Tobit

Tobit PDF Author: Robert J. Littman
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 900417107X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
Tobit is one of the Apocrypha, a collection of books rejected from their canon by the Jews but accepted by some of the Christian church fathers. Ever since the 4th century CE, commentaries have been written on Tobit. The original Hebrew and Aramaic versions of Tobit were lost, until fragments were discovered as part of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947. The present work is the first Greek text and commentary of Tobit to be published since the publication of the Hebrew and Aramaic fragments. This edition contains the text from two fourth century CE manuscripts, the Codex Sinaiticus (long version) and Codex Vaticanus (short version) as well as a translation into English and a commentary.

Tobit

Tobit PDF Author: Robert J. Littman
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 900417107X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
Tobit is one of the Apocrypha, a collection of books rejected from their canon by the Jews but accepted by some of the Christian church fathers. Ever since the 4th century CE, commentaries have been written on Tobit. The original Hebrew and Aramaic versions of Tobit were lost, until fragments were discovered as part of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947. The present work is the first Greek text and commentary of Tobit to be published since the publication of the Hebrew and Aramaic fragments. This edition contains the text from two fourth century CE manuscripts, the Codex Sinaiticus (long version) and Codex Vaticanus (short version) as well as a translation into English and a commentary.

Septuagint: Daniel (Vaticanus Version)

Septuagint: Daniel (Vaticanus Version) PDF Author: Scriptural Research Institute
Publisher: Scriptural Research Institute
ISBN: 1990289231
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 207

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Book Description
The Book of Daniel is by far the least standardized of all the books that made it into both the Septuagint and the Masoretic Text, with no less than 16 versions surviving from the classical and early medieval eras. The Septuagint manuscripts contain two versions, the standard version found in most manuscripts, and the 'Old Greek' version, which only survives virtually complete in the Medieval era Codex Chisianus. The common translation was done by the Jewish scholar Theodotion circa 150 AD, and supplanted the Old Greek translation as it was closer to the Jewish and Christian theology of the period. The Old Greek translation was the version originally in the Septuagint, however, the authenticity and accuracy of any and all versions of the Book of Daniel have always been in doubt. The Codex Chisianus is accepted as being the closest to the Old Greek translation. It claims to be a copy of the Christian scholar Origen of Alexandria's recension from circa 240 AD, and as the Syro-Hexaplar Codex, a Syriac translation of Origen's recension from 616 and 617 AD, is virtually identical, they are both accepted as Origen's work. Origen rejected both the shorter version of Daniel found in the Hebrew and Aramaic translation that the Jews of his day were using, and Theodotion's translation, which was largely based on the Hebrew and Aramaic text, and claimed the Old Greek translation was the closest to the original text of Daniel. When Theodotion made his translation, he primarily used the shorter Hebrew and Aramaic texts that the Jews were using at the time, and filled in the missing sections by copying from the Old Greek translation. The version of Daniel found in the Masoretic Text is the shortest version of Daniel to survive to the present, and is arguably the strangest, as it is a book retained in two languages. Chapter 1, and the opening lines of chapter 2 are in Hebrew, the rest of chapter 2, as well as chapters 3 through 7 are in Aramaic, and the rest is in Hebrew. This strange combination of Hebrew and Aramaic is also present in the surviving fragments of Daniel found among in the Dead Sea Scrolls, indicating the book was already half-Hebrew and half-Aramaic by the era of the Hasmonean Dynasty, which is when the Hebrew translations of most of the other Aramaic and Canaanite (Paleo-Hebrew) books first appeared.

