2,000-year-old burial box could reveal location of the family of Caiaphas

2,000-year-old burial box could reveal location of the family of Caiaphas:

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This is the ossuary thought to reveal the home of Caiaphas' family. Credit: AFTAU

In Jerusalem and Judah, ancient limestone burial boxes containing skeletal remains — called ossuaries — are fairly common archaeological finds from the 1st century BCE to the 1st century AD period. Forgers have also added inscriptions or decorations to fraudulently increase their value. So three years ago, when the Israel Antiquities Authority confiscated an ossuary with a rare inscription from antiquities looters, they turned to Prof. Yuval Goren of Tel Aviv University's Department of Archaeology to authenticate the fascinating discovery.

Prof. Goren, who worked in collaboration with Prof. Boaz Zissu from Bar Ilan University, now confirms that both the ossuary and its inscription are authentic. The ossuary's inscription, which is unusually detailed, could reveal the home of the family of the biblical figure and high priest Caiaphas prior to their exodus to Galilee after 70 AD. Caiaphas is infamous for his involvement in the crucifixion of Jesus.

Prof. Goren's finding has been reported in the Israel Exploration Journal.

The ossuary marks the spot

Ossuaries have recently been in the news — an ossuary marked with a fraudulent inscription claiming the deceased to be James son of Joseph, the brother of Jesus, made worldwide headlines. Taking this recent hoax into account, it was imperative to establish whether the Caiaphas-related ossuary and its inscription represented a genuine artefact, Prof. Goren says.

Enlarge

This image shows detail of the ossuary's inscription. Credit: AFTAU

Most ancient ossuaries are either unmarked or mention only the name of the deceased. The inscription on this ossuary is extraordinary in that the deceased is named within the context of three generations and a potential location. The full inscription reads: "Miriam daughter of Yeshua son of Caiaphus, priest of Maaziah from Beth Imri."

The Maaziah refers to a clan that was the last mentioned order of 24 orders of high priests during the second temple period, Prof. Goren explains. While there are some records of the clan in Talmudic sources that detail their lives after they spread into the Galilee in 70 AD, the reference to Beit Imri gives new insight into the family's location prior to their migration. Though it is possible that Beit Imri refers to another priestly order, say the researchers, it more probably refers to a geographical location, likely that of Caiaphus' family's village of origin.

The ossuary is thought to come from a burial site in the Valley of Elah, southwest of Jerusalem, the legendary location of the battle between David and Goliath. Beit Imri was probably located on the slopes of Mount Hebron.

A genuine among fakes

In the Laboratory for Comparative Microarchaeology, Prof. Goren conducted a thorough examination of the limestone box, which boasts decorative rosettes in addition to the inscription. "When a rock is deposited in the ground for millennia, it is affected by the surrounding environment and affects the surrounding environment," he notes. Processes such as erosion by acidic ground water and the accumulation of calcareous or siliceous coatings, biological activity such as the development of bacteria, algae, lichens, and the nearby activity of flora and fauna lead to a coating of the stone. Most of these features are impossible to replicate in the lab.

Conclusive evidence of these natural processes was found not only on the stone of the ossuary, but also above and below the inscriptions. "Beyond any reasonable doubt, the inscription is authentic," says Prof. Goren.

Provided by Tel Aviv University (news : web)

A sacred Christian site identified by archaeologists

The Siloam Pool: Where Jesus Healed the Blind Man

A sacred Christian site identified by archaeologists

Biblical Archaeology Society Staff   •  05/25/2011

In 2004, the stepped remains of the ancient Siloam Pool, long thought to be located elsewhere, were uncovered near the City of David. According to the Gospel of John, it was at this sacred Christian site that Jesus healed the blind man. Photo: Todd Bolen/bibleplaces.com

The Siloam Pool has long been considered a sacred Christian site, even if the correct identification of the site itself was uncertain. According to the Gospel of John, it was at the Siloam Pool where Jesus healed the blind man (John 9:1–11).

