Minus the bees.

A honey wannabe.

However, archaeology tells us more, leaving clues which lay out a clear scenario. During a dig at Tel Rehov, ancient beehives were uncovered at the Jordan Valley site, in the middle of a town with a population once upon a time of about 2,500.

Wow. One can only imagine what the price of real estate would be… right… next… to… 180… hives! About 2-1/2 feet long and one foot in diameter, mud brick clay pots looking like stacked pipes had caps at one end and a small opening for the bees at the other. Lead investigator and now Professor Emeritus at Hebrew University Ami Mazar found residue of honey and beeswax… from 3,000 years ago! Some of the dead bees pointed to Turkish origins.

So we have archaeological evidence of 1) cultivated hives with 2) imported honeybees. Researcher Guy Bloch, also of Hebrew University, states that Tel Rehov was the first site to point to what wall paintings and writings depicted regarding Ancient Near Eastern wax and honey production. Until this discovery, there was no archaeological corroboration of that fact.

Which only goes to show that occasionally, archaeology takes a few thousand years to prove its point! Just because a site or a feature has not been located, yet….

Throughout the Bible, honey serves as a literal and figurative reference to sweetness. Also, from what we know in modern times, a daily dose of raw honey possesses positive properties used in healing from the inside out. Antioxidants, fighting off disease and free radicals.

Bam! Take that!

(Maybe we should smear some sweet honey on radical-radicals, not just free radicals. Could do some good… you never know….)

God’s word is likened to sweetness, changing and healing from the inside-out all those who partake of it. “They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb” (Psalm 19:10).

Welcome to a sweet treat… that’s actually good for you!

The post Sweeter Than Honey appeared first on Postcard From Israel.

Grab it and go.

A lot of items are provided by the excavation directors and staff: shovels, pickaxes, buckets, sifting screens, surveying equipment…. But your own pack is important, too.

Who ever said that digging the Bible was easy? It’s scientific, exacting, heavy manual labor often undertaken in the dust and heat with temps topping 110 degrees F in some locales.

So, in my backpack, this is what I stash: wide brimmed sunhat (better than a cap or scarf for protecting neck/nose/ears!), sunscreen & sometimes mosquito repellent (each counteracts the other, so sun protection is more important), scarf or bandanna for the neck (or for tourniquets just in case someone falls off the tel…), sunglasses, kneeling pad, compass, field notebook & mechanical pencils, a couple of pens & Sharpies, extra paper artifact bags and a few small plastic bags, clipboard & excavation forms or grid paper for to-scale drawing, measuring tape (meters & centimeters in Israel), disinfectant wipes, kleenex (for bathroom stops on the other side of the rocks! or the porta-potty if you’re well-funded), gum, a cooler with bottles of water & lunch, cell phone in a bag, my pointed trowel (Marshalltown) and small pick, bandaids!!!, leather gloves or rubber-palmed gloves, flashlight, rubber bands, bubble line level with string & nails, extra plastic bags for dirty tools, small whisk broom (to clean excavation squares for photos – not all digs allow sweeping), flagging tape in different colors, maybe carabiners for clipping extra items to the pack. A bungee cord, not so much. A knife never hurts. A rain poncho could be helpful during seasons other than summer in the Middle East. It sounds like a lot, but those are the basics.

Most of the time, I wear long pants (not always cargo, not always jeans—to burst a stereotype), a long-sleeved shirt, sometimes over a t-shirt, a field jacket or vest with many pockets, lightweight but rugged boots. And of course the hat and scarf.

If I ever gave up on Biblical archaeology, I could pass for an professional bee-keeper-! I’d just need the netting over a pith helmet-!

Gotta think on that one….

What else? Anything missing?

A Bible, of course!

All is still dark at the site by the time we arrive. It’s not even pre-dawn. But soon enough, glimmers of gorgeous color streak across the sky, announcing the sun’s soon ascent. Another day dawns in the field as Biblical realities come to light.

Good morning, Lord. Here we go….

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It’s exciting to be at an excavation where we uncover pottery jars that may be intact after hundreds or thousands of years. Some still contain fish skeletons, or olive pits, or the slight residue of perfume or makeup.

But usually, when the settlement was destroyed by war, earthquake, sandstorms, or abandonment for fairer fields, their juglets, jars, cooking pots, amphorae and bowls were either destroyed or requisitioned by others in the process. To find a complete vessel is special. Even in the course of digging, a pick axe may inadvertently hit a piece of pottery and… oops! It’s broken.

Happens.

(Not all archaeologists work with little paint brushes and toothpicks. You knew that, right?)

So, the majority of pieces found… are broken. Shattered. Sherds.

