Queries & Comments

BAR Fall 2024

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

Sensational Inscriptions Pushback

In “Too Good To Be True?” Christopher Rollston takes to task several recent studies of inscriptions and criticizes some of his fellow epigraphers (myself included) for reading too much into badly damaged and/or questionable texts. Although I agree with some of his points, with others I cannot.

Regarding the “Hezekiah” inscription, the find’s archaeological context makes the proposed reading less surprising than Rollston would have us believe. The inscription was found near the Gihon Spring with pottery and bullae dating from the time of Hezekiah. Unlike Rollston, who pays little attention to archaeological context, I believe inscriptions must be studied according to their stratigraphic context. As such, even if the reading is speculative, knowing that the inscription comes from the Gihon Spring and was found with other material from the time of Hezekiah makes it reasonable to associate it with his reign.

Rollston also discusses the Mt. Ebal inscription. His claim that the incisions are mere “random scratches, striations, pitting, and indentations” is not based on direct study of the object. Of course, there are bumps and scratches (what else would we expect after 3,000 years?), but raised edges and tool marks indicate writing. Scott Stripling and I will publish this evidence and more about the inscription in the near future.

PIETER GERT VAN DER VEEN
READER OF LEVANTINE ARCHAEOLOGY
JOHANNES GUTENBERG UNIVERSITY, GERMANY

For Van der Veen’s full response, see biblicalarchaeology.org/pushback.—ED.

The Divine Name

I read with great interest Ronald Hendel’s “Parsing the Divine Name.” As a teacher of Biblical Hebrew and the Bible in its original languages, I have faced these issues many times. In my opinion, there is no perfect solution to the spelling/pronunciation of the divine name YHWH, but BAR’s preferred way is possibly the worst. And the reason for that is included in the excellent discussion by Hendel himself, who concedes that the pronunciation remains unknown. When you provide a vocalized name, you are giving us a sense that there is a certainty about its pronunciation where that certainty simply does not exist.

My own solution is to use YHWH when the spelling seems necessary to my point, and Lord when it is not. That solution retains scholarly accuracy without conveying to the public that we know something which, in fact, we do not know.

JACOB F. LOVE
LECTURER, RELIGIOUS STUDIES
UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE, KNOXVILLE

Ronald Hendel’s otherwise informative column omits any explanation of why the vav in the Tetragrammaton is most often represented by a w rather than a v. Since rabbinic and modern Hebrew know only a v sound, on what basis is w used in the transliteration by scholars? Is there any evidence that the biblical vav changed over time, or was pronounced differently depending on the context?

Hendel also avoids discussion of why “Lord” is the best translation of the name. If the vocalization of Adonai is eschewed by most scholars, and if the intention of the biblical readers is one God beyond gender, why continue to use Lord? Indeed, the newly revised translation by the Jewish Publication Society favors “GOD,” and “God” for the name Elohim.

RABBI BARRY L. SCHWARTZ
DIRECTOR EMERITUS/INTERIM DIRECTOR
JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY

Many thanks to Ronald Hendel. His listing of several biblical personal names that incorporate the divine name Yah (Obadiah, Zechariah, Zedekiah, and Nehemiah) raises a question: Should we understand such theophoric or God-carrying names as describing qualities of the deity, or of the human bearers of these names? It seems appropriate to translate Zechariah as “God remembers,” Nehemiah as “God comforts,” and Zedekiah as “God is righteous,” all referring to actions or attributes of the deity. But what then of Obadiah, which Hendel translates as “servant of Yah,” and thus is clearly a descriptor of the person?

RABBI DAVID OSACHY
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA

RONALD HENDEL RESPONDS:
Unfortunately, the past is gone. The goal of figuring out ancient vocalizations, therefore, is not certainty but only the best possible explanation. This is a condition that we should be aware of, lest we misunderstand the things we read and do.

The pronunciation of the letter waw (or vav) shifted from w to v sometime in late antique or medieval times, possibly due to language contact between Greek and Jewish Palestinian Aramaic. “Lord” or “my Lord” (Hebrew Adonai or Greek kyrios) are substitutions for the Tetragrammaton, not translations. People use other substitutions too, such as “Name” or even “Place.” “God” works fine too. As for God’s gender, that’s a complicated topic, which has different meanings in different biblical writings and in modern communities.

Personal names in Hebrew are sometimes made of sentences, such as Isaiah (“Yah rescues”), or phrases, such as Obadiah (“servant of Yah”). The divine element Yah there can be a subject or an object, depending on the meaning of the sentence or phrase. The meaning often refers to the newborn child, who in Obadiah is described as the servant of Yah, and the fruit of Yah’s rescue (perhaps from infertility) in Isaiah.

