A visit to the Temple (Acts 21:17-32)

A VISIT TO THE TEMPLE (John 21:17-32)

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Dr. Paul Manuel—2018
 

There is nothing like actually going to a place to appreciate fully what it has to offer.

Two brothers, George and Carl, grew up in a small town in rural Vermont. George, however, decided to leave the area, and settled in Texas. For years he tried to get his brother to visit him. He constantly extolled the virtues of Texas, particularly noting how big everything was there. Finally, thirty years later, Carl decided it was time to take the plunge, so he bought a ticket and flew to Houston. George picked him up at the airport in a car that was bigger than any Carl had ever seen. As they drove silently out toward George's ranch, Carl remarked to himself that his brother was right; everything in Texas is huge! Finally, as they drove up a very long driveway, the large ranch house came into view. As they went up the walk, Carl was nearly overwhelmed by the size of this house. Inside, the living room seemed to be 40 feet long. Carl asked if he could use the bathroom, so his brother showed him down a long hallway. "Go to the end of this hail, turn left, and the bathroom door will be the first on your right." George went back to the living room to wait when he heard a frightening scream coming from down the hall. He ran to find out what the problem was, and discovered that Carl had turned right instead of left, had fallen into the swimming pool, and was yelling, "Help, don't flush it!"

There is nothing like actually going to a place to appreciate fully what it has to offer. Even if you have been there before, it is often good to see it again, as Paul did with "A Visit to the Temple."

 

After an extensive tour of Asia Minor, the Apostle Paul returns to Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost. It has been a while since he was in the temple, and he needed to fulfill a vow he made earlier. Besides it will be good to see some old friends. So he goes, and...

 

I. Paul receives a warm welcome from believers in Jerusalem (vv. 17-25).

A. They commend him.

Acts 21:17 When we arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers received us warmly. 18 The next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James, and all the elders were present. 19 Paul greeted them and reported what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. 20 When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul: "You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law.

On Paul's last trip to the capital, he met with the elders of the church and gave a similar report about his ministry: "The whole assembly...listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them" (Acts 15:12). At that time, the controversy was within the believing Jewish community, which had to decide if uncircumcised gentiles could be part of the faith. The answer they proposed and Peter articulated was 'yes':

God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. God...showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. (Acts 15:7-9)

This was a decision that echoed the apostle's visit with Cornelius.

Digging Up the Bible: Temple Tiles

DIGGING UP THE BIBLE
Important Archeological Finds that help Us Understand Scripture
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Dr. Paul Manuel—2017
 

Temple Tile Flooring
(c. 70 AD)

The individual tile fragments that make up these larger samples are from the Temple Mount Salvage Operation, sponsored by Bar Ilan University, which looks through dump truck loads of what Muslim workers removed (without proper authorization or supervision) to make way for construction of the underground el-Marwani Mosque (1996-1999). The project counters Muslim attempts to erase evidence of early Jewish presence in the land.

 

Under the supervision of Israeli archaeologists Gabriel Barkay and Zachi Dvira, volunteers have carefully sifted through mounds of debris and discovered countless 1^st century artifacts, from clay bullae (correspondence seals) to Hasmonean and Herodian dynasty coins. Numerous tile fragments have provided a glimpse of the temple flooring, initially a gift from Caesar Augustus to King Herod, who ruled Judea from 37 to 4 B.C. The tiles above are just four of the seven geometric patterns archaeologists have managed to piece together thus far.

 

The paving for the Temple Mount courtyard and outlying buildings employed a technique known as Opus Sectile (Latin for 'cut work'), whereby materials were trimmed and inlaid to make a picture or pattern. The pieces are similar to those in other Herod building projects, his palaces at Masada, Herodium, and Jericho.
 

Jesus, the disciples, and Paul were in the temple on numerous occasions and may have walked on these very tiles. Jesus' prediction of the destruction presages what the Romans will do in A.D. 70, several years after the savior makes his final appearance there. Despite the current state of disrepair, Ezekiel says a third temple will take its place in the Messianic Age:

I saw a wall completely surrounding the temple area. (40:5)

I looked and saw the glory of the LORD filling the temple of the LORD, and I fell facedown. (44:4)

Cf. Zech 14:20 The cooking pots in the LORD's house will be like the sacred bowls in front of the altar.

Significance for Biblical Studies: When Jesus and the disciples were admiring the construction of the temple, they were probably not looking at the tiles on the floor, but rubble of what was once the pavement attests the accuracy of his prediction: "I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down" (Matt 24:2).

For a pdf go here.

Digging Up the Bible: A Congregation of Idols

DIGGING UP THE BIBLE
Important Archeological Finds that help Us Understand Scripture
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Dr. Paul Manuel—2017
 

Sumerian Congregation of Idols
(Early 3^rd millennium BC)

The Iraq expedition of the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago discovered these statues in ancient Eshnunna (modern Tel Asmar, 75 miles northeast of Babylon). The figures date from the early 3^rd millennium B.C. and represent Sumerian idols around the time of Job. (Sumerians were the largest non-Semitic group in Mesopotamia at this time, although they differed from other groups primarily in language rather than in customs.)

