The rain in Israel has turned to snow. Jerusalem is all but closed. A meter of snow fell on Mount Hermon overnight. The Sea of Galilee is up 6 inches. Haaretz is calling this the biggest storm in a decade with Israel’s main highway closed for 9 hours. Wind gusts in Haifa reached up to 75 miles per hour.

BBC reports that Gaza’s archaeological treasures are at risk from war and neglect.

Ferrell Jenkins explains the significance of Gaza.

Artifax and The Book & The Spade Radio program have posted their Top Ten 2012 Discoveries.

They are similar to our (unnumbered) list. Leen Ritmeyer picks his top two.

The conclusion from the 2012 excavations south of the Temple Mount (aka “Ophel”) is posted in an 11-minute video, concluding with a tour by archaeologist Eilat Mazar.

Thirty Days in the Land with Jesus: A Holy Land Devotional, by Charles H. Dyer, is for sale on Kindle for $1.99 this week. The 248-page book was released in 2012.

HT: Charles Savelle

Ophel Walls Iron Age tower, tb010112136

Iron Age tower in Ophel Excavations
Photo from Pictorial Library of Bible Lands
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SourceFlix’s latest video shows a shepherd seeking out a lost sheep.

Matthew Kalman has a summary of the recent dust-up between Amos Kloner and Simcha Jacobovici.

The Israel Museum will be hosting an exhibition on King Herod next year.

Shmuel Browns posts some of the earliest photos taken in the Holy Land.

A court ruling will preserve antiquities near the Roman aqueduct in Caesarea.

We now have a better understanding of the gruesome details of the murder of Ramses III.

A five-minute clip of General Allenby in Jerusalem is online. For a longer version without the
Hebrew annotations, see here.

HT: Jack Sasson, Joseph Lauer

Allenby entry 1917, troops entering Jaffa Gate, mat02225
Entrance of General Allenby through Jaffa Gate
Photo from The American Colony and Eric Matson Collection
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The Times of Israel is reporting that Muslim authorities moved tons of illegally excavated earth from the Temple Mount into a city dump.

Aren Maeir posts an astounding video of a flood in the Harod Valley this week.

Frankincense has returned to Israel after 1,500 years.

More tourists visited Israel in 2012 than in any year before.

An Israeli committee will review modern prohibitions against mixed prayer at the Western Wall.

Jean Perrot died this week. Among other things, Perrot excavated several Chalcolithic sites near
Beersheba.

Marked down to $1.99 for Kindle: The Aleppo Codex: A True Story of Obsession, Faith, and the 
Pursuit of an Ancient Bible, by Matti Friedman. These sales are brief.

HT: Jack Sasson, Joseph Lauer

Western Wall prayer area from south, amd042108530
Segregated prayer areas at Western Wall.
Photo by Austen Dutton (source).
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The Nash Papyrus is now online, thanks to the University of Cambridge. The Jerusalem Post article gives a new meaning to the word “second”: “It is the world’s second oldest known manuscript containing a text from the Hebrew Bible. The oldest are the Dead Sea Scrolls.”

This Jerusalem Post article suggests the Top 5 Christmas activities in Jerusalem.

The traditional King David’s tomb has been vandalized by a man desperate to get married.

If you missed last week’s Christmas broadcast of the Land and the Book radio program, you can listen to it in the archives.

Simcha Jacobovici is suing Joe Zias in an Israeli court because the warnings of the latter led the Discovery Channel and National Geographic to cancel the broadcast of films of the former. (Note: this article, like many cited on this blog, is on the Haaretz website. Free access to 10 articles per month is available with an easy registration.)

Mark Goodacre notes the publication of Archaeology, Bible, Politics, and the Media and he shares his article “The Talpiyot Tomb and the Bloggers.”

The Huffington Post has a slideshow of the year’s archaeological highlights. None are related to the biblical world.

The full-size replica of Noah’s Ark floats.

Officials are optimistic about the rainfall in Israel this winter. Amir Givati: “To see the Jordan River flowing at this time of year – that’s a phenomenon that takes place once every 20 years.”

Smuggling gangs in Iraq are using satellites to locate antiquities.

HT: Jack Sasson

Tomb of David, exterior, mat00855-001
A view of David’s Tomb taken ca. 1900 before the construction of the Dormition Abbey. Photo from the American Colony and Eric Matson Collection.
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Leen Ritmeyer discusses the restoration work on the building that sits over the location of the Antonia Fortress and hopes that they don’t damage the important archaeological remains. (He has an illustration showing where he believes Paul addressed the crowd in Acts 22.)

The Herodium—A Monument to…whose sovereignty? Wayne Stiles provides a surprising twist on this one.

“The greatest church in the world” has been undergoing excavation since 2006 and I had no idea.

Amihai Mazar and Emanuel Tov were among a group of scientists inducted into the Israel Academy of the Sciences and Humanities this week.

The newest issue of Biblical Archaeology Review is the first to carry a photo of the Samson mosaic showing the fox tails on fire. I am disappointed that Samson himself was not preserved. You’ll need a subscription to either the print or digital version to see the photo. For the original press release, see here.

New book: The Photographs of the American Palestine Exploration Society, by Rachel Hallote,

Felicity Cobbing, and Jeffrey B. Spurr. “This volume includes over 150 never previously published photographs of archaeological sites in the Middle East (Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Israel) taken in 1875 by photographer Tancrede Dumas for the American Palestine Exploration Society.” 368 pages, $90.

The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible exhibit at Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth closes in one month. If you have the opportunity, I highly recommend it (and I challenge you to find the large
Jerusalem photograph printed in mirror image). Groupon has a 2-for-1 deal, but you’ll have to act fast as these sold out before I could mention it last time.

HT: Jack Sasson, Mark Vitalis Hoffman

IMG_4300
Renovation of building over the location of the Antonia Fortress. Photo by Alexander Schick.
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Leen Ritmeyer has photos from Alexander Schick of a wooden version of the formerly Holyland Hotel model of Jerusalem, now on display at Ben Gurion Airport.

Haaretz has a story about a Canaanite banquet hall discovered at Tel Kabri.

The Samaritans are using genetic testing (and abortion) to reduce the chances of birth defects caused by inbreeding.

The first snow of the season has fallen on Mount Hermon.

Vandals have attacked the Monastery of the Cross in Jerusalem for the second time this year.

You can now purchase the high-resolution artwork from the ESV Study Bible. The maps, illustrations, and charts/diagrams are available in packages for $10, or you can download everything for $25.

Eisenbrauns has a 30-50% off sale on the 4 volumes of the Ashkelon reports.

HT: Jack Sasson

IMG_1291
Model of Jerusalem at Ben Gurion Airport.
Photo by Alexander Schick.
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