First Glance

002

Matthew and Luke in their gospels plainly state that Jesus was divinely conceived by the Holy Spirit For those who believe in the inerrancy of the New Testament, no further support for the virgin birth is needed. But others, such as American founding father Thomas Paine, observed that just because Matthew relates that Joseph said that an angel told him that Mary “was with child without any cohabitation with a man” was no proof at all. “It is hearsay upon hearsay,” declared Paine, “and I do not choose to rest my belief upon such evidence.” Perhaps neither position addresses the complexities of the Bible’s virgin birth stories says J. Edward Barrett in “Can Scholars Take the Virgin Birth of Jesus Seriously?”

Probing the virgin birth stories, Barrett discusses problems of Hebrew/Greek translation, the contexts of the famous prophecies in the Book of Isaiah, and father-son relationships in the Jewish and Hellenistic worlds in Bible times.

Professor of religion at Muskingum College, New Concord, Ohio, Barrett describes himself as having one foot in the ancient world (he teaches biblical archaeology and classical mythology) and one in the modern world (he also teaches modern Christian thought and global issues and values). Barrett wrote “Piety and Patriotism” BAR 07:01.

Say “Moses” and most people probably think first of an indomitable leader, faithful to God and imbued with the Lord’s power. Next to come to mind may be Moses the Lawgiver, the mediator of God’s word. But how many will also recall that Moses not only brought down the Law from Sinai, but proceeded to teach it, thus establishing a tradition of biblical interpretation? How many recall Moses’ crucial role as intercessor on behalf of his people? Or the suffering’ he endured on their account? This extraordinary richness of character can be found in Deuteronomy, as Patrick D. Miller, Jr. reminds us in “The Many Faces of Moses—A Deuteronomic Portrait.”

An ordained Presbyterian minister, Miller is professor of Old Testament theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. His most recent book, Interpreting the Psalms, was reviewed in the June 1988 BR (Bible Books, BR 04:03). A member of the Revised Standard Version. Bible Committee, Miller also serves as the Old Testament editor for the Interpretation Bible commentary series (John Knox Press).

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but words are sometimes virtually all that is available to us. King Herod’s architects did not leave behind their blueprints to show us how they designed the reconstruction of the Temple, so modern scholars must evaluate and integrate the descriptions found in numerous ancient texts in order to produce a coherent picture of Herod’s Temple. In “Reconstructing the Magnificent Temple Herod Built,” Israeli archaeologist Joseph Patrich, of Hebrew University’s Institute of Archaeology, presents a new reconstruction of the Temple—one based on all the ancient descriptions as well as on representations found on two Bar-Kokhba coins. Patrich directs an archaeological survey of Judean Desert caves and also lectures at Haifa University.

Roads today just aren’t what they used to be. And it’s a good thing, says Barry J. Beitzel in “How to Draw Ancient Highways on Biblical Maps.” Even on a major artery traveled by armies and commercial caravans, people often had to cut down trees, move boulders or pull chariots out of the mud in order to get from place to place. Despite their primitive beginnings, these ancient paths stayed in use, Beitzel affirms, allowing us moderns to chart maps of Bible times based on road systems described and depicted in maps and literature dating much later than the Bible. Beitzel’s research has also led him to suggest a new identification for the “Via Maris,” a 1,500-year-old label popularly affixed to a highway that extended from Egypt to Syria.

Beitzel makes his second appearance in our Bible Lands department; he contributed “The Dead Sea—Background to the Bible” BR 03:03. Professor of Old Testament and Semitic languages at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinios, Beitzel is the author of The Moody Atlas of Bible Lands and the translations of 1 and 2 Samuel for the New King James Bible.

Matthew and Luke in their gospels plainly state that Jesus was divinely conceived by the Holy Spirit For those who believe in the inerrancy of the New Testament, no further support for the virgin birth is needed. But others, such as American founding father Thomas Paine, observed that just because Matthew relates that Joseph said that an angel told him that Mary “was with child without any cohabitation with a man” was no proof at all. “It is hearsay upon hearsay,” declared Paine, “and I do not choose to rest my belief upon such evidence.” Perhaps neither position addresses […]