Proof of Bible’s King David?

The National Geographic has provided a video that shows the ostracon found in the Valley of Elah. National Geographic asks the question: “Does the discovery prove the Bible’s story of King David?

Watch the video by clicking here.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tag: David, Goliath

Is Israel Returning to Kingship?

According to a news report published in Arutz Sheva: Israel National News, biblical scholar and historian David Solomon said that the current political situation in Israel “could have all the necessary ingredients for the appointment of a king.”

In an interview on Israel National Radio, Solomon said that “problems and divisions within Israel today and the threats it faces from outside to its security could be interpreted as the conditions that precede the appointment of a king.”

Solomon said: “We need a unified leadership, we've got anti-Semitic regimes on our doorstep that want to wipe us out, we have fractures within the population.” The report continues:

Drawing a parallel between the current “disastrous absence of genuine political and spiritual and religious leadership” in Israel today and the period leading up to the anointing of Israel's first king, Saul, he said that many people might view a theocratic monarchy as an answer to Israel's troubles today as it was then.

Discussing the period of the early chapters of the book of Samuel, dated historically at around 1100 BCE, Solomon said that the situation at that time saw a crisis of political and religious leadership based upon corruption, exploitation and the abuse of power. It was as a result of this that the people of Israel turned to the prophet Samuel seeking a different model of leadership, asking instead for a king.

This call for the return of kingship in Israel is very interesting. Now that the Temple Institute is committed to see Israel rebuild the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, even to the point of preparing some of the vestments for the High Priest, the call to restore kingship in Israel will intensify Jewish expectations for the coming of the Messiah.

Is it possible that the return of kingship may be a fulfillment of Hosea 3:4-5? Hose prophesied: “For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or idol. Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD and to his blessings in the last days.”

Even though Solomon warns about the perils of re-establishing the monarchy, I am sure that many people in Israel would welcome the return of kingship.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: David, King, Kingship, Hosea 3

Excavating Persepolis

The Tehran Times is reporting that a group of Italian and Iranian archaeologists are excavating the ancient city of Persepolis.

Persepolis was the capital of the Persian Empire during the Achaemenid dynasty. The site of the city was selected by Cyrus the Great, but it was Darius the Great who built the great palaces of Persepolis.

According to the results of excavations conducted by Iranian archaeologists, the city of Persepolis was much larger than previous surveys have indicated

The ancient name of the Persian city was Parsa, a word meaning “The City of Persians.” The name “Persepolis” is the Greek name for the city. Persepolis means “Persian City.”

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, Cyrus the Great, Darius the Great, Persepolis, Persia

David and the Water Tunnel

Archaeologist Eilat Mazar, who has been excavating in the ancient City of David, has discovered a tunnel built thousands of years ago. According the her report, it is possible that this tunnel was the same tunnel used by David and his men to conquer the city of Jerusalem. The tunnel was uncovered in the ancient City of David, just outside the Old City and across the street from the Dung Gate.

According to Mazar, “there is a high probability that the tunnel is the one referred to as the ‘tsinor’ in the Biblical story of King David’s conquest of Jerusalem (2 Samuel 5:6-8; 1 Chronicles 11:4-6).”

Mazar also said that “the new discoveries in the excavations in the City of David illuminate the ancient history of Jerusalem and the reality described in the Bible.”

Read the report of Mazar’s discovery by clicking here.

Recent archaeological findings have amazed students of the Bible. Although many people still deny the historical reliability of some of the events mentioned in the Bible, archaeology little by little is demonstrating that the events mentioned in the Bible are not the result of creative writing in the post-exilic period.

Those who have adopted a minimalist approach to the history of Israel are running out of arguments to deny the basic historicity of the facts mentioned in the books of Samuel and Kings. What else do they need? One of these days archaeologists many find in the City of David a document that actually mentions David. We already have one or two, but these were found someplace else. Will that convince the skeptics? Probably not!

Related posts describing the work of Eilat Mazar:

Nehemiah’s Wall
Gedaliah ben Pashhur
David’s Palace Discovered
Shelemiah the son of Shevi

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, David, Eilat Mazar, Tsinor, Water Tunnel,

The Oldest Hebrew Text

Photo: Archeologist Yossi Garfinkel displays a ceramic shard bearing a Hebrew inscription at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Garfinkel says the ceramic shard containing five lines of faded characters written 3,000 years ago at the time of the Old Testament's King David, was found in the ruins of an ancient fortified town south of Jerusalem and is the oldest Hebrew inscription ever discovered, according to Garfinkel.

Archaeology again may contribute to our understanding of Israelite history. Archeologists have found an ostraca with writings that dates back to 3,000 B.C., the period when David was king. According to the news report, the words “judge,” “slave,” and “king” appear on the five lines of texts. The written material was found on a site called Elah Fortress. The Valley of Elah was the place where Israel fought against the Philistines and David killed Goliath (1 Samuel 17:2).

Because of the importance of the finding, I am posting in its entirety the news report published by Reuters. According to the press release, the article was written by Ari Rabinovitch and edited by Sami Aboudi.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Archaeologists in Israel said on Thursday they had unearthed the oldest Hebrew text ever found, while excavating a fortress city overlooking a valley where the Bible says David slew Goliath.

