The possibility that Cain and Abel were twins, though not explicitly affirmed in Genesis 4:1-2, arises from the text’s ambiguity and has sparked diverse interpretations. Scholars like Gordon Wenham argue against it, asserting, “There is no indication that Cain and Abel, unlike Esau and Jacob, were twins,” emphasizing Abel’s younger status as theologically significant. Early … Read more
In the current literature concerning Jewish law and legal practice in Ptolemaic Egypt it is often remarked that Jewish residents of Ptolemaic Egypt charged interest in their business dealings with each other in contrast to the (alleged) unanimous injunctions from the Torah that prohibit these actions (i.e., Exod 22:24(25); Lev 25:36–37; Deut 23:20–21[19–20a]). One such … Read more
In Exodus 32:25–29, the tribe of Levi rallies to Moses’s cry to kill their fellow Israelites to purge the camp of the idolatrous worship in which the people were engaged. The violence of the Levites is praised in Exod 32:29 and becomes the basis for the Levites’ special service before God as priests in Israel. … Read more
As James Barr aptly demonstrated almost fifty years ago, a binary between literal and free is not a helpful lens through which to view Septuagint Translation Technique since a translation can be both literal and free at the same time, but in different ways (James Barr, The Typology of Literalism in Ancient Biblical Translations, MSU … Read more
This study explores the theological complexity of YHWH’s relationship with foreign kings and kingdoms in the Hebrew Bible, focusing on three primary models: defeat, support, and initial support followed by eventual punishment. While the first two are relatively straightforward, the third model undergoes significant development as Israel responds to imperial domination by Assyria and Babylon. … Read more
In the 2013 article “Summaries of Israel’s Story” (SIS) by Jason Hood and Matthew Emerson, a list of story summaries from Scripture and ancient literature was compiled. Chris Bruno, Jared Compton, and Kevin McFadden used the criteria of Hood and Emerson’s article to perform a book-length analysis on New Testament story summaries in 2020 called … Read more
Jeremiah 52 largely parallels 2 Kgs 25, and Jer 40–43 contains various sentences that are also found in 2 Kgs 25:22–26. This presentation compares these parallel texts in order to determine the relationship between the Masoretic text of Jeremiah and the book’s Old Greek translation. The agreements between the Old Greek of Jeremiah and the … Read more
Music plays a vital role in the pivotal points in Saul’s career. In his election as the inaugural king of Israel, he is told to join a procession of prophets playing various musical instruments (1 Sam. 10:5). While Saul joins the procession, the spirit of the Lord comes upon him, causing the future king to … Read more
Eating children as food is a tragic and grotesque undertaking, even in a famine. The author of the Elisha narratives is not reticent to show how acts of cannibalism can come out of desperate mothers in 2 Kings 6:28, 29. However, despite being in a famine, Elisha is often depicted as one living in abundance. … Read more
The dominant view regarding Septuagint origins posits that the Pentateuch was the first portion of the Hebrew Bible to be translated into Greek. Significant consensus also exists that after the creation of the Greek Pentateuch, the translators of the post-Pentateuchal books utilized many of the linguistic and literary features of the Greek Pentateuch for their … Read more