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Pieter Lasman, ‘The Triumph of Mordechai’ (1624; Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons) In 1 Sam 15:3, Samuel commands Saul, the son of Kish, “Go, and strike Amalek, and devote to destruction everything that is his. Do not take pity on him, but kill man and woman, child and infant, ox and lamb, camel and donkey” (לך והכיתה את־עמלק והחרמתם את־כל־אשר־לו ולא תחמל עליו והמתה מאיש עד־אשה מעלל ועד־יונק משור ועד־שה מגמל ועד־חמור).‭ 1 ‬ Unfortunately, Saul’s subsequent engagement with the Amalekites heeded only Samuel’s order to “go and strike Amalek” (לך והכיתה את־עמלק).‭ 2 ‬ Saul “did devote to destruction” (החרים) the Amalekite people but captured alive Agag, the king. 3 Indeed, “Saul and the people had pity on Agag and on the best of the flock and the herd and their choice offspring, on the lambs, and on everything good, and they did not accept devoting them to destruction, but every despised and weak thing they devoted to destruction” (ויחמל שאול והעם על־אגג ועל־מיטב הצאן והבקר והמשנים ועל־הכרים ועל־כל־הטוב ולא אבו החרימם וכל־המלאכה נמבזה ונמס אתה החרימו).‭ 4 ‬ Thus, Saul becomes the object of Samuel’s ire and forfeits the continuation of his kingdom. 5 ...

The latest reviews in the Review of Biblical Literature include: Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies Daniel Epp-Tiessen, Concerning the Prophets: True and False Prophecy in Jeremiah 23:9–29:32, reviewed by Kelvin Friebel Judith Gärtner, Die Geschichtspsalmen: Eine Studie zu den Psalmen 78, 105, 106, 135 und 136 als hermeneutische Schlüsseltexte im Psalter, reviewed by Susan Gillingham Cynthia Shafer-Elliott, Food in Ancient Judah: Domestic Cooking in the Time of the Hebrew Bible, reviewed by Stephen Reed C. Richard Wells and Ray Van Neste, eds., Forgotten Songs: Reclaiming the Psalms for Christian Worship, reviewed by Leonard P. Maré Caroline Vander Stichele and Hugh S. Pyper, eds., Text, Image, and Otherness in Children’s Bibles: What Is in the Picture?, reviewed by Gottfried Adam New Testament and Cognate Studies ...

Stanley Porter and Hughson Ong have the latest article in the Journal of Greco-Roman Judaism and Christianity: “‘Standard of Faith’ or ‘Measure of Trusteeship’?: A Study in Romans 12.3—A Response.” The article’s opening paragraph explains its responsive character and general argument as follows: John Goodrich has recently published an article regarding the interpretation of μέτρον πίστεως in Rom. 12.3 in the Catholic Biblical Quarterly. We have tried to respond to his article in that journal, but regrettably, the journal does not publish responses to articles, although we think that Goodrich’s article warrants a response. Goodrich argued ’that μέτρον πίστεως in Rom 12:3 refers to the believer’s charism, addressed shortly and explicitly thereafter in 12:6’ (p. 753). Against the typical view that takes μέτρον πίστεως as ‘standard/measure of faith’, he proposes that this charism should be seen as ‘a trusteeship’ God grants to each believer. Specifically, the genitive construction in μέτρον πίστεως, regarded as appositive, is ‘a measure, namely a trusteeship’ (pp. 769, 772). This old alternative that Goodrich seeks to revive, however, poses some significant problems that can be neither resolved nor sustained by the arguments and evidence he marshals in this article. We assess critically each of these in what follows, followed by our own interpretation of μέτρον πίστεως in Rom. 12.3. (97) ...

Biblical Theology Bulletin (Photo credit: Wikipedia) The next issue of the Biblical Theology Bulletin is set to include: Carey Walsh, “Where Did God Go?: Theophanic Shift in Exodus” Mark T. Finney, “Servile Supplicium: Shame and the Deuteronomic Curse—Crucifixion in Its Cultural Context” Dennis C. Duling, “Paul’s Aegean Network: The Strength of Strong Ties” Lee A. Johnson, “Social Stratification”

Baker and the Stone-Campbell Journal were kind enough to provide a copy of Tom Schreiner’s The King in His Beauty: A Biblical Theology of the Old and New Testaments. According to the publisher’s description, Schreiner: ...

