Simcha Jacobovic and the Burial Site of Jesus’ Disciples

An report in the Ottawa Citizen is claiming that Simcha Jacobovic, “the naked archaeologist,” has discovered the burial site of some of Jesus’ disciples.

Read the report by visiting my blog today.  Here is the link: The Burial Site of Jesus’ Disciples

My blog has moved to my new web page.  Visit the new site of my blog, read my post today, then subscribe to my blog and receive all my posts as they are published. My new site is Dr. Mariottini.

Topics: Archaeology, Simcha Jacobovic, James Tabor

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

A Greek Bronze Helmet

Archaeologists have found a The Greek bronze helmet covered with gold leaf that is 2,600-year-old. The bronze helmet probably belonged to a Greek mercenary who fought with Neco, a pharaoh of Egypt.  The helmet was discovered in the waters of Haifa Bay, in Israel.

Here is the link to my post today:  A Bronze Helmet from the Time of Neco

My blog has moved to my new web page.  Visit the new site of my blog, read my post today, then subscribe to my blog and receive all my posts as they are published. My new site is Dr. Mariottini.

Topics: Archaeology, Neco, Josiah, Assyria, Babylon, Bronze Helmet

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

The Character of the God

God’s love and wrath are never more visible than at the cross.[8] God’s redemptive purposes for his creation will continue through history until consummation when heaven and earth come together as a new creation. Both Testaments offer an enthralling vision of the new creation, one to which we may look forward with glorious hope. A superficial look may make the Old Testament God out to be a moral monster or a merciless judge who exhibits disturbing behavior. However, a closer study of his word establishes his character as a holy, loving, faithful, suffering, merciful, and just God, one who yearns for an intimate reconciled relationship with us.

Read my post today: The Character of the God

My blog has moved to my new web page.  Visit the new site of my blog, read my post today, then subscribe to my blog and receive all my posts as they are published. My new site is Dr. Mariottini.

Topics: David, Evil, Theodicy, Divine Suffering, Hebrew God

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Violence and the Fall of the Akkadian Empire

My post today deals with the Turkish archaeologist Omur Dilek Erdal’s discovery of an Early Bronze Age site in southern Turkey that contains the remains of men, women, and children.  According to Erdal, the mass killings is associated with the fall of the Akkadian Empire.

Here is the link to my post: Violence and the Fall of the Akkadian Empire

My blog has moved to my new web page.  Visit the new site of my blog, read my post today, then subscribe to my blog and receive all my posts as they are published. My new site is Dr. Mariottini.

Topics: Akkandian, Omur Erdal, Titris Hoyuk, Archaeology

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Anthropomorphism in the Hebrew Bible

My post today deals with Michael B. Hundley’s review of Esther J. Hamori’s book When Gods Were Men: The Embodied God in Biblical and Near Eastern Literature. Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, 384. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2008. The review of the book was published in the Review of Biblical Literature.

Hamori’s book is one of the many books published in the last few years Hamori’s book deals primarily with Genesis 18:1–15 and 32:23–33, two passages in which God reveals himself as a “man” in the context of divine-human interaction.

Here is the link: The Embodiment of God in the Hebrew Bible

My blog has moved to my new web page.  Visit the new site of my blog, read my post today, then subscribe to my blog and receive all my posts as they are published. My new site is Dr. Mariottini.

Topics: Jacob, Genesis 32, Michael Hundley, Esther Hamori, The Embodiment of God


Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

God, The Instant Executioner

Eric Seibert describes God as an instant executioner in certain incidents where intermediaries are not used. He considers the instant executions by God as use of excessive lethal force and unwarranted for the offense involved.[1] For instance, why does God kill Judah’s sons, Er and Onan? What about the death of Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu? Why was Uzzah killed for trying to save the ark from falling off the cart?

Read my post today: God, The Instant Executioner

My blog has moved to my new web page.  Visit the new site of my blog, read my post today, then subscribe to my blog and receive all my posts as they are published. My new site is Dr. Mariottini.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

The Rape of Bilhah

A sad and demoralizing story about Jacob’s family occurs in Genesis 35:22. The text says: “While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine; and Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve.”

Read how the writer of Genesis deals with this sad story.

Here is the link: The Rape of Dinah

My blog has moved to WordPress.  Visit the new site of my blog, read my post today, then subscribe to my blog and receive all my posts as they are published. My new site is Dr. Mariottini.

Topics: Genesis 35, Jacob, Reuben, Bilhah, Rape, Hebrew Bible

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Jacob’s Struggle with God

How can God, the God who by the power of his word, created the world into existence, lose a fight with a mere human being? Why does God allow himself to lose his struggle with Jacob? Today I conclude my study of Jacob’s struggle with God by trying to provide an answer to this puzzling question.

Read my post today.  Here is the link: Jacob’s Struggle with God

My blog has moved to my new web page.  Visit the new site of my blog, read my post today, then subscribe to my blog and receive all my posts as they are published. My new site is Dr. Mariottini.

Topics: Genesis, Jacob, Theophany, Peniel, Hebrew Bible, Old Testament, Genesis 32


Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Theological Baptist Seminary

Tu Bi-Shebat

Today is Tu Bi-Shebat, a Jewish holiday celebrating the new year for trees.  This year the holiday is celebrated at sundown on February 7 through February 8. Tu Bi-Shebat falls on the 15th day of the Jewish month of Shebat.  The day is known as the New Year for Trees.  The word “Tu” means 15 in Hebrew.  It is composed of two Hebrew letters ט and ו.

The purpose of this holiday is to calculate the age of trees for the purpose of tithing.  This festival is based on the law found in Leviticus 19:23-25:

Read more about this Jewish holiday. Here is the link Tu Bi-Shebat

My blog has moved to my new web page.  Visit the new site of my blog, read my post today, then subscribe to my blog and receive all my posts as they are published. My new site is Dr. Mariottini.

Topics:  Judaism, Tu Bi-Shebat, Year of the Tree, Leviticus 19


Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary