Roman Era Home Found in Nazareth

The New York Times
By REUTERS
Published: December 21, 2009
Filed at 8:48 a.m. ET

NAZARETH, Israel (Reuters) - Remains of a house from the time of Jesus have been found in Nazareth -- the first discovery of its kind in the place where he grew up, Israel's Antiquities Authority said on Monday.

Archaeologists did not draw any direct link between the Nazareth dwelling and Jesus. His mother Mary's childhood home, many Christian faithful believe, was a cave over which Nazareth's imposing Church of the Annunciation now stands.

Yardenna Alexandre, who directed a dig near the church, said it exposed the walls of a first-century house that consisted of two rooms and a courtyard.

"The discovery is of the utmost importance since it reveals for the very first time a house from the Jewish village of Nazareth," Alexandre said in a statement issued by the Antiquities Authority.

"The building that we found is small and modest and it is most likely typical of the dwellings in Nazareth in that period," she said.

"Until now, a number of tombs from the time of Jesus were found in Nazareth, however no settlement remains had been discovered that were attributed to this period."

Alexandre described Nazareth, now Israel's largest Arab city with a population of some 65,000, as a "small hamlet" during Jesus's time.

(Writing by Jeffrey Heller; editing by Robin Pomeroy)

O Come O Come Emmanuel

This is a short video I put together in celebration of Christmas. I hope you enjoy it.

"And the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men.

"And the God of our fathers, who were led out of Egypt, out of bondage, and also were preserved in the wilderness by him, yea, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, yieldeth himself, according to the words of the angel, as a man, into the hands of wicked men, to be lifted up, according to the words of Zenock, and to be crucified, according to the words of Neum, and to be buried in a sepulchre, according to the words of Zenos,"

1 Nephi 19:9-10

Herodian Tunnels Recently Discovered in the City of David

This is a video of a really remarkable discovery in the City of David portion of Jerusalem (To see a map of Jerusalem during Roman Times click here). The City of David is the section of the city located on the Ophel Ridge that runs south down from the Harem esh Sharif (aka Temple Mount) and is the location of the ancient Jebusite city that David conquered. During David's time the city was confined to this area and it wasn't until the time of Hezekiah, about 300 years later, that the city wall was extended to the west to incorporate the area known today as Mount Zion. This wall has become known as the broad wall and remnants of it can be seen today.

Today the City of David is not located within the walls of the city. The present walls were built in the 16th century AD by the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. The tunnel shown in the video runs from the southern end of the ridge north toward the Temple Mount.

(N.B. The term "Herodian" refers to King Herod and describes the time from the commencement of his reign in 37 BC until the end of the dynasty he founded in 92 AD.)

Serpent of Brass Part 2

A few months ago I posted something about the story of Moses' brass serpent found in Numbers 21. I was never really happy with it so I tried to rewrite it a few times but finally just removed it from my blog. I was trying to provide an explanation for some of the details mentioned in that chapter which had been a source of confusion for me.

The general symbolism of the brass serpent is very clear and the scriptures do a good job of pointing that out (see John 3:14-15 & Hel. 8:14-15). What had puzzled me was, why did the Lord instruct Moses to make a brass serpent? Why create an image of the very thing that had caused so much harm and use that as an instrument to heal? It seemed that other animals could have made the message more clear. For example, the Lord could have told Moses to make a lamb or a lion. Despite this the Lord chose a serpent and the reason is that the Lord was trying to teach some additional principles.

I mentioned an article in my earlier post from the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies written by Dr. Andrew Skinner which examines the symbolism attached to serpents in ancient cultures. The article addresses the topic of the brass serpent so I have posted a section of his article below. The article is entitled Serpent Symbols and Salvation in the Ancient Near East and the Book of Mormon. It was useful in helping me to understand why the Lord used a brass serpent as a tool in teaching and healing his people. I highly recommend reading the entire article. Here is the section that specifically discusses the incident mentioned in Numbers 21:

The serpent first appears in the scriptures in the story of the fall of Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:1). In the Hebrew language the creature is called a nahash, a viper, from which derives the noun for copper or brass (nehosheth), also used as an adjective denoting the "brass" serpent that Moses erected on a pole in the wilderness for the protection and healing of the Israelites (see Numbers 21:4—9).

