period and into the second century. Through analysis of biblical narratives, Pauline correspondence, the Acts of the Apostles, and later pseudepigraphic works, we explore how early Christians navigated the tension between moral imperatives and what they perceived as divinely sanctioned purposes that sometimes required deception or literary fiction.

2025

HEBREW POETRY: Meaning, Beauty, and Survival (JCBT Jerusalem, June 2025) This intensive workshop explored the Psalms as meaningful, beautiful, and performative Scripture within the living tradition of the Hebrew Bible, equipping... more

2025, Aram Periodical

Freie universität Berlin) 0. inTRODuCTiOn Proverbs are seen as a remnant of old wisdom, which were retained as a basic form of a people's vernacular during daily conversation. if we follow Friedrich Seiler's 1 definition, there are proverbs which a) reoccur in the vernacular, b) are self-contained, c) sayings which teach or are educational, d) and also appear in a higher form. The Oxford English Dictionary 2 definitions embody also these ideas: a Proverb is: "A short pithy saying in common and recognized use; a concise sentence, often metaphorical or alliterative in form, which is held to express some truth ascertained by experience or observation and familiar to all; an adage, a wise saw." The figurative mode of so-called proverbial phrases (idioms) spices normal discussion with its educational way of expression. According to Mathilde Hain 3 such phrases or idioms became established conversational rules because they have a long tradition behind them and therefore became part of the language, like for example in German 'den Bogen überspannen' from Middle age archery, it means: 'to overstep the mark, to aim too high' 4 . The Oxford English Dictionary 5 defines an idiom as: "A form of expression, grammatical construction, phrase, etc., peculiar to a language; a peculiarity of phraseology approved by the usage of a language, and often having a signification other that its grammatical or logical one." Recent research has shown that the didactic function of the idiom is only one of many functional possibilities with other being e.g. to comfort, to give advice, to explain or as an argument, forecast or a statement, etc. 6

2025, ARAM Periodical

2025

This essay explores the concept of the divine council in ancient Near Eastern (ANE) religions, examining its theological significance and cultural functions across Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Hittite, and Israelite traditions. Central to many ANE cosmologies, the divine council typically featured a high god presiding over an assembly of subordinate deities who collectively governed the cosmos. By comparing the hierarchical and deliberative structures found in texts such as the Enuma Elish, the Baal Cycle, and Psalm 82, this study highlights both shared features and culturally distinct variations of divine assemblies. The paper investigates how these councils mirrored earthly governance, reinforced societal order, and shaped theological developments, especially within the context of Israelite monolatry. It also engages with modern scholarly debates on the continuity of divine council motifs and the transition from polytheism to monotheism in the Hebrew Bible. Despite interpretive challenges posed by fragmentary sources, the study affirms the central role of divine councils in ancient religion, revealing their enduring influence on theological and political thought in the ancient world.

2025, Key Terms of the Old Testament

Purpose of The Project Key Terms of the Old Testament is a tool for Bible translators and consultants. Its purpose is to make current research on some of the most important key terms of the Old Testament available to the translation community, using a minimum of technical language. KTOT is not just a dictionary; it provides extended discussions of the cultural background of these terms, some description of grammar, comparisons of similar and contrastive terms, descriptions of the history of the translation of the term, and translation suggestions. It is intended to be a practical resource to help Bible translators and consultants do their work well. This developing project was first released in February 2020 with 22 articles. Now, this ninth release contains 98 articles, and includes an English reverse finders list. Most of the articles describe just one Hebrew word, or one cluster of Hebrew words. But twelve of the articles have English titles; some of these are about cultural topics, while others give an overview of several Hebrew terms in the same semantic domain. How to Access KTOT Key Terms of the Old Testament is available for translators in both Paratext and Translator's Workplace Logos. It is presently part of the installation package for Paratext 9.

