Scriptor Ignotus > Recent Status Updates

Alter really brings out the sheer magnificence of the David story (1-2 Samuel). It is a fascinating political drama and arguably the most fully-realized character study in ancient literature; stunningly rich in psychological complexity and narrative sophistication. This is all the more remarkable in light of its great age: some (but not all) of the material may go back nearly to David's own lifetime (~10th c. BCE).

Alter notes the curiously "Homeric" quality of the David and Goliath story: the detailed inventory of Goliath's armor and weapons, the focus on single combat, etc. Perhaps the writer(s) adapted the poetic tropes of their Greek Philistine adversaries, just as the Exodus writers had Moses humble Egypt with Egyptian-style magic. It's also clear that there were initially at least two separate origin stories for David.

Luke's Jesus tells anyone who would follow him to "take up his cross daily" (9:23), adding that last word to the parallel statements in Mark and Matthew. This is perhaps a nod to Roman Stoics like Seneca, who advised their students to practice dying every day. As C. Kavin Rowe observes, Luke and Paul are more attuned to the Roman philosophical consciousness than any other New Testament writers.

The author of Ruth apparently decided to protest Ezra-Nehemiah's prohibition of exogamous marriages by writing the biblical equivalent of a Hallmark Channel movie.

Not that I've watched any Hallmark Channel movies, mind you. No sir-ee.

In Judges, as in the Gospels, the Spirit of the Lord plays a prominent role in raising up leaders, inspiring (literally) their followers, and granting them victory. Echoes of Machiavelli's virtù. Each text reflects a period in which the people of Israel are under foreign domination and rely on charismatic leadership. Secrecy is another important theme (Ehud, Samson, the "Messianic Secret," etc.).

Mark's Gospel ends ironically: throughout, Jesus has warned witnesses of his works to "tell no one," yet they unfailingly tell people anyway. At the end, the three women at the tomb are instructed to tell the disciples that Jesus has risen and is heading to Galilee, yet out of fear they tell no one.

Mark 16:18 was the basis for the Appalachian snake handling phenomenon, but it wasn't originally part of the Gospel.

The nature of ordinary consciousness - as constituted by unassimilated subconscious impulses (vāsanās) - is such that when we think we're thinking subjects, we're usually being thought by objects.

There was no extermination of the Canaanites like that described in Joshua. Writing in the dangerous environment of the 7th c. BCE, the Deuteronomist wanted to reinforce the ethno-religious solidarity of Judah through two means: centralizing the cult of YHWH around Jerusalem and insisting on the "separateness" of the Israelites. In truth, the two cultures gradually merged - the 7th c. Israelites WERE the Canaanites!

The Quran registers moral outrage at the practice, in the patriarchal warrior society of Arabia, of burying unwanted female infants alive. Some tribes believed the angels to be daughters of God. The gist of the above verses is thus: "You don't find it shameful for God to have daughters, and yet you consider it such a humiliation to have daughters of your own that you're willing to murder them!"

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16:57-59:

"And they [the Meccan pagans] assign unto God daughters - glory be to Him! - while they have that which they desire. And when one of them receives tidings of a female [child], his face darkens, and he is choked with anguish. He hides from the people on account of the evil tidings he has been given. Shall he keep it in humiliation, or bury it in the dust? Behold! Evil indeed is the judgment they make!"

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The story of the Gerasene demoniac and the "legion" of unclean spirits (Mk 5:1-20) is more mysterious than it seems:

"This story opens several questions without providing answers: Do the swine represent the expulsion (“gerash”) of unclean animals or the Roman armies? Are the Gerasenes angry over the loss of their herds? What is the significance of a Gentile asking to follow Jesus? Why is there no messianic secret?"

Leviticus 18:18 prohibits a man from being married to two sisters at the same time.

Jacob was married to two sisters at the same time.

But when you're a patriarch, they let you do it. You can do anything.

"Judas’ death invokes the story of David’s servant Ahithophel, who hanged himself after betraying King David, after whom Jesus is patterned (2 Sam 17.23– 24). Rabbinic sources report that Ahithophel repented for his treachery and thereby interpret the suicide as a redemptive act that would have allowed him entrance into the world to come (b. Sanh. 104b– 105a)."

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In discussions on universalism, the fate of Judas is a major point of contention. From the commentary:

"According to Jewish law, one guilty of bearing false witness must face the same penalty that was meant for the one betrayed . . . Judas’ tragic choice to end his life by hanging — to hang on a cross or to hang from a tree are cognate terms in Greek — is also unique to Matthew (contrast Acts 1.16– 20). . . ."

