Gary Rendsburg
Gary A. Rendsburg is the Blanche and Irving Laurie Professor of Jewish History in the Department of Jewish Studies at Rutgers University. His teaching and research focus on the literature, history, and archaeology of ancient Israel, but he also publishes on ancient Egypt, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Hebrew manuscript tradition, and Jewish life in the Middle Ages. Professor Rendsburg is the author of numerous books, including How the Bible Is Written (Hendrickson, 2019), which has been nominated for a 2021 BAS Publication Award. A long-time contributor to Biblical Archaeology Review and Bible Review, Rendsburg recently authored several chapters on ancient Israel’s earliest history for the fourth edition of Ancient Israel (BAS, 2021), edited by John Merrill.
Presenter at
BAS Course with Gary A. Rendsburg, February 2025
1. Egypt: A Trip Up the Nile
We begin with a tour of Egypt – from pylons to pyramids, from tombs to temples – as we gain a sense of the grandeur of this remarkable society, with stops at Giza, Luxor, Edfu, Aswan, the Valley of the Kings, the Valley of the Queens, and more. In the process, we will learn why there are more ancient Egyptian obelisks in Europe (eight in Rome alone!) than there are in Egypt today!
2. The Joseph Story
The biblical narrator infuses the Joseph Story with all manner of motifs known from Egyptian texts, including the central role of dream interpretation, the parading of a high ranking official through town on a chariot, the ideal lifespan of 110 years, and of course mummification (for both Jacob and Joseph in Genesis, ch. 50).
3. The Exodus Narrative
The biblical storyteller uses the same technique when writing the extended story of Exodus, chs. 1‒15, with once again numerous Egyptian literary and artistic motifs incorporated into the narrative. Such elements include holding a snake by the tail, the river turning to blood, three days of darkness, the death of the first-born, and then most importantly the separation of the waters.
4. The Exodus in History and Archaeology
Everyone wants to know: did the Exodus happen? The answer is ‘yes’ and ‘no’, which is to say, we certainly have sufficient historical and archaeological evidence to posit the settlement of the Israelites in Egypt and their leaving the country, as long as we recognize that the biblical account is told in epic proportions, with literary embellishments augmenting the historical core.
5. The Decipherment of Hieroglyphic Egyptian
But how can we know anything about ancient Egypt and what its texts reveal? The answer is: we have been able to read the hieroglyphic texts ever since the great decipherment by Jean-François Champollion in 1822, based on earlier steps by his predecessors and with subsequent advances by his successors. This lecture presents the thrilling account of the discovery of the Rosetta Stone and why and how it provided the key to the decipherment.
6. Hebrew and Egyptian Cultural Contact
(with Special Attention to Loanwords in Both Directions)
Now that we know how to read hieroglyphics, we are primed to learn how Egyptian words reached Hebrew and are to be found in the Bible (especially words for the Nile, reeds, papyrus, linen, etc.) and also how various Hebrew (or better: Canaanite) words reached ancient Egyptian. These loanwords in both directions speak to the cultural exchange between the two countries.
7. The First Diaspora: Jews in Egypt, from the Delta to Elephantine
With the arrival of the Babylonians in the land of Canaan c. 600 B.C.E., many residents of Judah fled in the opposite direction to Egypt. In fact, even while living in the Delta, Jeremiah was able to receive the word of God (see Jeremiah 43:7‒8). From a century later we learn of the remarkable Jewish community at Elephantine in the far south of Egypt, in service to the Persian emperor, protecting the southwestern border of the vast realm, and with their own temple replete with animal sacrifices, even as the Second Temple was operative in Jerusalem.
8. Septuagint, Synagogue, and Symbiosis: The Jews of Hellenistic Egypt
The conquests of Alexander the Great brought Hellenism to the entire Near East in the late 4th century B.C.E. No Jewish community reflects the symbiosis of Hellenism and Judaism better than the large and thriving community of Egypt – especially in Alexandria, though in other locales as well. They translated the Bible into Greek, they built synagogues dedicated to the Ptolemy kings and queens, they wrote Jewish literature in Greek, they were fully integrated into the society and the economy, and in one case they even constructed a temple in Egypt (to rival the one in Jerusalem).
February Bible & Archaeology Fest 2024
Where is Abraham’s Ur?
If you think you know the answer – the great city of Ur, in southern Iraq – you will need to think again.
There is not a single shred of evidence which places Abraham that far away from the land of Canaan. Instead we should seek his homeland in northern Mesopotamia, not far from Harran, another city associated with the patriarchs in Genesis.
Please join me for an archaeological tour of both the Near East and the biblical text, which when analyzed together allows one to correctly answer the question posed in the title of my talk.
Spring Bible & Archaeology Fest 2023
The Jews of Arabia: From the Great Revolt until the Rise of Islam
Five centuries before the rise of Islam, we have evidence for Jews in the Arabian peninsula, stretching from oasis sites in the north to Yemen in the south. In the latter, most remarkably, the king of Ḥimyar converted to Judaism and thus arose an ancient Jewish kingdom 2500 km (1600 miles) removed from the land of Israel.
BAS Scholar Series, August 26, 2021
The Book of Genesis: Tracing the Origins of the Ancestral Narratives
In the opening lecture of the BAS Scholar Series, Professor Gary A. Rendsburg of Rutgers University highlights key discussions from his chapter “The Ancestral Narratives,” which opens the fourth and latest edition of BAS’ highly acclaimed volume, Ancient Israel: From Abraham to the Roman Destruction of the Temple.
The stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, along with their primary wives Sarah, Rebekah, and Rachel, are among the best known stories in the Bible. But who wrote these compelling stories of ancient Israel’s early ancestors? What was their purpose? For whom were they written? And why are these stories filled with so much intrigue, everything from deception to fraternal strife? Why are the women always barren? And why do younger sons always supersede their older brothers?
Fortunately, as Professor Rendsburg will show, the author of Genesis left sufficient clues in the ancestral narratives that help answer many of these questions. Somewhat like a detective story, these literary clues allow us to produce a credible reconstruction of how, why, and when the Book of Genesis was written.
Bible & Archaeology Fest XX, November 17 – 19, 2017
The Bible: From Early Hebrew Writing to the Text in our Hands
How did the Bible reach us? When did writing begin in ancient Israel? What were the physical forms of this writing? On clay, stone, papyrus, parchment? What is the earliest Biblical text found in an archaeological excavation? Once the Biblical books were finalized and canonized, how were they transmitted? How do the Dead Sea Scrolls fit in? What happens during the 1500 years from the Qumran texts until the age of printing? In short, and to repeat the first question, how did the Bible reach us? During this illustrated lecture, we will attempt to answer all of these questions as we explore the many modes of writing, with special attention to the use of parchment scrolls in the ancient period, followed by the shift to the codex (the forerunner of the book) during the medieval period.