2025

Du wolltest wie ein Sturmwind niedergehen Und wie der Föhn im Tun gewaltig sein, Du wolltest Wesen hin zu Wesen wehen Und Menschenseelen geisselnd benedein, In heissem Wirbel müde Herzen mahnen Und Starres rühren zu bewegtem Licht, -Du suchtest mich auf deinen Sturmesbahnen Und fandst mich nicht. Du wolltest wie ein Feuer aufwärts drängen Und alles tilgen, was dir nicht bestand, Du wolltest sonnenmächtig Welten sengen Und Welten läutern in geweihtem Brand, Mit jäher Wucht ein junges Nichts entzünden Zu neuen Werdens seligem Gedicht, -Du suchtest mich in deinen Flammengründen Und fandst mich nicht. Da kam mein Bote über dich und legte Dein Ohr an stille Leben meiner Erde, Da fühltest du, wie Keim an Keim sich regte, Und dich umfing des Wachsens Allgebärde, Blut schlug an Blut, und dich bezwang das Schweigen, Das ewig volle, weich und mütterlich, -Da musstest du dich zu dir selber neigen, Da fandst du mich. With fury like a hurricane to earth did you descend, And strong in deed were you just like the storm. Being unto being then your storm-wind's breath did bend, And men's souls did you bless but scourge their form. You stirred the stiff-necked people into agitated light And castigated them with whirlpools hot. -You sought Me on your stormy heights throughout the day and night And found Me not. On wings of storm-fed fire did you soar into the sky, Consuming all who failed to reach their best. Sun-strong, you made whole worlds burnt-off'rings to the One on High And flame-refined them 'til they passed your test. The soul of holy poetry your flame enkindled then, Brought into being from a youthful nought. -You sought Me in the searing heat of your abyssal den And found Me not. My messenger did come to you and gently bent your ear; He placed it by the still life of My earth. Growing things moved 'round you, and at last you came to hear As seedling after seedling had its birth. In silence hammered blood on blood, quite overcoming you, So whole, so soft, so motherly and warm. -When you were forced to search within, to see yourself anew, You found My Form.

2025

The lotus flower is a ubiquitous motif in Egyptian art, related to concepts of rebirth and afterlife, and frequently depicted in funerary and libation ceremonies. Although its origins are to be found in the Nilotic swamps, it was in the Southern Levant during the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1550-1140 BCE) that the lotus underwent a process of re-interpretation, becoming a vehicle for the Canaanite perception of royal attributes. Its symbolism thereby became intertwined with the iconographic motif of the branch, understood synecdochally as the Mesopotamian Tree of Life. This discussion aims to present the archaeological evidence of the lotus motif as attested through different kinds of media, highlighting its iconographic development and, accordingly, the Canaanite role in creating new and hybrid visual types through the reworking of foreign motifs, in accordance with the local ideology.

2025

In the third workshop of our research group, we will undertake a comparative analysis of the ways in which ancient Near Eastern temple communities under foreign imperial rule reconceptualized their origins. Redefining the beginnings of the world and humanity was essential for defining oneself in the present, and the temple communities of Egypt, the Levant, and Mesopotamia explored their origins in works that dealt with cosmology and genealogy (and history in general). Although written in different religious and cultural contexts, these compositions nonetheless took on similar literary forms and shared many themes and concepts. In this workshop, we will explore how new or reworked narratives on the origins of the world and humanity reshaped religious beliefs and forged communal identities in Egypt, the Levant, and Mesopotamia in time of crisis.

