rahab

By: Elie Wiesel

Joshua inherits authority from Moses but not his charisma. God performed miracles for Joshua, even causing the sun to stand still, but Joshua’s speech lacks the prophet's magic. Joshua’s story is melancholy: violent victory tinged by deep sadness. As award-winning author and activist Elie Wiesel examines.

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: Robin Ngo

In the Book of Joshua, Rahab assisted two Israelite spies in escaping out a window and down the city wall of Jericho. Who was Rahab in the Bible? A Biblical prostitute or just an innkeeper?

By: BAS Staff

While some scholars suggest that temple prostitution was practiced in ancient Israel, Edward Lipiński argues that neither the Bible nor archaeology provides any clear evidence that Israelite religion incorporated the sexual rites of Canaanite goddesses.

By: BAS Staff

Mary Magdalene, Jezebel, Rahab, Lilith. Today, each are popularly considered scandalous women in the Bible. Are these so-condemned salacious women misrepresented?

By: Richard Elliott Friedman

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?

By: Frankie Snyder, Gabriel Barkay and Zachi Dvira

More than a hundred colorful polished stone tiles have been recovered by the Temple Mount Sifting Project. The tiles reveal what the Temple Mount floors looked like in Herod’s time. They were paved in a technique called opus sectile.

By: Biblical Archaeology Society Staff

Biblical Hebron, mentioned nearly 100 times in the Hebrew Bible, was a significant ancient city. Recent excavations have uncovered the town from the Second Temple period. Who lived here? Jewish, Edomite or pagan residents?

By: Biblical Archaeology Society Staff

William G. Dever reviews Hazor: Canaanite Metropolis, Israelite City by Amnon Ben-Tor.

By: Biblical Archaeology Society Staff

In his Biblical Views column, Ronald Hendel wonders what is wrong with religion that it inspires religious violence.