The Shapira Scrolls

The Shapira Scrolls PDF Author: Scriptural Research Institute
Publisher: Digital Ink Productions
ISBN: 199828879X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 65

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Book Description
The Shapira scrolls, also known as the Shapira manuscript or Moabite Deuteronomy, are a collection of leather strips supposedly discovered in the Arnon Valley of modern Jordan in the 1860s. While they were initially accepted as authentic by the Jewish antiquities dealer Moses Shapira, they were later discredited as forgeries by German and British biblical scholars. Since the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls in the 1940s, there have been several scholars who have called into question the claims that the leather strips were a forgery, however, their whereabouts is unknown, and therefore no modern analysis of the leather strips is possible. Several reasons were given for the initial claims that the strips were a forgery, including the script, language, and content. The script is a form of Phoenician, similar to the Moabite script of the 800s BC, however, the language includes Imperial Aramaic terms not used until the Persian era, several centuries later. The content is not a match for any surviving translation of Deuteronomy, however, it does include many parallel statements. Some of the statements are somewhat heretical, however, they do seem similar to the beliefs of the Hasidian and Tobian sects reported to have been living in the region under Greek rule between 330 and 240 BC. Moses Shapira had previously been involved in the discovery and authentication of both authentic and fraudulent artifacts for the museums and universities of Europe, including five scrolls inscribed on leather sold in 1870, that were later assumed to be forgeries in 1884 and have subsequently disappeared. His biggest ‘swindle’ was thousands of fake Moabite artifacts labeled as Moabitica, which were apparently dug up at a site in the Arnon Valley of modern Jordan. These artifacts included stone heads, and clay vessels inscribed with Moabite text, and were dug up by both Shapira’s workers and German scholars, who later assumed Shapira’s people hid the artifacts there for them to find. The Altes Museum in Berlin bought the largest collection of these artifacts, at 1700, however, there were additional sales to other institutions and individuals across Europe, and the total number of artifacts is unknown.

Syriac Apocalypse of Ezra and the Arabic Apocalypse of Daniel

Syriac Apocalypse of Ezra and the Arabic Apocalypse of Daniel PDF Author: Scriptural Research Institute
Publisher: Digital Ink Productions
ISBN: 1739069161
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 137

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Book Description
The Syriac Apocalypse of Ezra, sometimes called the Revelation of Ezra appears to have been reworked in the High Middle Ages. Another version of the apocalypse has survived in Arabic, but attributed to Daniel not Ezra, commonly known as the Arabic Apocalypse of Daniel. The Arabic version is shorter and appears to be older, likely dating to earlier than the time of Muhammad, while the Syriac version has been reworked into an anti-Islamic apocalypse, likely between 1229 and 1244. The apocalypse includes a reference from the High Middle Ages to Muslims as Ishmaelites, and Mongols as Gog and Magog, forming an alliance and conquering Jerusalem. This idea would not have been conceivable until the Mongols defeated the Khwarazmian Empire, an Islamic Turko-Persian empire in Iran and Central Asia. Before that, the idea that the Mongols could reach Jerusalem was not a consideration. The Apocalypse indicates that the city of Jerusalem was occupied by Christians at the time, which would place the anti-Islamic redaction to sometime between 1229 and 1244. The Latin crusaders had been driven out of Jerusalem in 1187, however, the kingdom of Jerusalem continued to exist, first from its capital in Tyre, and later Acre, however, in 1229 Jerusalem was recaptured, and held until 1244. As the Principality of Antioch was another crusader state to the north, and the name ‘Antioch’ appears to have been added earlier in the Apocalypse, the redactor may have meant it as a piece of propaganda intended to garner support from Byzantine Christians, who had not generally participated in the crusades and had better relations with the Muslims than the Catholics. The older Arabic version of the apocalypse likewise appears to have been used for propaganda, however, was anti-Jewish instead of anti-Islamic, and appears to have been written in Aramaic before the time of Muhammad. Based on the dialect of Arabic, it most likely originated in Palestine, among medieval Christians. The Arabic version is much shorter and is mostly paraphrased from the Gospels and other early Christian works, however, the content of the apocalypse is clearly something that was incorporated into the longer Syriac Apocalypse. While the content of the Arabic apocalypse is repeated in the Syriac apocalypse, it is a direct translation, but a series of paraphases that are reinterpreted in an anti-Islamic way. The longer Syriac apocalypse, which must originate much later than the pre-Islamic Arabic apocalypse, nevertheless, has much more content, most of which appears to have been composed in Neo-Babylonian sometime between 597 and 592 BC. The Syriac apocalypse has many Greek loanwords, confirming it was written in Greek, as well as an Arabic word the Syriac translator chose over a Syriac word, suggesting the Syriac translation was done long after Northern Iraq became Arabic speaking. All known copies of the Syriac Apocalypse can be traced to Iraqi Kurdistan, or the old Christian churches of Mosul, just south of Kurdistan. All of the surviving manuscripts are also in the Eastern Syriac script, and ten of the known 15 manuscripts can be linked to the Rabban Hormizd Monastery, of the Chaldean Catholic church, suggesting that all known copies are derived from the texts maintained at the monastery. The oldest known manuscript is from 1702 and is known as MS Mingana Syriac 11, or simplified to Mingana 11. It was copied on January 16, 1702, by a Hoshabo, son of Daniel, son of Joseph the priest, son of Hoshabo, and bought by Alphonse Mingana in the 1920s. Minanga was a British orientalist who had been born in Ottoman Kurdistan, and in the 1920s made multiple trips to northern Iraq to acquire ancient manuscripts, which later became the Mingana Collection at the University of Birmingham, in England.

Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor

Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor PDF Author: Scriptural Research Institute
Publisher: Scriptural Research Institute
ISBN: 1990289215
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 39

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Book Description
The Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor is the earliest known surviving story of a shipwrecked sailor, and as such is the forerunner of many stories of nautical adventure encountering strange magical creatures, from Homer's Odyssey to Sinbad the Sailor. In a broader sense, it is generally considered the oldest piece of Egyptian fiction to survive to the present. Only one copy has been found to date, a single papyrus manuscript that resides at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, and is designated pHermitage 1115. The exact origin of the papyrus was not properly documented at the time, which was common for early Egyptologists, however, it was most likely recovered in Vladimir Golenishchev's 1884-85 expedition to the Wadi Hammamat, which was the major trade route between the Nile in southern Egypt and the port of El Qoseir on the Red Sea. The papyrus does appear to be complete, however, the story is not. It begins abruptly and ends abruptly, and suggests that it was excised from an older text. The story begins as a ship's captain is returning home from Nubia, on a failed mission of some kind, and then segues to the narrator telling the disinterested captain of a time when was shipwrecked on an island near Punt. It ends as abruptly as it begins, but the scribe confirms that this is the end of the story. Based on the content, it appears that the point of the papyrus was to copy the section of text dealing with the island and the 'Lord of Punt,' which was copied from a longer text in which the captain returned from his failed mission in Nubia, and told the king a story his crewman had told him to make up for the fact that he had nothing to report, but also downplayed the fantastic story by making it clear that it was his boring crewman's story, and not his. The reason for the extraction of the story, was probably because at the time, in the early Middle Kingdom era, the Egyptians were re-exploring their world, and trying to find the lands their ancestors had been trading with. This short work of probable fiction was, nevertheless, about the fabled land of Punt, which the Middle Kingdom reopened trade with during the 11ᵗʰ dynasty. Under the 11ᵗʰ dynasty's Mentuhotep III, an officer named Hannu reopened trade with Punt, however, it is unknown if he personally sailed there or simply organized the expedition. The most probable time for Imenyas pen-Imeny to have excised the story was before that first mission of Hannu, when the Egyptians were scouring their records for information on Punt. The fact that it was abandoned in the Wadi Hammamat, the route taken from the capital at Thebes to the Red Sea port of El Qoseir, seems to be a pretty strong indicator that the navigator did not see any value in the text, and did not even bother carrying it all the way to the harbor.

Tale of Sinuhe

Tale of Sinuhe PDF Author: Scriptural Research Institute
Publisher: Scriptural Research Institute
ISBN: 1990289282
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 54