Experts have not yet been able to decipher fully the five lines of text written in black ink on a shard of pottery dug up at a five-acre (two-hectare) archaeological site called Elah Fortress, or Khirbet Qeiyafa.

The Bible says David, later to become the famed Jewish king, killed Goliath, a Philistine warrior, in a battle in the Valley of Elah, now the site of wineries and an Israeli satellite station.

Archaeologists at Hebrew University said carbon dating of artifacts found at the fortress site, about 20 km (12 miles) southwest of Jerusalem, indicate the Hebrew inscription was written some 3,000 years ago, predating the Dead Sea Scrolls by 1,000 years.

They have been able to make out some of its words, including "judge," "slave" and "king."

Yosef Garfinkel, the lead archaeologist at the site, said the findings could shed significant light on the period of King David's rule over the Israelites.

"The chronology and geography of Khirbet Qeiyafa create a unique meeting point between the mythology, history, historiography and archaeology of King David," Garfinkel said.

It is amazing the kind of information archaeology can provide in clarifying the past. So far, the five lines of text have not been translated. However, if the words “judge” and “king” are correct, the ostraca may be a reference to the late period of the judges or the early years of the monarchy.

I just hope that archaeologists and epigraphers provide a translation of the text as soon as possible. This finding may radically transform our understanding of the early history of Israel.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, David, Elah, Goliath, King, Philistines, Yosef Garfinkel

Gargoyles in the Old Testament

Photo: A gargoyle adorning Dornoch Cathedral in Dornoch, Scotland

The BBC is reporting that “new gargoyles were being lifted into place at Gloucester Cathedral as part of a revamp of the building.”

According to the news report, “the gargoyles put in place in Tuesday depicted characters from Psalm 148.”

I had forgotten about the gargoyles of the Old Testament, those grotesque figures generally used as ornaments in pagan temples and in churches whose function was to scare off evil spirits and protect holy places.

So, I reread Psalm 148, the biblical text used to depict those gargoyles. And sure enough, just as I suspected, the gargoyles of Psalm 148 are just the creation of a very fertile imagination.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Architecture, Art, Gargoyles, Psalm 148

Solomon’s Copper Mines Discovered

Photo: Industrial copper slag mound excavated at Khirbat en-Nahas. Date: 10th century BCE.

Credit: Photo by Thomas Levy, UC San Diego.

Two archaeologists have announced they have found a copper -production center at Khirbat en-Nahas in Jordan. The site is dated to the 10th BCE and may be related to the copper production center developed by Solomon. The fallowing is an excerpt from the article:

Led by Thomas Levy of UC San Diego and Mohammad Najjar of Jordan's Friends of Archaeology, an international team of archaeologists has excavated an ancient copper-production center at Khirbat en-Nahas down to virgin soil, through more than 20 feet of industrial smelting debris, or slag. The 2006 dig has brought up new artifacts and with them a new suite of radiocarbon dates placing the bulk of industrial-scale production at Khirbat en-Nahas in the 10th century BCE – in line with biblical narrative on the legendary rule of David and Solomon. The new data pushes back the archaeological chronology some three centuries earlier than the current scholarly consensus.

The research also documents a spike in metallurgic activity at the site during the 9th century BCE, which may also support the history of the Edomites as related by the Bible.

Khirbat en-Nahas, which means "ruins of copper" in Arabic, is in the lowlands of a desolate, arid region south of the Dead Sea in what was once Edom and is today Jordan's Faynan district. The Hebrew Bible (or Old Testament) identifies the area with the Kingdom of Edom, foe of ancient Israel.

For years, scholars have argued whether the Edomites were sufficiently organized by the 10th to 9th centuries BCE to seriously threaten the neighboring Israelites as a true "kingdom." Between the World Wars, during the "Golden Age" of biblical archaeology, scholars explored, as Levy describes it, with a trowel in one hand and Bible in the other, seeking to fit their Holy Land findings into the sacred story. Based on his 1930s surveys, American archaeologist Nelson Glueck even asserted that he had found King Solomon's mines in Faynan/Edom. By the 1980s, however, Glueck's claim had been largely dismissed. A consensus had emerged that the Bible was heavily edited in the 5th century BCE, long after the supposed events, while British excavations of the Edomite highlands in the 1970s-80s suggested the Iron Age had not even come to Edom until the 7th century BCE.

"Now," said Levy, director of the Levantine Archaeology Lab at UCSD and associate director of the new Center of Interdisciplinary Science for Art, Architecture and Archaeology (CISA3), "with data from the first large-scale stratified and systematic excavation of a site in the southern Levant to focus specifically on the role of metallurgy in Edom, we have evidence that complex societies were indeed active in 10th and 9th centuries BCE and that brings us back to the debate about the historicity of the Hebrew Bible narratives related to this period."


Khirbat en-Nahas, comprising some 100 ancient buildings including a fortress, is situated in the midst of a large area covered by black slag – more than 24 acres that you can clearly see on Google Earth's satellite imagery. Mining trails and mines abound. The size argues for industrial-scale production at Khirbat en-Nahas, Levy explained. And the depth of the waste at the site, more than 20 feet, he said, provides a "measuring stick" to monitor social and technological change during the Iron Age, which spans around 1200 to 500 BCE, a key period in the histories of ancient Israel and Edom.