Documentary Hypothesis

Thanks to Jeffrey Stackert for his update on the Neodocumentary Hypothesis. However, in studying his example of the blood plague story from Exodus 7, I do not see the result of two “sources” combined to make one complete version, as he suggests. Instead, I see the verses in black as part of an original story, and the verses in red as a later addition meant to improve on the original. The red parts introduce Aaron, whereas the original had only Moses. This is consistent with the Exodus story elsewhere; at one point, Aaron not only opposes Moses, but even makes a calf image for the people to worship, rejecting not only Moses but Yahweh (Exodus 32). Aaron is thus secondary, as the example clearly shows.

E. BRUCE BROOKS
RESEARCH PROFESSOR
UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS, AMHERST

JEFFREY STACKERT RESPONDS:
Although the combination of the sources I delineated in the blood plague yields an account with both Moses and Aaron, this combination also creates discrepancies in the whole that suggest that the Aaron story (P) was not written as an addition to improve upon or complete the earlier Moses story (J). For example, in the Aaron story, Aaron (not Moses) employs the rod and effects the wonder. The Aaron story also requires that the wonder had no duration; the magicians can thus reproduce the marvel immediately after Aaron effects it. In the Moses story, by contrast, the Nile water remains bloody for a substantial period of time.

Such contradictions, unaccounted for in the combined text, are not easily explicable under the supplement theory. In addition, if the Aaron story were written as a supplement, we would not expect to be able to isolate it as an entirely complete and independent narrative, namely, one that exhibits no gaps that the Moses story fills. But that is exactly the scenario we find in Exodus 7.

Stackert’s Column explains that scholars who uphold the Documentary Hypothesis see the account as having irreconcilable inconsistencies, which indicate multiple authors. This prompts Stackert to ask: Who is commanded to use the staff in Exodus 7, and whose staff is it?

But isn’t he forgetting that it is never Moses who speaks to Pharaoh, but Aaron? It is Aaron’s staff that is used, but Moses is the one who gives the command. Consequently, it is Aaron (not Moses) who says, “Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness … With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile” (Exodus 7:15–17). Shouldn’t it then be clear that it is Aaron’s staff that is used to strike the water, not Moses’s, thus eliminating any inconsistency?

KEN JACOBSEN
TEMPE, ARIZONA

Exaggerated Philistines

Aren Maeir’s article “Gath of the Philistines” was intriguing, but I was disappointed that he concluded, because of a lack of archaeological evidence, that the biblical writers had exaggerated the size and strength of the Philistines for “ideological reasons.” If we compromise our faith in Holy Scripture as infallible, we also compromise our belief that the writings of the biblical authors were inspired by God himself.

KEVIN BRASSER
PAULLINA, IOWA

David’s Brothers

In the quiz “How many brothers did King David have, according to the Bible?” you raise the apparent discrepancy between the Book of Samuel (seven brothers) and Chronicles (six brothers). However, it should be noted that there is another brother listed in 1 Chronicles 27:18—Elihu, who is not enumerated among the six brothers listed earlier in 1 Chronicles. Thus, Chronicles would also have seven brothers, eliminating the ostensible discrepancy with Samuel, where only three of David’s seven brothers are named in any case.

LESTER B. HERZOG
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK

Get Back to the Bible

I stopped taking your magazine and never told you why. Why would someone subscribe to a Bible magazine when all the “scholars” who write for it do not believe in the Bible? The internet is so wide open I can go and read someone who believes in God. I keep checking your emails hoping to one day find a “diamond in the rough,” hoping you will return to your roots … BIBLE ARCHAEOLOGY.

OLIVER KELLY LAWSON
DALLAS, TEXAS

As we celebrate BAR’s 50th anniversary, we asked our readers to share their favorite BAR memories and to reflect on what the magazine means to them. Here are just a few of the stories and reflections we received.

I subscribed to BAR in 1975. I’ve never been disappointed and generally am very excited to get my issue, often reading it cover to cover in one sitting. I just read the latest issue and I feel like I just got out of school. You’ve been balancing field reports, encyclopedic articles, and exposition amazingly well, and I hope you keep it up. And thanks to all the contributors who take their valuable time to enlighten us laypersons. Where would we be without you?

BLAINE HUEBNER
GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN

Do Not Cancel my subscription! Big shout-out for keeping the magazine informative, entertaining, and remarkably consistent for five decades. I just want to say, besides the cancellation letters that Hershel Shanks got such a kick out of, there is a standard formula to many of the letters BAR receives to this day: “Why did such-and-such an archaeologist say so-and-so when all you have to do is READ THE BIBLE.” Lol! That’s why we subscribe—to get that invaluable second opinion.

