Weekend Roundup Archives - Page 167 of 169

Weekend Roundup

The “Jesus Trail” is the subject of an article in last month’s issue of Christianity Today. The author and his photographer son (the pictures in the print magazine are great) walked the trail and talked politics and religion with the people they encountered. The “Jesus Trail” runs from Nazareth to Capernaum.

Photographs of Jerusalem in the early 1900s from the collection of Hannah and Efaim Degani are described and displayed in this YnetNews article.

The wife of the founder of the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem is profiled in this Jerusalem Post article. Batya Borowski reflects on the museum, her husband, and her early years in Mandatory Palestine.

Israel is minting gold 20 NIS coins depicting the symbol of Jerusalem. The one-ounce coins are for sale for approximately $1,467.

Tagged Galilee, Jerusalem, Museums, Weekend Roundup

Wednesday Roundup

Haaretz reports on the excavation of a prehistoric site in Jerusalem’s Germany Colony.

The aqueduct bridge in the Hinnom Valley is reported in a press release by the Israel Antiquities Authority and includes several high-resolution photos (direct link).

A team has discovered thirteen Middle Bronze and five Roman period cemeteries in southern Syria this year.

The Hong Kong team has responded to Randall Price’s dismissal of their claim to have discovered Noah’s Ark. Meanwhile Randall Price has issued several clarifications about his previous response, motivated in part by his desire to continue searching for the ark this summer.

A massive piece of the rock on the edge of Machtesh Ramon was in danger of falling on the road
below, so Israeli experts blew it up.

ICEJ News is reporting on the level of the Sea of Galilee:

Israel’s Water Authority said Monday that the level of the Sea of Galilee is currently stabilized at only 13.39 inches above the lowest “red line,” defined as a point where serious damage can occur to the vital and historic freshwater lake. At 697.7 feet below sea level, Lake Kinneret is in danger of plunging very close to the “black line” – drawn at the point at which irreparable damage begins to occur at a rapid pace during the hot and dry summer months. The Water Authority warned that vigilance and conservation are extremely important to prevent the water level from dropping further than the 16 meters it has declined since 2004.

A gray whale has been sighted off the coast of Herzliya, Israel.

HT: Joe Lauer

Tagged Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup

Aren Maeir reports briefly on some archaeological meetings in Israel this week. He’s also expecting to accomplish a lot at Gath this season with more than 100 registered for the first session.

Leon Mauldin has an interesting post with a map and photos of the city of Haran where Abraham and Jacob lived.

Ferrell Jenkins is back in Israel and posting daily of his travels. Friday’s post included a photo of the restored Jaffa Gate.

UPDATE (5/10): Joe Lauer has noted that the Haaretz story on the Muslim prayer room is three years old(!), and thus I have deleted it.

Tagged Jerusalem, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup

Tours of the ancient sites in Iraq will begin this summer. A nine-day tour costs $3,375.

Hamas plans to regulate the trade of antiquities in Gaza. Of 25,000 gold and bronze coins unearthed since 1990, 14,000 were sold on the black market.

The Washington Post has the best article I’ve read on the restoration of Jaffa Gate.

Christianity Today has a story on the discovery of the “Miracle Boat,” also known as the “Jesus Boat.” (Why not “Galilee Boat”?) The article also mentions the recent campaign to increase the number of visitors to the boat. My suggestion: lower the outrageous entrance fee.

Tourists can now bring their iPad to Israel without fear of it being confiscated by customs authorities.

Israel’s Tourism Minister is vowing to stop the country’s degrading treatment of visitors.

Leon Maudlin has been posting “two views” of Miletus, showing the dramatic differences in the ancient city in different seasons.

HT: Explorator, Paleojudaica, and Joe Lauer

Tagged Galilee, Jerusalem, Tourism, Weekend Roundup

Thursday Roundup

Will Israeli tour guides be allowed to take their tour groups to Bethlehem and other West Bank sites?

The UK has banned images of the Western Wall from appearing in ads promoting tourism to Israel because it is deemed to be in “occupied territory.”

Terror warnings in Sinai have caused most Israelis to cut short their vacations.

Remember the Jerusalem model at the Holyland Hotel? It was moved to the Israel Museum a few years ago, when the property owners began to construct luxury apartment towers, obviously more profitable than what they made from entrance fees to the model. Israel is now reeling from charges of a new bribery scandal, this time alleging that former prime minister Ehud Olmert took hundreds of thousands of shekels in kickbacks in exchange for approving the apartment project.

If you try to bring your iPad along on your trip to Israel, it will be confiscated. (More here).

The 47th annual World Bible Quiz for Youth will take place in Jerusalem next week. Among the 46 competitors is the son of Israel’s prime minister. There’s also talk of reviving the Bible Quiz for Adults.

Tagged Jerusalem, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup

Several works that we have mentioned here are finalists for the 2010 ECPA Christian Book Awards, including A Visual Guide to Biblical Events (Martin, Beck, and Hansen), The New Moody Atlas of the Bible (Beitzel), The Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible (Tenney and Silva), and Glo.

Yesterday I noted Glo’s Easter Gallery. Biblical Studies and Technical Tools has posted a brief review of the impressive media components of Glo.

Aren Maeir posts word of a “very exciting bona fide, new archaeological find from Jerusalem.” I concur with his assessment, but cannot say more yet. Publication is expected soon.

Leen Ritmeyer posts a beautiful photographic rendition of the 1st century temple from a new project called The Messiah in the Temple.

A bed-and-breakfast owner in Sepphoris discovered an ancient tomb on his property, but he called the rabbis instead of the antiquities authority. This Haaretz article gives some insight into the on-going conflict over the excavation of graves.

The Museum of Biblical Art is reopening in Dallas five years after it was destroyed by fire.

Eisenbrauns is selling some new titles as of April 1.

Tagged Resources, Weekend Roundup