Category Archives: News

Pictures of Newly Uncovered Leviticus Scroll

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Here are some pictures of the fragments of the Leviticus scroll from Associated Press:


From my own quick analysis, this fragment appears to contain parts of Leviticus 23:43-44 (right column) and 24:16-18 (left column). The column widths range from 20-25 letterspaces, with a column height of ca. 30 lines. It appears to follow the MT text.

Here is the accompanying text from AP:

This photo made available by Israeli archeologist Chanan Eshel on Friday, July 15, 2005, shows a fragment of an ancient Torah scroll containing verses from the Book of Leviticus, said to have been found last year in a ‘refugee’ cave in Nachal Arugot, a canyon near the Dead Sea. Eshel, an archaeologist from Tel Aviv’s Bar Ilan University said Friday, July 15, 2005, that the discovery of two fragments of nearly 2,000 year-old parchment scroll from the Dead Sea area gave hope to biblical and archaeological scholars, frustrated by a dearth of material unearthed in the region in recent years, that the Judean Desert could yet yield further treasure. (AP Photo, Ho)

UPDATES: See here for more up-to-date blog entries on the Leviticus scroll fragments.

New “Dead Sea Scroll” Fragments of Leviticus Surfaces

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A post to the Biblical Studies email list by Yitzhak Sapir reports on the discovery of two small fragments of a scroll containing portions of Leviticus 23. Here is the post:

Walla News, apparently reporting an article from Yediot Ahronot, reports that in the past year a small piece of scroll found at Nahal Arugot, near Ein Gedi, was purchased for $3000 by Prof. Hanan Eshel of Bar Ilan. Originally, Prof. Eshel refused to appraise the scroll when he was first asked to do so in August 2004, although he did photograph it at this time. When he came upon it again, it was near crumbling state, and he purchased it and turned it over to Amir Ganor of the Antiquities Authority, who are trying to locate the thieves. It consists of two pieces of deer-hide scroll, about 35 square cms, containing portions of verses from Leviticus 23, dealing with the Feast of Tabernacles, and differing from the MT only in that the scroll misses a single holam. It is dated to the Bar Kokhba revolt days. Prof. Eshel is calling for searching again for more scrolls which may still lay hidden among the caves in the area.

I have not been able to find out anything more on this scroll, but as soon as I have more information I will post an update.

UPDATE: Jim West on Biblical Theology blog also noted this discovery here, and in an update links to the following English-language article from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Online: “Bedouin wanders across Biblical manuscript.” Here are some excerpts from the article:

Fragments of a Biblical manuscript dating back to the last Jewish revolt against Roman rule in 135 AD Judaea, have been uncovered near the Dead Sea. After four decades with a dearth of new finds, archaeologists had resigned themselves to believing the desert caves in the modern-day West Bank had already yielded all their secrets from the Roman era. “It’s simply sensational, a dream come true,” archaeology professor Hanan Eshel, a Biblical specialist at Israel’s Bar Ilan University, said. For the past 20 years, he has scoured the Judaean desert around the Dead Sea, overturning stone after stone in search of Biblical parchments. He has been trumped by Bedouin, who stumbled across the miniature fragments last August. Only a few centimetres long, the pieces contain extracts in Hebrew from the Biblical Book of Leviticus. Damaged by bat droppings and lying under a film of dirt in a cave near the Ein Gedi oasis, the Bedouin pocketed the manuscripts and began an arduous bidding process with Professor Eshel. “Thanks to this find, we now know a little more about the troubled period that gave rise to the Jewish revolt against the Romans,” the Professor said.
….
The fragments have been further damaged by the Bedouin, who glued them together and stowed the whole thing in aluminium foil. It was in this state that Professor Esher found and bought them for $US3,000, beating down the Bedouins’ original asking price of $US20,000. “Despite all this, we can identify the Hebrew letters,” he said. He points out words from Leviticus that relate to the escape of the Israelites from Egypt and the building of temporary shanty houses in the desert.

