It is Christmas time again. Christ's birth in Bethlehem brought a glow of warmth and love into our world, changing the lives of people everywhere. Jesus came bringing life and hope to the lives of millions. Under the spell of His love, lives hardened by hopelessness, cruelty, and oppression, grew soft and renewed by divine love.
When Jesus was born, that Holy Child was the brightness of the Father's glory, born, not only to manifest the Father's love for us, but also to identify Himself with us in our suffering. Christmas reveals the full extent of God's love for us. God was touched by our needs; He could not see us suffering alone so, He came to give us help, comfort, and peace.
As you celebrate Christmas, think again about what Christ's coming has done to our world: wherever He went, hard hearts softened and sinful lives were changed. Pray that Christ might be enthroned in so many faithful hearts that Christmas of 2006 might become the beginning of a new awareness that Jesus Christ is the only hope for a lost world.
During this Christmas season, I thank you for the opportunity of ministering to you through my blog. My life is richer because many of you have touched my life so many different ways.
I will be taking a break during the Christmas holidays. I will be back again in January 2007 with a renewed commitment to spread the good news everywhere. There is so much to learn from the Old Testament and together, I hope that we will dig a little deeper and discover the many riches of God’s Word.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. May the Lord of Christmas bring joy, love, and happiness to you and your loved ones.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tag: Christmas
Friday, December 22, 2006
The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Controversy Continues
People who are interested in the origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls know that there is a controversy among scholars on the nature and origin of the Scrolls.
The traditional view about the origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls is that they are the work of the Essenes or an Essene-like sect that lived at Khirbet Qumran, a site located near the shore of the Dead Sea in the Judean Wilderness. The traditional view also claims that the Essenes wrote their sectarian books and copied biblical texts and then, at the time Rome was threatening the community, hid the Scrolls in the eleven caves in which they were discovered in the 1950s and 1960s.
The alternative theory is best explained by Norman Golb:
“The Scrolls reflect religious and social ideas of various groups within ancient Judaism, that Khirbet Qumran was not a religious site either of Essenes or others, and that the hiding of the Scrolls in the caves arose out of the need of the Jews of Jerusalem, circa 68/69 C.E., to sequester their manuscripts and other valued possessions when they became aware that the Romans intended to besiege and invade the city.”
This description of the alternative theory is presented by Golb in a lengthy article, “The Dead Sea Scrolls at Seattle’s Pacific Science Center” and published on the web page of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.
Golb’s article was written in reaction to the exhibit at the Pacific Science Center. Golb believes the exhibit is designed to support the original Qumran-Sectarian theory. He came to this conclusion based on the fact that the exhibit excludes any information that supports the alternative view.
Readers who are interested in the Dead Sea Scrolls and learning the reasons for the alternative theory will profit from reading Golb’s article. At the end of his article, Golb provides a list of books and articles that oppose the traditional theory of the origin and nature of the Scrolls. I highly recommend this article.
To read the article in its entirety, click here.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Archaeology, Qumran, Essenes, Dead Sea Scrolls, Norman Golb
The traditional view about the origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls is that they are the work of the Essenes or an Essene-like sect that lived at Khirbet Qumran, a site located near the shore of the Dead Sea in the Judean Wilderness. The traditional view also claims that the Essenes wrote their sectarian books and copied biblical texts and then, at the time Rome was threatening the community, hid the Scrolls in the eleven caves in which they were discovered in the 1950s and 1960s.
The alternative theory is best explained by Norman Golb:
“The Scrolls reflect religious and social ideas of various groups within ancient Judaism, that Khirbet Qumran was not a religious site either of Essenes or others, and that the hiding of the Scrolls in the caves arose out of the need of the Jews of Jerusalem, circa 68/69 C.E., to sequester their manuscripts and other valued possessions when they became aware that the Romans intended to besiege and invade the city.”
This description of the alternative theory is presented by Golb in a lengthy article, “The Dead Sea Scrolls at Seattle’s Pacific Science Center” and published on the web page of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.
Golb’s article was written in reaction to the exhibit at the Pacific Science Center. Golb believes the exhibit is designed to support the original Qumran-Sectarian theory. He came to this conclusion based on the fact that the exhibit excludes any information that supports the alternative view.
Readers who are interested in the Dead Sea Scrolls and learning the reasons for the alternative theory will profit from reading Golb’s article. At the end of his article, Golb provides a list of books and articles that oppose the traditional theory of the origin and nature of the Scrolls. I highly recommend this article.
To read the article in its entirety, click here.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Archaeology, Qumran, Essenes, Dead Sea Scrolls, Norman Golb
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Newsweek: Jesus Is a 'Nice Jewish Boy'
’Tis the week before Christmas and what’s on the cover?
A picture of Jesus, His father and mother.
But the story inside tells a trite leftist tale,
With misconstrued facts, Christian faith to assail.
On this Christmas season, here is an essay published in Human Events Online that Christians should read. The essay is a critical review of the article on Jesus published by Newsweek.
To read the essay, click here.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Christmas Story, Jesus, Nativity Story
A picture of Jesus, His father and mother.
But the story inside tells a trite leftist tale,
With misconstrued facts, Christian faith to assail.
On this Christmas season, here is an essay published in Human Events Online that Christians should read. The essay is a critical review of the article on Jesus published by Newsweek.
To read the essay, click here.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Christmas Story, Jesus, Nativity Story
The Call and Recovering Our Hebrew Roots: A Response to Lauren Winner
Note: The article below is my response to Lauren Winner’s presentation at The Call to an Ancient Evangelical Future.
To read the text of the call in its entirety, click here.
To read a brief summary information about the program, click here.
Now, here is my response to Lauren Winner’s presentation:
I would like to thank Lauren for her stimulating presentation, "The Call and Recovering Our Hebrew Roots." If the church is to make a difference in the world today, the church has to pay attention to what biblical Israel has to teach us.
But in learning from Israel, the church faces a problem. Lauren reminds us that many Christians have abandoned the Old Testament. She said: “Christians, sadly, too often are default Marcionites, acting as though the Bible begins with the Gospel of Matthew.”
Godfrey E. Phillips, in his book The Old Testament in the World Church (London: Lutterworth Press, 1942), describes how the Old Testament was studied in China. He tells the story of a Chinese pastor who made a statement that reflects the same attitude that exists among the present generation of Christians. That pastor said: "Intending missionaries or evangelists waste their time if they spend a lot of it studying the Old Testament . . . The Old Testament teaching given in theological colleges in China is, in the experience of most students, devoid of interest or value for their after work. Reading the Old Testament is like eating a large crab; it turns out to be mostly shell, with very little meat in it . . . We don't need to start with Moses and Elijah. It is enough to teach our students about God as Jesus taught or revealed him" (p. 23).
The Call to an Ancient Evangelical Future is a challenge to Evangelical Christians to restore the priority of the divinely inspired biblical story of God's acts in history. And God’s acts in history include the call of Abraham and the liberation of Israel from Egypt.
The Call is also a summons to Evangelicals to take seriously the visible character of the Church. It is a call for the church to be committed to its mission in the world in fidelity to God's mission.
In her presentation, Lauren emphasized three practices that Jews and Christians have in common: Sabbath keeping, bereavement, and the sense of community. Since time is limited, I will restrict my remarks to the practice of Sabbath keeping and the idea of community as part of our identity as God’s people.
First, let me say that the concept of the Sabbath was unique to Israel. In the past, it was usual for scholars to trace the concept of the Sabbath to Babylonian religious practices. In the Babylonian calendar there were certain days in which the kings and the priests had to stop performing their official duties.
However, it is doubtful that these special days in Babylon and the Israelite Sabbath were identical. One reason for rejecting a Babylonian origin for the Israelite Sabbath is that these special days in the Babylonian calendar were associated with the phases of the moon, while the Israelite Sabbath was celebrated every seven days.
In addition, in the Babylonian calendar these special days were called “evil days,” while the Israelite Sabbath were festive days, days dedicated to the worship of God.
Second, the Sabbath became a special day in the life of Israel because it was celebrated as a sign of the covenantal relationship that existed between God and his people. In her presentation, Lauren spoke about the importance of identity. She said: “Identity is constituted through our practice, not through what we happen to believe at a particular moment.”
