By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
The Battle of Jericho was the first battle fought by the Israelites during the course of their conquest of Canaan. Joshua leads the people of Israel in an attack on the ancient walled city, bringing the colossal walls of Jericho down with the sound of trumpets, according to the Book of Joshua from the Old Testament.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
The book known variously as the Song of Solomon, the Song of Songs, and Solomon’s Song is something of an oddity in the Bible, in that it is an unabashed description of romantic and erotic love between a man and a woman. Despite its common title, however, Solomon didn’t write it, and many scholars now believe that parts of the Song of Songs were actually written by a female author.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
The phrase ‘the writing is on the wall’ is now often used to describe an impending disaster. But where does it originate? It actually has its roots in the story of Belshazzar’s feast from the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament. But who Belshazzar was, and what this famous writing that appeared on the wall actually meant, are questions that require further analysis.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
Who is being described here, in this Bible verse?
For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb
This is from the Book of Judges 13:5, in which the birth of Samson is foretold. ‘Nazarite’ (sometimes Nazirite) refers to a group of nomads who followed Yahweh, the Old Testament God, and adhered to a strict ritual involving no wine, no unclean food, and no shaving of the head. It is this last feature which has become inextricably linked with Samson.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
If it had been composed a little bit later, the Book of Daniel may have been consigned to the pile of texts labelled the ‘Apocrypha’, and the stories of Daniel in the lions’ den, the writing on the wall at Belshazzar’s feast, and Nebuchadnezzar throwing Shadrach and his fellow Jews into the fiery furnace would not have become the well-known tales they are.