Kind of like people. Kind of like Humpty-Dumpty. Difficult to put back together again. But with a bit of patience and a steady hand, it’s doable.

The Lord must be good with puzzles because he’s good with restoration. The Hebrew word for healer is “rapha” which means to repair and to make whole. “…For I, the Lord, am your healer” (Exodus 15:26). He knows where all of the pieces fit! He makes new pieces to fill in where parts are missing—if you’ve ever seen a 2,000- or 4,000-year-old pottery jar that might be tan in color and then you see a white part that’s been filled-in.

That’s Jesus (Yeshua)… He gave himself… He became broken… to make us complete and whole again. The vessel doesn’t always appear seamless—there are a few cracks here or there—but it’s restored and able to be of service.

You are no longer broken. You are complete in him (Colossians 2:10).

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No wonder Methuselah lived so long! Rest is restorative.

Archaeology indicates that as early as the Stone Age (which ended circa 3500 BC), simple stone or shell lamps existed. They continued to be in use until pottery lamps such as the one pictured here came on the scene. About the size of the palm of your hand, the ceramic lamps were filled with olive oil or animal fat and used a crude wick to connect and direct oil to a spout where there was a flame. In the Land of Israel and the Mediterranean region, residents employed pottery or terra cotta lamps starting around 2000 BC.

Which brings us to Psalm 27:1, where the Scripture states that the Lord is our light, using the generic Hebrew word “ohr” for light. However, other verses refer to candles and lamps, such as Proverbs 20:27: “The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts…” (KJV). Did candles exist at this time?

Basically, no.

The Bible translators of 1620 used a modern gloss to describe a situation from millennia before. Made sense to them since the word in Hebrew was “ner”, or lamp, and candles were the lamps of the seventeenth century. Yet, candles were not in use in King David’s time of approximately 1000 BC.

Houston, we have a problem….

It would be similar to saying that Joseph was thrown into a pit and along came a group of employment agency workers, rather than slave traders, who sold him into service in Egypt. Yes, they engaged in brokering human beings, but one way of approaching the subject would be more easy to understand for a modern audience.

This carries us by camel-train back to the topic of candles (you’re keeping up with this commentary, right?) which were not invented until around 500 BC by the Romans. They dipped them in tallow (animal fat) and the rest was history. We find candle molds in archaeology, in case you’re wondering how a somewhat delicate candle could survive and tell us its story.

So… Proverbs written by King Solomon in about the tenth century or 900s BC. Candles invented 400 years later.

Solomon. Candles.

900s. 500s.

Change anything much in the way of what the Bible is really saying?

Not much. A different way of expressing the same idea. Candles, oil lamps, cooking fires. Flashlights, headlights, halogen lights, searchlights.

Light. Let there be light.

Let His light shine and illuminate the undefined edges of our existence dipped in the tinted shade of twilight. In Him there is no darkness at all.

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Usually, wannabe archaeologists perform “excavations” under cover of darkness and without any governmental permits. They take quick photos, always murky, distorted, digitally-enhanced, “the best they could do” with the given conditions. Their finds may never be examined, studied nor Carbon-14 tested. They might claim to have found (I’m making this up in an effort not to point fingers): Moses’ leadership rod, King Solomon’s crown, the cross of Jesus (actually that has been claimed with enough wood produced to populate a small forest…) and the Apostle Paul’s business card for his tent-making shop (sorry, I’m running out of ideas here…).

No. No. No.

There are real, bonafide, Bible-confirming, LEGITIMATE artifacts being uncovered every day in licensed excavations in Israel to thrill professional and amateur archaeologists alike. This is providing preaching material for decades to come. There’s no need to manufacture finds that, quite honestly, have never been found. Reality is exciting enough these days. Each excavation revealing bonafide features and artifacts which match the Biblical record points to the veracity of God’s word.

Yay.

But fake finds and outrageous claims do not help any cause. In essence, they undermine believers’ efforts because they are making unverifiable claims.

Okay, I hope that answered some questions! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to search for Moses’ baby basket….

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Basically, pottery technology came to the Near East around 6000 BC, a slow wheel turned by hand developed in 3000 BC and a fast wheel, on an axle and turned by foot, implemented in approximately 2000 BC. These were used to quickly shape the pottery which once started out as coils wrapped in a circular fashion from bottom to top, no wheel involved. We’ll discuss pottery more another time because there’s so much information that a simple clay jar can tell us!