The Sabbath became the foundational element in the religious life of Israel. The Sabbath identified Israel as the special people of God. On the Sabbath, God’s people worshiped God and recognized his work in creation and redemption. Thus, Sabbath keeping emphasized Israel’s special relationship with God.
The Sabbath also became the basis for the social concern expressed in Israelite laws. For instance, on the Sabbath both people and animals should rest: “Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest and the slave born in your household, and the alien as well, may be refreshed” (Exodus 23:12).
The observance of the Sabbath was also designed to be a blessing to the person who kept it. The exilic prophet said that God promised blessings to those who kept the Sabbath. God said: “If you watch your step on the Sabbath and don't use my holy day for personal advantage, if you treat the Sabbath as a day of joy, God's holy day as a celebration, if you honor it by refusing 'business as usual,' making money, running here and there— then you'll be free to enjoy God!” (Isaiah 58:13-14).
The keeping of the Sabbath in Israel set Israel apart from the other nations. The uniqueness of Israel is established at the time God established his special relationship with the community of faith:
“Now, if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:5-6).
That uniqueness was sealed with the establishment of the covenant and the giving of the Ten Commandments. So important was the keeping of the Sabbath that God established it as one of the commandments:
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy” (Exodus 20:8).
Lauren underscored that “Sabbath-keeping is counter-cultural, and must be undertaken by a community.”
As for the idea of community, we must remember that God called Israel to become an alternative community in the world and gave this alternative community a mission in the world: to be his special people, and mediate God’s Word to all nations. As the people of God, Israel was to become an alternative community to the dominant culture of its day. However, for Israel to be able to fulfill God’s mission in the world, Israel had to live in relationship with God.
The church stands on the shoulders of biblical Israel. The church looks at the world from the perspective God gave to the Hebrew people. That, I believe, is the aim of The Call. The Call to an Ancient Evangelical Future challenges the church to recommit itself to “God’s mission in the world.”
Lauren spoke of the Church’s need to recover Judaism’s recognition of community and practice as their identity as God’s people. In order for the church to speak with a prophetic voice to people in the 21st century, the church must become a “counter-cultural community” in the world. The church must be “in the world” without “being of the world.” The church must become what Walter Brueggemann has called “the alternative community of Moses, and the community of the Suffering Servant”: a community empowered by prophetic imagination, a community that refuses to accept the culture of death so prevalent in our society today.
This is precisely the challenge God gave to Israel. In Leviticus 18:1-4, the LORD said to Moses: “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘I am the LORD your God. You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices.’”
This is the challenge Evangelicals face today. The Call challenges Evangelicals “not to do as they do in the land of Canaan,” the land of Canaan being our North American context. So, let me paraphrase: if the church is to have “an Ancient Evangelical Future,” the church must not do as they do in the land of Canaan and must not follow their practices. To the contrary, as The Call states, the church must “stand prophetically against the culture’s captivity to racism, consumerism, political correctness, civil religion, sexism, ethical relativism, violence, and the culture of death.”
If the church is to have “an Ancient Evangelical Future,” the church must separate itself from the official religion of optimism that is so prevalent today, a religion which proclaims that God’s only work is to maintain our standard of living in order to ensure that his temple will be a Crystal Cathedral.
If Evangelicals are to recover our Hebrew roots, we have to recapitulate “the alternative community of Moses” and “dismantle the politics of oppression and exploitation” by establishing “a politics of justice and compassion.”
If Evangelicals are to recover our Hebrew roots, we have to look at the first Hebrew, our father Abraham, for inspiration. God’s call to Israel to be his people in the world was based on God’s call to Abraham. Abraham was called by God to be a blessing to the nations. When God appeared to Abraham, the Lord said:
"I will make you into a great nation
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you."
If the church is to be a blessing to the world, we must pay heed to God’s word to Abraham: “All peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
In order for people on earth to be blessed though Abraham, Abraham had to be a blessing to people. God told Abraham: “and you will be a blessing.”
It is unfortunate that the English translations have missed the true meaning of the verb in Hebrew. In Hebrew, the verb is not future: “and you will be a blessing.” Rather, in Hebrew the verb is imperative: “and you, be a blessing.”
If the church is called to have an Ancient Evangelical Future, then the church must go back to that ancient call, God’s call to his people to become a blessing in the world. That is our destiny, that is our mission; we do not have any other choice. The church must be a blessing to people everywhere; this is what makes the church an alternative and unique community in the world, in the same way the Sabbath made Israel a unique people in the Ancient Near East.
I believe the church has a future. The Call to an Ancient Evangelical Future is a summons for the church to rise again as the people of God and take up a mighty task. The Call summons Evangelicals to the service of something greater than ourselves. God is calling us to be that alternative community and to serve his purpose in the world.
The church’s destiny is to be a blessing to all humanity and that destiny is before us today.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Lauren Winner, The Call, Evangelical, Sabbath, Community, Abraham
To read the text of the call in its entirety, click here.
To read a brief summary information about the program, click here.
Now, here is my response to Lauren Winner’s presentation:
I would like to thank Lauren for her stimulating presentation, "The Call and Recovering Our Hebrew Roots." If the church is to make a difference in the world today, the church has to pay attention to what biblical Israel has to teach us.
But in learning from Israel, the church faces a problem. Lauren reminds us that many Christians have abandoned the Old Testament. She said: “Christians, sadly, too often are default Marcionites, acting as though the Bible begins with the Gospel of Matthew.”
Godfrey E. Phillips, in his book The Old Testament in the World Church (London: Lutterworth Press, 1942), describes how the Old Testament was studied in China. He tells the story of a Chinese pastor who made a statement that reflects the same attitude that exists among the present generation of Christians. That pastor said: "Intending missionaries or evangelists waste their time if they spend a lot of it studying the Old Testament . . . The Old Testament teaching given in theological colleges in China is, in the experience of most students, devoid of interest or value for their after work. Reading the Old Testament is like eating a large crab; it turns out to be mostly shell, with very little meat in it . . . We don't need to start with Moses and Elijah. It is enough to teach our students about God as Jesus taught or revealed him" (p. 23).
The Call to an Ancient Evangelical Future is a challenge to Evangelical Christians to restore the priority of the divinely inspired biblical story of God's acts in history. And God’s acts in history include the call of Abraham and the liberation of Israel from Egypt.
The Call is also a summons to Evangelicals to take seriously the visible character of the Church. It is a call for the church to be committed to its mission in the world in fidelity to God's mission.
In her presentation, Lauren emphasized three practices that Jews and Christians have in common: Sabbath keeping, bereavement, and the sense of community. Since time is limited, I will restrict my remarks to the practice of Sabbath keeping and the idea of community as part of our identity as God’s people.
First, let me say that the concept of the Sabbath was unique to Israel. In the past, it was usual for scholars to trace the concept of the Sabbath to Babylonian religious practices. In the Babylonian calendar there were certain days in which the kings and the priests had to stop performing their official duties.
However, it is doubtful that these special days in Babylon and the Israelite Sabbath were identical. One reason for rejecting a Babylonian origin for the Israelite Sabbath is that these special days in the Babylonian calendar were associated with the phases of the moon, while the Israelite Sabbath was celebrated every seven days.
In addition, in the Babylonian calendar these special days were called “evil days,” while the Israelite Sabbath were festive days, days dedicated to the worship of God.
Second, the Sabbath became a special day in the life of Israel because it was celebrated as a sign of the covenantal relationship that existed between God and his people. In her presentation, Lauren spoke about the importance of identity. She said: “Identity is constituted through our practice, not through what we happen to believe at a particular moment.”
The Sabbath became the foundational element in the religious life of Israel. The Sabbath identified Israel as the special people of God. On the Sabbath, God’s people worshiped God and recognized his work in creation and redemption. Thus, Sabbath keeping emphasized Israel’s special relationship with God.
The Sabbath also became the basis for the social concern expressed in Israelite laws. For instance, on the Sabbath both people and animals should rest: “Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest and the slave born in your household, and the alien as well, may be refreshed” (Exodus 23:12).
