Bible Interpretation

By: T. M. Lemos

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 for sins the children themselves had not committed? Did the Israelites even think children were persons with any type of rights?

By: Biblical Archaeology Society Staff

The Book of Genesis tells us that God created woman from one of Adam’s ribs. But Biblical scholar Ziony Zevit says that the traditional translation of the Biblical text is wrong: Eve came from a different part of Adam’s body—his baculum.

By: Biblical Archaeology Society Staff

In a special collection of Bible Review articles, Biblical scholars provide different avenues to understanding the Genesis account of the patriarch Abraham.

By: Robin Ngo

Were the creation stories in Genesis meant to be taken literally? Maybe not, says Biblical scholar Shawna Dolansky in her Biblical Views column “The Multiple Truths of Myths” in the January/February 2016 issue of BAR.

By: Megan Sauter

What is the origin of sin and death in the Bible? Who was the first sinner?

By: John Drummond

Eve, Sarah, Rebecca, Leah, and Rachel—the names of biblical matriarchs such as these have lived on long after they were first written down more than […]

By: Robin M. Jensen

The story of the offering of Isaac is one of the most powerful narratives in the Hebrew Bible. But each tradition has understood and used the story differently and for varying purposes.

By: Megan Sauter

Stephen J. Patterson discusses what Jesus meant when he referred to “eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:11–12).

By: Philip D. Stern

It is no secret to students of the Bible that the ancient Hebrews loved plays on words. And nowhere in the Hebrew Bible are there […]

By: Biblical Archaeology Society Staff

Was Joseph Jesus’ biological father? If not, who was Jesus’ biological father? Andrew Lincoln examines what early Christians thought about conception and explains how views about this subject have changed over time.