The Waters
In the semiarid Levant, rainfall and water storage were of paramount importance. But for a people who believed that the Earth could be destroyed by flood, it was also part of God’s promise to keep water away.
History of Judaism
The Genesis of Judaism
What we can learn about ancient (and modern) Jewish life from hunter-gatherers and their social networks.
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Say Thou Art My Sister
Thousands of clay tablets dating from the time of Abraham reveal crucial cultural context for some weird episodes in the Hebrew Bible.
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A Prayer in the Privy
Today’s religious Jews recite a benediction every time they successfully complete a trip to the bathroom. Might this practice have its roots in ancient Israelite ritual?
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Midian and the Midianites
Northwestern Saudi Arabia may have played a crucial role in shaping the stories of the Hebrew Bible. A reader of last month’s post was curious about the Land of Midian, which I mentioned twice: once in a story from the Book of Exodus about where Moses fled after killing an Egyptian slave-driver, and a second
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Mining the Evidence
Intense economic activity in the biblical era centered on a copper mine not far from the Red Sea. Archaeologists have found a tabernacle similar to the one described in the Hebrew Bible at the site.
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Stonehenge in Sinai
Hundreds of uncarved standing stones, almost all facing east, almost all in deliberate arrangements, have been strewn throughout the wilderness of Israel since the fifth millennium BCE. They may be silent witnesses to essential tenets of Judaism today.
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The codex
An eye for an eye is no shortcut to understanding the magnificent complexity of the Codex Hammurabi.
How to Escape from Pharaoh
Fun fact: No camels were used during the Exodus. The “ships of the desert” only came into wide use centuries later. But what was it really like for Israelites to live as slaves in ancient Egypt, and what skills did they need to survive once they’d escaped? The modern nomads of the Levant, the Bedouin, provide some clues.
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