The observance of the Sabbath was also designed to be a blessing to the person who kept it. The exilic prophet said that God promised blessings to those who kept the Sabbath. God said: “If you watch your step on the Sabbath and don't use my holy day for personal advantage, if you treat the Sabbath as a day of joy, God's holy day as a celebration, if you honor it by refusing 'business as usual,' making money, running here and there— then you'll be free to enjoy God!” (Isaiah 58:13-14).
The keeping of the Sabbath in Israel set Israel apart from the other nations. The uniqueness of Israel is established at the time God established his special relationship with the community of faith:
“Now, if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:5-6).
That uniqueness was sealed with the establishment of the covenant and the giving of the Ten Commandments. So important was the keeping of the Sabbath that God established it as one of the commandments:
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy” (Exodus 20:8).
Lauren underscored that “Sabbath-keeping is counter-cultural, and must be undertaken by a community.”
As for the idea of community, we must remember that God called Israel to become an alternative community in the world and gave this alternative community a mission in the world: to be his special people, and mediate God’s Word to all nations. As the people of God, Israel was to become an alternative community to the dominant culture of its day. However, for Israel to be able to fulfill God’s mission in the world, Israel had to live in relationship with God.
The church stands on the shoulders of biblical Israel. The church looks at the world from the perspective God gave to the Hebrew people. That, I believe, is the aim of The Call. The Call to an Ancient Evangelical Future challenges the church to recommit itself to “God’s mission in the world.”
Lauren spoke of the Church’s need to recover Judaism’s recognition of community and practice as their identity as God’s people. In order for the church to speak with a prophetic voice to people in the 21st century, the church must become a “counter-cultural community” in the world. The church must be “in the world” without “being of the world.” The church must become what Walter Brueggemann has called “the alternative community of Moses, and the community of the Suffering Servant”: a community empowered by prophetic imagination, a community that refuses to accept the culture of death so prevalent in our society today.
This is precisely the challenge God gave to Israel. In Leviticus 18:1-4, the LORD said to Moses: “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘I am the LORD your God. You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices.’”
This is the challenge Evangelicals face today. The Call challenges Evangelicals “not to do as they do in the land of Canaan,” the land of Canaan being our North American context. So, let me paraphrase: if the church is to have “an Ancient Evangelical Future,” the church must not do as they do in the land of Canaan and must not follow their practices. To the contrary, as The Call states, the church must “stand prophetically against the culture’s captivity to racism, consumerism, political correctness, civil religion, sexism, ethical relativism, violence, and the culture of death.”
If the church is to have “an Ancient Evangelical Future,” the church must separate itself from the official religion of optimism that is so prevalent today, a religion which proclaims that God’s only work is to maintain our standard of living in order to ensure that his temple will be a Crystal Cathedral.
If Evangelicals are to recover our Hebrew roots, we have to recapitulate “the alternative community of Moses” and “dismantle the politics of oppression and exploitation” by establishing “a politics of justice and compassion.”
If Evangelicals are to recover our Hebrew roots, we have to look at the first Hebrew, our father Abraham, for inspiration. God’s call to Israel to be his people in the world was based on God’s call to Abraham. Abraham was called by God to be a blessing to the nations. When God appeared to Abraham, the Lord said:
"I will make you into a great nation
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you."
If the church is to be a blessing to the world, we must pay heed to God’s word to Abraham: “All peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
In order for people on earth to be blessed though Abraham, Abraham had to be a blessing to people. God told Abraham: “and you will be a blessing.”
It is unfortunate that the English translations have missed the true meaning of the verb in Hebrew. In Hebrew, the verb is not future: “and you will be a blessing.” Rather, in Hebrew the verb is imperative: “and you, be a blessing.”
If the church is called to have an Ancient Evangelical Future, then the church must go back to that ancient call, God’s call to his people to become a blessing in the world. That is our destiny, that is our mission; we do not have any other choice. The church must be a blessing to people everywhere; this is what makes the church an alternative and unique community in the world, in the same way the Sabbath made Israel a unique people in the Ancient Near East.
I believe the church has a future. The Call to an Ancient Evangelical Future is a summons for the church to rise again as the people of God and take up a mighty task. The Call summons Evangelicals to the service of something greater than ourselves. God is calling us to be that alternative community and to serve his purpose in the world.
The church’s destiny is to be a blessing to all humanity and that destiny is before us today.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Lauren Winner, The Call, Evangelical, Sabbath, Community, Abraham
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
"After Jesus": Judaism and Christianity
On Saturday, December 23 and Sunday, December 24, CNN will present a two-hour documentary, "After Jesus: The First Christians." The documentary will be aired at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m.
The documentary will deal with the early years of Christianity and examine how the first believers spread the gospel through the Roman empire while facing internal struggles over theological issues and Roman persecution.
The documentary will feature the discoveries of the University of Hartford’s excavations in Israel and interviews with Richard Freund. Professor Freund is the director of the University’s Maurice Greenberg Center for Judaic Studies and leader of the Bethsaida Excavations Project in Israel. Professor Freund also directed the expedition at Israel’s Cave of Letters.
Professor Freund has led many archaeological excavations in Israel. He has excavated at Bethsaida, a site located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, at Qumran, the site where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, at Yavne, a site that became the focal point of Jewish life after the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D., and at Nazareth.
In a recent interview with Judie Jacobson, published in Jewish Ledger, Professor Freund spoke about the Jewish roots of Christianity and the relationship between Christians and Jews in first century Palestine. What follows is an excerpt of that interview:
Q: Did Paul intend for Christianity to remain, then, a part of Judaism?
A: He did. Paul called this religion the New Israel. He really felt in his heart of hearts that what he was selling was authentic, post-Temple Judaism. He sold it as the idea that the messiah had come, the messiah that had been predicted by the Hebrew Bible, and that messiah was Jesus. He really thought that the whole universe was going to radically change. When he died in Rome in 65, 5 yrs before the temple was destroyed, he was living in a really chaotic time. Because he was living in the time of Nero, who put him to death. Nero was absolutely out of his mind. Half of Rome was burned down in a fire that we think started in the royal palace area and he must have thought that the entire world that he knew was coming to an end. He must have thought that the messianic kingdom that Jesus had initiated was going to be initiated in his own day. So when he died in prison in 65 I don’t think he had any doubt that what he was preaching was an apocalyptic end-time that had been predicted by the Hebrew Bible and that the New Israel was going to emerge with as many people as he was able to gather in. He succeeded immensely. I don’t think that he could have imagined that Christianity would move from a totally apocalyptic end-time religion to being a religion of a state, of a place, of a time, with bishops and churches and laws and regulations. I think that he thought that it was going to be just a new emerging kingdom.
The interview with Professor Freund is very educational. He discusses Jesus, Paul, early Christianity, and the various expressions of Judaism. His conclusion is that Christianity and Judaism separated as a result of the Bar Kochba revolt.
To read the interview with Professor Freund, click here.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Richard Freund, Early Christianity, Bar Kochba, After Jesus
The documentary will deal with the early years of Christianity and examine how the first believers spread the gospel through the Roman empire while facing internal struggles over theological issues and Roman persecution.
The documentary will feature the discoveries of the University of Hartford’s excavations in Israel and interviews with Richard Freund. Professor Freund is the director of the University’s Maurice Greenberg Center for Judaic Studies and leader of the Bethsaida Excavations Project in Israel. Professor Freund also directed the expedition at Israel’s Cave of Letters.
Professor Freund has led many archaeological excavations in Israel. He has excavated at Bethsaida, a site located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, at Qumran, the site where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, at Yavne, a site that became the focal point of Jewish life after the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D., and at Nazareth.
In a recent interview with Judie Jacobson, published in Jewish Ledger, Professor Freund spoke about the Jewish roots of Christianity and the relationship between Christians and Jews in first century Palestine. What follows is an excerpt of that interview:
Q: Did Paul intend for Christianity to remain, then, a part of Judaism?
