Masada and Manuscripts

Day 12 - Yad HaShmonah, Judean Hills, Israel - We've been staying at hotels without internet connections so I have not been able to post. Tonight we're back online! This was another long day. It began at 5:00am with a climb up Masada to see the sunrise. Masada is the second most popular tourist site in Israel. It is most famous for being the fortress of the last holdouts from the Jewish rebellion after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. The buildings on the top of this massive mountain in the desert were built by Herod the Great and are still imposing. We finished the day with a climb up to Cave 1 and Cave 2 near the ruins of Qumran. If you are not familiar with theDead Sea Scrolls (DSS), Cave 1 is the cave where the very first (and best) scrolls were found (Cave 2 is the second cave where scrolls were found). The DSS are arguably the most significant archaeological find of the 20th century. Why are they so important? I'll give you only one reason. Until the DSS were found the oldest complete manuscript of the Old Testament in existence was the Leningrad Codex, which dates to 1000 AD. That's a long time from when these books were first written down. This provokes a lot of questions. Questions like: It is possible that massive errors were introduced into the text during all those years it was copied and recopied by hand? Is the OT reliable? Can we trust that the text we have is the text Moses, or Jonah, or Isaiah wrote down? The DSS help answer these questions to a great degree. Why? Because the earliest DSS manuscripts date to around 250 BC. When scholars compare the DSS to the OT manuscript from 1000 AD they see that the texts are essentially identical. There are minor differences, but for all practical purposes the texts are identical. This shows that the scribes who were copying these texts by hand for hundreds of years did a very good job of transmitting the texts they were copying. I have of course simplified this very complex subject, but these are the high points. The DSS support the claim that the OT has been carefully and accurately transmitted to us. Praise the Lord.

You have to see it...

Day 8 - Jerusalem, Israel - Some of you may be wondering if a trip to Israel is for you. In a word the answer is "maybe". If you want to understand your Bible better; if you want to understand the land on which the events of the Bible played out; if you want to not have to ignore all those geographical references in the Word of God, then the anwer is, YES! If you don't care about those things then the answer may very well be, no. I'm being cheeky of course, but I do think that if you have a choice between a vacation in Cancun and a trip to Israel, skip the beach, come to Israel, and understand your Bible better. No you won't have the chance to sip some cool drink by blue ocean waves, but the pages of scipture may very well come alive like never before. I'll let you decide if it's worth it.

Yesterday was another loooong day but a great day. I finally made it to Mt. Gerizim. While standing on Gerizim you can see Mt. Ebal across the valley and the ancient city of Shechem. Gerizim is the mountain on which 6 of the 12 tribes stood to pronounce the blessing during the covenant renewal ceremony in Joshua 8:33. I taught Deuteronomy last semester, and when we came to the chapter where this ceremony is commanded (chapter 27) I had the students stand on two picnic tables opposite each other. One side read the blessings (Mt. Gerizim) the other side read the curses (Mt. Ebal). Although it was fun, it was nothing like being there! Forget Cancun...come to Israel.

Steve

The Wall Did Fall

Day 5 - Jerusalem, Israel - Today was a big day. Our travels ranged from Gezer on the western side of Israel to Jericho on the eastern side, in the Jordan River valley. It was a great day. The highlight was a visit to the site of Old Testament Jericho. Of course we wanted to see the walls. Everyone wants to see the walls. This is one of the most famous stories in the Bible, after all. Undertstanding the site from an archaeological perspective is complicated. I will try to summarize. Archaeologists agree that there was a stone revetment (retaining) wall around the entire city. It was probably buried completely, if not almost completely, as part of its design. Think of it as a foundation that supported another wall on top of it. They agree that the sturcture that sat on top of the stone revetment wall was a mud brick city wall. They also agree that the mud brick wall fell outward and that the remins of that mud brick wall can be found at the base of the stone revetment wall. OK, you say, so what's the problem? The issue archaeologists disagree on is when that mud brick wall fell? To put it another way, did Joshua destroy the city, or had it already been destroyed by someone else by the time he got there? The best investigation, the one that considers all the evidence, has concluded that the city fell around 1400 B.C. Precisely the time we would expect. Joshua and the Israelites took this city! I finally got to see this wall up close (the revetment wall). It is impressive. I'll see many other impressive sites on this trip, but the drama of this story combined with the evidence for its authenticity are simply fascinating. Thanks for praying. We made it through all the check points with out any problem. Keep it up though. Tomorrow we head for Shiloh, Gerizim, and Bethlehem...once again in the West Bank.

