Israel in Egypt
Genesis 27: The Rivalry of Jacob and Esau, Texts and Traditions, ed. Lawrence H. Schiffman, Ktav Publishing House, Hoboken NJ, 1998.
Central to the biblical account is a process of elimination in which one child in each patriarchal generation is to carry on the developing Israelite tradition. The rivalry of Jacob and Esau sets the stage for Jacob’s emerging as that bearer of tradition. For later Judaism, Esau (Edom) would symbolize Rome and then Christianity, not […]
Exodus 1-4
1These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each coming with his household- 2Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; 3Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; 4Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. 5The total number of persons that were of Jacob’s issue came to seventy, Joseph being already in Egypt. 6Joseph died, […]
Moses and the Beginning of Yahwism: (Genesis 37- Exodus 4), Christine Hayes, Open Yale Courses (Transcription), 2006.
We were talking last time about the mysterious episode by the Yabbok River, when Jacob undergoes a change in name, and I mentioned the fact that in the biblical view, the name of something somehow encapsulates its very essence. Knowing the name of something gives one power and control over that thing. Many commentators have […]
Genesis 37-50
37Now Jacob was settled in the land where his father had sojourned, the land of Canaan. 2This, then, is the line of Jacob- At seventeen years of age, Joseph tended the flocks with his brothers, as a helper to the sons of his father’s wives Bilhah and Zilpah. And Joseph brought bad reports of them […]
Were the Ancient Egyptians Black or White? Frank J. Yurco, Biblical Archaeology Review (15:05), Sep/Oct 1989.
A recent letter to the editor in BAR (Queries & Comments, BAR 15-03) objected to an advertisement for a doll of Queen Nefertiti that portrayed her as white-skinned. According to the letter writer, Nefertiti was “a beautiful black Egyptian Queen.” Moreover, “The Egyptians are a black race of people,” the reader asserted. Several readers’ letters […]
The Monotheism of the Heretic Pharaoh, Donald B. Redford, Biblical Archaeology Review (13:03), May/Jun 1987.
Akhenaten, pharaoh of Egypt for 17 years between 1375 and 1358 B.C., has often been identified as the first monotheist. Beginning with Sigmund Freud, some have suggested that Akhenaten’s monotheism exercised a direct, or possibly indirect, influence on Mosaic monotheism, although Moses probably lived a hundred years or more after Akhenaten. Others have even gone […]
BARlines: Dayan Collection Opens Amidst Controversy, Biblical Archaeology Review (12:04), Jul/Aug 1986.
The Dayan Collection, which was previewed in the September/October 1982 BAR, opened at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem on April 15, 1986, to rave reviews and a chorus of controversy. Collected by the late Israeli general and amateur archaeologist Moshe Dayan, who died in 1981, the more than 1,000 pieces comprise a stunning and important […]
BARlines: Tell el-Amarna Centennial Symposium, Biblical Archaeology Review (12:04), Jul/Aug 1986.
One hundred years of excavation and discovery at Tell el-Amarna will be commemorated at “A Tell el-Amarna Centennial” at the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute, February 1–3, 1987. El-Amarna—the ancient Akhetaten (Egyptian for “The Horizon of the Sun Disc”)—was the capital of Egypt during much of the reign of King Akhenaten (c. 1353–1335 B.C.). Akhenaten […]
You Too Can Read Hieroglyphics, Carey A. Moore, Biblical Archaeology Review (11:04), Jul/Aug 1985.
Speaking Egyptian is tough—impossible, really. Even Egyptians can’t do it. As in other modern Arab countries, Egyptians today speak Arabic. Why should speaking Egyptian be so difficult? Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of ancient Egyptian children were able to speak it by the time they were two years old. It was no more difficult […]