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Weekend Roundup

Leen Ritmeyer is scheduled to lecture at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary on November 15 and 16 on:

The History and Archaeology of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem
The History and Archaeology of Herodian Jerusalem

At the ASOR meeting in New Orleans, Ritmeyer’s lecture is entitled:

The Eastern Wall of the Temple Mount – Deciphering its Story

Joe Lauer notes that the Jerusalem Post Magazine this week has a story on the interesting character of Shlomo Moussaieff. He’s done more in his life than sell expensive jewels and collect rare antiquities. I’ve been eyeing this book for the last year, and so I was delighted to see that Eisenbrauns has Colin Hemer’s The Book of Acts in the Setting of Hellenistic History for 60% off ($24, plus $5 shipping) this weekend only. A few months ago I read with great appreciation D. A. Carson’s remembrance of Hemer, now available online here: “Colin John Hemer: In Memoriam” (pdf). BibleX points to a good sale at Oxford, including:

Israel in Egypt: The Evidence for the Authenticity of the Exodus Tradition – James K. Hoffmeier for 50% off = $17.50
A Guide to Biblical Sites in Turkey and Greece – Clyde E. Fant, Mitchell G. Reddish for 65% off = $10.50
The Oxford Companion to the Bible – Michael D. Coogan for 65% off = $28.00
The Holy Land: An Archaeological Guide, 5th edition – Jerome Murphy-O’Connor for 30% off = $26.50 (but $25 at Amazon, or $10 on the Kindle).

Tagged Jerusalem, Lectures, Resources

Bible Mapper Version 4

If, like me, you’re a fan of Bible Mapper, you’ll be pleased to know that version 4 has just been released.

Bible Mapper is still the best program for making custom maps of the Middle East, and now it includes 35 pre-made Bible maps that get you off to a quick start. You can see some of these in the gallery.

There are a number of other improvements as well that may not sound so impressive, but really make the program more enjoyable to use. This includes:

Select Object engine that uses the cursor is much faster at any zoom level and is more forgiving about how close you have to click on an object to select it (e.g., routes and rivers are easier to select)
A basic blank map template is included that contains essentially all the basic styles that you need to create a professional-quality map (journey path styles, political label styles, river label styles, etc.)

You can read more of the improvements on the website. If you have any need for maps, I encourage you to check it out. As before, use of the maps you create is virtually unrestricted.

“Samson’s Exploits” – one of the new maps in Bible Mapper 4.0

Tagged Resources

Lecture: Lederman on Beth Shemesh

I realize that posting lecture notices only serves to make jealous a large portion of this reading audience, but in the interest of serving those who may be within driving distance, I will persist. I think that there are more lectures in the coming week from non-American archaeologists who are on their way to New Orleans for the annual meetings of ASOR and SBL.

From Pittsburgh Theological Seminary:

Pittsburgh Theological Seminary will host Zvi Lederman, a researcher in archaeology at Tel Aviv University, Sun., Nov. 15 at 7:30 p.m. in the Knox Room. Lederman will present a lecture entitled “At the Border: Iron Age Beth Shemesh.”

Its location, name, and history would indicate that Beth-Shemesh was a community on the Philistine border. When the Ark of the Covenant was taken by the Philistines, it was finally returned to the people of Beth-Shemesh, but the Lords of the Philistines, stepping after the Ark, went only “up to the border of Beth-Shemesh.” Dr. Lederman will discuss recent excavations that have illuminated life at Beth-Shemesh from a series of flourishing Iron Age 1 villages (1200-950 BCE) to a fortified Iron 2 city established during the days of the early Monarchy. In the course of its history, this important biblical town became embroiled in conflicts with the neighboring Philistines as well as conflicts between Israel and Judah, Syria and Ephraim, and eventually between Judah and the Assyrians.

Lederman was a member of the Land of Ephraim Survey, and has excavated at Beer-Sheba and Shiloh. Since 1990 he has served as co-director of the Te Beth-Shemesh excavations.

A reception will follow the lecture. Additionally, the Bible Lands Museum will be open from 6:00-7:30 p.m. and after the presentation. This event is co-sponsored by the Biblical Archaeology Society of Pittsburgh.

See the website for contact information.

HT: Joe Lauer

Beth Shemesh excavations, dumps, basket women, mat03005

Excavations at Beth Shemesh, 1931

This is one of 25 photos of Beth Shemesh in the Southern Palestine volume of The American Colony and Eric Matson Collection (Library of Congress, LC-matpc-03005).

Tagged American Colony Photos, Judah, Lectures

Biblical Archaeology Slide-Lecture Series, Queens College, NY

Jerusalem as a Sanctuary City
Yuval Baruch

Wednesday, November 11, 2009, 7:30 pm

The lecture and slide show will focus on recent excavations, along with new trends in the archaeological study of the Second Temple Period, which reflects Jerusalem as a sanctuary city.

Gamla’s War: The Archaeology of Religious Intensity
Yoav Arbel

Wednesday, December 2, 2009, 7:30 pm

Location of lectures: LeFrak Concert Hall, Queens College, New York

Admission for reserved seating: $5.

For more information, including details of the lecturers, see the Queens College website.

HT: Joe Lauer

Tagged Lectures

5 Volumes on Bible Backgrounds on OT

The Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary is out, according to a couple of friends who have received their 5-volume sets in the mail. The editor, John Walton, hams it up in this 1.5-minute promo video. If you prefer a more serious approach, take a look at this 2.5-minute descriptive video. I see that an electronic version will be produced for Logos, but unfortunately Zondervan’s pricing strategy on electronic volumes does not seem to include discounting. This month you can read the Judges commentary, written by Daniel I. Block, for free. I commented on this set before here, but I didn’t note that hundreds of the 2,000 photos came from the BiblePlaces.com archive.

Tagged Resources

2010 Calendar

You know that the year is drawing to a close when you see calendars for 2010 on store racks. I just received yesterday the 2010 Holy Land Calendar produced by Lamb and Lion Ministries, which exclusively features photographs from BiblePlaces.com. The calendar notes all the major American holidays, and its inclusion of the Jewish holy days makes it a great way to keep track of important events not on many American calendars. You can purchase this beautiful calendar online, and if you order 10 (for Christmas gifts), they will give you two for free.

Tagged Resources