BAR Summer 2024

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and comments about our Summer 2024 issue. We appreciate your feedback. Here are a few of the letters and responses we received. Find more online at biblicalarchaeology.org/letters.

Rising from the Ashes

Eric Cline, in his article “Rising from the Ashes,” does a good job of outlining the possible scenarios for the emergence of Israelite culture in Canaan. Regarding the Canaanites, who were the dominant people in the land, he asks whether their eventual disappearance was a case of adaptation into new, stronger polities or a sign of weakness and lack of resilience. However, these interpretations seem to be two sides of the same coin.

If Iron Age Canaanite settlements no longer contain pig bones, then Canaanite pig eaters either stayed but gave up this one vestige of their culture in order to stay put, or they left and may have been able to preserve such aspects of their culture in surrounding kingdoms. On the other hand, we have textual and archaeological evidence of the worship of the Canaanites’ principal god, Baal, by the emergent Israelites (whatever their origin). It seems, then, that despite the Sea Peoples, natural calamities, and the emergence of Israel, apparently not all of the Canaanites’ cultural footprint was eradicated, even if the people themselves can no longer be identified archaeologically.

DOUG MARTIN
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA

Bedwarmer, Bureaucrat, or Both?

The article on Abishag, by Daniel Bodi (“Abishag—Bedwarmer or Bureaucrat?”), was strange. It asserts that commentaries that view Abishag as merely a bedwarmer are motivated by blatant sexism. It seems more likely that they are basing themselves on the text of 1 Kings 1, which says clearly that Abishag was a beautiful maiden who lay with King David to keep him warm. Bodi gives compelling reasons to translate sokenet as “administrator,” but his ignoring the clear role assigned Abishag by the text makes his article unhelpful. I’d be interested in his understanding of the relationship between the biblical text’s bedwarming role and the administrative role his philological argument supports. Can they be combined in one person and one role?

JEREMY SCHWARTZ
WILLIMANTIC, CONNECTICUT

The Text of 1 Kings does not square with the Bodi’s assertions. He plays down (even belittles) contextual matters, which have given rise to translations such as “bedwarmer.” But the text makes the point that, even with additional clothing, David (at his age) was unable to be warm. So what is the solution in the text? It would seem that Bodi would like us to read 1 Kings 1:2 thus: “Let them seek a ‘household administrator’ … and let her lie in your bosom, that my lord the king may keep warm.”

The Hebrew word at issue has the root meaning of “one who helps.” There would be a whole host of helpers for a king. In this context, however, the help David requires has been clearly stated: to keep warm. In keeping with the metabolism of youth (male or female), a young body would have been ideal to generate a constant source of heat. A female body would have been easy to find, given David’s vast harem. However, for some reason, the text precludes that source, unless she were a fresh recruit, which the text affirms (1 Kings 1:3–4).

Bodi’s research is not to be totally rejected. It is just not appropriate in this context.

GEORGE BLANKENBAKER
SAN MARCOS, CALIFORNIA

DANIEL BODI RESPONDS:
Several arguments allow us to see Abishag as David’s administrator. First, there is the ancient Near Eastern story of “The Old Man and the Young Girl,” in which a virgin cannot rejuvenate or sexually “warm up” an old impotent man. In the story, both the girlfriend of the bride and the wise woman at the king’s court advise against the marriage of a virgin to an old man. The king first authorizes it but then orders the marriage dissolved and punishes the bride. The biblical story and “The Old Man and the Young Girl” share the negative outcome: A virgin cannot warm up an old man.

Second, the word for “clothes” (begadim) sounds a lot like “treachery” (bogedim) and recalls the earlier story of David’s first wife, Michal (1 Samuel 19:13), who fooled her father. This link may suggest that David needing clothes and a virgin in his lap is a trumped-up excuse of the pro-Solomon party to have direct access to the king’s chamber and ear, while it squares with David’s reputation as an inveterate womanizer.

Finally, there is the politics and retributive justice we see under David. Solomon’s appointment as David’s successor results from a palace putsch, when Adonijah proclaimed himself king (1 Kings 1:11). The name Abishag means “my father errs/wanders.” The appointment of Abishag as David’s household administrator seems like a skillful deception by the pro-Solomon party, as she would screen people asking for an audience with the king and, thereby, provide them with privileged access to carry out an “oath hoax” on the failing king. The question is whether David made the vow or was made to believe in a fictional oath. I conclude the oath was a hoax, and David the deceiver becomes a dupe.

For Daniel Bodi’s extended response, see biblicalarchaeology.org/letters.—ED.

It seems evident that Abishag came to help the beloved counselor Nathan confront the greatest crisis of King David’s monarchy: the coup d’etat of the rebellious son Adonijah. Abishag would lend her voice, and presumably her experience, to assist the now-desperate David, who may have faced not only usurpation but perhaps even murder. As such, “counselor” or “advisor” is a more accurate translation of the Hebrew sokenet. More derogatory translations, such as “bedfellow,” reveal what can only be described as the misogynist bias of later commentators.

JOHN F. MURPHY
YEADON, PENNSYLVANIA

Paul’s Thorn in the Flesh

The article “Finding Paul’s Weakness” by Ben Witherington III presents a compelling theory on what most people refer to as Paul’s “thorn in the flesh.” There are frequent references in scripture where a person does not escape unscathed from contact with God. Although it is unclear whether it was a permanent condition, we read in Genesis 32:30–31 that Jacob had a limp after he saw “God face to face.” Paul was blinded as a result of his contact with Jesus on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:8). Although he later regained his sight (Acts 9:18), there is no explicit reference as to whether there may have been lasting physical side effects from this experience.

