A Virtual File Cabinet for Our Studies of Christian Origins & Hebraic Faith
Post by Ross K. Nichols, 9/22/2025. Why Fast for Gedaliah? On the third day of the seventh biblical month, the Jewish people observe a day of fasting. The observance is known as the Fast of Gedaliah. Who was Gedaliah, and why is his name associated with a day of fasting down to this day? In […]
Continue ReadingHovav the Midianite: Why Was the End of the Story Cut? The Midianite Origin of YHWH and Aniconism The extract below is from the great article by Prof. Israel Knohl at TheTorah.com. YHWH from the South A number of biblical traditions describe YHWH’s emergence from the south, either the southern Transjordan, the Sinai wilderness, or both. […]
Continue ReadingBelow is ChatGPT’s summary of the good article at BAS “How Bad Was Jezebel?” by Janet Howe Gaines (Sept. 18, 2025) Her shorter article in 2010 is here. The article “How Bad Was Jezebel?” by Janet Howe Gaines (Sept. 18, 2025) re-examines the biblical portrait of Queen Jezebel and argues that her infamy owes more […]
Continue ReadingDeciphering Deuteronomy by Ross K. Nichols TV Playlist•11 videos Deciphering Deuteronomy is [Roxss’s] latest in-depth walk through the Torah portions from the Book of Deuteronomy. This featured series offers fresh insights from an academic, historical-critical perspective, including text-critical analysis, source criticism, and engagement with ancient manuscripts such as the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Samaritan […]
Continue ReadingExtract from transcript of Christine Hayes’ lecture 18 Literary Prophecy: Micah, Zephaniah, Nahum and Habbakuk from the Open Yale Courses. Chapter 5. The Book of Habakkuk [00:19:46] The Book of Habakkuk was written during this period, so 600 to the destruction — somewhere in those years. That’s the period in which the Babylonians attacked Jerusalem […]
Continue ReadingFrom the BAS Library’s page The Sources of Genesis 1–11 According to the Documentary Hypothesis Sidebar to: The Documentary Hypothesis in Trouble Blenkinsopp, Joseph. “The Documentary Hypothesis in Trouble,” Bible Review 1.4 (1985): 22–26, 28–30, 32. Modern source critics usually divide the primeval history in Genesis 1–11—from the Creation through the Tower of Babel— into two major strands or […]
Continue ReadingBelow is a table created by ChatGPT from the slide outline of Lecture 4 of Dr. Joel Baden’s course at BSA, given in Fall 2025. The slide is in his directory in DropBox. Below that are the Burnt Offering Related Verses where God found the aroma pleasing. Another good post here is Flood Stories: Doublets […]
Continue ReadingFrom ChatGPT 9/14/2025 before Rob Couch’s sermon on the book and the prophet. Critical scholars treat Joel as a small prophetic book whose date, setting, and purpose are not obvious from the text itself, so they focus on four main issues: 1. Date and Historical SettingJoel never mentions a king, foreign oppressor, or clear historical […]
Continue Reading[Isa 58:6-12 ASV] 6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? 7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the […]
Continue ReadingFrom ChatGPT 9/12/2025. In the Hebrew Bible the word Leviathan (לִוְיָתָן, liwyātān) appears as a name for a massive, chaotic sea creature—sometimes poetic, sometimes mythic. Critical scholars generally see it as Israel’s version of the Near Eastern chaos-monster motif rather than a literal zoological animal. Note in two verses, YHWH is playing with Leviathan like […]
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