New Book by McKinny on Sale

[UPDATE: The sale appears to be over. There are some new copies selling at 50% off in the Marketplace.]

I’m not sure why, and I’m not sure how long it will last, but at the moment Amazon is selling Chris McKinny’s new book for 90% off ($83.95 marked down to $8.61). My People as Your People: A Textual and Archaeological Analysis of the Reign of Jehoshaphat came out a few months ago and it’s a beautiful synthesis of historical and archaeological research on a particularly important era in Judah. Here are the chapter titles:

  • Chapter One: Introduction
  • Chapter Two: Israel of the Omrides
  • Chapter Three: The Battle of Ramoth-gilead in 1 Kings 22:1-36, 2 Chronicles 18, and Historical Implications from the Tel Dan Stele
  • Chapter Four: Jehoshaphat’s Reign According to 1 Kings 22:41-50
  • Chapter Five: An Archaeological Survey of Judah in the Late Iron IIA Using Archaeology as a Source for Reconstructing History
  • Chapter Six: Conclusion

The hardcover book is 159 pages plus an extensive bibliography. It is published by Peter Lang in their American University Studies series.

Readers of this blog know Chris McKinny from his many contributions here, including:

So I thought you’d want to know about this steal while it’s available.

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Weekend Roundup

Shmuel Browns reviews the new “Pharaoh in Canaan” exhibit at the Israel Museum and shares many photos.

Carl Rasmussen gives two reasons why he likes to visit Magdala.


Haaretz posts several impressive photos from this year’s celebration of the Samaritan Passover.

Tom Powers visits the Pools of Siloam through photographs of the American Colony. He also suggests (in a comment) that both pools existed from much earlier than the time of Jesus and he proposes distinct purposes for each.

“In an area of Israel that offers fewer attractions to visitors, Tel Arad is like coming upon an oasis of archeology.”

Fifteen years after the excavation of the “Cave of John the Baptist,” Popular Archaeology revisits the site with James Tabor.

Birket Ram is an interesting lake in the Golan Heights. Ferrell Jenkins looks at several historical sources and shares a wide-angle photo.

Leon Mauldin pays tribute to Ferrell Jenkins on his 50th Anniversary Tour.

A slackliner walked from one tower to another in the Tower of David Museum. Video here.

A 23-year-old Israeli hiker fell to his death when climbing in Wadi Rum in Jordan.

An oil deposit has been discovered near the Dead Sea.

The Biblical Museum of Natural History opened in Beit Shemesh in 2014.

It’s time to stop referring to the urban legend about NASA discovering Joshua’s long day.

Emek Shaveh has petitioned Israel’s Supreme Court to halt the transfer of the library and artifacts from the Rockefeller Museum to west Jerusalem. The Israel Antiquities Authority has responded that they’re only moving the library to protect fragile books.

Archaeology of Jordan Online went live this week. They provide a lot of great links (but don’t yet list our photo collection).

The latest edition of The Holy Land Magazine is online and features articles on Magdala, Shiloh, Tiberias, and Neot Kedumim


Revue de Qumrân is finally available on JSTOR.

HT: Joseph Lauer, Agade, Charles Savelle, Paleojudaica

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Interactive Map – The Allotments of the Southern Tribes

by Chris McKinny 

 The tribal town lists and boundary descriptions in the book of Joshua (chapters 13-21) are the most significant textual sources for the geography of the ancient Israel/Judah since they contain the vast majority of place names mentioned in the entire canon. In a soon-to-be submitted (and hopefully accepted) dissertation, I deal with the specific identifications of all of the towns and topographic markers mentioned in Joshua 15 (Judah); 18:12-28 (Benjamin); 19:1-10 (Simeon); and 19:40-46 (Dan) within the framework of a larger argument about the date and purpose of the town lists of Judah (Josh 15:21-62) and Benjamin (Josh 19:21-28). Over the course of the project, I compiled a digital archaeological database/atlas of all of the sites mentioned and discussed in the dissertation (embedded below). This project is called the “Interactive Map: A Historical Geography of the Administrative Divisions of Judah: The Town Lists of Judah and Benjamin in Joshua 15:21-62 and 18:21-28” (click to open in a separate window). The entire map is searchable and each entry (click on each button to expand) includes the biblical place name (in English, Hebrew and Greek), the identified ruin with an archaeological breakdown from the Middle Bronze until the Byzantine period including the Iron II size in dunams, and a bibliography of the archaeological data. The bibliography for the archaeological data contained in the database/atlas can be accessed here.

Satellite Bible Atlas users may also be interested in a more traditional map of the town lists/administrative division that I have prepared using the SBA‘s base map. A PDF of the map can be accessed here. I have added a JPEG version of the map below.

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Weekend Roundup, Part 2

A mosaic found in Antioch on the Orontes from the 3rd century BC reads “Be cheerful, enjoy your life.”


The Washington Post has more on the discovery of a waystation built during the early years of Queen Hatshepsut.

A scholar believes he has found the oldest depictions of demons in ancient Egypt.
Atlanta Jewish Times has a story on Jodi Magness’s on-going work at the Galilean village of Huqoq.

