Theological History

Statue of Amenhotep III, King Tut’s Grandfather, Found

A large statue of King Amenhotep III, the grandfather of the boy-pharaoh Tutankhamun, who ruled nearly 3,400 years ago, has been unearthed in Egypt.

The Supreme Council of Antiquities says the latest find was made at the king’s funerary temple in the southern city of Luxor.

Ancient Stone Marking in Jerusalem Stump Experts

Mysterious stone carvings made thousands of years ago and recently uncovered in an excavation underneath Jerusalem have archaeologists stumped.

Israeli diggers who uncovered a complex of rooms carved into the bedrock in the oldest section of the city recently found the markings…

Archaeological Evidence for Sodom

Dr. Collins summarized the end result: “To start with, the Tall el-Hammam site has twenty-five geographical indicators that align with the description in Genesis. … Second, our findings—pottery, architecture, and destruction layers—fit the timeframe profile. … Lastly, we have secured internationally recognized experts to review our findings.

Ruins of Ancient City Plundered in Southwestern Iran

An expert of the Shushtar Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Office has said that the ruins of the ancient city of Dastvar in Khuzestan Province have been repeatedly looted by groups of invaders over the past few months.

Ancient Texts Tell Tales of War, Bar Tabs

A trove of newly translated texts from the ancient Middle East are revealing accounts of war, the building of pyramidlike structures called ziggurats and even the people’s use of beer tabs at local taverns.

First-Temple Era Findings Destroyed Near Aflua

Vandals attacked and heavily damaged an Antiquities Authority site near Afula overnight Wednesday, destroying findings dating back to the First Temple era.

“All the signs” pointed to a group of haredi activists as the main suspects, due to their opposition to what they describe as the desecration of graves, Dror Barshad, an archeologist for the authority’s northern district, told The Jerusalem Post.

Ancient Texts Part of Earliest Known Documents

A team of scholars has discovered what might be the oldest representation of the Tower of Babel of Biblical fame, they report in a newly published book.

Carved on a black stone, which has already been dubbed the Tower of Babel stele, the inscription dates to 604-562 BCE.

Second Temple Era Seal Unveiled

The Israel Antiquities Authority held a special press conference in Jerusalem’s City of David on Sunday to unveil a rare coin from the Second Temple era.

The cartouche – or seal – never seen by the public before, is the size of the modern New Israeli Shekel coin and bears the Aramaic inscriptions “it is pure” and a two-letter abbreviation for the name of God.

Archaeologists Excavate Legendary City of Dan

…Known today as Tell el-Qadi, more popularly as “Tel Dan”, the site is located near Mount Hermon in Northern Israel adjacent to one of the sources of the Jordan River. The ‘Tel’, or mound, was defined very early on during the Middle Bronze period when massive defensive ramparts were constructed, encircling the city.

Scrolls Raise Questions as to Afghan Jewish History

…The expert in ancient Persian languages said the scrolls included an ancient copy of the book of Jeremiah; hitherto unknown scholarly works by the medieval sage Rabbi Sa’adia Gaon; personal poems of loss and mourning and even bookkeeping records that could teach us about everyday life in the community.

First-Temple Period Bulla Found

Jerusalem archaeologist Gabriel Barkay announced this week that the Temple Mount Sifting Project has discovered a fragment of a seventh-century B.C.E. clay bulla impressed with the ancient Hebrew inscription [g]b’n lmlk, or “Gibeon, for the king.”

Due to a somewhat hectic life I will only being publishing new blog posts the first and third weeks of the month.

This week’s “Midweek Midrash” is from The Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg (1909).

