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Deborah in the Bible

Robin Gallaher Branch — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 11:00:04 +0000

Deborah, the only female judge in the Bible, excelled in multiple areas.¹ Clearly one of the Bible’s most outstanding figures, she served ancient Israel as a prophet,² judge, military leader, songwriter, and minstrel (Judges 4–5).

The only woman who judges, Deborah “used to sit under the palm tree…and the sons of Israel came up to her for judgment” (Judges 4:5). She is shown here in a stained glass window by the Russian-Jewish artist Marc Chagall. Photo: © 1997 Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY/ADAGP, Paris.

The two chapters show her exemplary moral character and indicate the people gave her great love and respect. Like Moses before³ and David afterward, she fused in herself the roles of prophet, national leader, and military commander.

Thought to be an Ephramite because she resided in Ephraim (4:5), Deborah judged and led Israel for 60 years in the 12th century B.C.⁴ Her oversight covered approximately 20 years of national hardship before the Canaanite war and then a peaceful aftermath of 40 years. Arguably, Deborah first was recognized as a prophet, then as judge/leader, next in a military role (5:15), and finally as a songstress. She judged under a palm tree—a setting, rabbinic tradition maintains, that validated her fairness, openness, and refusal to show partiality.⁵

Deborah is introduced, as are the other 11 judges in the Book of Judges, without fanfare. The Bible records no dissent or rebellion against her. Leadership resides not in gender but in character and gifting.⁶ The Israelites recognized her abilities and prospered under her tenure. Her name means bee or even honeybee.

Judges 4–5 is unusual in that it chronicles a slice of biblical history first in narration and subsequently in poetry. The chapters complement each other, fitting together details, insights, and judgments.

The two chapters begin with Israel’s disobedience, vividly describe a Holy War and its participants, and end with the victorious result: the land had rest for 40 years (5:31). Put another way, the people sinned, learned from hardship, repented, and cried out to the Lord. The Lord responded with a plan of deliverance.

Although the Canaanites didn’t know it, this was a Holy War.⁷

The chapters present the possibility of three war zones: the initial battleground of Mount Tabor and the Jezreel Valley (4:12); Tanaach (5:19); and the gates of Hazor and other Canaanite cities. (4:23; 5:11d).

Chapters 4 and 5 provide character sketches of those involved in the war. The men include:

Barak, who, at Deborah’s command, suddenly becomes Israel’s general; he bargains with Deborah to come with him to the war; she agrees but prophesies that “the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman” (4:8–9)
Jabin, a king in Canaan who resides in Hazor (4:2)
Sisera, Jabin’s general, who exudes confidence because of his weapons of mass destruction—some 900 iron chariots (4:2–3)
The tribes of Naphtali and Zebulon followed by Ephraim, Benjamin, and Issachar and the men of Machir; all march with Barak and are praised by Deborah (5:14–15)
The tribes of Reuben, Dan, and Asher and the men of Gilead (5:15–17); they are ridiculed for failing to heed the summons to the Holy War

In addition to Deborah, the women include:

Jael the Kenite, who invites the fleeing Sisera into her tent and murders him (4:17–22; 5:24–27)
Sisera’s mother, who, Deborah imagines, waits anxiously at a latticed window for her son’s return (5:28)
Nearby ladies-in-waiting who speculate that the victorious Canaanites are delayed because they’re busy dividing the spoils of war and enjoying the women they’ve conquered (5:29–30)

Those mentioned only incidentally include:

Lappidoth, the husband of Deborah (4:4)⁸
Heber the Kenite, husband of Jael (4:11); according to tradition, the Kenites descended from Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law⁹

Deborah’s tenure starts with the Lord’s judgment against Israel. Because the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, the Lord sells them into the hand of Jabin, a king in Canaan (4:1–2). Confined to the unproductive hilltops and denied commercial access on the highways, the Israelites suffer economic hardship under the Canaanites (5:6).

Deborah summons Barak from Kadesh in Naphtali; she tells him the Lord commands him to position himself at Mount Tabor and bring in 10,000 from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulon (4:5–6). The Lord shares his strategy and promises deliverance and victory: “I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the Wadi Kishon with his chariots and his troops; and I will give him into your hand” (4:6–7).

Chapter 4 highlights the conflict between the Israelites and Canaanites. Tribes assemble under Barak’s order. Sisera hears and takes his chariots to the Wadi Kishon (4:12–13). Making good his word, the Lord throws Sisera and his forces into panic (4:15). Seeing that the battle goes against the Canaanites, Sisera flees on foot. Exhausted, he arrives at Jael’s tent. She brings him milk, covers him with a rug, and while he sleeps, hammers a tent peg through his head (4:17–21)! The assassination incorporates multiple erotic images.¹⁰ Barak, coming shortly thereafter, views the corpse (4:22).

As Sisera sleeps, Jael calmly and quietly hammers a tent peg into his temple, in this 1620 painting by Italian Renaissance artist Artemisia Gentileschi. Photo: Szepmuveszeti Museum, Budapest, Hungary.

The poetry in Chapter 5, the Song of Deborah, smacks of realism and emphasizes the role of women.¹¹ The ballad tells a gripping story, ringing with eyewitness details. Like the Book of Lamentations and the Gospel of Mark, it leaves a reader feeling breathless. One easily imagines Deborah strumming and beckoning Barak to walk and sing with her among their victorious countrymen. Her leadership style favors a team approach; she willingly recognizes those who joined and served.¹² She not only praises others but also thereby encourages them to ongoing service and development as leaders.¹³

Considered one of the oldest pieces of Hebrew poetry,¹⁴ Deborah’s Song continues the Israelite tradition of immortalizing a victory in song. Both Moses and Miriam led the Israelites in songs of victory after the crossing of the Sea of Reeds (Exodus 15:1–21). Deborah’s song has many Hebrew words that are unknown now; that’s why its translations vary so much.

Deborah sings about the Lord but to the Israelites. For example, the earth trembled, the clouds poured water, the Lord marched, and the mountains quaked “before the Lord” (5:4–5). Indeed, the stars in heaven fought against the doomed Sisera and the Canaanites (5:20). Credit for the Holy War and inevitable victory goes to Yahweh (5:5).

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Deborah calls herself a mother in Israel (5:7). Probably one of the highest designations in scripture, it indicates authority.¹⁵ Centuries afterward, the wise woman of Abel Beth Maacah will describe her city with the same phrase in a conversation with military leader Joab during a break in a civil war (2 Samuel 20:19). Much earlier, Joseph called himself a father to Pharaoh (Genesis 45:8).

Deborah’s concluding words validate Jael’s action, pronouncing her “most blessed of women” Judges 5:24). Similar designations go to Mary, the mother of Jesus (Luke 2:26–28, 42), and to Judith, heroine of the Apocryphal Book of Judith who beheaded Holofernes, an Assyrian, general and saved her people (Judith 13:23–25). With great force, Deborah prays that all the Lord’s enemies will share Sisera’s fate and likewise perish (Judges 5:31).

Deborah’s War changed history. Any dreams Sisera had to use those 900 chariots to defeat Egypt and become a world power literally got stuck in the mud when the Lord sent rain (5:4, 21). Deborah’s War effectively took the Canaanites off the world stage. Yes, the Israelites moved to the fertile valleys and vended their wares on recognized thoroughfares (5:7). But perhaps a misstep was that the Israelites did not become masters of the forge; they did not capture, copy, or customize the enemy’s technology. Consequently, nearby nations excelled in iron smelting. The judge Gideon built on Deborah’s military foundation and led Zebulon, Naphtali, and other tribes against the Midianites and Amalekites (6:33-35). According to rabbinic tradition, Deborah wrote Psalm 68¹⁶; it clearly resembles both chapters, especially Judges 5.¹⁷

According to another rabbinic tradition, descendants of Sisera, the Canaanite commander whose doom was prophesied by Deborah and fulfilled under Jael’s hand, taught children in Jerusalem.¹⁸ If that tradition is true, then it shows one of the great themes of scripture. The judgeship of Deborah started with the Israelites’ sin but its legacy, in time, included God’s good work of redemption in the lives of the descendants of Israel’s enemy.

This Bible History Daily feature was first published in April, 2019

Robin Gallaher Branch teaches Old Testament and New Testament as an adjunct professor at Christian Brothers University in Memphis, Tennessee. She was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship for the 2002–2003 academic year and served in the Faculty of Theology at North-West University in Potchefstroom, South Africa; she retains her North-West research affiliation. She received her Ph.D. in Hebrew Studies from the University of Texas in Austin in 2000. Her most recent books are Six Biblical Plays for Contemporary Audiences (Cascade 2016) and Jeroboam’s Wife: The Enduring Contributions of the Old Testament’s Least-Known Women (Hendrickson, 2009; Wipf and Stock, 2018).

