Dec 6
By: Jonathan Laden
The owner of the lid thought that it was contaminated by hardened bat dung. However, the residue was from papyrus. A jar probably fell, dislodging the lid; the papyrus Dead Sea Scrolls then decomposed over the intervening centuries before modern discovery.
Nov 27
By: Megan Sauter
What do the Dead Sea Scrolls say about Jesus? What do they say about the world in which Jesus lived? In BAR, James C. VanderKam examines the overlap between the Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament.
Nov 23
By: David Moster
The Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem houses one of the world’s most important collections of Biblical artifacts.
Nov 18
By: Megan Sauter
In the Bible, the inner shrine of Solomon’s Temple is described as having five mezuzot. What are they? The question has puzzled Biblical scholars for centuries. Does a recently discovered shrine model from Khirbet Qeiyafa hold the answer?
Nov 18
By: Megan Sauter
There is no doubt that King Herod the Great left his mark on history. Not only did he carry out impressive building projects throughout ancient […]
Nov 4
By: Marek Dospěl
The few surviving Torah scrolls that are this old are all very fragmentary and almost illegible. It is thus exciting to find a very old, well-preserved Torah scroll, even if it’s only a fragment, a single sheet.
Oct 30
By: Jonathan Laden
Today, no one knows who the “glorious martyr” was, at least not yet. But Benjamin Storchan and the Israel Antiquity Authority have found the martyr’s […]
Oct 28
By: Megan Sauter
In the sixth century B.C.E., the Neo-Babylonian king Nabonidus inscribed imperial propaganda on a cliff at Sela, a mountain fortress in modern Jordan, after conquering the Edomite site. The 10-by-6.5-foot inscription rests 300 feet above ground—halfway up a 600-foot-tall cliff!
Oct 2
By: Andrew Perrin
The mention of giants before the flood in Genesis 6:4 has been both a source of imagination and interpretation down through the centuries. This curious passage, however, was the departure point for Aramaic exegesis that answered the question of the origins and end of all evil.
Sep 25
By: Andrew Perrin
There are many voices in scripture, yet seldom do we hear that of scribes. One strategy ancient Jewish scribes used to transmit and create works was the practice of pseudepigraphy. What was it, how did it work, and why did it breathe new life into overlooked biblical characters?
