Category Archives: New Testament

Rachel’s tomb?

Posted on November 17, 2010 | 3 comments

During the past few weeks there has been controversy over a site immediately on the outskirts of Bethlehem called Rachel’s Tomb. My thought through the years has been that it is at best one of the “traditional” sites that may or may not be the tomb of Rachel.

Some bloggers have presented varying views on the association of the site with Rachel, the mother of Joseph and Benjamin (Genesis 35:24). I am going to direct you to places where you can read to your satisfaction.

Todd Bolen says this can not be the tomb of Rachel if we follow the biblical account in Genesis 35:19-20; 48:7, 1 Samuel 10:2, et al. Read here. He includes a nice color photo of the traditional tomb from the Feinberg collection (probably 1950s or 1960s), and documentation.
A response to Bolen by Benj Foreman. Read here.
Leen Ritmeyer’s response to Bolen. Read here.

This old photo, which is dated sometime between 1898 and 1946, is from The American Colony and Eric Matson Collection. Information on ordering is available at Life in the Holy Land.

Rachel's Tomb, American Colony and Eric Matson Collection.

Along with the set of historic views of the Holy Land, Todd Bolen has included quotations about the site from scholarly books that discuss the site. The following comment is from Edward Robinson and Eli Smith, Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Petraea, 1841. The entire book is available at Google Books.

“Someways up the gently acclivity, which here rises towards the N.E. from Wady Ahmed, stands the Kubbet Rahil, or Rachel’s Tomb . . . This is merely an ordinary Muslim Wely, or tomb of a holy person; a small square building of stone with a dome, and within it a tomb in the ordinary Muhammedan form; the whole plastered over with mortar. Of course the building is not ancient; in the seventh century there was here only a pyramid of stones. It is now neglected, and falling to decay; through pilgrimages are sill made to it by the Jews” (Robinson and Smith, Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Petraea, 1841: 1: 322).

3 Comments

Posted in Bible Places, Bible Study, Israel, New Testament, Old Testament

Fascinating article on “Tyre and the Poets”

Posted on November 16, 2010 | 2 comments

Joseph P. Duggan writes a fascinating article on “Tyre and the Poets” in The American Spectator. Notice a few excepts. I have added some of the pertinent Scripture references within the article in brackets.

For $50 a family can take a safe, radio-call taxi from the congested heart of Beirut to the uncluttered ancient waterfront of Tyre, a few miles north of the border with Israel. Lush banana plantations line the coastal route.…

The Western literary imagination is attracted to Tyre because it swirls amid the turbulent confluence of Biblical history and prophecy, Homeric and Virgilian epic, Ovidian mythology, and imperial extravagances of luxury and vindictive warfare. Tyre is the birthplace of real or fabulous personages including Cadmus, Europa, and Dido, the latter of whom colonized Carthage as others were to plant the Tyrian standard in Mediterranean ports as far west as Cádiz. The men who sailed with Columbus and colonized the Americas were descendants of long-ago colonists from Tyre.

With its expensive purple dye made from a local mollusk, the murex, Tyre was the center for the Versaces and Givenchys of the ancient world. Paris took Helen of Troy here on a shopping expedition to drape in sumptuous fabric the frame and face that launched a thousand ships.

King Hiram of Tyre was an ally and trading partner of Jerusalem’s King Solomon. Hiram sold Solomon the cedar timber for the great Temple. [1 Kings 9:11]

The Jerusalem-Tyre relationship was rocky then as now. The old Hebrew prophets inveighed against the wealthy city and its neighbor, Sidon, as hotbeds of heathenism and vice. Jezebel, a Tyrian princess (and Dido’s great-aunt) who married Israel’s King Ahab, came to an unhappy end. [Jezebel was the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians. 1 Kings 16:31]

Egypt’s pharaohs many times made war against Tyre. Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar battered Tyre in the 6th century B.C. [Ezekiel 26:7; 29:18] Some 250 years later, Alexander the Great already had established effective mastery over the entire Levant when he demanded to offer sacrifice at Tyre to its principal god, Melqart. Alexander maintained that he himself was divine because, he said, he was a descendant of divine Herakles, of whom Melqart was only an avatar. The Tyrians didn’t cotton to that.