Notes

1. Branch 2002, p. 134.

2. Rabbinic tradition lists seven prophetesses: Sarah, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Abigail, Huldah, and Esther (Meg. 14a) (“Deborah,” p. 489).

3. Herzberg 2013, pp. 15–16. Herzberg notes the prophetic gifting of both Moses and Deborah and the similarities of the crossing of the Sea of Reeds and Deborah’s War; consequently he argues Deborah was seen as “the Moses of her time” (2015, p. 33).

4. Zucker and Reiss 2015, p. 32.

5. “Deborah,” p. 490.

6.Nielson 2018, pp. 78–79. Both men and women are made in the image of God.

7. Boda (2012, p. 1137) notes that Israel’s success and the Canaanites’ failure are directly related to their relationship to Yahweh.

8. “Wife of Lappidoth” also could be translated “woman of torches” or “woman of flame”; rabbinic tradition notes that Deborah was “a great light in Israel” (“Deborah,” p. 489).

9. “Sisera,” p. 397.

10. Ackerman 1998, pp. 59–61.

11. Haddox 2013, p. 79.

12. Kroll 2006, pp. 34–35.

13. Nielson 2018, p. 85.

14. Branch 2002, p. 134.

15. Meyers 2000, p. 332.

16. Branch 2002, p. 135.

17. Wright 2011, pp. 529–531.

18. “Sisera,” p. 398. Git 57b.

Bibliography

Susan Ackerman, Warrior, Dancer, Seductress, Queen: Women in Judges and Biblical Israel. The Anchor Bible Reference Library (New York: Doubleday, 1998).

Mark J. Boda, “Judges,” in Tremper Longman III and David E. Garland, eds., The Expositor’s Bible Commentary. Revised Edition. Volume 2 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012), pp. 1043–1288.

Robin Gallaher Branch, “Deborah,” in Catherine Clark Kroeger and Mary J. Evans, eds., The IVP Women’s Bible Commentary (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002), pp. 134–135.

“Deborah,” The Jewish Encyclopedia. Volume IV (New York: KTAV Publishing House) pp. 489–490.

Susan Haddox, “Gendering Violence and Violating Gender in Judges 4–5,” Conversations with the Biblical World 33, pp. 67–81 (2013).

Bruce Herzberg, “Deborah and Moses,” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 38, pp. 15–33 (2013).

Woodrow Kroll, Judges: Ordinary People, Extraordinary God (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2006).

Carol Meyers, “Deborah,” in D. N. Freedman, ed., Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2000), pp. 331–332.

Kathleen Nielson, Women & God: Hard Questions. Beautiful Truth (Good Book Company, 2018).

“Sisera,” The Jewish Encyclopedia. Volume XI (New York: KTAV Publishing House), pp. 397–398.

Jacob L. Wright, “Deborah’s War Memorial: The Composition of Judges 4–5 and the Politics of War Commemoration,” Zeitschrift fur die alttestantliche Wissenschaft 123, pp. 516–534 (2011).

David Zucker, and Moshe Reiss, “Subverting Sexuality: Manly Women; Womanly Men in Judges 4–5,” Biblical Theology Bulletin 45, pp. 32–37 (2015).

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David and Joab

Why Deborah’s Different

The Song of Deborah—Why Some Tribes Answered the Call and Others Did Not

Hazor and the Battle of Deborah—Is Judges 4 Wrong?

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Tabitha in the Bible

Robin Gallaher Branch — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 12:00:06 +0000

In the 15th-century painting Healing of the Cripple and Raising of Tabith, Masolino da Panicale depicts the most famous scene of Tabitha in the Bible: the miraculous prayer of Peter that brings Tabitha back from the dead.

Luke, the writer of Luke-Acts, tells the story of Tabitha, a disciple brought back to life after prayer from the apostle Peter. After she is washed and laid out in an upper room, Peter takes her hand and commands her to get up (Acts 9:36-42).

In seven verses, Luke presents Tabitha as much loved, and the miracle of her return to life leads many to believe (v. 42). Luke’s terse account contains praise, humor, honor, sadness, joy and insights on the faith of the early church. Tabitha is so beloved and so essential to the life of her believing community in Joppa, a port city near the heart of modern Tel Aviv, that others cannot imagine life without her. Tabitha simply cannot stay dead. Her faithful community will not permit it!

Throughout Luke’s story, Tabitha remains silent. Luke speaks for her. In what could be considered a humorous touch, her only living actions are opening her eyes, seeing Peter, sitting up, being helped up by him, and being presented alive to the believers and widows (vv. 40-41).

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Luke Honors Tabitha in the Bible

By silencing her, Luke honors her. Others give her accolades and loudly mourn her death (v. 39). Perhaps the best and truest praise one receives comes extemporaneously from others. This certainly applies to the treatment of Tabitha in the Bible.

Luke introduces her with a double name: Tabitha and Dorcas (v. 36). The Aramaic and Greek mean gazelle. Perhaps the doubling shows her ministry to Jewish and Hellenistic believers, something noted earlier in Acts 6:1 and emphasized from chapter 10 on; if so, the placement of Tabitha’s story serves as a transition in the fulfillment of Jesus’ command to his disciples to “be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Perhaps her name indicates a woman of energy, grace, beauty and quick movements.

Robin Gallaher Branch has written several other Bible History Daily-exclusive character studies. Read Judith: A Remarkable Heroine, Barnabas: An Encouraging Early Church Leader and Anna in the Bible.

Luke praises her as a disciple (mathetria) who was always doing good and helping the poor (Acts 9:36); her specific designation as disciple proves that Jesus had female disciples. In fact, there are three places where the words disciple or disciples include women: Acts 9:1-2, 36; 18:24-26b.

Luke indicates that Tabitha took God’s commands about society’s most vulnerable seriously. (“Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor.” Zechariah 7:10. See also Deuteronomy 24:17, 20-21; Ezekiel 22:7; James 1:27.) Looking after the marginalized is one of God’s characteristics, too, for God is shown in Psalm 146:8-9 as lifting up those bowed down, watching over the alien and sustaining the fatherless and widow.

Luke is generally quite selective with his praise, heightening the value of the accolades given to Tabitha in the Bible. In addition to Tabitha, Luke-Acts commends a few other notable characters. Consider these examples: Luke describes Zechariah and Elizabeth as upright in the sight of God (Luke 1:6), Joseph as a good and upright man from Arimathea (Luke 23:50-51) and Barnabas as a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and faith (Acts 11:24).

Acts 9 highlights Luke’s characteristic writing style with its balance of opposites. Luke pairs Tabitha’s story of dying and being brought back to life with that of Aeneas, who is healed by Peter after being bedridden for eight years (vv. 32-35). Neither Tabitha nor Aeneas seeks a miracle. While visiting Lydda, Peter sees Aeneas and says, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you” (v. 34); concerning Tabitha’s death, the disciples of Joppa urge Peter to “please come at once!” (v. 38). Acts 9:1-31 tells of Saul’s conversion and verses 32-43 close and balance the chapter with stories about Peter; like Peter, Saul becomes a great apostle of the faith. Seen another way, Acts 9 contains a man’s miraculous conversion and a woman’s miraculous restoration to life.

For more than two thousand years, Jezebel has been saddled with a reputation as the bad girl of the Bible, the wickedest of women. But just how depraved was Jezebel, really? Read Janet Howe Gaines’s article How Bad Was Jezebel? for free in Bible History Daily.

Ministry Focus

Luke’s account of Tabitha focuses on her ministry (to use a modern term) to two groups: the poor and widows. In Biblical times, the designation widow meant a woman whose husband was dead and who had no means of financial support; therefore, she needed both protection and physical, legal and financial assistance.* In other words, a widow is a woman with constant needs, and being a widow was virtually synonymous with being poor. If enfeebled, who will glean for the widows and how will they eat? If they lose their houses in order to pay their debts, where will they live? (In Mark 12:40, Jesus condemns teachers of the law specifically for devouring widows’ houses.) If they lack shelter and regular sustenance, they likely will fall ill. Who then will care for them? As they age, who will listen to them?

In a parable about helping the needy, Jesus contrasts the life-saving actions of a Samaritan with the bypassing indifference of a priest and Levite (Luke 10:25-37). Unlike these members of the established priesthood who ignored the man beaten by bandits, Tabitha purposefully sought out the poor and widows and actively looked to see how she could help meet their needs. In the first century, when female activities generally centered on daily survival for themselves and their families, Tabitha engaged the needs of her community. Her lifestyle showed that love is an active verb intent on doing good for others.