Traditionally, the Christian site of the Siloam Pool was the pool and church that were built by the Byzantine empress Eudocia (c. 400–460 A.D.) to commemorate the miracle recounted in the New Testament. However, the exact location of the original pool as it existed during the time of Jesus remained a mystery until June 2004.

During construction work to repair a large water pipe south of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, at the southern end of the ridge known as the City of David, archaeologists Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron identified two ancient stone steps. Further excavation revealed that they were part of a monumental pool from the Second Temple period, the period in which Jesus lived. The structure Reich and Shukron discovered was 225 feet long, with corners that are slightly greater than 90 degrees, indicating a trapezoidal shape, with the widening end oriented toward Tyropoeon valley.

The Siloam pool is adjacent to the area in the ancient City of David known as the King’s Garden and is just southeast of the remains of the fifth-century church and pool traditionally believed to be the sacred Christian site.

Artist’s rendering of the Siloam pool, the Biblical Christian site where Jesus healed the blind man. Photo: Jason Clarke

What was the function of the Siloam pool during Jesus’ time? Because the pool is fed by waters from the Gihon Spring, located in the Kidron Valley,  the naturally flowing spring water would have qualified the pool for use as a mikveh for ritual bathing. However, it could also have been an important source of fresh water for the inhabitants on that part of the city. One scholar has even suggested that it was a Roman-style swimming pool. Whatever its original purpose, the Siloam pool where Jesus healed the blind man is an important Christian site, and its discovery represents a watershed moment in the field of Biblical archaeology.

As with many sites in the Holy Land, the origins of the Siloam Pool reach back even further in history—at least seven centuries before the time of Jesus. Judah’s King Hezekiah (late eighth century B.C.) correctly anticipated a siege against Jerusalem by the Assyrian monarch Sennacherib.

To protect the city’s water supply during the siege, Hezekiah undertook a strategic engineering project that would be an impressive feat in any age: He ordered the digging of a 1,750-foot tunnel under the City of David to bring water from the Gihon Spring, which lay outside the city wall, inside the city to a pool on the opposite side of the ridge. In the years that followed, “Hezekiah’s Tunnel” continued to carry fresh water to this section of Jerusalem, and different pools were built here over the centuries, including the Second Temple pool that Jesus knew.

Based on “Issue 200: Ten Top Discoveries.” Biblical Archaeology Review, Jul/Aug Sep/Oct 2009, 74-96.

Ancient Persian cairn wall found in Iran | Art / Books

Ancient Persian cairn wall found in Iran | Art / Books:

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Ancient Persian cairn wall found in Iran

August 28, 2011 | Art / Books | Written by Vikas

Tehran, Aug 29: A cairn wall belonging to the Parthian Empire (247 BC – 224 AD) in ancient Persia was discovered in northern Iran.

A coin and a copper artifact of the medieval Islamic civilization were also found at the archaeological site in Nowshahr in Mazandaran province, the Iran Cultural Heritage, Handcrafts and Tourism Organization said.

The Affelle archaeological site is about five sq km which had been used as a metal-melting shop in ancient Persia, director of the study team, Mohammad Ghamari Fatideh said.

‘Pottery and other surface evidences showed the site dates back to the Parthian period,’ the official IRNA news agency quoted the official as saying.

The Parthian Empire was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Persia.

IANS'

BBC News - Roman port found at Caerleon on banks of River Usk

BBC News - Roman port found at Caerleon on banks of River Usk

Roman port found at Caerleon on banks of River Usk

How the port outside the legionary fortress of Isca may have looked

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Archaeologists say the discovery of a 2,000-year-old port sheds new light on Wales' role in the Roman Empire.

A team from Cardiff University discovered the harbour outside the Roman fortress at Caerleon (Isca) during ongoing excavation work.

The remains are said to be well preserved and include the main quay wall, landing stages and wharves.

Excavation leader Dr Peter Guest said the port was a "major addition to the archaeology of Roman Britain".

