Bible Review

For a contrasting view of Paul’s use of the term “Arabia,” see Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, “What Was Paul Doing in Arabia?” BR 10:05.

See Leonard Greenspoon, “Mission to Alexandria: Truth and Legend About the Creation of the Septuagint, the First Bible Translation,” BR 05:04.

See “Frank Moore Cross, An Interview, Part I: Israelite Origins,” BR 08:04.

Kokhaba is most likely the Galilean village of that name (modern Kaukab), about 10 miles north of Nazareth.

We know of this event only from Julius Africanus, who says that Herod attempted to obscure his own non-Jewish origins by destroying the record of others’ Jewish descent.

The Gospel of the Nazarenes is an early Jewish-Christian gospel, now known only in a few quotations in works by ancient Christian writers.

This Exodus verse reads: “And he called his name Gershom, for he said, ‘I was an alien [=geµr] in a foreign land.’” Clearly, then, the verse understands the name Gershom to mean “an alien was there” (=geµr shaµm).

Some scholars claim that the parenthetical phrase “that is, Bethlehem” is a later gloss, and that Rachel is buried in Benjamin, near Ramah, as described in 1 Samuel 10:2.