Luke concentrates on one specific part of Tabitha’s ministry: making robes and clothing for the widows. Evidently she dressed these widows fashionably, for as she lies washed and prepared for burial, they tearfully display her work to Peter with obvious pride (v. 39). These women were her friends.

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Tabitha’s lifestyle contrasts admirably with the characterization of the good wife from Proverbs 31:10-31. Both display phenomenal energy. Both extend help willingly to the poor (Acts 9:36; Prov. 31:20). Both are proficient in needlework (Acts 9:39; Prov. 31:13, 19, 21,-22, 24, 25). Both seek to do good and undertake their activities within the context of faith (Acts 9:36; Prov. 31:12, 30). The lives of both women show they were “doers,” each putting feet to her faith.

Luke’s succinct description and the outpouring of grief at her death showed how greatly the believing community and widows loved Tabitha (v. 39)—a strong indication that Tabitha herself thoroughly enjoyed her work and loved these people in return.

Silences

As always when reading the Biblical text, consider its silences. What does Luke leave out? Tabitha may have been a widow herself, for Luke omits any mention of her husband or family. Additionally, Tabitha may have been independently wealthy, for the home where she is laid out awaiting burial is presumably her home and has an upper room (Acts 9:39). Evidently she offered her hospitality with flair, for the disciples and widows congregate around her. Perhaps Tabitha chose to use her wealth to aid the poor and the widows (v. 36).

Luke’s description of Tabitha makes it easy to imagine her home as welcoming, open and full of people. Luke indicates that Tabitha’s home functioned as a community center for believers. Tabitha may well have presided over a house church in her home. Quite likely her home became a drop off point for donations as she served as a reliable conduit for goods and services for believers and the wider Joppa citizenry. Tabitha is one of many New Testament women who, once converted to the new faith, set about building a community.

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Joppa’s Believing Community

In contrast to the long illness of Aeneas (v. 33), Luke presents Tabitha’s sickness and death as sudden (v. 37). Luke then shifts the narrative from Tabitha to Joppa’s believing community, which mirrors Tabitha’s lifestyle of action. It too puts feet to its faith.

Upon hearing of Tabitha’s death and Peter’s sojourn in Lydda (v. 32), members of the Joppa community immediately send two men to fetch him, hoping for a miracle.

Since Lydda was 25 miles northwest of Jerusalem and a day’s journey by foot from Joppa, it is possible that Tabitha was dead a total three days before her resuscitation. The messengers say, “Please come at once,” (me okneses); the use of the subjunctive indicates a formal request and carries a sense of respect. Peter drops everything and accompanies the messengers back to Joppa (vv. 38-39). He finds the widows grieving loudly in the upper room with the body (v. 39). Not only do the widows mourn Tabitha’s loss; they have valid concerns for their own lives, now that their protector is dead.

The widows’ mourning reciprocates the love Tabitha extended to them. Arguably she met more than their clothing needs. Her hospitality and generosity probably gave them food, sanctuary, a home, a warm heart and a listening ear. Modern research shows that talking not only is crucial to health but adds to longevity. Tabitha’s outreaching kindness undoubtedly saved lives.

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The Miracle of Tabitha in the Bible

Luke records the miracle simply. It seems to happen quickly. Peter clears the upper room, perhaps because he’s distracted by the widows’ noisy grief (v. 40)! Alone with the dead body, he gets down on his knees, prays, and turns to the dead woman. Speaking to her he says, “Tabitha, get up” (v. 40). And she does!

Peter calls in the believers and widows and gives her back to them, alive. One can imagine the plethora of emotions—joy, wonder, amazement, awe, thanksgiving and even doubt—as everybody crowds in the upper room to confirm for themselves that Tabitha really is healed and alive!

Luke concludes Tabitha’s story with more silences, muzzling both Tabitha and Peter. Peter says nothing about the miracle and Tabitha says nothing about what it’s like being dead. Instead, Luke sums up the reactions of all concerned by stating a fact—her return to life became known all over Joppa—and its result—that many people believed in the Lord because of it (v. 42).

Luke then carries on with Peter’s visit to the centurion Cornelius’ home in Caesarea (Acts 10) but remains silent about Tabitha’s life. However, Luke’s silence again compliments her, for it acknowledges the obvious. We already know her character. We know what happens. This remarkable woman simply carries on doing good for the poor and serving her friends, the widows, by making them stylish robes.

Robin Gallaher Branch is professor of Biblical studies at Victory University (formerly Crichton College) in Memphis, Tennessee, and Extraordinary Associate Professor in the Faculty of Theology at North-West University in Potchefstroom, South Africa. She received her Ph.D. in Hebrew Studies from the University of Texas in Austin in 2000. She was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship for the 2002–2003 academic year to the Faculty of Theology at North-West University. Her most recent book is Jereboam’s Wife: The Enduring Contributions of the Old Testament’s Least-Known Women (Hendrickson, 2009).

Notes

* In the Bible, widowhood often serves as a textual marker to alert savvy readers of moments of significance. For more, read Robin Gallaher Branch, “Biblical Views: Groveling Grannies or Teaching Tools” as it appeared in the January/February 2013 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.

Bibliography

Darrell L Bock, Acts: Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007).

John Calvin, John 12-21. Acts 1-13. (Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 1993).

Stephen B. Clark, Stephen, Man and Woman in Christ: An Examination of the Roles of Men and Women in Light of Scripture and the Social Sciences. . (Ann Arbor: Servant Books, 1980).

Chalmer E. Faw, Acts. (Scottdale: Herald Press, 1993).

Beverly Roberts Gaventa, Acts. (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2003).

M. A. Getty-Sullivan, Women in the New Testament. (Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 2001).

Susanne Heine, Women in Early Christianity: Are the Feminist Scholars Right? John Bowden, trans. (London: SCM Press, Ltd., 1987).

Josephus. The Works of Josephus Complete and Unabridged. Wiliam Whiston, trans. (Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 1987).

Craig S. Keener, Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts. Volume 1. (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2011).

I. Howard Marshall, New Testament Theology: Many Witnesses, One Gospel. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2004).

C. Myers, T. Crave, & R. S. Kraemer, eds. Women in Scripture: A Dictionary of Named and Unnamed Women in the HebrewBible, the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books, and the New Testament. (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2000).

Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, & Al Sitzler, Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002).

Jaroslav Pelican, Acts. (Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2005).

Elisabeth Fiorenza, In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins. (New York: Crossroads, 1983).

“Widow.” Encyclopaedia Judaica Volume 16 UR-Z Supplementary Entries. (Jerusalem: Keter Publishing House, 1972). 16:487-496.

This Bible History Daily feature was originally published in May 2013.

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Biblical Views: Biblical Widows—Groveling Grannies or Teaching Tools?

A Widow’s Plea

Understanding the Woman in the Window

Biblical Views: Tabitha and Lydia—Models of Early Christian Women Leaders

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Errors in the Masoretes’ “Original” Hebrew Manuscripts of the Bible?

BAS Staff — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 12:00:59 +0000

A MASTERPIECE OF THE MASORETES. The Masoretes established an astoundingly accurate tradition of Bible transmission. This carpet page from the Leningrad Codex (1008 C.E.)—of the tradition of the Masoretes—is the base text for Biblia Hebraica Quinta. The scribe of the manuscript Samuel son of Jacob, one of the Masoretes, even records his name. Photo by Bruce and Kenneth Zuckerman, West Semitic Research/With the Ancient Biblical Manuscript Center/Courtesy Russian National Library.

The Hebrew Bible—or Old Testament—that we have today differs from the Hebrew manuscripts of the Bible penned in the first millennium B.C.E. . When transmitting any sort of a document from generation to generation, small alterations—some intentional, others not—are made. Even the most careful scribe makes errors, which are perpetuated and often compounded by future scribes. Thus, it should not surprise us that the Hebrew Bible, which has a transmission history of several millennia, contains textual difficulties, corruptions and even mistakes. Critical editions of the Bible examine these differences by looking at varying Hebrew witnesses and try to accurately reconstruct the original Hebrew manuscripts of the Bible. In the November/December 2013 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, David Marcus and James A. Sanders discuss why critical editions of the Bible are necessary and describe the work that goes into creating such an edition in the article “What’s Critical About a Critical Edition of the Bible?”

Marcus and Sanders are both involved with the publication of Biblia Hebraica Quinta, the latest revision of Biblia Hebraica, which refers to the series of critical Bible editions published in Germany since 1905. The base for Biblia Hebraica Quinta is the Leningrad Codex, which dates to 1008 C.E. and was written by Samuel son of Jacob, who was part of a group of rabbinic scribes called the Masoretes.

