Open Letter by Raanan Eichler
Books by Raanan Eichler
The Ark of the Covenant and the Cherubim (Hebrew)
Bialik Institute - Biblical Encyclopedia Series, 2025
A casual reading of the Hebrew Bible creates the impression that the most important objects in an... more A casual reading of the Hebrew Bible creates the impression that the most important objects in ancient Israel, those which constituted the focal point of all Israelite worship deemed proper by the biblical authors, were a certain wooden container whose basic name was הָאָרוֹן, conventionally styled in English “the ark” or “the ark of the covenant”, along with two statues of winged creatures, called הַכְּרוּבִים, “the cherubim”, which surmounted it. In some passages, this complex contains an additional element, הַכַּפֹּרֶת, often translated as “mercy seat”, which was situated atop the ark and from which the cherubim projected.
The present book is a revised Hebrew edition of R. Eichler, The Ark and the Cherubim (FAT 146), Tübingen 2021. It is an attempt to understand these objects using the full gamut of data and tools available to the modern scholar. The central questions around which the book is structured are: (1) What were the form and function of each of these objects in the eyes of the biblical authors who described them? (2) How, if at all, do these forms and functions relate to those of objects known from the ancient Near East?
The biblical objects are examined herein with an abundance of visual comparative material, including finds from the tomb of Tutankhamun. This book proposes solutions to a number of unsolved puzzles and offers a new explanation of the nature of the ark and the cherubim, arguing that they constituted a unique cultic focus in the ancient Near East.
The first four chapters of the book are devoted to the ark. The כַּפֹּרֶת, which appears in relatively few biblical passages, is dealt with in a single chapter, the fifth. The last three chapters are dedicated to the cherubim. A distillation of the main ideas is presented, with some further reflections, in a General Conclusion.
Peer-Reviewed Papers by Raanan Eichler
Accepted for publication in Biblica
This paper identifies six instances of intentional linguistic ambiguity in the book of Ruth. All ... more This paper identifies six instances of intentional linguistic ambiguity in the book of Ruth. All the instances have a primary and secondary meaning rather than two commensurate meanings. They can therefore be termed “double entendres”. All the instances occur in the speech of characters: the primary meaning is the character’s intended meaning, and the secondary meaning is conveyed by the author through the character’s unconscious or subconscious.
Accepted for publication in Zeitschrift fur die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
David's Testament (1 Kgs 2:1-9) appears as an episode in the larger Solomon Accession Narrative (... more David's Testament (1 Kgs 2:1-9) appears as an episode in the larger Solomon Accession Narrative (1 Kgs 1-2). The Testament's structure is as follows: introduction (v. 1); preamble (vv. 2-4); instruction to punish Joab (vv. 5-6); instruction to reward Barzillai's children (v. 7); instruction to punish Shimei (vv. 8-9). Since the late nineteenth century, some scholars have maintained that David's Testament is a later interpolation in the larger narrative, 1 while others have held it as an original part. 2 However, neither side has made a rigorous case. Here I will present several arguments leading to the conclusion that David's Testament is a later interpolation, and I will show that this conclusion leads to the solution of a separate problem known as the "Shimei Duplicate". First, David's Testament begins with the words י מֵ יְ בּו ְ ר קְ יִּ וַ מּות לָ ד וִּ ָ ד "Now, David's time to die drew near" (2:1a). This is exactly what we would expect at the beginning of a freestanding story or in an editorial transition to an interpolated story (cf.
Pre-published in Vetus Testamentum
The biblical Eden Narrative (Gen 2:4–3:24) recounts that the first humans made clothing from fig ... more The biblical Eden Narrative (Gen 2:4–3:24) recounts that the first humans made clothing from fig foliage after eating from the Tree of Knowledge (3:7). So far there is no satisfactory explanation why the story specifies the type of foliage at all or why it chooses the fig tree, which in several ways is less practicable than other fruit trees for this purpose. It is shown here that fig foliage causes severe and delayed skin irritation, and it is argued on this basis that the fig tree was chosen to add comedy and irony to the story and to set up a deeper portrayal of the relationship between God and humanity.