 

Sumerians worshiped a pantheon of gods (and goddesses), and their representation of them as idols contradicted the LORD's repeated prohibition:

You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below (Exod 20:4).

Do not turn to idols or make gods of cast metal for yourselves. (Lev 19:4)

Do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape. (Deut 4:16)

Nevertheless, they believed it possible to have an intimate communion with a single deity. Thorkild Jacobsen, author of The Treasures of Darkness: A History of Mesopotamian Religion, explains it this way (p. 147):

The religious individual sees himself as standing in close personal relationship to the divine, expecting help and guidance in his personal life and personal affairs, expecting divine anger and punishment for his sins, but also profoundly trusting to divine compassion, forgiveness, and love for him if he sincerely repents. In sum: the individual matters to God, God cares about him.

The Sumerian document, "A Man and His God" from Nippur (c. 2000 B.C.), offers an example of this connection to the divine and parallels the book of Job. Both texts address the issue of suffering (theodicy), a topic that concerned the sages of many cultures. The main character, once prosperous and healthy, suffers with a painful disease and laments his misfortune:

 

	A Man and His God	Job
Friends	My companion says not a true word to me. My friend gives the lie to my righteous word.	A despairing man should have the devotion of his friends.... But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams. (Job 6:14-15)
Intercessor	Let not my mother who bore me cease my lament before you.	If only there were someone to arbitrate between us. (Job 9:33)
Despair	For me the day is black.	My days...come to an end without hope. (Job 7:6)
Anguish	Tears, lament, anguish, and depression are lodged within me.	If only my anguish could be weighed and all my misery be placed on the scales! (Job 6:2)
Disease	The malignant-sickness demon bathes in my body.	My body is clothed with worms and scabs; my skin is broken and festering. (Job 7:5)
Plea	How long will you neglect me?	I cry out to you...but you do not answer. (Job 30:20)
Sin	[The sages say:] Never has a sinless child been born to its mother.	[Eliphaz says:] What is...one born of a woman that he can be righteous? (Job 15:14)
Confession	My god, now that you have shown me my sins.... I would confess my sins before you.	Tell me what charges you have against me.... though you know that I am not guilty. (Job 10:2,7)
Restoration	He turned the man's suffering into joy.	The LORD made him prosperous again. (Job 42:10)

 

Despite their similarities, "A Man and His God" and the Book of Job differ in a way that distinguishes the pagan view from the scriptural view. In Mesopotamian theology, man's sin is the cause of suffering, and the remedy is clear: Man must confess his guilt and repent of his sin, which may sound like a proper response, at least on the surface. But in biblical theology, man's sin may not be the cause of suffering—that was Job's initial and erroneous assumption. The cause is not necessarily singular.

 

Such contingency demands confidence that even undeserved suffering is not out of the true God's control. So Jesus answers the disciples' query about a man born blind:

"Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life." (John 9:2-3)

The pagan view is far too simplistic. While all suffering is the consequence of living in a fallen world, all suffering is not the direct result of a person's sin. Theodicy requires a more comprehensively nuanced treatment of the problem.

 

Significance for Biblical Studies: A Sumerian Congregation of idols illustrates the stark contrast between worship of the one true God by those who are His people and worship of the many false gods by those who are not His people. Despite any seeming similarities between them, they are not the same, and Israel must recognize the difference. So He commands, "Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves.... I am the LORD your God" (Lev 26:1).

 

For a pdf go here.

Digging Up the Bible: The Sennacherib Annals

DIGGING UP THE BIBLE
Important Archeological Finds that help Us Understand Scripture

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Dr. Paul Manuel—2017

 

The Sennacherib Annals (a.k.a. Taylor Prism) is a baked-clay record of the military campaign by the Assyrian king against Israel, culminating in the siege of Jerusalem during the reign of Hezekiah (701 B.C.).

 

 

The cuneiform (wedge-shaped letters) inscription recounts Sennacherib's two military campaigns into Canaan: the first in the north against the Kingdom of Israel, the second in the south against the Kingdom of Judah. While there are minor differences with the biblical account in certain details, such as the amount of tribute Sennacherib collected, the major difference is in the success of the second campaign.

 

Sennacherib famously boasts about having Hezekiah shut up in Jerusalem "like a bird in a cage," which is probably true. The battle depicted on the palace walls at Nineveh represents the fall of Lachish, the last fortified Judean city on the way to the capital.

