David Emanuel PhD, MSc

In September 2010 David began working as an Old Testament Professor at Nyack College in Manhattan. He continues to teach Biblical Hebrew there in addition to a number of other Old Testament courses such as the Psalms, and An Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament. From 2012-2018 he also taught in a newly formed graduate program, Ancient Judaism and Christian Origins. In this program, he taught a variety of programs, including The Dead Sea Scrolls, Mishnaic Hebrew, History of the Second Temple Period, and Intertestamental Literature.

David spent 10 (2007-2017) years working for a Tel Aviv-based company, Eteacher, teaching biblical Hebrew at a variety of different levels to a variety of different people. He additionally wrote and taught seminars for them on the Dead Sea Scrolls.

In addition Eteacher, David spent a significant amount of time writing short articles for the BibleMesh project. All of these articles center on various issues of Hebrew Grammar.

Prior to these activities, David studied for 11 years at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Whilst there he completed a Ph.D. in Bible and an MA in the Bible and Ancient Near East. In order to support himself whilst studying, he taught a class in the psalms at the University and spent three years editing articles for the Encyclopedia Ethiopica. David still has an interest in Technical Writing and completed a course in this field in 2010.

Before coming to Israel, he worked for eleven years in the computer industry. His last job was for Reuters, as a Project Executive. Whilst working in the industry, he completed a Master’s Degree in Computer Science at the University of London.

David’s original career path begans as a semi-professional basketball player. In his brief, but enjoyable career, he played for four teams – Hemel Hempstead, Crystal Palace, Brunel, and Bracknell – over a period of five years. He also had the opportunity to coach basketball at a sports camp in New York in 1986, in addition to a travel team, from 2014-17

Personal Achievements

• Recipient of the Center for Transformative work research grant (2015)
• Elected to SBL Biblical Hebrew Poetry steering committee
• Recipient of the annual Hebrew University President’s Award in 2004.
• Selected to represent England under 19s basketball team at the Albert Schweitzer tournament in Germany.

Publications, Papers, and Paper Presentations

BOOKS

• From Bards to Biblical Exegetes, Pickwick Publications, Oregon, 2012
• An Intertextual Commentary to the Psalter: Interpretation and Allusion in Book I, Pickwick Publications, Oregon, 2022

JOURNAL ARTICLES

• “Biblical Remembrance,” PARDES – Journal of the Centre for Biblical and Hebraic Studies, 1/3 (1996)
• “Orion Center Bibliography of the Dead Sea Scrolls (Nov 2000 – Sep 2001).” Revue de Qumran 20/2 (2001): 323–55.
• “Orion Center Bibliography of the Dead Sea Scrolls (November 2001 – May 2002).” Revue de Qumran 20/3 (2002): 495–508.
• “Orion Center Bibliography of the Dead Sea Scrolls (May 2002 – October 2002).” Revue de Qumran 20/4 (2002): 599–623.
• “An Unrecognized Voice: Intra-textual and Intertextual Perspectives on Psalm 81,” Hebrew Studies 50 (2009): 85–120
• “Is Yahweh’s Faithfulness Contingent upon Human Obedience? – Three Psalms Respond to An Age-old Question,” Testamentum Imperium 3, 2011
• “The Diachronic Relationship between Psalms 134-135,” Hebrew Studies 54 (2013): 79-92

BOOK REVIEWS

• “Greco-Roman and Jewish Tributaries to the New Testament,” CBQ 82/3 (2021): 315

BOOK CHAPTERS

• “Matthew 21:16: ‘From the Lips of Infants and Babes’ – The Interpretation of Psalm 8:2 in Matt 21:16,” In The Gospels in First-Century Judea: Proceedings of the Inaugural Conference of Nyack College’s Graduate Program in Ancient Judaism and Christian Origins (Leiden: Brill, 2015), pp. 43-57
• “The Elevation of God in Psalm 105” in Inner Biblical Allusion in the Poetry of Wisdom and Psalms, edited by Mark J Boda, Kevin Chau and Beth LaNeel Tanner. Library of Biblical Studies, 49–64. London: T&T Clark, 2019.

INTERNET ARTICLES

• “Obadiah: Pride Comes Before the Fall,” In The Virtual Commentary on Scripture, Art display and commentary on Obadiah 1-9, 2019, https://thevcs.org/pride-comes-fall
• “Ezra’s Exiles,” In The Virtual Commentary on Scripture, Art display and commentary on Ezra 7, 2018, https://thevcs.org/ezras-exiles
• “Out of the Whirlwind,” In The Virtual Commentary on Scripture, Art display and commentary on Job 38, https://thevcs.org/out-whirlwind

PAPER PRESENTATIONS

• “The Psalmists’ Use of the Exodus Motif,” poster presentation at the SBL Annual Meeting (2006)
• “The Relative Dating of Psalms 134-136,” Paper presented at the SBL Annual Meeting in Atlanta, 2010
• The Shavuot Scroll: A Response to a Biblical ‘Wanted’ Ad?”, Christchurch Shavuot Lectures, Jerusalem, June 2008.
• “Did Lemuel’s Mother Know Ruth?” Paper presented at the SBL Annual Meeting in Baltimore, 2013
• “Psalm 106: A Precursor to the New Testament’s Use of the Old Testament,” ETS Regional Meeting, Boston, 2012”
• “The Elevation of God’s Role in Psalm 105,” ETS Annual Meeting, San Francisco, 2011
• “From the Mouths of Infants and Babes,” Ancient Judaism and Christian Origins Inaugural Seminar, August 2013
• “Rembrandt: A Biblical Interpreter?” Paper presented at the SBL Annual Meeting in San Diego, 2014
• “Towards an Old Testament Theology of Work”, ETS Regional Meeting, Boston 2015
• “Chiasmus as a Vehicle for Meaning in Psalm 78,” Paper presented at the SBL Annual Meeting in Denver, 2018
• “Towards a Methodology for Dating Psalms,” Paper presented at the SBL Annual Meeting in San Diego, 2019
• “Psalm 106 and the Poetics of Narrative Lament,” Paper presented at the SBL Annual Meeting in San Diego, 2019

“Close Juxtaposition Strategies in Book I of the Psalter” Paper [to be] presented at the SBL Annual meeting in Denver 2022

DICTIONARY/ENCYCLOPAEDIA ARTICLES

• “Satan” in The Lexham Online Bible Dictionary, 2016
• “Thinking” in The Lexham Online Bible Dictionary, 2016
• “Obadiah (Book and Person) | Visual Arts,” In Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception, DeGruyter, 2021
• “Nehemiah (Book and Person) | Visual Arts,” In Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception, DeGruyter, 2021

Leisure Interests

David enjoys keeping fit in a variety of ways: swimming, resistance training, and hiking. Additionally, he still keeps up-to-date with computing, exploring various computer languages and applications.

Classes Taught