Steve

Fences and Finds

Day 4 - Jerusalem, Israel - I didn't get a chance to post last night for a very simple reason. I couldn't get to the cafe with the wireless Internet connection. Why couldn't I get to the cafe? Well, it seems that two potential attackers made their way into Israel yesterday. The Israelis (not Israelites) knew they had gotten in, but couldn't find them. How did they know? They have one of the best intelligence networks around. Anyway, these two guys got in so Jerusalem was shut down. Traffic jams, roads closed, etc. Our trip leader told us to avoid popular Jewish hangout spots...like cafes with wireless connections! I was sooooo tempted to go out. I wanted to get and send e-mail, but I stayed in. When we woke up this morning our leader told us that the order had been rescinded later that evening. It just blows me away, pardon the pun, that people live like this every day. I mean I grew up in Brooklyn, but I didn't live every day waiting to see if I would get mugged, not to mention wondering if someone would blow up part of my neighbourhood. I guess you just get used to it. It reminds me that as a believer our security rests in Christ. He will protect us from the danger that matters most.

Back to Israeli security. So the problem of these attackers infiltrating the country has led the Israelis to build a security fence (in some places it’s a wall) along the border of the West Bank. The fence will funnel any Arabs who want to get into Jewish controlled Israel through checkpoints. The Israelis control the checkpoints so they decide who comes through the fence. The fence has one stated purpose: keep attackers out. So what did we do today? We crossed the fence INTO the West Bank. Why? We wanted to see Bethany. Bethany, you will remember, was the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. It was one of Jesus favorite places to stay, and his home base at the beginning of Passion Week. It was a bit disappointing because there are two churches built on the site of the village, but exciting nonetheless. In addition we got to see some new archaeological excavations that have uncovered irrefutable proof that this was a Jewish village in the 1st century AD. This evidence has not been published anywhere yet. It was worth it to cross the fence. And, since you're reading this blog, praise the Lord, we made it back safely. I'm left wondering why I'm afraid to cross the fence in my backyard to get to know my neighbors. It's not like it's a great risk or anything.

Pray for us. Tomorrow we will cross the fence again this time at a major checkpoint (bombers sometimes blow themselves up at checkpoints). We are going to see Jericho. Bethany was nothing compared to Jericho. This could very well be the highlight of the trip!

Steve

Anyone standing by?

Day 2 - Jerusalem, Israel. I landed in Tel Aviv around 5:30 AM. The rest of the tour wasn’t getting in until the end of the day so I headed for Yad VeShem. Yad VeShem is a Holocaust museum. I should say it’s the Holocaust Museum. It’s the only one created by the Jewish State in the land of Israel. It is the definitive telling of the Holocaust tragedy by Jews. It is in a word, overwhelming. I think my mind simply has no categories for understanding the methodical, systematic, scientific murder of 6 million souls. Three things just blow me away when I think about the Holocaust. First, of course, is the loss of life. 6 million people. Think about what that number represents. Second, the methodical nature of the killing. The Germans did not simply drive their people into a rage and turn them loose to kill Jews. These were not crimes of passion. The vast majority of the murders were carried out in camps that were set up for no other reason than to contain and kill people; most of them Jews. Those camps were designed specifically for a purpose, the way an engineer might design an assembly line, or a factory, or a workshop. They designed slaughterhouses for human beings! The third thing that just blows my mind is that few people, few Christians, in Germany and other countries, did anything. Now you could say that they didn’t know, or didn’t have any power and I guess that might be true. But it still amazes me that so many people did nothing about what was going on in those camps. The Danes stand out above ther crowd. When Hitler ordered the Jews in Denmark to wear yellow Stars of David, the King ordered everyone in Demark to wear one too. The Germans were forced to rescind the order. When the situtation got worse, the nation as a whole rose up and helped their Jews escape to Sweden. It is true there were many other individual acts that saved Jewish lives, Corrie Ten Boon for example (see the picture of the plaque that commemorates her kindness her on the Way of Righteous Gentiles at Yad VeShem), but on the whole the world stood by and did nothing. I just wonder what tragedies we are standing by and watching. At least we ought to include these situations in our prayers.

Steve

Breakfast, beans, and the British Museum

Day 1, Heathrow airport, London – I landed in London after the 7.5 hour flight from Chicago. Boy those British Airways seats are small. I think I was touching one of the men on either side of me for the whole flight. Yuck! I actually did get some sleep though, so I was able to hit the ground running. A friend met me at the airport and we headed into town for a typical English breakfast.