The archaeological team, Levy said, used high-precision radiocarbon dating on date seeds, sticks of tamarisk and other woods used for charcoal in smelting (along with Bayesian analysis) to obtain the 10th- and 9th-century BCE dates. The analyses were carried out by Thomas Higham of the University of Oxford.

Additional evidence comes from ancient Egyptian artifacts found at the site. The artifacts, a scarab and an amulet, were in a layer of the excavation associated with a serious disruption in production at the end of the 10th century BCE – possibly tying Khirbat en-Nahas to the well-documented military campaign of Pharaoh Sheshonq I (aka "Shishak" in the Bible) who, following Solomon's death, sought to crush economic activity in the area.

Read the article in its entirety by clicking here.

If the information proves to be reliable, this finding will clearly change the understanding of the history of the period. High precision carbon dating provides a 10th date for the site, a period that relates well with the activities of Solomon on the site.

In addition, if the Egyptian artifacts confirm Shishak’s campaign in the region, then the evidence again will point to Solomonic activities in the area and the historical reliability of the text. As the article states: “If the data proves to be reliable, this finding will clearly change the understanding of biblical history of the period. High precision carbon dating provides a 10th date for the site, a period that relates well with the activities of Solomon on the site.”

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, Copper Mines, Solomon, Shishak, Thomas Levy

Pronouncing the Divine Name: An Explanation

Monsignor Pedro Lopez-Gallo, of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver, explains why the Catholic Church is not allowing the divine name YHWH to be pronounced in the liturgy. He wrote:

The translation of the Septuagint was inherited by the early Christians, and the Fathers of the Church frequently used this version. As mentioned by the document, they concluded that during this pre-Christian era, the four Hebrew letters YHWH were translated as the Greek word Kyrios, which means Lord.

The Vatican, therefore, in editing the document, uses the argument of tradition and the theological meaning of God as revealed by Christ, as the One and Triune God.

Today, only octogenarian priests remember that in the former breviary, the prayer book of priests, was the proclamation of faith called Quicumque, meaning Whoever, which said:

“Whoever wishes to be saved must believe that this is the Catholic faith: We worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in unity; neither confusing the persons nor dividing the substance. The three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are distinct, but they possess one Godhead, equal glory, and co-eternal majesty....”

The Apostles' Creed which we recite on Sundays is the same: "I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, Our Lord," and later, "I believe in the Holy Spirit."

So continues this most beautiful and fervent proclamation on the Holy Trinity, that is not included in the four Hebrew letters YHWH.

To me, to ban the pronunciation of the divine name because it does not proclaim the Holy Trinity, is not good theology. If the God of the New Testament is the same God of the Old Testament, then the concept of the Trinity, although not explicit in the divine name, is implicit in the nature of the God of the Bible The same “I AM” (ἐγὠ εἰμι) of Exodus 3:14 is the same “I AM” (ἐγὠ εἰμι) of John 8:24.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Divine Name, I AM, Jesus, YHWH

The Election of a President: An Old Testament Perspective

In a few days the American people will elect the next president of the United States. As an American citizen, I have been voting in presidential elections since the 1970s. I believe that this election campaign has been one of the nastiest, ugliest, and most belligerent in recent years.

In the presidential election of 2008, we have two candidates, with different economic and political views, as far apart from each other as east is from the west. And the American people are divided in their preference. According to a recent poll taken among likely voters, the difference between the two candidates is 1%, with a margin of error of ± 3%.

Voters are divided on who should be the next president, but the mainstream media is not. A recent Rasmussen poll showed that 45% of the population believes that the media wants Obama to win. These same 45% of the public believe “the media will use the censorship of information as a means to achieve a tactical advantage for their candidate of choice (Obama).” The same poll reports that 49% of those polled believe that most reporters will help the Democrats with their coverage.

In this election the media has become partisan. This is the reason that the media does not investigate Barack Obama when he does not tell the truth or obfuscates the facts. Media bias in favor of Obama is the reason the media refuses to scrutinize the thin resume and his lack of experience to become the president of the United States.

Media partisanship is the reason John McCain has been vilified, called a racist, and compared to George Wallace. Media bias is the reason Sarah Palin has been ridiculed by the misrepresentation of her qualifications and achievements and the reason her husband and children have been maligned by falsehoods.

If the press has already made its selection, some people may ask the question: “Who does God favor in this election?” In a recent post, Duane Smith quoted the prayer of Arnold Conrad:

“There are millions of people around this world praying to their god — whether it’s Hindu, Buddha, Allah — that his [McCain’s] opponent wins, for a variety of reasons,” said Arnold Conrad, former pastor of Grave Evangelical Free Church. “And Lord, I pray that you would guard your own reputation because they’re going to think that their god is bigger than you if that happens. So I pray that you will step forward and honor your own name in all that happens between now and Election Day.”

