Christians read their Bibles through a lens of historical hindsight to illuminate certain features of Jesus’ teaching. Jews living in the first century did not have this benefit, and even one as saintly as John the Baptist struggled with aspects of Jesus’ messianic conduct.
What Was Simon Peter Wearing When He Plunged into the Sea?
Was Peter actually fishing naked, or was he merely “stripped to the waist,” as the Living Bible says? And what did he put on before swimming to Jesus?
Paraphrastic Gospels
As Robert Lindsey realized in 1962, Mark reworked Luke’s Gospel in writing his own. Mark liked to substitute synonyms for nearly anything that Luke wrote. If, for instance, Luke used the singular of a noun, Mark substituted the plural form of the same noun in writing his Gospel. And vice versa: if Luke used the plural, Mark substituted the singular. In this article, Robert Lindsey surveys a unique substitution category found in Mark’s Gospel: the replacing of one verse of Scripture with another.
Streams of Living Water: The Feast of Tabernacles and the Holy Spirit
This year the festival of Sukkot, or Tabernacles, takes place on October 9—16. JERUSALEM PERSPECTIVE has asked the famous biblical landscape reserve, Neot Kedumim, to provide our readers with some of the reserve’s wonderful insights into this festival, and Neot Kedumim staff member Beth Uval has contributed the following.
Six Stone Water Jars
In 1969, large stone containers were unearthed in the Jewish Quarter excavations in Jerusalem’s Old City. “What were these vessels used for?” the archaeologists asked. The Gospel of John provided the answer.
What’s Wrong with John 21:7?
There seems to be a problem with John 21:7. The text states that Peter was naked. Did good Jews in that time ever go out fully naked?
Sidebar: Scholarly Attitudes to John
With the rediscovery of Jewish roots to John’s Gospel, scholars pay more attention to layers of historical data within the Gospel.
John’s Targumic Allusions
However one translates John 1:17, both clauses should be positively portrayed. After all, it is John himself who states that “salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22) and that “the Hebrew Scriptures testify about Jesus” (John 5:39).
The Miraculous Catch: Reflections on the Research of Mendel Nun
Mendel Nun’s research is important in illuminating many Gospel stories.
Who Is a Jew in the Gospels?
Most English translations consistently translate the Greek word Ἰουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) as “Jews.” But this inflexible translation has often contributed to an anti-Semitic interpretation of the New Testament.