THE DEATH AND BURIAL OF SARAH

Burial of Sarah

While Abraham was engaged in the sacrifice, Satan went to Sarah, and appeared to her in the figure of an old man, very humble and meek, and said to her: “Dost thou not know all that Abraham has done unto thine only son this day? He took Isaac, and built an altar, slaughtered him, and brought him up as a sacrifice. Isaac cried and wept before his father, but he looked not at him, neither did he have compassion upon him.” After saying these words to Sarah, Satan went away from her, and she thought him to be an old man from amongst the sons of men who had been with her son. Sarah lifted up her voice, and cried bitterly, saying: “O my son, Isaac, my son, O that I had this day died instead of thee I It grieves me for thee! After that I have reared thee and have brought thee up, my joy is turned into mourning over thee. In my longing for a child, I cried and prayed, till I bore thee at ninety. Now hast thou served this day for the knife and the fire. But I console myself, it being the word of God, and thou didst perform the command of thy God, for who can transgress the word of our God, in whose hands is the soul of every living creature? Thou art just, O Lord our God, for all Thy works are good and righteous, for I also rejoice with the word which Thou didst command, and while mine eye weepeth bitterly, my heart rejoiceth.” And Sarah laid her head upon the bosom of one of her handmaids, and she became as still as a stone.

She rose up afterward and went about making inquiries concerning her son, till she came to Hebron, and no one could tell her what had happened to her son. Her servants went to seek him in the house of Shem and Eber, and they could not find him, and they sought throughout the land, and he was not there. And, behold, Satan came to Sarah in the shape of an old man, and said unto her, “I spoke falsely unto thee, for Abraham did not kill his son, and he is not dead,” and when she heard the word, her joy was so exceedingly violent that her soul went out through joy.

When Abraham with Isaac returned to Beer-sheba, they sought for Sarah and could not find her, and when they made inquiries concerning her, they were told that she had gone as far as Hebron to seek them. Abraham and Isaac went to her to Hebron, and when they found that she was dead, they cried bitterly over her, and Isaac said: “O my mother, my mother, how hast thou left me, and whither hast thou gone? O whither hast thou gone, and how hast thou left me?” And Abraham and all his servants wept and mourned over her a great and heavy mourning,” even that Abraham did not pray, but spent his time in mourning and weeping over Sarah. And, indeed, he had great reason to mourn his loss, for even in her old age Sarah had retained the beauty of her youth and the innocence of her childhood.

The death of Sarah was a loss not only for Abraham and his family, but for the whole country. So long as she was alive, all went well in the land. After her death confusion ensued. The weeping, lamenting, and wailing over her going hence was universal, and Abraham, instead of receiving consolation, had to offer consolation to others. He spoke to the mourning people, and said: “My children, take not the going hence of Sarah too much to heart. There is one event unto all, to the pious and the impious alike. I pray you now, give me a burying-place with you, not as a gift, but for money.”

In these last few words Abraham’s unassuming modesty was expressed. God had promised him the whole land, yet when he came to bury his dead, he had to pay for the grave, and it did not enter his heart to cast aspersions upon the ways of God. In all humility he spake to the people of Hebron, saying, “I am a stranger and a sojourner with you.” Therefore spake God to him, and said, “Thou didst bear thyself modestly. As thou livest, I will appoint thee lord and prince over them.”

To the people themselves he appeared an angel, and they answered his words, saying: “Thou art a prince of God among us. In the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead, among the rich if thou wilt, or among the poor if thou wilt.”

Abraham first of all gave thanks to God for the friendly feeling shown to him by the children of Heth, and then he continued his negotiations for the Cave of Machpelah. He had long known the peculiar value of this spot. Adam had chosen it as a burial-place for himself. He had feared his body might be used for idolatrous purposes after his death; he therefore designated the Cave of Machpelah as the place of his burial, and in the depths his corpse was laid, so that none might find it. When he interred Eve there, he wanted to dig deeper, because he scented the sweet fragrance of Paradise, near the entrance to which it lay, but a heavenly voice called to him, Enough! Adam himself was buried there by Seth, and until the time of Abraham the place was guarded by angels, who kept a fire burning near it perpetually, so that none dared approach it and bury his dead therein. Now, it happened on the day when Abraham received the angels in his house, and he wanted to slaughter an ox for their entertainment, that the ox ran away, and in his pursuit of him Abraham entered the Cave of Machpelah. There he saw Adam and Eve stretched out upon couches, candles burning at the head of their resting-places, while a sweet scent pervaded the cave.

