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Displaying 1 - 20 of 54 results
Is the Cultic Installation at Dan Really an Olive Press?
A discussion that started in BAR escalates in the scholarly world
In an article in the September/October 1981 issue of BAR (“The Remarkable Discoveries at Tel Dan,” BAR 07:05), John Laughlin identified an unusual installation at Tel Dan, in northern Israel, as an Israelite cult installation associated with...
Biblical Archaeology Review, November/December 1984
Searching for the Better Text
How errors crept into the Bible and what can be done to correct them
Ancient versions of the Bible are far from error-free. Happily, a better understanding of the Dead Sea Scrolls and of how manuscripts evolved has helped resolve some of the vexing textual problems.
Bible Review, August 1999
Treasures from the Lands of the Bible
Elie Borowski survived his personal losses and the collective tragedy of Jews in World War II with a belief that humankind can “best achieve ethical and spiritual fulfillment by becoming conscious of its historical origins.” Borowski’s...
Biblical Archaeology Review, March/April 1985
What Price the Uniqueness of Jesus?
To wrench Jesus out of his Jewish world destroys Jesus and destroys Christianity.
Bible Review, June 1999
Another Temple to the Israelite God
Aramaic Hoard Documents Life in Fourth Century B.C.
The scholarly world is abuzz. During at least the past 20 years, and more likely during the last 33 years, more than a thousand potsherds inscribed in Aramaic have come onto the antiquities market. About 800 of these have now been published.1...
Biblical Archaeology Review, July/August 2004
Fragments from the Book of Balaam Found at Deir Alla
Text foretells cosmic disaster
The date was March 17, 1967, a Friday. A Dutch expedition led by Professor Henk J. Franken of the University of Leiden was excavating a mound named Tell Deir Alla in the middle Jordan...
Biblical Archaeology Review, September/October 1985
Israel Antiquities Authority’s Report Deeply Flawed
The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) recently formed a committee to decide whether the James ossuary inscription and the Yehoash (or Jehoash) inscription are authentic or forgeries. I...
Biblical Archaeology Review, November/December 2003
Who or What Was Yahweh’s Asherah?
Startling new inscriptions from two different sites reopen the debate about the meaning of asherah
New inscriptions from two different sites have reopened the debate about the meaning of asherah, a term often used in the Bible. Is it—or she—a goddess? Is it a holy place? Or perhaps a sacred tree? Or a pole? Or possibly a grove of trees?...
Biblical Archaeology Review, November/December 1984
Answers at Lachish
Sennacherib’s destruction of Lachish identified; dispute over a century’s difference in Israelite pottery dating resolved by new excavations; stamp impressions of Judean kings finally dated.
Lachish was one of the most important cities of the Biblical era in the Holy Land. The impressive mound, named Tel Lachish in Hebrew or Tell ed-Duweir in Arabic, is situated about 25 miles southwest of Jerusalem in the Judean hills. Once a...
Biblical Archaeology Review, November/December 1979
“House of David” Restored in Moabite Inscription
A new restoration of a famous inscription reveals another mention of the “House of David” in the ninth century B.C.E.
The recent discovery at Tel Dan of a fragment of a stela containing a reference to the “House of David” (that is, the dynasty of David) is indeed sensational and deserves all the...
Biblical Archaeology Review, May/June 1994
Big City, Few People
Jerusalem in the Persian Period
I would like to take a somewhat radical, maximalist view of the size of Jerusalem when the Israelites (or, more precisely, the Judahites) returned from the Babylonian Exile and restored the city walls, as described in the Book of Nehemiah...
Biblical Archaeology Review, July/August 2005
The Aleppo Codex
Ancient bible from the ashes
The date was December 2, 1947, four days after the United Nations decision to partition Palestine into a Jewish state and Arab state. Arab mobs in Syria were once again looting, burning...
Bible Review, August 1991
Kadesh-Barnea—In the Bible and on the Ground
Kadesh-Barnea, Tell el-Qudeirat, hasn’t been excavated since the 1980s, but a new pottery analysis indicates a settlement was there at the time of the Exodus.
Biblical Archaeology Review, September/October 2015
The Ancient Cardo Is Discovered in Jerusalem
1976 excavations in Jerusalem have revealed a portion of the ancient Cardo—the principal street through the city depicted on the mid-6th century A.D. Madaba map (see illustrations). This famous mosaic map of the Holy Land, which...
Biblical Archaeology Review, December 1976
Gudea of Lagash Ends Long Journey
Statue from Iraq acquired by Detroit Institute of Arts
Sometimes an archaeological discovery permits us to glimpse the soul of an ancient man—to “see” one person who loved, hated, inspired fear or respect. When the discovery is a work of art, fashioned by a gifted pair of unknown hands thousands...
Biblical Archaeology Review, May/June 1983
Royal Signature: Name of Israel’s Last King Surfaces in a Private Collection
The name of the northern kingdom of Israel’s last king has turned up on a beautiful seal from the eighth century B.C.E.! Although the seal did not belong to the king himself, it was the property of one of his high-ranking ministers. The king...
Biblical Archaeology Review, November/December 1995
Engraved in Memory
Diaspora Jews Find Eternal Rest in Jerusalem
When Oded Golan first invited me to his home in April 2002, it was to examine an inscription on a bone box—but not the one bearing the now-famous inscription, “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.” That one was not even in Golan’s...
Biblical Archaeology Review, May/June 2006
Coarse Language In The Bible?
It’s culture shocking!
In an article I recently wrote in Bible Reviewa on the problems of Bible translating, I distinguished two styles of translation:...
Bible Review, April 1989
Back to Megiddo
A new expedition will explore the jewel in the crown of Canaan/Israel
Tel Megiddo is widely regarded as the most important archaeological site in Israel from Biblical times, and as one of the most significant sites for the study of the ancient Near East...
Biblical Archaeology Review, January/February 1994
As Simple as ABC
What acrostics in the Bible can demonstrate
Acrostics are alphabetical texts. Bible scholars disagree on their purpose. Consequently, translations differ. Despite differences in emphasis, Every translator acknowledges that Form and meaning are connected. Given the strictures of...
Bible Review, April 1997