Comments on Singing In The Reign: New Inscription Found: "Messiah to be Raised After...

There is a paper somewhere from a few decades ago,...

2008-07-13T02:48:00.000-07:00

There is a paper somewhere from a few decades ago, I think by John Wijngaards entitled something like "Resurrection in Covenenatal Context" that looks at the Hosea paage. But I agree with the last poster that firstfruits etc is a more likely context, not least because people are now lloking much more at Yom Kippur/Tabernacles etc in relation to Jesus rather than just Passover.

I liked Brant's proposal at the WCBSC in January, ...

2008-07-09T13:07:00.000-07:00

I liked Brant's proposal at the WCBSC in January, regarding the Feast of First Fruits (Reishit Katzir) and the resurreciton on the third day (cf. 1 Cor. 15:20). As he said, it seems more explanatory than the Hosea text, which refers to "us," rather than the messiah per se.

Help me out with the Hosea passage:After two days ...

2008-07-06T19:09:00.000-07:00

Help me out with the Hosea passage:

After two days he will revive us;on the third day he will raise us up

Isn't the numerical sequence a stylistic device, similar to the prophecies in Amos: For three transgressions of fill-in-the-blank, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because ...

To take the numbers literally is akin to our Lord riding astride both a donkey and a colt, as described in Matthew's Palm Sunday (21:7). Literal numbers cause problems, no?

Three posts in one day....is someone procrastinati...

2008-07-06T15:17:00.000-07:00

Three posts in one day....is someone procrastinating from their dissertation?

I found Knohl's speculation about the tablet refer...

2008-07-06T12:38:00.000-07:00

I found Knohl's speculation about the tablet referring to a certain Simon whom Josephus says was killed by a commander in Herod's Army to be enlightening. Given the absence of any reference to the messianic figure dying, it seems he needs a dead Jewish rebel to flesh out his speculations.

The militaristic/political, warfare/bloodshed content of the tablet, coupled with the absence of any reference to the figures death, when seen against the resurrection imagery of Hosea 6:2 and Ezek 37:1-24, and understood in their historical and literal context, suggests that the "rising" refers to the figures victory over his enemies.

Does this sound plausible?

I have heard similar arguments from college profes...

2008-07-06T12:09:00.000-07:00

I have heard similar arguments from college professors. Their point is that anything found in literature before Christ can't be the subject of an authentic prophecy by Christ. Christ just read and repeated it, or (worse) the Gospel writers read it and used it as literary fodder to make up the story of Christ. The same arguments are used to "debunk" the virgin birth of Christ. The motif of the virgin birth is used in many ancient religions (the story goes) and so Christianity just borrowed the motif.

These people have no understanding of Old Testament prophecy and no concept of the partial truths that are present in world religions.

Surely this would strengthen the historicity not w...

2008-07-06T11:39:00.000-07:00

Surely this would strengthen the historicity not weaken it?

I guess the "discoveries" and "revelations" that J...

2008-07-05T22:23:00.000-07:00

I guess the "discoveries" and "revelations" that Jesus was buried in the Talpiot Tomb, married to Mary Magdalene, and best buds with Judas who tried to save him weren't enough of an embarrassment to the media which so gleefully pimped them.

It seems to me that the scholar Kohl is letting his imagination run wild in order to save a thesis he advanced in 2000, and which received no consideration.

Finally, given the fact that a bodily resurrection is not specifically mentioned, by what right does Kohl conclude that this is what is being talked about? Given the muddled views concerning the afterlife found in Judaism at the time, isn't this absence problematic?