RICHARD STEPHENS
RICHARDSON, TEXAS

I appreciate the case Witherington presents to suggest that Paul’s weakness pertains to his eyes. He lets the Bible speak for itself, and although he offers his own conclusion, I didn’t feel bullied into agreeing with him. Consequently, I accept his conclusion as being the most likely explanation. Could this eye trouble be lingering effects from Paul’s blindness incurred by meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:8)?

STEVEN D. SMITH
ANDERSON, INDIANA

I enjoyed Witherington’s article, though I take exception to his statement that Paul signed Galatians with “large letters” as an indication of his eye troubles. John Hancock’s signature is the biggest on the Declaration of Independence. Hancock, however, didn’t suffer eye problems. Instead, he signed his name with large letters to show his total support of the declaration and its stated ideals. I believe that is analogous to Paul, who signed his name in large letters so that the Galatians would have no doubt who wrote Paul’s letter.

THOMAS RAY
BARNHART, MISSOURI

The Jews of Zoar

Konstantinos Politis has undertaken numerous archaeological projects and studies on Ghor al-Safi, biblical Zoar. In his Site Seeing column, “The Land of Lot,” he understandably mentions the biblical material related to the Lot traditions as well as some relevant Christian traditions and structures. In a passing comment related to Roman and Byzantine documents, he mentions the archive of Babatha, “a first-century Judean woman who owned property in the area.” Regarding the Jewish presence of Zoar, he might have provided additional information from his own research. Over 500 inscriptions from the Byzantine period have been discovered at Zoar, mostly in graves, but some in settlements. Those in Greek mostly belonged to Christians, but about 10 percent, written in Palestinian Aramaic, belonged to Jews who apparently peacefully lived together with the region’s Christians.

JOSHUA SCHWARTZ
RAMAT-GAN, ISRAEL

Indeed, Konstantinos Politis has written extensively on the multicultural makeup of Byzantine Zoar, including in the pages of BAR. See especially his article “Death at the Dead Sea,” March/April 2012.—ED.

Numbering Bible Verses

In the quiz “Who Did It?” you ask, “Who developed the system of chapter numbering used in modern Bibles?” The answer you give is Cardinal Archbishop Stephen Langton. However, if I am not mistaken, the chapter divisions came much earlier and were the result of the labors of Felix Pratensis. He indicated the chapter numbers with Hebrew letters in the margin. See Christian D. Ginsburg, Introduction to the Massoretico-Critical Edition of the Hebrew Bible (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1969), p. 26.

JIM R. SIBLEY
RESEARCH PROFESSOR
ISRAEL COLLEGE OF THE BIBLE
NETANYA, ISRAEL

There are two things to consider with the quiz question. First, Cardinal Langton (d. 1228) predated Felix Pratensis by some 300 years. Second, Langton’s system of chapter divisions was adopted rather quickly in copies of the Latin Vulgate, whereas the first to apply it to the Hebrew text was R. Solomon ben Ishmael, in 1330. Following the advent of printing in the 15th century, Pratensis’s innovation was that his Rabbinic Bible (Venice, 1517) was the first printed Hebrew edition to implement Langton’s system consistently throughout, with the divisions marked in Hebrew letters in the margins.—ED.

BAR Spring 2024

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and comments about our Spring 2024 issue. We appreciate your feedback. Here are a few of the letters and responses we received. Find more online at biblicalarchaeology.org/letters.

More Controversy Needed

BAR needs to honor its founder, Hershel Shanks, by following his example with the Dead Sea Scrolls and in publishing much-needed articles on under-reported controversial subjects, such as the locations of the Temple and the Antonia Fortress, promoting further scholarly access to the Talpiot tombs, the finding of the Seleucid Akra in the Givati Parking Lot, and the underground Roman facilities (bakery, bath, theater, triclinia) lined up along the Western Wall.

MAHLON MARR
PEORIA, ARIZONA

We are proud of BAR’s legacy of bringing solid scholarship to the general public and honoring our late founder by reporting on a wide range of topics. We have covered many of the subjects you mention in various BAR articles or in Strata, but also on our Bible History Daily website. In addition, when scholarly disputes arise, we try to present both sides of the debate, as readers may have noticed in several recent issues. See, for example, the case for and against the authenticity of the Shapira Scrolls (BAR, Winter 2021) and competing views on the reading “House of David” in the Mesha Stele (BAR, Winter 2022 and Spring 2023). Even in this issue, epigrapher Christopher Rollston (Too Good to Be True? Reckoning with Sensational Inscriptions) highlights some recent sensational finds that unfortunately may not live up to the hype.—ED.

Offensive Style

Throughout the Spring issue, your articles vocalized the Hebrew divine name YHWH as YaH’WeH. It seems BAR requires its writers to use this term, which is highly offensive to most Jews. Please ask a scholar, who feels strongly about this vowellization, to present their case, given the absolute lack of any authoritative pronunciation of the divine name as YaH’WeH.

RABBI ARI MARK CATRUN
PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA

We certainly appreciate the religious sensitivities regarding the use of the divine name. BAR, however, is a secular, non-denominational magazine focused on presenting the latest scholarship on the Bible and archaeology to a popular audience. As such, our style reflects standard usage among many archaeologists and biblical scholars. In Parsing the Divine Name of this issue, longtime contributor and BAR Editorial Advisory Board member Ronald Hendel, who is a professor of Jewish studies at the University of California, Berkeley, discusses the evidence for how the divine name was pronounced and why that spelling is preferred among scholars.—ED.

