History & Geography

Abstract

History & Geography Isaac M. Alderman, Steven J. Schweitzer, Christopher T. Begg, Fred W. Guyette, Andrew W. Dyck, William J. Urbrock, and Thomas Hieke 1746. Sajjad Alibaiqi and Iraj Rezaei, “Bikni, Bīt ṭābti, and uqnū: Searching for Appropriate Identifications for Toponyms and Terms Mentioned in Neo-Assyrian Texts,” JNES 77 (2018) 15–30. Previous attempts at identifying the toponym “Bikni” as the Alvand and Damavand mountains are unconvincing. Rather, the authors assert that the reference is to the Karkas Mountains. Further, the Neo-Assyrian references to the “Salt Land” near the “Lapis Lazuli Mountain” can be identified as Namak Lake, in central Iran.—I.M.A. 1747. Joseph Blenkinsopp, “Bethel in the Neo-Babylonian and Early Achaemenid Period,” Essays on Judaism in the Pre-Hellenistic Period, 48–60 [see #2017]. B. examines the archaeological and textual evidence relating to the site of Bethel in the Babylonian and Persian periods, including its appearances in the Hebrew Bible and with special attention to the priesthood associated with the site.—S.J.S. 1748. Joseph Blenkinsopp, “The Intellectual World of Judaism in the Pre-Hellenistic Period,” Essays on Judaism in the Pre-Hellenistic Period, 84–100 [see #2017]. B. surveys the depiction of “intellectual activity” during the above period especially as represented in the Books of Chronicles and Ezra–Nehemiah, and in the archaeological record. B. argues for a contrast between the Hellenistic context and what can be deduced about Persian-period Yehud in light of this evidence.—S.J.S. 1749. Joseph Blenkinsopp, “The Sectarian Element in Early Judaism,” Essays on Judaism in the Pre-Hellenistic Period, 192–206 [see #2017]. B. examines the depiction of various streams of tradition within early Judaism in an effort to clarify which group or groups might reasonably be understood as “sectarian” in nature according to classic definitions of sectarianism as articulated by E. Troeltsch and M. Weber. B. addresses some preexilic examples (such as the “sons of the prophets”), while focusing on particular groups and their terminology in Ezra–Nehemiah, Third Isaiah, and Malachi.—S.J.S. 1750. [Amarna Letters] Sandra Brembs, “Die Beziehungen zwischen Ägypten und Babylonien in den Amarnabriefen,” Interkulturalität, 47–57 [see #2015]. B. investigates the relationship between Egypt and Babylonia in light of the correspondence between the two states preserved in the Amarna letters. Despite recurring tensions, that are alluded to repeatedly in the letters, the relationship between the two states was, B. concludes, largely amicable during the period in question. [Adapted from published abstract—C.T.B.] [End Page 612] 1751. [2 Kgs 19:35] Stephen Caesar, “The Annihilation of Sennacherib’s Army: A Case of Septicemic Plague?” JBQ 45 (2017) 222–28. 2 Kgs 19:35 recounts one of the most devastating and extraordinary incidents of divine intervention in biblical history. Sennacherib marched against Jerusalem, but: “That night an angel of the Lord went out and struck down one hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp, and the following morning they were all dead corpses.” It is certainly possible that what tore through Sennacherib’s army as it lay crowded around the relatively small city of Jerusalem was septicemic plague. Living cheek to jowl for an extended period of time, the Assyrian soldiers would have been particularly vulnerable to such a plague. The fact that they were on a war footing would have increased the likelihood of the soldiers’ succumbing to plague, since human remains and refuse attract rats, unwashed human bodies attract fleas, and the stress of war weakens the immune system. We can thus speculate that what God used, through one of his angels, to destroy the Assyrian army and save Jerusalem was an outbreak of septicemic plague, a disease so utterly virulent and lethal that its survival rate is zero and its victims perish in the span of a single night.—F.W.G. 1752. [Genesis 1–11] C. John Collins, “Inerrancy Studies and the Old Testament: ‘Ancient Science’ in the Hebrew Bible,” Presb 44 (2018) 42–66. I am not saying . . . that none of the Bible writers themselves held any such “primitive” pictures [of the cosmos...