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Stone and Dung, Oil and Spit: Jewish Daily Life in the Time of Jesus. By Jodi Magness

2012; Oxford University Press; Volume: 80; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1093/jaarel/lfr100

1477-4585

Zeba Crook,

Archaeology and Historical Studies

Jodi Magness sets for herself a number of tasks in this book: to illustrate daily life in late Second Temple Palestine; to question how Jews in this period and place were similar to and different from Gentiles in the broader Empire; and to question how Jews in this period and place were similar to and different from each other. Her sources for establishing Jewish practice and belief in this period are wide ranging: Hebrew Bible, New Testament, Josephus, Philo, Dead Sea Scrolls, Rabbinic literature, Tosefta, and the common assemblage of Greek and Roman writers (Pliny, Juvenal, Martial), as well as graffiti, papyri, and archeological remains. The result is impressive in a number of ways. The following topics are covered in this book: body and hand purity (Chapter 2), bugs and animals (Chapter 3), household vessels and lamps (Chapter 4), dining customs and communal meals (Chapter 5), Sabbath observance and fasting (Chapter 6), coins (Chapter 7), clothing and tzitzit (Chapter 8), oil and spit (Chapter 9), toilets and toilet habits (Chapter 10), and tombs and burial customs (Chapter 11). Each chapter is focused on the primary sources, offering many in translation. It will serve for that reason as an excellent resource for others interested in the primary sources on these topics. Adding to this very strong feature of the book is the fact that Magness succeeds first and foremost in illustrating the diversity of “Jewish” thought on every topic. Jewish daily life was clearly not just one thing, and this book shows that brilliantly. It was not only rabbis who disagreed with each other (which Tannaitic literature famously retains), but also the sectarian Qumranites, the Hebrew Bible, Hellenized (and Romanized) Judeans, and anti-Hellenists all disagreeing with each other. Magness makes it difficult to situate “mainstream” Judean society, and that is perhaps the most commendable feature of this book.