 

 

At that point, it is likely the size of Sennacherib's army coupled with the threat of a siege was enough to intimidate Hezekiah' s capitulation without a fight:

Hezekiah king of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: "I have done wrong. Withdraw from me, and I will pay whatever you demand of me." The king of Assyria exacted from Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talentsof gold. So Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the temple of the LORD and in the treasuries of the royal palace. At this time Hezekiah king of Judah stripped off the gold with which he had covered the doors and doorposts of the temple of the LORD, and gave it to the king of Assyria. (2 Kgs 18:14-16)

Nevertheless, Sennacherib's promise to relocate the inhabitants of Jerusalem as he had the inhabitants of Samaria did not materialize:

The people of Israel were taken from their homeland into exile in Assyria, and they are still there. (2 Kgs 17:23)

This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then each of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig tree and drink water from your own cistern, until I come and take you to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey. Choose life and not death! (2 Kgs 18:31-32)

Something interrupted Sennacherib's campaign against Judah before the Assyrian king could execute his plan.

 

The Assyrian record and the biblical record, although they purport to record the same event, diverge radically at the end.

• According to the foreigner's account, he returned to Nineveh from Jerusalem after his having received tribute and having achieved a great military victory (i.e., the destruction of the capital).
• According to the Bible's account, he returned to Nineveh from Jerusalem after his having received tribute but having suffered a crushing military loss (i.e., the decimation of his army):

The angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there. (2 Kgs 19:35-36)

Significance for Biblical Studies: When the sacred account seems to diverge from a secular account, the reader must weigh both but recognize the inherent authority of a record that has God as its author. The biblical account also confirms His protection of His people, "the apple of his eye" (Zech 2:8).

For a pdf go here.

Digging Up the Bible: A Samaritan Priest

DIGGING UP THE BIBLE
Important Archeological Finds that help Us Understand Scripture
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Dr. Paul Manuel—2017
 

Samaritan Priest
(c. 1892)

Jacob ben Aaron, the Samaritan priest at Nablus (in the photo above), was one in a line of priests who could trace his lineage (according to tradition) to Aaron.

 

 

The rift between Jews and Samaritans goes back to the exile, although it was not as great a divide as one might think. Nevertheless, the Samaritans have long been somewhat of a mystery. Who are they, and what do they believe?

 

According to the Jews: The term "Samaritan" is a combination of the words Samaria and Cuthia, and it describes those whom Sargon, king of Assyria, relocated from Cuthea to Samaria to replace exiled Israelites:

The king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the Israelites to Assyria.... [He] brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim and settled them in the towns of Samaria to replace the Israelites.... Then the king of Assyria gave this order: "Have one of the priests you took captive from Samaria go back to live there and teach the people what the god of the land requires." (2 Kgs 17:6, 24, 27)

These immigrants intermarried with the Israelites who remained in the land and eventually adopted many of their customs. The Samaritans' current practices adhere strictly to the legal code in the Pentateuch.

 

According to the Samaritans: They are direct descendants of Joseph's sons Ephraim and Manasseh, and their clergy are the true priests of Israel (so they believe). It is the Jews who have strayed from the faith.

 

According to current research: Assyrian texts state that Sargon deported about 25,000 people, mostly from the upper classes, and that the general populace remained, augmented by refugees from other conquered nations. Assyria's relocation policy worked to break cultural and national ties to a people's homeland, thereby making conquered groups easier to govern. Through the process, eight of ten northern Israelite tribes almost vanished completely. Ephraim and Manasseh held fast to their traditions but became isolated socially and religiously, developing variations to worship of the true God.

 

* * * * * * * * * * *

 

A letter by a Samaritan in 1672 summarizes the five cardinal points of their creed: "My faith is in Thee [LORD]; and in Moses, son of Amram, Thy servant; and in the Holy Law; and in Mount Gerizim; and in the Day of Vengeance and Recompense."

 

The LORD: Samaritans are as emphatic in their adherence to monotheism as are Jews and in their abhorrence of idolatry (more consistently so even than Jews). Their stress on God's unity and transcendence has led them to emend places in the biblical text where the common (grammatically plural) noun for God (Elohim), has a matching (grammatically plural) verb, which they make a non-matching singular

verb:

God made me wander (Gen 20:13).
May God judge (Gen 31:53).
God revealed (Gen 35:7).

They also eschew anthropomorphisms.
 

Moses: Samaritans claim that God inspired only Moses. They disparage the prophets, holding that Moses was the only prophet until one like him comes in the latter days:

The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him. (Deut 18:15)

Cf. "This is that Moses who told the Israelites, 'God will send you a prophet like me from your own people." (Acts 7:37)

The Law. Samaritans regard the law as synonymous with the Pentateuch, their only scripture. They accept as binding only the 613 commands God gave Moses and are strictly literal in their observance of them. Even Jews acknowledge that Samaritans are more exacting in their observance.

