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(Post by A.D. Riddle)

The Jordan Valley Excavation Project will be starting a new excavation at Khirbet ‘Auja el-Foqa, a fortified city on a hilltop overlooking the Jordan Valley, just north of Jericho. Registration is now open for the inaugural 2019 season which will run from May 26 to June 23. The project is co-directed by David Ben-Shlomo and Ralph K. Hawkins. For information, visit the project’s website at www.jvep.org.

Khirbet ‘Auja el-Foqa was surveyed by Adam Zertal, who identified a casemate wall and towers (see photo blow). Zertal concluded, “The main settlement in the site was founded at the beginning of the Iron Age IIB and it was possibly abandoned during Sennacherib’s campaign to Judah in 701 BCE.” But until now the site has not been excavated. The Jordan Valley Excavation Project is interested in determining if there are earlier settlements beneath the Iron IIB remains. One reason for thinking there might is the Jordan Valley Excavation Project discovered Late Bronze II/Iron I at the site of Khirbet el-Mastarah, right next door to Khirbet ‘Auja el-Foqa. Zertal identified ‘Auja el-Foqa as Ataroth in Joshua 16:5, and Shmuel Ahituv suggested it is the town of Na’arta mentioned in an inscription from Jerusalem. The project’s website provides more details.

Tower at Khirbet ‘Auja el-Foqa (www.jvep.com). 

This map shows both Khirbet ‘Auja el-Foqa and Khirbet el-Mastarah, and their relation to the Jordan Valley and Jericho.

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(Post by A.D. Riddle)

A few years ago, we mentioned a number of new titles addressing the topic of crucifixion (you can read that here). One of them was by one of my teachers, Eckhard Schnabel, who is now on faculty at Gordon Conwell. I think I had a total of four classes with Schnabel, and I was always amazed at the breadth and depth of his learning. So I was happy to learn that Eerdmans has recently released a new volume by Schnabel entitled Jesus in Jerusalem: The Last Days (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2018).

I once heard a rumor about Schnabel (I am not sure if it is true) that he complained that there are not enough big books in the world, but that he is doing his part to correct the deficiency. For those who likewise think there is shortage of big books, then this 704-page tome will be a welcome contribution.

From the publisher:

This is the first book to describe and analyze, sequentially and in detail, all the persons, places, times, and events mentioned in the Gospel accounts of Jesus’s last week in Jerusalem. 

Part reference guide, part theological exploration, Eckhard Schnabel’s Jesus in Jerusalem uses the biblical text and recent archaeological evidence to find meaning in Jesus’s final days on earth. Schnabel profiles the seventy-two people and groups and the seventeen geographic locations named in the four passion narratives. Placing the events of Jesus’s last days in chronological order, he unpacks their theological significance, finding that Jesus’s passion, death, and resurrection can be understood historically as well as from a faith perspective.

The contents of the book are organized into five sections: People, Places, Timelines, Events, and Significance. Below is the full table of contents. (Note from the contents that Schnabel appears to locate the events of Jesus’ last week in the year AD 30, whereas others argue for the date AD 33.)

People
1. Jesus
2. The Twelve
3. The Eleven
4. Two Unnamed Disciples
5. Simon Peter
6. Andrew
7. James son of Zebedee
8. John son of  Zebedee
9. Thomas
10. Philip
11. Judas son of James
12. Judas Iscariot
13. Nathanael
14. Lazarus
15. Simon the Leper
16. Cleopas
17. Nicodemus
18. Joseph of Arimathea
19. Unnamed Disciple from Emma’s
20. Two Anonymous Disciples
21. Owner of a Colt in Bethphage
22. Man with Water Jar in Jerusalem
23. Owner of House in Jerusalem
24. Young Man in Gethsemane
25. Women Disciples
26. Martha from Bethany
27. Mary from Bethany
28. Mary the Mother of Jesus
29. Mary the Wife of Clopas
30. Mary from Magdala
31. Mary the Mother of James and Joseph
32. Mother of James and John
33. Salome
34. Joanna
35. Acquaintances of Jesus
36. Pilgrims
37. Crowds
38. Tax Collectors
39. Prostitutes
40. Vendors, Customers and Moneychangers on the Temple Mount
41. Blind and Lame
42. Children
43. Gentiles/Greeks
44. Rich People
45. Widow
46. Members of the Sanhedrin
47. Chief Priests
48. Sadducees
49. Experts of the Law
50. Lay Aristocrats
51. Pharisees
52. Annas, Former High Priest
53. Caiaphas, High Priest
54. Malchus, Slave of Caiaphas
55. Malchus’s Relative
56. Two Female Slaves of Caiaphas
57. Retainers
58. Officers of the Jewish Executive
59. Jewish Security Forces and Their Captain
60. Witnesses
61. Herodians
62. Herod Antipas
63. Soldiers of Herod Antipas
64. Pontius Pilate
65. Pontius Pilate’s Wife
66. Soldiers of Auxiliary Troops
67. Centurion
68. Barabbas
69. Simon of Cyrene
70. Women of Jerusalem
71. Two Criminals
72. Man with Sponge at Golgotha

