Looking for a beautiful photo of the Cedars of Lebanon. Try one of these by Mark Connolly, posted by Carl Rasmussen on the HolyLandPhotos’Blog here. I understand that the oldest of the cedars are located at an elevation of about 6,500 feet above sea level at the village of Bchareé in Mount Lebanon. The cedars are beautiful at any time of the year, but these snow photos are especially beautiful. I have seen them twice, but only with a little bit of snow. Note just two of the significant references to the cedars in the Bible.
- Hiram of Tyre floated cedar from Lebanon to Joppa for Solomon’s Temple (966 B.C.; 2 Chronicles 2:16).
- Cedars were floated to Joppa for the rebuilding of the temple (520-516 B.C.; Ezra 3:7).
Gordon Franz sent me an advance notice of an article you may read on his Life and Land blog. He is coining a new phrase be included in his Cracked Pot Archaeology category. It is a sub discipline of pseudo-archaeology called “Apostolic” Archaeology.
The practitioners of this discipline are usually adventurers, sometimes treasure hunters, and generally with neither field training in archaeological methodology nor academic credentials in Near East archaeology, but perhaps a superficial knowledge of the Bible. They claim to have discovered objects or places of great Biblical importance and declare it to be whatever they want it to be. They usually try to justify their pronouncements with a Bible verse. Their declarations are made as if they were speaking ex cathedra (i.e., with authority).
Read more here. We will be on the alert for more of Gordon’s exposés.
Dr. Claude Mariottini writes about what it is like to go back to teaching after the summer break. He comments on the plague of Email here.
In addition, with the advent of computers, we also had the birth of emails, that modern plague that invades one’s life day and night. With the growth of technology, now one can check emails at the office or at home. In addition, email follows you on your iPad and on your smart phone. Emails are everywhere.
Last month my wife and I went on a vacation. When I returned to the office, I had to process hundreds of emails. I have an email at school, one at home, and another for the blog. Just to process all the emails that had accumulated over a two-week period, it took me almost two days. Maybe, some of us are luddites at heart, yearning for the good old days that never existed.
There is more good stuff there. I suggest you read it.
Which reminds me. I get more questions by Email, comments, and messages on FB, than I am able to answer. I want to answer most of them, but it is difficult to get to them. Hope you understand.
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