Although Conrad’s prayer is not a direct request for God to elect John McCain, it is very close. Not so the prayer of Dennis Hopper, the US actor-director best known for his movie “Easy Rider.” According to a published report, Hopper is praying to God for a victory for Barack Obama.

Now, we have two prayers, one asking God to vote Republican and the other asking God to vote Democrat. Is anyone out there praying that Bob Barr, the nominee of the Libertarian Party, be elected the next President of the United States? If there is, then God has three choices to make.

But is God interested in who is elected the next President of the United States? Does the Old Testament have anything to say about God’s dealing with the selection of a political leader to rule a nation? Before I answer these questions, let me review God’s involvement in the political process in Israel.

Until the days of David and Solomon there was no central government in Israel. Israel was organized as a society without a king, for YHWH was the only and true king of the nation (1
Samuel 8:7). As the prophet Isaiah proclaimed: “For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king” (Isaiah 33:22).

But, because of the misconduct of Samuel’s sons, whom Samuel had appointed judges in Israel, the elders of the nation, after holding a formal meeting, came to Samuel and requested a king (1 Samuel 8). The request displeased Samuel, but he sought God’s guidance and was told by God to yield to the people’s demand (1 Samuel 8:7).

Thus, Saul, the son of Kish, a man from the tribe of Benjamin, was elected the first king of Israel. The people accepted Saul as king by proclaiming: “Long live the king!” (1 Samuel 10:24). As a king, Saul ruled not in his own right nor did he rule because he was chosen by the people, but by being chosen by God. Besides being commander-in-chief of the army and supreme judge, the king exercised the power to impose taxes on the people and required from them service and labor on behalf of the government.

When Saul failed to fulfill his responsibility, God chose another man, one who would rule in righteousness. David was chosen to be the second king. God established a covenant with David which guaranteed that the descendants of David would sit on the throne for ever.

After the division of the kingdom, the Northern Kingdom adopted a charismatic type of leadership. Anyone who had the support of the army and of the people could become king. This caused a period of political instability until the accession of Omri to the throne of Israel. Omri was able to establish a dynasty that lasted more than a century.

With the death of Zechariah (2 Kings 15:8-12), Omri’s dynasty came to an end and political instability reappeared and continued until the fall of Samaria in 722 BCE. Concerning the political instability in the Northern Kingdom, the LORD said: “They set up kings without my consent; they choose princes without my approval” (Hosea 8:4). These words indicate that the LORD desired for the people to consult him in the selection of their kings, but they never did.

The Old Testament also says that God had a part in the political process of other nations. God commanded Elijah to “anoint Hazael king over Aram” (1 Kings 19:15). According to Amos, God was planning to intervene in the political process in Moab because of the Moabite king’s inhumane treatment of the king of Edom (Amos 2:1). Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, was called by God and became his servant to accomplish God’s purpose in the world (Jeremiah 25:9). God called Cyrus of Persia to subdue nations for the sake of God’s people: “For the sake of Jacob my servant, of Israel my chosen, I summon you by name and bestow on you a title of honor, though you do not acknowledge me” (Isaiah 45:4).

In light of all the things mentioned above, what does the Old Testament have to say to us today about the selection of the next president of the United States?

The answer is: absolutely nothing!

The Bible says: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD” (Psalm 33:12). But the United States is not a “nation whose God is the LORD.” The Old Testament rules for kingship do not apply to the election of the president of the United States.

God does not tell us to vote for John McCain or Barack Obama. God does not tell us to vote Democrat or Republican. God does not favor one candidate over the other; God has no favorites.

This means that we have a responsibility to make a choice and God will work with and through whomever we choose as the next president. For this reason voters must know the issues, the policies of each candidate, and where they stand on matters that will affect our country and the lives of every citizen. Then, they must vote for the one who will be a better candidate for our country, because what is good for the country is good for all.

When the people selected Saul, they chose him because he was “an impressive young man, a head taller than any of the others” (1 Samuel 9:2). When God chose David he did so because of his heart. When the people selected their kings, they considered “his appearance and his height.” When the LORD selected a king, he considered the man’s “heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).

The presidential election of 2008 will be crucial for the future of this country. Thus, it is necessary that every American citizen exercise the rights of citizenship and vote for the person who will help our nation through this very difficult time in its history. It is imperative that each citizen vote this election; vote early and vote often only once.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Barack Obama, Bob Barr, John McCain, Media, News, Politics, Sarah Palin

The Voice: A New Translation of the Bible

Thomas Nelson, a Nashville-based Christian publishing house, is announcing the release of a new translation of the Bible called The Voice. The complete New Testament will be released next week and the complete Old Testament will be released by fall 2010.

Here is how David Capes, one of the editors of The Voice, describes the intent of this new Bible in an article published in HoustonBelief.com:

“What we're looking for is almost like the King James version,” he says. “We're looking for a more literary rendering that will stand the test of time. Our take is, if it's written beautifully and calls you into the narrative, that when you finish a chapter you really want to read the next chapter to see what's going to happen, then more people in their 20s and 30s will end up reading the Bible.”

The article continues describing the intent of The Voice:

To ease the reading experience The Voice's translators have introduced several elements. They set up dialogue in screenplay format, with the speaker's name, then his spoken words without quotation marks. That eliminates the “Jesus saids” and “Peter saids.”