When diplomacy failed, Alexander mounted a costly siege whose success resulted in the slaughter of thousands of Tyrians, deportation into slavery for the survivors, and ruin of the splendid city. Modern historians say there was no strategic rationale for Alexander’s destruction of Tyre and its people. The impulse for the genocide was something like the rage of a deranged, spurned lover. Is “education” the answer to war and the world’s other problems? Consider that the Macedonian sociopath had for his personal tutor the serene and rational Stagirite who wrote the Nicomachean Ethics.

When Jesus walked up the short road from Galilee to Tyre, [Matthew 15:21] preaching to the people and driving a demon out of a local woman’s daughter, [Mark 7:26] he saw what Nebuchadnezzar and Alexander had done to the place, fulfilling the prophecies of, inter alia, Amos, Ezekiel [26-28], Zechariah and Jeremiah. He instructed his disciples to say to Galilean towns that rejected them and their preaching: “It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment, than for thee.” [Matthew 11:21-22]

The entire article may be read here.

Our photo was made in the harbor of the island city of Tyre in 2002.

Fisherman working with nets at Tyre. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

I will make you a bare rock. You shall be a place for the spreading of nets. You shall never be rebuilt, for I am the LORD; I have spoken, declares the Lord GOD. (Ezekiel 26:14 ESV)

HT: PaleoJudaica

2 Comments

Posted in Bible Places, Bible Study, Culture, New Testament, Old Testament, Photography, Travel

Tagged Lebanon

View east from the Herodium

Posted on November 12, 2010 | 5 comments

During the past few months we have had considerable interest in our aerial photos of Herodium. Today I will share a photo showing the area east of the Herodium. This area is part of the Wilderness of Judea.

Aerial view east from over the Herodium. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

John the Baptist preached in the wilderness of Judea (Matthew 3:3), and Jesus was tempted in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1). This activity was likely in a region to the north of the area shown in this photo.

Jesus spoke to the crowds about John this way:

What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? (Luke 7:24 ESV)

Bauer describes the wilderness (Greek eremos) of Judea this way:

Of the Judean wilderness, the stony, barren eastern declivity of the Judean mountains toward the Dead Sea and lower Jordan Valley. (BDAG)

The Hebrew word for this wilderness is midbar. Charles F. Pfeiffer said the wilderness of Judea,

is the region of rugged gorges and bad lands in the eastern part of Judah where the land slopes off toward the Jordan Valley. In ancient times this area was infested with wild animals. Except for a brief time during the spring rains the wilderness is arid. (Baker’s Bible Atlas, 201)

Recently I was in a class covering the section of Scripture dealing with the conflict between Saul and David (1 Samuel 23-25).

The wilderness of Maon in the Arabah to the south of Jeshimon (1 Samuel 23:24). Jeshimon is another word used to describe the wilderness.
The strongholds and wilderness of Engedi (1 Samuel 23:29; 24:1).
The stronghold (possibly the area we know as Masada) (1 Samuel 22:4; 25:2).24:22).
Ziph, Horesh, Carmel (1 Samuel 23:14-15;

Some of that activity took place within this view, and some took place further to the south. The terrain is much the same. I note that Rainey uses the phrase “steppe land” in several of these references (Sacred Bridge, 148).

Many people who read the Bible in English, without checking into the matter, think of the wilderness as being a place filled with wild growth and underbrush. Jesus’ question to the crowds indicates that no reeds are to be found in the wilderness. In this case a picture really is worth a thousand words.

The map from BibleAtlas.org includes the region that we photographed.

Map to show area east of the Herodium. BibleMapper image from BibleAtlas.org.

5 Comments

Posted in Bible Places, Bible Study, Israel, New Testament, Old Testament, Photography

The apostles as gladiators

Posted on November 9, 2010 | Leave a comment

The apostle Paul compared the work of the apostles to that of gladiators in the arena. In writing to the Corinthians he says,

For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. (1 Corinthians 4:9 ESV)

As the last event of the day, the gladiator’s who were condemned to death were brought into the arena as a spectacle for the excited crowd. The word spectacle translates the Greek theatron, easy enough for everyone to understand the reference.