Therefore Abraham wished to acquire the Cave of Machpelah from the children of Heth, the inhabitants of the city of Jebus. They said to him. “We know that in time to come God will give these lands unto thy seed, and now do thou swear a covenant with us that Israel shall not wrest the city of Jebus from its inhabitants without their consent.” Abraham agreed to the condition, and he acquired the field from Ephron, in whose possession it lay.

This happened the very day on which Ephron had been made the chief of the children of Heth, and he had been raised to the position so that Abraham might not have to have dealings with a man of low rank. It was of advantage to Abraham, too, for Ephron at first refused to sell his field, and only the threat of the children of Heth to depose him from his office, unless he fulfilled the desire of Abraham, could induce him to change his disposition.

Dissembling deceitfully, Ephron then offered to give Abraham the field without compensation, but when Abraham insisted upon paying for it, Ephron said: “My lord, hearken unto me. A piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver, what is that betwixt me and thee?” showing only too well that the money was of the greatest consequence to him. Abraham understood his words, and when he came to pay for the field, he weighed out the sum agreed upon between them in the best of current coin. A deed, signed by four witnesses, was drawn up, and the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, the field, and the cave which was therein, were made sure unto Abraham and his descendants for all times.

The burial of Sarah then took place, amid great magnificence and the sympathy of all. Shem and his son Eber, Abimelech king of the Philistines, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre, as well as all the great of the land, followed her bier. A seven days’ mourning was kept for her, and all the inhabitants of the land came to condole with Abraham and Isaac.

When Abraham entered the cave to place the body of Sarah within, Adam and Eve refused to remain there, “because,” they said, “as it is, we are ashamed in the presence of God on account of the sin we committed, and now we shall be even more ashamed on account of your good deeds.” Abraham soothed Adam. He promised to pray to God for him, that the need for shame be removed from him. Adam resumed his place, and Abraham entombed Sarah, and at the same time he carried Eve, resisting, back to her place.

One year after the death of Sarah, Abimelech king of the Philistines died, too, at the age of one hundred and ninety-three years. His successor upon the throne was his twelve-year old son Benmelek, who took the name of his father after his accession. Abraham did not fail to pay a visit of condolence at the court of Abimelech.

Lot also died about this time, at the age of one hundred and forty-two. His sons, Moab and Ammon, both married Canaanitish wives. Moab begot a son, and Ammon had six sons, and the descendants of both were numerous exceedingly.

Abraham suffered a severe loss at the same time in the death of his brother Nahor, whose days ended at Haran, when he had reached the age of one hundred and seventy two years.

et-Tell

Bereishit יב (Genesis 12)

8 And he removed from there unto the mountain on the east of Beth-el, and pitched his tent, having Beth-el on the west, and Ai on the east; and he built there an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD. 9 And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South.

Ai was originally a Canaanite royal city and is associated with the modern-day et-Tell. Eusebius and Jerome both spoke about the location of the Biblical Ai.

Eusebius: “’Aggai (Genesis 12:8). The sun goes down (over) Bethel, not far away. Bethel is situated going up to Jerusalem from Neapolis (Nablus) on the left at the 12th marker, and it still remains. ‘Aggai is deserted and can only be pointed out. This is the record of Gai.”¹

Jerome: “Aggai goes west toward the region of Bethel, not much from it in distance. Now Bethel is situated on the left side of the road nearly 12 milestones from Aelia going toward Aelia from Neapoli(s). And to this day only a small village can be shown. But a church is built where Jacob slept on his way to Mesopotamia. The place itself he named “Bethel,” it is “the house of God.” Actually, there are scarcely any remains of Aggai, and the place is barely discernable. It must be known that Hebrew does not have the letter G, but it is called Ai, and written through the alphabet which among us is called Ain.”¹

The site associated with the Biblical Ai is often based upon the location associated with the Biblical Beth-el. W. F. Albright made the suggestion that Ai was mistaken for Beth-el by the writers of the Bible. Other scholars believe that Beth-el is near Shechem which would place Ai closer to Shechem as well. Joseph Callaway has been led to believe that et-Tell was Ai based upon his own excavations but Grintz suggested that et-Tell is in actuality Beth-Aven.²