KENNEDY GAMMAGE
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA

Here’s a story that reveals why BAR has been meaningful to me through the years. Questions arose nightly when mother read Hurlbut’s Story of the Bible to me, because some pictures in that book were actual photographs and others simply imagined paintings. Even at a later age, as I perused pages from the Bible, insufficient information existed about biblical times. Only after receiving BAR did these events become clearer. By piecing together accounts of people, places, and artifacts from various issues, a marvelous story unfolded. For example, an article appeared many years ago about the carpentry shop in Nazareth, the home of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus. Another article told how a pregnant Mary stopped to rest a few miles from Bethlehem. A more recent story addressed Salome, who may have met Joseph as he went in search of a midwife for Mary. In combination, these writings form one continuous, realistic narrative. So, thanks to all who have made BAR such a meaningful publication for 50 years!

MAIDA S. JOHNSTON KOSTAKIS
STATE COLLEGE, PENNSYLVANIA

My first experience with archaeology was in 1978 as a volunteer at Tel Aphek in Israel. I discovered BAR shortly thereafter when a friend shared it with me. Five years later, those two experiences led me to an offbeat idea to host a weekly radio program on biblical archaeology.

Professor Keith Schoville taught biblical archaeology at the University of Wisconsin and consented to provide expert commentary as my co-host. A regular source of news about what was happening in biblical archaeology was critical. We relied heavily on BAR in those early days. One archaeologist I interviewed even suggested I ask Hershel Shanks for a free subscription since I was giving him so much publicity.

Eventually, the internet came along, opening up all kinds of sources for archaeology news. An interview with an archaeologist can now be just a Zoom call away. But as BAR has consistently shown, there’s always something new being discovered in biblical archaeology. And that’s why I can keep doing my radio program, now almost 42 years later.

GORDON GOVIER
FITCHBURG, WISCONSIN

I was introduced to BAR by a parishioner in 1989. He welcomed me as their new pastor with a BAR subscription. I continued to renew BAR through the years and still get the magazine 35 years later. When the digs feature caught my attention in the January/February 1998 issue, I began to inquire of the various digs and became interested in Hazor. And behold, I signed up and went on a three-week dig. What an experience! Those three weeks changed my life and my ministry. I have continued to follow the latest finds in the Holy Land ever since. Thank you, BAR, for the education and inspiration through the years.

REV. LARRY GERBER
CANBY, OREGON

I first encountered BAR in 1975. I appreciated the level of scholarship, even when I disagreed. I really appreciated Hershel Shanks’s campaign to free the Dead Sea Scrolls. A new campaign should be publishing final excavation reports before archaeologists move on to a new dig. Another campaign should be to insist on “intellectual honesty” among scholars, giving credit where credit is due and condemnation when condemnation is due, no matter what position one takes in an academic argument. Finally, there should be a procedure to review past digs to determine whether earlier conclusions still hold or have changed. If such a reevaluation contradicts “cherished” theories, then so be it. I insist that the biblical material is supported by the historical evidence, whether in the ground or in ancient texts, especially since the Bible is an ancient document and its witness should not be ignored or dismissed cavalierly.

BRYANT WILLIAMS III
REDDING, CALIFORNIA

My history with BAR began after graduating from Bryan College in 1982. I was offered a free subscription, the only such subscription I’ve never canceled. Since then, I have read nearly every article and, through the years, have used many things I have learned from BAR in the Bible classes that I teach. I have found that biblical archaeology enhances both my interpretation of the Bible and my understanding of its historical and cultural background.

ANTHONY MEULEMANS
TULLAHOMA, TENNESSEE

I have been a subscriber for some 30 years and love your magazine! I traveled to Israel in 2018 with a small church group from Valley, Nebraska. I’m interested in the Queen of Sheba, as she is a fascinating lady of the Bible, and I have loved past articles about her, as well as on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Please continue doing a good job, and happy 50th anniversary!

DEBBIE KITKOWSKI
OMAHA, NEBRASKA

While studying for an elective archaeology class in the 1980s, I came across an issue of BAR at our college library. What caught my attention was the beautiful cover image, different from all the other magazines. The stunning illustrations that accompanied the articles guided me into the world of the ancient Near East. I got hooked on archaeology and started to enroll in some major archaeology classes. Although I gradually discovered more magazines and journals, I was constantly drawn back to BAR and its magnificent images that helped me visualize and travel the ancient world and sparked my imagination. When I finally started my own archaeological fieldwork and began to present on my research, I tried to commit to the image quality standards of BAR that once had triggered my interest in archaeology. The power of images in speaking to emotions while adding meaning to a story and—in my case—changing the career path is one of the lasting legacies of BAR. Thank you!

FRIEDBERT NINOW
DEAN, HMS RICHARDS DIVINITY SCHOOL
LA SIERRA UNIVERSITY

BAR ALWAYS has such great photos and captions and is a great magazine for laymen. Every issue is fascinating!

GLEN W. SPIELBAUER
DALLAS, TEXAS