Piecing Together Pottery

I was amazed by the photos of the restored drinking vessels and the storage jar in Yuval Gadot and Yiftah Shalev’s article “Lifestyles of Jerusalem’s Rich and Famous”. How do archaeologists figure out how all the broken pieces fit together? Are they scanned into a computer? And how are they held together? Superglue? A special adhesive?

GLEN W. SPIELBAUER
DALLAS, TEXAS

YUVAL GADOT RESPONDS:
Pottery restoration is a specialized field and truly an art form. Whenever during excavation we find large pieces of pottery grouped together, we bag them and send them to the restoration lab. In the lab, specialists use their experience, imagination, and patience to piece together as many sherds as possible. They use glues that do not shrink when dry and dissolve if necessary, such as certain acrylic and polyvinyl acetate adhesives. Remaining holes are then filled with plaster. You can view a video of the restoration process at facebook.com/ArchaeologyTAU/videos.

Right vs. Left

I read with interest Danielle Candelora’s article “Hands Off! The Severed Hands of the Hyksos Capital.” In her opening paragraph, she mentions they were right hands, but she doesn’t elaborate on this aspect of the discovery. I wonder whether the symbolism of handedness might offer an answer. Throughout the Middle East and Africa, the right hand is considered open, public, honest, and “clean,” while the left hand is often the opposite. Handedness is symbolically important in many areas even today. A traditional punishment for theft is severing the right hand, thus condemning the thief to a terrible asocial life. Similarly, if the Avaris hands were severed posthumously, the act might have condemned the victim’s soul to similar shunning in the afterlife.

PHILLIPS STEVENS, JR.
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ANTHROPOLOGY EMERITUS
UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO, SUNY

DANIELLE CANDELORA RESPONDS:
As your interesting observations come from the Islamic period, they cannot be applied to the socio-historical context of ancient Egypt or Near East. In my academic articles, I thoroughly explore the complete lack of evidence for the severing of hands as a punishment for theft in both Egypt and the Near East, and there is also no evidence from the ancient world to suggest positive or negative connotations of the right or left hands. Some Near Eastern tribal groups were even named after left and right, likely referring to geographic directions, and neither was considered lesser. The right hand serves as both the hieroglyph and early alphabetic symbol for hand (in the sense that it is the Platonic ideal of a hand). Perhaps given that most people are right-handed, the punishment was considered more severe when the dominant right hand was severed, to interfere more with the convicted’s lifestyle.

Sudden Death at Azekah

The Canaanite temple at Azekah sounds very beautiful (Oded Lipschits et al., “House of the Rising Sun”). But I was puzzled by the description of the bodies they found: two in the courtyard and three probably on the roof when it was destroyed. Looking through the article, I found nothing to indicate what might have caused such a quick collapse that people didn’t even have time to get down from the roof. A fire or earthquake might have done it, but there was no mention of either. Do the authors have any thoughts?

JOANN MCFARLAND
STANFIELD, OREGON

ODED LIPSCHITS RESPONDS:
Archaeologists usually uncover evidence of past destructions. The reasons for such destructions, however, can only be suggested based on what has survived in the ground. We discussed the destruction at Azekah in a previous BAR article (Oded Lipschits et al., “The Last Days of Canaanite Azekah,” January/February 2019), but we continue to research the issue and will publish a more complete study in the near future.

God’s Anatomy Not Important

What is the relevance of Erin Darby’s review of Francesca Stavrakopoulou’s book God: An Anatomy? While I have not read the book, judging from Darby’s review I would not waste my time with it. I don’t know what this book can possibly add to my understanding of the Bible and biblical archaeology or my relationship with Jesus Christ. In my opinion, her description of the body of Yahweh and the sensory landscape of ancient human ritual life has no place within the biblical context of your magazine. I doubt if the disciples spent time trying to understand and interpret the physicality of the divine. Leave that trivia to the professors in the classroom.

RICHARD WOLCOTT
REDDING, CALIFORNIA

Egyptian Royal Brides

In his essay “Solomon’s Egyptian Bride: Artful Alliance or Biblical Boast?” Philip Stern cites the late Abraham Malamat asserting, in a 1958 article, that the marriage of an Egyptian pharaoh’s daughter to a foreign king was exceptional. The exceptional nature of such a marriage is well established for the Late Bronze Age (c. 1550–1200 BC), when Egypt was at its most powerful. However, the situation was different by the time of Solomon in the tenth century, when there are records of several Egyptian royal daughters being given in marriage to officials and foreigners (see Kenneth Kitchen, The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt [Westminster, 1973]). Therefore, Stern’s conclusion that “the biblical allusion to Pharaoh’s daughter as Solomon’s wife seems not to be an idle boast” is well justified.

ALAN MILLARD
EMERITUS RANKIN PROFESSOR OF HEBREW AND ANCIENT SEMITIC LANGUAGES
UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL

Sadly, Alan Millard passed away in June, shortly after submitting this letter to BAR, and author Philip Stern also passed away about a month before.—ED.

There may be another reference to Solomon’s Egyptian bride in the Bible. In the Song of Songs, the king sings to his beloved, “O fairest among women, follow the tracks of the flock and pasture your kids beside the shepherds’ tents” (1:8–9). Who else among women would see this as a compliment?

