First Glance

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The words of Isaiah are more than just beautiful poetry; they are reflections of the political and social circumstances that provoked Isaiah to utter his prophecies. An understanding of these circumstances—the Syro-Ephraimite war and the moral corruption of eighth-century B.C. Judah—provides an essential background for a fuller appreciation of Isaiah’s meaning, as Yehoshua Gitay demonstrates in “Isaiah—The Impractical Prophet.”

Assistant professor at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, in Beer-Sheva, Israel, Gitay has also taught at the University of North Carolina, Duke, Wesleyan and Columbia. He has written numerous scholarly articles on Isaiah and is the author of The Book of Isaiah—A Commentary, to be published soon by Indiana University Press.

In “Two Master Portraits of Isaiah,” Zefira Gitay presents a case study to illustrate her thesis that art can serve as Bible commentary in its own right. By exploring the subtle differences between two apparently similar paintings of Isaiah—one by Michelangelo and one by Raphael—Gitay shows that the works of the two Italian masters display radically differing interpretations of the prophet. The insights gained from her study simultaneously illuminate both the art and the biblical text.

Zefira Gitay, who is married to Yehoshua, wrote “Hagar’s Expulsion—A Tale Twice-Told in Genesis,” BR 02:04. She earned her doctorate at Emory University, with a dissertation on Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling.

Applying skills that would have impressed Sherlock Holmes, Baruch Halpern unravels the mystery of how the Israelite hero Ehud managed to assassinate Eglon, the Moabite king, without arousing the suspicions of Eglon’s guards until after Ehud escaped. Halpern’s proposed solution clarifies the obscure meaning of Judges 3:12–30 and vividly portrays certain details of ancient martial strategy. Moreover, it establishes the biblical narrative as the first example of a classic sub-genre of the mystery story. As Halpern shows, “The Assassination of Eglon,” is truly “The First Locked-Room Murder Mystery.”

Professor of humanities at York University in Toronto, Canada, Halpern has just published The First Historians—The Hebrew Bible and History (Harper & Row), from which his article is adapted. He calls this volume a “prolegomenon” to his current project, a history of Israel for the Anchor Bible Reference Library. Halpern has also served since 1985 as editor of the American Schools of Oriental Research Dissertation Series. He contributed the lively and controversial “Radical Exodus Redating Fatally Flawed” to our sister publication, Biblical Archaeology Review.

The apostle Paul took his preaching “on the road” for about seven years. For three of those years, he really moved around—spending only a month or two in each city, just long enough to establish a church. But for nearly four years he did not journey at all. He stayed in Corinth for approximately 18 months, and in Ephesus for more than two and one-half years. Did Paul change his outreach strategy? Dan P. Cole explains in “Corinth & Ephesus—Why Did Paul Spend, Half His Journeys in These Cities?” Professor of religion at Lake Forest College in Illinois, Cole is the author or co-author of the texts accompanying several Biblical Archaeology Society slide sets, including “Biblical Archaeology,” “Jerusalem Archaeology” and “New Testament Archaeology.” A popular lecturer in BAS’s travel-study programs, he has led seminars at Lake Forest College, at Oxford University in England and on our “Seminar at Sea.” Cole is field archaeologist of the Lahav Research Project. He has contributed articles to Biblical Archaeology Review, including “How Water Tunnels Worked,” BAR 06:02, and is the author of Shechem 1: Middle Bronze 2 B Pottery (Philadelphia: American Schools of Oriental Research, 1984).

England was the host country for two important scholarly conferences last summer. BR editor Hershel Shanks attended the Society of Biblical Literature sessions in Sheffield and the jubilee gathering of the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas in Cambridge. He reports on both stimulating and soporific experiences in “The Meeting Season.”

The words of Isaiah are more than just beautiful poetry; they are reflections of the political and social circumstances that provoked Isaiah to utter his prophecies. An understanding of these circumstances—the Syro-Ephraimite war and the moral corruption of eighth-century B.C. Judah—provides an essential background for a fuller appreciation of Isaiah’s meaning, as Yehoshua Gitay demonstrates in “Isaiah—The Impractical Prophet.” Assistant professor at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, in Beer-Sheva, Israel, Gitay has also taught at the University of North Carolina, Duke, Wesleyan and Columbia. He has written numerous scholarly articles on Isaiah and is the author of The Book […]