IN THE NEWS
An article in the Washington Post today declares that the claim that the lost tomb of Jesus has been found is only a publicity stunt.
Alan Cooperman, reporting for the Washington Post writes:
Leading archaeologists in Israel and the United States yesterday denounced the purported discovery of the tomb of Jesus as a publicity stunt.
Scorn for the Discovery Channel's claim to have found the burial place of Jesus, Mary Magdalene and -- most explosively -- their possible son came not just from Christian scholars but also from Jewish and secular experts who said their judgments were unaffected by any desire to uphold Christian orthodoxy.
I'm not a Christian. I'm not a believer. I don't have a dog in this fight," said William G. Dever, who has been excavating ancient sites in Israel for 50 years and is widely considered the dean of biblical archaeology among U.S. scholars. "I just think it's a shame the way this story is being hyped and manipulated."
The Discovery Channel held a news conference in New York on Monday to unveil a TV documentary, "The Lost Tomb of Jesus," and a companion book about a tomb that was unearthed during construction of an apartment building in the Talpiyot neighborhood of Jerusalem in 1980.
James Cameron, the filmmaker who explored the wreck of the Titanic and directed an Oscar-winning feature film based on its sinking, is executive producer of the documentary. Its claims are based on six ossuaries, or stone boxes for holding human bones, found in the tomb.
The filmmakers contend that the inscriptions on the boxes say Yeshua bar Yosef (Jesus son of Joseph), Maria (Mary), Yose (Joseph), Matia (Matthew), Mariamene e Mara (Maria the Master) and Yehuda bar Yeshua (Judah son of Jesus). They maintain that "Mariamene e Mara" is Mary Magdalene and that Yehuda bar Yeshua may be her son by Jesus.
Simcha Jacobovici, the film's Israeli-born director, said in a telephone interview yesterday that he commissioned four statistical studies that concluded that the odds of those particular names appearing in a single family tomb from the 1st century are "somewhere between 600 and 2.4 million to one."
Jacobovici also said tests on the patina, or surface residue, of the "James Ossuary," which surfaced in 2002, indicate that it also came from the Talpiyot tomb. Israeli authorities have pronounced the James Ossuary, which purportedly held the bones of a brother of Jesus, a forgery and are prosecuting its owner. Jacobovici, who made a 2003 Discovery Channel film about it, maintains it is real.
Dever, a retired professor of archaeology at the University of Arizona, said that some of the inscriptions on the Talpiyot ossuaries are unclear, but that all of the names are common.
"I've know about these ossuaries for many years and so have many other archaeologists, and none of us thought it was much of a story, because these are rather common Jewish names from that period," he said. "It's a publicity stunt, and it will make these guys very rich, and it will upset millions of innocent people because they don't know enough to separate fact from fiction."
Similar assessments came yesterday from two Israeli scholars, Amos Kloner, who originally excavated the tomb, and Joe Zias, former curator of archaeology at the Israeli Antiquities Authority. Kloner told the Jerusalem Post that the documentary is "nonsense." Zias described it in an e-mail to The Washington Post as a "hyped up film which is intellectually and scientifically dishonest."
Jodi Magness, an archaeologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, expressed irritation that the claims were made at a news conference rather than in a peer-reviewed scientific article. By going directly to the media, she said, the filmmakers "have set it up as if it's a legitimate academic debate, when the vast majority of scholars who specialize in archaeology of this period have flatly rejected this," she said.
Magness noted that at the time of Jesus, wealthy families buried their dead in tombs cut by hand from solid rock, putting the bones in niches in the walls and then, later, transferring them to ossuaries.
She said Jesus came from a poor family that, like most Jews of the time, probably buried their dead in ordinary graves. "If Jesus' family had been wealthy enough to afford a rock-cut tomb, it would have been in Nazareth, not Jerusalem," she said.
Magness also said the names on the Talpiyot ossuaries indicate that the tomb belonged to a family from Judea, the area around Jerusalem, where people were known by their first name and father's name. As Galileans, Jesus and his family members would have used their first name and home town, she said.
"This whole case [for the tomb of Jesus] is flawed from beginning to end," she said.
Read also:
“Scholars Criticize Jesus Documentary” by Karen Matthews.
Dever’s authoritative words should put to rest the claims of the producers of "The Lost Tomb" that this is the tomb of Christ.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: James Camerom, Jesus’Ossuary, The Lost Tomb, Simcha Jacobovici, William Dever
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
The Anglicans and Gay Rights
Is division the best solution to the issue of gay rights within the worldwide Anglican Communion?
The Washington Post is reporting that Bishop Steven Charleston, president of the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts is willing to accept the possibility of a schism in the Anglican communion rather than revert the church’s position on gay rights. Alan Cooperman, a staff writers for The Washington Post wrote:
Several leading liberal Episcopalians said yesterday that they would rather accept a schism than accede to a demand from leaders of the worldwide Anglican Communion for what they view as an unconscionable rollback of the U.S. church's position on gay rights.
The defiant reaction to the communique issued by the primates, or heads, of the Anglican Communion's 38 national churches on Monday at the conclusion of a weeklong meeting in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, reflected a growing feeling on both sides of the dispute that time for compromise is running out.
"Yes, I would accept schism," said Bishop Steven Charleston, president of the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass. "I would be willing to accept being told I'm not in communion with places like Nigeria if it meant I could continue to be in a position of justice and morality. If the price I pay is that I'm not considered to be part of a flawed communion, then so be it."
The issue of gay rights is dividing the church and people are being alienated on both sides. How can the church be divided by internal issues and still be faithful to its nature as the body of Christ? In addition, how can the church proclaim its faithfulness to the Bible as the Word of God when the leaders of the church cannot agree on what the Bible teaches on this issue?
The world is watching. The decision to be made by the Anglican church will have an impact on the witness of the church in the world. My fear is that, whatever final decision is made by the Anglican church, the witness of the church in the world will be affected again.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Anglicans, Episcopalians, Gay Rights
The Washington Post is reporting that Bishop Steven Charleston, president of the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts is willing to accept the possibility of a schism in the Anglican communion rather than revert the church’s position on gay rights. Alan Cooperman, a staff writers for The Washington Post wrote:
Several leading liberal Episcopalians said yesterday that they would rather accept a schism than accede to a demand from leaders of the worldwide Anglican Communion for what they view as an unconscionable rollback of the U.S. church's position on gay rights.
The defiant reaction to the communique issued by the primates, or heads, of the Anglican Communion's 38 national churches on Monday at the conclusion of a weeklong meeting in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, reflected a growing feeling on both sides of the dispute that time for compromise is running out.
"Yes, I would accept schism," said Bishop Steven Charleston, president of the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass. "I would be willing to accept being told I'm not in communion with places like Nigeria if it meant I could continue to be in a position of justice and morality. If the price I pay is that I'm not considered to be part of a flawed communion, then so be it."
The issue of gay rights is dividing the church and people are being alienated on both sides. How can the church be divided by internal issues and still be faithful to its nature as the body of Christ? In addition, how can the church proclaim its faithfulness to the Bible as the Word of God when the leaders of the church cannot agree on what the Bible teaches on this issue?
The world is watching. The decision to be made by the Anglican church will have an impact on the witness of the church in the world. My fear is that, whatever final decision is made by the Anglican church, the witness of the church in the world will be affected again.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Anglicans, Episcopalians, Gay Rights
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Archaeologists and the Lost Tomb of Christ
Archaeologists are denying the validity of James Cameron’s claim that the tomb at Talpiyot is the tomb of Jesus’ family. Archaeologists say that there are more than 900 tombs like this one within two miles from where the so-called “the lost tomb of Christ” was found.
In a report by ABC News, Matt Gutman wrote:
Two years earlier, Israeli archaeologist Amos Kloner was the first to find the tomb. He found the tomb and the ossuaries — the urns or vaults used to hold the bones of the dead — interesting but of no particular archaeological importance. He said there are more than 900 buried tombs just like the "Jesus" tomb within a 2-mile radius of Talpiyot. Of them, 71 bear the name Jesus and two Jesus, son of Joseph. The tomb in Talpiyot is one of them. But the inscription, he said, was barely decipherable and therefore questionable.
At the time, Jesus was a very common name, as was Mary. But the cluster of all those names together, Jesus, Joseph Mary, not to mention what the filmmakers claim is Jesus' son, Judah, son of Jesus, is indeed unusual. Simply because the tomb is labeled a tomb that "belonged to a Jesus, doesn't make it the tomb of Jesus Christ," Kloner told ABC News.