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THE MASORETES DOING WHAT THE MASORETES DO BEST. This page comes from the Aleppo Codex. Until a third of it was burned in a 1947 anti-Jewish uprising in Syria, the Aleppo Codex was considered to be the oldest, most complete, and most accurate of the Masoretes’ manuscripts. The Masoretes filled its margins with notes to safeguard against corruption. Credit: David Harris/Ben-Zvi Institute in the Shrine of the Book.

Working in Tiberias during the Middle Ages, the Masoretes recognized the possibility of human error when copying the Hebrew Bible. They tried to combat it by adding supplements to the text. In the margins of the Masoretes’ manuscripts, there are innumerable notes—masorah—to safeguard the text. The precision with which the Masoretes were able to preserve the Hebrew text beginning in the seventh century C.E. is astounding. Nevertheless, the Masoretes were not working with the original Hebrew manuscripts of the Bible. Corruptions had already crept into the versions they copied.

The Masoretes’ efforts preserved the Biblical text in the first millennium C.E. Modern scholarship, with critical editions of the Bible like Biblia Hebraica Quinta, is bringing us even closer to reconstructing the original Hebrew manuscripts of the Bible.

Subscribers: Read the full article “What’s Critical About a Critical Edition of the Bible?” by David Marcus and James A. Sanders as it appears in the November/December 2013 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.

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ReViews: The Art and Science of Textual Criticism

The Shattered Crown

The Masoretes at Work: A Tradition Preserved

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This Bible History Daily feature was originally published on October 25, 2013.

The post Errors in the Masoretes’ “Original” Hebrew Manuscripts of the Bible? appeared first on Biblical Archaeology Society.

Who Was the Wife of Cain?

BAS Staff — Sun, 01 Feb 2026 12:00:45 +0000

This illustration shows Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, where God gave them the command to “be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28). Photo: From Charles Foster, The Story of the Bible (1897).

While there are many examples of strong and inspiring men and women in Genesis, the book is also packed with stories of dysfunctional families, which is evidenced from the very beginning with the first family—Adam, Eve and their two children, Cain and Abel. In no short amount of time—just 16 verses after announcing the birth of Cain and Abel in Genesis 4—Cain has murdered his younger brother and is consequently exiled from the land. In theory, this would have dropped the world’s population from four down to three. The narrative continues in Genesis 4 with Cain settling in the land of Nod and having children with his wife. Who did Cain marry? Where did she come from? Are there other people outside of Eden? In the November/December 2013 issue of BAR, Mary Joan Winn Leith addresses these questions and explores the identity of the wife of Cain in “Who Did Cain Marry?”

Given that the wife of Cain is only mentioned once in the Old Testament, she would not be counted among the famous women in Genesis. Nevertheless, her identity is still worth investigating. Who did Cain marry? Mary Joan Winn Leith first explores the traditional Jewish and Christian answers that contend that the wife of Cain was another daughter of Adam and Eve. According to this reasoning, Cain would have married his sister—one of Abel’s twin sisters no less, according to the Genesis Rabbah.

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Mary Joan Winn Leith explores the identity of the wife of Cain.

A different answer emerges when Leith turns from the traditional responses about the wife of Cain and delves into modern scholarship. Looking at recent work done by sociologists and anthropologists, she notes that when forming a group identity, we tend to define ourselves by how we differ from other groups. In the ancient Near East, sometimes those outside of a particular group or society were considered less “human” by those inside of the group. An important factor that contributes to this mindset is geography. People in the ancient Near East typically stayed close to home, which affected their perception of the world. Surely they knew that other groups of people—potential enemies or allies—existed far away, but if they never came into contact with these groups, what did they matter?

Mary Joan Winn Leith suggests that while the Israelite storyteller knew that other men and women in Genesis existed outside of Eden, they did not matter to him or factor into his account. He was concerned with Adam and Eve and their progeny—not those outside of this group.

Who did Cain marry? There are many answers. For Leith’s explanation of the identity of the wife of Cain—one of the often-overlooked women in Genesis—read her full Biblical Views column “Who Did Cain Marry?”

BAS Library Members: Read the full Biblical Views column “Who Did Cain Marry?” by Mary Joan Winn Leith in the November/December 2013 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.

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This Bible History Daily feature was originally published in 2013.

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Dealing with the Devil

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Cain & Abel

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James or Jacob in the Bible?

Mark Wilson — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 12:00:30 +0000

Baroque artist Guido Reni depicts the apostle James, son of Zebedee, in his painting Saint James the Greater (c. 1636–1638).

The problem of names surfaced at a Bible study at the St. Paul Union Church in Antalya, Turkey. Pastor Dennis Massaro was discussing the three men named “James” in the New Testament: Two were apostles, and the third was the leader of the Jerusalem church and author of the eponymous letter—the Book of James. Participants in the study came from a range of countries, including the Netherlands, Iran, Mexico, Moldova and Cameroon. When I asked what the name of these men was in their languages, they all said “Jacob.”

When I was teaching a course on the New Testament General Letters (Hebrews through Jude), I began by introducing the Book of Jacob, also known as the Book of James. Students were perplexed until they learned that Jacob is the proper translation of the Greek name Iakōbos. One student wrote later that knowing this “turned my understanding of the writing upside down.” Another observed that “with the name change, the loss of the Jewish lineage occurs.”

So how did the Jewish name Ya’akov become so Gentilized as James? Since the 13th century, the form of the Latin name Iacomus began its use in English. In the 14th century, John Wycliffe made the first Bible translation into English and translated Iakobus as James. (However, in both the Old and New Testaments he arbitrarily used the name Jacob for the patriarch). In all future English translations the name stuck, especially after 1611, when King James I sponsored the translation then called the Authorized Version. Since 1797 it has been called the King James Bible.

So what is lost by using James instead of Jacob? First, it has created an awkwardness in academic writing. Scholars providing a transliteration of James indicate Iakōbos, which even lay readers know is not the same. Hershel Shanks has noted that the reason Israeli scholars failed to understand the significance of the eponymous ossuary is that they didn’t connect James with Ya’akov.¹

Second, James’s ancestral lineage is lost, as the student noted above. In Matthew’s genealogy, we learn that Joseph’s father was named Jacob (Matthew 1:16) and that his family tree included the patriarch Jacob (Matthew 1:2). James was thus named after his grandfather. As Ben Witherington writes, “It is clear that the family of ‘James’ was proud of its patriarchal heritage.”² So Jacob was the third Jacob in the family.

Third, James’s Jewish cultural background is minimized. Tal Ilan identifies Jacob as the 15th most popular name in Palestine in antiquity, with 18 known persons carrying it.³ Including both the Eastern and Western Diasporas, Jacob was the third most popular Jewish name, with 74 occurrences.

Fourth, the Jewish literary heritage is muddled. The Book of Jacob (i.e., the Book of James) is addressed to “the twelve tribes in the diaspora” (James 1:1) and full of references and allusions to the Torah and Wisdom Literature of the Jewish Bible (Christians’ Old Testament). Scholars consider James the most “Jewish” book in the New Testament. Its genre is considered to be a diaspora letter like Jeremiah 29:1–23 and the apocryphal works The Epistle of Jeremiah, 2 Maccabees 1:1–2:18, and 2 Apocalypse of Baruch 78–86.

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For these reasons, changing English translations of James to Jacob makes a lot of sense. In my lifetime we have adapted to a number of name changes: Bombay to Mumbai, Peking to Beijing, Burma to Myanmar, and Rhodesia to Zimbabwe. These changes were soon incorporated by the media as well as in subsequent editions of geographical and historical books. Making such an onomastic adjustment need not be too difficult in religious circles, either.

But can such a switch be made practically? Biblical scholars and publishers would need to agree that continued use of “James” is linguistically indefensible and culturally misleading. Most difficult to change would be Bible translations, which are very conservative. To start, a footnote could denote that James is really Jacob. And while we’re at it, let’s rehabilitate Jacob as the name of two of Jesus’ disciples/apostles. These connections, now lost only for English readers, were caught by Greek-speaking audiences as well as modern readers of translations in most other languages. Let’s give Jacob his due.

Mark Wilson is the director of the Asia Minor Research Center in Antalya, Turkey, and is a popular teacher on BAS Travel/Study tours. Mark received his doctorate in Biblical studies from the University of South Africa (Pretoria), where he serves as a research fellow in Biblical archaeology. He is currently Associate Professor Extraordinary of New Testament at Stellenbosch University. He leads field studies in Turkey and the eastern Mediterranean for university, seminary and church groups. He is the author of Biblical Turkey: A Guide to the Jewish and Christian Sites of Asia Minor and Victory through the Lamb: A Guide to Revelation in Plain Language. He is a frequent lecturer at BAS’s Bible Fests.