New book: Hazor: Canaanite Metropolis, Israelite City, by Amnon Ben-Tor. Available from the Israel Exploration Society.

The Hazor Expedition needs more volunteers this summer. Get all the details here.

A recent donation to the Yale Babylonian Collection includes 360 cylinder seals from the third and fourth millennia BC.

ISIS has destroyed two gates of Nineveh, but most of what they bulldozed is modern reconstruction work.

Most of the 200 objects displayed on the ground floor of the Palmyra Museum were destroyed, including the famous Lion of Allat.

The US Senate has voted to ban all imports of antiquities from Syria in order to discourage looting.

Archaeologists are trying to solve the mystery of why 150 people were buried with shackles near the port of Athens.

An article by Philippe Bohstrom in Haaretz (premium) traces the history of writing materials from clay tablets to wax tablets.

Construction workers in Spain discovered a trove of 1,300 pounds of Roman coins dating to the 3rd and 4th centuries.

A replica of Noah’s Ark will sail from the Netherlands to Brazil before coming to the United States.

Another reason to visit Jordan: Jordanian Food: 25 of the Best Dishes You Should Eat

Wayne Stiles explains why the Judean wilderness is a perfect place to escape.

HT: Charles Savelle, Joseph Lauer, Agade, Ted Weis, Steven Anderson

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Weekend Roundup, Part 1

Archaeologists have announced the discovery of a 13th dynasty scarab in a gold ring at Tel Dor.

Excavations begin this summer at el-Araj, a candidate for the site of Bethsaida. Nyack College is participating and inviting others to join them.

The Temple Institute held a public practice reenactment of the Passover sacrifice last week. A few dozen photos have been posted.

Two Israeli Jews were arrested for trying to carry a goat up to the Temple Mount to make a Passover sacrifice.

A senior Egyptian archaeologist has claimed that the Pharaoh of the exodus was not Egyptian.

Paleojudaica provides some analysis.

The 8th-century citadel at Ashdod Yam was vandalized recently by youths who shared photos on social media. The teens who caused the damage have now apologized.

What’s there to see in Ashdod? Aviva and Shmuel Bar-Am lead readers on a tour of the sites.

Wayne Stiles shows you what you’ll see if you walk down the Kidron Valley.

For an CT article, Gordon Govier asks evangelical scholars to weigh in on the recent study that literacy in ancient Israel was more widespread than previously believed.

The full text is online for Lawrence Schiffman’s recent lecture entitled, “In the Valley of David and Goliath: Digging Up Evidence on the United Monarchy.”


Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary eBooks are on sale now for $4.99 each.

Now free online in pdf format: John J. Bimson, Redating the Exodus and Conquest, 2nd ed. Sheffield: The Almond Press, 1981.

A bidding war has resulted in sale of 1,000 historic photographs of the Holy Land to sell for nearly $1.5 million. Note to the loser: we can provide you with more than 1,000 images for half price!
Seth Rodriquez, a long-time contributor to this blog, has been invited to teach a course in biblical backgrounds at the Baptist Theological Seminary of Zimbabwe and he would appreciate your prayer and financial support.

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer, Charles Savelle

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Weekend Roundup

The oldest known glass production factory in Israel has been discovered on Mount Carmel. High-res photos are available here.

A new study by Tel Aviv University points to widespread literacy in Israel in 600 BC. Christopher Rollston offers a summary and reflections. An op-ed at the Jerusalem Post is entitled “Holy Shards.”

The academic article is available to subscribers here.

Three Palestinians were arrested attempting to smuggle a statue of Herod’s wife Mariamne. A photo of the statue is here.

The Temple Mount Sifting Project will soon be announcing the discovery of a pendant with the cartouche of Pharaoh Thutmose III.

The Big Picture returns to Palmyra.

Dubai’s plans for the world’s tallest skyscraper are inspired by the hanging gardens of Babylon.

Wayne Stiles goes to Ein Harod to learn how to move from fear to faith.

Yale’s “Old Babylonian Period Mathematical Text” is one of the university’s most-reproduced cultural artifacts.

The Iraqi government is turning Saddam Hussein’s palace in Basra into an archaeological museum.

With Passover around the corner, Haaretz looks at indirect evidence of Israelite presence in Egypt before the exodus.

A Passover sacrifice event will be held on Monday on the Mount of Olives.

Luke Chandler notes that the official website for the Khirbet Qeiyafa excavations has been updated.

The summer excavation of Khirbet el-Maqatir is on and applications are being accepted until April 30.

Ferrell Jenkins and Leon Mauldin are traveling around Israel and sharing photos from their trip.

Filip Vukosavovic has resigned his position as Chief Curator at the Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem.

Now free online: The Bible in Its World: The Bible and Archaeology Today, by Kenneth A. Kitchen.

Many people liked the photo we shared this week on Facebook and Twitter of the Mount of Olives
before the churches were built.

HT: Joseph Lauer, Charles Savelle, Ted Weis, Agade

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About the BiblePlaces Blog

The BiblePlaces Blog provides updates and analysis of the latest in biblical archaeology, history, and geography. Unless otherwise noted, the posts are written by Todd Bolen, PhD, Professor of Biblical Studies at The Master’s University.

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