Students using geophysical equipment, which can reveal outlines of buried structures, came across the remains of a site of large Roman buildings on the banks of the River Usk last year.

The buildings may have been market places, administrative buildings, bath houses and temples.

The excavation work, which also led to the discovery of the port, is said to have exceeded all expectations.

Dr Guest, senior lecturer in Roman archaeology at Cardiff University, said: "I think it's very important indeed for Caerleon because it allows us to see Caerleon in its immediate landscape so we now know there's this suburb of the fortress.

Students found the site of large Roman buildings on the banks of the River Usk

"Caerleon connected upstream with the hillier parts of Wales, and there were Roman forts at Abergavenny and Brecon, but if you go downstream you can go to Roman London but also the Loire Valley, the Bay of Biscay and the Mediterranean into the heart of the Roman world."

He said it was believed the port dated to a period when the legions were "fighting and subduing the native tribes in western Britain".

"It's incredible to think that this is the place where the men who took part in the conquest would have arrived," he added.

The port is only the second from Roman Britain to be discovered and excavated after London.

Dr Mark Lewis, of the National Roman Legion Museum in Caerleon, said everything learned about Caerleon was "immediately of international significance".

"There were three legions permanently based in Britain for most of the Roman period, and for 200 years from AD 74, the Second Augustan Legion was based in Caerleon," he said.

"At any one time in the Roman Empire, there are about 30 legions and one of them was permanently based here.

'Spectacular'

"It is always incredibly important."

He said the port was on a major scale and the other buildings discovered were "spectacular".

"We've got a good idea of the shape and outline of the buildings," he said.

"What that has shown up is that what Peter is excavating is one of the largest complexes of Roman buildings in Britain.

"It ranks with some of the largest in Europe."

What Did Job’s Friends Do Wrong? | GraceThruFaith

What Did Job’s Friends Do Wrong? | GraceThruFaith

My question is, why was God so angry at Job’s friends?I find helpful and good what they said about God. What wasn’t correct in their speeches about Him that angered the Lord?

Q. My question is, why was God so angry at Job’s friends?I find helpful and good what they said about God. What wasn’t correct in their speeches about Him that angered the Lord? And why He complimented Job in the end contrary to His friends?

A. What upset God about Job’s two friends is that they misrepresented Him completely. They argued with Job from the humanist position based on human experience, human tradition and human merit. They were false in their logic and wrong in their conclusions. They believed that man must do things to earn God’s favor and therefore suffering is a sign of God’s displeasure.

While they both correctly asserted that sin had to be at the root of Job’s problem, Eliphaz believed that God was punishing Job for not doing enough good, and Bildad thought Job was just whining because he wanted His wealth back. On the other hand, by justifying himself, Job was condemning God as being unjust.

It’s important to remember that all three men were wrong in their arguments. It wasn’t until Elihu came along that we begin to learn of God’s true nature. In chapter 34 he confirmed the Lord’s inability to do wrong or pervert justice, and in 35 Elihu said that our good works don’t help God at all and our sins don’t cause Him loss. They only affect us and those around us.

Then in chapter 38 when God Himself joined the conversation, we see that Job is neither given a bill of indictment nor a verdict of innocence, but his understanding of God was certainly brought into question.

Finally in chapter 42 Job repented, confessed, and was restored. His knowledge of God had gone from his head to his heart and he understood, and he was now in a position to intercede for his friends.

How Many Will I Find On Earth Who Have Faith?

“When I, the Son of Man, return, how many will I find on earth who have faith?” 

Luke 18:8 (NLT)

Viewed from a Biblical vantage point, it goes without saying that we live in an increasingly faithless world. Values shift from pillar to post, and the majority of happenings in the lives of people are ego driven - not God-driven. So, Jesus' question above is a valid one, if He came back today, how many people of faith would he find? Then next question then is an important one - Would you be one of them? 

God has always sought people of faith, and people who love Him. Hanani the Seer told King Asa as far back as 908 B.C.  "For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong in behalf of those whose hearts are blameless toward Him."