Places
1. Jerusalem
2. Temple Mount
3. Mount of Olives
4. Bethany
5. Bethphage
6. Gethsemane
7. Akeldama
8. House of Jesus’ Last Supper
9. Residence of Annas
10. Residence of Caiaphas
11. The Sanhedrin Building
12. Praetorium
13. The Lithostrotos
14. Residence of Herod Antipas
15. Golgotha
16. Jesus’ Tomb
17. Emmaus

Timelines
1. The Year AD 30
2. Saturday-Sunday, Nisan 9 (April 2-3)
3. Sunday-Monday, Nisan 10 (April 3-4)
4. Monday-Tuesday, Nisan 11 (April 4-5)
5. Tuesday-Wednesday, Nisan 12 (April 5-6)
6. Wednesday-Thursday, Nisan 13 (April 6-7)
7. Thursday-Friday, Nisan 14 (April 7-8)
8. Friday-Saturday, Nisan 15 (April 8-9)
9. Saturday-Sunday, Nisan 23 (April 16-17)

Events
1. The Anointing in Bethany
2. Jesus’ Approach to Jerusalem
3. Jesus’ Prophetic Action on the Temple Mount
4. The Jewish Authorities’ Scheme to Eliminate Jesus
5. The Lesson of the Withered Fig Tree
6. Controversies and Jesus’ Public Teaching on the Temple Mount
7. The Greeks Seek Jesus and the Unbelief of the People
8. The Jewish Authorities’ Planning of Jesus’ Arrest
9. The Betrayal by Judas Iscariot
10. Prophecy of the Destruction of Jerusalem, of the End, and of His Return
11. Preparations for Passover
12. The Last Supper in Jerusalem
13. Arrest in Gethsemane
14. Preliminary Interrogation before Annas and Peter’s First Denial
15. The Trial before the Sanhedrin with Caiaphas Presiding and Peter’s Denials
16. Transfer of Jesus’ Case to Pontius Pilate
17. The Trial before the Roman Prefect with Pontius Pilate Presiding
18. The Walk to Golgotha
19. Jesus’ Crucifixion
20. Jesus’ Burial
21. The Death of Judas Iscariot
22. The Guards at the Tomb
23. The Empty Tomb and Jesus’ Appearance to the Women
24. Jesus’ Appearance to the Disciples

Significance
1. Jesus Is the Messiah, the King of the Jews
2. Jesus and the Temple
3. Jesus’ Death
4. Jesus’ Resurrection
5. Jesus’ Mission and the Mission of His Followers

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(Post by A.D. Riddle)

Yesterday, the BiblePlaces newsletter went out with a big announcement about our newest Photo Companion. If you did not receive the newsletter (or if you did not take a moment to read it yet), you can check it out here.

The Photo Companion to the Bible launched last year with the release of The Gospels. Now, we are pleased to announce the latest volume in the series, the book of Ruth.

Ruth is chock-full of cultural and geographic scenes which the BiblePlaces team has illustrated with 350 modern and historic photographs. The photographs are arranged chapter-by-chapter and verse-by-verse in PowerPoint files, accompanied by descriptions, notes, Bible citations, and labels.

Whether you are a student, a teacher, a pastor, or a lay person who studies the Bible, we believe you will truly appreciate this carefully selected assortment of photographs.

To mark the release of this new volume, Ruth is on sale this week for only $20. The price includes free shipping (in the U.S.) and immediate download. Visit this page for further details and to order.

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(Post by A.D. Riddle)


A few years ago, we wrote a recommendation when Bible Mapper version 5 was first released. At the time Mark Hoffman, a Bible Mapper user, recorded seven tutorial videos to help out new users.

Mark just moved the tutorials over to YouTube two weeks ago. The videos are a fantastic introduction to some of Bible Mapper’s customization options, and they will give the jump start you need to start creating custom maps right away.

BibleMapper can be downloaded here. Many features can be used with the free version, but a one-time license key ($37) is required to save your work and to access advanced features.
Be sure to watch Mark Hoffman’s tutorial videos on YouTube to help you quickly get started making maps.
You can read our original review here.

To review, the strengths of Bible Mapper are:

  • Accuracy of the data.
  • Ability to customize the look of the terrain, to select features and cities to be displayed, to modify the look and position of labels, and even to import your own sites directly using a kmz/kml file.
  • Permission to use the maps you create copyright-free in papers, lectures, websites, and publications.
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(Post by A.D. Riddle)

The Ancient World Mapping Center is making available for free download their wall map of Asia Minor. The blog post from yesterday reads:

After several years of preparation, AWMC’s newest wall map is now available online. This map is a successor to that of J.G.C. Anderson (1903) and its partial revision by W.M. Calder and G.E. Bean (1958).  It was displayed in draft at the ‘Roads and Routes in Anatolia’ conference organized by the British Institute at Ankara (March 2014).  It was then revised with a view to being issued with the volume planned to follow that meeting in due course.  Meantime the Center is now making the map available online.

