Once upon a time a Preacher, Professor & Rabbi . . .

“Once upon a time a Preacher, Professor & Rabbi . . .” sounds like the beginning of a good joke, but in this case it is the beginning of a twenty-five journey. I am the preacher, Dr. Ike Tennison is the Professor and the Rabbi is Jeffrey Leynor. Our destination was to more accurately understand the words of our Bibles and the histories of our religions – Christianity and Judaism. We specifically wanted to focus on the first century CE when both of our religions were Jewish sects and part of Second Temple Judaism and learn more about how one of those sects – the Jesus Movement – became a universal Gentile religion, and the other – the Pharisees – became Rabbinic Judaism. What we discovered, however, is much more important than what we planned. Today, the social bonds that are required to hold Americans together and make it possible for our democracy to exist are breaking down and many of the problems we face – political, economic and religious – are the result. We believe that what we discovered on our journey has the power to strengthen those bonds and bring Americans together -- especially those with Judeo-Christian values and heritages. Click on “Once upon a time a Preacher, Professor & Rabbi” at -- http://www.myerscommunications.us/biblical-heritage-center-resources-page.html

Jacob’s Descendants who Go to Egypt: The MT Versus the LXX.

A close look at the different references to Jacob’s descendants, and their number in both the MT and the LXX shows how the tradition of Jacob’s descendants developed over time. Genesis 46:8-27, in Parashat Vayigash, lists Jacob’s descendants who came to Egypt; in the Masoretic Text (MT) they total 70, whereas in the Septuagint (LXX), they total 75.  In other words, the MT is missing five names found in the LXX.

http://thetorah.com/jacobs-descendants-who-go-to-egypt-the-mt-versus-the-lxx/

The Story of the Ten Commandments You Didn’t Learn at Your Church or Synagogue

If there is one thing in the Bible that Christians and Jews agree on, it is the story of the Ten Commandments and the words that were written on the two stone tablets. Many readers picture someone like Charlton Heston holding two stone tablets in a movie. And then they read the words on the stone tablets, words that are found in Exodus 20. Would you be surprised to discover that those words were not written on the stone tablets? Discover what was written on the stone tablets by clicking on this article at -- http://www.myerscommunications.us/biblical-heritage-center-resources-page.html

Are you seeing the people in the Bible in "Their Contexts” or “Your Context”?

 When reading the Bible, we are the Receptor and it is our responsibility to search for the Source’s “bundles of associations” and make sure we attach the Source’s “bundles” to the words of our Bible.

 We are not solitary beings, but social ones. Our “bundles of associations” attached to our words include much more than “lexical meanings.” They include feelings, emotions, smells, tastes, sounds, appetites, desires, longings, fears and much more. We must learn as much as we can about the Source’s society as we search for the “bundles of associations” attached to his or her words.

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SHALOM,

Jim Myers

Did Paul learn to write Epistles from Gamaliel?

Gamaliel the Elder (Rabban Gamaliel I) was a leading authority in the Sanhedrin in the early 1st century CE. He was the son of Simeon ben Hillel, and grandson of the great Jewish teacher Hillel the Elder, and died twenty years before the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem (70 CE). In Jewish tradition, Gamaliel is described as bearing the titles Nasi and Rabban (our master), as the President of the Great Sanhedrin in Jerusalem.[i]

Gamaliel was well-respected and, according to one rabbinic tradition:

When Rabban Gamaliel the Elder died, the glory of the law ceased and purity and abstinence died. (m. Sot. 9:15)

In the Book of Acts Gamaliel is mentioned twice:

Then stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in reputation among all the people. (Acts 5:34)

“I (Paul) was raised in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and I was instructed perfectly in the tradition of our fathers.” (Acts 22:3)

In The Jewish People in the First Century we find the following reference to Rabban Gamaliel the Elder:

Our (Jewish) sources have preserved some epistles announcing intercalations, such as those sent by the court of Rabban Gamaliel the Elder, which clearly illustrate the measures the court took to publicize its decisions: ‘It once happened that Rabban Gamaliel and the elders were sitting on steps on the Temple Mount, and that the scribe Johanan was sitting before them.