Jerusalem-based biblical anthropologist Joe Zias goes a step further to discredit Cameron's documentary. "What they've done here," Zias said, "is they've simply tried in a very, very dishonest way to try to con the public into believing that this is the tomb of Jesus or Jesus' family. It has nothing whatsoever to do with Jesus."
Zias pointed out a number of contradictions that he said undermine the claim. Jesus was a very common name at the time — Mary even more so. Zias said 48 percent of women living at the time were named Mary, Mariam or the Hebrew name Shlomzion. In addition, Jesus' family was poor. Those who paid for the tomb were middle-class, at least. If Jesus' family did have the cash, the family tomb would likely have been situated in Nazareth. After all, Jesus was known as Jesus of Nazareth
James Cameron told a news conference at the New York Public Library that two stone ossuaries, or bone boxes, found at Talpiyot might have once contained the bones of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. The claim that James Cameron and Simcha Jacobovici are making, that the end of Christianity has arrived, is just that, their opinion. Both men are film producers who have a product to sell. In addition, Jacobovici is a writer who is promoting his book.
Cameron and Jacobovici are not archaeologists and they are not theologians and yet the media is accepting their claim that, after more than 2000 years of Christianity, they have discovered what no one else has been able to do in all these years: prove that Jesus died and that the resurrection is a myth.
There are many people who are willing to accept Cameron’s and Jacobovici’s claim that Christianity has been preaching a false gospel all these years. This is the cry of atheists, that Christianity is false.
Atheists ask for a sign: prove to us that Jesus was real. Well, Cameron gave them a sign: here are the bones of Christ. Presto! Christianity is false.
Only gullible people can believe Cameron’s claim. In a recent interview on television, Jacobovici said that there is a statistical probability that this is the real tomb where Christ was buried. A person can manipulate numbers and arrive at almost any preconceived conclusion. You cannot prove historical claims by using statistics.
The Lost Tomb is just another effort at making money using Jesus as the attraction. Again, I say, Christians have nothing to worry about the two filmmakers’ claim that Christianity is false. The tomb at Talpiyot is the wrong one; Jacobovici should look for an empty tomb.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary.
Tags: Archaeology, James Cameron, Jesus’ Ossuary, Simcha Jacobovici, The Lost Tomb
In a report by ABC News, Matt Gutman wrote:
Two years earlier, Israeli archaeologist Amos Kloner was the first to find the tomb. He found the tomb and the ossuaries — the urns or vaults used to hold the bones of the dead — interesting but of no particular archaeological importance. He said there are more than 900 buried tombs just like the "Jesus" tomb within a 2-mile radius of Talpiyot. Of them, 71 bear the name Jesus and two Jesus, son of Joseph. The tomb in Talpiyot is one of them. But the inscription, he said, was barely decipherable and therefore questionable.
At the time, Jesus was a very common name, as was Mary. But the cluster of all those names together, Jesus, Joseph Mary, not to mention what the filmmakers claim is Jesus' son, Judah, son of Jesus, is indeed unusual. Simply because the tomb is labeled a tomb that "belonged to a Jesus, doesn't make it the tomb of Jesus Christ," Kloner told ABC News.
Jerusalem-based biblical anthropologist Joe Zias goes a step further to discredit Cameron's documentary. "What they've done here," Zias said, "is they've simply tried in a very, very dishonest way to try to con the public into believing that this is the tomb of Jesus or Jesus' family. It has nothing whatsoever to do with Jesus."
Zias pointed out a number of contradictions that he said undermine the claim. Jesus was a very common name at the time — Mary even more so. Zias said 48 percent of women living at the time were named Mary, Mariam or the Hebrew name Shlomzion. In addition, Jesus' family was poor. Those who paid for the tomb were middle-class, at least. If Jesus' family did have the cash, the family tomb would likely have been situated in Nazareth. After all, Jesus was known as Jesus of Nazareth
James Cameron told a news conference at the New York Public Library that two stone ossuaries, or bone boxes, found at Talpiyot might have once contained the bones of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. The claim that James Cameron and Simcha Jacobovici are making, that the end of Christianity has arrived, is just that, their opinion. Both men are film producers who have a product to sell. In addition, Jacobovici is a writer who is promoting his book.
Cameron and Jacobovici are not archaeologists and they are not theologians and yet the media is accepting their claim that, after more than 2000 years of Christianity, they have discovered what no one else has been able to do in all these years: prove that Jesus died and that the resurrection is a myth.
There are many people who are willing to accept Cameron’s and Jacobovici’s claim that Christianity has been preaching a false gospel all these years. This is the cry of atheists, that Christianity is false.
Atheists ask for a sign: prove to us that Jesus was real. Well, Cameron gave them a sign: here are the bones of Christ. Presto! Christianity is false.
Only gullible people can believe Cameron’s claim. In a recent interview on television, Jacobovici said that there is a statistical probability that this is the real tomb where Christ was buried. A person can manipulate numbers and arrive at almost any preconceived conclusion. You cannot prove historical claims by using statistics.
The Lost Tomb is just another effort at making money using Jesus as the attraction. Again, I say, Christians have nothing to worry about the two filmmakers’ claim that Christianity is false. The tomb at Talpiyot is the wrong one; Jacobovici should look for an empty tomb.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary.
Tags: Archaeology, James Cameron, Jesus’ Ossuary, Simcha Jacobovici, The Lost Tomb
Monday, February 26, 2007
Judges 11:39: The Fate of Jephthah’s Daughter
Last week I wrote about the problem various versions of the Bible have in translating Judges 11:31. The proper translation of verse 31 is crucial to the understanding of the fate of Jephthath’s daughter. I am presupposing that you have read last week’s post; if you have not, I recommend that you do so as a background for today’s post. Click here and read my post, “Rereading Judges 11:31: The Sacrifice of Jephthah’s Daughter.”
Here is how the Revised Standard Version (RSV) translates Judges 11:30-31:
30 And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord, and said, “If thou wilt give the Ammonites into my hand, 31 then whoever comes forth from the doors of my house to meet me, when I return victorious from the Ammonites, shall be the Lord's, and I will offer him up for a burnt offering.”
Here is how the New International Version (NIV) translates Judges 11:30-31:
30 And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord: “If you give the Ammonites into my hands, 31 whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord's, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.”
The “whoever” of the RSV presupposes that Jephthah expected a human being to meet him. The “whatever” of the NIV presupposes that either an animal or a person would come out of the house. However, the “him” of the RSV and the “it” of the NIV makes clear that the translators of the NIV had an animal in mind.
On his return, Jephthah’s daughter came to meet him. In his distress, Jephthah bemoaned the fact that he will have to sacrifice her. His daughter asked permission to go away for two months, and upon her return, Jephthah “did with her according to his vow which he had made” (Judges 11:39).
The question to be asked is: If Jephthah did with his daughter what he vowed to do, what did Jephthah do with his daughter?
The simple answer is: he sacrificed her as a burnt offering to God. This is the simple meaning of the text. The promise that Jephthah made to God was that whoever came from his house to meet him, he would offer him up to the Lord as burnt offering. Or, as the Good News Bible puts it: “I will burn as an offering the first person that comes out of my house to meet me when I come back from victory. I will offer that person to you as a sacrifice” (Judges 11:31). The word עולה ('olah) is often translated as a “holocaust” or “burnt offering.” When the offerer made an 'olah sacrifice, the sacrifice was completely burned.
Some scholars disagree with the view that Jephthah’s daughter was sacrificed to God. They believe that verse 39 is not clear and that it does not tell what Jephthah did with his daughter. Thus, these writers believe that Jephthah did not sacrifice his daughter as a burnt offering to God. In his commentary on Judges, Adam Clark wrote:
“Therefore it must be granted that he never made that rash vow which several suppose he did; nor was he capable, if he had, of executing it in that most shocking manner which some Christian writers (‘tell it not in Gath’) have contended for.”
Clark emends the text to read that Jephthah will offer a sacrifice to the Lord to celebrate his victory against the enemies of
His conclusion, then, is that Jephthah did not sacrifice his daughter to God, but consecrated her to serve the Lord in a state of perpetual virginity. His view is based on the words “she had never known a man” (v. 39). According to
C.F. Keil, in his commentary on Judges takes the same approach. Keil wrote:
And so, again, the still further clause in the account of the fulfilment of the vow, “and she knew no man,” is not in harmony with the assumption of a sacrificial death. This clause would add nothing to the description in that case, since it was already known that she was a virgin. The words only gain their proper sense if we connect them with the previous clause, he “did with her according to the vow which he had vowed,” and understand them as describing what the daughter did in fulfillment of the vow. The father fulfilled his vow upon her, and she knew no man; i.e., he fulfilled the vow through the fact that she knew no man, but dedicated her life to the Lord, as a spiritual burnt-offering, in a lifelong chastity.
