Bible Review, August 1991
Features
How Desert Culture Helps Us Understand The Bible
Bedouin law explains reaction to rape of Dinah
When Abraham sends his concubine Hagar and their son Ishmael into the “wilderness of Beersheba” (Genesis 21:14), he hangs from Hagar’s shoulder “a skin of water.” In Sinai and the Negev, Bedouin shepherdesses today still carry to pasture the same type...Read more ›
The Aleppo Codex
Ancient bible from the ashes
The date was December 2, 1947, four days after the United Nations decision to partition Palestine into a Jewish state and Arab state. Arab mobs in Syria were once again looting, burning, murdering and raping local Jews under the aegis of their, government’s anti-Zionism...Read more ›
Did Jephthah Kill His Daughter?
Did the ancient Israelite judge and warrior Jephthah actually kill his own daughter? Perhaps rashly, he vowed to sacrifice as a burnt offering “whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me on my safe return” if the Lord would only grant him a...Read more ›
Heavens Torn Open
Mark’s powerful metaphor explained
Mark, the earliest and the shortest of the Gospels, begins with John baptizing Jesus in the Jordan River (Mark 1:9). As Jesus emerges from the water, Mark tells us, Jesus sees the “heavens torn open” (schizomenous tous ouranous) (Mark 1:10). The...Read more ›