Ipuwer
My brother and I were looking at your book, How To Read The Bible, over this past Passover. I brought up the Ipuwer Papyrus. Based on what I understand of this document, it appears to describe the plagues in Egypt. …
Rachel Contemplating
In the Inferno Dante refers to “the contemplative Rachel.” I only know the personality of Rachel from the Jewish perspective where she is certainly not presented as contemplative. Do you know the origin of this Christian characterization? She is described …
What’s So Great About Ancient Interpreters?
I have just finished reading How to Read the Bible…and you have raised many new questions in my mind. Foremost among them, in the first flush of having finished the book, is why you accord so much deference to the …
Song of the Sea (Exodus 15)
One of the more fascinating chapters in your book is the one concerning the Song of the Sea [Exodus 15]. I suppose I could devote a lifetime just to studying that poem. There was, however, one claim in your book …
‘Ein Dara’
You mention the figures found in the pagan temple in ‘Ein Dara’ — with human bodies and non-human heads, that sound so much like the creatures described by Ezekiel. At the moment I am teaching a class (“Israel and the …
Abraham’s Caravan
In your discussion regarding modern scholars’ interpretation of the story of Abraham and his exodus from Ur you quote one of Albright’s students as saying that although we can never know whether the man Abraham ever really existed, through archeological …
Sexual Temptation
I have a non-academic yeshiva background and really appreciate bouncing ideas of people who are knowledgeable in the field. You write on page 179 that ‘Scarcely anyone else in the Hebrew Bible is ever confronted with sexual temptation’, noting Samson …
Et Tu, Vulcan
What would you say to this idea? Genesis 4:22 “And as for Zillah, she also bore Tuval-Cain, an instructor of every craftsman in bronze and iron. (Keep in mind: Tu -VAL-CAIN) Consider Vulcan: Vulcan was the Roman god for fire …