OK, for those of you who don’t know this, breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. So I thought, OK I’ll give the English a chance to wow me with their morning delights. I ordered the “Full English” and it came with one over-easy egg, three grilled tomato slices (!), one large sausage, four pieces of grilled ham strips, two slices of toast and beans! The beans were disappointing. I guess I expected something more done up. It looked liked they had opened a can of generic “baked beans” warmed them up and splashed them on the plate! My friend, perhaps wanting to make sure I had the “Full-Full English”, offered me a taste of his “black pudding”. Why is it black? It’s made with pigs blood! I had two bites. I felt unclean. I hope they let me into Israel. After cleaning my plate, I had a sugar craving and I went looking for the pancakes only to realize that to get those you have to order the “American Breakfast”. You get hash browns with that too. Oh well that was my last chance to have something decent for breakfast for three weeks. Believe me you’ll hear about this issue again.

After that we headed for the British Museum. Finally, after studying ancient Near Eastern Antiquities for years I had a chance to see some of the more dramatic archaeological finds ever uncovered. The museum has what is arguably the best collection of antiquities related to the Bible in the world under one roof. Knowing about some of these discoveries can be very helpful for students of the Bible. For example, have you ever wondered if the Bible gets its historical details right? Have you ever wondered if there are any hard facts which demonstrate that the writers of the Bible knew the details of the history they were writing? Let's face it lot of people criticize the Bible as being full of historical errors. Fear not, those hard facts do exist! I saw a bunch of them today at the British Museum. I’ll highlight one.

The northern kingdom of Israel and Aram (Syria) were mortal enemies for much of the 9^th century B.C. (899-800). They fought many battles some of which are recounted in 1-2 Kings. In 1 Kings 22 we discover that there was a period of three years when Israel and Aram were at peace. After those three years Ahab, king of Israel attacked Aram at Ramoth-Gilead and was mortally wounded. We should ask the question: Why was there peace for three years? And why did hostilities resume? The answer can be found on the The Kurkh Monolith of Shalmaneser III which is in the British Museum (see picture). The inscription on the stone describes a battle the Assyrian king, Shalmaneser, fought against a coalition of nations from Syria/Palestine in 853 B.C. . Among the coalition members facing him in battle were Adad-idri of Aram and Ahab of Israel! That's right the inscription mentions Ahab by name. It also notes that Ahab contributed 2,000 chariots and 10,000 soldiers to the war effort. That’s a significant amount of chariots! Now the inscription says that Shalmaneser routed this coalition, but the reality is that the battle ended in a stalemate. The small western states succeeded in stopping the Assyrian juggernaut! OK, why is this important? Well, this event IS NOT mentioned in the Bible, but it helps explain why Israel and Aram were peaceable with each other for three years as recorded in 1 Kings 22. They were friends because they needed each other to stop Shalmaneser. They had bigger fish to fry! It does no good to be fighting with people who could be your allies. Now, after Shalmaneser had been defeated in 853, all pretences of friendship were dropped; Israel and Aram picked up right where they left off. Remember the Kurkh Monolith of Shalmaneser III it helps support the Bible.

OK time to go, less than an hour until departure. Final destination tomorrow Jerusalem, the Old City.

Two days to go.

Dubuque, IA - Well it's Friday, I leave for Israel on Sunday. Tonight and tomorrow are the Baccalaureate and Graduation ceremonies at Emmaus Bible College where I teach. These really are joyous events. Approximately half of our students come to Emmaus for the One-Year Bible program. It is an intensive course of study which surveys the whole Bible and central doctrines of the faith. Slightly more than half of these students will return for another year at Emmaus, but the rest go off to other schools to finish degrees in accounting, nursing, etc. That means these year-end events are bitter sweet. Bitter because I will miss the friends I made, sweet because it is amazing to see God changing their lives!
But, not too much time to be sad, my flight leaves Sunday evening. First stop: London and a trip to the British Museum. I’m really looking forward to seeing their vast collection of ANE antiquities. I’ll spend the day with some friends and then head back to Heathrow for my flight to Tel-Aviv. Then the fun really begins. The tour I’m joining is an intensive course in Bible Geography. The course is taught by a faculty member of the Israel Bible Extension of the Master’s College. The instructor on this trip, Todd Bolen has agreed to allow me to “apprentice” with him so that I can learn how to lead trips like this in the future. My goal is to start a similar program for Emmaus Bible College. Instead of teaching Bible Geography in a classroom, EBC students could learn about the land IN the land! Lord willing the first trip will be the summer of 2008.
Thanks for your prayers.

Steve