Sprinkled liberally throughout are boxed notes that elucidate in non-academic language what a “pharisee” is, for example, or why Jesus sought to recruit disciples. “It helps fill in the blanks for ... people who've never been to the text before,” Capes says.

Here and there the translators add words and phrases not in the original to clarify something. The introduced language is italicized so readers can recognize it for what it is.

The article then describes how The Voice came into being:

The Voice's New Testament project brought together 11 Bible scholars and more than a dozen writers. Contributors communicated sometimes in person, often via e-mail or videoconference. The writers include Brian McLaren and Lauren Winner, best known for their popular books on religion and spirituality, as well as Greg Garrett, who has written secular fiction. Capes and Seay are also contributing writers.

Surprisingly, the writers rather than the scholars were tasked with producing the first draft. "We asked the writers to get started, to work from the original if they could, or if they couldn't, to work from translations, and to provide their own version," Capes says.

Then a scholar, working from the Greek or Hebrew, adjusted the translation to capture the nuances of the original. The draft went back and forth several more times between scholars and writers and reviewers. Typically more than 14 people looked at a book before it was pronounced ready for print.

What is interesting about this new translation is that “writers rather than the scholars were tasked with producing the first draft.” Then, scholars, “working from the Greek or Hebrew, adjusted the translation to capture the nuances of the original.”

This process of translation says a lot about The Voice. However, one has to wait until the release of this new translation to pass judgment on its merits.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Bible, David Capes, The Voice, Translation

Babylon: Its History and Art

Photo: The Tower of Babel


The British Museum will open an exhibition on Babylon next month. In order to introduce the exhibition, Times Online has published a good article on Babylon, describing some of the myths and legends the city of Babylon has generated in history and in art. The following is an excerpt from the article:

No city has been demonised quite like Babylon, nor any king so denounced as the incarnation of evil as Nebuchadnezzar. Neither the scriptures nor the myths have spared them: for more than 2,000 years Babylon has been a byword for vice, excess and well-deserved ruin while legend has created a ruler consumed by pride, folly and cruelty.

Yet Babylon was once the cultured capital of a flourishing empire, majestic in its architecture, rich in works of art and peopled by thinkers who pioneered mathematical and astronomical concepts still valid today. Nebuchadnezzar, its greatest and most ambitious king, was a man who changed the course of world history from a capital whose ruins remain in the parched Iraqi desert.

The name Babylon still has the power to fascinate. We think of the Hanging Gardens, the Tower of Babel, the Babylonian Captivity and the city’s infamous fall. For more than 1,000 years, painters and story-tellers have embellished the biblical denunciations of the city in the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation with vivid warnings to the Western world. In 1498 Albrecht Dürer depicted the “Whore of Babylon” as a harridan riding a seven-headed beast.

The article seeks to study whether Babylon deserve its legendary reputation for depravity. Read the article by clicking here.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, Babel, Babylon, Tower of Babel, Ziggurat

The Tenth Commandment (Deuteronomy 5:21)

Part 1: The Status of Women in Israelite Society

Part 2: The Deuteronomic Concern for Women

Part 3: The Tenth Commandment (Deuteronomy 5:21)

In my study of the Deuteronomic concern for the status of women in Israelite society, I will discuss a few of the laws enacted in the book of Deuteronomy that seek to improve the legal rights of women in Israelite society in the seventh century BCE. Today I will continue my study with a review of the Tenth Commandment. When we study the Tenth Commandment as it appears in Exodus and in Deuteronomy, we can see an important change of attitude toward the status of women in Israelite society.

In the Tenth Commandment, as it appears in Exodus, it is clear that the woman is included in what belongs to a man, that it, she is considered part of his property:

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor (Exodus 20:17).

The “house” is not merely the dwelling of a man, but his entire household, as in Genesis15:2. In Exodus the idea of the “house” includes the wife, the male servants, the female servants, cattle, and whatever else a man may possess (“anything that belongs to your neighbor”).

Although the wife was part of a man’s house, the wife was not considered an absolute property of her husband, debased to the level of a slave as female servants were. The woman had rights as a wife and as a mother. In the home she probably supervised servants, educated children, and participated in the religious life of the family.

In Israel, most marriages were sealed with the gift of the mōhar. There is much question whether the mōhar, the bridal price which a man gave to the father of the bride, was actually a purchase by which a woman became the possession of her husband. Whether the mōhar was considered the price paid for the bride or a compensation that contributed to the union of two families, it is possible that in many situations, the mōhar was considered a purchase, which served to promote the idea that the woman was the husband’s property.

According to Exodus 21:7, a man could sell his daughter to a man, but in this case she became a concubine and not a slave. Rachel and Leah complained that their father Laban had sold them to Jacob. They said: “Does he not regard us as foreigners? Not only has he sold us, but he has used up what was paid for us.” However, if they were sold to Jacob, Laban’s action may not represent an Israelite practice but it may reflect a Mesopotamian marriage tradition (see Genesis 29:26).