2 Chron.16:9. 

God;s desire is to bless and to show his love. Faithfulness is the key to unlocking that blessing in our lives. Jesus stated to some blind men who asked Him to restore their sight, "Then he touched their eyes, saying, "According to your faith be it done to you." (Mt.9:29)

He wishes to pour blessings into all areas of our life – our family, career, finances, health, relationships – but will do it according to the level of your faith. It goes without saying then, that if you have great faith, you will have great blessing. If you have a little faith, you will receive a little blessing. 

But if you have NO faith? God’s blessing will not be in your life at all.  Prov.20:6 asks a good question, "Many a man proclaims his own steadfast love, but a faithful man who can find?"

A sad chorus of Psa.53 states, "God looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all fallen away; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one." 

Within our own song books we proclaim "Faith is the victory we know, that overcomes the world."  The greater our faith, the brighter the victory experienced. Not because of what we have done, but of what God has chosen to do in us or through us. This is not some arbitrary utterance by a song writer, it is a statement of scripture. 1Jn 5:4,5 "For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith.  Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?"

The question Is then, is faith found in us?

Jim 

 

"The Shack" by King David | LeadershipJournal.net

"The Shack" by King David | LeadershipJournal.net

"The Shack" by King David

Why certain stories disturb many and comfort so many more.

Gordon MacDonald | posted 3/23/2009

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Soon after William Paul Young's The Shack hit the bookstores, a friend handed me a copy and said, "You need to read this; it's going to be the next best-seller."

I put the book on my "to read" pile, and it remained there for several weeks. Then, in an idle moment, I picked it up and scanned the first few pages. Soon I stopped scanning and started reading.

The Shack got to me. Admittedly, Young seemed to stray across a few theological boundary lines, but I found myself less concerned about that and more captivated by the way he raised so many of the issues that spiritually devastated people have inside and outside the Christian movement. I'm thinking of issues like bitterness, guilt, powerlessness, and emotional paralysis that often originate from traumatic experiences in one's past.

As I read, I heard Young saying, "Let's fool with an out-of-the-box story that might offer us a fresh appreciation of some very old truths about who God actually is—and how far God might go to establish restorative relationships with broken people like us."

After several chapters, I put the book down. I decided that I could go no further until my wife, Gail, was able to share the reading with me. That evening we lit some wood in the fireplace, and I started back at page one, this time reading The Shack aloud to her. As I read I found myself pausing several times to deal with strange surges of emotion that The Shacktends to elicit from all but the most resistant people.

Gail and I finished The Shack in two evenings and agreed that we'd never read a book quite like it. We spoke of the way the author had prodded us to think new thoughts about the three persons of the Trinity. We agreed that the book would mean a lot to those who have suffered from horrific experiences of physical and sexual abuse and who need their memories to be decontaminated. We went back through the pages and identified places where we'd been startled by the author's insights on the nature of evil and grace. We even laughed at some of the clever antics used by the Three-who-were-One to point out the way of salvation.

For Gail and me, The Shack was a reviving experience.

Some weeks later I met my first Shack critic. I should have anticipated that there would be some who would have problems with this unusual book, who would reject the way the author chose to deal with some of the most precious ideas in all of Scripture.

Of this critic's sincerity, there was no doubt. He and others I would later meet were deeply disturbed that Young had dared to portray the members of the Godhead—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—as eccentric personalities with offbeat ways of communicating their message.

Most than once I heard Young accused of blasphemy. I heard him labeled a post-modernist for whom "truth" meant nothing. I was told by one Shack-detractor that anyone refusing to denounce the author and his book could not be considered a sound evangelical.

I can admit to a sense of shock when I realized in the course of my reading that Young had chosen to portray God our Father as an absolutely enchanting, powerfully-mothering, African-American woman. But I will also admit that it wasn't too long in my reading before I found myself wanting to sit at her kitchen table and to enjoy her cooking, her conversation, and her maternal affection. The beauty of the fellowship generated by her presence was what many of us have sought for a lifetime and so rarely experienced.

let it speak into those places in our lives where we long for a closer walk with him.