RICHARD E. FALC
RED WING, MINNESOTA

PHOTO: ERICH LESSING / ART RESOURCE, NY

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and comments about our Winter 2023 issue. We appreciate your feedback. Here are a few of the letters and responses we received. Find more online at biblicalarchaeology.org/letters.

Grateful for BAR

I have long been grateful for BAR, never more so than in recent years. I appreciate the up-to-date information and the discussion of controversial issues. Even the letters to the editor explore issues that reveal important elements of biblical writing and history. Thank you for identifying and reporting on the missing elements of the biblical and ancient past.

MONTA L. POOLEY
PORT ORCHARD, WASHINGTON

I am not a subscriber but I read your magazine regularly. The issues are extremely interesting, and I can’t take my eyes off of them. Everything is exciting to read, as I learn more and more about the world of archaeology and the Bible. Everything in “The Stone Statues of Ammon” by Katharina Schmidt was amazing, but I especially liked “The Seven World Wonders” by Jennifer Tobin. It was very interesting, and the writing was astounding.

IVY BUSENITZ
NEWTON, KANSAS

Woman in the Window

Thank you for Lacy K. Crocker Papadakis’s intriguing article about the “Woman in the Window.” Proverbs 7 describes someone looking out the window onto the street below. The person looking out the window sees a young man being seduced by another man’s wife—an erotic adventure that leads to the young man’s death. But who is looking out the window?

Proverbs alternates between a masculine and feminine speaker. The masculine speaker is a father, while the feminine speaker is either a mother or Wisdom herself. We usually understand the speaker in Proverbs 7 to be a father. But what if the speaker is a woman? Would this be another instance of a woman looking out a window onto a scene that leads to death?

TOM KANE
FLORESVILLE, TEXAS

LACY K. CROCKER PAPADAKIS RESPONDS:
The male teacher who narrates the scene appears at the window in the Masoretic text, while the strange woman is at the window in the Septuagint and Peshitta. I classify Proverbs 7 as an example of a man “seeing a tryst,” where from a window a man witnesses, literally or figuratively, a sexual encounter (cf. Genesis 26:8). The other passages that depict a man at the window illustrate accessibility or passability (Genesis 8:6–7; 2 Kings 9:32–33; 13:17; Daniel 6:11; Joel 2:9).

Pompeii Pizza

The tray of delicacies painted on a frescoe at Pompeii (Strata: Pompeii Pizza?) was both astonishing and appetizing. My father, a native of the Lazio region just north of Pompeii, insisted that the proper topping for pizza consisted only of olive oil, salt, pepper, and grated cheese. Later, I was surprised to find focaccia in 1 Kings 17:13, where Elijah tells the widow of Zarephath: “but make me therefore a little cake first,” which in the official Italian translation reads: “ma, prepare prima una piccola focaccia.” Focaccia is a very simple hearth cake and the recipe is in the Bible. When the Spanish brought tomatoes to the Old World, the miracle of pizza and focaccia as we know them occurred in Naples.

AUGUSTINE H. SERAFINI
OSHKOSH, WISCONSIN

Remembering Amnon Ben-Tor

The Milestone for Amnon Ben-Tor was great, but too short for his wonderful career. One of the things you left out was his work at Masada. Yigael Yadin led the excavations at Masada and he put Amnon in charge of excavating the Western Palace. I had the great privilege of working under him on that excavation in 1964. After the excavation, Amnon and I stayed in contact and it was always a joy to read his emails about Hazor. I will miss him.

REVEREND VINCENT W. MORGAN
QUEENS, NEW YORK

An extended version of Igor Kreimerman’s tribute for Amnon, which references his early work at Masada, can be found on Bible History Daily at biblicalarchaeology.org/milestones.—ED.

Star of Bethlehem

In his article on the Star of Bethlehem, Nathan Steinmeyer says, “to know what the Magi saw that night more than 2,000 years ago, we ourselves would need to be able to experience and know the world as they did.” In fact, former Rutgers University astronomer Michael Molnar did just that. His research suggested that a moon passing in front of Jupiter (an occultation, in astronomical terms), while it was in the zodiacal territory of Aries the Ram, would signal the birth of an important king of the Jews. He calculated that such a rare occultation, with Jupiter as a morning star (“in the east,” in astrological terms), occurred on April 17, 6 BC.

It was a different but logical approach, and while scholars quibbled, it’s clear that Molnar hit on the key by focusing on a phenomenon that was invisible to most people at the time, but had meaning for those who saw symbolism in celestial objects.

GORDON GOVIER
FITCHBURG, WISCONSIN

Thank you for Steinmeyer’s excellent review of the issues involved in identifying the Star of Bethlehem. However, some details were omitted, and these are the elements in Matthew’s narrative that so many people overlook. The “star” is said to have led the wise men to Bethlehem and then stopped over the place where Jesus was found (Matthew 2:9). Something that hovers 30 feet above ground is not a celestial object. It is an angel. The ancients, including the Israelites, viewed the stars as celestial beings. In the Hebrew Bible, the angels are the “heavenly host” (Deuteronomy 4:19; Isaiah 40:26; Jeremiah 8:2), which are stars that come down to earth as messengers for God, servants for humans, or even as warriors at the final judgment. In Matthew, a “star/angel” came down from the sky to lead the wise men. Indeed, as Steinmeyer aptly states, we must read the story through their understanding, not ours, even if it disagrees with our view of things.