The mōhar, the bridal price was paid by Shechem to marry Dinah, Jacob’s daughter. When Hamor and his son Shechem went to Jacob and his sons to ask permission for Shechem to marry Dinah, Shechem told Jacob: “Let me find favor in your eyes, and I will give you whatever you ask. Make the price for the bride and the gift I am to bring as great as you like, and I'll pay whatever you ask me. Only give me the girl as my wife” (Genesis 34:11-12).

The versions differ in their translation of mōhar:

NRSV: “The marriage present.”
NIV: “The price for the bride.”
ESV: “The bride price.”
HCSB: “The compensation.”
ASV: The dowry.”
GWN: “The price paid for the bride.”

Since Shechem had to pay the mōhar and give a gift to the family, it is clear that the mōhar was the price he had to pay to obtain Dinah as his wife.

In the Covenant Code, the mōhar was also the price paid by the man who seduced a virgin. The man who violated the virgin must pay the “bride-price” (mōhar) and take the woman as his wife (Exodus 22:16-17). When David planned to marry Saul’s daughter, he was told that “the king wants no other price for the bride (mōhar) than a hundred Philistine foreskins.” Although the request was unusual, David had to pay what Saul requested as a mōhar before he could marry Michal. When Abraham sent his servant Eliezer to find a wife for Isaac, Eliezer gave Rebekah’s family expensive gifts (Genesis 24:53) probably as a mōhar, even though the word is not used in the text.

In the book of Deuteronomy, however, the attitude toward women changes. The book of Deuteronomy’s revision of the Tenth Commandment separates the woman from a man’s property in order to give proper attention to the rights of the woman:

Neither shall you covet your neighbor's wife. Neither shall you desire your neighbor's house, or field, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor (Deuteronomy 5:21).

The Book of Deuteronomy demonstrates more respect for women in general for it emphasizes the rights of women as persons of worth, not as mere property of their fathers and husbands.

The fact that the writer of Deuteronomy placed the woman first reflects the desire to emphasize that the woman was not to be considered the property of her husband. In addition, while the book of Exodus uses the same Hebrew word hāmad (חמד) to describe coveting a man's wife and his possessions, the book of Deuteronomy uses two different words for coveting: hāmad (חמד) is used to describe coveting the wife and ’āwāh (אוה) is used to describe coveting a person’s property, as if to emphasize that the two desires are completely different.

This concern for the dignity of Israelite women is characteristic of the book of Deuteronomy, and it is consistent with the author’s desire to actualize Mosaic laws in order to correct social problems prevalent in Israelite society in the late seventh century B.C.E.

Walter Kaiser, in his book Hard Sayings of the Bible (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1996) said that since the Ten Commandments were written “by the finger of God” on Mount Sinai (Deuteronomy 9:10), the Exodus version of the Decalogue was the original and that the wording of the commandment in Deuteronomy is a free restatement of the Exodus commandment (p. 173). Kaiser wrote:

This allowed Moses to present the commandment with some modifications and updating of the situation in light of their pending entrance into the land of Canaan, while still adhering closely to the original form. In fact, these differences are very slight and of very little consequence except as viewed against the challenges that present themselves in entering into the land.

I do not believe that “these differences are very slight and of very little consequence.” In his commentary on Deuteronomy 1-11 (Anchor Bible; New York: Doubleday, 1991), Moshe Weinfeld wrote:

The Deuteronomic version inverted the order of these two commandments. Unlike the Exodus version, which has “house” before “wife,” Deuteronomy puts first “wife” then “house” and devotes to the “wife” a separate command, which suits the general tendency of this book. Deuteronomy gives special attention to women’s rights, and therefore he gives preference to the wife and reserves for her a separate injunction. By the same token she does not join the slave, the animal, and so on, contrary to the arrangement in the Exodus version.

I believe that the Deuteronomic sequence of “wife” and “house” is a radical shift in the view of the status of women in Israelite society. The Deuteronomic change reflects the increased concern for the status of women in Israelite society in the seventh century BCE and the recognition that women had legal rights as members of the covenant community. In future posts, I will discuss some of these rights.

To be continued.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Decalogue, Deuteronomy, Israelite Law, Ten Commandments, Tenth Commandment, Wife, Women, Women’s Rights

The Pope and the Mob

Time Magazine has an interesting article on the “Pope and the Mob.” The article begins by introducing how Pope John Paul II dealt with the Mob. The article begins as follows:

John Paul II set a powerful precedent for how a Roman Pontiff can take on the Italian Mob. In May 1993, after a high-profile spate of Mafia killings, the Pope denounced the Mob’s “culture of death” in an emotionally charged sermon in Agrigento, Sicily, the home turf of Cosa Nostra. “I say to those responsible: Convert!” he intoned, shaking his clenched fist and index finger. “One day, the judgment of God will arrive!” Two months after the dramatic papal appeal, the Mafia bombed two historic churches in Rome.

Now, you have to read the article to find out how the present Pope, Pope Benedict XVI deals with the Mob.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary


Tags: Benedict XVI, Catholic Church, John Paul II, Pope, Religion

The Peoples’ Bible

Fortress Press has announced the publication and the release date for The Peoples’ Bible. The following information has been supplied by Fortress Press to describe the content and purpose of The Peoples’ Bible:

The Peoples’ Bible highlights the role of cultures in shaping the Bible and the way people read the Bible today.