 

Mount Gerizim: The first three articles of Samaritan faith do not distinguish them clearly from other Jewish sects, but the fourth is the issue that caused schism. Samaritans believe Mt. Gerizim rather than Mt. Zion (Jerusalem) is the place God chose for His exclusive worship, and they appeal to ancient tradition in support of their claim:

When the LORD your God has brought you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim on Mount Gerizim the blessings, and on Mount Ebal the curses. (Deut 11:29)

Cf. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem. (John 4:20)

NB: Hitler, intent upon destroying the Jewish people, supposedly asked some rabbis if Samaritans were Jews, to which the rabbis, wanting to spare the Samaritans, said they were not when they were in fact by then regarded as Jews.

 

The Day of Vengeance: Samaritan eschatology shows the influence of apocalyptic thought and divides history into four periods.

Period #1: The Age of Adamic Perfection lasted until the fall of Adam and Eve.

Period #2: The Age of Defiance lasted until the giving of the law on Mt. Sinai.

Period #3: The Age of Divine Favor lasted until the time of Eli. Samaritans blame Eli for moving the ark to Shiloh from Gerizim, whence David moved it to Jerusalem, neither of which was its proper home in their eyes.

Period #4: The Age of Vengeance and Recompense will last until the messiah. He will be from the house of Joseph versus Jesse. He will restore the temple to Mt. Gerizim and then he will die. After that Moses will reappear to intercede for the righteous. They will enter the garden of Eden on Mt. Gerezim, and God will cast the wicked into the fire.

Significance for Biblical Studies: The Samaritan Priest heads a community that values the Scriptures above all else. They have preserved their traditions through generations of persecution and isolation. Theirs is an example of devotion to God from which all believers can learn.

For a pdf go here.

Digging Up the Bible: The Pilate Inscription

DIGGING UP THE BIBLE
Important Archeological Finds that help Us Understand Scripture
pdf
Dr. Paul Manuel—2017
 

Pilate Inscription
(AD 26-37)

An excavation in Caesarea (1961), seat of the provincial Roman government in 1^st century Judea, unearthed a dedicatory limestone plaque with a Latin inscription that translates:

To the Divine Augustis [this] Tiberieum
...Pontius Pilate ... prefect of Judea
...has dedicated [this]

The Pilate inscription, as it is called, attests to the Roman appointed governor in office during the mid-first century.

 

Pilate was the leading political figure at Jesus' trial before his crucifixion and had the final word in determining his sentence: "He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified" (Matt 27:26).

Pilate had other negative interactions with the Jewish community, like "the Galileans whose blood [he] had mixed with their sacrifices" (Luke 13:1). Josephus records that Pilate also forcibly dispersed a crowd that protested an unpopular public works project:

He, foreseeing the tumult, had interspersed among the crowd a troop of his soldiers, armed but disguised in civilian dress, with orders not to use their swords, but to beat any rioters with cudgels. He now from his tribunal gave the agreed signal. Large numbers of the Jews perished, some from the blows which they received, others trodden to death by their companions in the ensuing flight. Cowed by the fate of the victims, the multitude was reduced to silence. (War 2.176-177)

Although Pilate acceded to the crowd's demands for Jesus' execution, he did not agree with the Sanhedrin's accusation of treason and stated as much: "I find no basis for a charge against him" (John 19:4).
 

Significance for Biblical Studies: The Pilate Inscription confirms the historicity and position as prefect of this New Testament figure. It suggests that Pilate sought to curry favor with his superiors, as did his interactions with those Rome might regard a political threat to the empire, like a potential Jewish insurrectionist.

 

For a pdf go here.

Digging Up the Bible: Musical Instruments

DIGGING UP THE BIBLE
Important Archeological Finds that help Us Understand Scripture
pdf
Dr. Paul Manuel—2017
 

Dancer from Dan
(14^th-13^th century BC)

Musical Instruments of Israel and the Ancient Near East

 

Archaeologists are gradually recovering the physical remains of musical life in ancient Israel. At this point they have found more than three hundred examples, including actual instruments and representations of musical scenes.

 

 

The "Dancer from Dan" kicks up his heels while accompanying himself on the lute. The unique clay plaque, about four and a half inches tall, comes from a once sizable Canaanite settlement at Tel Dan (also called Laish in the Bible). The purpose of the plaque is a mystery. Avraham Biran, the archaeologist who discovered the piece speculates that it may depict a dance not unlike the one David performed before the Ark of the Covenant when he moved it to Jerusalem: "As the ark of the covenant of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal...saw King David dancing and celebrating" (1 Chr 15:29). The tile may have belonged to a guild of dancers or, more likely, was a simple household decoration.

 

The Bible mentions a variety of musical instruments, and archaeologists have unearthed many examples of them in the Holy Land: "David and all the Israelites were celebrating with all their might before God, with songs and with harps, lyres, tambourines, cymbals, and trumpets" (1 Chr 13:8). Some Hebrew terms for these instruments are onomatopoeic in that they approximate the sound a given instrument makes.

 

Harpists and their music have a long history in the Ancient Near East: "Jubal [son of Lamach] was the father of all who play the harp" (Gen 4:21).