Clark’s and Keil’s views are based on the interpretation of Rabbi David Kimchi (1160-1235), a Middle Age Jewish scholar, who believed that Jephthah had not sacrificed his daughter to God. Rather, Kimchi believed Jephthah dedicated his daughter to serve in one of the sanctuaries of the Lord as a virgin for the rest of her life.
A closer look at the text reveals that the better interpretation of what happened in this situation, and let it be told in Gath, was that Jephthah actually sacrificed his daughter as an offering for the Lord.
Jephthah was a man without honor. He was the son of a prostitute (Judges 11:1) and was expelled from his father’s house because he was an “illegitimate son.” He was a man rejected by the leaders of
Jephthah’s only honor was the honor of his word, but even this, some scholars are trying to take away from him. Jephthah said to his daughter: “Alas, my daughter! you have brought me very low, and you have become the cause of great trouble to me; for I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I cannot take back my vow” (Judges 11:35).
In the society where Jephthah lived, a vow was sacred to God: “When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not be slack to pay it; for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and it would be sin in you” (Deuteronomy 23:21). The sacredness of a vow is also reflected in Psalm 15. The Psalmist asked: “O Lord, who shall sojourn in thy tent? Who shall dwell on thy holy hill?” (Psalm 15:1). And the answer was: he “who swears to his own hurt and does not change” (v. 4).
Jephthah’s daughter recognized that her father had made a vow that could not be retracted. She said: “My father, if you have opened your mouth to the Lord, do to me according to what has gone forth from your mouth” (Judges 11:36). A Christian who lives by the teaching of Christ may recoil at the fact that a follower of the Lord actually sacrificed his daughter to God, but he did and in the end, he was praised as a hero of the faith in Hebrews 11:32.
The Lord delivered
Although human sacrifice does not appear in
There is no doubt that some people in
So, the only obvious interpretation of Jephthah’s words, that Jephthah “did with her according to his vow which he had made” (Judges 11:39), is that Jephthah offered his daughter as a human sacrifice to God, and that in his mind and in the minds of some people in Israel, that kind of sacrifice was the best offering one could offer to God.
Next week I will conclude my study of the sacrifice of Jephthah’s daughter with a study of the words “she had never known a man” (Judges 11:39).
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Child Sacrifice, Jephthah, Judges 11
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Christ's Tomb Found?
IN THE NEWSSimcha Jacobovici , Canadian filmmaker known as the naked archaeologist is claiming that Christ's tomb has been found and that burial boxes found in the tomb belonged to Christ's family
Jacobovici will reveal at a news conference that he has strong evidence a group of burial boxes unearthed in Jerusalem belonged to Jesus Christ and his family.
Here is the new report published in the Toronto Star:
The discovery could have profound implications 2,000 years after the boxes were placed in the ground, shaking the foundations of modern faith and raising Da-Vinci-Code-like speculation that Jesus had a child with Mary Magdalene.
"It's mind boggling. It's an altered reality," Toronto documentary director Simcha Jacobovici told the Star last week.
The location of the press conference is being kept secret until Monday to prevent a stampede of people wanting to see the artefacts on display.
The documentary is called The Lost Tomb of Jesus and its claim that the burial box of Jesus has been found along with his DNA, are sure to be met with scepticism, if not outright hostility, by church leaders.
In an interview, Jacobovici said that while nothing in archaeology can ever be proven beyond doubt, there is "compelling evidence" that the tomb he explores under a Jerusalem apartment building is that of the holy family.
"You have to kind of pinch yourself," said Jacobovici, known as the Naked Archaeologist after a Vision TV series. "Are we really saying what we are saying?"
James Tabor, chair of religious studies at the University of North Carolina and an expert featured extensively in The Lost Tomb, said that as an academic he has seen enough to convince him of the evidence, but admits to some trepidation about claiming that the tomb of Jesus has been found.
"There's a part of you that says, it's too amazing. How can this be true?" Tabor told the Star. "It's an archaeological dream."
Critics are already dismissing the documentary's claims.
"It's a beautiful story but without any proof whatsoever," Bar Ilan University professor Amos Kloner, who researched the tomb for the Israeli periodical Atiqot in 1996, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur on Friday.
Jacobovici says there is nothing in the documentary that should offend devout Christians, since he does not argue that Jesus did not ascend to heaven, at least spiritually, as told in the Bible.
"People who believe in a physical ascension — that he took his body to heaven — those people obviously will say, wait a minute," he said, adding he hopes the film sparks more scientific study of the tomb and the ossuaries found inside.
The tomb was unearthed in 1980 during construction of an apartment building and was first connected to the Jesus family in a 1996 BBC documentary. Jacobovici's documentary uses scientific methods, including DNA testing, statistical analysis and forensic examination, not available to the BBC 11 years ago.
It airs on Discovery in the U.S. and on Channel 4 in the U.K. on Sunday, and March 6 in Canada on Vision TV. A book, The Jesus Family Tomb by Jacobovici and Charles Pellegrino, comes out this week. Titanic director James Cameron, executive producer of the documentary, wrote the introduction.
The film and book follow years of growing interest in the private life of Jesus, fuelled by the 2003 Dan Brown novel The Da Vinci Code, made into a movie last year, in which Jesus is said to have married Mary Magdalene and had a daughter, sparking a centuries-long cover-up.
The novel, denounced by church groups around the world, spawned a mini-industry speculating about the historical Jesus, his relationship to Mary and his family life. Church leaders, including the Pope, dismissed the book and movie as pure fiction.
Tabor, whose book The Jesus Dynasty last year raised many of the same questions as the documentary, says the film cannot be as easily dismissed as Brown's novel, even though it too suggests that Jesus had a child with Mary Magdalene.
"This is archaeology. We got the casket. We've got the bones," he told the Star. "I think we can say, in all probability, Jesus had this son, Jude, presumably through Mary Magdalene."
DNA tests conducted for the documentary at Lakehead University on two ossuaries — one inscribed Jesus son of Joseph and the other Mariamne, or Mary — confirm that the two were not related by blood, so were probably married.
"Perhaps Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married as the DNA results from the Talpiot ossuaries suggest and perhaps their union was kept secret to protect a potential dynasty — a secret hidden through the ages," narrator Ron White says over re-enacted scenes of a happy Jesus and Mary home life.
"A secret we just may be able to uncover in the holy family tomb."
The tomb was found in the Talpiot neighbourhood of Jerusalem during the construction of an apartment building in 1980. Archaeologists were given three days to document the tomb and excavate it for treasures.
Inside, they found 10 ossuaries and three skulls. Six ossuaries had names etched into them — Jesus son of Joseph, Judah son of Jesus, Maria, Mariamne, Joseph and Matthew — all Jesus family names.
At the time, however, the inscriptions raised few alarms. These were, after all, very common names at the time of Jesus. Besides, with all the construction around Jerusalem at the time, it was a boom time for uncovering tombs, and the Israeli Antiquities Authority could barely keep up.
Any connection to the holy family was not made until 15 years later, when a BBC crew researching and Easter special stumbled across the collection in an IAA storage room. They immediately began work on a new program, based on the tomb, which aired a year later.
That show, aired as part of the BBC's acclaimed Heart of the Matter newsmagazine, was dismissed by Biblical scholars as "laughable" for suggesting, as Jacobovici does, that the tomb was that of Jesus Christ's family.
Today, Kloner and others still argue that the names were so common that there is no significance to them being found in a tomb.
"The names that are found on the tombs are names that are similar to the names of the family of Jesus," he conceded. "But those were the most common names found among Jews in the first centuries."
In The Lost Tomb, however, University of Toronto statistician Andre Feuerverger calculates that while the names are common, the chances of them being found together are 600 to one.
His conclusion is based on a few assumptions: that the Maria on one of the ossuaries is the mother of the Jesus found on another box, that Mariamne is his wife and that Joseph (inscribed as the nickname Jose) is his brother.
As the documentary tells us, there is reason to make these assumptions.
Maria is the Latin form of Mary, and is how Jesus's mother was known after his death as more Romans became followers. Mariamne is the Greek form of Mary. Mary Magdelene is believed to have spoken and preached in Greek. Jose was the nickname used for Jesus' little brother.
As well, the Talpiot Tomb is the only place where ossuaries have ever been found with the names Mariamne and Jose, even though the root forms of the name were very popular and thousands of ossuaries have been unearthed.
This is not, however, the first time a Jesus ossuary has been found. The first was in 1926.
Another famous ossuary, inscribed James son of Joseph brother of Jesus, is also featured in the documentary.
