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tamar Latest

Moses, pictured here in a painting by 17th-century Baroque artist Guido Reni. Alinari/Art Resource, NY.

Feb 14 Blog

Love Your Neighbor: Only Israelites or Everyone?

By: Richard Elliott Friedman

The Book of Leviticus tells us to love our neighbors, but who are our neighbors? Does the command mean to just love fellow Israelites—or everyone?

Jul 24 Blog

Anna in the Bible

By: Robin Gallaher Branch

Anna is one of the Bible’s most unusual women. Introduced at the end of the Birth Narrative (Luke 1:1-2:40), Anna concludes the sextet of named, pious Israelites surrounding the miraculous births of John and Jesus.

A rock-hewn altar carved out of limestone located about a mile from Shiloh. The four corners point to the four directions on a compass (Exodus 27:1-2). Photo: Yoel Elitzur

Jun 12 Blog

High Places, Altars and the Bamah

By: Ellen White

The open-air altar shrine, called a bamah (plural bamot), is known through several books of the Biblical canon. Often referred to as “high places” in translations of the Bible, bamot were worship sites that usually contained an altar.

Apr 15 Blog

Fruit in the Bible

By: David Moster

Seeds and fruit remains are exciting discoveries for archaeologists, and they provide radiocarbon data to help date buried strata. Fruit also plays an important role in the Biblical narrative.

The fateful encounter between Judah and his daughter-in-law Tamar is depicted in this 17th-century painting by Dutch artist Gerbrand van den Eeckhout

Feb 25 Blog

Sacred Prostitution in the Story of Judah and Tamar

By: BAS Staff

While some scholars suggest that temple prostitution was practiced in ancient Israel, Edward Lipiński argues that neither the Bible nor archaeology provides any clear evidence that Israelite religion incorporated the sexual rites of Canaanite goddesses.

Dec 19 Blog

Understanding Israel’s 10 Commandments

By: Shawna Dolansky

Are the 10 Commandments really a moral code, or did the ancients understand them rather as the constitutional basis of a political theocracy?

Jul 30 Blog

The Story of Ruth

By: Adele Berlin

According to Adele Berlin, the Book of Ruth illuminates the main theme of the Hebrew Bible: the continuity of God’s people in their land.

Mar 14 Blog

Beth Shean in the Bible and Archaeology

By: Biblical Archaeology Society Staff

Beth Shean plays an important role in the Bible following the death of King Saul and as a major Israelite administrative center. Excavations over the past century have revealed what archaeology (and the Bible) can—and can’t—tell us about the site’s history.

Oct 27 Blog

Judah’s Pledge to Tamar

By: Megan Sauter

Genesis 38 recounts the saga of Judah and Tamar. Er, Judah’s oldest son, marries Tamar, but he dies, leaving her a childless widow. Er’s brother […]

Nov 11 Blog

Geshurite Fort Excavated

By: Jonathan Laden

A complex was excavated on a hill above the El-Al Canyon in Hispin on the Golan Heights. The Iron Age Fort was dated to the […]

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