BIBLICAL RESEARCH

Digging up Solomon

Mark — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 19:39:58 +0000

My colleague Wes forwarded this article about the work of Israeli archaeologist Eilat Mazar in Jerusalem:

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/november/archaeology-rebel.html

Interesting article. Thanks Wes.

Dead Sea Scrolls online

Mark — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 01:54:15 +0000

Here it is–the official Dead Sea Scrolls site:
http://dss.collections.imj.org.il/

You can look at the five most important scrolls: The great Isaiah Scroll, the War Scroll, the Rule of the Community, the Temple Scroll, and the Commentary on Habakkuk.

Thanks to Kasey Portenier and Karre Schaeffer for giving me the tip.

Mark — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 17:22:01 +0000

: The Bible Project at Hebrew University

Thanks to Kevin Mace for notifying me of the AP article that accompanies this picture: “Scholars Seek to Correct ‘Mistakes’ in the Bible.”

The article has some interesting information, but is sensationalized as is the title. Scholars have know–forever, I guess–of variations among hand-written copies of the Bible. The prophet Jeremiah in the 7th century before Christ complained of deliberate corruptions in the text by “lying scribes.” The book of Jeremiah’s prophecies itself testifies to at least three editions within the prophet’s lifetime.

But to be “news” journalists have to make it sound like a bold new discovery. Nevertheless, the article provides a good introduction to textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible.

Mark — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 16:23:46 +0000

Avielah Barclay

is a professional Hebrew Scribe. She describes her work of restoring ancient scrolls on You Tube (here).

British Library posts digital manuscripts

Mark — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 18:52:43 +0000

Joe just sent me a tip that the British Library has placed many ancient Greek manuscripts online:

(AP) LONDON – One of the world’s most important caches of Greek manuscripts is going online, part of a growing number of ancient documents to hit the Web in recent years.

The British Library said Monday that it was making more than a quarter of its 1,000 volume-strong collection of handwritten Greek texts available online free of charge, something curators there hope will be a boon to historians, biblical scholars and students of classical Greece alike. (Yahoo News)

The link to the British Library site is http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/. Click Browse to see a list, then start enjoying.

The British Library’s browser is way cool, but it takes some time to get used to it.

Leadership (topic of choice)

kcropper — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 22:44:13 +0000

I am studying leadership for my research paper and I think that there are a lot of important things that we can learn from the leadership of the founders of our Christian faith. The first thing is that their hearts and minds were focused on God’s will. They had a heart that sought after God before anything else and because of that, they were able to be successful. When their heart strayed after worldly things, there were consequences for example Moses is not able to enter the promised land after leading the people for all that time. Seeking God first in our positions of leadership is what is going to be blessed by Him, not seeking our own agendas. Humility is another thing that is key for leaders to possess. Having humility means that you are not seeking your own glory, that you don’t need the recognition, and that you can give the credit to other people. It also means that you are willing to admit when you have made a mistake even if it means having to tell those under you that you were wrong. Delegation is vital to leaders. Moses knew it and he appointed people to do the work that he didn’t need to do before he got so overwhelmed by the burden of the people that he wore out. Solomon and other kings also knew to establish counsels of people around them to command their militaries and ensure that their kingdom is running smoothly in all areas. If a leader takes on everything by themselves, there is no way that they will last for long in that position.

Authorship

kcropper — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 22:35:30 +0000

The discussion of authorship is one that I am not really good to argue with over because my answer is, “I really do not care who the ascribed author is, what matters to me is that it is in my hands as the Word of God today.” This may not be the best attitude and I think there is a lot to say for knowing that Paul was the author of so many of the letters in the New Testament, but when it comes down to disputing who wrote this verse or chapter in the book, I don’t find the need to argue. I would even argue that some of the authors of the books of the Bible didn’t write them down themselves but orated them to a scribe. So in that sense, who is the author of the book? The man who spoke the words, or the one who wrote them down?

Hebrew Language

kcropper — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 22:31:48 +0000

I was studying some dictionaries for the research paper that we have to write and I am really finding some interesting things about the Hebrew language. First of all, I wish that I would have taken Hebrew during my undergrad work. I thought about it because I have always been interested in language but just never jumped in and did it. The thing that I like about studying the Hebrew language (and the Greek for that matter) is we can learn what the root is of so many words that make up the foundation of the theology of our Christian faith. So often I just take a word to mean what I have been taught but when I go through and examine the original contexts and alternate uses, it gives it so much more depth and meaning. I think the word studies are a very useful tool when doing exegetical work and something that I will use from now on. The Hebrew language was something that I was intimidated by when we tried to learn the alphabet for class and it still intimidates me a little because I really don’t know how to read or pronounce any of it, but I have a new appreciation for it nonetheless.

Sacrifices in Temple vs Daily Prayer and Study of Bible.

olyaviktorova — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 16:42:28 +0000

Old Testament is very different from New Testament. In this post I want to share a few differences that I’ve learned from Shaye J.D. Cohen book– From the Maccabees to the Mishnah. First of all, Judaism was a religion of one nation, in other words Judaism was a nationality rather than a religion. If one sinned, the whole nation was punished. One of numerous examples would be Achan’s sin ( Joshua 7:1). Achan took devoted things from Jericho and God’s anger burned against the whole Israel. They were addressed as a nation by prophets and individuals as Anna, mother of Samuel, king David and others are considered heroes of faith and exceptions. They also did not accept converts, did they? They worshiped as a nation in one place, Temple, and through sacrifices. I wonder if an average Jew had a daily prayer? I doubt that an average Jew read Torah as we today read Bible. To sum up, Old Testament religion emphasizes collective, views people as a part of the nation, and the nation had covenant with God . New Testament emphasizes individual as oppose to collective and an individual, not the whole nation, repents, accepts Christ as Savior and thus establishes new covenant with God. Every person has his own covenant with God.

What do you think ? Comments invited.

You Might Be . . .

Mark — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 23:35:59 +0000

If you have ever said,

“Do you spell that with one quail chick or two?”

If you have ever mowed your back yard and found a pyramid …

If you ever found your brother preparing a mummy in your bath tub …

If your church has a ministry to the boatless …

You might be an Egyptian redneck.

See Bad Bird for some resources for Egyptian hieroglyphs.