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¹Livingstone, David. “Locating Biblical Ai Correctly.” davelivingston.com. Ancient Days. 2003. Web 17 December 2011. [http://www.davelivingston.com/ai15.htm]
²Livingston, David. “Location of Biblical Bethel and Ai Reconsidered.” biblearchaeology.org. Associates for Biblical Research. November 1970. Web 18 December 2011. [https://www.biblearchaeology.org/post/2009/06/25/Location-of-Biblical-Bethel-and-Ai-Reconsidered.aspx#Article]

What are your comments or questions?

רחל

I will be extending my short respite from the blog to get some things done that I have been putting on the back burner for far too long. I will be back in January.

New Evidence Supporting the Early (Biblical) Date of the Exodus and Conquest

Evangelical scholars are divided as to when the Exodus-Conquest events took place—some say the 15th century BC, while others hold to the 13th century BC. The chronological data in the Bible, however, clearly indicates that these events transpired in the 15th century BC, the Exodus occurring in 1446 BC and the Conquest 1406–1400 BC (Wood 2008: 100). Now, for the first time, we have evidence from an Egyptian source which supports the earlier Biblical dating.

Israelis Mapping Every Grave in 3,000-Year-Old Mount of Olives Necropolis

 A Jewish group in Jerusalem is using 21st-century technology to map every tombstone in the ancient cemetery on the Mount of Olives, a sprawling, politically sensitive necropolis of 150,000 graves stretching back three millennia.

Mystery of Dead Sea Scroll Authors Possibly Solved

The Dead Sea Scrolls may have been written, at least in part, by a sectarian group called the Essenes, according to nearly 200 textiles discovered in caves at Qumran, in the West Bank, where the religious texts had been stored.

The Architectural Development of the Western Wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem

The latest archaeological developments near the Western Wall of the Temple Mount … have caused concern to some who feel that their understanding that King Herod the Great built the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is being undermined. It would mean that the Temple Mount was not finished when Jesus visited the Temple. That, however, does not have to be the case.

Ancient Egyptian Chariot Trappings Rediscovered

The beautifully preserved leather trappings of an ancient Egyptian chariot have been rediscovered in a storeroom of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Researchers say that the find, which includes intact harnesses, gauntlets and a bow case, is unique, and will help them to reconstruct how such chariots were made and used.

Art Find in Egypt 15,000 Years Old

The words “ancient Egyptian art” brings to mind the popular tomb art found in the region of the Upper Nile, created between 5000 BC and about 300 AD.

As ancient as those works are, they’re almost contemporary compared to what a Yale University professor and a team of Belgian scientists found in Qurta, Egypt — rock carvings dating back to between 15,000 and 23,000 years ago. They are the oldest Egyptian works of art known to exist and are among the oldest art found anywhere.

I just wanted to say thank you to all of you who have been following this blog. I will be taking a short respite (probably two weeks) from the blog to get some things done that I have been putting on the back burner for far too long.

So, again, thank you for stopping by and please come back for more updates in the near future!

This week’s “Midweek Midrash” is from The Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg (1909).

THE ‘AKEDAH

Akeidah

And while they were walking along, Isaac spake unto his father, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where then is the lamb for a burnt offering before the Lord?” And Abraham answered Isaac, saying, “The Lord hath chosen thee, my son, for a perfect burnt offering, instead of the lamb.” And Isaac said unto his father, “I will do all that the Lord hath spoken to thee with joy and cheerfulness of heart.” And Abraham again said unto Isaac his son, “Is there in thy heart any thought or counsel concerning this which is not proper? Tell me, my son, I pray thee! O my son, conceal it not from me.” And Isaac answered, “As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is nothing in my heart to cause me to deviate either to the right or the left from the word that He hath spoken unto thee. Neither limb nor muscle hath moved or stirred on account of this, nor is there in my heart any thought or evil counsel concerning this. But I am joyful and cheerful of heart in this matter, and I say, Blessed is the Lord who has this day chosen me to be a burnt offering before Him.”

