Tanach Thoughts

Happy to update that Megadim volume 63, dedicated to one of the founders of the journal, Rabbi Yoel Bin Nun, has finally been published and uploaded to the journal's section on the Herzog College website. You can find it here . The journal includes the long-anticipated paper by Gershon Galil and Eli Shukron summarizing some of their new research on inscriptions they associate with King Chizkiyahu. This paper is a reworking of one chapter of their still-anticipated book on the inscriptions, due to come out some time in the near future. Other papers that off the bat look interesting to me (though, knowing myself, boredom and lack of reading material will probably lead me to read most of the rest and discover that others are interesting as well): A paper by Rabbi Prof. Yoel Elitzur on the mentioning of Chiel's building of the wall of Yericho. A paper by Dr. Neriah Klein on Sefer Melachim as a historical reconstruction of biblical history from Beresheet to Shoftim. A paper by Dr. Y...

The IAA (Israel Antiquities Authority) publicized today a cool seal from the time of the First Temple recently found near Wilson's Arch in Yerushalayim. The seal features an Assyrian-style winged figure and the name of one Yehoezer ben Hoshayahu. (the newly-discovered seal; image taken from here ) The figure on the seal is usually interpreted as a "daemon" or "genius", a kind of mythological guardian figure from Assyria. This is far from the first time mythological figures and creatures have been found on Israelite and Judahite seals and bullae. In fact, even King Chizkiyahu (Hezekiah)'s bullae feature a variety of Egyptian mythological entities, including a scarab, a winged sun disk, and an Egyptian-style winged figure. (Chizkiyahu bulla w/ winged sun disk and ankhs from Elat Mazar's Ophel Excavations) (Chizkiyahu bulla w/ scarab from private collection) (Chizkiyahu bulla w/ winged figure and ankh symbol from private collection) I'm sure that some p...

This is part 4 of a series of posts I made shortly after starting the blog (nos. 1 , 2 , 3 ). Back then, I noticed that there were many ties between the Tribe of Yehudah in particular and Egypt. This was most particularly apparent in their personal names, though there were a couple of other connections. I am now in the midst of conducting research for my latest seminar paper, in which I will attempt to propose a link between the Samaria Ostraca and the LMLK handles (more on that in a later post). As researching one fascinating topic goes, my search led me to many other fascinating topics, one being the subject of Egyptian icons in Judahite (i.e., of the Kingdom of Yehudah) material culture. For example, all LMLK handles feature variants of two main Egyptian symbols: A winged disk (many identify it with the Egyptian winged sun disk) or a winged scarab, a sacred Egyptian symbol. Another example are Judahite seals, many of which feature blatant Egyptian symbols, including idolatrous symbo...

Prof. Gershon Galil et al have finally published the long-awaited academic publication of the Mt. Ebal amulet . Galil received a lot of heated backlash from the academic world when he first announced last year his reading of the amulet, found during sifting work of the backfill from the 80's excavation of the Mt. Ebal altar in Samaria. Galil hadn't gone through the more acceptable procedure of publishing his research through a peer-reviewed platform. Peer-reviewing has its flaws, but it's also a useful tool for gauging the legitimacy of a person's research. I thought at the time that he must have a good reason for this unorthodox action, and decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. Not long afterwards he announced the discovery of a similar "curse" inscription, dated to Jebusite/Canaanite Yerushalayim. Once again, nothing on when a peer-reviewed publication will come out. And then he announced the discovery of a series of inscriptions which he associated ...