Forensic testing of the patina on the Jesus ossuary and that of James conclude that they came from the same tomb — seemingly proving the authenticity of the often-questioned James ossuary and further increasing the likelihood that it is the tomb of the holy family.
Feuerverger calculates for Jacobovici that if James is added to the equation, there is a 30,000 to one chance that the Talpiot Tomb belonged to the holiest families in Christendom.
The documentary speculates that the James ossuary was stolen shortly after the tomb was found. The archaeologists examining the tomb 26 years ago found 10 ossuaries, but only nine are in storage at the IAA. In The Lost Tomb, it is alleged that the James ossuary is that missing box.
But there is one wrinkle that is not examined in the documentary, one that emerged in a Jerusalem courtroom just weeks ago at the fraud trial of James ossuary owner Oded Golan, charged with forging part of the inscription on the box.
Former FBI agent Gerald Richard testified that a photo of the James ossuary, showing it in Golan's home, was taken in the 1970s, based on tests done by the FBI photo lab.
Jacobovici concedes in an interview that if the ossuary was photographed in the 1970s, it could not then have been found in a tomb in 1980. But while he does not address the conundrum in the documentary, he said in an interview that it's possible Golan's photo was printed on old paper in the1980s.
I have not seen The Lost Tomb yet, but if the documentary is like Jacobovici’s documentary on the exodus event, then there is no reason to worry. It is just amazing the documentary is coming out just at the time Jacobovici’s book The Jesus Family Tomb is being published.
Should you as a Christian worry about this discovery? No, if you believe the tomb is empty.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Archaeology, James Tabor, Jesus Ossuary, Mary Magdalene,Simcha Jacobovici, The Lost Tomb
Religion in Prison
IN THE NEWS
The Washington Posts is reporting on Sunday that U.S. District Judge Robert W. Pratt has ruled that a Christian rehabilitation program in Iowa is unconstitutional. Peter Slevin, a writer for the Washington Post wrote:
Interested inmates at Newton Correctional Facility in Iowa receive teaching material that declares: "Criminal behavior is a manifestation of an alienation between the self and God. Acceptance of God and Biblical principles results in cure through the power of the Holy Spirit. Transformation happens through an instantaneous miracle; it then builds the prisoner up with familiarity of the Bible."
Rooted in evangelical Christianity and supported by more than $1.5 million in public funds, the method of the rehabilitation program is clear enough. A key question is its constitutionality. A trio of appellate judges, including former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, is reviewing a lower court's decision that the program violates the separation of church and state.
U.S. District Judge Robert W. Pratt sided with Americans United, ruling last year that the Iowa program is "pervasively sectarian." He heard testimony from prisoners of other faiths who felt unwelcome in a program that gives advantages to inmates who accept the intensive religious teachings.
While in the program, prisoners are expected to pray daily, attend worship services and religious gatherings, and participate in weekly revival meetings. Inmates of other religions are asked "to compromise, if not completely abandon, their faiths in order to participate," Pratt ruled, citing "a constant tension" with Roman Catholic inmates.
Pratt ordered InnerChange to close its operations and repay $1.5 million to the Iowa government and prisoners whose telephone surcharges helped fund the program. He said he was careful not to pass judgment on the beliefs of the staff or the effectiveness of the religious approach, although he said he had received no credible data on recidivism rates.
His central concern, Pratt wrote, was whether the program violates the Constitutional prohibition on government showing a preference for any religious denomination.
Iowa "hopes to cure recidivism through state-sponsored prayer and devotion," wrote Pratt, 59, a Clinton appointee. "While such spiritual and emotional 'rewiring' may be possible in the life of an individual and lower the risk of committing other crimes, it cannot be permissible to force taxpayers to fund such an enterprise under the Establishment Clause."
I have mixed feelings on this issue. Charging prisoners a telephone surcharge to sponsor the program is wrong because not all prisoners participate in the program and not all prisoners receive the benefits from the money they pay in the form of a surcharge.
However, religious programs in prison help prisoners find hope and meaning in life. I have seen what happens when prisoners turn their lives to Christ and apply biblical principles to their lives.
While I was a seminary student, I served as an assistant chaplain at St. Quentin State Prison and at Soledad State Prison, two maximum prisons in California. Those who turned to Christ and made a habit (and a good one) of praying and reading the Bible every day, changed their lives and, once out of prison, turned away from a life of crime. A former prisoner even went to Japan as a missionary.
Most government programs have failed to rehabilitate prisoners. The number of inmates in American prisons has grown astronomically, the rate of recidivism has increased is the past few years and now, the courts are stopping one of the few programs that really works.
This is what happens in the secular society in which you and I live.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tag: Prison Ministry
The Washington Posts is reporting on Sunday that U.S. District Judge Robert W. Pratt has ruled that a Christian rehabilitation program in Iowa is unconstitutional. Peter Slevin, a writer for the Washington Post wrote:
Interested inmates at Newton Correctional Facility in Iowa receive teaching material that declares: "Criminal behavior is a manifestation of an alienation between the self and God. Acceptance of God and Biblical principles results in cure through the power of the Holy Spirit. Transformation happens through an instantaneous miracle; it then builds the prisoner up with familiarity of the Bible."
Rooted in evangelical Christianity and supported by more than $1.5 million in public funds, the method of the rehabilitation program is clear enough. A key question is its constitutionality. A trio of appellate judges, including former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, is reviewing a lower court's decision that the program violates the separation of church and state.
U.S. District Judge Robert W. Pratt sided with Americans United, ruling last year that the Iowa program is "pervasively sectarian." He heard testimony from prisoners of other faiths who felt unwelcome in a program that gives advantages to inmates who accept the intensive religious teachings.
While in the program, prisoners are expected to pray daily, attend worship services and religious gatherings, and participate in weekly revival meetings. Inmates of other religions are asked "to compromise, if not completely abandon, their faiths in order to participate," Pratt ruled, citing "a constant tension" with Roman Catholic inmates.
Pratt ordered InnerChange to close its operations and repay $1.5 million to the Iowa government and prisoners whose telephone surcharges helped fund the program. He said he was careful not to pass judgment on the beliefs of the staff or the effectiveness of the religious approach, although he said he had received no credible data on recidivism rates.
His central concern, Pratt wrote, was whether the program violates the Constitutional prohibition on government showing a preference for any religious denomination.
Iowa "hopes to cure recidivism through state-sponsored prayer and devotion," wrote Pratt, 59, a Clinton appointee. "While such spiritual and emotional 'rewiring' may be possible in the life of an individual and lower the risk of committing other crimes, it cannot be permissible to force taxpayers to fund such an enterprise under the Establishment Clause."
I have mixed feelings on this issue. Charging prisoners a telephone surcharge to sponsor the program is wrong because not all prisoners participate in the program and not all prisoners receive the benefits from the money they pay in the form of a surcharge.
However, religious programs in prison help prisoners find hope and meaning in life. I have seen what happens when prisoners turn their lives to Christ and apply biblical principles to their lives.
While I was a seminary student, I served as an assistant chaplain at St. Quentin State Prison and at Soledad State Prison, two maximum prisons in California. Those who turned to Christ and made a habit (and a good one) of praying and reading the Bible every day, changed their lives and, once out of prison, turned away from a life of crime. A former prisoner even went to Japan as a missionary.
Most government programs have failed to rehabilitate prisoners. The number of inmates in American prisons has grown astronomically, the rate of recidivism has increased is the past few years and now, the courts are stopping one of the few programs that really works.
This is what happens in the secular society in which you and I live.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tag: Prison Ministry
Friday, February 23, 2007
The Ultimate Testament
In a review of the book, The Secret, by Rhonda Byrne, Joan Z. Shore wrote:
We do not have time to read philosophy, to engage in esoteric discussions, or to formulate theories. Even psychotherapy is too long and too costly an undertaking. We want the ready-made, the microwaved, the heat-and-serve, the wash-and-wear; we do not want to be bothered with serious study and careful analysis. We want answers at a discount, nicely packaged and ready to go.
And that's what The Secret is all about. Oprah Winfrey and her audiences ate it up. The mail in response was off the charts. The book jumped to Number One on the New York Times bestseller list, and the DVD is selling like heavenly hotcakes.
After the Old Testament and the New Testament, The Secret is the Ultimate Testament. It is The Gospel According to Rhonda Byrne (the author, an ingenuous Australian woman) and her peppy band of disciples. It promises not salvation but, better yet, wealth and success and happiness and love. Maybe health, too, if that's your problem. Just stop thinking you're a jerk and a failure, and begin to see yourself as infinitely powerful and talented and gorgeous and wise. Then everything wonderful and enriching and gorgeous and wise will come to you.
