Bible Review

For further discussion of the contents of the song, see George Brooke, “Power to the Powerless—A Long-Lost Song of Miriam,” BAR 20:03.

The open bracket indicates that the end of the line of text is missing in the fragmentary scroll. Reconstructed text also appears in brackets.

For this reason, some scholars believe Moses’ song was originally Miriam’s song. See Phyllis Trible, “Bringing Miriam Out of the Shadows,” BR 05:01.

I say “probably” because, unfortunately, the Sabbath commandment has not been preserved in any other Qumran manuscript of Exodus or Deuteronomy, although it does appear in the phylactery (tephillin) texts.

These quotations are from my own The Mystery and Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls (New York: Random House, 1998), p. 41.

James F. Strange and Hershel Shanks, “Has the House Where Jesus Stayed in Capernaum Been Found?” BAR 08:06.

Rabban is a title of authority even greater than rabbi.

The Mishnah is a collection of rabbinic oral teachings written down in about 200 A.D. It forms the core of the Talmud.

Midrash, a genre of rabbinic literature, includes nonliteral elaborations on the biblical text.

See Robert Deutsch, “First Impression: What We Learn from King Ahaz’s Seal,” BAR 24:03; and Frank Moore Cross, “King Hezekiah’s Seal Bears Phoenician Imagery,” BAR 25:02.