Abraham greatly rejoiced at the words of Isaac, and they went on and came together to that place that the Lord had spoken of. And Abraham approached to build the altar in that place, and Abraham did build, while Isaac handed him stones and mortar, until they finished erecting the altar. And Abraham took the wood and arranged it upon the altar, and he bound Isaac, to place him upon the wood which was upon the altar, to slay him for a burnt offering before the Lord. Isaac spake hereupon: “Father, make haste, bare thine arm, and bind my hands and feet securely, for I am a young man, but thirty-seven years of age, and thou art an old man. When I behold the slaughtering knife in thy hand, I may perchance begin to tremble at the sight and push against thee, for the desire unto life is bold. Also I may do myself an injury and make myself unfit to be sacrificed. I adjure thee, therefore, my father, make haste, execute the will of thy Creator, delay not. Turn up thy garment, gird thy loins, and after that thou hast slaughtered me, burn me unto fine ashes. Then gather the ashes, and bring them to Sarah, my mother, and place them in a casket in her chamber. At all hours, whenever she enters her chamber, she will remember her son Isaac and weep for him.”

And again Isaac spoke: “As soon as thou hast slaughtered me, and hast separated thyself from me, and returnest to Sarah my mother, and she asketh thee, Where is my son Isaac? what wilt thou answer her, and what will you two do in your old age?” Abraham answered, and said, “We know we can survive thee by a few days only. He who was our Comfort before thou wast born, will comfort us now and henceforth.”

After he had laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac on the altar, upon the wood, Abraham braced his arms, rolled up his garments, and leaned his knees upon Isaac with all his strength. And God, sitting upon His throne, high and exalted, saw how the hearts of the two were the same, and tears were rolling down from the eyes of Abraham upon Isaac, and from Isaac down upon the wood, so that it was submerged in tears. When Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son, God spoke to the angels: “Do you see how Abraham my friend proclaims the unity of My Name in the world? Had I hearkened unto you at the time of the creation of the world, when ye spake, What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that Thou visitest him? who would there have been to make known the unity of My Name in this world?” The angels then broke into loud weeping, and they exclaimed: “The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth, he hath broken the covenant. Where is the reward of Abraham, he who took the wayfarers into his house, gave them food and drink, and went with them to bring them on the way? The covenant is broken, whereof Thou didst speak to him, saying, ‘For in Isaac shall thy seed be called,’ and saying, ‘My covenant will I establish with Isaac,’ for the slaughtering knife is set upon his throat.”

The tears of the angels fell upon the knife, so that it could not cut Isaac’s throat, but from terror his soul escaped from him. Then God spoke to the archangel Michael, and said: “Why standest thou here? Let him not be slaughtered.” Without delay, Michael, anguish in his voice, cried out: “Abraham! Abraham! Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him!” Abraham made answer, and he said: “God did command me to slaughter Isaac, and thou dost command me not to slaughter him! The words of the Teacher and the words of the disciple- unto whose words doth one hearken?” Then Abraham heard it said: “By Myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea-shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed My voice.”

At once Abraham left off from Isaac, who returned to life, revived by the heavenly voice admonishing Abraham not to slaughter his son. Abraham loosed his bonds, and Isaac stood upon his feet, and spoke the benediction, “Blessed art Thou, O Lord, who quickenest the dead.”

Then spake Abraham to God, “Shall I go hence without having offered up a sacrifice?” Whereunto God replied, and said, “Lift up thine eyes, and behold the sacrifice behind thee.” And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and, behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket, which God had created in the twilight of Sabbath eve in the week of creation, and prepared since then as a burnt offering instead of Isaac. And the ram had been running toward Abraham, when Satan caught hold of him and entangled his horns in the thicket, that he might not advance to Abraham. And Abraham, seeing this, fetched him from the thicket, and brought him upon the altar as an offering in the place of his son Isaac. And Abraham sprinkled the blood of the ram upon the altar, and he exclaimed, and said, “This is instead of my son, and may this be considered as the blood of my son before the Lord.” And whatsoever Abraham did by the altar, he exclaimed, and said, “This is instead of my son, and may it be considered before the Lord in place of my son.” And God accepted the sacrifice of the ram, and it was accounted as though it had been Isaac.

