Bible Review

Sibyls were women in the ancient world with the gift of prophecy. The church fathers recognized several of these women as prophets heralding the coming of Jesus.

Although Jews and Protestants number the Book of Judith, which includes the story of Judith and Holofernes, among their apocrypha, Catholics consider it canonical. Thus it would have been part of Michelangelo’s Bible.

Graham Stanton, “A Gospel Among the Scrolls?” BR 11:06.

For of a view of Saul as a tragic-heroic figure, see Jan P. Fokkelman, “Saul and David—Crossed Fates,” BR 05:03; for an opposing view of Saul as foolishly inept, see Kenneth I. Cohen, “King Saul—A Bungler from the Beginning,” BR 10:05.

Modern translations render this phrase as “out of his heart” but admit, in a footnote, that it literally means “out of his belly.” Unfortunately, “out of his heart” completely misses Jesus’ reinterpretation of the birth image in Zechariah 14:8.

The custom goes back to the time when communication was very slow; Jews in the Diaspora could not know when the Sanhedrin had declared a new moon and would observe two days as a holiday because of the uncertainty over which was the right day.

See N.T. Wright, “How Jesus Saw Himself,” BR 12:03.

Acts 3:19–20; Romans 13:11; Philippians 4:7; Hebrews 10:37; James 5:8; 1 Peter 4:17; Revelation 22:20; and the Didache 16.

Wisdom is often capitalized in this context because it is sometimes personified in the Jewish tradition, as already in parts of Proverbs.