In Luke 2:22 Luke attributes parturient impurity to both Mary and Jesus (and/or Joseph). Interpreters have often concluded that this verse demonstrates that Luke misunderstands the levitical legislation pertaining to childbirth impurity (Leviticus 12), which discusses only the impurity of the new mother. This article argues that, despite the…[Read more]

This article reassesses the textual evidence for Genesis 17:14.

In spite of the genealogical exclusion of non-Israelites evidenced throughout Ezra-Nehemiah, numerous scholars find strategies of inclusivism within the work. In particular, Ezra 6.19-21 and Neh. 10.29-30 have been understood to envision the incorporation of outsiders into the Golah group. After surveying the evidence for exclusivism in…[Read more]

Since the author of Hebrews locates his readers in Israel’s wilderness period in Heb 3.1-4.11 and 11.8-39, the discussion of paideia in 12.5-13 should be interpreted in light of early Jewish conceptions of Israel’s time in the wilderness. Confirmation that this is the correct context in which to understand 12.5-13 will be found in Deuteronomy, Wis…[Read more]

It has been argued that the fragment 4Q372 1 contains polemic against the Samaritans and their temple cult at Gerizim. While allusions to Samaritans are found in the text, their presence signifies to the restored southern tribes that their restoration is not yet complete. Since the northern tribes, represented by the person of Joseph, remain in…[Read more]

This paper argues that the letter to the Hebrews renarrates Israel’s history as an extended exodus which comes to an end as a result of Christ’s high priesthood. According to the author, the promise of rest in Psalm 95 demonstrates that Joshua was unable to lead Israel into God’s promised rest. Based on this exegetical key, the author rerea…[Read more]

This article is a form-critical analysis of the Song of Moses.

Paul and the Gentile Problem provides a new explanation for the apostle Paul’s statements about the Jewish law in his letters to the Romans and Galatians. Paul’s arguments against circumcision and the law in Romans 2 and his reading of Genesis 15-21 in Galatians 4:21-31 belong within a stream of Jewish thinking which rejected the possibility that…[Read more]

Matthew Thiessen offers a nuanced and wide-ranging study of the nature of Jewish thought on Jewishness, circumcision, and conversion. Examining texts from the Hebrew Bible, Second Temple Judaism, and early Christianity, he gives a compelling account of the various forms of Judaism from which the early Christian movement arose.

Beginning with…[Read more]

Decades ago, Werner G. Kummel described the historical problem of Romans as its “double character”: concerned with issues of Torah and the destiny of Israel, the letter is explicitly addressed not to Jews but to Gentiles. At stake in the numerous answers given to that question is nothing less than the purpose of Paul’s most important letter. In Th…[Read more]

The majority of interpreters conclude that in Rom 2:17-29 Paul addresses an ethnic Jew. In contrast, Runar M. Thorsteinsson has argued recently that Paul addresses a gentile, specifically a gentile who has judaized and now thinks of himself as a Jew. This article provides further support for Thorsteinsson’s argument, arguing that Paul, contrary t…[Read more]

Though the “many for one” political ideology was widespread in the first century CE, Mark 10:45 rejects this ideology. Instead, this type of rule is contrasted with Jesus’s own rule as a servant king, sacrificing himself (the one) for his followers (the many).