Names were profoundly significant in the ancient Semitic world. The opening words of the Babylonian Epic of Creation, Enuma Elish, refer to a time before the cosmos existed: “When on high the heaven had not been named ,/Firm ground below had not been called by name” (E. A. Speiser in Ancient Near Eastern Texts, p.…

Article In his commentary on the book of Genesis, Gunkel opines that the ‘smoking fire pot and flaming torch’ of Gen. 15.17 is a unique divine revelation found in the Patriarchal narratives, and that this story about Yahweh––a fire demon––is based originally on the Moses legends at Sinai. In addition, Gunkel was one of the…

Mark S. Smith argues here that the transition towards monotheism started in 8th century BC as it appears that other texts from surrounding cultures from this period also appear to exhibit monothenizing trends: Knohl (2017) goes even further back in time and argues that, since there appears to be no evidence of any anthropomorphic figurines…

Article The coins minted in Judea during the Achaemenid period are a valuable source of information for the history of this region in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE. For brief historical introduction and background, see: E. Stern, The Persian Empire and the Political and Social History of Palestine in the Persian Period, The Cambridge…

Article The article presents and discusses the proper name of the owner of a recently unfolded and mounted Book of the Dead papyrus from the late 18th or 19th dynasty (Princeton University Library, Pharaonic Roll 5). It is proposed that the name in question is a Northwest Semitic theophoric sentence name in Egyptian transcription, hadònì-ròaè-yàh…

Jewish laws were stipulating that a man must have sex with his wife at least once a week, and seek her permission before taking a job that would require prolonged absences from the marital bed: Onah applies only to women; men do not have similar rights, as they do in the Paul’s marital debt.130 This…

Biblical Precursors: Rabbinic Jews & Anthropomorphic imagery of God’s Feet: YHWH “pounding” his feet: Imagery of God’s Feet in Jewish Mysticism:

https://www.academia.edu/10024601/Sacred_Realm_The_Emergence_of_the_Synagogue_in_the_Ancient_World_1996_Entire_manuscript_ From these modest beginnings synagogues, after the destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E. , developed as the single most important institution in Jewish life, a position they have held ever since. As the institution grew, its importance was expressed through an ever­increasing attribution o f sanctity. Th e earliest evidence for this appears…

Material images of God were once a normative feature of Israelite and Judahite religion – otherwise there would be no need for the ban. As the temple is the ‘house’ of god, the deity lives in it in much the same way as human beings live in their houses. Several consequences follow from this theology…