On the one hand, the nahash in Genesis is clearly symbolic of evil, even the evil one (Satan), precisely because the serpent was in league with the devil, promoting the cause of the adversary and acting as his agent to bring about the fall (see Moses 4:5—31). On the other hand, when used by Moses under God's inspiration, the image of the nahash or, more precisely, the nahash nehosheth (brass serpent), became the agent of life and salvation for God's covenant people.

Numbers 21 is particularly intriguing because it demonstrates the dual nature of serpent symbolism in Israelite culture in a striking fashion.

And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived. (Numbers 21:5—9)

The agent of both harm and healing, death and life, is, in this instance, the serpent. The people sin and fiery serpents bite them. Moses constructs a brass image of the harmful creatures and the people are spared. But it is really Jehovah who is the cause working behind the image, the actual instigator of both death and life. The Israelites may already have been familiar with images of fiery serpents from their exposure to Egyptian mythology while sojourning in Egypt. But the serpent symbol is now seen in its true light—a valid and important representation of God's ultimate power over life and death. God is the reality behind the symbol.

In the early part of the story of Israel's deliverance from Pharaoh, king of Egypt, Jehovah showed Moses in a dramatic way that He was the real God represented by the image of the serpent or snake, an image that Pharaoh himself wore on the front of his official headdress as a symbol of his own deity and sovereignty. (It will be remembered that every pharaoh was regarded as a living god on earth by his subjects.) When Moses threw down his staff, as commanded, it became a serpent. God told the Lawgiver that just such a demonstration should be conducted in front of Pharaoh and his court so that all would know that Jehovah was the one true God who had commissioned his representative, Moses, to stand before the false gods of the Egyptian people, which pantheon included Pharaoh himself (see Exodus 4:1—5, 8).

When Moses and Aaron went before Pharaoh, they did exactly as the Lord had commanded. Their staff became a snake, which in the Hebrew text is denoted by two different terms, one of which is the very same word used earlier in Genesis to describe Eve's tempter, nahash (see Exodus 7:9, 10, 15). Either through sleight of hand or by demonic power, Pharaoh's magicians were able to duplicate the action and turn their staffs into serpents as well. In what might be viewed as a quintessential showdown between God and the devil, the serpent of Jehovah swallowed up the serpents of Pharaoh as the God of Israel demonstrated his omnipotent supremacy (see Exodus 7:10—13). This scene dramatically illustrates the duality of serpent imagery in the scriptures. The one true God was represented by a serpent. The false gods of Egypt were also represented by serpents...

But what of the serpent image as a symbol for Christ? If the serpent was a legitimate emblem of the coming Messiah, how and why did Lucifer usurp the serpent symbol after Adam and Eve were placed on this earth? In a roundabout way, the Prophet Joseph Smith may have provided a clue regarding the origins of serpent imagery as a symbol for Christ and why Satan appropriated it for his own.When speaking of the dove as an identifying symbol of the Holy Ghost, Joseph Smith said, "The sign of the dove was instituted before the creation of the world, a witness for the Holy Ghost, and the devil cannot come in the sign of a dove."

A possible implication of this statement is that other signs, symbols, and tokens may have been instituted in premortality to represent deity, but the one that Satan absolutely could not imitate was the dove. However, as the preeminent counterfeiter and deceiver, Satan could and does usurp other signs and symbols properly applied to God in order to try to legitimize his false identity as a god. This is why Satan chose to appropriate and utilize the sign of the serpent as the best means of deceiving Eve as well as her posterity.

