http://blog.jerusalemperspective.com/ Exploring the Jewish Background to the Life and Words of Jesus en-us 2012-02-01T08:19:08-06:00 http://blog.jerusalemperspective.com/archives/000149.html We continue the series of Forum discussions for readers who want to learn more about Jesus: a third synoptic question has been posted in the JP Discussion Forum. This is part of our ongoing effort to keep our Forum subscribers engaged and challenged. Each month we present a new synoptic riddle. David Bivin 2012-02-01T08:19:08-06:00 http://blog.jerusalemperspective.com/archives/000148.html As part of Jerusalem Perspective's ongoing attempt to actively engage students living outside Israel -- in those countries in which we conduct infrequent seminars and workshop, such as England and the United States, and in those countries in which, unfortunately, we conduct none -- we pose this month's discussion question: "What did Jesus forbid his twelve disciples to take with them on their famous training mission of healing and proclamation of the Kingdom of Heaven?" Searching JerusalemPerspective.com David Bivin 2011-12-20T06:33:12-06:00 http://blog.jerusalemperspective.com/archives/000147.html Jerusalem Perspective has begun publication of a monumental commentary on Matthew, Mark and Luke. The "Life of Yeshua [Jesus]" is a reconstruction of the conjectured Greek and Hebrew gospels that stand behind canonical Matthew, Mark and Luke. We have dreamed of producing this work for more than 20 years, and now, a combination of new computer technology, Unicode fonts, the marvelous Mellel word processor, and a dedicated volunteer from Houston, Texas, have made possible publication of the first segments of this project. The mammoth commentary will extend to more than 5,000 pages. David Bivin 2011-12-05T03:20:04-06:00 http://blog.jerusalemperspective.com/archives/000146.html Thanks be to God! Josa and I returned safely to our home in Israel after two months on the road. We conducted workshops in London, U.K., Stroud, OK, Houston, TX, Grants Pass, OR, and Zeeland, MI. How wonderful it was to meet old friends and make many new ones. Attendance was 50% higher than in previous years, and, judging from the reaction of students, satisfaction was at an all-time high. David Bivin 2011-11-21T11:49:10-06:00 http://blog.jerusalemperspective.com/archives/000140.html Parallelism is a beautiful and central feature of Hebrew poetry. Scholars have identified three types of Hebrew parallelism. In the previous blog, David Bivin discussed the first of these types: Synonymous Parallelism. In this new blog, he discusses the second type: Antithetical Parallelism. An antithetical parallelism is composed of balancing couplets, each of which is the antithesis of the other, for example: "They collapse and lie fallen, but we rally and gather strength" (Ps. 20:8). David Bivin 2010-12-20T04:48:13-06:00 http://blog.jerusalemperspective.com/archives/000139.html "Parallelism" is a central feature of Hebrew poetry. It permeates the words of biblical poet and prophet. The frequency with which parallelism occurs in the utterances of Jesus is surprising, and leads inevitably to the conclusion that the Greek source (or, sources) used by the authors of Matthew, Mark and Luke derive(s) from a Greek translation (or, translations) of Hebrew documents. Hebraisms in the NT David Bivin 2010-11-29T03:09:00-06:00 http://blog.jerusalemperspective.com/archives/000138.html Doubling, or repeating, is a characteristic feature of Hebrew. Hebrew loves to say things twice (or more!) by adding equivalents. Words, phrases, sentences, and even stories, are doubled (or tripled). One of the most important Hebraisms is known as "parallelism," expressing the same thought in two or more different, though synonymous, ways. "Parallelism" is the hallmark of Hebrew poetry. Hebraisms in the NT David Bivin 2010-11-07T13:24:51-06:00 http://blog.jerusalemperspective.com/archives/000137.html Awareness of even the simplest Hebrew grammatical structure can bring to life a vague, or difficult-to-understand, saying of Jesus. Since potential Hebrew idioms are so dense in the Greek texts of Matthew, Mark and Luke, one has to ask, Could these apparent Hebrew idioms be evidence that the synoptic Gospels are descendants of an ancient translation of a Hebrew "Life of Jesus," the gospel that the church father Papias (ca. 70-160 A.D.) spoke of when he wrote: "Matthew...arranged the sayings [of Jesus] in the Hebrew language"; Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., 3.39)? The Hebrew work Papias mentions is not extant. It is not the Greek Matthew of the New Testament -- scholars agree that canonical Matthew is not a direct translation of a Hebrew source. However, the text Papias mentions might be an ancestor of canonical Matthew, a Hebrew source that was translated to Greek. The authors of canonical Matthew, Mark and Luke may have used this Greek translation in writing their accounts. Hebraisms in the NT David Bivin 2010-10-19T09:49:44-06:00 http://blog.jerusalemperspective.com/archives/000136.html This time, rather than looking at isolated words or expressions that appear to be Hebraisms, or, rather than examining a category, or type, of Hebraism, let's take a complete story from the life of Jesus: Luke 9:51-56, a story found only in the Gospel of Luke. This approach will allow us to gain an impression of the density of Hebraisms that often exists in Gospel passages. Hebraisms in the NT David Bivin 2010-09-26T16:59:41-06:00 http://blog.jerusalemperspective.com/archives/000135.html The most frequent question Jerusalem Perspective receives from readers is: "Have you published a list of Hebraisms in the New Testament?" In an attempt to respond to JP readers' interest, we launch a series of blogs on Hebraisms in the New Testament. In this series, David Bivin identifies and clarifies the meaning and personal, practical significance of hundreds of Hebraisms buried in the Greek of the New Testament. Hebraisms in the NT David Bivin 2010-09-07T12:24:13-06:00 http://blog.jerusalemperspective.com/archives/000134.html Without reading the Scriptures carefully, and without a familiarity with Second Temple-period extra-biblical sources, a simple reader of the New Testament might assume that a majority of the Pharisees were hypocrites and that the Pharisees as a movement were a "brood of vipers." David Bivin 2010-07-11T10:54:38-06:00 http://blog.jerusalemperspective.com/archives/000133.html Yeshua (Jesus). Jerusalem Perspective does not rest on its laurels, but works continuously to add content to an already important learning resource.]]> Web Resources David Bivin 2010-06-23T08:17:46-06:00 http://blog.jerusalemperspective.com/archives/000131.html Learning Biblical Languages David Bivin 2009-06-24T11:14:49-06:00 http://blog.jerusalemperspective.com/archives/000130.html You are studying your Bible and you read Jesus' words in Matthew 6:22-23, "The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness" (KJV). You scratch your head wondering what Jesus meant by "single eye" and "evil eye." JerusalemPerspective.com can help you find the answer. David Bivin 2009-05-15T08:01:55-06:00 http://blog.jerusalemperspective.com/archives/000129.html Day by day, Modern Hebrew is enriched by the vocabulary of many languages, but particularly by English, the world's "international language." Hebrew picks up hundreds of English words each year. Such borrowings from English, written in Hebrew letters, feel Hebrew to most Israelis. Usually, Hebrew speakers are not aware that such loan words did not originate in Hebrew. David Bivin 2009-05-08T12:28:27-06:00