Accepted for publication in Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, 2025
The hapax legomenon פַּנַּג pannag is mentioned in Ezekiel as an export of the land of Israel to ... more The hapax legomenon פַּנַּג pannag is mentioned in Ezekiel as an export of the land of Israel to the international market in Tyre (Ezek 27:17). It has been interpreted in wildly different ways, with the dominant view now being that it is a kind of baked good or flour. A few scholars have noted Greek πάνακες "allheal" as an apparent cognate, but they have not realized its significance. It is argued here that Hebrew pannag and Akkadian pinigu derive from Greek πάνακες and denote a medicinal product of the Ferula (giant fennel) plant or of a related genus.
Accepted for publication in Vetus Testamentum
Abstract: The Hebrew Bible contains three references to the export of wheat from Israel to Tyre. ... more Abstract: The Hebrew Bible contains three references to the export of wheat from Israel to Tyre. Difficult and suspiciously similar phrases occur in the Masoretic Text of each: חִטִּים מַכֹּלֶת in 1 Kgs 5:25 (Eng. 5:11); חִטִּים מַכּוֹת in the parallel 2 Chr 2:9 (Eng. 2:10); and חִטֵּי מִנִּית in Ezek 27:17. Moreover, in each passage, the ancient translations reflect further variant readings. This paper integrates textual criticism with information on wheat in antiquity in order to clarify all three passages. The paper may contribute to our understanding of international trade in the first half of the first millennium BCE.
Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, 2024
There is currently no satisfactory etymology for the hapax legomenon רַפְסֹדוֹת rapsōdôt in 2 Chr... more There is currently no satisfactory etymology for the hapax legomenon רַפְסֹדוֹת rapsōdôt in 2 Chr 2:15 (Eng. 16), although its meaning is agreed to be “rafts, floats.” It is proposed here that the word comes from the phonetically identical Greek word ῥαψῳδία (the ancestor of English rhapsody), which literally means “linked song”. Logs linked together into rafts recalled verses linked together into songs.
Journal of Semitic Studies, 2023
The verb נתן ‘to give’ is pointed as hophal eight times in the Bible. The scholarly consensus is ... more The verb נתן ‘to give’ is pointed as hophal eight times in the Bible. The scholarly consensus is that these occurrences were originally intended as qal-passive, and that there was no hophal נתן in original Biblical Hebrew. It is argued here that there was neither hophal nor qal-passive נתן in original Biblical Hebrew: these occurrences were originally intended as qal, their subjects were indefinite, and they were intuitively revocalized as hophal when the third-person singular indefinite subject fell out of use in Hebrew.
Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society, 2023
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Open Letter by Raanan Eichler
Books by Raanan Eichler
The present book is a revised Hebrew edition of R. Eichler, The Ark and the Cherubim (FAT 146), Tübingen 2021. It is an attempt to understand these objects using the full gamut of data and tools available to the modern scholar. The central questions around which the book is structured are: (1) What were the form and function of each of these objects in the eyes of the biblical authors who described them? (2) How, if at all, do these forms and functions relate to those of objects known from the ancient Near East?
The biblical objects are examined herein with an abundance of visual comparative material, including finds from the tomb of Tutankhamun. This book proposes solutions to a number of unsolved puzzles and offers a new explanation of the nature of the ark and the cherubim, arguing that they constituted a unique cultic focus in the ancient Near East.
The first four chapters of the book are devoted to the ark. The כַּפֹּרֶת, which appears in relatively few biblical passages, is dealt with in a single chapter, the fifth. The last three chapters are dedicated to the cherubim. A distillation of the main ideas is presented, with some further reflections, in a General Conclusion.
Peer-Reviewed Papers by Raanan Eichler