This article uses both textual and archaeological evidence to examine the role of unbuilt land in the Babylonian city. Detailed study of such land is vital not only for understanding urban living conditions but also for any attempt to estimate urban population based on density of occupation of residential areas. By classifying and investigating…[Read more]

In this paper I argue that many aspects of the distinctive vocabulary and themes of 1-2 Chronicles reflect Achaemenid ideology as seen in the Testament of Darius. The doctrine of immediate retribution, the motif of seeking-and-finding, the use of the words maʿal and hitḥazzeq, the motif of the deity choosing the king, and other features are d…[Read more]

Entry in one-volume commentary

How should we understand the naming of legendary figures like Solomon in biblical titles? The ancient practice of attribution is often obscured by scholars committed to the modern construction of authorship. Texts such as 11QPsa XXVII (“David’s Compositions”) demonstrate an altogether different understanding of this ancient practice. Using Prov.…[Read more]

This essay offers an introduction to select disciplinary developments in the study of history and in historical study of the Hebrew Bible. It focuses first and foremost on “cultural history,” a broad category defined by nineteenth- and twentieth-century developments in anthropology and sociology, literary theory and linguistics, and other fie…[Read more]

While creation imagery in general is common in the Hebrew Bible and early Jewish literature, this essay will focus on imagery of new creation and what it implies about the former creation.1 It surveys the diversity of thought about new creation to illustrate a basic point: The images and claims about new creation reflect fundamental views of the…[Read more]

An essay on the Greeks in Egypt during the Archaic and Classical periods.

The resemblance between the Gospel story about Jesus stilling a storm in the Sea of Galilee (Mt. 8:18, 23-27, Mk. 4:35-41, Lk. 8:22-25) and the Jonah story (Jon. 1:1-16) has been long acknowledged by scholars. This article contends that since the relations between the two stories are those of polar opposition, it should be possible, by way of…[Read more]

The problem with using royal inscriptions as historical sources is their inherent bias. The interests of the king drive the narratives of royal inscriptions. Yet this essential feature reveals their underlying concept of history. In royal inscriptions, historical thought is defined by the life and experience of the king. This article will present…[Read more]

The Samaria Ostraca contain a subset of receipts that record wine shipments from what were evidently royal vineyards. But this particular group of ostraca has been largely overlooked in the study of the Northern Kingdom, probably resulting from the fact that not all of the ostraca were published in the editio princeps. This article presents a new…[Read more]

The comparison of Qoheleth and Gilgamesh begins with the so-called carpe diem advice of Siduri and Eccl 9:7-9. Additionally, the rhetoric of kingship evoked through Gilgamesh’s narû (“stele”) at the beginning of the epic parallels the royal voice of Qoheleth beginning in Eccl 1:12. Yet these similarities raise several historical issues. First,…[Read more]

Analysis of the story of David and the Gibeonites, argues that two different stories have been spliced together.

Theoretical discussion of law and narrative and their interaction in biblical historiography.

Literary and historical analysis of the passage at Num 9:1–14

Presents a new compositional history of the centralization law.

In this essay I sketch an outline of how the book of Isaiah presents its politics, working from the assumption—based on the research of Peter Ackroyd and others—that the presentation of Isaiah, the prophet, in the book’s opening chapters is key. I end up arguing that the book advocates for Davidic politics, as others have claimed, but that its d…[Read more]

Applies theory of literature as simulation speech to argue that knowledge of the Lord is not reflected in texts of the Hebrew Bible but created by them.

A review of Sören Petershans’s revised dissertation entitled Offenbarung des Namens und versöhntes Leben: Eine Untersuchung zur Gotteslehre bei Kornelis Heiko Miskotte, Arbeiten zur Systematischen Theologie 11 (Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 2016).

While the Met expedition to Ctesiphon, Iraq was in the field in winter of 1931/1932 they received word that Winlock, an archaeologist from the Egyptian department, a department to which some of the Ctesiphon staff belonged, had been promoted to the director of the Museum. Around the same time the Near Eastern Art department was being formulated as…[Read more]

This article discusses various rabbinic approaches to the story of Elisha and Gehazi (recorded in the Book of Kings), in which the former sends the latter with his staff to resurrect the Shunammite woman’s dead child. Gehazi proves unsuccessful in that endeavor and Elisha himself ultimates revives the dead child.