PaleoBabble

24September2008

The Inscription on the “Antikythera Wreck”

Posted by MSH under: Inscriptions.

This “machine” from an ancient Greek wreck has gotten a lot of attention on the web. Here’s a recent blog entry about the inscription on it.

Technorati Tags: Antikythera

24September2008

Back to blogging…

Posted by MSH under: Uncategorized.

Sorry for the unannounced hiatus. I’ve been asked to teach a sequence of ancient history courses at a local university, so I’ve been prepping. Classes start today, so I should be “in the flow” now and more able to budget my time.

17September2008

Polydactylism in the Ancient World

Posted by MSH under: Giants.

Cam across an interesting article today on this subject. The article in PDF is here.  The article points out that polydactylism (having more than the normal number of fingers or toes) is associated with giants in the Bible. Actually, this is only said of Goliath’s family (one of the sons of Rapha); it is not said of other giant clans, so there is no necessary association.

Technorati Tags: Bible, Giants, polydactylsim

16September2008

New Bible Codes on Barack Obama

Posted by MSH under: Bible Code.

Finally — a reason to remind readers why the Bible code is utter nonsense. My thanks to  “Pastor Harry” for some drivel that gives me a rationale for showing readers why the Bible code is DOA.

The Achilles Heel of the Bible code, of course, is the fact that there are tens of thousands of letter sequence differences in existing Hebrew manuscripts. Most of this concerns spelling and scribal corrections, but there are also clear scribal errors (some scribes even noted them in the margins of manuscripts). The historical commentary of the manuscript transmission process by the scribes themselves ALL unequivocally testify  that the preservation of the every-letter sequence of Hebrew letters is uncertain.

One Bible code supporter, Dr. Jeffrey Satinover, psychiatrist and author of Cracking the Bible Code, has claimed that if 77 letters were lost from the text sequence upon which the Bible code is based, the code would statistically collapse. My book The Bible Code Myth DOUBLES this number through actual examples from manuscript disagreements and notes of the scribes themselves - all exclusively drawn from the Torah.  You don’t need to know how to read Hebrew either - just how to count!

• Examples of the Torah’s Textual Uncertainty from The Bible Code Myth

Another problem for the Bible code are the Dead Sea Scrolls.  These texts, which are our closest textual witnesses to the actual composition of the Hebrew Old Testament, have a markedly different way of spelling.  In just a few verses there might therefore be dozens of letter differences.  The significance of this is illustrated in two ways.  First, we have no way of knowing WHICH text to use for a coded letter string.  Bible code proponents like Grant Jeffrey can’t seem to grasp this fact.  Jeffrey claims to have found dozens of coded names associated with Jesus in Isaiah 52:13-53:12, the Old Testament prophecy of a suffering Messiah.  You hardly need a Bible code for this idea (uh, you could just read the Bible as it is). This nonsense is easily shown for what it is by comparing the letters in these these fifteen verses. There are 115 letter differences between the text Jeffrey and other Bible-coders use and the Dead Sea Isaiah Scroll - the text closest to Isaiah’s own time.  Want proof?

• Click HERE to see these texts laid side by side.

If anyone is interested in my book, The Bible Code Myth (Only in PDF), you can order it here ($6).

Technorati Tags: Bible, bible code

9September2008

Zecharia Sitchin’s “12th Planet” Cylinder Seal

Posted by MSH under: Ancient Astronauts; Sitchin.

For those who are not familiar with my work on this issue, I’d like to direct new readers to my analysis of Sitchin’s take on cylinder seal VA243.

Technorati Tags: 12 planets, cylinder seal, Sitchin, VA243

2September2008

Back from a Short Hiatus

Posted by MSH under: Uncategorized.

Sorry it’s been a while. I noted on my main blog that I’d be away for a bit.  Back now, so blogging will resume.

Here’s one item of interest right away - the Westminster Leningrad Codex is now available online. For all those who want free access to the Hebrew text of the Old Testament, this is the place. Of course, it’s NOT an interlinear, but if you learn the alphabet (check out the PowerPoint files and videos for that over at my other blog, Scribal Practices), you can at least find the words behind the English and follow the discussions in academic commentaries and lexicons.

27August2008

Still More on Gabriel’s Inscription

Posted by MSH under: Inscriptions.

Israel Knohl and J. Collins go at it here.

Technorati Tags: gabriel, inscription

26August2008

Giza Archives now online

Posted by MSH under: News; Pyramids.

New access to lots of material on the Giza plateau (just scholarly research stuff, not paleobabble).

Technorati Tags: giza, News, Pyramids

24August2008

More on the “Gabriel’s Revelation” Tablet - Israel Knohl Responds

Posted by MSH under: Inscriptions.

Israel Knohl addresses some of the concerns raised by April DeConick.

Technorati Tags: gabriel, inscription, tablet

21August2008

April DeConick on Gabriel’s Revelation

Posted by MSH under: Inscriptions.

This pertains to the ignorant media hysteria over the Gabriel inscription (blogged about earlier).  April DeConcick of Rice University has questions.  She is correct in that the 2nd temple texts cited by Israel Knohl may have been revised by Christians, and therefore do not constitute pre-NT literary evidence for the idea of a resurrected messiah.  What she doesn’t tell you is that it’s quite difficult to know for sure where there is Christian revision (”interpolation” is the academic word for it). Many scholars simply ASSUME that anything that sounds Christian that is pre-NT MUST be an interpolation.  That isn’t a sound approach. Still, it’s worth reading what April has here.

Technorati Tags: gabriel, inscription