A: He did. Paul called this religion the New Israel. He really felt in his heart of hearts that what he was selling was authentic, post-Temple Judaism. He sold it as the idea that the messiah had come, the messiah that had been predicted by the Hebrew Bible, and that messiah was Jesus. He really thought that the whole universe was going to radically change. When he died in Rome in 65, 5 yrs before the temple was destroyed, he was living in a really chaotic time. Because he was living in the time of Nero, who put him to death. Nero was absolutely out of his mind. Half of Rome was burned down in a fire that we think started in the royal palace area and he must have thought that the entire world that he knew was coming to an end. He must have thought that the messianic kingdom that Jesus had initiated was going to be initiated in his own day. So when he died in prison in 65 I don’t think he had any doubt that what he was preaching was an apocalyptic end-time that had been predicted by the Hebrew Bible and that the New Israel was going to emerge with as many people as he was able to gather in. He succeeded immensely. I don’t think that he could have imagined that Christianity would move from a totally apocalyptic end-time religion to being a religion of a state, of a place, of a time, with bishops and churches and laws and regulations. I think that he thought that it was going to be just a new emerging kingdom.
The interview with Professor Freund is very educational. He discusses Jesus, Paul, early Christianity, and the various expressions of Judaism. His conclusion is that Christianity and Judaism separated as a result of the Bar Kochba revolt.
To read the interview with Professor Freund, click here.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Richard Freund, Early Christianity, Bar Kochba, After Jesus
A Call to an Ancient Evangelical Future - The Conference
On December 7-9, 2006, Northern Baptist Seminary hosted the First Annual Conference of the Call to an Ancient Evangelical Future. The conference consisted of five presentations, five responses, which were in turn followed by a panel discussion and interaction with the audience. Almost 250 people attended the conference; they came from all over the United States and Canada.
The Call to an Ancient Evangelical Future was the work of Robert Webber. Bob is the William R. and Geraldyne B. Myers Chair of Ministry and Director of M.A. in Worship and Spirituality at Northern Baptist Seminary. Bob Webber is a prolific writer whose focus on worship and spirituality has made him one of the foremost authorities on worship renewal.
Bob has always been concerned with the challenges of the postmodern pragmatism that has invaded today’s church. His dream was to call today’s church back to the ancient traditions of the church in order to give the church a renewed sense of mission.
Thus, the Call to an Ancient Evangelical Future is a summons to the church in general and to Evangelicals in particular to confront the challenges facing God’s people in the twenty-first century. To read the text of the Call in its entirety, click here.
The five speakers addressed different issues raised by the Call. The speakers and their topics were as follows:
Brian D. McLaren, “Does the Emergent Church have an Ancient Evangelical Future? The Call and the Witnessing Mission of the Emerging Church.”
Frederica Matthews-Green, “The Call and Christian Spiritual Formation.”
Aaron O. Flores, “The Call and the Multi-Cultural Ministry.”
Martin E. Marty, “The Call and the Future of Evangelicalism.”
Lauren F. Winner, “The Call and Recovering our Hebrew Roots.”
I responded to Lauren Winner’s presentation on “The Call and Recovering our Hebrew Roots.” In her presentation, Lauren acknowledges that Christians today have abandoned the Old Testament, that in fact, many Christians have accepted the view of Marcion that the Old Testament is irrelevant for today’s church.
She also said that if the church is to recover its story, it must do so through Hebrew Scriptures. Lauren’s presentation focused on two practices that Jews and Christians have in common. The first one is the practice of Sabbath keeping and the second is the practice of bereavement.
Another key point in Lauren’s presentation was the recognition that community and practice were two important elements that provided identity to biblical Israel and to Judaism as the people of God.
On Thursday, I will post the text of my response to Lauren’s presentation. Because of the limitation of time, I chose to address the issues of Sabbath keeping and the concept of community in the life of ancient Israel.
A note of concern: Bob Webber is my colleague and my friend. Unfortunately, because of his struggle with pancreatic cancer, Bob Webber was unable to attend the conference. Many readers of this blog know Bob Webber. Others have known him through his writings and conferences. I would like to ask you to pray for Bob and his family at this very difficult time in the life of the Webber family.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Bob Webber, Lauren Winner, Evangelical, The Call, Ancient Future
The Call to an Ancient Evangelical Future was the work of Robert Webber. Bob is the William R. and Geraldyne B. Myers Chair of Ministry and Director of M.A. in Worship and Spirituality at Northern Baptist Seminary. Bob Webber is a prolific writer whose focus on worship and spirituality has made him one of the foremost authorities on worship renewal.
Bob has always been concerned with the challenges of the postmodern pragmatism that has invaded today’s church. His dream was to call today’s church back to the ancient traditions of the church in order to give the church a renewed sense of mission.
Thus, the Call to an Ancient Evangelical Future is a summons to the church in general and to Evangelicals in particular to confront the challenges facing God’s people in the twenty-first century. To read the text of the Call in its entirety, click here.
The five speakers addressed different issues raised by the Call. The speakers and their topics were as follows:
Brian D. McLaren, “Does the Emergent Church have an Ancient Evangelical Future? The Call and the Witnessing Mission of the Emerging Church.”
Frederica Matthews-Green, “The Call and Christian Spiritual Formation.”
Aaron O. Flores, “The Call and the Multi-Cultural Ministry.”
Martin E. Marty, “The Call and the Future of Evangelicalism.”
Lauren F. Winner, “The Call and Recovering our Hebrew Roots.”
I responded to Lauren Winner’s presentation on “The Call and Recovering our Hebrew Roots.” In her presentation, Lauren acknowledges that Christians today have abandoned the Old Testament, that in fact, many Christians have accepted the view of Marcion that the Old Testament is irrelevant for today’s church.
She also said that if the church is to recover its story, it must do so through Hebrew Scriptures. Lauren’s presentation focused on two practices that Jews and Christians have in common. The first one is the practice of Sabbath keeping and the second is the practice of bereavement.
Another key point in Lauren’s presentation was the recognition that community and practice were two important elements that provided identity to biblical Israel and to Judaism as the people of God.
On Thursday, I will post the text of my response to Lauren’s presentation. Because of the limitation of time, I chose to address the issues of Sabbath keeping and the concept of community in the life of ancient Israel.
A note of concern: Bob Webber is my colleague and my friend. Unfortunately, because of his struggle with pancreatic cancer, Bob Webber was unable to attend the conference. Many readers of this blog know Bob Webber. Others have known him through his writings and conferences. I would like to ask you to pray for Bob and his family at this very difficult time in the life of the Webber family.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Bob Webber, Lauren Winner, Evangelical, The Call, Ancient Future
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Jonah and the Worm
In his book Assyria: The Forgotten Nation in Prophecy, John Booko quotes a poem by Rev. Charles Vander Ploeg titled “Jonah and the Worm.” That poem describes the plight of Jonah and God’s reaction to Jonah’s anger.
Since I have written two posts dealing with Jonah, Nineveh, and the Assyrians (click here and here), I have decided to publish Vander Ploeg’s poem because I like it and because I think it has a great message
JONAH AND THE WORM
by Rev. Charles Vander Ploeg
When Jonah came out of the belly of the whale,
He went straight to Nineveh and did them assail;
With powerful preaching and pending destruction,
So that the entire city was in disruption.
Then upon man and beast the King proclaimed a fast,
Hoping that God’s anger upon them would not last.
When God saw their repentance then He had pity ,
And said He would not destroy that wicked city.
When Jonah left there he went east and there sat down,
Waiting for the Lord to destroy that wicked town.
After forty days had passed and nothing occurred,
Then Jonah was angry and greatly disturbed.
So then for Jonah God prepared a great big gourd,
And in the shade of it he sat and slept and snored.
A big worm that God prepared then came crawling by,
Ate a big whole in the gourd and caused it to die.
Then Jonah was angry with God and wanted to die,
And said, “I have a right to be angry; haven’t I?”
Then God said, “For that gourd that died you had pity,
And you’re angry because I pitied a city.”
T’was a worm God used to teach Jonah a lesson,
T’was only a worm but Jonah lost the blessin’.
T’was a worm that God used brother Jonah to try,
But Jonah was so mad that he wanted to die.
How many Jonahs there are in the land today,
Who go on a big pout when things don’t go their way,
Some get real angry like brother Jonah of old,
And justify themselves when of their fault they’re told.
When they get real angry they never feel condemned.
They never repent and their ways they never mend.
Like brother Jonah of old they feel justified,
And so in their bad temper they often take pride.
It took a whale to stop Jonah’s flight,
And it took a gourd and a worm to set Jonah right.
So I wonder what the good Lord will have to do,
With some folks who get angry every day or two.