 

 

The earliest known illustration of a stringed instrument is this engraving on a stone pavement from Meggido, dating 3500-3200 B.C. and depicting a man with a harp-like instrument. The harp was a favorite musical instrument of King David:

One of the servants answered, "I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the harp." ...23 Whenever the spirit from God came upon Saul, David would take his harp and play.... David was playing the harp, as he usually did. (1 Sam 16:18, 23; 18:10)

An ivory carving, also from Meggido (c. 1450 B.C.) depicts a lyre similar to what David may have used:

 

 

Digging Up the Bible: LMLK Seal

DIGGING UP THE BIBLE
Important Archeological Finds that help Us Understand Scripture
pdf
Dr. Paul Manuel—2017
 

LMLK Seal
(c. 700 BC)

Lachish has been a rich source of archaeological discovery (see Lachish Latrine and Lachish Letters). Excavations on site by David Ussishkin in the 1970s unearthed over 400 clay pottery jar handles and shards with seals from the time of King Hezekiah.

 

 

Hundreds of similar jar impressions, albeit with different designs, appear elsewhere in Judah generating various theories about what they signify: military rations, government taxes, religious tithes, or simply private property. Indeed, each seal type may indicate something different. Those from Lachish, given their particular location, probably mark supplies for the garrison.

 

Given the placement of Lachish along a route from the coastal highway to Jerusalem, the setting is an ideal location for a military outpost to intercept an invading army marching toward the capital. Whether the threat was from the south (Egypt) or from the north (Assyria), Lachish was of strategic importance. The Hebrew letters that accompany the design on the seals at Lachish are lmlk which translates "for the king" and signifies property of the Judean administration. The purpose of such a seal was to discourage theft or improper use of the jar's contents by unauthorized personnel.

 

LMLK Jar from Hebron

People have used decorative seals, some more elaborate than others, for various reasons (e.g., security) throughout scripture. Often these seals were incorporated into jewelry, usually a ring:

There are to be twelve stones, one for each of the names of the sons of Israel, each engraved like a seal with the name of one of the twelve tribes. (Exod 28:21)

They made the plate, the sacred emblem, out of pure gold and engraved on it, like an inscription on a seal: holy to the Lord. (Exod 39:30)

Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes, sealed the dispatches with the king's signet ring. (Esth 8:10)

A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles. (Dan 6:17)

God's solid foundation [is] sealed with this inscription: "The Lord knows those who are his," and, "Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness." (2 Tim 2:19)

Significance for Biblical Studies: The LMLK Seals mark the extent of King Hezekiah's authority throughout Judah. They also show one way individuals (including the king) designated their goods. God does not prohibit the accumulation of personal property, unless it jeopardizes one's devotion to Him:

You cannot serve both God and money. (Matt 6:24c)

Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith.... (I Tim 6:10b)

For a pdf go here.

Digging Up the Bible: Lachish Letters

DIGGING UP THE BIBLE
Important Archeological Finds that help Us Understand Scripture

pdf

Dr. Paul Manuel—2017

 

Lachish Letters
(6^th century BC)

In 1935 James Starkey discovered at Lachish a series of 18 letters written in paleo-Hebrew script on clay pottery shards (ostraca). They were correspondence from Hoshaiah, a soldier stationed near Jerusalem, to Joash, his commander at Lachish, during the latter years of Zedekiah's reign. Lachish was a major fortified city in Judah of strategic importance because it protected the conduit from the coastal highway to the central hill country against foreign armies bound for Jerusalem.

• It was so when Sennacherib, the Assyrian monarch, led his troops to besiege the capital of the Southern Kingdom in 701 B .C.
• It was so when Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian monarch, led his troops to besiege the capital of the Southern Kingdom in 586 B .C.

The Lachish Letters anticipated Nebuchadnezzar's invasion and eventual siege of Jerusalem.

Jerusalem.

 

The impending danger of unrest as foreign troops advance toward the capital is evident in the repeated wish for peace in the prayer of the letters:

May the LORD cause my lord to hear tidings of peace today. (#2)
May the LORD cause my lord to hear tidings of peace and tidings of good. (#3)
May the LORD cause my [bird to hear tidings of pea[ce]. . .this very daly! (#5)
May the LORD cause my lord to see peace at this time! (#6)
May the LORD cause my lord to hear ti[dings] of peace and of [good]. (#9)

The text of one letter (#4) expresses concern for another fortress on the way inland: "Be apprised that we are watching for the signal fire of Lachish...because we cannot see Azekah."

The army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and the other cities of Judah that were still holding out—Lachish and Azekah—were the only fortified cities left in Judah. (Jer 34:7)

Lachish eventually fell to Nebuchadnezzar's army as it did earlier to Sennacherib's army.

 

Significance for Biblical Studies: The Lachish Letters reveal the pressure Jerusalem residents felt as Babylonian forces advanced against the city and the populace faced seemingly inevitable deportation. They also express the hope, albeit formalized, that God will use His people to resolve the conflict ("May the LORD cause you").