Leon Morris (Tyndale New Testament Commentary) calls attention to James Moffatt’s translation of this text.

The imagery is derived from the arena, as Moffatt’s rendering brings out, ‘God means us apostles to come in at the very end, like doomed gladiators in the arena!’

The photo below shows gladiators in the Roman hippodrome at the RACE (Roman Army and Chariot Experience) show at Jerash, Jordan.

Gladiators in the Roman hippodrome at Jerash, Jordan. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

Here is a close up of one of the gladiators.

Gladiator in the RACE show, Jerash, Jordan. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

Both photos are available in a larger size suitable for use in teaching. Just click on the images.

David Padfield has several photos of gladiators here.

“Lands of the Bible” 2011 calendar

Posted on November 5, 2010 | Leave a comment

Everyone who has visited Israel, or those who wish they had, enjoy seeing good pictures of the lands of the Bible. Orange Circle Studio, a leading calendar publisher, produced a beautiful calendar for 2011 using the photographs of Todd Bolen.

A friend sent me a copy of the calendar as a gift. I enjoyed it as soon as I browsed through it, and expect to enjoy it for the next 14 months. I thought some of our readers who appreciate good photos of the Bible land would enjoy the calendar. Todd has a few of the calendars available at a discount price (postpaid). For more information go to the Bible Places Blog, or directly to the order page here.

Sea of Galilee now more than 701 feet below sea level

Posted on November 3, 2010 | 2 comments

Arutz Sheva reports that the Sea of Galilee fell 20 centimeters last month.

Despite several periods of rain during the month, the Kinneret’s level fell 20 centimeters [7.87 inches] in October, the Hydrological Service of the Israel Water Authority said Tuesday. The lake’s level is now 213.88 [701.71 ft.] meters below sea level. According to the Service, the Kinneret lost 72 centimeters [28.35 in.] between July and September.

A lone fisherman on the Sea of Galilee at sunrise. View east. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

The Sea of Gailee/Kinneret played an important role in the ministry of Christ and His disciples.

When He heard that John had been arrested, He withdrew into Galilee. He left Nazareth behind and went to live in Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, along the sea road, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles! The people who live in darkness have seen a great light, and for those living in the shadowland of death, light has dawned. From then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near!” (Matthew 4:12-17 CSB)

HT: Biblical Paths.

2 Comments

Posted in Bible Places, Bible Study, Israel, New Testament, Photography, Travel

Tagged Ministry of Jesus

Decorations from Herod’s tomb

Posted on October 29, 2010 | 2 comments

Joseph I. Lauer calls attention to a photo-essay of the announcement of the discovery of Herod’s tomb at the Herodium. This essay dates back to May 10, 2007, but there may be new readers who have not seen this. Check here.

Shortly after the announcement, Elie Ben Meir, a guide/friend of mine in Israel, shared a few of his photos made at the Herodium on June 24, 2007. I had intended to publish, with his permission, some of these earlier but overlooked it. You might enjoy these closeup of some of the stone decorations found at the site.

Herodium tomb ornament. Photo by Elie Ben Meir.

Notice the beautiful carvings.

Decoration of Herod's tomb at the Herodium. Photo by Elie Ben Meir.

I found Leen Ritmeyer’s post about the passing of Prof. Netzer interesting. Check it here.

Herod the Great was the “king of Judea” from 37 to 4 B.C. Near the close of his reign Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, wise men from the east arrived unexpectedly in Jerusalem, (Matthew 2:1 CSB)

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Posted in Archaeology, Bible Places, Bible Study, blog, Israel, New Testament, Photography

Archaeologist Netzer dies after fall

Posted on October 28, 2010 | 2 comments

The Jerusalem Post reported here this afternoon that Prof. Netzer succumbed to the injuries sustained during his fall at the Herodium.

Renowned archaeologist Ehud Netzer died of his wounds at the Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital in Jerusalem Thursday night, days after he fell during an excavation.

On Monday Prof. Netzer was hospitalized in critical condition after a wooden railing he leaned on gave way, at the Herodion archeological site in the West Bank.

Jim West was kind enough to leave a comment on our blog this morning once he was certain that Prof. Netzer had died.

