Bamot in Kings and Chronicles

The Hebrew בָּמוֹת (bāmôt) means “high places” appeared, as a cultic context, 97 times in the Hebrew Bible. But what’s basic meaning of bāmôt? They were local sanctuaries. In the Hebrew Bible, the local sanctuaries were once legitimate cultic sites. They are often perceived as the site of Canaanite rituals, but they [...]

Megillot: What do These Five Stories Make?

The Biblia Hebraica Quinta is the fifth version of the Biblia Hebraica. The first volume was published in 2004. As the first volume of the BHQ series, it is a collection of the five Jewish storeis entitled Biblia Hebraica Quinta: General Introduction And Megilloth. I asked myself: “Why?”
The five stories (Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther) are scattered around in English [...]

Pentateuch: A Collection Stories or Sources?

In his book, The Pentateuch: An Introduction to the First Five Books of the Bible (New York: Doubleday, 1992), Joseph Blenkinsopp points the way of a turning point of the Pentateuch. Where his predecessors concentrate on either the historical or the literary character of the text, he attends to both. He first reviews two centuries [...]

Salvation rather than Judgment in Micah 4:1-8

Micah 4:1-8 is one of the best passage in the Old Testament announcing the salvation of Jerusalem, which is also preserved in Micah’s comtemporary prophet Isaiah (2:1-5). But the author of Micah located this slavation oracle right after the oracle of judgment: the passage of 3:1-12 addresses that “Zion shall be plowed as a field” while “Zion will be exalted.” What is [...]