December 2010 - Page 2 of 6

Mount of Olives and Bahurim Surveyed

Results of an archaeological survey of the northeastern slope of the Mount of Olives have identified numerous ancient burial caves, some cisterns, and the biblical site of Bahurim.

The report is published in Hadashot Arkheologiyot 122 with a number of photos and illustrations.

The three areas surveyed are located around the eastern exit of the car tunnel passing through the Mount of Olives (map here, photo below).

The burial caves are from the Second Temple period and later, but in some places remains were preserved from the Iron Age. Ras Tammim in the survey’s Area III has been identified with biblical Bahurim. This site is best known as the place where Shimei cursed David when he fled from Jerusalem during Absalom’s revolt.

As King David approached Bahurim, a man from the same clan as Saul’s family came out from there. His name was Shimei son of Gera, and he cursed as he came out. He pelted David and all the king’s officials with stones, though all the troops and the special guard were on David’s right and left. As he cursed, Shimei said, “Get out, get out, you man of blood, you scoundrel! (2 Sam 16:5-7).

Bahurim also is mentioned in connection with the return of David’s wife Michal. You cannot help but feel sorry for Michal’s second husband who followed, “weeping behind her all the way to Bahurim” (2 Sam 3:16).

About the site (Horvat Ras Tammim), the report states:

The site is situated on a hilltop (Spot Height 704), east of the Mount of Olives. The area at the top of the hill is cultivated farmland, whereas the slopes are covered with vegetation. Potsherds, mostly dating to the Iron Age and the Early Roman and Byzantine periods, were found within the precincts of the ruin. Twenty-one sites were identified.

More details of the survey, including 11 diagrams and illustrations, are published here.

HT: Bible and Interpretation

Mount of Olives, aerial view to southeast

Tagged Excavations, Jerusalem

Mount Carmel Visit

Shmuel Browns has toured Mount Carmel in the aftermath of the fire and posts a report and a number of photographs. He writes:

On December 2, 2010 a fire erupted on Mount Carmel burning for 4 days until fire fighters could get the blaze under control and destroyed over 50,000 dunam of forest. The JNF estimates that 1.5 million trees were burnt in the fire, some estimates raise the total figure to 5.5 million trees and the Carmel Hai-Bar nature reserve was damaged. We learned that pine trees, soft woods with a lot of resin, are usually killed by the intense heat; their surival mechanism is that the pine cones open in the heat and hundreds of seeds are scattered. The oak trees, being a hardwood, often are able to live, the branches are burned and die but the roots survive and send up new shoots. According to officials, nearly half of the 150,000 dunams of the Carmel Forest reserve have been destroyed in the fire and it will take at least 20 years to for the forests to grow back.

See his blog for more details and pictures.

Tagged Tourism

Israel Selects 16 New National Heritage Sites

Arutz-7 identifies three of the newly designated sites as Umm el-Qanatir, Gamla, and the Herodium.

A Cabinet-level committee has added 16 new national heritage sites, including two in the Golan Heights and Herod’s tomb in Gush Etzion. Foreign media immediately tried to turn the decision into a political act.
[…]
Also on the list were two archeological sites in the Golan Heights and one in the Judean Hills, south of Jerusalem. All three are familiar to millions of tourists, but at least one foreign news agency implied that their inclusion on the list was a political decision because they are located in areas that are ”occupied.”
The Golan Heights have been a legal part of Israel for 30 years, but most international media still refer to it as “the occupied Golan.” One of the sites is Umm el-Kanitar, where archaeological excavations have revealed a Roman-era Jewish city and synagogue.
The other is on Gamla, a camel hump-shaped hill in the Golan that includes the remains of an ancient Jewish city and which was the site of the 1st century CE Jewish revolt against Roman conquerors. Gamla is a symbol of heroism for the modern State of Israel.
A third site is Herodian, the site of Herod’s palace in eastern Gush Etzion and a popular site for foreign tourists as well as Israelis.

The full article is here.

UPDATE: The Jerusalem Post story includes additional details.

Tagged Golan, Herod's Tomb, Tourism

Anderson on “Jesus: The Man”

Was Jesus a carpenter?
Did Jesus have short hair?
Did Jesus grow up with siblings?
Did Jesus work in Tiberias and Sepphoris?

These and other issues are discussed in a review article by Paul N. Anderson on the National Geographic special, “Jesus: The Man.” Anderson recommends the program but his summary and analysis may be read without seeing this episode in the “Mysteries of the Bible” series.

