A Virtual File Cabinet for Our Studies of Christian Origins & Hebraic Faith
8/21/2026 – This post contains a ChatGPT response about the hypothesis that Onias III or IV was the Teacher of Righteousness in the Qumran scrolls Prompt – Which critical bible scholars propose that Onias III or IV was the Teacher of Righteousness in the Qumran scrolls? Cite all sources in line. Yes. There are critical […]
Continue ReadingHere’s a Claude.ai summary of Emanuel Tov’s article, Searching for the “Original” Bible: Do the Dead Sea Scrolls help? Originally published in Biblical Archaeology Review (40.4, 2014). A PDF copy is in his directory in Dropbox. Central Question Tov asks how reliable the Dead Sea Scrolls’ biblical texts are for reconstructing an “original” Hebrew Bible, […]
Continue ReadingThis post contains a summary by Claude.ai of the BAS article Who Were the Essenes? What social archaeology tells us about the Essenes of Qumran by BAS Staff. Published on July 07, 2026. This BAS article covers a 2013 study by Eyal Regev (Bar-Ilan University) applying “social archaeology” and “access analysis” to Khirbet Qumran’s architectural layout, […]
Continue ReadingThree Responses from ChatGPT on 7/23/2025. Yes, **Jesus is associated with both terms—צַדִּיק (tzaddik, righteous one) and מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat, justice/judgment)—though not always explicitly in Hebrew form in the New Testament. These terms reflect how both his followers and his opponents perceived him, and they also appear in early Christian and Jewish literature. Below is how […]
Continue ReadingThree Responses from ChatGPT 7/23/2025. In Hebrew and Aramaic, the terms “mishpat” (מִשְׁפָּט) and “tzaddik” (צַדִּיק) have deep and interconnected meanings rooted in justice, righteousness, and social ethics, especially in biblical contexts. 1. מִשְׁפָּט (Mishpat) – Hebrew 2. צַדִּיק (Tzaddik) – Hebrew In Short: Word Language Root Meaning מִשְׁפָּט Hebrew ש־פ־ט Justice, judgment, legal decision […]
Continue ReadingA very good collection of articles published at BAR is in an ebook (pdf) titled Paul: Jewish Law and Early Christianity, which they distributed for free (other than the price of your email address) that is in Dropbox at “C:\Users\tom\Dropbox\Christianity\Paul\paul_jewish_law_and_early_christianity.pdf” Learn how Jewish traditions and law extended into early Christianity through Paul’s dual roles as […]
Continue ReadingBelow are the slides from Dr. James Tabor’s Countdown of the top 10 differences between the DSSs and the Masoretic Text that is the basis for most versions of the Bible. All italized text is from my transcript of his videos. His video series is: Opening Comments Included: Re: No. 10 — The Masoretic Text […]
Continue ReadingFrom ChatGPT 11/23/2024. Jump to the second chat below “The Transition from Ptolemaic and Seleucid Rule in Judea to the Hasmonean Dynasty, the Qumran Community, and Rome’s Conquest including the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Jump to a concise chronological list of events. The Transition from Seleucid Rule in Judea to the Hasmonean Dynasty and Rome’s Conquest […]
Continue ReadingClick here for an extensive Timeline of Jewish History. From OpenAI. (2024). ChatGPT [Large language model]. https://chatgpt.com Prompt – Provide a timeline of the Seleucid empire, the Macabean revolt and dynasty, and the Qumran Dead Sea Scroll community. Cite any scripture in from the ASV and list all sources at the end of the response. […]
Continue ReadingFrom ChatGPT 11/14/2024. First Prompt – Prepare a 1000-word paper that presents the events and people of Qumran and their scrolls citing social and political events around them to provide context for the archeological evidence. Any Bible text cited should be from the NRSV. List the sources at the end of the response. The Qumran […]
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