The scriptures help us to see that Satan imitates and perverts every divine truth; every godly concept, principle, or practice; and every good and positive symbol, image, sign, and token in order to deceive and manipulate the souls of men. This even includes appearing as an angel of light (see Alma 30:53; D&C 128:20). By usurping and manipulating the symbol of the serpent, Satan tried to validate his false identity and his lies, insisting that following his ways would elevate our first parents to the status of the very God represented by the true image of the serpent (see Moses 4:10—11). Satan came to Eve clothed, as it were, in the garb of the Messiah, using the signs, symbols, and even the language of the Messiah, promising things that only the Messiah could rightfully promise. "(And [Satan] spake by the mouth of the serpent.) . . . And the serpent said unto the woman: Ye shall not surely die; . . . ye shall be as the gods" (Moses 4:7, 10—11). In reality only the one who worked out an infinite atonement could legitimately make these kinds of promises. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why Satan is justly called a liar from the beginning (see Moses 4:4; D&C 93:25).

PS - I wanted to point something out about the picture I added to the beginning of this post. Take a close look at Moses then watch the video I have posted here.

Lachish Temple

I just found this fantastic video made by Professor Bill Hamblin of BYU who is currently teaching at the BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies. It is about an Israelite temple found in Lachish.

Mayan creation myth found at El Mirador

Vanished Persian Army Said Found in Desert : Discovery News

Vanished Persian Army Said Found in Desert : Discovery News

The remains of a mighty Persian army said to have drowned in the sands of the western Egyptian desert 2,500 years ago might have been finally located, solving one of archaeology's biggest outstanding mysteries, according to Italian researchers.

Bronze weapons, a silver bracelet, an earring and hundreds of human bones found in the vast desolate wilderness of the Sahara desert have raised hopes of finally finding the lost army of Persian King Cambyses II. The 50,000 warriors were said to be buried by a cataclysmic sandstorm in 525 B.C.

"We have found the first archaeological evidence of a story reported by the Greek historian Herodotus," Dario Del Bufalo, a member of the expedition from the University of Lecce, told Discovery News.

According to Herodotus (484-425 B.C.), Cambyses, the son of Cyrus the Great, sent 50,000 soldiers from Thebes to attack the Oasis of Siwa and destroy the oracle at the Temple of Amun after the priests there refused to legitimize his claim to Egypt.

After walking for seven days in the desert, the army got to an "oasis," which historians believe was El-Kharga. After they left, they were never seen again.

"A wind arose from the south, strong and deadly, bringing with it vast columns of whirling sand, which entirely covered up the troops and caused them wholly to disappear," wrote Herodotus.

A century after Herodotus wrote his account, Alexander the Great made his own pilgrimage to the oracle of Amun, and in 332 B.C. he won the oracle's confirmation that he was the divine son of Zeus, the Greek god equated with Amun.

The tale of Cambyses' lost army, however, faded into antiquity. As no trace of the hapless warriors was ever found, scholars began to dismiss the story as a fanciful tale.

Now, two top Italian archaeologists claim to have found striking evidence that the Persian army was indeed swallowed in a sandstorm. Twin brothers Angelo and Alfredo Castiglioni are already famous for their discovery 20 years ago of the ancient Egyptian "city of gold" Berenike Panchrysos.

Presented recently at the archaeological film festival of Rovereto, the discovery is the result of 13 years of research and five expeditions to the desert.

"It all started in 1996, during an expedition aimed at investigating the presence of iron meteorites near Bahrin, one small oasis not far from Siwa," Alfredo Castiglioni, director of the Eastern Desert Research Center (CeRDO)in Varese, told Discovery News.

While working in the area, the researchers noticed a half-buried pot and some human remains. Then the brothers spotted something really intriguing -- what could have been a natural shelter.