UPDATES: See here for more up-to-date blog entries on the Leviticus scroll fragments.

Which Ten Commandments?

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The Ten Commandments have been in the news quite a bit since the recent ruling of the Supreme Court of the United States. It has been noted by a number of news agencies — and the Supreme Court decision itself — that the Ten Commandments are actually listed in two places in the Hebrew Bible (Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5) with a number of variations, and — more significantly — that there are actually different enumerations of the Ten Commandments depending on which religious tradition you turn to (see, for instance, the article “Which faith’s Ten Commandments is court talking about, and does it matter?” or “The Commandment Mystery“). So while there are always Ten Commandments, you need to know what tradition someone is following if they confess to breaking number five as it may make the difference between whether of not you need to phone the police!

Part of the problem is that the Commandments are not numbered in the biblical text. The title “Ten Commandments” is derived by the reference to ‏עֲשֶׂ֖רֶת הַדְּבָרִֽים “ten words” in Exod 34:28 (see also Deut 4:13; 10:4). Thus, there have developed different ways of dividing the Commandments into ten. It is typically noted that there are three different enumerations of the Ten Commandments: (1) Modern Jewish, (2) Roman Catholic/Lutheran, and (3) Reformed and Evangelical Protestant/Eastern Orthodox.

Tradition 1
(Modern Jewish)		 Tradition 2
(Roman Catholic, Lutheran)		 Tradition 3
(Reform and Evangelical Protestant, Eastern Orthodox)
1 “I am the Lord…” “No other gods… idols” “No other Gods”
2 “No other gods… idols” “No wrongful use of the name” “Shall not make idols”
3 “No wrongful use of the name” “Observe Sabbath day” “No wrongful use of the name”
4 “Observe Sabbath day” “Honour father and mother” “Observe Sabbath day”
5 “Honour father and mother” “You shall not murder” “Honour father and mother”
6 “You shall not murder” “Nor shall you commit adultery” “You shall not murder”
7 “Nor shall you commit adultery” “Nor shall you steal” “Nor shall you commit adultery”
8 “Nor shall you steal” “Nor shall you bear false witness” “Nor shall you steal”
9 “Nor shall you bear false witness” “Nor shall you covet wife” “Nor shall you bear false witness”
10 “Nor shall you covet” “Nor shall you covet house” “Nor shall you covet”

What is typically not noted by these news stories is that these different enumerations all have their basis in Jewish tradition. In fact, all three divisions are displayed simultaneously by the cantillation of the Hebrew Masoretic text (see, for example, Exod 20:2 and Deut 5:6 in BHS where ‏‏ עֲבָדִֽ֑ים has both an atnach and a silluq).

  • Tradition 1. The first enumeration often noted is the contemporary Jewish division, which has the first verse “I am the Lord your God” as the first commandment, while the commands to “have no other gods” and “no idols” are combined to make the second commandment. This division is supported by the “upper accentuation” tradition, which treats each commandment as a complete verse. This division creates a nice pattern with five positive and five negative commandments.
  • Tradition 2. The second way of dividing the commandments is followed by the Roman Catholic and some Anglican and Lutheran churches. In this enumeration the commandments “have no other gods” and “no idols” form the first commandment, while the last two commandments are “do not covet wife” and “do not covet house, etc.” St. Augustine is often credited with this tradition (see his Quæstionum in Heptateuchum libri VII, Book II, Question lxxi), though it is supported by the Masoretic division of the pericope into open (ס) and closed (פ) paragraphs. The first sub-section occurs at Exod 20: 6 and Deut 5:10, encompassing the first two commandments, while the two laws concerning coveting are divided at Deut 5:21.
  • Tradition 3. The third and final tradition of dividing the commandments follows the “lower accentuation” of the text which divides the text into equal length verses. This tradition is arguably the oldest, being followed by Philo in his De Decalogo and Josephus, as well as the church fathers. Today it is followed by the Reformed Christian, Evangelical, and Greek Orthodox churches.