The latest reviews in the Review of Biblical Literature include: New Testament and Cognate Studies Peter Arzt-Grabner and Christina M. Kreinecker, eds., Light from the East: Papyrologische Kommentare zum Neuen Testament. Akten des internationalen Symposions vom 3.–4. Dezember 2009 am Fachbereich Bibelwissenschaft und Kirchengeschichte der Universität Salzburg, reviewed by Scott Charlesworth Gary S. Shogren, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, reviewed by Jason Weaver Christopher W. Skinner and Kelly R. Iverson, eds., Unity and Diversity in the Gospels and Paul: Essays in Honor of Frank J. Matera, reviewed by Lars Kierspel Jean-Luc Vesco, Le Psautier de Jésus: Les citations des Psaumes dans le Nouveau Testament, reviewed by Thomas J. Kraus Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies ...

Gareth Lee Cockerill Thanks to Eerdmans and the Stone-Campbell Journal, Gareth Lee Cockerill’s New International Commentary on the New Testament volume on Hebrews arrived recently. According to the publisher, ...

According to the New York Times, Random House and Penguin completed their planned merger Monday morning, creating the biggest and most powerful book publisher in the world. The new company, called Penguin Random House, will control more than 25 percent of the trade book market in the United States, giving it unmatched leverage against Amazon.com, a growing force in the industry. ...

As their free book of the month, Logos Bible Software is giving away volume 5 of the Expositor’s Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll. Volume 5 includes: J. H. A. Hart, “The First Epistle General of Peter” R. H. Strachan, “The Second Epistle General of Peter” David Smith, “The Epistles of John” J. B. Mayor, “The General Epistle of Jude” James Moffatt, “The Revelation of St. John the Divine” For more information about the text and to download this volume, please see here. ...

The latest issue of the Bulletin for Biblical Research arrived in yesterday’s mail and includes: Joseph Kelly, “The Ethics of Inclusion: The גר and the אזרח in the Passover to Yhwh” Rahel Schafer, “Rest for the Animals?: Nonhuman Sabbath Repose in Pentateuchal Law” Amy Peeler, “Desiring God: The Blood of the Covenant in Exodus 24” Ray Clendenen, “A Passionate Prophet: Reading Emotions in the Book of Malachi” Maria Pascuzzi, “Reconsidering the Authorship of Colossians”

The Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 56, no. 2 includes the following: Jason DeRouchie, “The Blessing-Commission, the Promised Offspring, and the Toledot Structure of Genesis” Jeffrey Niehaus, “God’s Covenant with Abraham” Douglas Petrovich, “Identifying Nimrod of Genesis 10 with Sargon of Akkad by Exegetical and Archaeological Means” Todd Scacewater, “Galatians 2:11–21 and the Interpretive Context of ‘Works of the Law’” Andrew Wilson, “Apostle Apollos?” Keith Campbell, “The American Evangelical Academy and the World: A Challenge to Practice More Globally” Gerald McDermott, “The Emerging Divide in Evangelical Theology” Daniel Strange, “For Their Rock Is Not as Our Rock: The Gospel as the ‘Subversive Fulfillment’ of the Religious Other”

Google Books as a combined full-text PDF of K. W. Krüger’s Griechische sprachlehre für Schulen (1861). The two tomes make for a combined PDF of just over 1100 pages.

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include: Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies Mark J. Boda and J. Gordon McConville, eds., Dictionary of the Old Testament: Prophets, reviewed by Göran Eidevall Joanne Clarke, On the Margins of Southwest Asia: Cyprus during the 6th to 4th Millennia BC, reviewed by Allen Kerkeslager Mark W. Elliott, Engaging Leviticus: Reading Leviticus Theologically with Its Past Interpreters, reviewed by Bálint Károly Zabán Judy Fentress-Williams, Ruth, reviewed by Peter H. W. Lau Erhard S. Gerstenberger, Israel in the Persian Period: The Fifth and Fourth Centuries B.C.E., reviewed by Jason Silverman Caryn A. Reeder, The Enemy in the Household: Family Violence in Deuteronomy and Beyond, reviewed by Sung Jin Park New Testament and Cognate Studies ...

Christian Book Distributors now has the 10-volume Theological Dictionary of the New Testament on sale for $99.99. Orders for the product should ship on or after October 1.

According to the Perseus Digital Library at Tufts University: The Perseus Digital Library is pleased to announce the 1.0 Release of the Perseus Catalog. ...

While this year’s SBL program is still in preparation, the contents of the IBR research group sessions are now available via the individual research group links on the call for papers page. Update: After copying this link yesterday, the call for papers page URL was apparently updated. Such is the Internet; the link above has now been corrected to reflect the current page location (HT: Joseph Kelly, Kirk Lowery). ...