Recently we discussed here some of the work at the Herodium. Below I am including a closer view of the area where Prof. Netzer was working. This aerial photo shows a clear view of the theater. The roofed structure covers the royal theater box.

The Herodium excavation. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins. Dec. 15, 2009.

Without the determination of Ehud Netzer the north side of the Herodium would still look like the view below, and we would still be wondering about the location of Herod’s burial place.

The Herodium from the north. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins, Aug. 23, 2008.

The Herodium is located a few miles east of Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus (Matthew 2).

2 Comments

Posted in Archaeology, Bible Places, Bible Study, blog, Israel, New Testament, Photography

Cenchrea — a port used by Paul and Phoebe

Posted on October 27, 2010 | 4 comments

Cenchrea is located a few miles east of Corinth on the Saronic Gulf, an arm of the Aegean Sea. In the time of the Apostle Paul Cenchrea was considered the eastern port of Corinth. It was here that Paul had his hair cut before sailing for Syria.

Paul, having remained many days longer, took leave of the brethren and put out to sea for Syria, and with him were Priscilla and Aquila. In Cenchrea he had his hair cut, for he was keeping a vow. (Acts 18:18 NAU)

Our photo provides a view of the port and the northern breakwater.

Port of Cenchrea with view toward the northern breakwater. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

Cenchrea was the home of Phoebe, who was a servant of the church there. Cenchrea would have been one of the unnamed churches “in the whole of Achaia” (2 Corinthians 1:1).

I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea; that you receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints, and that you help her in whatever matter she may have need of you; for she herself has also been a helper of many, and of myself as well. (Romans 16:1-2 NAU)

I think we may safely conclude that Phoebe sailed from this port to Rome with the epistle Paul write to the saints at Rome about A.D. 57.

Except for the port, little is to be seen of ancient Cenchrea. Some underwater excavations have taken place. Perhaps at a later time we will call attention to some of the discoveries.

Click on the image if you would like to have a copy of the photo suitable for use in teaching Acts, Romans, or the life and ministry of Paul.

4 Comments

Posted in Archaeology, Bible Places, Bible Study, Books, Greece, New Testament, Photography, Travel

Tagged Apostle Paul

Murex is not the only source of purple

Posted on October 26, 2010 | 2 comments

Royal purple dye was made from the secretion of the Murex snail, typically found along the eastern Mediterranean coast, especially near Tyre.

In New Testament times (the first century A.D.), several cities in Asia Minor were noted as producers of dye. Colossae and Thyatira were located inland, far away from the Sea. These, and other cities of the region, made purple from the madder root.

Madder root, a source of purple in Turkey. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

The three colors shown in the yarn below come from the madder root. The darker color on the right might more closely resemble royal purple.

Yarn dyed with madder root. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

Thyatira was noted as a great center for the wool trade and for its dyeing industry. Lydia, the first convert of the gospel in Europe, was a native of Thyatira (in Asia). She seems to have represented this industry in Philippi. One inscription, found at Philippi in 1872, honored from among the purple dyers a man named Antiochus who was a “native of Thyatira” (Meinardus, St. John, 93).

The purple dye used around Thyatira was evidently a vegetable dye from the madder root which grew in abundance in the region. Hemer says that the madder root “was still cultivated in the district at least until the end of the last century.” The pigment is commonly called Turkey red. In addition to the colors shown in the yarn above, I am told by the Turkish carpet sellers that the “red” in this beautiful Turkish carpet comes from the madder root.

Carpet made from yarn made from the madder root. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

Carpet using yarn made from the madder root. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

Now when you read about Lydia as a seller of purpose you should think of the dye made from the madder root, or from the dyed products.

A woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God, was listening. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was spoken by Paul. (Acts 16:14 CSB)

2 Comments

Posted in Bible Places, Bible Study, Culture, New Testament, Photography, Travel, Turkey

Category Archives: New Testament

Rachel’s tomb?

Fascinating article on “Tyre and the Poets”

View east from the Herodium

The apostles as gladiators

“Lands of the Bible” 2011 calendar

Sea of Galilee now more than 701 feet below sea level

Decorations from Herod’s tomb

Archaeologist Netzer dies after fall

Cenchrea — a port used by Paul and Phoebe

Murex is not the only source of purple

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