Relying on the best insights of historical-critical, liberationist, postmodern, and postcolonial interpretation, the contributors include the editors of the volume plus Kosuke Koyama, Randal C. Bailey, Fernando F. Segovia, Elsa Tamez, Clarice Martin, Hee An Choi, Gale A. Yee, Daniel L. Smith-Christopher, and many more.

This Bible is unique in its aim to engage culture then and now and includes the following unique features:

Introductory essays highlighting profound issues of culture, ethnicity, and identity.

Feature boxes that reveal insights from African American, Asian American, Latino, and Native American perspectives.


ISBN: 978-0-8066-5625-0
Price: $35.00
Specs: 6.45" x 8.875", Hardcover, 1600 pages
Release: November 2008

I am one of the contributors to The Peoples’ Bible. I wrote the introduction to Joel and Jonah.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Buy this Bible at Amazon.com.

Tags: People’s Bible

The Canonization of Pope Pius XII

Should Pope Pius XII be canonized as a saint in the Catholic Church?

Ruth Gledhill, the Religion Correspondent for Times Online has written an interesting blog in which she discusses the opposition to his canonization by a group of Christian and Jewish scholars.

Read her blog here.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Pius XII, Pope, Religion, Ruth Gledhill

The Dead Sea Scrolls: Mysteries of the Ancient World

The Jewish Museum in New York is presenting an exhibition of the Dead Sea Scrolls titled: “The Dead Sea Scrolls: Mysteries of the Ancient World.” The exhibit runs through January 4 at The Jewish Museum, 1109 Fifth Ave, New York.

Contrary to previous exhibits, this one focus on the controversy raging among scholars on the provenance and authorship of the scrolls. According to an article published by The Jewish Week, the exhibit presents Roland de Vaux’s view that the scrolls belonged to the Essenes, a monastic Jewish sect who lived at Qumran.

The exhibit also presents the views of Norman Golb, that the scrolls belonged to Jerusalem Jews escaping a Roman attack.

The Jewish Museum has made an effort at presenting both sides of the controversy. Susan L. Braunstein, the exhibit’s curator, said that “It’s not the moment to say which is the most believable or correct. We don’t have enough of the archaeological evidence published; there’s no smoking gun.”

The article gives a ray of hope that may solve the controversy. Until now, some of de Vaux’s field notes from his excavations at the Qumran remain unpublished. Some scholars believe that these notes may vindicate the new theories about the scrolls.

The article reports that Jean-Baptiste Humbert, the successor to de Vaux, has announced that the third volume of de Vaux’s field notes from his excavations will be published within the next three months and the fourth and final volume will be published within a year after that.

The article in The Jewish Week is excellent and presents a balanced view of both side of the debates. Read the article by clicking here.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, Dead Sea Scrolls, Jean-Baptiste Humbert, Norman Golb, Roland de Vaux

Reading the Bible Against the Grain

Bob Ekblad, Reading the Bible with the Damned (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2005. $17.95. pp. 203. ISBN 0-664-22917-4).

Ekblad’s book is a call to Christians to learn how to read the Bible against the grain in order to minister to people who could be classified as the despised and rejected of the earth. This book was written with the purpose of developing a group of Christians who will commit themselves to the task of “communicating good news to people often submerged in the bad news of poverty, social marginalization, addictions to alcohol and drugs, criminal activities, oppression by the state, self-accusation, feelings of inadequacy, and other difficulties” (p. xiv). For this reason alone, Christians should read this book in order to learn how to communicate the liberating message of the gospel with the less fortunate in society.

Ekblad’s book is a collection of Bible studies conducted among people who are considered marginalized because of their race, immigration status, or social situation. Most of his audience are Anglo and Mexican inmates at the Skagit County Jail in western Washington State. Many of them are Mexican immigrants who are in the United States illegally; some are gang members who are in jail because they have committed crimes or abused drugs. These are the people who perceive themselves to be “damned,” condemned to a life of alienation, poverty, and rejection. They see themselves as people in bondage who are oppressed by the society in which they live.

Ekblad learned about the plight of the poor and their struggle for liberation while living and working among campesinos in rural Honduras. He has been highly influenced by Liberation Theology and the work of the Brazilian activist Paulo Freire, who wrote The Pedagogy of the Oppressed (New York: Seabury, 1970) as a way to empower base communities in Latin America. He was also influenced by Ernesto Cardenal, whose popular readings of the Bible were published as The Gospel in Solentiname, 4 vols. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis 1976).

Ekblad believes the church, which he calls “the dominant theology,” has locked the Bible out to people who live at the margins by allowing the dominant culture to influence the way the Bible is read. His approach is to read the Bible against the grain, to free people to read the Bible for life and liberation, to find God’s presence in the midst of darkness.

