The Jews were well versed in Mesopotamian culture having lived in Babylon in captivity after the fall of Jerusalem in the sixth century BCE. Gilgamesh was an epic poem that likely had extensive influence on the culture of different civilizations in the Ancient Near East similar to the wide dispersion of the Homeric epics with…

The text itself, 11Q13, Col.2.8, “when he shall atone for all sons of light and the people who are predestined to Melchizedek…upon them…For this is the time decreed for the year of Melchizedek’s favor, and for his hosts, together with the of the holy ones of God, for a kingdom of judgement, just as it…

From Dr. Schiffman:Although they are referred to quite frequently, many of the basic details and history of the Dead Sea Scrolls are not well known. Below is a brief list of the most commonly asked questions about the Dead Sea Scrolls. What are the Dead Sea Scrolls? The term Dead Sea Scrolls has both a…

Jewish texts, not Christian composition. Doesn’t mention Jesus/John the Baptist, nor any character in the New Testament. Messianism in the scrolls. https://ehrmanblog.org/jesus-and-the-dead-sea-scrolls-for-members

# Jesus Execution in the TalmudJesus executed in the Talmud: He was hanged on the eve of Passover which, according to one manuscript, happened to be Sabbath eve. The herald made the announcement required by the law forty days before the execution took place. Jesus was executed because he practiced sorcery and enticed Israel into…

The rabbinic literature is almost completely silent about Jesus’ lineage and his family background. The rabbis do not seem to know—or else do not care to mention—what the New Testament tells us: that he was the son of a certain Mary and her husband (or rather betrothed) Joseph, a carpenter of the city of Nazareth,…

Introduction Midrash is the primary mode by which the ancient rabbis received and transmitted the Hebrew Bible: Leopold Zunz, Die Gottesdienstlichen Vorträge der Juden, historisch entwickelt (Berlin, 1832); Saul Lieberman, Hellenism in Jewish Palestine (New York: Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1950) 47-82; Isaac Heinemann, The Methods of Aggadah. 3rd ed. (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1970, Hebrew);…

Article The Hebrew Bible is not particularly interested in the structure and geography of the heavenly and earthly realms. It begins with the plain and laconic state ment that “in the beginning God created the heaven(s) and the earth” and pro ceeds to detail what precisely God produced during each of the seven days of…

Article Mishnah Avodah Zarah: A Focus on Imperial Rome Ephraim Urbach argued long ago that the Mishnah’s legislation against idolatry mainly focuses on the imperial cult. While we should not understand this as the Mishnah’s only concern, Urbach’s view, endorsed by Goldenberg, is largely accurate (See Urbach (1959) 238–9. Urbach’s position has been confirmed by…

Article While the rabbis, indeed, debated the question of gentile salvation in the Tannaitic period (first and second centuries), the exclusivist position—which regarded the gentiles as destined for Gehinnom— reached near-unanimous consensus in the later rabbinic periods (third to tenth centuries). Rabbinic texts often state that the gentiles are destined for Gehinnom but do not…