As the creation of this ram had been extraordinary, so also was the use to which all parts of his carcass were put. Not one thing went to waste. The ashes of the parts burnt upon the altar formed the foundation of the inner altar, whereon the expiatory sacrifice was brought once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the day on which the offering of Isaac took place. Of the sinews of the ram, David made ten strings for his harp upon which he played. The skin served Elijah for his girdle, and of his two horns, the one was blown at the end of the revelation on Mount Sinai, and the other will be used to proclaim the end of the Exile, when the “great horn shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and they that were outcasts in the land of Egypt, and they shall worship the Lord in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.”

When God commanded the father to desist from sacrificing Isaac, Abraham said: “One man tempts another, because he knoweth not what is in the heart of his neighbor. But Thou surely didst know that I was ready to sacrifice my son!”

God: “It was manifest to Me, and I foreknew it, that thou wouldst withhold not even thy soul from Me.”

Abraham: “And why, then, didst Thou afflict me thus?”

God: “It was My wish that the world should become acquainted with thee, and should know that it is not without good reason that I have chosen thee from all the nations. Now it hath been witnessed unto men that thou fearest God.”

Hereupon God opened the heavens, and Abraham heard the words, “By Myself I swear!”

Abraham: “Thou swearest, and also I swear, I will not leave this altar until I have said what I have to say.”

God: “Speak whatsoever thou hast to speak!”

Abraham: “Didst Thou not promise me Thou wouldst let one come forth out of mine own bowels, whose seed should fill the whole world?”

God: “Yes.”

Abraham: “Whom didst Thou mean?”

God: “Isaac.”

Abraham: “Didst Thou not promise me to make my seed as numerous as the sand of the sea-shore?”

God: “Yes.”

Abraham: “Through which one of my children?”

God: “Through Isaac.”

Abraham: “I might have reproached Thee, and said, O Lord of the world, yesterday Thou didst tell me, In Isaac shall Thy seed be called, and now Thou sayest, Take thy son, thine only son, even Isaac, and offer him for a burnt offering. But I refrained myself, and I said nothing. Thus mayest Thou, when the children of Isaac commit trespasses and because of them fall upon evil times, be mindful of the offering of their father Isaac, and forgive their sins and deliver them from their suffering.”

God: “Thou hast said what thou hadst to say, and I will now say what I have to say. Thy children will sin before me in time to come, and I will sit in judgment upon them on the New Year’s Day. If they desire that I should grant them pardon, they shall blow the ram’s horn on that day, and I, mindful of the ram that was substituted for Isaac as a sacrifice, will forgive them for their sins.”

Furthermore, the Lord revealed unto Abraham that the Temple, to be erected on the spot of Isaac’s offering, would be destroyed, and as the ram substituted for Isaac extricated himself from one tree but to be caught in another, so his children would pass from kingdom to kingdom–delivered from Babylonia they would be subjugated by Media, rescued from Media they would be enslaved by Greece, escaped from Greece they would serve Rome–yet in the end they would be redeemed in a final redemption, at the sound of the ram’s horn, when “the Lord God shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south.”

The place on which Abraham had erected the altar was the same whereon Adam had brought the first sacrifice, and Cain and Abel had offered their gifts to God–the same whereon Noah raised an altar to God after he left the ark; and Abraham, who knew that it was the place appointed for the Temple, called it Yireh, for it would be the abiding place of the fear and the service of God. But as Shem had given it the name Shalem, Place of Peace, and God would not give offence to either Abraham or Shem, He united the two names, and called the city by the name Jerusalem.

After the sacrifice on Mount Moriah, Abraham returned to Beer-sheba, the scene of so many of his joys. Isaac was carried to Paradise by angels, and there he sojourned for three years. Thus Abraham returned home alone, and when Sarah beheld him, she exclaimed, “Satan spoke truth when he said that Isaac was sacrificed,” and so grieved was her soul that it fled from her body.