Biblica - Vol 90 (2009) Willis, Timothy M., Blasphemy, Talion, and Chiasmus: The Marriage of Form and Content in Lev 24,13-23 (2009)

The verbal divine response to a case of blasphemy/cursing of God is presented as a lengthy chiasmus in Lev 24,13-23. One aspect of this that has gone unnoticed is how the structure suggests that blasphemy is a more serious offense than murder. This observation shows how the pericope fits well thematically in Lev 18-26, where there are repeated examples of the divine self-declaration formulas (I am the Lord…) and references to holiness.

Filología Neotestamentaria - Vol 25 (2012) Makujina, John, ‘Till Death Do Us Part’? Or the Continuation of Marriage in the Eschaton? Answering Recent Objections to the Traditional Reading of Gameo - Gamizo in the Synoptic Gospels. (2012)

B. Witherington III et al. propose that gameo and gamizo in Matt 22,30 (par. Mark 12,25; Luke 20,34-36) describe entrance into marriage rather than the state of marriage. Consequently, these passages indicate no more than the impossibility of new marriages in the resurrection; they do not, by themselves, insists Witherington, teach the termination of existing marriages, as has been ordinarily assumed. In contrast, this article argues for the traditional interpretation of these texts by demonstrating that when combined gameo and gamizo posses an idiomatic value and refer to the institution of marriage and the family, which, according to Jesus, will end with this age.

Biblica - Vol 93 (2012) Blenkinsopp, Joseph, The Baal Peor Episode Revisited (Num 25,1-18) (2012)

The Baal Peor episode (Num 25,1-18), followed by the second census (Num 26), marks the break between the first compromised wilderness generation and the second. This episode is a «covenant of kinship» between Israelites and Midianites resident in Moab, sealed by marriage between high-status individuals from each of these lineages. The violent repudiation of this transaction by the Aaronid Phineas is in marked contrast to the Midianite marriage of Moses, for which an explanation is offered, and is paradigmatic of the attitude to intermarriage of the Aaronid priesthood during the mid-to-late-Achaemenid period.