Features

Korah

What an ugly and overwhelming story, that of Korah! Disconcerting on more than one level, distressing in more than one sense, it confronts the reader and forces him to reread it, so overwhelming and invasive is its perplexity. It is not at all astonishing that Rashi, the greatest of our biblical and talmudic interpreters, […]

Why Did God Choose Abraham?

He is, on first appearance, an elusive character. We know the name of his father—Terah—and his homeland—Ur. He has two brothers, Nahor and Haran, the Book of Genesis tells us, and a barren wife, Sarai. And we know that at some uncertain time, his father, Terah, gathered the family together, “and they set out […]

Why Megiddo?

Armageddon—the name is synonymous with apocalypse, Judgment Day and end-time. As the site of the cataclysmic battle between the forces of good and the forces of evil, Armageddon has gripped the imagination of Christians ever since John wrote the New Testament’s Book of Revelation at the close of the first century A.D.1 The […]

The Book of Jeremiah: a Work in Progress

The Book of Jeremiah (or should we say the Books of Jeremiah?) provides us with a unique opportunity to explore how a biblical book developed over time. That is because we can compare in detail two quite different versions that have come down to us. These two versions—or witnesses, in more scholarly jargon—are (1) […]

Departments

Insight
Harry Potter and the Bible: should they both be banned? By Cliff Edwards
Where Is Mount Sinai?
The holy mountain is shrouded in mystery, its location seemingly unknowable. Perhaps that is what makes it holy. By Ronald S. Hendel
Gallery
John on Patmos