Most people, at one time or another, will experience anger in their lives. Anger is a common emotion and no one is exempt from it. But anger is not a sin. The apostle Paul said: “Don't sin by letting anger control you” (Ephesians 4:26 ). Thus, Paul recognizes that even believers will be angry, however, people must not allow their anger to control their actions.
This is what happened to Jonah. Jonah became so angry with God’s compassion that he desired his own death. Jonah’s problem was that he desired to see the destruction of the people who lived in Nineveh, while God desired to show his mercy upon those repentant people.
James said: “Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires” (James 1:20). Jonah did not show any compassion with the plight of the Ninevites and became angry when they received God’s grace. What Jonah’s anger reveals is something sad: the man who was called and sent by God to proclaim the message of God’s grace shows by his anger that he did not know the God who sent him nor the extent of his grace.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Anger, Grace, Jonah, Nineveh, Assyria
Since I have written two posts dealing with Jonah, Nineveh, and the Assyrians (click here and here), I have decided to publish Vander Ploeg’s poem because I like it and because I think it has a great message
JONAH AND THE WORM
by Rev. Charles Vander Ploeg
When Jonah came out of the belly of the whale,
He went straight to Nineveh and did them assail;
With powerful preaching and pending destruction,
So that the entire city was in disruption.
Then upon man and beast the King proclaimed a fast,
Hoping that God’s anger upon them would not last.
When God saw their repentance then He had pity ,
And said He would not destroy that wicked city.
When Jonah left there he went east and there sat down,
Waiting for the Lord to destroy that wicked town.
After forty days had passed and nothing occurred,
Then Jonah was angry and greatly disturbed.
So then for Jonah God prepared a great big gourd,
And in the shade of it he sat and slept and snored.
A big worm that God prepared then came crawling by,
Ate a big whole in the gourd and caused it to die.
Then Jonah was angry with God and wanted to die,
And said, “I have a right to be angry; haven’t I?”
Then God said, “For that gourd that died you had pity,
And you’re angry because I pitied a city.”
T’was a worm God used to teach Jonah a lesson,
T’was only a worm but Jonah lost the blessin’.
T’was a worm that God used brother Jonah to try,
But Jonah was so mad that he wanted to die.
How many Jonahs there are in the land today,
Who go on a big pout when things don’t go their way,
Some get real angry like brother Jonah of old,
And justify themselves when of their fault they’re told.
When they get real angry they never feel condemned.
They never repent and their ways they never mend.
Like brother Jonah of old they feel justified,
And so in their bad temper they often take pride.
It took a whale to stop Jonah’s flight,
And it took a gourd and a worm to set Jonah right.
So I wonder what the good Lord will have to do,
With some folks who get angry every day or two.
Most people, at one time or another, will experience anger in their lives. Anger is a common emotion and no one is exempt from it. But anger is not a sin. The apostle Paul said: “Don't sin by letting anger control you” (Ephesians 4:26 ). Thus, Paul recognizes that even believers will be angry, however, people must not allow their anger to control their actions.
This is what happened to Jonah. Jonah became so angry with God’s compassion that he desired his own death. Jonah’s problem was that he desired to see the destruction of the people who lived in Nineveh, while God desired to show his mercy upon those repentant people.
James said: “Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires” (James 1:20). Jonah did not show any compassion with the plight of the Ninevites and became angry when they received God’s grace. What Jonah’s anger reveals is something sad: the man who was called and sent by God to proclaim the message of God’s grace shows by his anger that he did not know the God who sent him nor the extent of his grace.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Anger, Grace, Jonah, Nineveh, Assyria
Monday, December 18, 2006
Paul's Tomb Found in Rome
An article published in the Baptist Press announces that archaeologists working for the Vatican have found a sarcophagus that probably contains the bones of the Apostle Paul. The following is the article published by Baptist Press:
Archeologists with the Vatican say they have unearthed a sarcophagus that may contain the remains of the Apostle Paul.
The eight-foot coffin was found buried under the main alter [sic] of St. Paul Outside the Walls basilica in Rome and dates to at least A.D. 390. It has not yet been opened, and may not be for some time. Tradition had long held that the coffin was somewhere on the site.
News of the sarcophagus' discovery was announced in 2005, although archeologists had to do considerable work to unearth it. Vatican officials held a press conference Dec. 11 to announce its excavation.
"For now we didn't open the sarcophagus to study the contents. Our aim was to unearth the coffin venerated as St. Paul's tomb, not to authenticate the remains," Giorgio Filippi, the archaeologist of the Vatican Museum, said, according to National Geographic News. "The sarcophagus was buried beneath the main altar, under a marble tombstone bearing the Latin words "Paulo Apostolo Mart., “which means "Apostle Paul, Martyr.”
The basilica "rises on the place where, according to tradition, Paul of Tarsus was originally buried after his martyrdom," Filippi said.
X-rays likely won't penetrate the marble coffin, another Vatican official told the Associated Press.
Eusebius, a church historian who lived around A.D. 300, wrote that Paul was beheaded in Rome under Emperor Nero. Details of Paul's death are not recorded in Scripture.
"While the possible discovery of the sarcophagus of the Apostle Paul is of great interest to the Christian world, it will be impossible to prove that the bones possibly contained in the box are his," R. Philip Roberts, president of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, told Baptist Press. "As Baptists we relish historical research related to Christianity. But we do not venerate relics. Therefore any interest we have in this possible discovery will be relegated to its historical but not its spiritual implications.
"One discovery we know will never be made and that is the uncovering of a sarcophagus containing the bones of Jesus Christ."
Curiosity dictates that the sarcophagus should be open so that archaeologists may ascertain whether the bones are the remains of the apostle Paul. If it is, will archaeologists find the head severed from the body? Was Paul buried with artifacts that can be dated to the first century?
We do not venerate relics but if the remains are indeed the bones of the Apostle, then forensic anthropologists, with the advances of modern science, can study the remains and reveal many details about what the health and physical characteristics of the Apostle.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Archaeology, Paul’s Tomb
Archeologists with the Vatican say they have unearthed a sarcophagus that may contain the remains of the Apostle Paul.
The eight-foot coffin was found buried under the main alter [sic] of St. Paul Outside the Walls basilica in Rome and dates to at least A.D. 390. It has not yet been opened, and may not be for some time. Tradition had long held that the coffin was somewhere on the site.
News of the sarcophagus' discovery was announced in 2005, although archeologists had to do considerable work to unearth it. Vatican officials held a press conference Dec. 11 to announce its excavation.
"For now we didn't open the sarcophagus to study the contents. Our aim was to unearth the coffin venerated as St. Paul's tomb, not to authenticate the remains," Giorgio Filippi, the archaeologist of the Vatican Museum, said, according to National Geographic News. "The sarcophagus was buried beneath the main altar, under a marble tombstone bearing the Latin words "Paulo Apostolo Mart., “which means "Apostle Paul, Martyr.”
The basilica "rises on the place where, according to tradition, Paul of Tarsus was originally buried after his martyrdom," Filippi said.
X-rays likely won't penetrate the marble coffin, another Vatican official told the Associated Press.
Eusebius, a church historian who lived around A.D. 300, wrote that Paul was beheaded in Rome under Emperor Nero. Details of Paul's death are not recorded in Scripture.
"While the possible discovery of the sarcophagus of the Apostle Paul is of great interest to the Christian world, it will be impossible to prove that the bones possibly contained in the box are his," R. Philip Roberts, president of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, told Baptist Press. "As Baptists we relish historical research related to Christianity. But we do not venerate relics. Therefore any interest we have in this possible discovery will be relegated to its historical but not its spiritual implications.
"One discovery we know will never be made and that is the uncovering of a sarcophagus containing the bones of Jesus Christ."
Curiosity dictates that the sarcophagus should be open so that archaeologists may ascertain whether the bones are the remains of the apostle Paul. If it is, will archaeologists find the head severed from the body? Was Paul buried with artifacts that can be dated to the first century?
We do not venerate relics but if the remains are indeed the bones of the Apostle, then forensic anthropologists, with the advances of modern science, can study the remains and reveal many details about what the health and physical characteristics of the Apostle.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Archaeology, Paul’s Tomb
Friday, December 15, 2006
God at Harvard: “She is Green”
In a telling article published in The American Daily, J. Grant Swank Jr. tells about his experience as a theological student at Harvard Divinity School (HDS).
