The Tel Burna team has begun a survey of Khirbet ʿAter, a likely candidate for biblical Ether.
Bruno Soltic created a video on “Tel Burna – Week on a Dig,” featuring interviews with Itzick Shai, Steven Ortiz, Chris McKinny, and others.
Registration has now opened for next summer’s excavations at Tel Burna and Gath.
Sepphoris was an important city near Nazareth, and Wayne Stiles looks at its possible place in Jesus’s youth.
Bill Barrick posts about his visit to Sepphoris on a recent research trip, and he includes many photos.
Archaeology magazine has a feature on the dye industry at Tel Shikmona near Haifa.
Israel21c has identified “Israel’s best ancient toilets.”
Three individuals were arrested on suspicion of stealing antiquities from ancient Megiddo.
“In the hills of Timna in the Arava Desert, just north of Eilat, lies a secret lake that has become a magnet for some adventurous Israelis unable to travel abroad due to the coronavirus pandemic.”
Hebrew University has just released the first three volumes in the Tel Rehov final report series (scroll to the bottom).
Shalom Paul died earlier this week.
Israel’s Good Name made a number of outings this year to the Yavne dunes, finding it an ideal place for spotting birds, snakes, and other wildlife.
I am excited about this book forthcoming from Barry Beitzel: Where Was the Biblical Red Sea? Examining the Ancient Evidence. Beitzel defends the traditional location and shows why the Gulf of Aqaba hypothesis is impossible.
The Infusion Bible Conference (formerly the Institute of Biblical Context Conference) has just announced that the 2021 conference will be held in Franklin, Tennessee. This year’s topic is “Paul and His Roman World.”
HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer, G. M. Grena, Charles Savelle, Explorator
One thought on “Weekend Roundup, Part 1”
Shalom Paul wrote a couple of excellent articles on the translation of Daniel 6:8 and 9:27 that have largely been ignored by Bible translations.
“Dan 6,8: An Aramaic Reflex of Assyrian Legal Terminology.” Biblica 65 (1984) 106-110.
“Gleanings from the Biblical and Talmudic Lexica in Light of Akkadian.” Pages 242-56 in Minḥah le-Naḥum: Biblical and Other Studies Presented to Nahum M. Sarna in Honour of his 70th Birthday. Edited by Marc Brettler and Michael Fishbane. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series 154. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1993.
With regard to Daniel 9:27, Paul says that Daniel’s use of הִגְבִּיר is “the cognate semantic equivalent of Akkaddian [sic] dunnunu and Aramaic הַּקֵּף and, in the present context of a ברית, ‘covenant’, shares with them the legal meaning of ‘binding’.”
With regard to Daniel 6:8[MT], Paul says that the the Pael of תְּקֵף is “the interdialectal semantic equivalent of the Assyrian verb dunnunu,” which appears as a technical legal term in both Old Assyrian and Neo-Assyrian documents.
Basically, these verses do not refer to making a “strong” covenant, but just to ratifying a normal covenant or decree.