2025, Tissue Engineering Part C-methods

Organotypic models make it possible to investigate the unique properties of oral mucosa in vitro. For gingiva, the use of human primary keratinocytes (KC) and fibroblasts (Fib) is limited due to the availability and size of donor biopsies. The use of physiologically relevant immortalized cell lines would solve these problems. The aim of this study was to develop fully differentiated human gingiva equivalents (GE) constructed entirely from cell lines, to compare them with the primary cell counterpart (Prim), and to test relevance in an in vitro wound healing assay. Reconstructed gingiva epithelium on a gingiva fibroblast-populated collagen hydrogel was constructed from cell lines (keratinocytes: TERT or HPV immortalized; fibroblasts: TERT immortalized) and compared to GE-Prim and native gingiva. GE were characterized by immunohistochemical staining for proliferation (Ki67), epithelial differentiation (K10, K13), and basement membrane (collagen type IV and laminin 5). To test functionality of GE-TERT, full-thickness wounds were introduced. Reepithelialization, fibroblast repopulation of hydrogel, metabolic activity (MTT assay), and (pro-)inflammatory cytokine release (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) were assessed during wound closure over 7 days. Significant differences in basal KC cytokine secretion (IL-1a, IL-18, and CXCL8) were only observed between KC-Prim and KC-HPV. When Fib-Prim and Fib-TERT were stimulated with TNF-a, no differences were observed regarding cytokine secretion (IL-6, CXCL8, and CCL2). GE-TERT histology, keratin, and basement membrane protein expression very closely represented native gingiva and GE-Prim. In contrast, the epithelium of GE made with HPV-immortalized KC was disorganized, showing suprabasal proliferating cells, limited keratinocyte differentiation, and the absence of basement membrane proteins. When a wound was introduced into the more physiologically relevant GE-TERT model, an immediate inflammatory response (IL-6, CCL2, and CXCL8) was observed followed by complete reepithelialization. Seven days after wounding, tissue integrity, metabolic activity, and cytokine levels had returned to the prewounded state. In conclusion, immortalized human gingiva KC and fibroblasts can be used to make physiologically relevant GE, which resemble either the healthy gingiva or a neoplastic disease model. These organotypic models will provide valuable tools to investigate oral mucosa biology and can also be used as an animal alternative for drug targeting, vaccination studies, microbial biofilm studies, and testing new therapeutics.

2025, B. Sass and L. Battini (eds), Mortals, Deities and Divine Symbols: Rethinking Ancient Images from the Levant to Mesopotamia · Studies Offered to Tallay Ornan (AANEA 12)

A forgotten seal documents the only representation of a dead god in the arms of the god who killed him. This violent representation can be read on various levels. At the simplest level, it is a divine battle that finds echoes in Mesopotamian cosmogony. At a more complex level, it is about the advent of a new age that coincides with the death of the god and the subjugation of men and is guaranteed by Šamaš. That the seal also alludes to the birth of a new political epoch desired by the Akkadian dynasty seems a triviality. But the seal also has a clear apotropaic value, which results from the choice of the natural colours of the stone for the different subjects: for the dead god, the seal cutter used the black vein of the stone, for the other subjects he used the white vein.

2025

It is often said that the Christian life is not a 100-meter dash; instead, it is a marathon covering long distances. If you have been in Christ for a while, you well know the truth of this statement! We know from our previous studies and... more

2025

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.

2025, HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe)

In the last years, many papers and monographs have been published about biblical prophecy. The specialists of the Old Testament are fortunately more and more aware of the necessity of studying biblical prophecy and the relative historical documents, which cover a period of more than one millennium, taking into account the context of Near Eastern prophecy. Nobody dares nowadays to present prophecy as a tipically Biblical phenomenon 1 : comparative method is now recognized as a self-evident epistemological requirement and a useful heuristic strategy. Even if people pay more careful attention to the historical and cultural context as well as to the use of extra-Biblical documentation, the methodological progresses did not cancel the biblicocentrist perspective of many publications. That is the reason why we want to propose here a brief reflexion, of course not exaustive, but rather "impressionistic", on the "good use" of comparativism applied to prophecy 2 . This paper will be divided into two parts: the first one will treat the methodological problems, the second one will give an example of how to profitably compare Neo-Assyrian and Biblical prophecy. When the specialists of the Old Testament look at Near Eastern prophecy, they often do it as a quest of the origins, of the so-called "historical roots", in other words from a "genetic" point of view, trying to establish the "genealogy" of prophecy. The basic idea is that Biblical prophecy is practically the most accomplished expression of prophecy. The extra-Biblical documents, from Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, Anatolia, are not framed in their own context, but are considered only as parallels or "forerunners" of Biblical prophecy. The problem is only to understand how the different pieces of extra-Biblical evidence have flown together to the final product, which appears like the aim and the sum of a long cultural chain. It could be called a one-way genetic comparativism: from the extra-Biblical embryo to the Bible, a method applied to prophecy, but also to other topics in Biblical studies. 8