ROBERT GNUSE
DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR OF THE HUMANITIES
LOYOLA UNIVERSITY NEW ORLEANS

In many ancient cultures, it was common to describe the deaths and births of great men as being marked by astrological phenomena. This does not mean that those phenomena actually occurred on those dates, and it is silly to try to date historical figures using astroarchaeology. Think of it as a metaphor. The purpose was to delineate the king’s greatness, not to recount what was in the sky that night.

SUSIE HELME
LONDON, ENGLAND

The many attempts to explain the Nativity story in Matthew’s Gospel have focused on celestial phenomena and the identity of the Magi. What has been ignored is what these elements meant to first-century Jews. As for the Magi, they were important people in the realm of the adored Cyrus, practitioners of an occult science forbidden to Jews. Matthew brings them into the Nativity story as an ennobling element, with an assumption of their unique powers.

PHILLIPS STEVENS, JR.
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ANTHROPOLOGY EMERITUS
UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO, SUNY

Epiphany or Baptism?

The piece “Restoring Egypt’s Medieval Murals” describes the pictured mural as “the Epiphany—the adoration of newborn Jesus by the Magi and shepherds.” Is that really what the Syrian Monastery calls it? For Orthodox Christians, the Epiphany/Theophany is the baptism in the Jordan, while Western Christians use the term for the visit of the Magi. Could you clarify?

MARIANNE NAGRANT
FARMINGTON HILLS, MICHIGAN

You are quite correct to point out the cultural differences. Whereas the Western tradition celebrates the Epiphany on January 6 as a sequel to Christmas, understanding it as Jesus’s presentation to the Magi (and the world), the Eastern Orthodox churches equate the Epiphany to Jesus’s baptism, which the Gospels tell us happened at the outset of Jesus’s public ministry and involved the “epiphany” of the Holy Trinity. This dichotomy is probably to blame also for another confusion in the original publication, which interprets Jesus as Christ Emmanuel, while the painting more likely represents the Adoration (by the shepherds and Magi).—ED.

World Wonders

The column “The Seven World Wonders” describes the dimension of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus as follows: “The temple was the largest ever built by the Greeks, measuring 236 by 410 feet (the length of 2.5 football fields).” Since a football field is 100 yards, 2.5 fields would be 750 feet.

ROBERT VONFRISCH
WEATHERLY, PENNSYLVANIA

Caduceus & the Rod of Asclepius

In “Biblical Bestiary,” the author confuses the caduceus with the Rod of Asclepius. The winged, double-snake caduceus belongs to Mercury and is the symbol of commerce. The single-snake Rod of Asclepius is reminiscent of the bronze snake of healing in Numbers 21:9–10.

RABBI JOE KLEIN
ROCHESTER, MICHIGAN

Know Your Bible

In his article “Were There 12 Tribes of Israel?” Andrew Tobolowsky wrote that Paul repeatedly describes himself as a member of the tribe of Benjamin (Acts 13:21; Romans 11:1; Philippians 3:5). However, in Acts 13:21, Paul is referencing the tribal affiliation not of himself but of Saul, son of Kish, the first king of early Israel.

EDGAR WATSON
PUNTA GORDA, FLORIDA

Marta Luciani’s article “Archaeology in the Land of Midian” states that Midian was descended from Abraham through Ishmael. This is incorrect, as Midian was actually Ishmael and Isaac’s half-brother through Abraham’s third wife or concubine, Keturah (Genesis 25:2).

WESLEY BARNETT
AMHERST, OHIO

BAR FALL 2023

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and comments about our Fall 2023 issue. We appreciate your feedback. Here are a few of the letters and responses we received. Find more online at biblicalarchaeology.org/letters.

BAR Readers Think Outside the Box

I appreciate Jose Paredes’s letter, in which he lauds the fact that “BAR articles are written by actual researchers, not by people summarizing or interpreting studies carried out by others.” Yet professional scholars must necessarily maintain a delicate balance between pursuing the truth and protecting their credibility, careers, and reputations. Some can’t keep their balance on that wire. So, what should a dedicated layperson do when faced with such academic logjams? We can ask questions and/or offer our own suggestions. BAR’s Queries & Comments is an excellent place to share such outside-the-box thinking.

MAHLON MARR
PEORIA, ARIZONA

BAR readers are, indeed, exceptional critical thinkers, and we enjoy presenting your creative thoughts and probing questions to the scholars who write for us. Keep those ideas coming!—ED.

Yahweh vs. Baal

Michael Stahl in his article “Yahweh or Baal?” states that, “The name yhw in Egyptian topographical texts from Amara West and Soleb does not refer to a deity but a people group, the name of which cannot be clearly linked to the god Yahweh.” Egyptologist Donald Redford, in his book Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times (Princeton Univ. Press, 1993), disagrees and writes of the reference to Yahweh at Soleb: “It has been generally admitted that we have here the tetragrammaton, the name of the Israelite god, ‘Yahweh’; and if this be the case, as it undoubtedly is, the passage constitutes a most precious indication of the whereabouts during the late fifteenth century B.C. of an enclave revering this god.”

Stahl also mistakenly assumes that the name Yahweh found at Soleb and Amara West is spelled yhw in Egyptian hieroglyphs. There are four glyphs used for this name, not three, and they should be transliterated as “Yahweh.”