I wonder if those who are critical of Young's fictional description of divinity have ever contemplated that one of the Psalm-writers used a similar literary method when he wrote, "The Lord is my shepherd …"

Did Psalm 23 collect critics when it was released? Was anyone offended when Israel's God was portrayed as a shepherd?

If I've got it right, shepherds in ancient times were not the clean, pacific, romantic figures that we cast in our Christmas pageants. As I understand it, shepherds in ancient times were, more often than not, skuzzy, unkempt people that one might prefer to avoid. My perception is that most shepherds did not own their sheep but were merely hirelings (temps, if you please) who did the messy work of flock-tending for sheep-owners who probably lived in town. Bottom line: shepherds lived on the underside of society.

So how does one convey to ancient people the splendor of a redeeming God who is good, gracious, caring, and patient to a fault? How does one describe a God who is not aloof, not capricious, and not cruel or vindictive as most ancient divinities were perceived to be? In short, how does one celebrate a God who is ever-present, always guiding, constantly nurturing and restoring?

Well, I suppose one could just line up these nice words in the previous paragraph and say, "There you are. There's your God … theologically described."

Then again, one might make the same point by reaching into everyday life and finding a figure, like a shepherd, for example, and say "God is something like what you see in that person."

Perhaps that was what the writer of Psalm 23 had in mind. He was confident that everyone had seen shepherds and could picture them leading their sheep toward green pastures and cool waters.

The picture of a simple shepherd in motion—grimy though he might be—was sheer genius when it came to forming impressions of who God is and how he connects with those who are the sheep of his pasture. Once the Psalm was read, anyone in the ancient world could possess a beginning-theology of an incredible God who provides "everything that I need."

Then there's The Shack. I think Young had the same idea the Psalmist had. Find a way, any way, that will open the heart of a broken person and point him toward Heaven and all of its redeeming love. Tell the old, old story in new and astonishing ways.

Gordon MacDonald is editor at large of Leadership and interim president of Denver Seminary.

Mount Hermon from the Damascus Road | Ferrell's Travel Blog

Mount Hermon from the Damascus Road | Ferrell's Travel Blog

Mount Hermon from the Damascus Road

Posted on August 16, 2011 by ferrelljenkins| 1 Comment

Mount Hermon is the southern end of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range. The mountain is about 20 miles long and has three peaks. At 9,232 feet above sea level it is the highest mountain of Canaan, or Roman Syria, named in the Bible. The mountain now is shared by the countries of Lebanon, Syria, and Israel. The photo below shows mount Hermon from the east, a few miles south of Damascus toward Quneitra. This is roughly the route of the famous Damascus Road taken by Paul as he went from Jerusalem to Damascus. This photo was made the middle of May, 2002. There was more snow on the west side of the mountain in Lebanon than you see here.

View of Mount Hermon from the East. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins 2002.

The first biblical reference to Mount Hermon is found in Moses’ account of the Israelite conquest of transjordan (Deuteronomy 3:8). He says that Israel took the land from the hand of two Amorite kings “from the valley of Arnon to Mount Hermon.” The Sidonians, of ancient Phoenicia, called the mountain Sirion, and the Amorites called it Senir (Deuteronomy 3:9). The half-tribe of Manasseh lived in the area of Bashan which is south of Mount Hermon (1 Chronicles 5:23). The Mountain of Bashan is probably a reference to Mount Hermon (Psalm 68:15). Hermon is mentioned in four references in the poetic books of the Old Testament (Psalm 42:6; 89:12; 133:3; Song of Solomon 4:8).

The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours; the world and all that is in it, you have founded them. The north and the south, you have created them; Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name. (Psalm 89:11-12 ESV)

This post is a slightly revised post from 2009, but the photo is a new one digitized from a slide made in 2002.