Glass is the topic today. Surprisingly, when the Bible refers to “bottles”, it might mean anything from animal skins to stone storage jars, to pottery flasks and finally, glass containers. This sophisticated material was developed circa 1600 BC into actual containers, the sand being heated to very high temperatures and fusing with other elements such as soda and lime to create glass. Prior to this time, small glass pieces were in circulation, but not as bottles. (To give you some chronological frame of reference, Joseph lived in Egypt prior to this time, most likely during the 1800s BC.)

Interestingly, glass bottles developed in a similar fashion to the coiled clay pots with thin strands of glass wrapped around and around clay forms. This costly, difficult process resulted in elegant perfume bottles, small due to their expense. Residues of their essence may still be found in the bottles’ interiors and scientifically examined back in the lab!

Stoppers were not made from cork, but a wadded piece of material or a pottery stopper. So that’s the word for today: open up!

Unstop the good that’s inside of you. Allow the Lord’s fragrance to flow and lift all those around you.

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Out of the world population, a certain percentage believe the Bible to be true. They don’t always need “proof” to come to this conclusion. They believe that there is a God who is present in the world today. He doesn’t control everything because evil also exists and there rages a spiritual war between the two.

Then there are those who believe nothing of the Bible. Generally, their life experiences encourage them in that direction—how could there be wars, disease, abusive coworkers or family members if there is a God?

And finally, another percentage doesn’t weigh in on such philosophical concerns, but could be persuaded toward faith if someone offered some proof of the Bible’s veracity or of God at work on Planet Earth, if not elsewhere in the solar system. Well, today’s your day!

Ancient bullae, or hardened seal impressions, have been turning up in archaeological excavations in Jerusalem. Over 50 bullae correspond to specific names and time periods found in the Bible. Yes, they refer to particular people who lived during exact eras and were found in loci that were matching.

In other words, when going to dig in a site, archaeologists do not just dig until they find gold! It’s a rather scientific endeavor, employing stratigraphy, or the understanding that layers on top of the ground are more recent than layers buried beneath. An item from the time of King David (approximately 1000 BC or 3000 years before present), for example, would be deeper in the earth than artifacts from the fairly-recent Ottoman Empire when the Turks ruled Jerusalem (1517-1917). Stratigraphy, along with the item itself helps us assign a date to a site.

A Coca-Cola bottle cap would not be found next to a Roman oil lamp…unless the ground had been seriously disturbed at some point in time—agricultural plowing, building construction, looting of antiquities. So 1) the artifact itself, 2) along with its location or depth in the ground and 3) surrounding objects found in the same area, allow us to accurately date the level.

Which brings us to bullae, some of which might be as small as your pinkie’s fingernail, up to a larger coin size, and are the impressions made in clay by a signet stamp. Ancient papyrus documents were tied with string, a piece of clay pressed over the knot in the string and then pressed with the “signature” which could be pictures (a bee, a beetle, a lion, etc.) and possibly someone’s name and/or title spelled out. When found “in situ”, in its original setting nearby artifacts that would most likely date from the same historical timeframe, you have a double-wow discovery!

What makes these bullae last through millennia is the fact that Jerusalem was often burned by invaders—during the Babylonian or Roman conquests, for example. That hardens the clay impressions even further, while destroying the documents to which they were attached. Often, the string impression on the back is still visible.

Dr. Lawrence Mykytiuk of Purdue University has extensively researched numerous bullae (plural form of bulla) from Jerusalem excavations. He found over 53 to be direct matches with Biblical persons…and the number appears to keep climbing. This information and high level of specificity flies in the face of Bible-denyers.

In today’s video, MB demonstrates how scribes would seal documents to protect them, just as God seals His people (Rev. 14:1). Groups traveling on her Israel tours work for a couple of exciting hours in archaeological settings where the bullae were found—what might you find?

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On location in the hills of Judea, archaeologist and Bible teacher MB speaks of an Israelite name, Eshba’al, found on an Iron Age pottery jar fragment at the hilltop fortress of Khirbet Qeiyafa. Not yet developed into a tourist site, these nearby ruins hail from the era of King David and lie outside of Jerusalem close to Bet Shemesh. The Valley of Elah spreads below, place where Goliath was defeated as the Philistines challenged the Israelites.

Now restored from the pottery sherds excavated, this name is the same as one of King Saul’s sons, rival of King David, and was only used around this time period (approx. 1,000 BC). However, this incised inscription, written before the storage jar was fired, says “Eshba’al, son of Beda” (it can also be written Ishba’al). Names on pottery could mean that the produce stored inside came from his fields, or that the produce was being sent to him and destined for his use.