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include: Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies Mersha Alehegne, The Ethiopian Commentary on the Book of Genesis: Critical Edition and Translation, reviewed by James C. VanderKam Daniel E. Fleming, The Legacy of Israel in Judah’s Bible: History, Politics, and the Reinscribing of Tradition, reviewed by Yitzhaq Feder and by Frank H. Polak Mark Leuchter and Jeremy M. Hutton, eds., Levites and Priests in Biblical History and Tradition, reviewed by Pekka Pitkanen Tremper Longman III, Job, reviewed by Michael Collender Christian Metzenthin, Jesaja-Auslegung in Qumran, reviewed by Paul Sanders Mark R. Sneed, The Politics of Pessimism in Ecclesiastes: A Social-Science Perspective, reviewed by Martin A. Shields New Testament and Cognate Studies ...

Barry F. Parker has the latest article in the Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism, "‘Works of the Law’ and the Jewish Settlement in Asia Minor." According to the article’s conclusion: The first recourse for the Anatolian Jews under [social, political, and religious] pressure was not an appeal to ‘legalism’, but to ‘selective works of the law’, as is implied by the phrase ἔργα νόμου. The only appearance of this phrase from that time outside of Paul is found in 4QMMT. The use of ‘works of the law’ there confirms both that Paul is in (indirect) dialogue with those familiar with Essene terminology and that selectivity is in view. Although he speaks to a different audience about a different problem regarding the law in Romans, when Paul uses the phrase ἔργα νόμου in Romans 3, the immediate context is quite similar to what he addresses in Galatians. It is, in both cases, a matter of the righteousness of God, as expressed in the faithfulness of Christ (πίστις Χριστοῦ). This faithfulness of Christ suffices for both Jew and Gentile (pagan), who are equally condemned—in Galatians they are condemned for trying to supplement that faithfulness with a perverted version of the law, and in Romans they are condemned for perverting the law by their very efforts to fulfill it through a selective participation in it ( 96). ...

New Testament Studies (Photo credit: Wikipedia) The latest issue of New Testament Studies includes: Joel Marcus, “Passover and Last Supper Revisited” Klaus B. Haacker, “Der Geist und das Reich im Lukanischen Werk: Konkurrenz oder Konvergenz zwischen Pneumatologie und Eschatologie?” Anthony Le Donne, “The Improper Temple Offering of Ananias and Sapphira” Richard Last, “The Election of Officers in the Corinthian Christ-Group” Joel R. White, “‘Peace and Security’ (1 Thessalonians 5.3): Is It Really a Roman Slogan?” Thomas R. Blanton, “The Benefactor’s Account-book: The Rhetoric of Gift Reciprocation according to Seneca and Paul” David J. Downs, “Justification, Good Works, and Creation in Clement of Rome’s Appropriation of Romans 5–6” James A. Kelhoffer, “Reciprocity as Salvation: Christ as Salvific Patron and the Corresponding ‘Payback’ Expected of Christ’s Earthly Clients according to the Second Letter of Clement” Benjamin R. Wilson, “Taking up and Raising, Fixing and Loosing: A Chiastic Wordplay in Acts 2.23b–24”

Baker has kindly provided a substantial PDF excerpt from Christopher Seitz’s The Character of Christian Scripture: The Significance of a Two-Testament Bible (2011). Besides front matter, the excerpt includes the book’s introduction and first chapter, which account for 74 pages of text. ...

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include: Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies Naftali S. Cohn, The Memory of the Temple and the Making of the Rabbis, reviewed by Joshua Schwartz David Emanuel, From Bards to Biblical Exegetes: A Close Reading and Intertextual Analysis of Selected Exodus Psalms, reviewed by David G. Firth Saul M. Olyan, ed., Social Theory and the Study of Israelite Religion: Essays in Retrospect and Prospects, reviewed by Bob Becking and by Aren M. Maeir Jacques Vermeylen, Les Prophètes de la Bible et la fin des temps: XXIIIe congrès de l’Asssociation catholique française pour l’étude de la Bible (Lille, 24–27 août 2009), reviewed by Daniel Timmer New Testament and Cognate Studies ...

The latest issue of Currents in Biblical Research includes the following: Serge Frolov, “Sleeping with the Enemy: Recent Scholarship on Sexuality in the Book of Judges” Jason Hood and Matthew Emerson, “Summaries of Israel’s Story: Reviewing a Compositional Category” Coleman Baker, “Peter and Paul in Acts and the Construction of Early Christian Identity: A Review of Historical and Literary Approaches” Bruce Worthington, “Alternative Perspectives beyond the Perspectives: A Summary of Pauline Studies that has Nothing to Do with Piper or Wright” F. S. Naiden, “Recent Study of Greek Religion in the Archaic through Hellenistic Periods”

Baker Academic has an interesting, three-part interview with Edith Humphrey about her new book Scripture and Tradition.