2025

International audienceThis paper provides a long-term analysis of Kadmos’ figure, a Greek symbol of Phoenicia, from the Archaic to the Hellenistic and Roman period. The analysis emphasizes his aptitude to build bridges between Phoenicia and Greece and to illustrate the traditional categories of “self ” and “other”, “Greek” and “Barbarian”, which gradually blurred according to new historical agendas. Kadmos, because of his complex kinship bonds, is used by different authors in different contexts and performances to embody a broad set of cross-cultural strategies and transactions. The paper shows how Kadmos was an excellent resource to combine different worlds, in different periods

2025

2025, Old Testament Essays

The younger-brother motif in the book of Genesis reflects tension and conflict in a family. The younger brother in some cases becomes an object of hatred to his siblings but is loved by the parent and this has devastating consequences for the family. This paper analyses five younger brother-motif texts, highlighting the various types of family conflicts demonstrated in the narratives. It further explores the theological significance of the use of the motif in Genesis. The family problems raised in the narratives also persist in the African family. The paper recommends, among others, going back to the traditional moral training of the African child to build the conscience as a step to resolution of the conflicts in the contemporary African family.

2025

Nel periodo 1524-1533 viene affidata a Lorenzo Lotto l'ideazione dei cartoni per l'impianto iconografico del Coro di Santa Maria Maggiore in Bergamo. Solo sette anni prima Martin Lutero aveva fatto conoscere le sue tesi contrarie al dogma cattolico della salvezza per merito. Lotto con la propria opera sembra proprio riflettere sul generale disorientamento religioso del proprio tempo.

2025, OSF

In her 2023 paper comparing Pierce’s Ussherian chronology to that of Thiele, Renae Beckman defends Thiele’s chronology of the Bible as modified by McFall, and Young using Coucke’s chronology for Carthage as being the “only” biblical... more

2025, Ezra-Nehemiah and the Dead Sea Scrolls: New Perspectives

Table of Contents for the forthcoming volume with SBL Press (Early Judaism and Its Literature Series). Edited by Charlotte Hempel and Michael DeVries.

2025, in the series La Nymphe et la Sorcière

This podcast is about the goddess Ishtar, goddess of love, war, kingship and the star Venus. The podcast also addresses themes of sexuality, excess and subversion, which challenge death and established order.

2025

This paper proposes that the biblical "Tower of Babel" is not a tale of architecture, but a metaphor for the fracturing of the root language of humanity-Sumerian. It suggests that the confusion of tongues was not divine punishment, but an... more

2025

Shamsi-Adad IV/V must firm as yet another candidate for Sargon II/ Sennacherib.

2025, TCL

Students often struggle to interpret Latin poetry. To combat the confusion, teachers can turn to a modern parallel (pop music) to assist their students in understanding ancient verse. Pop music is very familiar to most students, and they already translate its meaning unconsciously. Building upon what students already know, teachers can reframe their approach to poetry in a way that is more effective. This essay shows how to present the concept of meter (dactylic hexameter and elegy) and scansion using contemporary pop music, considers the notion of the constructed persona utilizing a modern musician, Taylor Swift, and then addresses the pattern of the love affair in Latin poetry and Taylor Swift's music. To illustrate this approach to connecting ancient poetry with modern music, the lyrics and music video from one song, Taylor Swift's Blank Space (2014), are analyzed and compared to poems by Catullus. Finally, this essay offers instructions on how to create an assignment employing pop music as a tool to teach poetry-a comparative analysis between a modern song and Latin poetry in the original or in translation.