He bade him write: ‘To our brethren in Upper Galilee and to those in Lower Galilee: May your peace be great. We beg to inform you that the time of removal has arrived for setting aside the tithes from the olive heaps.’

And: ‘To our brethren throughout the South: May your peace be great. We beg to inform you that the time of removal has arrived for setting aside the tithes from the corn sheaves.’

And: ‘To our brethren the exiles in Babylonia and to those in Media, and to all the other exiles of Israel: May your peace be great. We beg to inform you that the doves are still tender and the lambs too young and the crops not yet ripe. To me and my colleagues it seems right to add thirty days to this year.’ [ii]

Although Paul never mentions Gamaliel in his writings, the structure of Paul’s epistles reflects the general theme of those of Gamaliel. Paul is portrayed as person sitting in a position of authority using epistles to publicize his decisions about various matters to different communities.

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Shalom,

Jim Myers

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[i] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamaliel

[ii] The Jewish People in the First Century Volume Two: Historical Geography, Political History, Social Culture and Religious Life and Institutions; Edited by S. Safrai and M. Stern in co-operation with D. Flusser and E. C. van Unnik; © 1976 By Stichting Compendia Rerum Iudaicarum Testamentum; Fprtress Press, Philadelphia, PA; pp. 856-57.

The Unusual Pe Preceding Ayin Order in the Acrostics of the Book of Lamentations (Eikhah)

The first four chapters of the book of Eikhah (Lamentations) are alphabetical acrostics (each line or stanza begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet in order). Surprisingly, in the acrostics in chapters 2, 3 and 4, the verses that begin with pe precede the verses that begin with ayin.

pe

ayin

The Soncino commentary to Eikhah remarks: “This unusual order has never been satisfactorily explained.” In light of the archaeological discoveries of recent decades, it is time to provide this explanation. We are really dealing with two separate problems:

(1) Why does pe precede ayin in chapters 2, 3 and 4?

(2) Why is there a difference in the order between chapter 1 and chapters 2, 3 and 4?

We would expect there to be consistency in a small Biblical book. We can perhaps answer the second question based on the Dead Sea Scrolls text of the first chapter: the pe verse precedes the ayin verse here. Perhaps this Dead Sea text reflects the original text of the first chapter. Read the complete article at -- http://jewishlinknj.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8795:the-unusual-pe-preceding-ayin-order-in-the-acrostics-of-the-book-of-eikhah

The search for the most accurate ancient manuscripts of the biblical text.

An important component of the search for the original manuscripts of the books of the Bible – or later copies that are the most accurate – is called “Textual Criticism.”

(1) Textual criticism deals with the origin and nature of all forms of a text, in our case the biblical text.

(2) This involves a discussion of its supposed original form(s) and an analysis of the various representatives of the changing biblical text.

(3) The analysis includes a discussion of the relation between these texts, and attempts are made to describe the external conditions of the copying and the procedure of textual transmission.

Scholars involved in textual criticism not only collect data on differences between the textual witnesses (manuscripts) -- they also try to evaluate them. Textual criticism deals only with data deriving from the textual transmission (copying and recopying) — in other words, readings included in textual witnesses which have been created at an earlier stage.

The biblical text has been transmitted in many ancient and medieval sources which are known to us from modern editions in different         languages. The primary texts of the Jewish Scriptures we now have include are manuscripts (MSS) in Hebrew and other languages from the Middle Ages and ancient times as well as fragments of leather and papyrus scrolls two thousand years old or more.

These sources shed light on and witness to the biblical text, hence their name: “textual witnesses.” All of these textual witnesses differ from each other to a greater or lesser extent. Since no textual source contains what could be called “the” biblical text, a serious involvement in biblical studies clearly necessitates the study of all sources, including the differences between them. The comparison and analysis of these textual differences hold a central place within textual criticism.  

SHALOM

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