Bible Review

Odo of Cluny, De Maria Magdalene & triduo Christi Disceptatio.

Pope Gregory, XL Homiliarum Evangelia 2.25, 76:1188–1196 in Patrologiae Latina, ed. Jacques Migne (Paris, 1844 et seq.).

Warner, Alone of All, p. 232.

John 4:27 is the only exception, though it has nothing to do with travel. Jesus’ disciples find him with Samaritan woman: “They were astonished that he speaking with a woman, but no one said, ‘What do you want?’ or ‘Why are you speaking with her?’”

Ben Witherington III, “On the Road with Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna and Other Disciples—Luke 8, 1–2, ” Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 70 (1979), pp. 244–245.

The masculine or patriarchal language used in describing God in the Bible gives offense to many. At least one should note, however, that Israel’s deity is without a female counterpart and, in contrast to the gods in central myths of sacral marriage in the ancient Near East, engages in no sexual activity. In reality a god without a spouse is sexless.

On occasion a god may be restricted to the underworld, or Yamm, deified sea, may be banned from dry ground. But even then, Ba’al is resurrected from the dead (and confinement to the underworld), and the cosmic waters may break out of their bounds in bringing the flood.

See Cross and Freedman, “An Inscribed Jar Handle from Raddana,” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 201 (1971), pp. 19–22.

The best treatment of the stele and its implications for Israel’s occupation of the land is, in my opinion, the paper of Lawrence Stager, “Merenptah, Israel and Sea Peoples: New Light on an Old Relief,” Eretz Israel 18 (1985), pp. 56*–64*; see also Frank J. Yurco, “3,200-Year-Old Picture of Israelites Found in Egypt,” BAR 16:05.