Bible Review

Kostas Y. Mumcuoglu and Joseph Zias, “How the Ancients De-Loused Themselves,” BAR 15:06.

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke (but not John) are often referred to as the Synoptic Gospels because of similarities in their presentation of the life and teachings of Jesus.

Second tithes represent the portion of a family’s produce put aside to be spent specifically in Jerusalem; see E. P. Sanders, Jewish Law from Jesus to the Mishnah (Philadelphia: Trinity Press, 1990), pp. 45–48.

Hillel and Shammai lived in the first century B.C.E. and represented rival schools of biblical interpretation and moral reflection; the Talmud frequently refers to their disputes.

The Mishnah is the earliest rabbinic work; compiled in about 200 C.E., it forms the core of the Talmud.

See Kenneth V. Mull and Carolyn Sandquist Mull, “Biblical Leprosy—Is It Really?” BR 08:02

See Choon-Leong Seow, “Glossary: The Ineffable Name of Israel’s God,” BR 07:06

But see Anson Rainey’s letter “How Yahweh Was Pronounced,” in Queries & Comments, BAR 20:05; and George Buchanan’s response, in Queries & Comments, BAR 20:05

Adam Gopnik, “Read All About It,” December 12, 1994.

Note that here ‘eved is properly understood as “till” because the object is “soil”; this object is absent from the same verb in Genesis 2:15, where the Lord gives Adam instructions regarding his role in the Garden of Eden.