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This is fantastic so far. It's so refreshing to meet a flesh-and-blood Jesus who is on a spiritual journey of his own; who is conflicted and vulnerable; who manifests his divinity by his all-too-human frailty; who looks like a scrawny Galilean peasant rather than an American college football quarterback. Kazantzakis's embellishment of the Gospels adds a rich element of tragedy and pathos.

Then, in each of the Synoptics, this episode is immediately followed by the feeding of the five thousand: a distinctly Elishianic miracle (see 2 Kings 4:42-44). The Elishianicity of Jesus is an underdeveloped subject, but it makes perfect sense if one identifies John with Elijah, as the Synoptics do.


Also a parallel to Gilgamesh/Enkidu: when the wild man dies, the king sets out on a quest for eternal life.

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For me, one of the most poignant moments in the Gospels is Matthew's account of Jesus's reaction to John's death. In the other Synoptics he retreats with his disciples, but in Matthew he goes off by himself; suggesting genuine shock at the death of someone he may have regarded as a mentor and father figure (esp. if we accept the notion that Joseph died when Jesus was quite young) and a need to collect himself.

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I hadn't noticed the parallel between the beginning of Exodus and the Garden story. Pharaoh enslaves the Hebrews "lest they" become too numerous and align with Egypt's enemies, just as God expels Adam and Eve "lest they" eat from the Tree of Life and become like God(s). In both cases, the danger posed has to do with vitality or fecundity, and in both cases the punishment is a life of toil.

Psalm 18 describes YHWH hearing David's prayer for deliverance, spewing smoke from His mouth and nostrils, mounting a cherub and flying down to the rescue. This cherub, like those who guard the way to Eden and those who form the mercy seat atop the Ark of the Covenant, was imagined to be similar in appearance to the lamassu of Mesopotamian lore; though it's funny to picture YHWH riding into battle on a winged baby.

Alter:

"Each of Abraham's sons is threatened with death in the wilderness, one in the presence of his mother, the other [by the hand] of his father. In each case the angel intervenes at the critical moment ... At the center of the story, Abraham's hand holds the knife, Hagar is enjoined to 'hold her hand'...on the lad. In the end, each of the sons is promised to become progenitor of a great people..."

I don't like making superficially "political" comments on scripture, but I can't help but be struck by Genesis 18 in light of current events in Gaza. Abraham makes the Lord promise that if He finds even ten righteous men in Sodom, He will spare the entire city for their sake. The Israeli government is taking the complete opposite approach in Gaza; destroying everything in the name of killing an elusive guilty few.

Benvenuto:*Murders a man in cold blood*

The Pope: Eh, he had it coming. Just lie low for a bit. Capisce?

Another Noahide-Johannine connection is the portrayal in Genesis of Noah as the father of viticulture and John's portrayal of Christ as "the true vine."

Matthew's Gospel refers to the "Kingdom of heaven" rather than the "Kingdom of God" as in Mark and Luke. Matthew reflects the Hebraic concern for keeping the name of God holy. It also insists that Christ does not come to abolish the law, in contrast with the more antinomian character of Mark and Luke.

In John, Christ is given a parallel authority over "all flesh," and humanity is given life by "carnivorously" partaking of His body.


The Table of Nations in Gen. 10 is unique in the ancient Near East for being the only known attempt to create an ethnographic panorama of the known world, from Greece to Iran to Arabia to northwest Africa. This model of human diversity is then contradicted in the next chapter.

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God's postdiluvian covenant in Gen. 9 is notably one with "all flesh," and not just with humanity. Simultaneously, the same chapter reaffirms humanity's regency over creation, and introduces the notion that the animal world will now live in fear of it; likely because it is permitted a carnivorous diet for the first time; this, in turn, as a possible outlet for its homicidality.

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Every place name in Ireland is derived from someone being brutally killed by Cú Chulainn.

[Cain] said, 'I will surely slay you!' [Abel] said, 'God accepts only from the reverent. Even if you stretch forth your hand against me to slay me, I shall not stretch forth my hand against you to slay you. Truly I fear God, Lord of the worlds.' . . . [W]hoever slays a soul...it is as though he slew mankind altogether, and whoever saves the life of one, it is as though he saved the life of mankind altogether. 5:27-32

People seem to be very polarized when it comes to this book.

The ecological paradox: primitive man encompassed all of nature within himself. Modern man seeks to dominate nature and make it an object of egotistic ownership; yet the more he tries, the smaller he becomes. "[He] no longer fills the veins and veinlets; he is shrunk to a drop." – Emerson, "Nature"