Notes

1. Hershel Shanks and Ben Witherington III, The Brother of Jesus: The Dramatic Story & Meaning of the First Archaeological Link to Jesus & His Family (New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2003), p. 28.
2. Shanks and Witherington III, Brother of Jesus, p. 97.
3. Ṭal Ilan, Lexicon of Jewish Names in Late Antiquity. Part IV: The Eastern Diaspora 330 BCE–650 CE (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2011).

This Bible History Daily feature was originally published on April 27, 2017.

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Where Were the Old Testament Kings of Ancient Jerusalem Buried?

BAS Staff — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 12:00:10 +0000

Jeffrey Zorn presents some of Raymond Weill’s early-20th-century plans from his Jerusalem excavations in “Is T1 David’s Tomb?” in the November/December 2012 edition of BAR. Take a closer look at Weill’s detailed drawings in the Bible History Daily exclusive “King David’s Tomb–A Closer Look”. Zoom in on pictures from the magazine, and get a fresh look at additional web-exclusive photographs, plans and drawings.

Nearly a century ago, French archaeologist Raymond Weill excavated what he identified to be tombs in Jerusalem’s City of David—perhaps the royal necropolis of the earliest Old Testament kings. Some scholars have since disputed this claim, but an examination of the evidence by archaeologist Jeff Zorn suggests that Weill might well have been right.

Although King David’s tomb has been erroneously identified with a location on Jerusalem’s Mt. Zion since the days of the Jewish historian Josephus (first century C.E.), earlier Biblical references make it clear that David and many other Old Testament kings were buried near the southern end of the City of David in ancient Jerusalem. But where exactly? Jeff Zorn believes we may already know.

Archaeologist Jeff Zorn believes these two quarried-out tunnels in the City of David may have once held the remains of the earliest Old Testament kings of ancient Jerusalem.

Nineteenth-century diplomat and explorer Charles Clermont-Ganneau believed the circuitous path of Hezekiah’s Tunnel offered a major clue. Clermont-Ganneau suggested the looping semicircular path followed by Hezekiah’s Tunnel towards its southern end was dug to avoid disturbing the burial grounds of the ancient Jerusalem kings that lay above. Within a couple of decades, Baron Edmond de Rothschild had purchased land in this area of the City of David to test the hypothesis through excavation.

Weill directed excavations on Baron Rothschild’s City of David property in 1913–1914 and again in 1923–1924. Though the area was greatly disturbed by later quarrying, Weill discovered ancient walls, ritual pools, cisterns, a circular tower (now believed to be a columbarium) and, most remarkably, nine rock-cut features that he identified as “tombs.” Weill interpreted the three most prominent tombs (labeled T1–T3) to be part of the royal necropolis of the Old Testament kings of ancient Jerusalem.

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The parallel rock-cut tunnels Weill labeled T1 and T2 are still the most imposing of the “tombs.” T1 is about 54 feet long, 8 feet wide and 6 feet high. T2 is about 28 feet long, although evidence suggests it may originally have been much longer. While both tunnels are relatively simple and unadorned, T1 was divided into two levels, with the upper including a 6-foot-long rectangular depression at its far end that could have held the body or sarcophagus of the deceased.

So are these tunnels the remains of the royal Davidic necropolis of ancient Jerusalem?

Most scholar have remained unconvinced, pointing out that several features of the tunnels indicate they were more likely used as domestic cisterns or basements during the Second Temple period. But, as Jeff Zorn argues, even if these features were modified and reused during the Second Temple period (by which time any memory of where David and his descendants were buried had long since faded), this does not preclude the possibility of their original function as ancient Jerusalem royal tombs.

Those who reject Weill’s interpretation also point out that prominent Jerusalem families were able to commission much more elaborate First Temple period tombs, many of which have been found. Why then would Judah’s Old Testament kings have been buried in such simple, unadorned sepulchers?

Jeff Zorn argues that the plain tombs discovered by Weill are much more characteristic of the relatively simple royal tombs known from Late Bronze and early Iron Age sites throughout the Near East. As such, Weill’s tombs very well could be the tombs of Jerusalem’s earliest Old Testament kings, whose final resting places would have been made to look like the royal tombs of their contemporaries.

To continue learning about the ancient Jerusalem tombs discovered by Weill, read Jeffrey Zorn’s “Is T1 David’s Tomb?,” Biblical Archaeology Review, November/December 2012.

To view web-exclusive details of the site, visit “King David’s Tomb–A Closer Look”.

A version of this post first appeared in Bible History Daily in 2012.

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Water from a Walking Rock

Megan Sauter — Sat, 03 Jan 2026 12:00:11 +0000

“… For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.”
—1 Corinthians 10:4

A WALKING ROCK IN THE DESERT. A walking rock, sailing stone, moving rock or sliding rock are all names for a rock that moves along a smooth valley floor without the assistance of humans or animals. What does Paul mean in the Bible when he talks about the “spiritual rock that followed” the Israelites during their wanderings in the wilderness? Is he talking about a walking rock? No—the natural phenomenon of a walking rock is very different than the miraculous water-giving rock mentioned in 1 Corinthians 10:4. Photo: Lgcharlot’s is licensed under CC-by-SA-4.0

What does Paul mean in the Bible when he says that the Israelites drank “from the spiritual rock that followed them” during their wanderings in the wilderness?

Paul makes this claim—in 1 Corinthians 10:4—while recounting how the Israelites were sustained in the wilderness after their dramatic Exodus from Egypt before they entered the Promised Land. They “all ate the same spiritual food” and “drank the same spiritual drink” (1 Corinthians 10:3–4).

Those familiar with the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) might stop and wonder: What does Paul mean? In the Bible, it says that the Israelites miraculously received water from a rock two times (Exodus 17:1–7 and Numbers 20:1–14). Both times Moses hit the rock, which then produced water, but the text never claims that the Israelites were followed by a water-giving rock. Therefore, what does Paul mean in 1 Corinthians 10:4?

John Byron examines this passage in his Biblical Views column “Paul, Jesus and the Rolling Stone” in the September/October 2015 issue of BAR.

Byron notes that, interestingly, Paul is not the only person to suggest that the Israelites were followed by a water source during their wilderness wanderings. A first-century C.E. source called Pseudo-Philo’s Biblical Antiquities makes a similar claim: “But as for his own people, he led them forth into the wilderness: Forty years did he rain bread from heaven for them, and he brought them quails from the sea, and a well of water following them” (10.7).

MOSES HIT THE ROCK, and water gushed forth—as depicted in this fresco by Raphael Sanzio. Did a water-giving rock follow the Israelites through the wilderness? If not, what does Paul mean in 1 Corinthians 10:4?

Pseudo-Philo claims that a well of water followed the Israelites through the wilderness, whereas in 1 Corinthians 10:4, Paul says that it was a rock that followed them. How did these two ancient interpreters come to their conclusions?

“What they seem to have concluded,” Byron explains, “is that since Moses named both the rock at Rephidim (Exodus 17:7) and the one at Kadesh (Numbers 20:13) ‘Meribah,’ the logical conclusion was that both were one and the same rock and that it, therefore, must have accompanied Israel on their journey.”

1 Corinthians 10:4 reflects a common ancient interpretation—that the Israelites were followed by a water source during their wilderness wanderings, which is demonstrated by Paul’s casual reference and supported by Pseudo-Philo.

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In the passage, Paul makes a second unusual claim: The rock that followed the Israelites through the wilderness was Christ.

How should we respond to these two claims? Was Paul speaking literally or figuratively?

“At the end of the day it’s unclear whether Paul really thought the rock followed Israel in the desert,” Byron says. “Most ancient and modern commentators assume that Paul is reading Israel’s story typologically rather than suggesting that Jesus was present with Israel in the wilderness in the form of a movable water source.”

To see John Byron’s full explanation of 1 Corinthians 10:4, read his column “Paul, Jesus and the Rolling Stone” in the September/October 2015 issue of BAR.

BAS Library Members: Read the full Biblical Views column “Paul, Jesus and the Rolling Stone” by John Byron in the September/October 2015 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.

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This Bible History Daily feature was originally published on September 7, 2015.

Hanukkah, 1 and 2 Maccabees, and the Apocrypha

Jonathan Klawans — Sat, 13 Dec 2025 12:00:14 +0000

Lucas van Leyden, Joshua, David, Judas Maccabees, 1515/1517, woodcut, Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.5706

Every year, Jewish families the world over celebrate the festival of Hanukkah. And how dramatic it is: Just as the nights are starting earlier and earlier, and just as it is getting colder and colder, Jewish families gather in their own homes, light candles, and watch them burn in commemoration of extraordinary events that occurred long ago. No wonder the ritual is so popular. Fortunately, the most central, beloved ritual of this holiday—lighting that special lamp with nine candles—is rather amenable to the COVID-19 era.