He writes about Krister Stendahl, a professor of New Testament, who taught in his first class at the Divinity School “that the virgin birth was a myth.” He tells about a professor who believed that God was “green.”
He also writes of how Paul Tillich “enjoyed going to Manhattan to strip clubs, particularly taking in the black strippers” and how “a Dean of the Divinity School was caught with pornography all over his home computer.”
Of all of his professors at the Divinity School, Swank mentions one who truly inspired him. His name was G. Ernest Wright. Swank wrote:
“There was one professor [at Harvard Divinity School] who actually was a Christian. He taught Old Testament. His name was G. Earnest [sic] Wright, now deceased, as are the Greek professor and Dr. Miller. Wright was an ambitious believer who was not afraid to speak his biblical convictions. He stood out, obviously, for he actually believed in the Bible as divine revelation. I am forever grateful to Dr. Wright for his witness to the biblical record.”
I did not know G. Ernest Wright personally, but he taught Joseph Callaway who was my Old Testament professor and advisor during my graduate work at Southern Seminary. Callaway was a great professor and a committed Christian. He always spoke good things about G. Ernest Wright.
Even though many professors at the Divinity School almost caused Swank to lose his faith, there was one person there, in addition to G. Ernest Wright, who helped him maintain his faith. Swank wrote:
“However, during that time at HDS there was one fellow who kept my Christmas for me. His name was . . . .”
Well, for you to find out who that person was, you will have to read this fascinating article. Click here to read the article.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Harvard, Paul Tillich, G. Ernest Wright
He writes about Krister Stendahl, a professor of New Testament, who taught in his first class at the Divinity School “that the virgin birth was a myth.” He tells about a professor who believed that God was “green.”
He also writes of how Paul Tillich “enjoyed going to Manhattan to strip clubs, particularly taking in the black strippers” and how “a Dean of the Divinity School was caught with pornography all over his home computer.”
Of all of his professors at the Divinity School, Swank mentions one who truly inspired him. His name was G. Ernest Wright. Swank wrote:
“There was one professor [at Harvard Divinity School] who actually was a Christian. He taught Old Testament. His name was G. Earnest [sic] Wright, now deceased, as are the Greek professor and Dr. Miller. Wright was an ambitious believer who was not afraid to speak his biblical convictions. He stood out, obviously, for he actually believed in the Bible as divine revelation. I am forever grateful to Dr. Wright for his witness to the biblical record.”
I did not know G. Ernest Wright personally, but he taught Joseph Callaway who was my Old Testament professor and advisor during my graduate work at Southern Seminary. Callaway was a great professor and a committed Christian. He always spoke good things about G. Ernest Wright.
Even though many professors at the Divinity School almost caused Swank to lose his faith, there was one person there, in addition to G. Ernest Wright, who helped him maintain his faith. Swank wrote:
“However, during that time at HDS there was one fellow who kept my Christmas for me. His name was . . . .”
Well, for you to find out who that person was, you will have to read this fascinating article. Click here to read the article.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Harvard, Paul Tillich, G. Ernest Wright
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
“Blessed be . . . Assyria the work of my hands” (Isaiah 19:25).
In response to my post on Jonah and His God, an anonymous reader wrote:
Allow me first to write that I'm glad to read such comments in order to be able to correct many misconceptions and wrong judgements which are passed upon the ancient Assyrians. I should make it a point and case to put not a penny but a dollar aside for every time I see an article repeating that the ancient Assyrians were "ruthless" people but no one mentions the accomplishments and the civilization that the ancient Assyrians left for the world, in addition to being the first people to believe in the message of salvation and spreading it as far as India, Mongolia, Soumatra, Japan, China, Azerbaijan, and so on with their monuments being witnesses to that great effort long before Marco Polo or the Roman Catholic Church set foot in those remote lands, the missionaries of the Holy Church of The East a.k.a. TheHoly Apostolic Assyrian Church Assyria but the Assyrians listened to his message, repented and later on became the first people to believe in the Messiah and Salvation. The Old Testament is full of different stories which are pro and against people but the most important of them all is this verse from the New Testament Luke 11:32 The word which you used in the article as niphal is the Assyrian word napla from the verb napel meaning to fall. It's a well known fact that the Hebrews spoke Assyrian which is referred erroneously to as Aramaic or Syriac and till today 6 of the Old Testament books are still read by the Jews in what is referred to erroneously as "Aramaic" and the alphabet which the Hebrews or Jews today use is called the Assyrian letters even though they write it differently. The Assyrians believed without seeing but those who had the light amongst them never saw it. Till today the Liturgical calendar of the Holy Apostolic Assyrian Church
Allow me first to write that I'm glad to read such comments in order to be able to correct many misconceptions and wrong judgements which are passed upon the ancient Assyrians. I should make it a point and case to put not a penny but a dollar aside for every time I see an article repeating that the ancient Assyrians were "ruthless" people but no one mentions the accomplishments and the civilization that the ancient Assyrians left for the world, in addition to being the first people to believe in the message of salvation and spreading it as far as India, Mongolia, Soumatra, Japan, China, Azerbaijan, and so on with their monuments being witnesses to that great effort long before Marco Polo or the Roman Catholic Church set foot in those remote lands, the missionaries of the Holy Church of The East a.k.a. The
quote the comments of anonymous in full because I am sympathetic to the plight of the Assyrians who are alive today. Their culture has survived even though the Assyrians had to endure much persecution. There are, however, a few points in his comments that need to be addressed.
1. The Bible and history show that the Assyrians imposed a policy of terror and violence upon their enemies. The Assyrian monuments give full evidence of their brutality. The graphic above shows Tiglath-pileser III besieging a city and bodies of dead enemies impaled and piled up on the ground.
2. The conversion of the Assyrians is a matter of debate. The book of Nahum gives no indication that the Assyrians were converted. The people who settled in
3. The original language of the Hebrew people was a dialect of Canaanite; the language spoken by
In fact, when the Assyrians invaded
When the Assyrian officers spoke to the officers of Hezekiah, the Israelite officials said to the Assyrian field commander: “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don't speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall” (2 Kings 18:26).
After the Assyrians established their empire, Aramaic became the language of the Ancient Near East. This is seen when the Bible says that some of the Jews who returned from exile had a difficult time preserving their native language.
The book of Nehemiah says that of the people who came back, “Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or the language of one of the other peoples, and did not know how to speak the language of Judah” (Nehemiah 13:24). Thus, when Ezra read the Law of Moses he had to translate it to the people: “Ezra read from the book of the Law of God, translating and giving the sense; so the reading was understood” (Nehemiah 8:8 NJB).
4. Anonymous wrote: “The word which you used in the article as niphal is the Assyrian word napla from the verb napel meaning to fall.”
This is not correct. The word “Niphal” does not come from “naphal” (× ×¤×œ), a Hebrew word meaning “to fall.” Rather, the word “Niphal” comes from the Hebrew word “pa`al” (פעל) a Hebrew verb meaning “work.” It is also the Modern Hebrew word for “verb.” The word “Niphal” (× ×¤×¢×œ) is the word “pa`al” (פעל) with the prefix × (a preformative) attached to the word “pa`al” to give a passive or reflexive meaning to a verb.
The Bible is not completely negative about the Assyrians. There are several passages in the Old Testament that seem to indicate that
In that day
In this passage, the prophet affirms that in the last days
Blessed be
In this passage, God calls
Consider
This passage describes in a parabolic manner the greatness that was
From these passages we discover that God has a plan for
Many Assyrians today are Christians. According to estimates, there are about 4,000.000 Assyrians in the world today. Of these, 3,000,000 still live in the Middle East; most of them live in
If anyone wants to know more about Assyrian Christians, a good source is Assyria: The Forgotten Nation in Prophecy by John Booko. Booko is an Assyrian American and an alumnus of Northern Seminary. Booko’s book takes a maximalist view of
The book Assyria: The Forgotten Nation in Prophecy can be ordered from:
John Booko,
Three
(616) 279-2672
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Monday, December 04, 2006
Jonah and His God
The book of Jonah is based on the life of a nationalistic prophet who lived during the days when Jeroboam II was the king of Israel (2 Kings 14:25).
