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Apr 17 Blog

The Adam and Eve Story: Eve Came From Where?

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.

Apr 15 Blog

Fruit in the Bible

By: David Moster

Seeds and fruit remains are exciting discoveries for archaeologists, and they provide radiocarbon data to help date buried strata. Fruit also plays an important role in the Biblical narrative.

Apr 10 Blog

The Masoretic Text and the Dead Sea Scrolls

By: BAS Staff

Do insights from the Dead Sea Scrolls add to the Masoretic text, and if so, should the original Hebrew Bible text be modified based this information? Scholars from both sides of the divide weigh in on this issue.

Stela from El-Amarna, Egyptian King Akhenaten is seen with his wife Nefertiti and their daughters bearing offerings to the sun-disk Aten.

Apr 10 Blog

Akhenaten and Moses

By: Robin Ngo

Pharaoh Akhenaten, who abolished the Egyptian pantheon and instituted worship of a single deity, the sun-disk Aten, in the mid-14th century B.C., may have established the world’s first monotheism. Did this influence the birth of Israelite monotheism?

The Ravenna mosaic of Jesus. Photo: Sant’Apollinare Nuovo Ravenna, Italy/Bridgeman Images

Apr 3 Blog

Did Jesus Exist? Searching for Evidence Beyond the Bible

By: Lawrence Mykytiuk

Did Jesus of Nazareth, “the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5), really exist? What’s the evidence outside of the Bible? Classical and Jewish writings from the first several centuries C.E. give us a glimpse of the person who would become the central figure in Christianity mere decades after his crucifixion.

Mar 25 Blog

Where Was Jesus Born?

By: Megan Sauter

If Jesus was born in Bethlehem, why is he called a Nazorean and a Galilean throughout the New Testament? Philip J. King addresses this question in his Biblical Views column.

Mar 25 Blog

How Was Jesus’ Tomb Sealed?

By: Megan Sauter

What kind of stone sealed the tomb of Jesus? Was it a round (disk-shaped) stone or a square (cork-shaped) stone? While both kinds of blocking stones are attested in Jerusalem tombs from the time of Jesus, square (cork-shaped) stones are much, much more common than round (disk-shaped) ones.

1813 painting Vesuvius Erupting by Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes

Mar 22 Blog

The Destruction of Pompeii—God’s Revenge?

By: Hershel Shanks

The eruption of Mt. Vesuvius destroyed the opulent vacation destinations of Roman elites in August 79 C.E.—almost exactly nine years after Roman troops destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem. Did this seem like more than mere coincidence to the ancients?

Mar 20 Blog

What’s Missing from Codex Sinaiticus, the Oldest New Testament?

By: Biblical Archaeology Society Staff

Compare differences in the Biblical text between the King James Version and Codex Sinaiticus, the oldest New Testament.

A stone relief created in 1958 by sculptor Ferdinand Heseding. The relief, which appears on a fountain in Dusseldorf, Germany, depicts the Biblical spies Joshua and Caleb carrying a cluster of grapes back from the Promised Land (Numbers 13:1-33)

Mar 20 Blog

No, No, Bad Dog: Dogs in the Bible

By: Ellen White

Dogs—or celeb in Hebrew—were not well loved in the Bible. Given the negative associations with dogs, it is surprising that one of the great Hebrew spies bears this name.

Must-Read Free eBooks

The Dead Sea Scrolls: Past, Present, and Future

Biblical Peoples—The World of Ancient Israel

Who Was Jesus? Exploring the History of Jesus’ Life

Ancient Israel in Egypt and the Exodus

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