A recently translated Old Babylonian flood tablet describes how to build a circular ark.
Read more…
Biblical Topics
Biblical topics encompass issues in the study of the Bible and Biblical archaeology, scholars and archaeologists who study the Bible, and issues in the interpretation of the Bible and Biblical archaeology findings.
-
The Animals Went in Two by Two, According to Babylonian Ark Tablet
• 06/18/2018
-
Bible Animals: From Hyenas to Hippos
• 06/14/2018
Lions and crocodiles and monkeys, oh my! There are about a hundred different types of animal species mentioned in the Bible. In this post, Rabbi Dr. Natan Slifkin discusses the Read more…
-
Defining Biblical Hermeneutics
• 06/10/2018
The hermeneutics of the Bible are the many ways people read the Bible. Read more…
-
The Split of Early Christianity and Judaism
• 06/08/2018
Northern Renaissance painter Robert Campin’s Marriage of the Virgin dramatically captures the split of early Christianity and Judaism. Read more…
-
Asherah and the Asherim: Goddess or Cult Symbol?
• 06/03/2018
Who is Asherah? What is asherah? The reference may be to a particular goddess, a class of goddess or a cult symbol used to represent the goddess. It is sometimes Read more…
-
Who Are the Nephilim?
• 05/31/2018
Who are the Nephilim? From where do the “heroes of old, the men of renown” come? Read more…
-
Did Pharaoh Sheshonq Attack Jerusalem?
• 05/29/2018
Israeli scholar Yigal Levin’s article “Did Pharaoh Sheshonq Attack Jerusalem” in the July/August 2012 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review examines the historical veracity of both the Egyptian Pharaoh’s account and Read more…
-
Rock Giants in Noah
• 05/28/2018
Can the Book of Enoch shed light on Noah the movie? Ronald S. Hendel examines the flood story. Read more…
-
Where Noah Landed?
• 05/27/2018
Still another group is looking for Mt. Ararat, where the Bible says Noah landed after the flood. This group is looking to confirm the tradition that nearby Mt. Cudi (Judi Read more…
-
What Happened to Cain in the Bible?
• 05/23/2018
What happened to Cain in the Bible? In the Book of Genesis, we are told about Cain’s birth, his violent act of fratricide and his subsequent exile. We learn that Read more…
-
Left-Handed People in the Bible
• 05/15/2018
Were the warriors from the tribe of Benjamin left-handed by nature or nurture? Read more…
-
Jacob in the Bible
• 05/08/2018
Who did Jacob wrestle with in the Bible? Phyllis Trible connects this episode to her own struggle with feminism and the Bible in her Biblical Views column “Wrestling with Faith.” Read more…
-
Who Is Satan?
• 05/07/2018
Does our modern conception of Satan have any resemblance to the devil in the Bible? Just who is Satan? Read more…
-
The Creation of Woman in the Bible
• 05/03/2018
How was the first woman created in Genesis 2? Was she made from the man’s rib or, as recently suggested in BAR, from his os baculum? Read more…
-
Mark and John: A Wedding at Cana—Whose and Where?
• 04/29/2018
James Tabor discusses the wedding at Cana from the Gospels of Mark and John. Whose wedding was this and why were Jesus and his family present? Read more…
-
Does the Gospel of Mark Reveal Jesus’ Anger or His Compassion?
• 04/27/2018
In the fifth-century C.E. Codex Bezae, an early edition of the New Testament written in Greek, the Gospel of Mark describes Jesus’ anger before healing a leper (Mark 1:41). While Read more…
-
Gospel of John Commentary: Who Wrote the Gospel of John and How Historical Is It?
• 04/26/2018
The Gospels, the first four books of the New Testament, tell the story of the life of Jesus. Yet only one—the Gospel of John—claims to be an eyewitness account, the Read more…
-
Job Challenges God by Suing: God Responds
• 04/25/2018
After losing his health, wealth and children in inexplicable tragedies, the righteous and devout man Job questions God as to what he must have done to deserve such a heavy Read more…
-
The Bethesda Pool, Site of One of Jesus’ Miracles
• 04/24/2018
The Bethesda Pool, where Jesus heals the paralytic man in the Gospel of John, is a complex site. It appears to have been a mikveh, or ritual bath. As the Read more…
-
Love Your Neighbor: Only Israelites or Everyone?
• 04/23/2018
The Book of Leviticus tells us to love our neighbors, but who are our neighbors? Does the command mean to just love fellow Israelites—or everyone? Read more…
-
What Is Coptic and Who Were the Copts in Ancient Egypt?
• 04/19/2018
When did the ancient Egyptians stop writing in hieroglyphs, and what came next? From the fourth to ninth centuries C.E., Egypt was predominantly Christian. During this time, the language used Read more…
-
Did the Ancient Israelites Think Children Were People?
• 04/16/2018
The Book of Exodus presumably reflects the views of its Israelite authors on their deity, morality, and the like. Why then would the Israelites have imagined Yahweh slaughtering Egyptian children Read more…
-
Understanding Israel’s 10 Commandments
• 04/15/2018
Are the 10 Commandments really a moral code, or did the ancients understand them rather as the constitutional basis of a political theocracy? Read more…
-
Book of Leviticus Verses Recovered from Burnt Hebrew Bible Scroll
• 04/09/2018
A burnt ancient scroll found 45 years ago has finally been deciphered thanks to advanced digital technology. The scroll was revealed to contain verses from the Book of Leviticus. Read more…
-
What Does the Bible Say About Tattoos?
• 04/07/2018
Although Leviticus 19:28 clearly prohibits tattoos, it does not give an explicit reason why. This begs the question: Why does the Bible prohibit tattoos? Read more…
