Most scholars accept that Habakkuk was written by a prophet called Habakkuk sometime during the Neo-Babylonian Era, or earlier during the late Neo-Assyrian era when the Babylonians were in revolt. Given that the rebels were not the ancient Chaldeans, but a branch of the Assyrian royal family, it seems unlikely that anyone would have referred to the rebels as Chaldeans. After the Assyrian empire had fallen, the rebel royal family in Babylon embraced the ancient Chaldean identity in order to...

The Book of the Angel is the most curious and debated of the Books of the Twelve minor prophets. The Greek manuscripts report it was given to humanity by the hand of an angel, while the Hebrew manuscripts report it was plural "messengers." Both the Greek and Hebrew terms could be interpreted as either one or more human messengers, or a supernatural angel; however, as the messenger was described as having wings, it supports the supernatural reading.Most Jewish and Christian denomina...

The Greek name of the book of Leviticus was "το Λευιτικόν," which translates as “of Levites.” The Levites were the priestly tribe of the Israelites, who the book of Leviticus establishes as hereditary priests, with established cities to live in. The Hebrew name of the book is Vayikrá. The Hebrew name is based on the first word of the book, which translates as “and he called.” The English name is a direct copy of the Old Latin name Leviticus, which shares a common origin with the Greek. Thi...

The Book of Amos is generally considered one of the older surviving books of the Israelite Scriptures, with most scholars dating it to before the Torah was compiled, or at least heavily redacted in the time of King Josiah. Most scholars accept that Amos was written by a prophet called Amos between 760 and 755 BCE, who was most likely from the town of Tuqu, in the Kingdom of Judea, in the southern region of the modern Palestinian West Bank. His world was very different from the later Kingdo...

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 ...

The New Kingdom era of Egyptian history emerged from the darkness of the Second Intermediate Period, when the Theban dynasty drove out the Hyksos from Egypt, and went on the conquer Canaan and Nubia. The collapse of the Hyksos dynasty appears to have been largely a result of the Minoan eruption in Greece, which darkened the sky of Egypt and blanketed northern Egypt with up to 2 meters in ash. The Tempest Stele from Karnak described the effects of the storm reaching all the war to southern ...

The Wisdom of Joshua ben Sira was likely the last book added to the Septuagint, in 132 BCE, after Joshua ben Sira's grandson translated it in Alexandria. The book is known by several names, including Sirach, Wisdom of Sirach, Wisdom of Jesus Sirach, ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus, and the Book of the All-Virtuous Wisdom of Yeshua ben Sira. This diversity of names is based on the fact that the Masorites did not copy the text, however, an Aramaic copy and some fragments of the ancient Hebrew versi...

The final version of the Septuagint was published in 132 BC, and included the books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, and Wisdom of Solomon within the Wisdom Section of the Septuagint, while the Psalms of Solomon were added as an appendix later, sometime in the 1ˢᵗ century BC. It appears to have been translated between 200 and 140 BC from Aramaic translations.The book of Proverbs is generally attributed to King Solomon, who is explicitly referred to as the author of some of...

The Song of Songs appears to be love poetry, exchanged between Solomon and one of his wives, however, is not clear who exactly the wife was. The wife describes herself as black, suggesting a Kushite woman. She also refers to herself as a Shulammitess, and makes clear she was not from Jerusalem. The town of Shunaam was located near the Jezreel Valley north of Mount Gilboa, in the tribal lands of Issachar at the time. It was also listed as one of the towns conquered by the Egyptian Pharaoh T...

The Song of Songs appears to be love poetry, exchanged between Solomon and one of his wives, however, is not clear who exactly the wife was. The wife describes herself as black, suggesting a Kushite woman. She also refers to herself as a Shulammitess, and makes clear she was not from Jerusalem. The town of Shunaam was located near the Jezreel Valley north of Mount Gilboa, in the tribal lands of Issachar at the time. It was also listed as one of the towns conquered by the Egyptian Pharaoh T...

Most scholars accept that Habakkuk was written by a prophet called Habakkuk sometime during the Neo-Babylonian Era, or earlier during the late Neo-Assyrian era when the Babylonians were in revolt. Given that the rebels were not the ancient Chaldeans, but a branch of the Assyrian royal family, it seems unlikely that anyone would have referred to the rebels as Chaldeans. After the Assyrian empire had fallen, the rebel royal family in Babylon embraced the ancient Chaldean identity in order to...

The Book of Tobit is generally viewed as fiction by most scholars for a variety of reasons. One major reason it is viewed as fiction is the presence of Tobit's cousin Ahikar, who is the protagonist of the Words of Ahikar, a book set in the same era, which is also considered fiction. It is quite clear from the text of Tobit, that it is the same Ahikar, and not just someone with the name, as Ahikar's betrayal by his nephew is mentioned, which is part of the early section of Ahikar. Neverthel...