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

• Author: Matthews, Victor H.
• Position: Book review

Stone and Dung, Oil and Spit: Jewish Daily Life in the Time of Jesus. By JODI MAGNESS. Grand Rapids, Mich.: WILLIAM B. EERDMANS PUBLISHING CO., 2011. Pp. xv + 335, illus. $25 (paper).

While a great deal of attention has been given to the various aspects of the social world of the New Testament period in Bible dictionaries, other reference works, and articles, few of these sources have successfully or systematically pulled together the data from Josephus, rabbinic and biblical texts, and Qumran materials. Jodi Magness' work, which focuses on the mid-first century B.C.E., attempts to fill that gap. It provides short, carefully written explanations of how ritual purity laws helped to shape behavior, especially with regard to food choices, dining customs, the observance of religious rituals, clothing, the various uses for olive oil, toilet protocol, and burial customs. As she says, the book is intended to "identify and correlate evidence of Jewish 'footprints' in the archaeological record and literary sources" (p. 2).

After pointing out the major sources she will draw on, Magness begins with a brief discussion of the forces that will influence the culture of New Testament times: ritual purity and holiness, sectarianism including the Essene community at Qumran, as well as the basic character of the rural agrarian society. The pattern of presentation thereafter is comprised of short sections in each chapter dealing with specific items or practices such as the miqvah, the purposes of hand washing, evidence for the consumption or banning of certain foods, and types of pottery, oil lamps, and glass and their uses. In many cases, she draws specific contrasts between standard practices in Hellenistic and first-century Judaism and the more restrictive character of the Qumran community. For example, in discussing pottery vessels, Magness points to the need for multiple sets of dishes at Qumran to deal with purity concerns (pp. 62-64) and the practice of communal dining at that site (pp. 79-81).

In fact, it is the emphasis on documenting the differences between standard rabbinic and Qumran practices that is at the heart of Magness' presentation of these materials. For instance, she points out Josephus' observations about such things as the Essene's refusal to eat food on the Sabbath that had not been prepared in advance or to kindle a light on the Sabbath (pp. 85-86) and then goes into a discourse detailing the contrasting rabbinic views on these...