Dietary laws, as well as problems in regard to their observance, are prevalent in religious groups even today and were fairly common in antiquity. Outsiders and insiders as well often wondered what the point of the laws was, and in three significant communities—Pythagoreans, Jews, and Christians—the regulations were interpreted, or interpreted away, with the help of philosophical or even historical analysis.

Interpretation of the OT is a many-faceted thing in gnostic literature. The old view that Gnosticism implies a rejection of the OT has had to be considerably modified in the light of new discoveries. The Nag Hammadi texts have shown that the Gnostics made far more use of the OT than could have been expected on the basis of older premises. R. McL. Wilson, in a recent article, has pointed out that no less than seventeen OT books are quoted in the gnostic writings collected in Werner Foerster's anthology. To be sure, Genesis—especially the first chapters—is by far the most-quoted OT book. And it is obvious that the use made by the Gnostics of Genesis and other OT writings is hardly conventional, to say the least. Even so, it is of no use to scholarship simply to be satisfied with calling attention to the “perversity” of gnostic OT interpretation. For it is important to observe the manifold ways in which the OT is utilized in gnostic, especially Christian gnostic, texts. One can then attain a proper understanding of the role of biblical interpretation in the development of Gnosticism, as well as early Christian theology in general.

The exact nature of Ham's crime against the drunken Noah has long fascinated exegetes, who have been left dissatisfied by the simple voyeurism described in the biblical text. One particularly interesting explanation, namely, that Ham actually castrated his father, first emerges in a Talmudic account of a debate about Gen 9:24 between Rav and Samuel, two renowned third-century Babylonian rabbis

The story of the translation of the Bible into Greek was widely known in early Christian literature. Epiphanius utilized various sources in his form of the story, which is given in On Weights and Measures, including the Epistle of Aristeas, as well as others. On Weights and Measures is known in three forms today, Greek, Syriac, and a recently identified Georgian version. Up to the discovery of the Georgian, the Syriac was considered to be the most original, while the Greek MSS were thought to present a mutilated text. The newly discovered Georgian version contains certain traditions which have been claimed to be extremely ancient. These are found, in particular, in the epistles of Ptolemy to the elders of Jerusalem.