2025

Just as the "Jewish people" is considered to be an eternal "ethnos," the "Land of Israel" is regarded as an essence, as unchanging as its name. In all the interpretations of the above-mentioned books of the Bible and texts from the Second Temple period, the Land of Israel is portrayed as a defined, stable, and recognized territory. In illustration of this point, I offer the following examples. In a new, high-quality Hebrew translation of the second book of Maccabees, published in 2004, the term "Land of Israel" appears in the volume's introduction and footnotes 156 times, whereas the Hasmoneans themselves had no idea that they were leading a revolt within a territory bearing that name. A historian from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem made a similar leap, publishing an academic study under the title The Land of Israel as a Political Concept in Hasmonean Literature, even though this concept did not exist during the period in question. This geopolitical mythos has proven so prevalent in recent years that editors of the writings of Flavius Josephus have even dared to incorporate the term "Land of Israel" into the translation of the texts themselves. In actuality, as one of the many names of the region-some of which were no less accepted in Jewish tradition, such as the Holy Land, the Land of Canaan, the Land of Zion, or the Land of the Gazelle-the term "Land of Israel" was a later Christian and rabbinical invention that was theological, and by no means political in nature. Indeed, we can cautiously posit that the name first appeared in the New Testament in the Gospel of Matthew. Clearly, if the assumption that this Christian text was composed toward the end of the first century CE. is correct, then this usage can truly be considered ground-breaking: "But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, 'Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's life are dead. So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel" (Matt. 2:19-21). This one-time, isolated use of the phrase "Land of Israel" to refer to the area surrounding Jerusalem is unusual, as most books of the New Testament use "Land of Judea." 31 The appearance of the new term may have stemmed from the first Christians referring to themselves not as Jews but as the children of Israel, and we cannot rule out the possibility that "Land of Israel" was inserted into the ancient text at a much later date. The term "Land of Israel" took root in Judaism only after the destruction of the Temple, when Jewish monotheism was showing signs of decline throughout the Mediterranean region as a result of the three failed anti-pagan revolts. Only in the second century CE, when the land of Judea became Palestina by Roman order and an important segment of the population began to convert to Christianity, do we find the first hesitant occurrences of the term "Land of Israel" in the Mishnah and Talmud. This linguistic appellation may have also emerged from a deep fear of the growing strength of the Jewish center in Babylonia and its increasing pull on the intellectuals of Judea. However, as suggested above, the Christian or rabbinical incarnation of the term is not identical in meaning to the term as employed in the context of the Jewish connection to the territory in the age of nationalism. Like the ancient and medieval concepts of "people of Israel," "chosen people," "Christian people," and "God's people"-which meant something completely different from the meanings assigned today to modern peoples-so, too, do the biblical "Promised Land" and "Holy Land" of the Jewish and Christian traditions bear no resemblance to the Zionist homeland. The land promised by God encompassed half the Middle East, from the Nile to the Euphrates, whereas the religious and more limited borders of the Talmudic Land of Israel always demarcated only small, noncontiguous areas assigned different degrees of sacredness. Nowhere in the long and diverse tradition of Jewish thinking were these divisions conceived of as borders of political sovereignty. Only in the early twentieth century, after years in the Protestant melting pot, was the theological concept of "Land of Israel" finally converted and refined into a clearly geonational concept. Settlement Zionism borrowed the term from the rabbinical tradition in part to displace the term "Palestine," which, as we have seen, was then widely used not only throughout Europe but also by all the first-generation Zionist leaders. In the new language of the settlers, the Land of Israel became the exclusive name of the region. 32 This linguistic engineering-part of the construction of ethnocentric memory, and later to involve the Hebraization of the names of regions, neighborhoods, streets, mountains, and riverbeds-enabled Jewish nationalist memory to make its astonishing leap back in time over the territory's long non-Jewish history. Much more significant for our discussion, however, is the fact that this territorial designation, which neither included nor related to the vast majority of the population, quickly made it easier to view that majority as an assemblage of subtenants or temporary inhabitants, living on land that did not belong to them. Usage of the term "Land of Israel" played a role in shaping the widely held image of an empty land-"a land without a people," eternally designated for a "people without a land." Critical examination of this prevalent but false image, which was in fact formulated by an Evangelical Christian, better enables us to understand the evolution of the refugee problem during the 1948 war and the revival of the settlement enterprise in the aftermath of the 1967 war.