Zondervan has kindly made available a PDF containing Eckhard Schnabel’s treatment of Acts 25:1–26:32 in his Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament volume (HT: Jesse Hillman).

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include: Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies Avraham Faust, Judah in the Neo-Babylonian Period: The Archaeology of Desolation, reviewed by Ulrich Berges Oded Lipschits, Gary N. Knoppers, and Manfred Oeming, eds., Judah and the Judeans in the Achaemenid Period: Negotiating Identity in an International Context, reviewed by Frank H. Polak Kathleen M. O’Connor, Jeremiah: Pain and Promise, reviewed by Bob Becking Karin Hedner Zetterholm, Jewish Interpretation of the Bible: Ancient and Contemporary, reviewed by Marianne Grohmann and by Andrea L. Weiss New Testament and Cognate Studies ...

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include: Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies Lawrence Boadt, Reading the Old Testament: An Introduction, edited by Richard Clifford and Daniel Harrington, reviewed by Sarah Ward Yoram Hazony, The Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture, reviewed by Steven Dunn Otto Kaiser, Gott, Mensch und Geschichte: Studien zum Verständnis des Menschen und seiner Geschichte in der klassischen, biblischen und nachbiblischen Literatur, reviewed by Hans Dieter Betz Swift Edgar, ed., The Vulgate Bible, Volume 2: The Historical Books, reviewed by Ralph K. Hawkins Zipora Talshir, ed., Israel and Its Land: Inscriptions and History: Proceedings of a Conference in Honor of Shmuel Ahituv on the Occasion of His Retirement [Hebrew], reviewed by Aren M. Maeir General Biblical and Cognate Studies ...

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include: Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies Victor H. Matthews, The Hebrew Prophets and Their Social World: An Introduction, reviewed by Aren M. Maeir and by Stewart Moore Jonathan T. Pennington, Reading the Gospels Wisely: A Narrative and Theological Introduction, reviewed by Joel B. Green Iain Provan and Mark J. Boda, eds., Let Us Go Up to Zion: Essays in Honour of H. G. M. Williamson on the Occasion of His Sixty-Fifth Birthday, reviewed by Keith Bodner David T. Runia and Gregory E. Sterling, eds., Studia Philonica Annual XXIV, 2012, reviewed by Scott Mackie Philippe Wajdenbaum, Argonauts of the Desert: Structural Analysis of the Hebrew Bible, reviewed by Casper J. Labuschagne New Testament and Cognate Studies ...

Image via Wikipedia The latest issue of the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society arrived in yesterday’s mail and includes the following: Paul House, “Investing in the Ruins: Jeremiah and Theological Vocation” Daniel Block, “‘What Do These Stones Mean?’: The Riddle of Deuteronomy 27” Paul Tanner, “The Cost of Discipleship: Losing One’s Life for Jesus’ Sake” Greg Rhodea, “Did Matthew Conceive a Virgin?: Isaiah 7:14 and the Birth of Jesus” Daniel Wallace, “Sharp’s Rule Revisited: A Response to Stanley Porter” Stanley Porter, “Granville Sharp’s Rule: A Response to Daniel Wallace, Or Why a Critical Book Review Should Be Left Alone” Daniel Wallace, “Granville Sharp’s Rule: A Rejoinder to Stan Porter” Walter Schultz, “Jonathan Edwards’s Concept of an Original Ultimate End” Shawn Bawulski, “Reconciliationism, a Better View of Hell: Reconciliationism and Eternal Punishment”

In addition to the Justification and Variegated Nomism set, Logos Bible Software now has recently added three other Mohr-Siebeck resources to their pre-publication program: Karel Jongeling and Robert Kerr, eds., Late Punic Epigraphy Matthias Henze, The Syriac Apocalypse of Daniel Mark Smith, God in Translation

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include: Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies Gary M. Beckman, Trevor R. Bryce, and Eric H. Cline, The Ahhiyawa Texts, reviewed by Paul Sanders Walter Brueggemann, David and His Theologian: Literary, Social, and Theological Investigations of the Early Monarchy, reviewed by Andrea Ravasco James L. Crenshaw, Reading Job: A Literary and Theological Commentary, reviewed by Norman Habel Jonathan Grossman, Esther: The Outer Narrative and the Hidden Reading, reviewed by Kelly A. Whitcomb Irene Schulmeister, Israels Befreiung aus Ägypten: Eine Formeluntersuchung zur Theologie des Deuteronomiums, reviewed by Peter Porzig New Testament and Cognate Studies ...