March 2008
Golden Amulet with Hebrew Prayer
A 3rd Century CE Roman grave has revealed a startling find- a small golden scroll with the Hebrew prayer, known as the Shema, quot;Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one quot; (Deuteronomy 6:4). The scroll is a Greek transcription of the prayer, and was found resting in an infant’s grave. This finding may push back by 600 years the evidence of a Jewish Presence in modern day Austria.
Bible History: The City of Bethel
The city of Bethel is located north of Jerusalem and is identified as what is now the Arab village Bitan. It is first mentioned as a place near which Abraham first settled when arriving in Canaan, and is mentioned throughout Israelite history in the Bible. The archaeological findings date as far back as the 21st century BCE.
The Name of the Lord - Classical Hebrew
The Tetragrammaton Yhwh is the personal name for the God of Israel and Judah as revealed to Moses in the Wilderness (Exodus 3:14). This name is first attested to outside the bible in the late ninth century Mesha Inscription, where the enemy king of Moab announces “I took the vessels of Yhwh and dragged them before Chemosh” (line 17).
February 2008
Bible Study - The City Of Ugarit
The City of Ugarit was a well-known city and kingdom which flourished during the second millennium BCE, located on the coast of the Mediterranean in today’s northern Syria. The location of the city was unknown until 1928, when a grave discovered by accident in the village of Ras Shamra turned out to be part of the Ugarit necropolis.
January 2008
Biblical Archeology – the City of David
The oldest part of Israelite Jerusalem, known as the city of David, is located on a narrow ridge just south of the walls of the current old city of Jerusalem. After conquering Jerusalem from the Jebusites, David established the city as his capital and began to develop it. David’s Jerusalem was extremely small and was populated mainly by the king and his staff.
Biblical History - The Judea and Israel kingdoms
In approximately 930 B.C.E., the short-lived United Monarchy, which ruled over all the tribes of Israel, was divided into two kingdoms: Israel in the north, led by Jeroboam son of Nebat, and Judea in the South, led by Rehoboam the son of Solomon. The two kingdoms differed in cultural and religious aspects....
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