So, The Secret is better than the Old Testament and better than the New Testament; it is the “Ultimate Testament.” And the reason it is the Ultimate Testament is because this Ultimate Testament does not promise salvation but it promises something better: wealth, success, and happiness.
That’s it, folks: wealth, success, and happiness is the trinity of a new religious movement that is spreading throughout the world. People are more interested in worshiping the trinity of the present age than they are in seeking the truths of God revealed in Christ.
One classical example is the Reverend Creflo A. Dollar (his name says it all), a Georgia preacher with an international ministry known as the Changing Your World television ministry. Reverend Dollar preaches a message of change that includes health, spirit, and finances. As an article in The New York Times shows what the almighty Dollar has accomplished:
Mr. Dollar, whose Rolls-Royces, private jets, million-dollar Atlanta home and $2.5 million Manhattan apartment, furnish proof to his followers of the validity of his teachings, is a leading apostle of what is known as the “prosperity gospel.”
So, I ask again: Was Jesus rich or poor?
Claude F. Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Creflo Dollar, Jesus, Prosperity Gospel, The Secret, Ultimate Testament
We do not have time to read philosophy, to engage in esoteric discussions, or to formulate theories. Even psychotherapy is too long and too costly an undertaking. We want the ready-made, the microwaved, the heat-and-serve, the wash-and-wear; we do not want to be bothered with serious study and careful analysis. We want answers at a discount, nicely packaged and ready to go.
And that's what The Secret is all about. Oprah Winfrey and her audiences ate it up. The mail in response was off the charts. The book jumped to Number One on the New York Times bestseller list, and the DVD is selling like heavenly hotcakes.
After the Old Testament and the New Testament, The Secret is the Ultimate Testament. It is The Gospel According to Rhonda Byrne (the author, an ingenuous Australian woman) and her peppy band of disciples. It promises not salvation but, better yet, wealth and success and happiness and love. Maybe health, too, if that's your problem. Just stop thinking you're a jerk and a failure, and begin to see yourself as infinitely powerful and talented and gorgeous and wise. Then everything wonderful and enriching and gorgeous and wise will come to you.
So, The Secret is better than the Old Testament and better than the New Testament; it is the “Ultimate Testament.” And the reason it is the Ultimate Testament is because this Ultimate Testament does not promise salvation but it promises something better: wealth, success, and happiness.
That’s it, folks: wealth, success, and happiness is the trinity of a new religious movement that is spreading throughout the world. People are more interested in worshiping the trinity of the present age than they are in seeking the truths of God revealed in Christ.
One classical example is the Reverend Creflo A. Dollar (his name says it all), a Georgia preacher with an international ministry known as the Changing Your World television ministry. Reverend Dollar preaches a message of change that includes health, spirit, and finances. As an article in The New York Times shows what the almighty Dollar has accomplished:
Mr. Dollar, whose Rolls-Royces, private jets, million-dollar Atlanta home and $2.5 million Manhattan apartment, furnish proof to his followers of the validity of his teachings, is a leading apostle of what is known as the “prosperity gospel.”
So, I ask again: Was Jesus rich or poor?
Claude F. Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Creflo Dollar, Jesus, Prosperity Gospel, The Secret, Ultimate Testament
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Confession of Sin: Is It Obsolete?
Here is a good question:
Between Oprah and the therapist's couch, is there any role left for the church confession?
This question was posed by Michelle Boorstein, a Washington Post staff writer. In her article, "A Call to Confession, for It Is Fading: D.C. Archdiocese Opens an Ad Barrage to Revive the Elemental Rite," she writes that the Archdiocese of Washington is launching a campaign using ads on buses, subway cars, billboards, brochures, and radio spots to bring people back to the confessional. She wrote:
Priests and sociologists of Catholicism have theorized about the drop for years. Is it because of a culture that tells us we aren't responsible for what we do wrong? Or could it be something less dark: that the traditional Saturday confession time has simply been gobbled up by youth soccer leagues and errand-mania? Or maybe something more dark: that we don't even know what sin is anymore.
To me, her last suggestion explains the reason people no longer confess their sins: they do not know what sin is.
In the past, when people knew what sin was and understood the consequences of sin, they believed confession of sins was the only path for reconciliation with God. Boorstein wrote:
In the ancient church, punishments were sometimes public. Sinners were ordered to do such things as long-term fasts and in some places were seated separately or banned from the church during communion. Today penances can involve the traditional order to recite (and re-recite) prayers, telling a busy parent to spend more time with a child, or mandating a nature hike for perspective on God's creation.
Today, most people in our society have lost the biblical meaning of sin. Today, ministers preach about the sins of racism, militarism and environmental degradation. Since most people do not have a good understanding of the biblical concept of sin, they ask: "What is it that I am supposed to confess?"
In the world in which we live, people blame the environment, genes, and social conditions for the things they do. For this reason, instead of realizing the need for confession, people emphasize the need for improvement.
Good luck to the Catholic church. People will not recognize the need for confession until they realize that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23) and that "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). James 5:16 urges believers to confess their sins, because, as John wrote: "If we confess our sins, he [God] is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Confession, Michelle Boorstein, Repentance, Sin
Between Oprah and the therapist's couch, is there any role left for the church confession?
This question was posed by Michelle Boorstein, a Washington Post staff writer. In her article, "A Call to Confession, for It Is Fading: D.C. Archdiocese Opens an Ad Barrage to Revive the Elemental Rite," she writes that the Archdiocese of Washington is launching a campaign using ads on buses, subway cars, billboards, brochures, and radio spots to bring people back to the confessional. She wrote:
Priests and sociologists of Catholicism have theorized about the drop for years. Is it because of a culture that tells us we aren't responsible for what we do wrong? Or could it be something less dark: that the traditional Saturday confession time has simply been gobbled up by youth soccer leagues and errand-mania? Or maybe something more dark: that we don't even know what sin is anymore.
To me, her last suggestion explains the reason people no longer confess their sins: they do not know what sin is.
In the past, when people knew what sin was and understood the consequences of sin, they believed confession of sins was the only path for reconciliation with God. Boorstein wrote:
In the ancient church, punishments were sometimes public. Sinners were ordered to do such things as long-term fasts and in some places were seated separately or banned from the church during communion. Today penances can involve the traditional order to recite (and re-recite) prayers, telling a busy parent to spend more time with a child, or mandating a nature hike for perspective on God's creation.
Today, most people in our society have lost the biblical meaning of sin. Today, ministers preach about the sins of racism, militarism and environmental degradation. Since most people do not have a good understanding of the biblical concept of sin, they ask: "What is it that I am supposed to confess?"
In the world in which we live, people blame the environment, genes, and social conditions for the things they do. For this reason, instead of realizing the need for confession, people emphasize the need for improvement.
Good luck to the Catholic church. People will not recognize the need for confession until they realize that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23) and that "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). James 5:16 urges believers to confess their sins, because, as John wrote: "If we confess our sins, he [God] is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Confession, Michelle Boorstein, Repentance, Sin
Lent: A Time of Repentance and Sorrow
Lent is a practice associated with the Roman Catholics Church. According to Catholic tradition, this ritual originated during the papacy of Gregory the Great (590-604), sometime in the 6th century. During Lent, the faithful places ashes on the head as a sign of repentance and sorrow.
In his article, “Forty Days of New Life,” Marcellino D'Ambrosio, discusses the reasons Lent lasts forty days and associates the forty-day observance to the use of the number 40 in the Old and New Testaments. He also discusses how the meaning of Lent is associated with the fasting and temptation of Jesus Christ in the desert.
For those who want to know more about Lent and for those who observe Lent, D'Ambrosio’s article will shed much light on this Catholic ritual.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tag: Lent
In his article, “Forty Days of New Life,” Marcellino D'Ambrosio, discusses the reasons Lent lasts forty days and associates the forty-day observance to the use of the number 40 in the Old and New Testaments. He also discusses how the meaning of Lent is associated with the fasting and temptation of Jesus Christ in the desert.