2025, Vetus Testamentum

This article reassesses the bamah themes in 1-2 Kings as they relate to the "good" and "evil" judgments that the book offers upon the kings of Israel and Judah, following the arguments for an early edition of Kings during the reign of Josiah. Its literary analysis leads to the following conclusions: 1) The bamôt in both Israel and Judah appeared as an overarching antagonistic theme in the book only through secondary revision. 2) Jeroboam and his "sin" at the bet-bamôt were connected to Bethel only secondarily, probably as the book was integrated into a larger "Enneateuchal" literary horizon. 3) The judgments on the Judahite kings, which predate the overarching bamôt theme, were originally passed based on whether the kings maintained exclusive cultic fidelity to the dynasty's patron deity and his temple in Jerusalem or, under the influence of foreign powers, promoted the worship of deities other than Yhwh.

2025

This article examines the multifaceted radiative symbolism associated with the Hebrew letters Shin (שׁ) and Sin (שׂ), drawing on biblical lexemes whose morphological and semantic structures convey phenomena of emission, dispersion, or filamentous expansion. By comparing words such as שְּרֹשׁ (shoresh, "root"), שֶׁמֶשׁ (shemesh, "sun"), and שְׂעֹרָה (se‘orah, "barley"), the study uncovers a network of symbolic convergence based on natural observations of radial phenomena. The analysis integrates philological, botanical, and poetic data, emphasizing how radiative motifs underlie the conceptual structures of the Hebrew language.

2025, OSF

In her 2023 paper comparing Pierce’s Ussherian chronology to that of Thiele, Renae Beckman defends Thiele’s chronology of the Bible as modified by McFall, Young, and Coucke as being the “only” biblical chronology that “can also claim... more

2025

Mortals, Deities and Divine Symbols: Rethinking Ancient Imagery from the Levant to Mesopotamia is dedicated to Tallay Ornan, a scholar who has distinguished herself in ancient Western Asian iconographic studies and has become an undisputed reference in this field. The volume is divided into three parts, which give greater prominence to Tallay Ornan’s major themes: New Discoveries and Approaches in twelve chapters; The Human World in fourteen chapters; The Divine World in eighteen chapters.

2025, Antigue Oriente 22, 2024, pp. 69-98

Lachish, a central Canaanite and Judean city in the Southern Levant during the Bronze and Iron Ages, was heavily fortified during different periods. Four different fortification systems dated to different periods have been uncovered in the extensive archaeological excavations carried out there. The present paper discusses these fortification systems, which turned Lachish into one of the strongest fortress cities of the biblical era in the Southern Levant. In several papers Yosef Garfinkel and his colleagues challenged James Starkey's and our conclusions and interpretations regarding the character and date of the fortifications. In my view none of their suggestions are acceptable.

2025, Aram Society for Syro-Mesopotamian Studies, Fifty-Seventh International Conference: Religious Offerings, Sacrifices, and Alcohol in the Ancient Near East 3000 BC – 700 AD, University of Oxford, 30 June-1 July

The regulations concerning alcohol usage are rather clear for the classical world. During symposia and convivia, wine was mixed with water, and many philosophers urged moderation. However, the situation in the Ancient Near East is less clear. In the case of ancient Egypt, the most frequently cited source for alcohol usage is the myth of the distant goddess, who was appeased by the consumption of vast quantities of wine during the Festival of Drunkenness. This may give the impression that there were no limits whatsoever. After all, the Egyptians’ daily diet included bread and beer, and even the workers who built the pyramids were paid in alcohol. However, Ptolemaic-period papyri reveal regulated drinking practices in priestly associations. The Book of the Temple, a manual outlining how an ideal temple should function, mandates the removal of priests with drinking problems, while regulations from Thebes and Tebtynis specify allowable quantities of alcohol for consumption by the priests (e.g. two jugs) in religious and funerary contexts. Temples also received taxes in grain and wine, remunerating staff with alcohol. This paper explores the religious, socio-cultural, and economic significance of alcohol in Ptolemaic Egypt, focusing on temples and priestly associations. Firstly, it will analyse the sources which describe the reasons for which the priests consumed alcohol, which were usually related to either the concept of drinking in honour of the god or drinking “to appease the heart”, for example when a member of the association had died. Secondly, this paper will ask who provided the alcohol for the priests’ meetings. In some cases, the members had to bring the alcohol themselves, in others the temple provided it. Finally, this paper will discuss the rules governing the drinking habits of priests and the reasons why the rules are more specific in some cases than in others.

