Dr. Zvi Shimon

Email
zvi.shimon@biu.ac.il
Fields of Interest

Literary analysis of biblical narrative and application of modern literary methods of analysis, Biblical Theology, Biblical Law in comparison to ancient Near Eastern Law,  and Biblical Exegesis.

    CV


    Dr. Zvi Shimon lectures in Bible and has received recognition as an outstanding lecturer.
    He completed a B.A degree in Talmud and Bible with excellence from Bar Ilan University, a MSc degree in Jewish Education from Yeshiva University. For his doctoral studies he was a recipient of the prestigious President's Scholarship at Bar Ilan University and his doctoral thesis under the supervision of Prof. Ed Greenstein on 'Contrast in the Biblical Narrative' received the Pinchas Churgin Award for Outstanding Doctoral Thesis. He has written extensively in the areas of biblical exegesis and literary analysis and has presented in as well as chaired in many international conferences.
    He is the author of Human Choice: The Biblical Drama About Choice (Heb. Magnes Press).
    His fields of interest include: Literary analysis of biblical narrative and application of modern literary methods of analysis, Biblical Theology, Biblical Law in comparison to ancient Near Eastern Law,  and Biblical Exegesis.

    Research

     

     

    Publications

    List of publications

    Books

    Human Choice: The Biblical Drama of Choice (Heb.) by Magnes Press 2015

    Contrast in Biblical Narrative (Heb.) Ph.D. not published, Bar Ilan University 2008

    Articles

    "The Place of God in the Bible: Between Jewish and Christian Theology," in Biblical Theology, ed. Mark Warwick Elliott and Carey Walsh, Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock, 2016

    "Distinguishing Abraham from the "Terahides": Ideology of Separation behind Etiology," in Doubling and Duplicating in Genesis, ed. Elizabeth Hayes and Karolien Vermeulen, Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns 2016

    What is Melchizedek the King-Priest Doing in the Abraham Narrative?” in Ve-‘Ed Ya’aleh (Gen 2:6): Essays in Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies Presented to Edward L. Greenstein, ed. Peter Machinist, Robert Harris, et. al., (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns(, Forthcoming

    Published in Bar Ilan University's internet site (Heb.)

    "Did Abraham Fulfill the Commandment of Lech Lecha?" (2014)

    "The Message of Jacob's Dream: Bethel, not Babel" (2012)

    "From Materialism to Material: Characterization of Lot in the Story of his Release

      from Captivity (Gen. 14)" (2010)

    "Type Scene and Characterization in Genesis" (2010)

    "The Significance of the Physical Appearance of Characters in the Bible" (2008)

    "Judah Leadership vs. Reuben Leadership" (2007)

    "Poetry in the Creation Narratives: Song of the Sabbath and Song of Praise to the Woman" (2006)

    Published in English in the Virtual Beit Midrash (VBM) between the years 1996-98. Articles may be accessed at:

    http://www.vbm-torah.org/intparsha.htm

    Genesis

    Chapter 9- “The New Order and Shedding  Blood”

    Chapters 14,15- “Abram’s Fear”

    Chapter 18- “The Cry of Sodom”

    Chapter 24- “A Test of Character”

    Chapter 25- “The Chronicles of Isaac”

    Chapter 28- “The Stairway to Heaven”

    Chapter 32- “From Jacob to Israel”

    Chapter 37- “The Fall and Rise of Joseph”

    Chapter 47- “Jacob’s Last Wish”

    Exodus

    Chapter 6- “The Names of God”

    Chapter 16- “The Test of the Manna”

    Chapter 22- “The Sun of a Thief”

    Chapter 27- “The Kindling of the Menorah”

    Chapter 32- “The Golden calf”

    Chapter 37- “The Mysterious Keruvim”

    Leviticus

    Chapter 1- “The Significance of the Sacrifices”

    Chapters 1-3 “The Secrets of the Sacrifices”

    Chapter 7- “The Prohibition of Eating Blood”

    Chapter 9- “Playing with Fire”

    Chapter 12- “A Life and Death Situation”

    Chapter 19- “Holiness”

    Chapter 23- “The Counting of the Omer”

    Numbers

    Chapter 1- “Levite Genes”

    Chapter 6- “The Nazirite”

    Chapter 12- “Remembering Miriam’s Sin”

    Chapter 13- “Spy vs. Spy”

    Chapter 16- “Dirty Politics, Crisis in the Coalition”

    Chapter 21- “The Snake that Heals”

    Chapter 25- “Succumbing to Seduction”

    Chapter 27- “Women’s Turf”

    Chapter 35- “Killer on the Run”

     

    Deuteronomy

    Chapters 1-3 “Address to the Nation”

    Chapter 5- “Just One Sabbath”

    Chapter 10- “Love thy Stranger”

    Chapter 21- “Love and War, The Fate of the Female Captive”

    Chapter 30- “The Path of Return”

    Chapter 32- “Divine Poetry”

    Conferences

    2019 SBL, Rome "The Vertical Axis of the Elijah, Ahab and Jezebel Narrative"
    2019 IOSOT, Aberdeen Subject of Paper: "The Structure of the Abraham Cycle of Narratives"
    2018 EABS/SBL Conference, Helsinki

    Subject of Paper: "The Connection between the Opening and Closing Chapters of the Pentateuch"

    2017 EABS/SBL Conference, Berlin

    Subject of Paper:
    1. "Interpolation or Interpretation: The War of the Kings in its Wider Context";
    2. Presiding “Literary Features” – Fact or Fiction (EABS)

    2015 EABS Conference, Cordoba, Spain

    Subject of Paper: "Metonymy and Figurative Language in Contrastive Analogies"

    2014 SBL International Conference, Vienna

    Subject of Paper: 

    1. "Ideology of Separation in the Abraham Narrative";

    2. Presiding “Literary Features” – Fact or Fiction" (EABS)

    2013 SBL International Conference, St Andrews, Scotland 

    Subject of Paper: 

    1."Before and After Alter's Literary Approach to "Composite Artistry"; 

    2. "The Place of God in the Bible: Between Jewish and Christian Theology";

    3. Presiding in one of three Stylistics and the Hebrew Bible sessions

    2013 Sixteenth World Congress of Jewish Studies, Jerusalem

    Subject of Paper: "The Significance of Writing Torah on the Rocks in Shechem"

    2012 SBL International Conference, Amsterdam

    Subject of Paper:

    1. "Alternating Description in Biblical Narrative";
     2. "Jacob's Dream in its Narrative Context"

    2011 SBL National Conference, San Francisco Subject of Paper: "The Desired Qualities of the King"
    2010 SBL National Conference, Atlanta Subject of Paper: "Theology of Choice"
    2010 The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute Subject of Paper:
    ''Biblical Theology as a Source for a Modern Theology''(Heb)
    2010 NAPH International Conference, New York       Subject of Paper: ''Structuralism and Biblical Narrative''

     

    Last Updated Date : 04/12/2023