For those who want to know more about Lent and for those who observe Lent, D'Ambrosio’s article will shed much light on this Catholic ritual.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tag: Lent
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
An Ancient Egyptian Tomb
The Associated Press has announced the discovery on an ancient tomb in Egypt. Below is the news release of the discovery as reported by the Associated Press.CAIRO, Egypt - A mud brick tomb dating back more than 4,000 years has been discovered near Egypt's most ancient pyramid in the Saqqara complex south of Cairo, antiquities official announced Monday. The tomb, which was found by an Egyptian-Australian mission, belonged to Ka-Hay, who kept divine records, and his wife, said Zahi Hawass, Egypt's antiquities chief. Excavators found five wooden statues depicting the tomb's owner and his wife in a niche at the tomb's forefront. Among the wooden figures was a unique double statue of a seated Ka-Hay and his wife, Hawass said. The tomb, which also features two offering tables and a wooden false door, was found near the famous Step Pyramid of King Djoser — believed to be Egypt's oldest pyramid — in the necropolis of King Teti, a funerary area containing scores of burial chambers, false doors that ancient Egyptians said the souls of the dead would use to leave their tombs, and temples. The necropolis where the mud brick tomb was found is built alongside the collapsed pyramid of Teti, who ruled during ancient Egypt's 6th dynasty, more than 4,300 years ago. The Ka-Hay tomb dates back to the late 5th or early 6th dynasty, Hawass said. Saqqara, located about 12 miles south of Cairo, is one of Egypt's most popular tourist sites and hosts a collection of temples, tombs and funerary complexes
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Archaeology, Egypt
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
The Temple Mount: The Controversy Continues
The Weekly Standard has published an article discussing the controversy surrounding the building of a ramp to allow non-Muslims to reach the enormous platform atop the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
The article says in part:
Hundreds of truckloads were unloaded in municipal garbage dumps. Some drops were made late at night. This was vandalism on a breathtaking scale, and the vandals knew it. (In fact removing the soil was a crime in itself; archaeologists need to inspect soil in situ to understand the context and to know which layers were on top, what came next, and so forth.) All in all this was a sickening crime against the human spirit, a rape of the Mount. But radical Arab leaders routinely deny that a Temple ever existed in this place. They would love to annihilate every trace of Jewish history as they would love to destroy the Jews themselves. For would-be murderers, destroying truth is the next best thing to destroying life.
The precious soil was left unprotected, and garbage accumulated on top. Archaeologists managed to sift through certain portions that remained accessible. Important finds turned up. But "we are certain," Mazar said recently, "that a vast amount of important data was lost."
The Israeli government let it happen; ignored the outcry of Israelis and of archaeologists all over the world and allowed construction and dumping to continue. "The world's patrimony is being carried off in dump trucks," wrote Hershel Shanks (editor of Biblical Archaeology Review) in the Washington Post in July 2000. "All who care about the archaeological remains on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem . . . should be incensed at Israel's failure to stop the Waqf . . . from illegally destroying precious remnants of history important to Muslims as well as to Jews and Christians." An open letter to Prime Minister Ehud Barak, signed by dozens of prominent Israelis of all political colors, demanded that Barak stop "a serious act of irreparable archaeological vandalism and destruction."
Read the article in its entirety by visiting The Weekly Standard.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Archaeology, Temple Mount, Eilat Mazar, Hershel Shanks
The article says in part:
Hundreds of truckloads were unloaded in municipal garbage dumps. Some drops were made late at night. This was vandalism on a breathtaking scale, and the vandals knew it. (In fact removing the soil was a crime in itself; archaeologists need to inspect soil in situ to understand the context and to know which layers were on top, what came next, and so forth.) All in all this was a sickening crime against the human spirit, a rape of the Mount. But radical Arab leaders routinely deny that a Temple ever existed in this place. They would love to annihilate every trace of Jewish history as they would love to destroy the Jews themselves. For would-be murderers, destroying truth is the next best thing to destroying life.
The precious soil was left unprotected, and garbage accumulated on top. Archaeologists managed to sift through certain portions that remained accessible. Important finds turned up. But "we are certain," Mazar said recently, "that a vast amount of important data was lost."
The Israeli government let it happen; ignored the outcry of Israelis and of archaeologists all over the world and allowed construction and dumping to continue. "The world's patrimony is being carried off in dump trucks," wrote Hershel Shanks (editor of Biblical Archaeology Review) in the Washington Post in July 2000. "All who care about the archaeological remains on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem . . . should be incensed at Israel's failure to stop the Waqf . . . from illegally destroying precious remnants of history important to Muslims as well as to Jews and Christians." An open letter to Prime Minister Ehud Barak, signed by dozens of prominent Israelis of all political colors, demanded that Barak stop "a serious act of irreparable archaeological vandalism and destruction."
Read the article in its entirety by visiting The Weekly Standard.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Archaeology, Temple Mount, Eilat Mazar, Hershel Shanks
Monday, February 19, 2007
Rereading Judges 11:31: The Sacrifice of Jephthah’s Daughter
The story of Jephthah is well known by readers of the Bible because of his willingness to sacrifice his daughter to celebrate his victory against the enemies of Israel Israel
The leaders of
The NIV and several other translations differ in the way they translate Judges 11:31. The intent of this change is to mitigate the moral dilemma raised by the fact that Jephthah, a man who is celebrated as a “hero of the faith” in Hebrews 11:32, makes a human sacrifice to Yahweh.
The NIV reads: “if you give the Ammonites into my hands, whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord's, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering” (Judges 11:30-31).
The “whoever” of the NRSV presupposes a person, a human being. The “whatever” of the NIV presupposes an animal. The following translations use “whoever”: LXX, BBE, CEV, NAB, NET, NRSV, and the RSV. The following translations use “whatever” or a similar word: ASV, CJB, CSB, ERV, ESV, GWN, JPS, KJV, NAS, NIV, NKJ, NLT, RWB, TNIV, and the TNK.
The Geneva Bible translates “that thing” and the New Jerusalem Bible translates “the first thing.” The Darby translation is neutral; it reads: “that which cometh forth.” The Revised English Version is also neutral: “the first creature that comes out of the door of my house.” The GNB is not neutral: “I will burn as an offering the first person that comes out of my house to meet me.”
So, the question arises: was Jephthah expecting an animal or a person to come out and meet him when he returned home victorious? Did Jephthah make a vow to offer a human sacrifice to God?
Adam Clarke in his commentary on Judges wrote: “Therefore it must be granted that he never made that rash vow which several suppose he did; nor was he capable, if he had, of executing it in that most shocking manner which some Christian writers (“tell it not in Gath”) have contended for.”
In order to demonstrate that Jephthah did not make a human sacrifice,
Thus, the “whatever” translation removes the stigma of human sacrifice from the text. The “whatever” translation allows for an animal sacrifice to be made to God. The “whatever” translation also clears Jephthah from a barbarous act.
Jephthah’s words, however, clearly indicate that he intended to sacrifice a human being, not an animal, for only a person living in his household could be expected to come out and meet him. If Jephthah had intended to offer an animal sacrifice, he probably would have promised to offer the best of his flock.
It was common in the ancient Near East to celebrate victories with music.
One example of the use of music and dancing in times of celebration is Miriam leading Israelite women in celebration at the time the waters of the Red Sea (
Another example of music and dancing to celebrate victory in battle is found in 1 Samuel 18:6. When Saul and David returned home after their victory against the Philistines, “the women came out … with singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with songs of joy, and with musical instruments” (1 Samuel 18:6).
The “Song of Deborah” could also be considered a song of celebration, even though the text does not say that the women came out to meet Deborah and Barak with music and dancing after their victory against Sisera and the army of the Canaanites.
Thus, when Jephthah returned home victorious from his struggle with the Ammonites, his daughter came out to meet him, dancing to the sound of tambourines (Judges 11:34). This was the custom in
So, Jephthah fulfilled his vow to the Lord. When his daughter returned home after two months in the mountain, Jephthah “did to her as he had vowed” (Judges 11:39).
But, an important question must be asked in the fulfilling of Jephthah’s vow. If Jephthah did to his daughter what he had vowed to do, then, what did Jephthah do? And there is a lot of debate about the answer to this question and to what happened to Jephthah’s daughter.
Next week I will come back to this text again and discuss the fate of Jephthah’s daughter.
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Jephthah, Jephthah’s Daughter, Judges 11, Human Sacrifice
Friday, February 16, 2007
The Eternal Embrace
Archaeologists in Italy have uncovered two Stone Age skeletons in what the archaeologists have called, an “eternal embrace.”
The remains were discovered near Verona, the setting for the story of Romeo and Juliet. The remains are roughly 5,000-year-old. The picture of the embracing couple has become a symbol of enduring love.
Pending further studies of the remains, archaeologists cannot determine yet the gender of the couple. If they are a man and a woman, then their embrace will remind people today that Paul’s statement is true: “Love lasts forever” (1 Corinthians 13:13).
Read the story in the National Geographic News.
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Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Archaeology, Eternal Embrace, Love
Picture Credit: National Geographic.
Dr. Eilat Mazar and the Temple Mount
Dr. Eilat Mazar, an archaeologist with the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, has answered several questions about the excavation near the Temple Mount in recent years. The Jerusalem Post has published the answers to 20 of these questions. Here are three questions posed by readers:
Mary Ellen Marks Highland Lakes: Is it true that the Ark of the Covenant is buried under the mount?