The map is noteworthy because the Ancient World Mapping Center has reconstructed the ancient coastline, most notable at places such as Miletus, Ephesus, north of Smyrna, and between Xanthos and Patara. The map shows Roman roads, bridges, quarries, and aqueducts. It also shows rivers, wetlands, and elevation with subtle hillshading. According to the legend, the map includes mountain passes and shrines, though I noticed only one of each.

There are a few symbols that do not appear in the legend, and I am not entirely sure what they mean: an asterisk before the name Sparza, and these three patterns

[UPDATE: A commenter noted that the asterisk is identified in the legend and is used to indicate a reconstructed ancient place name. The first pattern, blue dots outlined in blue, appears to represent an “intermittent lake.” The second pattern, burnt orange dotes, appears to represent a “dry lake.” The last pattern remains a mystery to me.]

Yesterday, I could download the map directly, but as of today you have to email the Ancient World Mapping Center for a download link. The TIF file I downloaded is a whopping 1.72GB! If you were to print the map at 300dpi, the sheet would measure 80″ x 50″. (To download a JPG version of the map at about 100MB, use this temporary link.) The map is licensed under CC-by-4.0.

This map is the latest creation by the Ancient World Mapping Center in a line of cartographic products which includes the Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World (print and digital), Benthos Digital Atlas of Ancient Waters, the AWMC à-la-carte Map, and the Routledge Wall Maps for the Ancient World.

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(Post by A.D. Riddle)

As mentioned before, I took my first trip to Egypt this year. The main part of the trip was led by James Hoffmeier (Trinity International University) and was organized by Shepherd Travel. For those interested in traveling to Egypt, I am happy to recommend Shepherd Travel, and in particular, our guide Maged. At the end of the Hoffmeier trip, a friend and I remained a few extra days to visit additional sites. Maged was an enormous help during our extended time.

Egypt possesses many amazing places and artifacts to see, but travel in Egypt can present a few challenges. If we had not had Maged as our guide, it would have been extremely difficult (maybe impossible) to visit and photograph all the sites that we did.

Our Egyptian guide Maged

Here are four ways having a good guide helped us:

Negotiation. First, everything in Egypt must be negotiated—from transportation, to prices and tips, to permission to enter some of the sites and permission to photograph. All of this takes time and knowledge of how things work (the ability to speak Arabic is also huge advantage). There were a few sites that were “closed” or where photography was forbidden, but Maged was able to negotiate our way into nearly every one of them. In addition, if we had been by ourselves, we surely would have paid more and tipped more (or less) than we needed to, because we are not familiar with the customs. Maged made sure we avoided these situations. (In Egypt, everything you can imagine requires a tip, and you have to be willing to give each transaction plenty of time to “transpire.” If you are in a hurry, you will probably miss out.)

Transportation. Second, we had to rely on local transportation. In other Middle East countries I have visited, it is not difficult to rent a car and do all of my own navigating, but I would not recommend this in Egypt. Instead, we utilized local drivers, trains, and subways for transportation. Some of this we could have figured out on our own, but it would have taken us twice as long and in some cases we probably would have paid (much) more than we should have. Maged arranged all our transportation needs to maximize our schedule and negotiated fair prices. In places where Maged was not with us, he made sure we had a driver, that the driver knew where we wanted to go, and that we knew how much we needed to pay and tip.

Security. Third, Egypt is very protective of tourists, excessively even at times. During the Hoffmeier trip, we noted at one site that the number of police and guards exceeded the 40-something members of our tour group. Travel to some sites and use of the desert highway require police escort, and it was helpful to have Maged explain our intentions to authorities, to procure their assistance when needed, and to keep us informed of everything that was going on. Maged also knew which sites are located in military zones and therefore off-limits, thus saving me wasted time and effort trying in vain to reach them. Finally, Maged could verify whether it was safe for us to travel to some of the out-of-the-way sites.

Expertise. Fourth, Maged studied Egyptian archaeology and ancient Egyptian language in university. He showed us his comprehensive exams in Egyptian hieroglyphs, hieratic and Coptic, and they looked quite impressive. He has participated in excavations and was familiar with all of the sites on my itinerary—even the ones that I thought were ultra-obscure. In addition, Maged is quite knowledgable about the history, sites, doctrines, and traditions of the Coptic Orthodox Church. Many American Christians probably are not too familiar with traditions related to Joseph and Mary’s flight to Egypt (Matt 2), the martyrdom of Mark in Alexandria, the ostensible fulfillments of Isaiah 19, the Desert Fathers, or the differences between the Latin and Eastern Church. And not least, Maged speaks very good English.

If you are thinking of taking a trip to Egypt, I recommend Shepherd Travel and ask for Maged to be your guide. You can find more at Shepherd Travel’s website or on Facebook.

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