CLYDE E. BILLINGTON
NICEVILLE, FLORIDA

MICHAEL STAHL RESPONDS:
Thank you for pointing out the incorrect spelling of yhw, where the last character “disappeared” during the conversion of my manuscript into a design software application. However, the name yhw in these topographical lists refers to a mobile pastoralist group, not a deity. Although many scholars posit a historical connection between this Shasu-group and the later Israelite god Yahweh, some of them correctly conclude that the available Egyptian evidence does not refer to a deity. I discuss this issue in more depth in my article “The Historical Origins of the Biblical God Yahweh,” Religion Compass 14.11 (2020): e12378 (pp. 1–14) (https://doi.org/10.1111/rec3.12378).

The Omride Rulers were Yahwists, but not pure Yahwists. They feared the people wouldn’t accept Yahweh as God unless they dressed him up like the old god, Baal. Suddenly, we can’t tell if it’s Baal or Yahweh decked out like Baal. When Elijah overhears people mistakenly praying to “Baal” instead of “Yahweh,” he demands a clean break, insisting on no images at all. A clean break is the last thing King Ahab wants. He wants a military coalition with neighboring kings, none of whom worship Yahweh. But most biblical prophets view alliances as the equivalent of idolatry, because each alliance comes with a foreign princess (and her gods, altars, and priests). When Ahab’s foreign wife, Jezebel, goes beyond idolatry and connives to violate the Mosaic laws by murdering Naboth and stealing his ancestral property, the prophets vow no more tolerance for compromised Yahwists. They anoint Jehu to conduct a bloody military coup.

TOM KANE
FLORESVILLE, TEXAS

I was surprised by Michael Stahl’s insinuation that while the Bible depicts the Omride dynasty as Baal worshipers, they were loyal to Yahweh. Omri has a mere seven verses dedicated to him in 1 Kings 16–19, where it only says that he “walked in the way of Jeroboam.” Jeroboam was not a Baal worshiper but dedicated two sanctuaries to Yahweh with calf idols (1 Kings 12). Even if Omri did worship Baal, there is no indication he did not just add Baal to a mini-pantheon that included Yahweh. There is no question that Yahweh was still worshiped in the Northern Kingdom under Omri.

In the case of Ahab, the Bible suggests that Jezebel influenced him to focus on Baal. In 1 Kings 18:4, it is Jezebel who is “putting away” the prophets of Yahweh. Even in Elijah’s confrontation with the priests of Baal, he tells the people to “stop limping between two different options” (1 Kings 18:21). When Jehoshaphat of Judah repeatedly asks for a prophet of Yahweh in 1 Kings 22, Ahab does not like it, as the only prophet of Yahweh he can think of (Micaiah) never says anything good about him. These do not seem like the words of a dedicated follower of Yahweh.

DANIEL BURNHAM
UNIONTOWN, OHIO

Books on Byzantium

Sarah Yeoman’s article “Constantinople: Christianity’s First Capital” was fascinating. Are there any books Sarah would recommend to learn more about this city and its rich history, archaeology, and ties to Christianity?

PAUL LARSON
KATY, TEXAS

SARAH YEOMANS RESPONDS:
Good entry points into learning more about the Byzantine Empire are A Short History of Byzantium (Vintage, 1998), by John J. Norwich, and A History of Byzantium (Wiley-Blackwell, 2009), by Timothy E. Gregory. The first is an old classic; the latter is more of a textbook, which makes it easy to follow. The Oxford History of Byzantium (Oxford Univ. Press, 2002), edited by Cyril Mango, is a more scholarly resource for deeper dives into specific aspects of the Byzantine Empire. To learn more about Constantinople in particular, I suggest starting with Jonathan Harris’s Constantinople: Capital of Byzantium (Bloomsbury, 2017).

Ur of Abraham

The answer to “Where Is It?” states that the great Sumerian city of Ur “was also known to the biblical writers as the birthplace of the patriarch Abraham (Genesis 11:31).” This popular belief and oft-repeated statement is totally baseless, however. Instead, the birthplace of Abraham is to be identified with Urfa (called Ura, in antiquity), located in modern south-central Turkey, 28 miles north of Harran (also mentioned in Genesis 11:31). While I cannot review all the evidence here, suffice to note that Abraham’s homeland was located “beyond the River [Euphrates]” (Joshua 24:2–3), which works for Urfa in northern Mesopotamia, but not for Ur of Sumer in southern Mesopotamia.

GARY RENDSBURG
DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR
RUTGERS UNIVERSITY
NEW BRUNSWICK, NEW JERSEY

Horns of Moses

Gary Rendsburg’s Thesis (“Moses as Pharaoh’s Equal—Horns and All”) that, in Exodus 34:29, ki qaran means that Moses’s face became horned, and that its purpose was to put Moses on an equal footing with Pharaoh, while entertaining, would seem to be an improper rendering, both linguistically and logically. The linguistic problem is the form of the verb. It is in the form known as binyan Qal, which denotes an active rather than passive verb. If the meaning were “became horned,” the proper form would be niqran or hiqrin, which are passive, not qaran.

The logic is also faulty. Had the change taken place in Exodus 7, where Moses confronts Pharaoh, it might make sense to say that the Almighty wanted to put Moses on an equal footing with Pharaoh. However, at that confrontation, there is no mention of qaran. It is mentioned only in Exodus 34, where Pharaoh plays no role whatsoever. What purpose would be served—after Moses had summoned the miracles at the Red Sea, and miraculously supplied water and manna—to have him appear in a manner similar to Pharaoh?

MEIR BARCHAIM
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL

GARY RENDSBURG RESPONDS:
The verb qaran is perfectly fine as a Qal form meaning “was horned,” on par with the usages in Job 7:5 (‘ori raga‘, “my skin is broken”) and Job 30:30 (‘ori shakhar, “my skin is dark”). Mr. Barchaim may be thinking in English, where these verbs may be understood more as passives, but in Hebrew, they all take the active, Qal form.

