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Mar 7 Blog

The Creation of Woman in the Bible

How was the first woman created in Genesis 2? Was she made from the man’s rib or, as recently suggested in BAR, from his os baculum?

An illustration of the War in Heaven for Milton's Paradise Lost by Gustave Doré

Feb 26 Blog

The Riddle of the Rephaim

By: Jonathan Yogev

The identification of the beings known as “Rephaim” in biblical and ancient Near Eastern sources has caused much bewilderment throughout the years. Biblical dictionaries and […]

A section of the Assyrian siege ramps as seen on the Lachish relief from Sennacherib’s palace at Nineveh. Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg). CC BY-SA 4.0

Feb 19 Blog

Sennacherib’s Siege of Lachish

By: Nathan Steinmeyer

Perhaps no event recorded in the Hebrew Bible is better supported by archaeology and external evidence than Sennacherib’s siege of Lachish in 701 B.C.E. The […]

Ostraca with Hebrew inscriptions excavated from the Iron Age fortress at Arad in Israel. Photo: Michael Cordonsky, courtesy Tel Aviv University and the Israel Antiquities Authority

Feb 17 Blog

When Was the Hebrew Bible Written?

By: Robin Ngo

When was the Hebrew Bible written? Ostraca with Hebrew inscriptions excavated from the Iron Age fortress at Arad in Israel may provide clues, say researchers from Tel Aviv University.

Roman Catacomb Painting at the Catacombs of Santa Priscilla. Image courtesy James Tabor.

Feb 15 Blog

The Last Days of Jesus: A Final “Messianic” Meal

By: James Tabor

On Wednesday Jesus began to make plans for Passover. He sent two of his disciples into the city to prepare a large second-story guest room where he could gather secretly and safely with his inner group.

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?

Feb 12 Blog

Mark and John: A Wedding at Cana—Whose and Where?

By: James Tabor

James Tabor discusses the wedding at Cana from the Gospels of Mark and John. Whose wedding was this and why were Jesus and his family present?

Illustration of left handed Benjamite slinger. Drawing by Josh Seevers, courtesy of Boyd Seevers

Feb 12 Blog

Left-Handed People in the Bible

By: BAS Staff

Were the warriors from the tribe of Benjamin left-handed by nature or nurture?

Feb 3 Blog

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

By: BAS Staff

The Hebrew Bible today differs from the Bible manuscripts of the first millennium B.C.E. How do we identify alterations? Learn why critical editions of the Bible are essential.

Hellenistic. Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples, Italy. Scala/Art Resource, NY

Jan 29 Blog

Solomon, Socrates and Aristotle

By: Theodore Feder

A wall painting found in the House of the Physician in Pompeii contains the earliest known depiction of a Biblical scene. Two onlookers in the crowd appear to be the Greek philosophers Socrates and Aristotle, according to author Theodore Feder. What do the onlookers reveal about the place of Biblical culture in the Greco-Roman world?

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