For a pdf go here.

Digging Up the Bible: A Latrine in Lachish

DIGGING UP THE BIBLE

Important Archeological Finds that help Us Understand Scripture
pdf
Dr. Paul Manuel—2017

 

Lachish Latrine
(8^th century BC)

 When Ahab came to the throne of Judah, he led people into unprecedented apostasy away from the Lord:

Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the LORD than any of those before him. He married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. (1 Kgs 16:30-32)

 

By this time pagan worship at high places (elevated plateaus or groves of trees) was an entrenched practice in Judean society, having had the support of several kings since Solomon.

Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. (1 Kgs 11:7)

[Asa] did not remove the high places. (1 Kgs 15:14)

[Jehoshaphat did not remove] the high places...and the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there. (1 Kgs 22:43)

[Joash did not remove] the high places...; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there. (2 Kgs 12:3)

[Amaziah did not remove] the high places...; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there. (2 Kgs 14:4)

[Jotham did not remove] the high places...; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there. (2 Kgs 15:35)

[Ahaz] offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places, on the hilltops and under every spreading tree. (2 Kgs 16:4)

To reverse the wickedness Ahab instituted, his son Hezekiah initiated a series of reforms that entailed the destruction of pagan sites, as God had commanded before Israel entered the land, reforms Josiah advanced further:

Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains, on the hills and under every spreading tree, where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods. (Deut 12:2)

[Hezekiah] removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. (2 Kgs 18:4)

[Josiah] desecrated the high places.. .the ones Solomon king of Israel had built.... Josiah slaughtered all the priests of those high places on the altars and burned human bones on them. (2 Kgs 23:13, 20)

In some cases it was simpler to defile an area than to destroy an altar, to ensure the place would not be reused later. Hezekiah's reforms included desecration of pagan shrines by executing the pagan priests who served there and burning their corpses on the altar they once attended: "Josiah slaughtered all the priests of those high places on the altars and burned human bones on them" (2 Kgs 23:20). Site desecration was also what placing a latrine at the shrine in Lachish accomplished. It rendered the area unclean (i.e., unfit for religious activity), just as placing a latrine outside the Israelite camp in the wilderness kept the tribes from defiling the tabernacle:

Command the Israelites to send away from the camp anyone who has...a discharge of any kind.... Send away male and female alike; send them outside the camp so they will not defile their camp, where I dwell among them. (Num 5:2-3)

Likewise, after destroying Baal's sanctuary in Samaria, people used that site for a public toilet:

[Officers of Jehu] demolished the sacred stone of Baal and tore down the temple of Baal, and people have used it for a latrine to this day. (2 Kgs 10:27)

Because the facility at Lachish was near a pagan altar, it rendered that altar unclean, unsuited for religious activity.

 

Hezekiah's reforms were primarily religious but did not prevent the later invasion of Assyria nor what it cost the kingdom:

In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah's reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. So Hezekiah king of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: "I have done wrong. Withdraw from me, and I will pay whatever you demand of me." The king of Assyria exacted from Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. So Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the temple of the LORD and in the treasuries of the royal palace. (2 Kgs 18:13-15)

Significance for Biblical Studies: The Lachish Latrine illustrates the reformation that preceded the Assyrian invasion and prepared Hezekiah for that event. The spiritual recovery ultimately strengthened Hezekiah's faith to rely on the Lord:

Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. He held fast to the LORD and did not stop following him; he kept the commands the LORD had given Moses. And the LORD was with him. (2 Kgs 18:5-7)

The angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there. (2 Kgs 19:35-36)

For a pdf go here.

Digging Up the Bible: The Kurkh Monolith

DIGGING UP THE BIBLE
Important Archeological Finds that help Us Understand Scripture
pdf
Dr. Paul Manuel—2017
 

Kurkh Monolith of Shalmaneser III
(863 BC)

A limestone stele documenting the reign of the Assyrian King Shalmaneser III recounts his victory at Qarqar (north-west of Damascus, south of Hamath, by the Orontes River) over a coalition of enemy forces, including some from the northern kingdom: "I burned with fire...2,000 chariots [and] 10,000 soldiers of Ahab, the Israelite."

 

 

(There is a companion Kurkh monolith recounting the exploits of Shalmaneser's son, Ashurnasirpal II, who does not appear in the biblical text.)