Reading the Bible against the grain is to identify Abram and Sarai with an abusive husband, employer, landlord, or prison guard. Reading the Gospel against the grain means to paraphrase the words of Jesus in John 4:10 in the context of a drug addict: “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me some cocaine,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living cocaine.” Reading Paul against the grain means to see Jesus as the Good Coyote who, at no charge, brings people into God’s reign or to explain baptism as making all people “wetbacks” (p. 179).

I sympathize with the aims of Ekblad’s ministry. As one who has worked and lived as a campesino in Northern California, who has taught weekly Bible classes in two maximum security prisons, and has ministered to farm workers, undocumented migrants, and homeless people in California, I know of the despair and hopelessness that exist among marginalized people. However, one does not provide hope to hopeless people by portraying the country in which they live as the oppressive empire and the state, the courts, the judges, and the police as the oppressors. After all, when the damned leave their jails or the illegals go back to their communities, they will still be hopeless because they will continue to live in what they consider to be an oppressive empire.

Claude F. Mariottini
Northern Baptist Seminary
Lombard, Illinois 60148

Note: This book review was published in The Expository Times 119 (May 2008), 411-12.

Buy the book from Amazon.com.

Tags: Bob Ekblad, Liberation Theology, Oppressed People, Poverty

The James Ossuary and Oded Golan

Buy the book on Amazon.com.

Amy Dockser Marcus, a Wall Street Journal reporter, and the author of The View From Nebo: How Archaeology Is Rewriting the Bible and Reshaping the Middle East, has written a review of the book Unholy Business by Nina Burleigh. The book is the story behind the James Ossuary and the role Oded Golan, the owner of the box, played in its discovery or its forgery.

Dockser Marcus concludes her review:

What is saddest about the James Ossuary case is that, if the police are correct, Oded Golan took an ancient object, important in itself as a link to a lost past, and vandalized it in the hope of increasing its financial value. Such trickery seeks to exploit a problem at the heart of biblical archaeology: the desire to prove what is essentially unverifiable. That archaeology reveals a fuller picture of the daily lives of ordinary people in the biblical world should be enough. As Ms. Burleigh writes: "A pile of rocks on the ground is just a pile of rocks" until someone tells a compelling story about it.

This is a very informative review.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, Dockser Marcus, James Ossuary, Nina Burleigh, Oded Golan

The Religious Oppression of Chinese Christians

In a previous post, I called attention to the intense persecution Christians in India are enduring from people who are forcing them to worship Hindu gods.

Now, comes the story of a Christian family suffering horrendous persecution in China. According to a story published by ChinaAid, the son of a pastor was severely beaten with iron bars. Because I want Christians to read about the brutality perpetrated against Christians in China, I am reproducing below the story as reported by ChinaAid:

BEIJING – Zhang Jian, the oldest son of Pastor “Bike” Zhang Mingxuan, regained consciousness in the ER room Beijing Min Hang (Aviation) Hospital. Zhang Jian was severely beaten with iron bars at his mother’s home for 25 minutes by 15 Public Security Bureau (PSB) officers on October 16, 2008. The family was then evicted and their furniture thrown into the street. ChinaAid has been in constant communication with this family facing severe persecution by the Chinese government.

China Aid’s president, Bob Fu, spoke with Zhang Jian this morning. He is still in very serious condition. His right eye is severely wounded and doctors are not sure if he will regain his sight. His nose bone and eye bone are both broken and doctors say he needs further CAT scans and surgery. Even though his physical condition is very bad, Zhang Jian has left the hospital because PSB officers have been watching him there, and he was afraid for his safety. He went to his brother’s home, but PSB officers followed him. The officers warned Zhang Jian and his brother, Zhang Chuang, not to leave the apartment before October 20, the date of the celebration Pastor Bike organized for the third anniversary of the Chinese House Church Alliance. Meanwhile, ChinaAid has received several calls from different house church leaders who have also been warned not to go to Beijing or attend the celebration.

Zhang Jian’s mother was ordered by police today to take care of the furniture and personal items that officers threw into the street during yesterday’s attack on the family. The family is struggling financially to pay for the hospital bills, food, shelter and legal help. China Aid is working to send emergency help to Zhang Jian and his family.

Police have also attempted to shut down the house church where Zhang Jian’s father preaches. On October 10, police sealed the door of the church and blocked it with two truckloads of garbage. Officials are blocking anyone wishing to enter, even though on September 28, officials gave permission for the house church to meet. They have also cut off the electricity to the church.

The physical assault on Zhang Jian is the most serious of the recent attacks on Zhang Jian and his family. During the past 22 years, Zhang Jian’s father, Pastor Bike, has been arrested 26 times, beaten and evicted from his home numerous times because of his faith. Despite the persecution, this family continues to boldly preach and help the house church Christians.

To view photos of the Pastor Bike’s sealed house church doors which police blocked with piles of garbage, click here.

Julia Duin, religion editor for the The Washington Times wrote in her blog:

You know, they say that silence implies consent, so this blog at least will complain and complain about some of the religious repression that goes on and on and on around the world.

I join Julia and scream as loud as I can against religious persecution in India, China, and other parts of the world. Maybe, if others join us in complaining against religious repression, the sound of our voices may make a difference and help those who are being oppressed because of their faith.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: China, ChinaAid, News, Persecution, Religion, Religious Oppression