Medieval Jargon on First-century Lips
Remez is bandied about today by some Christian teachers, suggesting it was an interpretation system of Jesus day and, thus, creating a rather glaring anachronism.
View ArticleWith All Due Respect…
The relationship between a sage and his disciple may be characterized both as that of a father to his son, and of a master to his servant. In effect, a disciple indentured himself to his teacher....
View ArticleOver and Under-Familiarity with Matthew 6:11
Hearing something repeatedly can diminish its significance. I suspect that this is particularly true of Scripture. Overfamiliarity with a biblical passage can contribute to its misunderstanding....
View ArticleSunshine For Everybody
Song of Songs Zuta is a rabbinic commentary on the Song of Songs. It may be characterized as exegetical and haggadic. In contrast to the better known Song of Songs Rabbah, Song of Songs Zuta is shorter...
View ArticleFrom Ezekiel 17:24 and 21:3 to Luke 23:31: A Survey of the Connecting Jewish...
Material from Ezekiel 17:24, and more often 21:3 (20:47 in the English Bible) has often been cited as the source of Jesus’ saying in Luke 23:31, “If they do this when the wood is green, what will...
View ArticleThe Theological Significance of the Parable in Rabbinic Literature and the...
One of the finest articles ever written on rabbinic parables and the parables of Jesus was published in 1972 in the now defunct Christian News from Israel. The article is a classic, but, unfortunately,...
View ArticleThe Value of Rabbinic Literature as an Historical Source
Scholars in Israel tend to view synoptic gospel texts, and other Jewish texts from the Second Temple period, through Hebraic and rabbinic eyes. Many Israeli scholars, including the late Professor...
View ArticleKeys of the Kingdom: Allusion to Divinity?
The more we know and understand the historical, cultural and linguistic background of the Bible, the more we are able to discern elements in the biblical text that heretofore have gone unnoticed. These...
View ArticleThe Jewish Cultural Nature of Galilee in the First Century
The prevailing opinion among New Testament scholars is that first-century Galilee was culturally and spiritually deprived, and that, therefore, Jesus came from an underdeveloped and backward Jewish...
View Article“Verily” or “Amen”—What Did Jesus Say?
Every reader of the Gospels knows the phrase, "Verily, I say unto you," or "Verily, verily, I say unto you." According to the standard English translations of the Old and New Testaments, it seems that...
View Article“Treasure in Heaven”: Examining an Ancient Idiom for Charity
The growing value placed on charity in the first century C.E. cannot be overstated. As a new sensitivity developed within Judaism that challenged the compensatory “blessings and curses” paradigm of the...
View ArticleJesus the Galilean, a Stranger in Judea?
Follow Garcia as he challenges Taylor's work and brings about the conclusion that "We should attribute any differences between Galileans and Judeans primarily to issues of opposing halakhic opinions."
View ArticleParables of Ill Repute
In rabbinic parables God could be portrayed as behaving in a morally ambiguous manner: he might be a cruel slave owner or a heartless judge. In a few Lukan parables, Jesus also portrayed God as...
View ArticleJesus and the Hasidim
Jesus, who was quite close to the Hasidim and perhaps even involved with some of them, does not reflect Galilean boorishness or ignorance, but rather the dynamism and ongoing creativity of Jewish life...
View ArticleStewards of God’s Keys
Jesus gave his disciple Peter the "keys of the kingdom of heaven" and promised that whatever Peter "bound" and "loosed" on earth would be "bound" and "loosed" in heaven. What scriptural allusions lurk...
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