Anderson explains the value of the presentation:

The value of this larger series, and this episode in particular, is that they cast valuable archaeological and historical light on the story of Jesus presented in the gospels. The correctives to some supposed knowledge are helpful in that they create new understandings of Jesus—the realism of his engaging Greco-Roman society, the ethical-political thrust of John’s ministry, economic and social backdrops of Jesus’ teachings on the Kingdom of God. The peasant-class status of Jesus and his family helps contextualize Jesus’ ministry, and imagining a worker with stone helps some of his teachings in the gospels come alive, including (I might add) later references to Jesus’ being referred to as the stone the builders rejected, which ironically became the cornerstone of the new household of God (Ac. 4:11; 1 Pet. 2:1-10).

The article is worth reading. One quibble: his comment about the scribal conjecture of Bethany gets the evidence backwards. The earliest manuscripts read Bethany, but Origen couldn’t find a Bethany on the east side of the Jordan River and changed it to Bethabara. For more, see J. Carl Laney’s article (pdf) or my comment to this post.

Tagged Galilee

Weekend Roundup

The latest issue of DigSight from the Institute of Archaeology at Southern Adventist University reports on a recent survey of Socoh (Kh. Shuweikeh) near Khirbet Qeiyafa as well as summaries of recent related lectures.

The New York Times has a good article about the current drilling project in the center of the Dead Sea.

Reports from recent excavations at Jericho by the University of Rome are now available online.

A rabbi has recently forbidden visits to the Western Wall on Shabbat because the security cameras violate Jewish law.

Stephen Carlson has posted his NTS article, “The Accommodations of Joseph and Mary in Bethlehem: Κατάλυμα in Luke 2.7” (pdf). He also links to Mark Goodacre’s podcast on the same subject, “Was Jesus Born in a Stable?” For my brief thoughts on the issue, see this post from several years ago. One correction to that post: the 2005 TNIV translates the word as “guest room.”

Studies of minerals at Timna Valley in southern Israel indicate that “slag left over from Iron Age copper smelting shows the Earth’s magnetic field was stronger and more variable than scientists ever imagined.”

The Second International Conference of the Jeselsohn Epigraphic Center of Jewish History is entitled “Epigraphy and Daily Life – From the Bible to the Talmud” and dedicated to the memory of Professor Hanan Eshel. Leen Ritmeyer has listed the schedule and Aren Maeir posts a link to the
program (pdf).

Zvi Ben-Dor Benite has some interesting thoughts on the “ten lost tribes” at The Bible and Interpretation.

The Explorations in Antiquity Center in Georgia (USA) is building a Roman theater and forum.

Their newsletter is available here (pdf).

The best photographs of the Roman statue found in the sea at Ashkelon are in this article at the Daily Mail.

HT: Jay Baggett and Steve Ulrich

Tagged Dead Sea, Lectures, Shephelah, Weekend Roundup

Give-Away: Pictorial Library of Bible Lands

Our last give-away before Christmas is the complete collection of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands. This set was originally released 10 years ago as a four-volume collection, but it has expanded over the years to its current ten volumes. The Pictorial Library was our first collection and its has remained the most popular.

To increase significantly your odds of winning this week, you need only guess which individual volume has been the most popular (in terms of sales) over the last year. We’ll give you a hint: it is one of the Israel volumes. (You can browse their contents at these links: Galilee, Samaria, Jerusalem, Judah, Negev.)

We’ll choose two winners on Sunday afternoon. One winner will be selected from those who correctly guess the best-selling volume. The other winner will be selected from all entries.

We’ve also chosen this give-away to be the occasion of our first-ever online discount of the Pictorial Library. Through Sunday only, there is a 20% discount. That’s a savings of nearly $38. As always, shipping is free in the US and every order will go by USPS Priority and will almost certainly arrive before Christmas. (If you order and then win, we’ll give you a full refund.)

Click here to get the discount. For the drawing, only one entry per person, please, but feel free to tell your friends, neighbors, pastors, and teachers. After the drawing, all names and email addresses will be deleted. The drawing will be held Sunday at 5 p.m. (PST).

UPDATE (12/19): Not one person correctly guessed that the best-selling volume is “Negev and the Wilderness.” Most guessed “Jerusalem,” which is the second most popular (with Galilee in third place). Perhaps “Negev and the Wilderness” sells more individual copies because purchasers interested in Jerusalem or Galilee may be more inclined to purchase the entire set. Two winners were selected from all entrants. Congratulations to Niek and Mitch.

Loading…

Tagged Give-Away