Yet there’s also something peculiar about Hanukkah, at least in comparison to other Jewish festivals. When Jews celebrate Passover, in commemoration of the Exodus from Egypt, the home ritual is based on the Passover Haggadah, which retells the story of the Israelites’ liberation from slavery. When Jews celebrate the festival of Purim, commemorating Queen Esther’s thwarting of an evil plot against the Jews of Persia, Jews gather in synagogues and joyfully read the biblical Book of Esther, which details the events being celebrated. When traditional Jews commemorate the destruction of the Jerusalem temple, the biblical Book of Lamentations is sorrowfully intoned. Yet when the Hanukkah lights are lit, there is no formal telling of the story. A few prayers that are traditionally recited relay the story only in simple, abstract generalizations: “The few defeated the many….” Judah Maccabee’s specific acts of gallantry go unmentioned in these brief traditional prayers.

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Why is it that a Jewish tradition that thrives on reciting stories stops short of retelling this one?

Well, for one thing, the fullest accounts of Hanukkah are not found in the Hebrew Bible at all. The Talmud has a bit more to say—including the famous story of the small, miraculous cruse of oil that lasted a full eight days. But even the Talmud stops short of telling the full story: Who was Syrian Greek Antiochus? Why did he crack down on Jerusalem’s Temple? Who were the Maccabees, and how were they successful in their rebellion against their enemies? For answers to these questions, we must look beyond traditional Jewish sources, to the books 1 and 2 Maccabees, most conveniently found in editions of the Apocrypha.

The Apocrypha consists of books composed by ancient Jews but preserved in early Christian Bibles. Catholic Bibles and Greek Orthodox Bibles include these books down to this day, interfiled among other biblical books. Bibles produced by Protestants do one of two things. In some instances, the books are separated out from both the Old Testament and the New Testament into an appendix—the Apocrypha. Or, just as often as not, the books are left out entirely, just as they are from Jewish Bibles. So don’t look for these books in the Bible in your next hotel room. (In my experience, you are more likely to find a copy of the Book of Mormon than a Gideon Bible with an Apocrypha.)

These days it’s not that hard to come by stand-alone editions of the Apocrypha. But this year it’s easier to come by an edition of these books with an eye toward highlighting their Jewishness: The Jewish Annotated Apocrypha (Oxford University Press), (edited by yours truly, working closely with my co-editor, Lawrence H. Wills),

And what is to be learned by looking at the Apocrypha in general—and the books of Maccabees in particular?

First, we find a good reason why Hanukkah lasts eight days. Even more, we learn a great deal about the events leading to the establishment of the new festival. And perhaps most interesting of all, we learn why Jews may have shied away from telling this story when celebrating Hanukkah. Let me explain.

Traditional Jews may know that Hanukkah lasts eight days because that miraculous cruse of oil lasted that long. But the story begs the question: why eight days?

A brief passage in 2 Maccabees provides a meaningful explanation for why the festival lasts eight days per se:

They celebrated it for eight days with rejoicing, in the manner of the festival of booths, remembering how not long before, during the festival of booths, they had been wandering in the mountains and caves like wild animals. Therefore, carrying ivy-wreathed wands and beautiful branches and also fronds of palm, they offered hymns of thanksgiving to him who had given success to the purifying of his own holy place. They decreed by public edict, ratified by vote, that the whole nation of the Jews should observe these days every year (2 Maccabess 10:6-8).

So according to this source, Hanukkah began as a belated celebration of the fall festival of booths (Sukkot). Henceforth, once Sukkot will be celebrated properly again in its own right, then Hanukkah takes on a life of its own as a new eight-day festival, also celebrated annually.

This makes a great deal of sense, especially when we recall that Solomon’s temple was dedicated on Sukkot (1 Kings 8:1–2). Traditionally-informed Jewish readers may know of other ways that Hanukkah recalls Sukkot, including the daily recitation of the unabbreviated Hallel (Psalms 113–118), read in entirety on Sukkot and Hanukkah only (the recitation is abbreviated for the other holiday of that rough length, Passover). These hints may be telling, but we must turn to 2 Maccabees 10 for the surest confirmation of this sound explanation for the eight-day length of the Festival of Lights.

As for the larger story… Well, here, I need to explain that 1 and 2 Maccabees are distinct books. Unlike 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles, 1 and 2 Maccabees are not a single book cut in half, but two independent books that tell overlapping but nevertheless distinct and differing accounts of the same overall story (somewhat like establishing the story of Jesus using the Gospels of Mark and John). And more than that, while 1 Maccabees seems to have been composed in the land of Israel and in Hebrew, 2 Maccabees appears to be a Greek-language composition of the Jewish diaspora. So we don’t have a single story of Hanukkah to explore, but two stories. Readers who are curious are invited once again to explore these books directly.

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Still there are a few generalities we can offer that are, more or less, true of both accounts. First, both 1 and 2 Maccabees remind us that the emergence of the Maccabees—and their eventual success—is played out on a world stage marked by internecine warfare among eastern Mediterranean Greek powers and the lurking rise of Roman power beyond. Second, both 1 and 2 Maccabees highlight something that traditional Jewish retellings (informal and formal) leave out: The rise of the Maccabees was also in response to Jewish efforts to accommodate to Greek rule by challenging traditional Jewish practices.

Here’s what 1 Maccabees has to say about events in Judea, early in Antiochus’s reign, and before Antiochus trained his eye on what was happening in Jerusalem:

In those days certain renegades came out from Israel and misled many, saying, “Let us go and make a covenant with the Gentiles around us, for since we separated from them many disasters have come upon us.” This proposal pleased them, and some of the people eagerly went to the king, who authorized them to observe the ordinances of the Gentiles. So they built a gymnasium in Jerusalem, according to Gentile custom, and removed the marks of circumcision, and abandoned the holy covenant. They joined with the Gentiles and sold themselves to do evil (1 Maccabees 1:11–15).

It is only after this that Antiochus enters the scene, taking the side of the Jews who have, according to 1 Maccabees, abandoned the covenant. Now you may be asking, “Remove the marks of circumcision?” That may be possible—look up “epispasm” and try not to wince. Here’s another possibility: In the Jewish Annotated Apocrypha, Daniel Schwartz suggests that 1 Maccabees 1:15 may mean that Jews then abstained from circumcising their sons (cf. 1:48), following the orders of these radical Jews who opposed Jewish traditional practices (cf. 1:61). 1 Maccabees later narrates that the situation was rectified by the rising Maccabees, who ensure that all such boys were duly circumcised (2:46).

The account in 2 Maccabees is much more detailed—we are given names of sinful High Priests, including Jason and Menelaus, and we are told tragic stories of Jews, including a mother and her seven sons, who would sooner die than consume prohibited foods. According to 1 Maccabees, there were some early groups of Jewish rebels who refused to fight on the Sabbath, and perished accordingly (1 Maccabees 2:29–38) until the Maccabean patriarch Mattathias decided to change the law and permit defensive warfare on the Sabbath (2:39–41). 2 Maccabees, curiously, says nothing about this—despite its narrative of these years being longer and more detailed on the whole.

Despite their differences, 1 and 2 Maccabees agree on one fundamental point that is usually glossed over or not mentioned at all in traditional Jewish retellings of the Hanukkah story: The Maccabees fought not only against foreign oppressors—especially the Seleucid king Antiochus IV—but also against Jewish assimilationists who were aligned with Antiochus. In other words, the Maccabean revolt was also, as is often the case with rebellions, a civil war.

Maybe with this information we can come to understand two things at once. First, once we get the fuller story, we can appreciate why ancient Jews shied away from reciting these books or even otherwise elaborating on the details of the revolt when celebrating Hanukkah. How can one celebrate a one-sided victory in a civil conflict? Would the defeated or their descendants want to celebrate their loss? In the effort of encouraging all Jews (even those who had taken the losing side) to celebrate the new festival, lapses in historical memory may have served a use. So the civil war goes unmentioned; the holiday celebrates only the defeat of the foreign enemies.

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This approach may help us understand the related fact that the books of the Maccabees are not in the canon. Had ancient Jews wanted to recite a story of Hanukkah during the festival, perhaps one or another of these books—or some other—might have made it into the canon. If the thinking had been otherwise—for the reason suggested above or for some other reason—then all the more there’s every reason to exclude these books. There are, of course, other reasons too why ancient Jews may have rejected these books: Perhaps the books (and the holiday) were perceived to be too recent. And at least 2 Maccabees, which was composed in Greek, would never have been a good candidate for inclusion in a Hebrew edition of the Bible to begin with.