 

The Bible does not record the battle between Ahab and Shalmaneser. The only foreign individual Ahab meets in battle is the king of Syria, which does not begin well but does end well:

Now Ben-Hadad king of Aram mustered his entire army. Accompanied by thirty-two kings with their horses and chariots, he went up and besieged Samaria and attacked it He sent messengers into the city to Ahab king of Israel, saying, "This is what Ben-Hadad says: 'Your silver and gold are mine, and the best of your wives and children are mine." The king of Israel answered, "Just as you say, my lord the king. I and all I have are yours." ...For seven days they camped opposite each other, and on the seventh day the battle was joined. The Israelites inflicted a hundred thousand casualties on the Aramean foot soldiers in one day.... "I will return the cities my father took from your father," Ben-Hadad offered. "You may set up your own market areas in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria. Ahab said, "On the basis of a treaty I will set you free." So he made a treaty with him, and let him go. (1 Kgs 20:1-4, 29, 34)

Even the summary of Ahab's reign includes no mention of intermediary contact with Assyria:

As for the other events of Ahab's reign, including all he did, the palace he built and adorned with ivory, and the cities he fortified, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel? (1 Kgs 22:39)

Israel's sole encounter with Assyria was its last. From Shalmaneser's perspective it was the king's treachery; Hoshea's failure to pay tribute caused the deportation:

Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up to attack Hoshea, who had been Shalmaneser's vassal and had paid him tribute. But the king of Assyria discovered that Hoshea was a traitor, for...he no longer paid tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year.... The king of Assyria invaded the entire land, marched against Samaria and laid siege to it for three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the Israelites to Assyria. (2 Kgs 17:3-6)

From God's perspective it was the people's apostasy; Israel's worship of pagan deities caused the deportation:

All this took place because the Israelites had sinned against the LORD their God.... They worshiped other gods and followed the practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before them, as well as the practices that the kings of Israel had introduced.... The LORD removed them from his presence, as he had warned through all his servants the prophets. So the people of Israel were taken from their homeland into exile in Assyria, and they are; still there. (2 Kgs 17:7-8, 23)

Significance for Biblical Studies: The Kurkh Monolith of Shalmaneser III confirms the historicity of Ahab king of Israel and recounts a battlefield encounter with the Assyrian monarch. It also pits Assyria's threat of conquest against God's promise of support:

This is what the LORD says concerning the king of Assyria: "He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow here...." That night the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there. (2 Kgs 19:32, 35)

For a pdf go here.

Digging Up the Bible: The Ekron Inscription

DIGGING UP THE BIBLE
Important Archeological Finds that help Us Understand Scripture
pdf
Dr. Paul Manuel—2017
 

Ekron Inscription
(Early 7^th century BC)

The Ekron Inscription to dedicate the royal temple is a partial account in Phoenician script on a limestone block unearthed in situ that lists the line of rulers for the Philistine city-state:

The temple (which) he built, 'kys son of Padi, son of
Ysd, son of Ada, son of Ya'ir, ruler of Ek-
ron, for Pt[]yh his lady, may she bless him, and
prot[ec]t him, and prolong his days, and bless
his [l]and

The inscription mentions the goddess Pt[]yh to whom the temple is dedicated, but that name does not appear in any other extant literature.
 

Ekron had one of the main concentrations of Philistines who were originally part of the Sea Peoples migration to settlements inland from the Mediterranean Sea:

The five Philistine rulers in Gaza [were] Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron. (Josh 13:3)

 

This is the first Philistine temple inscription archaeologists have uncovered, but each village may have had its own shrine. The Bible mentions two others, Gaza and Ashdod:

The Philistines seized [Samson], gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza.... The rulers of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate, saying, "Our god has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands." (Judg 16:21a, 23)

After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. Then they carried the ark into Dagon's temple and set it beside Dagon. When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD! (1 Sam 5:1-3a)

Perhaps other Philistine enclaves will someday yield similar finds as the dedicatory plaque at Ekron.

 

A later battle between the forces of King Saul and the Philistines occurs on a mountain range overlooking the Jezreel Valley. It ends with Saul's death and the transfer of his body (head) to an unspecified temple of Dagon, the closest being at Ekron.

They...hung up [Saul's] head in the temple of Dagon. (1 Chr 10:10)

Significance for Biblical Studies: The Ekron Inscription to dedicate the royal temple attests to a pagan religious presence in the land competing with worship of the true God. It illustrates the common practice of devoting space to a particular deity, as Solomon later did for the temple in Jerusalem. The difference is that Dagon, being represented by an idol, needed multiple locations; whereas the LORD, having no such representation, needed no location:

Will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! Yet give attention to your servant's prayer and his plea for mercy, LORD my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence this day. (1 Kgs 8:27-28)

For a pdf go here.