The Exodus account reserved this one final Egyptianizing element in the book’s concluding narrative about the descent from Mt. Sinai. As such, it serves as one final reminder for the status of Moses throughout the narrative. In addition, we should note that the “logic” of an ancient literary mind may not align with our own modern sensibilities.

Say it isn’t so! Are you really telling me that the early authors of the Bible, particularly of the Book of Exodus—those unerring men who directly speak the word of God—actually had a political agenda? They clearly made up a bunch of stuff so that Moses would be compared to Horus favorably, and by extension to Pharaoh. These men, it turns out, were just men, with foibles, weaknesses, and agendas, and to claim that every dot they put on the page is the unerring word of God is just false.

ED WALDOCK
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

The Name Miriam

Regarding the piece on the name Miriam (“What’s in a Name?”), I am wondering whether the name Miryam and its variant Mariamene could be more convincingly derived from the Egyptian name Meri-amun, rather than from mery + yam.

SUSIE HELME
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM

Although it may look like the name Mariamne contains the Amun theophoric element, this derivation of the name Miryam does not appear until the Herodian period (37 BCE–70 CE). “Beloved of Yam” rather than “beloved of Amun” (Mer-it-Amun) is thus a better interpretation of the name Miryam.—ED.

BAR Summer 2023

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and comments about our Summer 2023 issue. We appreciate your feedback. Here are a few of the letters and responses we received. Find more online at biblicalarchaeology.org/letters.

Pleasant Trend

As a church pastor and amateur historian, I’ve always enjoyed BAR and find many of the articles of personal interest. Lately, I’ve noticed a pleasant trend in the overall focus of the articles—that they are, well, biblical. Each article seems to relate directly to the Bible, whereas before some of the articles were a bit more tertiary and critical. For what it’s worth, I appreciate your work.

BRUCE BUTLER
GLENDORA, CALIFORNIA

Invisible David and Solomon

The authors of “David and Solomon’s Invisible Kingdom” point to the paucity of archaeological evidence for tent-dwelling nomads. However, most nomads move with their herds in routine ways in search of good grazing ground. Each location has water and other geography to support tent living. Some nomads might even build permanent features like platforms, tables, or seating to use when they return to a certain location. Looking for these features could also reveal trash heaps, broken crockery, and household goods that they left behind.

JOANN MCFARLAND
STANFIELD, OREGON

ZACHARY THOMAS AND EREZ BEN-YOSEF RESPOND:
Unfortunately, the archaeological study of nomads in the southern Levant proves otherwise. We also should be wary of a positivistic approach that assumes if something existed, it must have left traces. Although it has been observed that nomads in the modern Middle East modify their seasonal campsites, we have no reason to assume that this was the case with all historical nomads. In any case, archaeologists have looked for possible “household” remains, but those are rare, difficult to date, and, most importantly, do not reveal much about the social structure of these nomads.

The reason why archaeologists have not been able to find evidence for David and Solomon’s kingdom is because it was never there. Unfortunately, biblical scholars tend to have tunnel vision about the earliest figures in the Bible. They insist the Bible is accurate, and then have to squeeze the evidence into a false narrative. Is that true scholarship? It seems more like a comedy of errors.

MARGARET KING
THE WOODLANDS, TEXAS

Memorable Maccabees

Thanks to Andrea Berlin for such a clearly written piece on how the Maccabees were able to achieve power (“The Rise of the Maccabees”). I appreciated not only her logic and explanations, but also her memorable historical and archaeological descriptions. What gorgeous writing!

DANA WATERS
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

Praise for Gilgamesh

I was pleased to read your article on the Epic of Gilgamesh. I first read Gilgamesh years ago, was deeply impressed, and have reread it several times in different translations. Among its many fascinating qualities are its clear ties to the Bible, especially Genesis. It’s so obvious they have a common source but a different emphasis.

MARIAN POWELL
HUMBOLDT, ARIZONA

To learn more about the cultural and literary connections between the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Bible, read Adam Miglio’s Bible History Daily article “Genesis and Gilgamesh”: biblicalarchaeology.org/gilgamesh.—ED.

I am an avid supporter of animal welfare and read several magazines on the subject. Amazingly, one of them recently featured an article about the Epic of Gilgamesh! Michael Mountain, a well-known animal activist, wrote about how the ancient epic “captures the essence of our relationship to our fellow animals,” and how the saga encourages us to live in harmony with nature. One of the themes he covers is how the Gilgamesh story addresses our need to accept that we are also animals and instead of conquering nature, we need to find a way to fit into it. It is a different and refreshing take for modern times on an ancient tale.

CLARE FEINSON
WASHINGTON, DC

Paul Pushback

Correct me if I’m wrong, but BAR is an archaeological journal, not a forum for theological debate. The article “Five Myths About the Apostle Paul,” by David Clausen, is not only a poor example of new age religious revisionism, but it isn’t even remotely connected to biblical archaeology. Instead, it only seems to serve as a childish and uninformed attempt at tearing down core Christian doctrines.

PHILLIP HORTON
SPRINGVILLE, ALABAMA

BAR does aim to present the latest archaeological discoveries from the world of the Bible. But in our Epistles section, we also highlight new scholarly insights into the Bible’s history and composition, including, in this case, how Paul’s letters would have been read and understood in their own time.—ED.