Dr. Mazar: There is a very high probability that the most important ancient remains are inside the compound in the massive underground halls. This includes the Ark of the Covenant.
Margaret, Sydney, Australia: Why is the site important to the Christians?
Dr. Mazar: The Temple Mount is of extreme value to the Christians as well, as it was the very spot where the Temple stood, at which Jesus himself arrived and became infuriated when he saw that it was being desecrated by so many people. He said that this was the holy place that the people must respect, and then he overturned the tables in fury. I see many Christians near the Temple Mount, standing on the stairs leading into one of its gates and praying. I urge the Christian world to raise its voice in order to help us preserve this magnificent site, which is part of Christian heritage, as well.
Thomas Crispin, Phoenix, Arizona: What is the most exciting thing you've discovered in your career so far?
Dr. Mazar: My most exciting find was a personal seal impression one centimeter in diameter from the First Temple period that had the name of a minister who was part of the government of Zedekaya. I found it last year during my excavation in the City of David. His name is mentioned in the book of Jeremiah - he was the one who asked King Zedekaya to kill the prophet Jeremiah because he was telling the people of Jerusalem to surrender to the Babylonians. This is astonishing because it is a direct connection between an archeological find and a biblical document. It reinforces our understanding and appreciation of the bible as an historical source of great authenticity.
It is important to remember that there is no evidence that the Ark of the Covenant is buried in one of the caves in the Temple Mount. Dr. Mazar’s response reflects the views of many Jews that before the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BCE, the Ark was hidden in order to protect it from the Babylonians.
I have already written here and here about Dr. Mazar’s excavation in the City of David and the discovery of David’s palace. I have also written here about Dr. Mazar’s discovery of the seal of a Judean official named Jehucal (or Jucal), the son of Shelemiah, the son of Shevi.
Her appeal to Christians is a cry for help. The excavation of the Temple Mount has produced much animosity between Israelis and Palestinians. There is a real desire among Israelis today for Christians to validate Israel’s right to excavate in the area of the Temple Mount. The animosity between Israelis and Palestinians will not go away in the near future. It is possible that the excavation will make the problem more difficult to solve.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Ark of the Covenant, Eilat Mazar, Temple Mount, David’s Palace, Jehucal, Shelemiah
Mary Ellen Marks Highland Lakes: Is it true that the Ark of the Covenant is buried under the mount?
Dr. Mazar: There is a very high probability that the most important ancient remains are inside the compound in the massive underground halls. This includes the Ark of the Covenant.
Margaret, Sydney, Australia: Why is the site important to the Christians?
Dr. Mazar: The Temple Mount is of extreme value to the Christians as well, as it was the very spot where the Temple stood, at which Jesus himself arrived and became infuriated when he saw that it was being desecrated by so many people. He said that this was the holy place that the people must respect, and then he overturned the tables in fury. I see many Christians near the Temple Mount, standing on the stairs leading into one of its gates and praying. I urge the Christian world to raise its voice in order to help us preserve this magnificent site, which is part of Christian heritage, as well.
Thomas Crispin, Phoenix, Arizona: What is the most exciting thing you've discovered in your career so far?
Dr. Mazar: My most exciting find was a personal seal impression one centimeter in diameter from the First Temple period that had the name of a minister who was part of the government of Zedekaya. I found it last year during my excavation in the City of David. His name is mentioned in the book of Jeremiah - he was the one who asked King Zedekaya to kill the prophet Jeremiah because he was telling the people of Jerusalem to surrender to the Babylonians. This is astonishing because it is a direct connection between an archeological find and a biblical document. It reinforces our understanding and appreciation of the bible as an historical source of great authenticity.
It is important to remember that there is no evidence that the Ark of the Covenant is buried in one of the caves in the Temple Mount. Dr. Mazar’s response reflects the views of many Jews that before the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BCE, the Ark was hidden in order to protect it from the Babylonians.
I have already written here and here about Dr. Mazar’s excavation in the City of David and the discovery of David’s palace. I have also written here about Dr. Mazar’s discovery of the seal of a Judean official named Jehucal (or Jucal), the son of Shelemiah, the son of Shevi.
Her appeal to Christians is a cry for help. The excavation of the Temple Mount has produced much animosity between Israelis and Palestinians. There is a real desire among Israelis today for Christians to validate Israel’s right to excavate in the area of the Temple Mount. The animosity between Israelis and Palestinians will not go away in the near future. It is possible that the excavation will make the problem more difficult to solve.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Ark of the Covenant, Eilat Mazar, Temple Mount, David’s Palace, Jehucal, Shelemiah
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Bruce Metzger
Bruce Metzger, a great New Testament scholar and one of the editors of the Greek New Testament, died on February 13, 2007, at the age of 93.The following in the press release announcing Bruce Metzger’s death:
PRINCETON, N.J. -- Bruce Manning Metzger, professor emeritus at Princeton Theological Seminary and an authority on Greek manuscripts of the Bible, has died at age 93.
Metzger, who was born in Middletown, Pa., died Tuesday of natural causes, according to The Mather-Hodge Funeral Home Princeton.
At the time of his death, he was the George L. Collord Professor Emeritus of New Testament Language and Literature at Princeton Theological Seminary.
The son of Maurice and Anna Metzger, he earned a bachelor's degree from Lebanon Valley College in 1935, a bachelor of theology degree from Princeton Seminary in 1938 and a doctorate in classics from Princeton University in 1942. He became an ordained minister with the Presbyterian Church in 1939.
Metzger began his teaching career at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1938, where he stayed in the New Testament department for 46 years. During his time at the seminary, Metzger developed 25 courses on the English and Greek texts of books in the New Testament.
He was also involved with committees in the production of three new editions of the Scriptures: the United Bible Societies' Greek New Testament (1966), the Reader's Digest condensed Bible (1982) and the New Revised Standard Version (1990).
In 1986, Metzger was elected to the American Philosophical Society in the class devoted to the Humanities and in 1994 he was awarded the F.C. Burkitt Medal by the British Academy for his contributions to biblical studies.
Metzger is survived by his wife of 62 years, Isobel Mackay Metzger, two sons and a sister. A memorial service is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 20, in Princeton.
I heard Bruce Metzger once. His lecture was very informative and reflected the scholarship of a man who also had a deep faith. One of my colleagues, who was one of Bruce Metzger students, said that he was a gentleman and a unique individual who treated all his students with the outmost respect.
His work and his students are the legacies Bruce Metzger leaves behind. May his name be remembered for many generations.
RIP.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tag: Bruce Metzger
Temple's Location Found
According to an Israeli archaeologist, the real location of the Temple has been found. Prof. Joseph Patrich, an archaeologist and professor at Hebrew University, used maps created in 1866 by a British explorer and passages from the Jewish Mishnah to pinpoint the exact location of the Temple.
Today, many people believe that the Temple built by King Solomon and rebuilt by the people who returned from exile in Babylon was on the site of the present Muslim Dome of the Rock. However, according to Patrich, the location of the original temple was outside the area where the Dome of the Rock is located.
Although Patrich said his study of the location of the Temple was strictly academic and that no political connotations should be attributed to his research, in this case, it is impossible to separate politics from religion. If the original Temple was located outside the area where the Dome of the Rock is located, then a new Temple could be built without destroying the Muslim holy site.
Read Patrich’s report and view his reconstruction of the Temple area by clicking here.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Joseph Patrich, Temple, Temple Mount
Today, many people believe that the Temple built by King Solomon and rebuilt by the people who returned from exile in Babylon was on the site of the present Muslim Dome of the Rock. However, according to Patrich, the location of the original temple was outside the area where the Dome of the Rock is located.
Although Patrich said his study of the location of the Temple was strictly academic and that no political connotations should be attributed to his research, in this case, it is impossible to separate politics from religion. If the original Temple was located outside the area where the Dome of the Rock is located, then a new Temple could be built without destroying the Muslim holy site.
Read Patrich’s report and view his reconstruction of the Temple area by clicking here.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Joseph Patrich, Temple, Temple Mount
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Islam and the Jews
In the discussion between Islam and Judaism, what is needed is a voice of reason, that is, a moderate Moslem who can look at the contributions of Judaism to the development of Islam.
Now, at last, there is one. Khaleed Mohammed is an imam and also a professor of religion in California. In a lecture delivered on February 6, Professor Mohammed addressed the issue of the roots of Islam in Judaism.
In his lecture, Professor Mohammed cited the 14th Century Arab scholar and theologian, Ibn Khaldun, who said that if a Muslim needs to have an answer to a religious question, he should ask a Jew.