While excluded and forgotten by Jews, these books—along with many others—were preserved, thankfully, by Christians. This is how we have the Apocrypha. For early Christians, Greek was no object: The Gospels were in Greek, too. For early Christians, recent writings were no object: All the writings of the New Testament were relatively recent. And for early Christians centuries ago as well as today, the stories of the Maccabean martyrs are seen as important precedents for Jesus and other early Christian heroes who chose premature violent death over military resistance. Each of these books holds interest for Christians, but each holds interest for Jewish readers as well.

And there’s much more beyond the books of the Maccabees. The ancient Jewish Book of Judith tells the story of an ancient Jewish widow who heroically led her Israelite town to victory over an enemy (imagine the Book of Esther meets the Book of Maccabees in a setting out of the Book of Judges). The Book of Tobit tells a charming tale of a long-suffering righteous man securing, at long last, a happy marriage for his son to a woman too-often promised to the wrong man. The Apocrypha includes an expanded form of the Book of Esther—with artful prayers and disturbing dreams highlighting the drama. Also included is the Wisdom of Sirach, an extended collection of wise sayings (longer than Proverbs and Ecclesiastes combined), which concludes with a particularly rich poetic praise of biblical heroes: a readable, teachable 12-chapter tour of Israelite valor. And the Jewish Annotated Apocrypha has also included the Book of Jubilees. This book retells the first portion of the Torah (from Genesis 1 to Exodus 12), interspersing the narratives with laws. So Jubilees disagrees with the Torah in two ways: First, the earliest biblical figures are presented as receiving legal revelation; second, the laws of Jubilees often disagree with the Torah. For instance, in Jubilees, Noah is told how the calendar is supposed to work, and the described calendar includes a year of 364 days (52 weeks; see Jubilees 6). Jacob’s sons were warned against intermarriage (e.g., chapter 29), and Levi is told explicitly that he will be the ancestor of Israel’s future priests (chapter 30). The Book of Jubilees was composed by ancient Jews—quite possibly around the time of the Maccabean era. But the book was preserved in Ethiopic—by Ethiopian Christians, and it is that circumstance that justifies its inclusion in the Apocrypha.

The Apocrypha is available, for the first time, in an English language edition with an emphasis on Jewish tradition. Perfect for Jewish readers, and also appropriate for all readers interested in reading these works in the context of the people who wrote them. Edited by Lawrence M. Wills, and by Jonathan Klawans, the author of this post.

While we will never know for sure why Jews excluded these books and why Christians preserved them, the good news is that we have these books today. Whether you are Jewish or not, whether you celebrate Hanukkah or not, if you choose to explore the Apocrypha around Hanukkah time, 1 and 2 Maccabees is a perfect place to start.

Happy Holidays!

Jonathan Klawans is Professor of Religion at Boston University. He specializes in the religion and religious texts of ancient Judaism.

A version of this post first appeared in Bible History Daily in December, 2020

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Were Mary and Joseph Married or Engaged at Jesus’ Birth?

Mark Wilson — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 12:00:54 +0000

The atmosphere of our church service was pregnant with expectation: four candles of the Advent wreath and the colored lights from the tree and wreaths lit the darkened room. My wife and I were among the tens of millions gathered on Christmas Eve to rehearse the Nativity story again. As one of the readers read aloud Luke 2:5, I was struck by the New International Version (NIV) translation: “Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.” Chronologically, the narrative had advanced some eight months from Luke 1:26-27, where it stated that Gabriel was sent to a virgin named Mary “pledged to be married to a man named Joseph.” The Greek verb mnēsteuō was translated identically in both verses.

The translation suggested to me that an unmarried Jewish couple was traveling a long distance unaccompanied by other family members. And the woman—still only pledged in marriage—was in an advanced state of pregnancy. If such a situation is still scandalous in the Middle East, how much more in first-century Judea!¹

Were Mary and Joseph married or engaged when they traveled to Bethlehem? Seen here is a mosaic of the Journey to Bethlehem from the Chora Church in Istanbul.

Later I checked other translations of Luke 2:5. The English Standard Version (ESV) uses “betrothed,” an archaic Middle English word. The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) uses “engaged,” while the New Living Translation (NLT) says “fiancée.” Again, these English versions suggest that the couple’s marriage was incomplete. This discovery led me into an in-depth word study as well as a look at ancient marriage. And what I found was surprising.

Matthew’s Gospel seems to be clearer. In the genealogy, Joseph is called the “husband of Mary,” who gave birth to Jesus (Matthew 1:16). Describing the background of their relationship, Matthew 1:18 reads, “His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph.” Here Matthew uses the same Greek verb as Luke. However, after Joseph decides to divorce Mary because of her unexpected pregnancy, an angel warns him in a dream not to do so. The angel advises him to “take Mary as his wife” (Matthew 1:20). When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel commanded him: He took Mary as his wife (Matthew 1:24). Luke’s version seemingly contradicts Matthew’s, according to present English translations.

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The Greek verb mnēsteuō is used eight times in the Septuagint (the third-century B.C.E. Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible). Four uses in Deuteronomy (22:23, 25, 27, 28) deal with the legal issues surrounding an engaged woman having illicit sexual relations. If the incident happens in a city (22:23), both the man and the woman are to be stoned to death; if a rape happens in the country, only the man is to be stoned. The man is considered guilty because he has violated another man’s wife (22:24).

In the three uses in Hosea, God himself is speaking. Regarding Israel’s future day of redemption in 2:16, God declares: “You will call me ‘my husband.’” Then he states in verses 19–20: “And I will take you for my wife forever; I will take you for my wife in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love, and in mercy. I will take you for my wife in faithfulness; and you shall know the LORD.” The NRSV translates “wife” here, while the NIV, ESV and New King James Version (NKJV) all read: “I will betroth you.” Because of the context wherein God declares that he is a husband forever, it is clear that his relationship with Israel extends beyond an engagement stage; they will metaphorically be husband and wife.

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The Hebrew verb aras, translated mnēsteuō in Greek, refers to Jewish marriage practice in which the groom contractually pays a bride-price (mohar) to the bride’s father (Genesis 34:12). According to Old Testament scholar Douglas Stuart, “This was the final step in the courtship process, virtually equivalent in legal status to the wedding ceremony.”² According to the Mishnah Ketubbot 5.2, the betrothal would last a year, with the bride remaining in the home of her father. Recalling the legal texts in Deuteronomy mentioned earlier plus the equation of David’s betrothal to Michal as marriage (2 Samuel 3:14), we see that under Jewish law, a betrothed woman was considered to be married.

Returning to Joseph, he would have paid the bride price to Mary’s father at their engagement (Matthew 1:20; Luke 1:27). Despite his misgivings, Joseph then obeyed the angel’s command to marry Mary (Matthew 1:20). The time of formal engagement, whether a full year or not, had passed between them. So Joseph and Mary had begun to live together except for sexual relations (Matthew 1:25). Luke’s understanding of mnēsteuō must be expanded to include both the betrothal/engagement as well as marital cohabitation. Therefore a better translation of Luke 2:5 would be: “Mary his wife who was expecting a child.” (The NKJV attempts a hybrid with “betrothed wife.”) English translations that suggest the couple was still only in the engagement stage of fiancé/fiancée must be discarded. Joseph and Mary traveled to Bethlehem as a full husband and wife under ancient Jewish law.

Notes

1. Joseph Fitzmyer anticipated my questions by suggesting that readers and listeners should not be overliteral because the account does not intend to answer questions such as: “What was she doing on a journey with Joseph, if she were merely his fiancée or betrothed? And worse still, pregnant as well”; see Joseph Fitzmyer, The Gospel According to Luke I–IX (New York: Doubleday, 1981), p. 407. To ask such questions, according to Fitzmyer, is to miss the point of Luke’s story. But in liturgical use such authorial nuances are lost. He also notes that Luke never calls Mary the “wife” of Joseph and perhaps was not aware of Palestinian Jewish marriage customs. This blog post assumes that Luke, because of his knowledge of Jewish customs and possible interview with Mary herself (cf. Luke 1:2), used familiar marital language that had a broader semantic range than translators give it today.

2. Douglas Stuart, Hosea-Jonah, Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 31 (Waco, TX: Word Books, 1987), p. 59.

This Bible History Daily feature was originally published on January 12, 2017.

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Laughter in the Bible? Absolutely!

