Latest Essays

The book of Kings recounts how all Ten Tribes were exiled by the Assyrians and replaced by foreigners, and Ezra–Nehemiah rejects them as non-Israelites. Yet other biblical and Second Temple texts, along with the archaeological record, show that northern Israelites continued to live in Samaria well into the Second Temple period. Far from vanishing, the northern tribes maintained a temple and priesthood that cooperated with their southern neighbors and played a role in shaping the Pentateuch.

Flowing through desert sands, the river Hapi—the ancient Egyptian name for the Nile and its god—mysteriously overflowed each year, bringing fertility and life to Egypt’s people. The dependability of the Nile made Egypt a source of food during regional famines, though Deuteronomy reassures that Israel has YHWH to rely on for its rain.

Deuteronomy describes itself as the words of Moses expounding upon revelation. At the same time, it commands that all Israelites—including the king—learn Moses’ words exactly and never add to or subtract from them, even though Deuteronomy itself reworks earlier texts such as the Covenant Collection in Exodus. Despite this attempt to establish final authority, Deuteronomy undergoes the same process it models: it is combined with other texts and reinterpreted by later works such as Ezra–Nehemiah.

Jerusalem’s destruction and the people’s suffering in the book of Lamentations is mostly seen as punishment for sin. But chapter two breaks the pattern: it accuses God not only of abandoning but of actively attacking His people with His own right hand. Perhaps counterintuitively, only by confronting YHWH in raw, honest terms—and with tears that flow like a stream—can the fire of God’s anger finally be cooled.

Was it based on an ancient tradition? Inspired by stylistic similarities? A strategy to give legitimacy to a text with controversial portrayals of God? Or does it reflect a broader cultural shift toward authorial attribution in the Second Temple period? And finally—how does this attribution change how we read the Book of Lamentations?  

Four times in the Bible, Argov clearly refers to a strip of land in the northern Transjordan. But the word Argov also appears a fifth time alongside “the lion” in the story of Pekah’s assassination of King Pekahiah—and there it is not a place. So, what does Argov really mean?

Balaam induced Moabite women to ensnare Israelite men into apostasy at Baal Peor. Philo, 1^st century C.E., portrays these women as calculating prostitutes. Later, the Sifrei, ca. 3^rd century, recasts the episode as a bawdy Roman farce—complete with marketplace, wine, and brothel-like seductions—portraying the Israelites less as tragic sinners and more as fools blinded by lust.

The generation that came out of Egypt? Their descendants? The audience of Deuteronomy’s authors? Or anyone who reads Deuteronomy, even today?

In Plato’s Laws, the Athenian stranger proposes founding a future state by dividing land into equal plots among citizens, organized into twelve districts each dedicated to a specific god. The Bible also prescribes a lottery system for allocating land—both among tribes and family units—but never explains how such a lottery could function fairly given the unequal sizes of tribes and families. Why?

The poems in the Torah are stylistically, theologically, and linguistically different from the prose narratives surrounding them. They include traces of earlier dialects of Hebrew, Ancient Near Eastern mythical motifs, and resemble an 8^th century B.C.E. poetic fragment from Kuntillet Ajrud—all of which suggest that they are ancient remnants of earlier Israelite literature.

The Israelite camp’s layout provides a double layer of protection for the Tabernacle and ensures an orderly march through the wilderness. But where does this organizational model come from? New evidence points not to Egypt—but to Persia.

Why does Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba question whether the word “good” appears in the first version of the Decalogue—when the Masoretic Text (MT) clearly omits it? Why do some midrashim speak of God dividing the nations among seventy angels—though Deuteronomy 32:8 says nothing of angels? These phrasings align with the Septuagint (LXX), as do the Haggadah’s emphasis on God’s sole role in the exodus, the wise son’s inclusive phrasing, and the image of God’s outstretched arm.

Cain receives an ʾot from YHWH to protect him after killing his brother. Moses encounters an ʾot at the burning bush. Shabbat is called an ʾot between God and Israel. Rahab demands an ʾot to save her family during Israel’s conquest. And Isaiah offers King Ahaz an ʾot to calm his fear of invasion. But what exactly is an אוֹת (ʾot)?

Greek, Roman, Christian, and Jewish authors described discovering enormous bones buried just beneath the earth’s surface and interpreted them through their own lenses: Greeks and Romans saw mythic heroes and monsters; Jewish writers identified them as biblical giants, especially Og, king of Bashan. These discoveries reinforced the enduring belief that ancient humans were far larger than those of today.

In the 8^th century B.C.E., Egypt’s Nubian (Cushite) rulers pledged support to Hezekiah’s rebellion against Assyria—but ultimately failed to deliver. Miriam’s complaint about Moses’ Cushite wife serves as a political allegory, cautioning against reliance on Egypt’s unreliable alliance.

In the original Priestly account of the sotah ritual, an adulterous woman herself brings a grain offering, and the priest publicly humiliates and curses her as part of a purification process for her sin. Later, the Holiness School editors reworked the narrative: the focus shifts to a jealous husband who suspects his wife of infidelity and brings her before the priests to undergo the ordeal of bitter waters—a divine test that determines her guilt or innocence.

Why did Laban accept that Rachel could not rise before him when she said, “For the way of women was upon me”? Why does the Torah forbid sexual relations during menstruation? Nahmanides’ answers place him at the crossroads of medieval science and mysticism.

Does Naomi appreciate Ruth? Is she embraced by the women of Bethlehem? How does the narrator of the Book of Ruth regard her? And why, at the end of the story, is Ruth effectively erased, and her child appropriated by Naomi?

Before the exile, Israelites and Judahites wrote in Old Hebrew script. During the Second Temple period, Aramaic script slowly replaces Old Hebrew to the extent that the rabbis even disqualify a Torah scroll written in Old Hebrew.

In Persian Yehud, as Deuteronomy’s covenant with YHWH was championed as the new path to national security and blessing, the book of Ruth countered with a conservative vision—one in which the survival and well-being of two vulnerable widows are secured not through covenantal fidelity, but through traditional values and customary law.

What is the Torah’s core message and purpose?

Jubilees, and later the Mekhilta, suggest that the covenant ceremony described after the revelation at Sinai (Exodus 24) actually took place earlier — at the moment when the Israelites declared נַעֲשֶׂה, “we will do” (Exodus 19). According to Rabbi Ishmael, it was then that Moses read Leviticus 25–26 to the people — a section explicitly framed as spoken at Sinai, and which sets out the terms of the covenant.

Originally, each farmer marked the start of their harvest by bringing the first sheaf to the priest, then working for seven consecutive weeks, culminating in an offering of new grain. Later, when this offering was transformed into the national festival of Shavuot and Shabbat observance became central, the count was anchored in מִמָּחֳרַת הַשַּׁבָּת—“the day after Shabbat”—to avoid harvesting on the new day of rest.