While I agree there are misconceptions about Paul, Clausen weakens his case by overstating certain elements while eliding evidence that speaks against his arguments. One example: He states, “Paul brought his gospel to those who had no covenant relationship with the God of Israel” (p. 61). This ignores the fact that, as often recorded in the Book of Acts, Paul “brought his gospel” into the synagogues whenever he entered a city, preaching first to his fellow Jews. It is unfortunate that Clausen, in his desire to “de-mythologize” Paul, transgresses Paul’s admonition to the believers in Corinth: “Do not go beyond what is written.”

PATRICK PAULSEN
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA

DAVID CLAUSEN RESPONDS:
Because of its late, second-century date, Acts should not be used as an unimpeachable source about what Paul did. In Paul’s own letters, he proclaimed himself apostle to the Gentiles. Undoubtedly Paul stopped at synagogues (where there were any) while he traveled, and likely explained his mission and message about Gentile redemption to their leadership (he says they whipped him a number of times over it), but this did not alter his stated mission.

I read with interest David Clausen’s “Five Myths” but take exception to his assertion that “Historically, we know that there was no such thing as ‘Christianity’ in the time of Paul, and the word ‘Christian’ was likely not in use either” (p. 60). Acts 11:26 states, “For a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch” (NIV). It thus seems that the term “Christian” was indeed in use during the time of Paul. Am I misreading that passage?

RUSSELL V. OLSON JR.
DAVIDSON, NORTH CAROLINA

DAVID CLAUSEN RESPONDS:
Note that Acts does not say when Christianity became a term for the movement in Antioch. If Acts is indeed a second-century composition, it tallies with the time in which Ignatius of Antioch also began using the term “Christianity.”

Space would not permit a full listing of the New Testament passages contradicting David Clausen’s fourth myth that “Paul taught that Christ died for the sins of the world.” Instead, I will just appeal to logic. If Jews already had “ample means of atonement” for sin, why wouldn’t God’s solution for the Gentiles simply be for them to convert to Judaism? It is not surprising that many people believe that Christ’s death is not necessary for them. But it is logically untenable to believe that God has one plan for Jewish salvation and a different plan for the Gentiles.

PATRICIA MOKHTARIAN
ATLANTA, GEORGIA

DAVID CLAUSEN RESPONDS:
Paul certainly acknowledged that everyone had to deal with sin. But as any first-century Jew would have known, they had for centuries dealt with sin within their covenant relationship with God, which offered them means of atonement. This does not mean that the resurrected Jesus had no meaning for believing Jews, who found much meaning in his life and message and anticipated his imminent return. Their hope lay largely in Jesus’s ability to restore Israel once he returned, not in forgiveness of sin for individuals.

As for converting Gentiles to Judaism, Paul knew the Hebrew prophecies that spoke of Gentiles (“the nations”), not converted Jews, joining their Jewish neighbors in the worship of God, ostensibly on the Day of the Lord. This was Paul’s message: There was now a means for Gentiles to remain Gentiles yet be redeemed of their sin within a new covenant relationship that would number them among God’s people.

Debating the Bible’s Relevance

In his review of John Dominic Crossan’s Render Unto Caesar, Zeba Crook criticizes Crossan for not showing “why the Bible should not be used to shape modern social, political, and economic policy.” His suggestion is wrong on multiple levels. Although a work of literature, the Bible is considered by Christians to be the revealed word of God. To suggest the Bible is no longer “culturally relevant” goes against the heart of what the Bible says and is entirely wrong. The Bible has endured for thousands of years, and its spiritual truths will endure forever.

ANDY HEATON
HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA

A Nice Surprise

I was pleasantly surprised to see the Summer issue’s “Who Did It?” quiz about Barbara Mertz! Only a few hours before, I had been looking at Mertz’s two Egyptian books, which I read not once but twice many years ago. They were some of the most interesting books I have ever read, and I had kept them in a special place. I did not know that she had been a mystery writer as well. I can only say that anyone, especially a person who likes Egyptology, should read her books and enjoy!

PAUL SANGSTER
GARDNERVILLE, NEVADA

Define Error

I had a good laugh reading the answer to “Define Intervention” in the Summer issue where it says: “In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Dilmun is the island reserved for Utnapishtim and his wife, who survived the Great Food” (p. 66). I wonder what may have been on the menu that was revered as Great Food.

CARL NYE
COTTONWOOD, ARIZONA

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Thank you for sharing your thoughts and comments about our Winter 2022 issue. We appreciate your feedback. Here are a few of the letters and responses we received. Find more online at biblicalarchaeology.org/letters.

Is BAR Losing Its Way?

Most people who care about biblical archaeology do not care about the archaeology of places not mentioned in the Bible or secondhand rehashes of archaeological work done years or decades before. We want to hear about new, spade-in-the-ground archaeology in biblical places by the people doing it. Hershel Shanks figured out how to find that stuff, and if he couldn’t get the archaeologists themselves to write, he told us about it in his “First Person” column. If you cannot recover Hershel’s focus, you will lose us.

TOM PITTMAN
GRANTS PASS, OREGON

Continuing BAR’s Quality Tradition

I heartily approve the outstanding article “Mesha’s Stele and the House of David,” by André Lemaire and Jean-Philippe Delorme, even though I am clueless about Hebrew and the technical details shown in the photographs. I treasure the full disclosure by the authors, who put their argument out there for critique. That gives me comfort, since over the decades BAR has been a place where experts can discuss and debate. Excellent work continuing the quality tradition started by Hershel Shanks.