Most people who read the book of Jonah emphasize the miracle of the great fish swallowing the prophet and miss completely what the book has to say about Jonah’s A TranslatGod. Readers of the book of Jonah are so fascinated by the events of chapter 2 that they never read chapter 4, where the truth about the nature of Jonah’s God is revealed.
The book was not written to emphasize what Jonah preached. In fact, the book has only one sermon and that sermon contains only five words in Hebrew. However, that sermon must be understood in the context of the political situation of the eighth century B.C., the time when Jonah lived.
The book tells about how God called Jonah to go to Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire to preach a message that unless the people of Nineveh repented, judgment would come upon the city. Jonah rebelled against the divine call and instead of going to Nineveh, he boarded a ship going to Tarshish, a place located in the opposite direction from where the prophet was called to go.
To understand the stubbornness and rebellion of Jonah, it becomes important to understand the Assyrians and their policies toward other nations. When Tiglath-pileser III became king of Assyria in 745 B.C., his goal was to establish an empire that would go from the Persian Gulf to Egypt.
In order to achieve his goal, Tiglath-pileser implemented several programs to extend Assyrian supremacy over the Ancient Near East. First, Tiglath-pileser established a policy of permanent conquest. Each nation conquered by Assyria became a province of the empire. Each conquered nation had to pay an annual tribute to Assyria.
Second, an administrative system of regional governors was set up by Assyria to rule over the provinces. Each province had to provide for the needs of the Assyrian army in case of war. They were required to provide food, soldiers, and slaves. Each citizen of the provinces became an Assyrian citizen.
Third, Assyria enforced a policy of brutal reprisal in case of revolts. The Assyrians enforced this policy of terror by means of violence, pain, and suffering. In addition, a policy of mass deportation was reintroduced by Tiglath-pileser.
This policy of mass deportation meant that after conquering a nation, Tiglath-pileser took the survivors of the upper class along with professional and skilled people of that nation and relocated them to other parts of the empire. Then, he would bring war prisoners from other nations and settle them in the conquered nation.
The people of the Ancient Near East hated the Assyrians. They had inflicted so much pain and so much suffering that the prophet Nahum declared that the fall of Nineveh and the destruction of the Assyrian empire was “good news” (Nahum 1:15 ) to those who have been subjected to the Assyrian yoke.
God desired to give the Assyrians an opportunity to repent and be saved, but Jonah desired the destruction of the Assyrians because of the suffering and pain they had caused on so many people. Jonah saw it as his patriotic duty to do everything he could to help the destruction of Assyria, even shirking from his responsibility as a prophet of God.
Even though Jonah ran away from Yahweh, he eventually came to Nineveh where he had to preach a message of judgment: Another forty days and Nineveh will be destroyed (Jonah 3:4). The last word × ×”×¤×›×ª is a Niphal participle. This may indicate that, in the mind of Jonah, Nineveh would not escape judgment. Nineveh was a city already destroyed.
In their book, A Translation Handbook on the Book of Jonah (Stuttgart: United Bible Societies, 1978), p. 55, Brynmor Price and Eugene Nida wrote about Jonah’s message:
No reason is given to the people for the threat of destruction and no alternative of repentance is offered. It is as though Jonah is only concerned to carry out his commission to the absolute minimum, and he seemingly has no concern for the well-being of those to whom he preached.
Jonah was not concerned for the situation of the people of Nineveh, but Jonah’s God was. When the people of Nineveh repented as a result of Jonah’s message, God forgave them:
God saw what they had done, that they had turned away from their evil lives. He did change his mind about them. What he said he would do to them he didn't do (Jonah 3:10).
In reaction to God’s act of compassion, Jonah prayed:
Didn't I say before I left home that you would do this, LORD? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you were a gracious and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. I knew how easily you could cancel your plans for destroying these people (Jonah 4:2).
This verse clearly describes the nature of the God of the Bible. A study of the attributes of God reveals how God deals with people, even people as evil as the Assyrians:
“Gracious God” means the God who inclines graciously to the humble and needy, and who exercises his supremacy on behalf the inferior. Thus, Jonah knew, that even to an evil people like the Assyrians, God was infinitely full of gracious love, even though they did not deserve it.
“Compassionate God” means the kindly and solicitous providence of the one who protects and sustains endangered life like a mother sustains her young.
“Slow to anger” means the patient deferment of the wrath that has been deserved, in which God does not destroy the guilty.
“Abundance of unfailing love” means that God’s dealing with people is based on his faithful and unfailing love. The divine kindness to the Assyrians is a visible demonstration of unmerited grace which culminates in the forgiveness of sins.
“Relents from evil” means that Yahweh reconsiders the intended punishment even when the acts committed deserve punishment.
Jonah knew that because of the gracious nature of God, God would change his mind concerning the evil that was about to be inflicted upon the Assyrians and would replace it with good the moment the wicked Ninevites repented.
In the end, the reader of Jonah can understand the prophet’s despair: God did not bring divine judgment upon the wicked Assyrians. On the contrary, because of his nature as a merciful and compassionate God, a God who is slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love, a God who easily cancels his plans for punishing evil people, God forgave Israel’s enemy and did not destroy them, even though they deserved to be punished for the evil and destruction they had caused.
What kind of God does not punish people who deserve to be punished? Only a God who is concerned for people, even when they are evil and wicked. Yahweh’s great love and compassion for people move him to withdraw divine judgment when people are willing to repent from their evil ways.
However, this is not the nature of God that is portrayed in the media and in the blogsphere. For instance, in Blogging the Bible, David Plotz, Deputy Editor of Slate.com Magazine, reading through the Bible, presumably for the first time, said that one of the disappointing things he discovered was the capriciousness of the God of the Bible. He said:
To read the Old Testament the way I'm reading it, you have to be disappointed sometimes in God's behavior. God is very capricious, constantly describing himself as merciful and forgiving, but yet not merciful. God is constantly killing innocents and demanding the murder of innocents in a way that's extremely troubling.
Plotz’s reading of the Bible is one-sided. He is only looking at what God does and not at what God does not do. He probably never looks at what people do and whether they deserve judgment when judgment is due upon them because of their evil deeds.
Even in our society people are judged when they break human laws. In many states, the punishment for premeditated murder is death. However, what happens when people violate divine laws? Those who believe that people and nations are not under divine laws do not accept divine sanctions when violations of these laws occur on a grand scale.
The people of Nineveh were not Israelites, but they were under the sovereignty of a God who is the God of all nations. Jonah changed his feelings from pleasure to anger because of a plant. The merciful God also changed his mind out of love and compassion for the people of Nineveh. He said to Jonah: So, why can't I likewise change what I feel about Nineveh from anger to pleasure, this big city of more than a hundred and twenty thousand childlike people who don't yet know right from wrong, to say nothing of all the innocent animals? (Jonah 4:11)
Now, this is the God of the Bible that people need to meet, the gracious and compassionate God, the God who is slow to get angry and who is filled with unfailing love, the God who changes his plans about punishing people when they repent from their evil ways.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Technorati Tags: Jonah, Assyrians, Nineveh, David Plotz
Most people who read the book of Jonah emphasize the miracle of the great fish swallowing the prophet and miss completely what the book has to say about Jonah’s A TranslatGod. Readers of the book of Jonah are so fascinated by the events of chapter 2 that they never read chapter 4, where the truth about the nature of Jonah’s God is revealed.
The book was not written to emphasize what Jonah preached. In fact, the book has only one sermon and that sermon contains only five words in Hebrew. However, that sermon must be understood in the context of the political situation of the eighth century B.C., the time when Jonah lived.
The book tells about how God called Jonah to go to Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire to preach a message that unless the people of Nineveh repented, judgment would come upon the city. Jonah rebelled against the divine call and instead of going to Nineveh, he boarded a ship going to Tarshish, a place located in the opposite direction from where the prophet was called to go.
To understand the stubbornness and rebellion of Jonah, it becomes important to understand the Assyrians and their policies toward other nations. When Tiglath-pileser III became king of Assyria in 745 B.C., his goal was to establish an empire that would go from the Persian Gulf to Egypt.