Professor Mohammed said that the Qur'an speaks of a pact between Jews and Muslims, uniting the two groups against the more numerous polytheists. He also said that when a surah urges Muslims to "Fight those who believe not . . . the religion of truth," the reference is not to fight against Jews, but to fight against polytheists.
Professor Mohammed believes that the popular resentment and jealousy that has developed over the centuries against the Jews is because of the powerful position that some Jews held in many Muslim realms, as advisors and physicians to rulers, including people such as Maimonides.
To me, the most important statement in Professor Mohammed’s lecture is his declaration that “Mohammed [himself] said that he was not starting a new religion.”
The above statements of Professor Mohammed were written in an article by Reuel S. Amdur and published in The Arab American News.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northen Baptist Seminary
Tags: Islam, Jews, Judaism
Now, at last, there is one. Khaleed Mohammed is an imam and also a professor of religion in California. In a lecture delivered on February 6, Professor Mohammed addressed the issue of the roots of Islam in Judaism.
In his lecture, Professor Mohammed cited the 14th Century Arab scholar and theologian, Ibn Khaldun, who said that if a Muslim needs to have an answer to a religious question, he should ask a Jew.
Professor Mohammed said that the Qur'an speaks of a pact between Jews and Muslims, uniting the two groups against the more numerous polytheists. He also said that when a surah urges Muslims to "Fight those who believe not . . . the religion of truth," the reference is not to fight against Jews, but to fight against polytheists.
Professor Mohammed believes that the popular resentment and jealousy that has developed over the centuries against the Jews is because of the powerful position that some Jews held in many Muslim realms, as advisors and physicians to rulers, including people such as Maimonides.
To me, the most important statement in Professor Mohammed’s lecture is his declaration that “Mohammed [himself] said that he was not starting a new religion.”
The above statements of Professor Mohammed were written in an article by Reuel S. Amdur and published in The Arab American News.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northen Baptist Seminary
Tags: Islam, Jews, Judaism
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
The Bible and Global Warming
People who say politicians do not know their Bible are not aware of all the biblical quotations we find in speeches published by the distinguished men and women who serve in Congress. At times, politicians like to act like preachers. Politicians like to quote the Bible to prove their argument is solid.
Take the case of the Honorable Rep. Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California and the Speaker of the House. In a speech before the House Science and Technology Committee Hearing, she spoke on the pressing issue of global warming.
Speaker Pelosi said that the future of our children and grandchildren is in our hands. She spoke about the need to act now in order to save our planet. To prove her point, that government needs to act now and tackle “humanity’s greatest challenge,” she quoted the Bible. She said:
The Bible tells us in the Old Testament, “To minister to the needs of God's creation is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us.”
These are touching words. This biblical admonition is very important and highly relevant to the pressing issue of global warming.
Too bad this biblical admonition is not in the Old Testament.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tag: Global Warming, Nancy Pelosi
Take the case of the Honorable Rep. Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California and the Speaker of the House. In a speech before the House Science and Technology Committee Hearing, she spoke on the pressing issue of global warming.
Speaker Pelosi said that the future of our children and grandchildren is in our hands. She spoke about the need to act now in order to save our planet. To prove her point, that government needs to act now and tackle “humanity’s greatest challenge,” she quoted the Bible. She said:
The Bible tells us in the Old Testament, “To minister to the needs of God's creation is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us.”
These are touching words. This biblical admonition is very important and highly relevant to the pressing issue of global warming.
Too bad this biblical admonition is not in the Old Testament.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tag: Global Warming, Nancy Pelosi
Monday, February 12, 2007
I Am Back
I am back, sort of.
A few weeks ago, I stopped blogging in order to finish writing my Self-Study report for the seminary. I was not planning to return to blogging until March, but so many things that interest me are happening that I felt a compulsion to blog again. Blogging is habit forming, I guess.
Last Saturday I linked my post to an article published by the Associated Baptist Press on evangelicals. A friend of mine sent me the information because he knew I am interested in the definition of the word “evangelical.” The truth is, that so many people use the word “evangelical,” that the word has become meaningless.
Then, another reader sent me a link to an article about the professor who was fired because she was a woman teaching Hebrew to seminary students. I will be addressing that issue soon. Two other readers sent me links with suggestions for future posts. I am fortunate to have readers who keep me informed on issues of interest.
The problem I face is that I am still writing my Self-Study report and probably will not finish writing it until mid-March. This means that my writings will be limited. By this I mean that I will be reacting to items in the news and try to write on Old Testament topics as time allows me.
And here is my quote of the day:
Representative James E. Clyburn, a Democrat from South Carolina, is the leader of a “'faith working group'” in the House. The purpose of this group is to help Democrats get more comfortable with value-related issues. Talking about the aims of the group, Mr. Clyburn said: “That's Old Testament Bible, taking care of widows and orphans.”
I like that: “Old Testament Bible.” Only in Washington!
Claude F. Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Blogging, James Clyburn
A few weeks ago, I stopped blogging in order to finish writing my Self-Study report for the seminary. I was not planning to return to blogging until March, but so many things that interest me are happening that I felt a compulsion to blog again. Blogging is habit forming, I guess.
Last Saturday I linked my post to an article published by the Associated Baptist Press on evangelicals. A friend of mine sent me the information because he knew I am interested in the definition of the word “evangelical.” The truth is, that so many people use the word “evangelical,” that the word has become meaningless.
Then, another reader sent me a link to an article about the professor who was fired because she was a woman teaching Hebrew to seminary students. I will be addressing that issue soon. Two other readers sent me links with suggestions for future posts. I am fortunate to have readers who keep me informed on issues of interest.
The problem I face is that I am still writing my Self-Study report and probably will not finish writing it until mid-March. This means that my writings will be limited. By this I mean that I will be reacting to items in the news and try to write on Old Testament topics as time allows me.
And here is my quote of the day:
Representative James E. Clyburn, a Democrat from South Carolina, is the leader of a “'faith working group'” in the House. The purpose of this group is to help Democrats get more comfortable with value-related issues. Talking about the aims of the group, Mr. Clyburn said: “That's Old Testament Bible, taking care of widows and orphans.”
I like that: “Old Testament Bible.” Only in Washington!
Claude F. Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Blogging, James Clyburn
Sunday, February 11, 2007
The University of Phoenix and Academic Quality
The New York Times has a very interesting article on the University of Phoenix. It is an article worth reading:
PHOENIX — The University of Phoenix became the nation’s largest private university by delivering high profits to investors and a solid, albeit low-overhead, education to midcareer workers seeking college degrees.
But its reputation is fraying as prominent educators, students and some of its own former administrators say the relentless pressure for higher profits, at a university that gets more federal student financial aid than any other, has eroded academic quality.
According to federal statistics and government audits, the university relies more on part-time instructors than all but a few other postsecondary institutions, and its accelerated academic schedule races students through course work in about half the time of traditional universities. The university says that its graduation rate, using the federal standard, is 16 percent, which is among the nation’s lowest, according to Department of Education data. But the university has dozens of campuses, and at many, the rate is even lower.
To read the whole article, click here.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tag: Univeristy of Phoenix
PHOENIX — The University of Phoenix became the nation’s largest private university by delivering high profits to investors and a solid, albeit low-overhead, education to midcareer workers seeking college degrees.
But its reputation is fraying as prominent educators, students and some of its own former administrators say the relentless pressure for higher profits, at a university that gets more federal student financial aid than any other, has eroded academic quality.
According to federal statistics and government audits, the university relies more on part-time instructors than all but a few other postsecondary institutions, and its accelerated academic schedule races students through course work in about half the time of traditional universities. The university says that its graduation rate, using the federal standard, is 16 percent, which is among the nation’s lowest, according to Department of Education data. But the university has dozens of campuses, and at many, the rate is even lower.
To read the whole article, click here.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tag: Univeristy of Phoenix
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Who Is An Evangelical?
The old question has returned again: Who is an evangelical?
A recent report has several things to say about evangelicals:
1. 25% of those people who call themselves evangelicals are not born-again Christians.
2. Some evangelicals do not believe in Satan.
3. Democratic evangelicals are pro-choice and pro-gay marriage.
4. Many Catholics consider themselves to be evangelicals.
5. An evangelical defined evangelicals as “people who believe in the Nicene Creed.”
So, who is an evangelical?
Read the report by clicking here.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tag: Evangelicals
A recent report has several things to say about evangelicals:
1. 25% of those people who call themselves evangelicals are not born-again Christians.
2. Some evangelicals do not believe in Satan.
3. Democratic evangelicals are pro-choice and pro-gay marriage.
4. Many Catholics consider themselves to be evangelicals.
5. An evangelical defined evangelicals as “people who believe in the Nicene Creed.”
So, who is an evangelical?
Read the report by clicking here.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tag: Evangelicals
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