Digging Up the Bible: The Dan Stele

DIGGING UP THE BIBLE
Important Archeological Finds that help Us Understand Scripture

pdf

Dr. Paul Manuel—2017

 

Dan Stele
(9^th century BC)

An excavation at Tel Dan (1993-94) in northern Israel unearthed a broken limestone slab with an Aramaic inscription recounting a victory probably by King Hazael of Damascus over King Omri of Israel:

1. [ ... ] and cut [ ... ]
2. [ ... ] my father went up [against him when h]e fought at [...]
3. and my father lay down, he went to his [ancestors (viz, became sick and died)]. And the king of I[s]
4. rael entered previously in my father's land, [and] Hadad made me king,
5. And Hadad went in front of me, [and] I departed from the seven [ ... ]
6. s of my kingdom, and I slew [seve]nty kin[gs], who harnessed thousands of cha]
7. riots and thousands of horsemen (or: horses). [I killed Jehoiram son of Ahab]
8. king of Israel, and [I] killed [Ahaz]iahu son of [Jehoram kin-]
9. g of the House of David, and I set [their towns into ruins and turned]
10. their land into [desolation]
11. other [... and Jehuru-j
12. led over Is[rael and I laid]
13. siege upon [...a]

 

What is particularly interesting is the reference to the vanquished "house of David," despite separation of the Northern Kingdom of Israel from the Southern Kingdom of Judah several years earlier. This is likely not an historical error but a common recording convention. The Aramaic scribe was retaining the designation of Aram's first contact with Israel, when the twelve tribes were still united under David.

All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, "We are your own flesh and blood." (2 Sam 5:1)

Omri...reigned twelve years, six of them in Tirzah....in Samaria...twenty-two years. (1 Kgs 16:23,26)

Relations between Aram and Israel were peaceful immediately after the northern tribes split from southern tribes. Perhaps Damascus was in no position to exploit the political instability at that time among God's people:

"There was continual warfare between Rehoboam [in the south] and Jeroboam [in the north]" (1 Kgs 14:30).

"There was war between Abijah [in the south] and Jeroboam [in the north] throughout Abijah's lifetime" (1 Kgs 15:6).

"There was war between Asa [king of Judah] and Baasha king of Israel throughout their reigns" (1 Kgs 15:16).

Israel apparently had a non-aggression pact with Aram, until Judah paid the Arameans to break it, which soon led to war:

"Let there be a treaty between me and you.... See, I am sending you a gift of silver and gold. Now break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel so he will withdraw from me." Ben-Hadad agreed with King Asa and sent the commanders of his forces against the towns of Israel (1 Kgs 15:19-20)

Israel and Judah remained hostile toward each other through several successive administrations. The north, where different families sought the throne, was less stable than the south, where one family sought the throne, and the Bible recounts ongoing conflict between these two factions. There is no specific mention of the strife between (the Northern Kingdom of) Israel and Aram as this tablet records, which is not surprising since it is usually the victor who records the outcome of any engagement.

 

Significance for Biblical Studies: The Dan Stele records the tension that existed between Israel and a close neighbor. It also shows the damaging result of internecine warfare as one part of God's people fights against another, and both parts suffer some loss as a result.

For a pdf go here.

Digging Up the Bible: The Caiaphas Ossuary

DIGGING UP THE BIBLE
Important Archeological Finds that help Us Understand Scripture
pdf
Dr. Paul Manuel—2017
 

Caiaphas Ossuary
(1^st century AD)

This ornate bone box, one of twelve from a burial cave at Jerusalem discovered in 1990, bears the inscription: "Joseph, son of Caiaphas." It is 14.5 inches high by 29.5 inches long, and held the remains of a 60-year old male. The box is now at The Israel Museum in Jerusalem, the bones having been reburied on the Mount of Olives.

 

According to Josephus, Joseph Caiaphas (i.e., Caiaphas, son of Joseph), who held the office A.D. 18-36, was the leading temple official in Jesus' day, and it was before him that Jesus appeared at trial: "Those who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas, the high priest" (Matt 26:57).
 

As chief priest, Caiaphas had considerable sway over the Jerusalem Sanhedrin, the primary legislative and judicial body in 1^st century Jewish society. Representatives of that group met with him at his home to discuss Jesus' fate: "The chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas" (Matt 26:3). Caiaphas was also the main liaison with the Roman government, a political position that further enhanced his power and prestige. It was during his tenure that James, John, and Jesus were all executed, although the deaths of James and John were by the direction of Herod; Jesus' death was by the permission of Pilate:

[Herod] had John beheaded in the prison. (Matt 14:10)
[Herod] had James...put to death with the sword. (Acts 12:2)
[Pilate] handed [Jesus] over to be crucified. (Matt 27:26)

Caiaphas was in office at the time of all three men, his term being the longest as high priest (18 years), but there is no evidence he was involved in the deaths of John and James, yet the high-profile nature of their lives certainly did not go unnoticed by him. His part in Jesus' death, however, remanding the rabbi to the Romans, was decisive in sealing his execution: "Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jewish authorities that it would be good if one man died for the people" (John 18:14).
 

The high priest was dependent on support from the local gentile in charge to secure the death penalty and transferred custody of the alleged insurrectionist: "The Jewish authorities led Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor" (John 18:28). It was a decision that confirmed his earlier prediction: "he prophesied Jesus would die for the Jewish nation" (John 11:51).
 

Significance for Biblical Studies: The Caiaphas Ossuary, if it did belong to the high priest, is further historical confirmation of a New Testament figure. It is also an illustration of burial customs in 1^st century Judaism for the wealthy and famous.

For a pdf go here.