Queries & Comments

008

Is Religion a Reason for Violence?

Rabbi Hot About Hendel

I’m a charter subscriber to BAR. I’ve read every issue, from the first to the latest, and enjoyed them immensely. But now, for the first time, I’m angry at an author and at BAR for printing Ronald Hendel’s “Biblical Views: The Bible and Religious Violence” (BAR 42:02). The alleged theme is violence in the three monotheistic religions, in the past and today.

Hendel is a professor of Hebrew Bible. His descriptions of holy wars in the Biblical period are accurate. But when he tries to learn a lesson from them for today, he steps way outside his area of expertise and authority and displays his own distorted agenda.

He rightly condemns “radical Islam” for the atrocities that have been perpetrated in its name and that have been justified by a number of its clergy. But in Hendel’s agenda, it’s important that all three religions be condemned equally.

His first example: One Christian man admits to murdering people at an abortion clinic in Colorado. Thousands of Christian clergy condemn his actions, but no matter. To Hendel, Christianity itself is guilty of murder.

His next example: Three Jews in Israel are accused of setting a fire that murders an Arab family. Thousands of Jewish clergy condemn the crime, but no matter. To Hendel, Judaism itself is guilty of murder.

This is not the first time that a scholar has pontificated about contemporary issues outside his area of expertise. Some scholars do feel the need to influence people beyond their usual, relatively narrow audience by taking outrageous public positions. But—to the best of my knowledge—this is the first time that BAR has accommodated any of them so blatantly.

I really hope that this will be a one-time exception. I don’t want BAR to degenerate into a periodical in which experts in their own fields regularly feel free to rant about other matters.

Ba’al Banned?

Porten: Shanks Needs Nuancing

You need to nuance your “First Person: Banning Ba’al” (BAR 42:02) because David had a son named Baalyada, as noted in 1 Chronicles 14:7. In 2 Samuel 5:16, the name is sanitized into Elyada (from Ba’al- to El-). There are a couple other Ba’al names at this time.¹ There are also 30 Ba’al names in the Idumean ostraca.

And I don’t think Eshbaal means “Man of Ba’al.” Rather it means “Ba’al exists.”²

Dear Buzzy (as he is known to his friends),

It seems to me you have proved my point: You say the Biblical text says El-Ada, instead of Ba’al-Ada, because this “sanitizes” it. Doesn’t this prove my point? You go on to make my point even stronger: You say there are 30 Ba’al names in the Idumean ostraca you are working on. But these are Aramean names, not Hebrew names, as if to emphasize my point: For the Arameans, Ba’al names are OK—but not for Judahites.—Ed.

Unpublished Finds

Stop the Loss to Biblical Archaeology

Robert Merrillee’s “In Their Own Words” (BAR 42:02) mentions the serious lack of post-excavation “follow-up” (analysis, cataloging, curation and full publication) in archaeology. The desire to dig/excavate at the expense of scientific analysis and publication results in the reporting of many archaeological discoveries being at best delayed and at worst lost forever.

Professional archaeology differs from pot-hunting and looting only in the thoroughness of the excavation and the analysis and reporting of the finds. Without publication, there is little difference in these two activities.

Archaeologists, if they are to be considered “professional,” must publish their findings in a timely manner. To do less is malpractice. Those who would dig and not write must be010 restricted until their reports are published.^a

Egypt has begun this effort by strictly requiring full reports before new archaeological season projects are authorized. Israel must do this, too. There is too much money and scientific information being lost by those researchers who delay reporting until they forget or pass away.

Back to Baculum

Think Again

The letters reacting to Ziony Zevit’s article “Was Eve Made from Adam’s Rib—or His Baculum?” printed in “Queries & Comments: Bones to Pick” (BAR 42:01) are ridiculous: “Wah—you disagree with what my Sunday school teacher said. I’m leaving.”

Hebrew Word “Detective”

Mary Joan Winn Leith’s mention of the Hebrew word tachat (“Creating Woman,” BAR 42:02), in support of Ziony Zevit’s theory that Eve was created from the baculum (penis bone) of the Adam (man), brings to mind two incidents.

The first: My Biblical Hebrew teacher, Dr. Dennis Kinlaw (Asbury Theological Seminary), in about 1964 proposed a similar interpretation of tachat: that it should be translated “under,” thus implying that tesla‘ did not refer to the man’s “rib,” but to a “part” of something on his underside, that is, his genitals, from which Eve was created (constructed). I have been teaching this theory ever since then in my Biblical Hebrew classes, but without any knowledge of the baculum.

The second: In 1983 I took a group of my Biblical Hebrew students from the Bible college in which I was then teaching to Israel for a two-month archaeological dig/stay at Tel Aphek. I urged them to bring along their vocabulary cards to continue practicing while there and to be aware of all the modern Hebrew they would be seeing on signs, etc., as we made sightseeing trips on the weekends. On one such trip, our Israeli guide brought his wife along. She was sitting in the back of the bus alongside one of my students who was verbally practicing his vocabulary cards. He came to tachat, which he kept repeating out loud with the English meaning “under.” Our guide’s wife appeared somewhat embarrassed and finally said to him, “Please don’t keep saying that word. That’s the part of a woman she sits on!” (In Modern Hebrew, of course!)

063

Potpourri

Kudos to Your Diligence

I enjoyed your most recent report, “Ivory Pomegranate: Under the Microscope at the Israel Museum” (BAR 42:02). I’m glad to see once again your diligence is paying off and the pomegranate will at some point hopefully go back on display.

I hope so. At this point the Israel Museum refuses to put it on display. No explanation.—Ed.

Bible Questions from Behind Bars

I’m at a maximum security prison in what is called “administrative segregation,” which is a government term for solitary confinement. Since I’m in this cell all by myself—everyday, all day—I write to lots of places, but, seldom (really never) do I get a response.

Do they make a Bible that actually uses the name of the Jewish God? In your magazine it says the name is Yahweh. One of the commandments is to not take the name in “vain.” I’m sure you know what that means and where I am going with this. (If you ask most folks the name of the Almighty Creator, they’ll tell you “God.”) So, does the Bible with his name exist? How can I get one?

This is how I pass my time—writing places, trying to learn things. I know very little about the Bible. I own one, but reading it is pointless when you can’t answer all the questions that come up.

Okay, if you nice, busy, super intelligent people don’t have the time—or desire—to respond to a character like myself, I understand. After three years of doing this, I’m used to not getting answers. So I’ll leave you to the difficult, confusing work you do.

We will transmit reader responses to this letter.—Ed.

Is Religion a Reason for Violence?