The first part gives some basic information on Greek and Roman coinage and the significance of numismatics for historical studies. The second part draws an outline of Jewish autonomous coinage, mainly in hasmonean times, and the rebell-coinage of the two revolts AD 66-70 and 132-135. The third part deals with the coinage of the Herodians and the Roman procurators including a section on the Tyrian coinage, which was the only one accepted by the temple of Jerusalem. All the coins mentioned in the NT are reviewed with an eye to the denominational system, to which they belong: Roman or Greek? The last part is devoted to prices, wages, and sums of money as found in the NT. The items are compared to the data in other sources. It ist argued that numismatics should become an integral part of biblical introduction.
Simon’s surname, Zealot, cannot be understood to carry the meaning of ‘revolutionary against Rome’. A characteristic of the ideology of the Zealot party is the transformation of the sentiment of multi-secular religious zeal of the biblical tradition into a political, anti-Roman doctrine. This transformation in meaning is owed to the influence of, among other things, the Fourth Philosophy, which exerted its influence only in the 50’s AD. Since the elements required for the foundation of the Zealot party did not come together before these years, Simon’s surname, Zealot, can be understood only in the religious sense.
The Vita Adam et Evae uses an unusual metaphor to describe Eve’s state when she ceases her penitential immersion in the Tigris river: ‘her flesh was as grass from the cold of the water’ (caro eius erat sicut herba). While a number of points of comparison have been adduced to explain the metaphor, including movement and texture, it is more likely to be the colour of Eve’s skin — she is as pale as grass from the cold of the water.
The first part of the article re-examines the inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser III, mainly Summary inscriptions 4, 9, 10 and Ann. 18, 23, 24. The author proposes a new reading to line 6 of Summ. 4 by adding a verb (abil or aks$ud) at the end of this line, and separating lines 5-6 from lines 7-8. In the author’s opinion Ann. 18 and 24 are indeed parallel versions depicting the events of 732, yet, Ann. 18 describes the conquest of Galilee, while Ann. 24 deals with the conquest of Damascus. The second part of the article examines the relations between Assyria and the West in the days of Tiglath-pileser III in light of the new proposals offered in the first part of the article.
This article re-examines the dating of two Psalms of lamentat (74 and 79) in the light of the Exile. The author’s work on the Psalms of Asaph (76, 77 and 78) convinced him that these psalms result from the events which occurred around 721 B.C. (the fall of the Northern Kingdom) and around 701 B.C. (the Assyrian attack on Jerusalem), especially because the Asaph Psalms not only appear to have been compiled but also show a strong group identity. This re-examination shows that Psalm 74, just like Psalms 76–78, which were studied previously, dates from the time of the Assyrian hegemony and that this Psalm laments the destruction of the sanctuaries in the Northern Kingdom (especially at Bethel). On the other hand the exilic origin of Psalm 79 is to be maintained. The author of Psalm 79 was acquainted with Psalm 74, which had been re-interpreted in the Exile, and was likewise in contact with the Asaph guild, namely with those who were responsible for the exilic composition of their psalm group.
In a previous issue of Biblica (76 [1995] 540-550)
W.H. Schniedewind argued that Ps 100 had a major influence on the psalmist who
wrote Ps 95. In this study, I argue for a diachronic approach to
intertextuality, which examines both the literary and the social environment. I
contend that the two together actually create an intertextual hermeneutic which
allows the psalmist to incorporate previous traditions and texts in such a way
as to address changing social and religious demands.
Based on citation, allusion and
reversal, I contend that the
psalmist of Ps 95 did in fact incorporate element of Ps 100, but in addition,
the psalmist added the Massah-Meribah tradition, while adding a deuteronomic slant
to the psalms. The use of the Massah-Meribah tradition along the
deuteronomic influences, created a psalm that would have been particularly
appropriate for a community still reeling from the devastation of exile.
The mention of the ‘doors of justice’ and ‘the door of YHWH’ is attested in the Bible only in Ps 118,19-20. With regard to the problem of situating them, exegetes have maintained that they refer to doors of the Temple in Jerusalem. However, the designation of doors of the holy City seems more certain to us with regard to the concept of justice and to the wording of the two verses.
The programmatic transition to foreign missionary activity took place in Syrian Antioch under the auspices of some of the Hellenists who had been exiled there after Stephen’s martyrdom. Independently of this, Philip ‘the Evangelist’, too, due to his missionary activity in Samaria and in the Palestinian coastal areas, had deliberately crossed the confines of God’s people, Israel. He systematically entered those regions of Palestine which had been significantly hellenized and where the non-Jewish element of the population was predominant. In so far as the sources allow one to make a judgment, our conclusion is that in Philip we have the first significant foreign missionary.