In order to achieve his goal, Tiglath-pileser implemented several programs to extend Assyrian supremacy over the Ancient Near East. First, Tiglath-pileser established a policy of permanent conquest. Each nation conquered by Assyria became a province of the empire. Each conquered nation had to pay an annual tribute to Assyria.
Second, an administrative system of regional governors was set up by Assyria to rule over the provinces. Each province had to provide for the needs of the Assyrian army in case of war. They were required to provide food, soldiers, and slaves. Each citizen of the provinces became an Assyrian citizen.
Third, Assyria enforced a policy of brutal reprisal in case of revolts. The Assyrians enforced this policy of terror by means of violence, pain, and suffering. In addition, a policy of mass deportation was reintroduced by Tiglath-pileser.
This policy of mass deportation meant that after conquering a nation, Tiglath-pileser took the survivors of the upper class along with professional and skilled people of that nation and relocated them to other parts of the empire. Then, he would bring war prisoners from other nations and settle them in the conquered nation.
The people of the Ancient Near East hated the Assyrians. They had inflicted so much pain and so much suffering that the prophet Nahum declared that the fall of Nineveh and the destruction of the Assyrian empire was “good news” (Nahum 1:15 ) to those who have been subjected to the Assyrian yoke.
God desired to give the Assyrians an opportunity to repent and be saved, but Jonah desired the destruction of the Assyrians because of the suffering and pain they had caused on so many people. Jonah saw it as his patriotic duty to do everything he could to help the destruction of Assyria, even shirking from his responsibility as a prophet of God.
Even though Jonah ran away from Yahweh, he eventually came to Nineveh where he had to preach a message of judgment: Another forty days and Nineveh will be destroyed (Jonah 3:4). The last word × ×”×¤×›×ª is a Niphal participle. This may indicate that, in the mind of Jonah, Nineveh would not escape judgment. Nineveh was a city already destroyed.
In their book, A Translation Handbook on the Book of Jonah (Stuttgart: United Bible Societies, 1978), p. 55, Brynmor Price and Eugene Nida wrote about Jonah’s message:
No reason is given to the people for the threat of destruction and no alternative of repentance is offered. It is as though Jonah is only concerned to carry out his commission to the absolute minimum, and he seemingly has no concern for the well-being of those to whom he preached.
Jonah was not concerned for the situation of the people of Nineveh, but Jonah’s God was. When the people of Nineveh repented as a result of Jonah’s message, God forgave them:
God saw what they had done, that they had turned away from their evil lives. He did change his mind about them. What he said he would do to them he didn't do (Jonah 3:10).
In reaction to God’s act of compassion, Jonah prayed:
Didn't I say before I left home that you would do this, LORD? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you were a gracious and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. I knew how easily you could cancel your plans for destroying these people (Jonah 4:2).
This verse clearly describes the nature of the God of the Bible. A study of the attributes of God reveals how God deals with people, even people as evil as the Assyrians:
“Gracious God” means the God who inclines graciously to the humble and needy, and who exercises his supremacy on behalf the inferior. Thus, Jonah knew, that even to an evil people like the Assyrians, God was infinitely full of gracious love, even though they did not deserve it.
“Compassionate God” means the kindly and solicitous providence of the one who protects and sustains endangered life like a mother sustains her young.
“Slow to anger” means the patient deferment of the wrath that has been deserved, in which God does not destroy the guilty.
“Abundance of unfailing love” means that God’s dealing with people is based on his faithful and unfailing love. The divine kindness to the Assyrians is a visible demonstration of unmerited grace which culminates in the forgiveness of sins.
“Relents from evil” means that Yahweh reconsiders the intended punishment even when the acts committed deserve punishment.
Jonah knew that because of the gracious nature of God, God would change his mind concerning the evil that was about to be inflicted upon the Assyrians and would replace it with good the moment the wicked Ninevites repented.
In the end, the reader of Jonah can understand the prophet’s despair: God did not bring divine judgment upon the wicked Assyrians. On the contrary, because of his nature as a merciful and compassionate God, a God who is slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love, a God who easily cancels his plans for punishing evil people, God forgave Israel’s enemy and did not destroy them, even though they deserved to be punished for the evil and destruction they had caused.
What kind of God does not punish people who deserve to be punished? Only a God who is concerned for people, even when they are evil and wicked. Yahweh’s great love and compassion for people move him to withdraw divine judgment when people are willing to repent from their evil ways.
However, this is not the nature of God that is portrayed in the media and in the blogsphere. For instance, in Blogging the Bible, David Plotz, Deputy Editor of Slate.com Magazine, reading through the Bible, presumably for the first time, said that one of the disappointing things he discovered was the capriciousness of the God of the Bible. He said:
To read the Old Testament the way I'm reading it, you have to be disappointed sometimes in God's behavior. God is very capricious, constantly describing himself as merciful and forgiving, but yet not merciful. God is constantly killing innocents and demanding the murder of innocents in a way that's extremely troubling.
Plotz’s reading of the Bible is one-sided. He is only looking at what God does and not at what God does not do. He probably never looks at what people do and whether they deserve judgment when judgment is due upon them because of their evil deeds.
Even in our society people are judged when they break human laws. In many states, the punishment for premeditated murder is death. However, what happens when people violate divine laws? Those who believe that people and nations are not under divine laws do not accept divine sanctions when violations of these laws occur on a grand scale.
The people of Nineveh were not Israelites, but they were under the sovereignty of a God who is the God of all nations. Jonah changed his feelings from pleasure to anger because of a plant. The merciful God also changed his mind out of love and compassion for the people of Nineveh. He said to Jonah: So, why can't I likewise change what I feel about Nineveh from anger to pleasure, this big city of more than a hundred and twenty thousand childlike people who don't yet know right from wrong, to say nothing of all the innocent animals? (Jonah 4:11)
Now, this is the God of the Bible that people need to meet, the gracious and compassionate God, the God who is slow to get angry and who is filled with unfailing love, the God who changes his plans about punishing people when they repent from their evil ways.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Technorati Tags: Jonah, Assyrians, Nineveh, David Plotz
Friday, December 01, 2006
The Mysterious Antikythera Mechanism: The World First Computer
The Antikythera mechanism has been called “the world first computer.” The mechanism was developed by the Greeks around 100 B.C. Recently, scientists using modern-day techniques have concluded that the Antikythera mechanism was an astronomical calculator.
An article titled “Ancient Greek Computer's Inner Workings Deciphered,” written by Kate Ravilious and published in the National Geographic News, says that the device was used to display the motions of moons and planets and to predict eclipses of the moon and the sun.
Using advanced new imaging technology, scientists were also able to decipher some of the texts inscribed in the mechanism. According to the article, the inscriptions include “geographical references such as ‘south,’ ‘Spain,'’and ‘Pharos’—the island in Egypt that once housed the wonder of the world known as the lighthouse of Alexandria.”
To read the article, visit the web page of the National Geographic News.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Technorati Tags: Antikythera Mechanism, Computers, Pharos
Biblical Studies Carnival XII
Jim West has posted his selection of the best posts published in November in the area of academic biblical studies for the December Biblical Studies Carnival. The posts selected by Jim for the December Carnival are excellent. Jim covers several fields of biblical studies and offers a few new entries that deserve serious consideration.
Every month the Biblical Studies Carnival selects the best posts published by bibliobloggers. These days there are hundreds of good bloggers dealing with biblical issues, thus, it becomes difficult to read all of them or to be in touch with all of them on a daily basis. The Biblical Studies Carnival is a good way to become acquainted with the best posts for any given month.
I encourage you to visit Jim’s blog and read his selection for the December Biblical Studies Carnival.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary.
Technorati Tags: Biblical Carnival, Biblical Studies, Hebrew Bible, Archaeology, Biblioblogs
Every month the Biblical Studies Carnival selects the best posts published by bibliobloggers. These days there are hundreds of good bloggers dealing with biblical issues, thus, it becomes difficult to read all of them or to be in touch with all of them on a daily basis. The Biblical Studies Carnival is a good way to become acquainted with the best posts for any given month.
I encourage you to visit Jim’s blog and read his selection for the December Biblical Studies Carnival.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary.
Technorati Tags: Biblical Carnival, Biblical Studies, Hebrew Bible, Archaeology, Biblioblogs
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