So while the different enumerations not only reflect differences among religious groups today, they also all go back to varying Jewish traditions in antiquity. So the question, “Which Ten Commandments?” is not as easy to answer as you may first think! No matter what enumeration you follow, the bigger issue revolves around whether or not it is desireable or even possible to observe them! But that issue requires another blog entry….

Note: The issue of the division of the Ten Commandments is far more complex than I was able to represent here. For more information, see the following excellent collection of essays: The Ten Commandments in History and Tradition (Ben-Zion Segal, ed.; Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1990).

Resisting the Dark Side of the Force (or, Yipee! I have a "new" Macintosh!)

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In my heart of hearts I am a Macintosh user and I always will be. My first computer (bought in 1987) was a Macintosh SE with two double-sided 800K floppies — and I paid more for it than I have for any computer since! I eventually put a hard drive into the SE — I think it was a whopping 20 MB! Next came a Macintosh LE 425 that I eventually clock-chipped and did other modifications. Then came the attack of the clones: almost eight years ago I purchased a Power Computing PowerCenter Pro 180 with a 604e processor. It was a workhorse computer that is still running (with a nice G3 upgrade card), though I have not been able to install MacOS X on it for a variety of reasons.

Then I went over to the dark side. I didn’t want to. I resisted for many years. But my workplace signed a deal with Darth Gates and went all Windows. At first I was able to co-exist with my Mac being the shining beacon of hope on the network, but then a new printer/photocopier was bought that didn’t support Macs. At that point I bought myself a Dell Inspiron 8500 laptop — but I still used my Mac, admittedly less and less as I migrated more software over to Windows. The one primary reason that I kept my Mac running was to use Accordance Bible Software. While I also ran Accordance on my Dell laptop with Basilisk’s emulator, I preferred my Mac. But my old PowerCentre was beginning to show its age.

If money wasn’t an issue, I would buy a brand-spanking new Power Macintosh G5 Dual Processor supercomputer like my friend did. But my wife insists that money is an issue, so I did the next best thing: I bought my friend’s used Power Macintosh G4 Dual Processor computer. Considering that this Mac is really only around so I can use Accordance, it will be more than enough computer. Now I can finally run MacOS X! I can finally use Accordance with MacOS X! And I can finally integrate my Mac with my Windows network seamlessly. So, while I haven’t totally come back from the dark side, I am the proud owner of a “new” G4 PowerMac and am in my own way continuing the resistance!

(I should say that while I do prefer the Macintosh, Windows — especially XP — is a pretty decent operating system. I actually pride myself in being a cross-platform “power” user. I know Macintosh, Windows, and even Unix.)

Tutoring Services Available!

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I don’t think I’ve seen anyone blog on this little bit of “news” yet, but it appears that Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman has been studying the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible.

According to various news reports, the 37-year-old has hired Dr. Robert Cargill of Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, to teach her theology and Old Testament.

Just in case any big-name Hollywood stars read this blog, I want to go on record saying that I am available as a tutor! 😉

Da Vinci Code Wins Best Book at British Book Awards

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Helenann Hartley noted on her blog that the Da Vinci Code won best book at the British Book Awards. On the one hand, as a novel I found Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code a fun and engaging read, but I wouldn’t think it is the sort of book that should win a such an award! (I assume they have some literary standards for winners??)

On a more positive note, the Da Vinci Code has raised the profile of issues surrounding the development of the NT canon and the feminine divine in popular culture, which I think us academics should capitalize on by organizing public lectures, writing popular articles and books, etc., to deal with these and related topics. (I am hoping to organize a public lecture at Taylor University College in conjunction with the movie release, or perhaps sooner).

In my mind, anything that can raise the public consciousness of these important issues is OK in my books. The only negative thing (that I recall) about the book that comes to mind is its portrayal of the Catholic Church as this secretive oppressive organization. But that’s all the more reason to have good academic responses to such claims in the book!

And of course, we have to remember — it’s only a novel! (But soon to be a movie, then it will have to be reckoned with!).