Robin Gallaher Branch — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 12:00:18 +0000

Lighten up! Laughter is an important, and often overlooked, literary element in the Bible. Perhaps Vincent Van Gogh’s Still Life with Bible could have used more pigments from his floral paintings? Photo: Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam/Vincent van Gogh Foundation.

“The heart knows its own bitterness, and no stranger shares its joy.”
—Proverbs 14:10

“A cheerful heart is a good medicine.”
—Proverbs 17:22

I remember one day resolving to do arduous work in 2 Chronicles. Studiously plowing through the reigns of Solomon through Jehoshaphat, I came to 2 Chronicles 21:20 and laughed outright. The text reads, “Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. He passed away, to no one’s regret, and was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings” (italics added). Being a wordsmith myself, I smiled at this bygone scribe relieved at this monarch’s death. Evidently Jehoram was not well liked. The editorial statement provides a light touch—comic relief, if you will—to the Chronicler’s usually routine kingship formula.

As I study and teach, I find I read the Bible ever more slowly, and as I do, I smile more and more frequently. I listen for its humor. My emotions span sorrow, understanding or joy as I empathize with the characters who cross its pages. I chuckle at many passages, even while acknowledging the sadness they may contain. Consequently, I believe it’s possible to read many verses, stories and even books through the lens of humor, indeed to see portions of the Bible as intended to be very funny. An appropriate response is laughter. I’ve come to this conclusion: Humor is a fundamental sub-theme in both testaments.

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Laughter in the Hebrew Bible

Let’s start with an umbrella verse, Ecclesiastes 3:4: “A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.” The Biblical text, always practical, acknowledges human emotions and makes boundaries for their proper use.

God’s Laughter in the Hebrew Bible

Let’s look at God’s laughter. After all, he’s the creator.

Consider Psalm 37:12-13: “The wicked plot against the righteous, and gnash their teeth at them; but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that their day is coming.” Laughter here shows the impotence of the wicked and the futility of their plots and gnashings against the righteous. Why? Because, as the psalm answers, those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land and the Lord knows the wicked face a reckoning.

God directs the same kind of laughter toward earthly hotshots who think their power exceeds his. Psalm 2:2, 4 declares that when “the kings of the earth take their stand,” marshalling themselves “against the Lord … and against his Anointed One,” then “the One enthroned in heaven laughs.”

But Zephaniah 3:17 illustrates joy, a different aspect of God’s laughter and character, one more consistently expressed throughout the Biblical text: “He will take great delight in you … he will rejoice over you with singing.” My students often are amazed that the idea of rejoicing carries with it the idea of physical activity. The verse presents this possibility: God’s delight can entail joyful songs and public dancing.

Who Is Responsible?

One story that makes me laugh is the conversation taking place somewhere on Mt. Sinai between God and Moses. The recently-released Hebrew slaves are sinning by worshipping a calf made of gold and declaring that it, not the Lord, led them out of Egypt (Exodus 32:4-6). Neither God nor Moses wants these rowdies at this moment. Like a hot potato, responsibility for the former slaves passes back and forth between them.

Robin Gallaher Branch has written several Bible History Daily-exclusive character studies. Read her commentary on Judith, Barnabas, Anna and Tabitha.

The Lord swaps first, telling Moses the reveling Israelites are “your people” (v. 7) (italics added). But Moses quickly catches on. He declines association with them. As far as Moses is concerned, these people are not his! Morphing into intercession mode and speaking in what no doubt is a respectful tone, Moses rejoins, “O, Lord, why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand?” (v. 11) (italics added). He reminds the Lord of his promise to his servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel to make their descendants “as numerous as the stars in the sky” (v. 13). This scene’s humor softens the chapter, which ends sorrowfully. The Israelites’ sin leads quickly to the deaths of many by plague, and thus the chapter ends (Exodus 32:35). The chapter’s structure incorporates dialogue, rebellion, crisis, and punishment.

Biblical Humor Through Innuendo

Consider Genesis 18:10-15, wherein God informs Abraham and Sarah they will have a son by “this time next year” (v. 10). Sarah openly laughs, thinking she is worn out and now will have sexual pleasure again (v. 11). After all, she is about 89! We learn later that Abraham, probably about 99, also thought along sexual lines. He believed God could give him and Sarah descendants and make them parents even though he—as a man—was “as good as dead” (Hebrews 11:11-12). The idea of fathering a child at his age struck him as funny.

Humorous Books in the Hebrew Bible

Whole books in the Hebrew Bible have strong elements of humor. An ongoing humorous element in the Book of Esther is the number of banquets it mentions. They number at least 10, thereby forming the book’s structure and carrying much of its action. One wonders: Do these rulers do anything except dine and wine and plot and whine?

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We are meant to laugh and learn throughout the Book of Jonah. Yes, we can laugh at Jonah’s open disobedience of going west to Tarshish when God commands him to go northeast to Nineveh (Jonah 1:1-3); at Jonah’s “time out” to think about things in the belly of the great fish (1:17a); at his pouting, obstinate silence for three days while being digested (1:17b); at his being vomited by the great fish on dry land—somewhere probably in the Mediterranean world (2:10); at his terse, seven-word sermon to Nineveh (3:4); at his anger over the success of this sermon, the repentance of the entire city (4:1). But the laughter is sometimes tinged with sadness, for Jonah’s anger prevails and he never understands God’s compassion for those who do not know him and for their cattle (4:11). Indeed everything in the Book of Jonah—the sailors, sea, big fish, gourd vine, hot wind and the Ninevites—obeys God. Everything and everybody except one: Jonah. God shows his colors of compassion and mercy—and Jonah disdains them.

Humor in the New Testament

The New Testament, similarly, abounds with laughter. Jesus must have been a compelling personality to keep the attention of crowds for days and the steadfast loyalty of at least twelve disciples for three years. In addition to being a riveting teacher whose words brought life, he was likely the kind of personality that was just fun to be around.

For example, a crowd numbering about 5,000 men followed him to a solitary place (Mark 6:30-44). Jesus’ teaching evidently made people forget to eat, bring food or worry about work.

In his classic work The Humor of Christ, Elton Trueblood lists thirty humorous passages in the Synopic Gospels. In one way or another, they’re all one liners, parables or stories Jesus told. Trueblood thinks Jesus’ audience would have laughed at the image of those who loudly proclaim their righteous actions to others (Matt. 6:2) because it was all too prevalent. An audience would have found the idea of rulers calling themselves benefactors ludicrous (Luke 22:25)—because the working folks knew all too well it wasn’t so. No doubt the audience chuckled when Jesus commended the vociferous, obstreperous widow for her persistent pestering of the unjust judge and cited her as a successful model of prayer (Luke 18:1-8).

What’s Funny About the Gospel of Mark?

Paul employs humor in his letter to the new church in Corinth (1 Corinthians 12:12-27). He addresses several problems reported to him. The problems—pride, exclusivity and attitudes of “I don’t need or want you”—could destroy the new church, for they counter the love Jesus taught. Instead of singling out by name troublemakers in Corinth, he allegorizes the situation in a humorous, non-threatening, open way: “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, I don’t need you’” (v. 12:21). Paul affirms the need of all parts, and their need to function in unity, in the Body of Christ.

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In the home of Jairus, a synagogue ruler, Jesus uses practical knowledge to break a tense situation. Jairus’ twelve-year-old daughter just died. Jesus, three of his disciples and the child’s parents fill the room (Mark 5:40). Jesus goes to the body, picks up the girl’s hand, says to her, “Talitha koum!” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!” (v. 41). The girl immediately gets up and walks around the room (v. 42a). Mark records the reaction of those in the room as “completely astonished” (v. 42b); in other words, they’re probably stunned and silent. Jesus responds with something practical: He tells them to give her something to eat (v. 43). A natural human reaction—when grief is turned to unexpected joy as when a dead girl is brought back to life—is something loud like laughter or shouting. Here, Jesus cracks a joke by reminding everybody that a girl who has been sick, experienced death, and is now alive is hungry! Of course she needs to eat! All twelve year-olds have ravenous appetites! This practical, timely and kind statement from Jesus breaks all the tension, pent-up grief and amazement present in the room among the girl’s parents and Jesus’ three disciples. I read this scene as Jesus’ cracking a joke. And the proper appreciation of a joke is laughter.

This Bible History Daily feature was originally published on August 21, 2013.

Robin Gallaher Branch received her Ph.D. in Hebrew Studies from the University of Texas in Austin in 2000. She was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship for the 2002–2003 academic year to the Faculty of Theology at North-West University. Her most recent book is Jereboam’s Wife: The Enduring Contributions of the Old Testament’s Least-Known Women (Hendrickson, 2009).

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