First Glance

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The Gospel of Matthew tells the story of the brilliant, guiding star that led the magi from the east to Bethlehem, where they showered the infant Jesus with gifts. Hovering above the “place where the child was,” the star acted as a steady beacon for the travelers. But stars—even bright ones—don’t shine with such a precise beam. Although this star defies our modern, scientific ideas, it has much in common with the ancient understanding of another type of heavenly being that served as a guide. In “What Was the Star that Guided the Magi?” Dale C. Allison, Jr., examines how ancients would have interpreted and understood the star of Bethlehem.

Allison, a specialist in New Testament and early Christianity, is a research fellow at Friends University in Wichita, Kansas. Author of The New Moses: A Matthean Typology (Fortress, 1993), Allison received his Ph.D. in biblical studies from Duke University. His article on “The Baptism of Jesus and a New Dead Sea Scroll,” BAR 18:02, appeared in Biblical Archaeology Review, BR’s companion magazine.

“Why Did God Harden Pharaoh’s Heart?” asks John D. Currid, referring to a puzzling phrase that appears repeatedly in Exodus. Despite the demonstration of God’s power, via the ten plagues, Pharaoh does not free the people of Israel because of the hardening of his heart. The phrase signifies more than mere stubbornness, however. The key to its meaning lies in a better understanding of ancient Egyptian religion, which infuses many aspects of the Exodus narrative.

Currid received his Ph.D. from the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago’s. Oriental Institute. He taught religion for six years at Grove City College in Pennsylvania, and now serves as associate professor of Old Testament at the Reformed Theological Seminary, in Orlando, Florida. Also an archaeologist Currid directs The Agricultural Project at Tel Halif, in Israel. He has contributed two articles to Biblical Archaeology Review, “Puzzling Public Buildings,” BAR 18:01 and “Why Did the Early Israelites Dig All Those Pits?” BAR 14:05.

If we were to announce a series of interviews with the general editor of the prestigious Anchor Bible Series, another with the holder of the endowed chair of Hebrew Biblical Studies at the University of California at San Diego, one with the general editor of the massive Anchor Bible Dictionary, one with the former holder of the Arthur F. Thurnau chair of Biblical Studies at the University of Michigan and still another with the editor of the Anchor Bible Reference Library, readers would naturally assume that it would take us months to conduct them all. Happily, the preceding qualifications all describe a single scholar: David Noel Freedman. BR’s editor recently spoke with this great Bible generalist on a host of topics, ranging from the bright lights of Broadway (in whose shadow he was weaned) to the organization of the Bible. This month, Freedman turns first to what he calls the Common Bible, explaining “How the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament Differ.” In the concluding installment, to be published in our next issue, he will share insights on the New Testament.

Although few people would consider Jesus’ crucifixion a fit subject for humor, such topics as Jesus’ birth, the kingdom of heaven and the meek’s inheritance carry no such taboo, having appeared in “Peanuts,” “Family Circle” and “Frank and Ernest” respectively. In a sequel to “The Bible in the Funny Papers,” BR 07:05, which covered Old Testament themes in cartoons, Leonard Greenspoon now surveys “The New Testament in the Comics.” He finds that cartoonists take their inspiration from a very small range of New Testament episodes, primarily the birth of Jesus for Christmas cartoons and a few passages from the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7:27).

Professor of religion at Clemson University, Greenspoon cannot remember when he wasn’t collecting something. His collection of cartoons, stuffed into manila envelopes in a desk drawer, must compete 003for space with stamps and coins. When not pursuing his interest in the Bible and popular culture, Greenspoon concentrates on his work on the Septuagint and other Bible translations. His “Mission to Alexandria: Truth and Legend About the Creation of the Septuagint, the First Bible Translation,” appeared in BR 05:04.

A suffering messiah who atones for the sins of others in the Dead Sea Scrolls? Is it the same suffering servant as appears in the Book of Isaiah, regarded by early Christians as a prefiguration of Jesus? Or have scholars misinterpreted the Dead Sea Scroll known as 4Q541? John J. Collins assesses the evidence in “The Suffering Servant at Qumran?”

Collins is professor of Hebrew Bible at the University of Chicago Divinity School and an editor of the Journal of Biblical Literature. His most recent book is Daniel, a volume in the Hermeneia commentary series (Fortress, forthcoming). A member of the expanded team of Dead Sea Scroll editors, he is working on Pseudo-Daniel and the Prayer of Nabonidus fragments from Cave 4. Collins examined another claim for a New Testament parallel in the Dead Sea Scrolls in his previous BR article, “A Pre-Christian ‘Son of God’ Among the Dead Sea Scrolls,” BR 09:03.

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A Note on Style

B.C.E. (Before the Common Era) and C.E. (Common Era) used by some of our authors and often used in scholarly literature, are the alternative designations corresponding to B.C. and A.D.

The Gospel of Matthew tells the story of the brilliant, guiding star that led the magi from the east to Bethlehem, where they showered the infant Jesus with gifts. Hovering above the “place where the child was,” the star acted as a steady beacon for the travelers. But stars—even bright ones—don’t shine with such a precise beam. Although this star defies our modern, scientific ideas, it has much in common with the ancient understanding of another type of heavenly being that served as a guide. In “What Was the Star that Guided the Magi?” Dale C. Allison, Jr., examines […]