What’s remarkable comes from the fact that the name itself speaks of Ba’al, the Canaanite god of thunder. Yet, Israelites used this theophoric element in their personal names! Talk about the surrounding culture infiltrating and affecting the people dedicated to the one true and living God…. Bible writers dealt with this reality in their own way. I Chronicles 8:33 refers to Eshba’al (Ishba’al = man of Ba’al), Saul’s son and second king of Israel, but in II Samuel 2:10, the pagan-sounding name is changed to Ishbosheth (man of shame), instead.

Samuel, don’t hold back, tell us what you really think about pagan names!

The writing itself on this storage jar, uncovered in Area C during the 2012 seventh season of excavations with Hebrew University and the Israel Antiquities Authority at Khirbet Qeiyafa, signals a new stage of development for local literacy, as well. Around the shoulder of the 58 cm/22 inch tall storage jar, the Hebrew writing, employing the Canaanite alphabet as it did in the Early Iron Age, stretches from right to left (Garfinkel, Golub, Misgav & Ganor – BASOR 373 – 2015). This is how modern Hebrew is written, right to left. But prior to this time, a sentence might be written from left to right—or top to bottom! Talk about challenging.

Imagine if this were an urgent message being sent in time of battle on a piece of pottery sherd instead of on a storage jar—I hope you had a skilled linguist in your ranks! Might take a while to decipher the writing.

Just sayin’….

So the message to us from Khirbet Qeiyafa: yes, some folks were indeed literate in the 11th century BC, just as the Bible depicts. Some were already using local-sounding names and losing their uniqueness as the people of God. But reformers like the prophet Samuel started changing names and calling the people back to God.

A timely message from the hills of Judea.

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So if you have your eye on items similar to these Middle Bronze Age (1730-1550 BC) Canaanite terracotta juglets, the best thing might be to purchase a fabulous fake—it’s cheap, it does no harm to a site, and it puts the bad guys out of business. (Plus, you would pretty much need to be an expert to tell a fake from the real thing—many have bought expensive pieces only to learn later that it’s not the real deal-!) A great reason to “just say no”.

Properly-excavated artifacts go to museums or to storerooms to be studied. Years later, methods of “seeing” long-disappeared writing on pottery can be developed (another post on this later)—and we want to have the vessels in hand to be able to examine them better. Help us out, okay?

Notice the decoration on these pottery vessels. The style, the roughness of the clay, and the decoration tell us about their age. These MBA Canaanite vessels display an everted rim, an incised and punctated body. For the layperson, that means the rim above the neck sticks out, rather than a smooth neck pointing straight upward, and the body has been stuck with a small reed or stick to make etched lines and holes on the surface.

Don’t ever be fooled by a new piece of pottery that has been buried in a Middle Eastern field or backyard and watered, distressed, or burned to look old. Remember that I am your friend and you can tell that Old City huckster pulling out a dirt-encrusted piece from under his counter, “MB warned me….” This aging technique may be utilized on glass, iron, pottery, practically anything.

Repeat after me: just say “no” to antiquities purchases. The IAA’s Robbery Prevention Division is watching….

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From the Middle East to different parts of Europe where the Romans once ruled, floors could be cool in the wintertime. Let’s face it: who likes cold, wet tootsies? So the Roman engineering whizzes designed tiled floors that were heated from below. How cozy!

They say that the earliest example of this hails from the fourth century (300s BC) and the Temple of Ephesus. Since heating involved the stoking of furnaces and distributing the hot air by means of a bellows, usually only public buildings or wealthy homes were heated in such a manner.

An added benefit would be the hygiene resulting from a heated floor. A similar system was used during the US Civil War by means of Crimean ovens, employing a subterranean system of channeling warm air through field hospital tents whose floors were generally earthen. A flue ran down the center of the tent, lengthwise, and was covered over by metal plates. The warm, radiant heat cut down on many diseases which normally flourished in cold dampness and among the sick.

Anyways, back to the ancient city of Beit She’an, later turned into the Roman city of Scythopolis. This photo comes from the site’s bath house complex and you see the many little pillars or pilae stacks which would support the tile floor that’s been removed. The hot air flowed inbetween the pillars under the floor, hence the name hypo (under) and caust (burnt).

So MB, what does this mean for our faith?

I’m glad you asked!

Consider the Scripture verse: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). The word substance comes from two Greek components, hupo which means under, and sistemi which means to stand. Strong’s concordance translates the word for substance in this verse, hupostasis, as “a placing or setting under, a substructure or foundation”.

Think of the Roman floor with the hypocaust heating system underneath: you do not see it, but it provides the basis for and foundation of the whole house. It supports all else, though it be unseen. It warms one and keeps one healthy. Faith gives substance to life and undergirds you.

No need to do life alone when your faith, and the Lord behind your faith, can support you!

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