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.

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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.

Lion_and_Lamb_calendar_2010_cover

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Hundreds of Crusader-era marble pieces were discovered in Acco recently.  You can read the press release, the JPost report or the Arutz-7 account, story here, or download high-res photos here.

The house in Luxor of Howard Carter, the man who discovered the tomb of King Tutankhamen, has been opened as a museum.

The NY Times has an interesting and humorous article on Raphael Golb, arrested for impersonation and identity theft in an attempt to stem the tide that rejected his father’s conclusions about the Dead Sea Scrolls.  Golb is delighted that the articles he wrote under the name of “Charles Gadda” have been read by so many.  I wonder how happy he is that so many are reading about his desperate attempts to stay out of jail.

BibleWorks has a sale for new customers now, offering $30 off the purchase of BibleWorks 8 and one module.  For more, see here.

Logos Bible Software released a major new version this week.  So far, everything I’ve heard is
positive.  I don’t use anything with an “i” in it, but if I did, I’d be real happy about the ability to have my entire library on my phone at no extra cost.

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Glo is reviewed in Newsweek.  I’d like to say more about this Bible software some time.  In some ways, it’s better than being on-site.

David Padfield has reviewed unfavorably the BAS Photo Archives Complete Set.

Arutz-7 Radio has posted a couple of interviews (mp3) this week that may be of interest to readers here.  The first half of part one is an interview with Bernie and Fran Alpert, founders of Archaeological Seminars, which for decades has run the “dig for a day” program.  They say that one million people have come through their programs, the main one of which is digging for a few hours in Hellenistic caves at Bet Guvrin.

Part two is a 50-minute interview with Eilat Mazar concerning her initial interest in archaeology, some of her previous excavations, and now her work in the City of David.  She gives some reasons for why she believes the large stone structure must date to the time of David.  I found myself nodding off in the middle, but it was worthwhile to listen to the end. 

The real Snake Path is not at Masada, but in San Diego.

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Salvage archaeology is the unplanned kind which occurs when construction reveals ancient remains.  In a city like Jerusalem, modern builders uncover the past far more than they would like.  This Jerusalem Post article gives some good insight into the challenges and rewards.

Archaeologist Yoram Tsafrir is unhappy that the Israel Antiquities Authority is planning to build a three-story museum over the ruins of the Roman “Valley Cardo” on the western side of the Western Wall Plaza.

Stephen G. Rosenberg writes in the Jerusalem Post on two synagogues in the Golan Heights at Ein Nashut and Yehudiya.

An American geologist argued in a recent lecture that David chose the city of Jerusalem because of the karstic limestone formations.  The brief article in the Jerusalem Post only covers the basics and doesn’t reveal what he has contributed to the discussion.  An abstract of the article can be read here.

Case Western Reserve University has about 300 out-of-copyright books on the Ancient Near East available on their website.

The Jerusalem Post has a 3-minute video on the recent story (previously noted here) on the Western Wall tunnels and new discoveries made there.

Bridges for Peace sent me their 2010 calendar because they used one of my photos on the cover.  The calendar is full of beautiful photographs and I see that they are for sale here for $10.

HT: Joe Lauer, Mondo Gonzales, David F. Coppedge

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Brian Janeway has written on “New Discoveries Relating to the Apostle Paul” at the Associates for Biblical Research blog.  The focus of the article is the recent analysis of the alleged tomb of Paul, but he also comments on some related finds.

Eric Cline has posted a good primer at Bible and Interpretation on the all-important 10th century BC debate in biblical archaeology.  In about ten minutes of reading, you get a number of good insights into the nature of the debate and the archaeological discipline as a whole.  The article is adapted from his new book, Biblical Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction (168 pages; $9 at Amazon).

I mentioned previously the Old Testament version of the Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, edited by John H. Walton and available in 5 volumes in November ($157 at Amazon, plus shipping surcharge).  Chris Heard notes that the Genesis commentary is now available for reading on Scribd through the month of October.

Logos has a new pre-publication special of 19 volumes in a “History of Israel Collection.”  You have to qualify just what a collection with that title means, because it is not the essential works on the subject.  Rather these are volumes from the Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies series published by Sheffield and T. & T. Clark.  In other words, these are highly specialized, very expensive books.  The collection is now available for $300 ($16/volume), which is about the cost of any two volumes.  (A quick search at Amazon found Banks for $180, Wood for $25, McNutt for $50, Grabbe for $216, and Younger [not Youger] for $251).  If you want it, buy it now, before the price jumps to $1300.

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