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Book Description
The Tale of Sinuhe, also called the Story of Sanhat, is one of the most popular stories that has survived to the present from the Egyptian Middle Kingdom. Dozens of fragments of copies have been found, which is unusual and speaks volumes of how popular it was in the Middle Kingdom. Egyptologists are divided on how much of it is fictional, with some claiming it is a historical text, while others claim it is entirely fictional. The copies that have been found are not identical, with sections of text that were either added to the original, or dropped from the original, and therefore it was altered over time. As a result, the general view within Egyptology is that it likely started as a historical text that was embellished by later scribes. Unfortunately, the original author either did not see a reason to explain what had happened before Sinuhe’s flight from Egypt, or it was removed from the copies that have survived to the present. Sinuhe makes a point of claiming that he was not deserting the army in Libya, but later the king states that he knows that Sinuhe was not plotting against him when he fled Egypt. This suggests that someone had conspired against Senusret I at the beginning of his reign, however, the events of this plot have not survived to the present. It isn’t clear if the details were removed out of respect for the king, or if the author simply expected everyone to know what had happened. The identity of Sinuhe is also somewhat unclear from the surviving texts, however, he appears to be a relative of the Queen, who had grown up with the future king Senusret I. He may have been the army commander sent to conquer the Libyans at the end of Amenemhat I’s reign, as he begins his story there, however, he could have simply been a lieutenant. As a member of the nobility, he was unlikely to be a common soldier. Later, in Syria, he claimed to be a great hero, defeating many enemies on behalf of the local king, suggesting he was well-trained in combat.

The Life of Harkhuf

The Life of Harkhuf PDF Author: Scriptural Research Institute
Publisher: Digital Ink Productions
ISBN: 1990289339
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 48

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Book Description
The life of Harkhuf is one of the better-documented lives from the era of the Old Kingdom era of Egyptian history. Harkhuf lived during the reigns of kings Merenre I and Pepi II of the 6ᵗʰ Dynasty, at the same time as the more famous Weni, whom he may have mentioned in his autobiography. Like Weni, he is primarily known from the inscriptions on his tomb, however, unlike Weni, he only seems to have had one tomb. On the front of his tomb were carved two inscriptions, one promising to intercede in the afterlife for those who prayed for him at his tomb, and the other was his autobiography, telling of his three expeditions into Nubia for King Merenre I. This appears to have been the original design of the tomb, as the front of the tomb was completely covered in the two inscriptions, however, like Weni, he later had more to add. Unlike Weni, Harkhuf did not build a second tomb, instead, he had one side of the tomb smoothed off so a letter to him from King Pepi II could be inscribed there, providing more information about the world he lived in. Harkhuf lived during the 6ᵗʰ Dynasty of the Old Kingdom, which would have been at the peak of the Old Kingdom’s international reach, but after the major pyramid-building feats of the 5ᵗʰ Dynasty were completed. Egypt had already built the tallest building in the world around a century before Harkhuf’s expeditions into Nubia, which would continue to be the tallest building in the world for thousands of years, until the completion of the Eiffel Tower in 1889. As Merenre I is only believed to have ruled for around 9 years, Harkhuf and Weni had to be active in Nubia at the same time. Weni’s Autobiography includes two lists of Nubian tribes, first a list of five tribes that fought in Canaan with the Egyptian army, and later a list of four tribes when he went to Nubia to dig five canals to open the region to trade via Egyptian barges. Nubia was the land to the south of Egypt, was Aswan and Elephantine at the First Cataract of the Nile. Elephantine, under its older Egyptian name Abu was mentioned as one of the mines that Weni visited, however, was considered Egyptian during the Old Kingdom, and marked the boundary between the two cultures. As only four of the five Nubian tribes that Weni mentioned are mentioned by Harkhuf, it allows both their routes through Nubia to be compared and tracked, establishing where the Nubian settlements were probably located.

Esther & Daniel

Esther & Daniel PDF Author: Mark Mangano
Publisher: College Press
ISBN: 9780899008851
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 332

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Book Description
The events of Esther and Daniel are well known, popular, and share many common threads: Both share the same setting: the exi Both assume prominent roles in the palaces of foreign kings; Both remind us that the forces of evil may prevail for a season, but ultimately God will be victorious; Esther recounts a recent threat against God's peop Daniel predicts a future threat; Both point to a lifestyle of faith at all times but especially during times of distress; Each book is integrally related to an important Jewish festival; Both are enduring characters because of the providence of God in their lives. Through fasting, prayer, and confession both Esther and Daniel discover the tenacious resolve of faith, its uncompromising purity, and the security of its shelter. These are a man and woman of faith. They challenge us to follow their lead. Dr Mangano examines these two wonderful books and provides evidence of how the Hebrew God cares for his people and ultimately his church. Book jacket.