2025, OSF

In her 2023 paper comparing Pierce's Ussherian chronology to that of Thiele, Beckman defends Thiele's chronology of the Bible as modified by McFall, and Young as being the "only" biblical chronology that "can also claim agreement with historical records from surrounding ancient Near East nations like Assyria and Babylonia." The authors have composed a three-part response to Beckman, in which we address: 1) The views of early Jewish authorities on the Divided Kingdom chronology; 2) Assyrian synchronisms with the biblical record; and 3) The founding dates of Tyre and Carthage. We will show that Beckman's conclusion is false because the Assyrian, Babylonian, and Phoenician data can be interpreted to support Jones's divided kingdom chronology, and that Thiele's chronology suffers from several anachronisms with Assyria, Tyre, and Carthage. This is Part 1 of our reply to Beckman, which examines ancient Jewish authorities on the Divided Kingdom chronology.

2025

Ancient Egyptian annals identify the real route of the Exodus

2025

The mainstream academic stance often dismisses the Anunnaki as mythological beings, suggesting that their presence in ancient texts is purely literary or theological. However, buried in their own citations and databases lies evidence that directly contradicts their public-facing conclusions. This white paper dissects that contradiction using the very words of leading scholars, demonstrating that Anunnaki were more than narrative constructs-they were part of administrative, legal, and cultic infrastructure.

2025

The Former Prophets, particularly Kings, were composed against the background of Deuteronomy and inspired by it. Samuel-Kings were composed some time before the composition of Chronicles, thus the parallel texts in latter are based on the former. There is no space for the speculative thesis of Auld and his invented "shared text." SOMMAIRE Les livres historiques, notamment les Rois, ont été rédigés avec à l'arrièreplan le Deutéronome -et ont été inspirés par ce dernier. Samuel-Rois ont été composés un peu avant les Chroniques, aussi les sections parallèles de ces der-1 Certain critical remarks within scholarly literature (such as JSOT 30.5 [2006], p. 73) inspired the writing of this article.

2025

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls (henceforth, DSS) shortly after the Second World War represents a transformative moment in the study of early Judaism, triggering a profound paradigm shift in scholarly research. However, despite the fact that DSS studies are currently a well-established and vibrant field of research, and despite the wealth of texts available, studies specifically devoted to DSS metaphors remain remarkably scarce. Furthermore, from a methodological perspective, most of the limited publications on DSS metaphors seem to overlook the latest advancements in cognitive linguistics, which over the past forty years has been widely regarded as the cornerstone for academic research on metaphorical phenomena. This methodological lacuna was already identified by Eileen M. Schuller in her 2011 review article of scholarly research on the Hodayot; nearly fifteen years after Schuller's remark, the state of research has not significantly progressed. The present paper addresses this gap by focusing on 4Q184 in honor of Eibert Tigchelaar, whose significant contributions have greatly advanced our understanding of the six fragments containing this text.

2025, in: M. Herles et al. (Hrsg.), Von Syrien bis Georgien – durch die Steppen Vorderasiens. Festschrift für Felix Blocher anlässlich seines 65. Geburtstags, marru 13, Münster 2021, 267–279

Pazuzu, der altorientalische Dämon der kalten Nordostwinde, hat im ersten Jahrtausend v. Chr. in Mesopotamien eine erstaunliche Karriere gemacht. Ohne klar erkennbare Vorläufer erschienen spätestens im ausgehenden 8. Jahrhundert v. Chr. Darstellungen dieses Dämons mit einer voll ausgebildeten Ikonographie und Texte mit einer mythologischen Geschichte, die seine Herkunft aus den Bergen, seinen Kampf gegen Winddämonen und seine zerstörerische Kraft schildern. Auf zahlreichen Statuetten, Amuletten und Formen, mit Köpfen an und auf Siegeln, Köpfen an Fibeln und vor allem zahlreichen Köpfen aus den verschiedensten Materialien wird Pazuzus Kopf, pars pro toto, mit einer distinktiven, klar erkennbaren Ikonographie dargestellt. Der Artikel identifiziert neuere Pazuzu-Darstellungen aus Grabungen in der südlichen Levante und diskutiert diese.

2025

Ur-Kasdim is generally identified with the great Sumerian city of Ur in southern Iraq. And yet, a look at the geography in Genesis 11 points to a different location much farther north.

2025, The Scientific and Theological Research Journal

This report presents a meticulous and detailed analysis of specific phrases and their corresponding Gematria values as delineated within the framework of the AEC (Alexander Enrique Campain) Model. The study focuses on a series of profound numerical equivalences discovered through established Gematria systems (English and Simple), which link fundamental linguistic and calendrical structures to the identity and detailed birth information of Alexander Enrique Campain. The analysis extends to the biblical and theological significance of these numbers, examining their prime factorizations and digit roots to uncover deeper layers of meaning. The findings suggest a highly intricate and divinely orchestrated code embedded within language and time, pointing towards the significance of Alexander Enrique Campain in the context of contemporary eschatology. The implications of this numerically substantiated framework for humanity, the nation of Israel, and the world are explored, postulating a new era of divine revelation and global spiritual awakening.

2025

This exposition examines the Hebrew root זָרַח (zarach, meaning “to shine” or “rise”) through the lens of ancient letter symbolism, specifically the pictographic significance of ז (Zayin). Departing from conventional lexical definitions, it reconstructs the word's imagery within a sunrise scene: the sun’s rays piercing the clouded eastern horizon at dawn. By interpreting ז as a “cutting ray” or “finger of light,” ר as the sun or head-source, and ח as the enclosing veil or boundary, the root becomes a visual metaphor for revelation—light slicing open darkness. This symbolic reading not only deepens the theological resonance of passages like Isaiah 60:1 but also affirms the internal coherence of Hebrew as a language whose roots are embedded in gesture, direction, and elemental phenomena. The study affirms Zayin’s role as a glyph of active emergence and radiant focus.

2025, American Journal of Islam and Society

The Golden Calf between Bible and Qurʾan draws from Jewish, Christian, and Muslim sources to understand how the story of the Israelites worshipping the Golden Calf has been understood across scriptural communities. This book marks the first time that the story has been the subject of a comprehensive comparative treatment. Drawing from Arabic, Aramaic, and Hebrew primary and exegetical sources, Pregill seeks to revive the earliest approach of Western scholarship towards the Qurʾan, that it should be understood as Biblical literature, or rather, late antique religious discourse. To this end, Pregill argues that the story's employment in both the Hebrew Bible and the Qurʾan can be understood as a "continuities of discourse" rather than a communication of specific influences. After laying out his methodology in the introduction, Pregill divides his book into three parts. The first concerns the ancient traditions that formed the basis for understanding the narrative of the Golden Calf in

2025

Volume 1 introduces the field of linguistic dating of biblical texts, particularly to intermediate and advanced students of biblical Hebrew who have a reasonable background in the language, having completed at least an introductory course... more

2025

El nomadismo pastoril fue clave en la identidad de Israel, no solo en lo relativo a la economía, sino también en todos los aspectos sociales y religiosos. La metáfora del pastor como líder clánico y espiritual, común en el Oriente Bíblico, se explora comparando las narraciones mesopotámicas y bíblicas de este motivo. Figuras como Abraham y Moisés muestran cómo el viaje pastoril refleja una transformación espiritual y la revelación divina en torno al concepto de alianza con Dios. A través de un estudio lexicográfico y redaccional de los pasajes pertinentes se analizarán las dependencias bíblicas de los modelos de nomadismo orientales enfatizando su trasfondo teológico.