The Life of Weni

The Life of Weni PDF Author: Scriptural Research Institute
Publisher: Digital Ink Productions
ISBN: 1990289290
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 44

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Book Description
The life of Weni, also called Uni, is one of the best-documented lives from the era of the Old Kingdom era of Egyptian history. Weni experienced significant upward mobility during the reigns of kings Teti, Userkare, Pepi I, and Merenre I, and as a result had a second tomb prepared for himself later in life, resulting in two of his tombs surviving to the present. His tombs were not extravagant like the king's pyramids of the era, and seem to have generally been ignored until rediscovered in the 1800s. His earlier, smaller tomb included the shorter Inscription of Weni, sometimes called the Tomb Inscription of Weni, while his later, larger tomb included the longer Autobiography of Weni, also sometimes called the Inscription of Weni, or Tomb Inscription of Weni. The second, longer Autobiography of Weni is the longest surviving text from the Old Kingdom that is non-religious and provides a glimpse into the lives of the royal court, as well as the extent of the Old Kingdom's power within Nubia and Canaan. The older inscription is believed to date to late in the reign of King Pepi I, as Weni doesn't mention anything after the campaigns in Canaan. The larger inscription includes Weni's expeditions into Nubia for King Merenre I, who reigned after Pepi I, and provides a brief Egyptian description of Nubia during the Old Kingdom era. Weni's life spanned most of the 6ᵗʰ Dynasty of the Old Kingdom, which would have been at the peak of the Old Kingdom's international reach, but after the major pyramid-building feats of the 5ᵗʰ Dynasty were completed. Egypt had already built the tallest building in the world decades before Weni was born, which would continue to be the tallest building in the world for thousands of years. The 6ᵗʰ Dynasty continued to build pyramids, however, none came close to the engineering accomplishments of the 5ᵗʰ Dynasty. One pyramid, which King Merenre I built, is mentioned prominently in the later section of the autobiography. It is believed to have been the Pyramid of Merenre at Saqqara, although it might have been a different pyramid for one of his wives.

Autobiography of Thoth the Nobleman

Autobiography of Thoth the Nobleman PDF Author: Scriptural Research Institute
Publisher: Scriptural Research Institute
ISBN: 1989852777
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 27

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Book Description
Thoth the Nobleman was a herald of Queen Hatshepsut and her young son Thutmose III, who seems to have died while she was still ruling Egypt, as his autobiography refers to her as the King of Egypt. After she died, Thutmose III tried to remove all records of her being king, although she was still mentioned in newly written biographies as the 'divine wife' and 'chief royal wife' of Pharaoh Thutmose II. Thoth the Nobleman reports that he was trusted by Queen Hatshepsut more than anyone else, as he kept quiet about what was happening in the palace. This statement may not be entirely true as the architect Senenmut is generally considered to have been her lover. Another theory is that Senenmut may have been a homosexual friend of hers, which would then open the possibility that Thoth the Nobleman was her lover. Graffiti depicting a female or hermaphrodite pharaoh having sex with a man was discovered in an incomplete temple near the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, which is generally assumed to have been a representation of Senenmut, however, only the image survives without any writing that identifies the man, who could have been any Egyptian man, including Thoth the Nobleman, or simply intended as a representative figure of a generic male intended to insult the 'king' by depicting 'him' as a female. As this graffiti is depicted close to the massive and iconic Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, it is clear that at least some of the men in Egypt did not view her as a 'king' even late in her reign, which supports the rebellion of the 'Wicked-Evil Kushite' in the Syrian Rivers province for the first eight years of her reign in the Septuagint's Book of Judges. Thoth the Nobleman described working on many major projects throughout the reign of Queen Hatshepsut, including her Mortuary Temple, the Temples at Karnak, and the mysterious Hahut, a great sanctuary of Amen on his horizon in the west, which may have been an early reference to the Oracle Temple of Amen in the Siwa Oasis. Thoth the Nobleman also reported working on the ceremonial boat of Amen called 'Amen's Mighty of Prow.' Three centuries later, when the High Priest of Amen Her-Heru attempted to replicate this deed, it led to the problematic Voyage of Wenamen.