It was a rock about 35 meters (114.8 feet) long, 1.8 meters (5.9 feet) in height and 3 meters (9.8 feet) deep. Such natural formations occur in the desert, but this large rock was the only one in a large area.

"Its size and shape made it the perfect refuge in a sandstorm," Castiglioni said.

Right there, the metal detector of Egyptian geologist Aly Barakat of Cairo University located relics of ancient warfare: a bronze dagger and several arrow tips.

"We are talking of small items, but they are extremely important as they are the first Achaemenid objects, thus dating to Cambyses' time, which have emerged from the desert sands in a location quite close to Siwa," Castiglioni said.

Karnak Coronation Ritual

In honor of my friend Josh and his family who just moved to Cairo I am posting a photograph I took of a relief depicting a coronation ritual at the Karnak Temple near Luxor, Egypt. In the relief are a series of panels which are intended to be viewed as a succession of events similar to a comic strip. In the first panel the initiate (Pharaoh) is washed by two individuals who appear to be Thoth and Horus. Next Pharaoh is crowned and an ankh is placed in his mouth. Finally he passes through the curtain and into the presence of Osiris.

This relief has been a source of interest for Latter-Day Saint scholars because the themes of washing, coronation and union with deity can also be found in modern temples. Additionally, kings in ancient Egypt typically had two names. One name was given at birth and the other was given at the monarch's coronation. Taking upon oneself additional names is another theme found in modern temples as well as in the ordinance of baptism.

Ancient wall found in Jerusalem

BBC - Ancient wall found in Jerusalem

A 3,700-year-old wall has been discovered in east Jerusalem, Israeli archaeologists say.

The structure was built to protect the city's water supply as part of what dig director Ronny Reich described as the region's earliest fortifications.

The 26-ft (8-m) high wall showed the Canaanite people who built it were a sophisticated civilisation, he said.

Critics say Israel uses such projects as a political tool to bolster Jewish claims to occupied Palestinian land.

Excavations at the site, known as the City of David, are in a Palestinian neighbourhood just outside the walls of Jerusalem's old city.

It is partly funded by Elad, a Jewish settler organisation that also works to settle Jews in that area.

Open to the public

The wall dates from a time in the Middle Bronze Age when Jerusalem was a small, fortified enclave controlled by the Canaanites, before they were conquered by the Israelites.

Its discovery demonstrated Jerusalem's inhabitants were sophisticated enough to undertake major building projects, said Mr Reich.

"The wall is enormous, and that it survived 3,700 years - this is, even for us, a long time," said Mr Reich, an archaeology professor at the University of Haifa.

The excavation team said the wall formed part of a structure that protected a passage from a hilltop fortress to a nearby spring - the area's only water source.

Israel's Antiquities Authority said the site would be open to the public on Thursday.

The Horns of Mosheh

I AM THAT I AM

In Exodus chapter 3 Moses tells the story of when the Lord appeared to him in the burning bush and called him to deliver Israel from Egypt. In verse 13 Moses asks an interesting question.

He asks:

"when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?"

The Lord gives his answer in verses 14 and 15:

And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.

In a lecture given at the BYU Kennedy Center on 8 March 2007 Gary A. Rendsburg, chair of Jewish Studies, Rutgers University gave a fascinating lecture in which he talked about a possible reason for Moses' question (lecture can be watched here). Professor Rendsburg mentioned an Egyptian myth (found on Papyrus Turin 1993) called the Unknown Name of Ra in which Isis tricks Ra into revealing his secret name.

Isis does this by taking some dirt into which Ra had spit and then fashoning it into a venomous snake. The serpent then bites Ra who is tormented by the poison coursing through his body. He asks for Isis's help who in turn asks for his secret name by explaining "Tell me your name, my divine father. A man lives when called by his name". Eventually Ra gives in and tells her his secret name and is then healed. This story illustrates that the Egyptians believed that there is power to be had by knowing a god's secret name. When Moses came to the Israelites (who by this time had been in Egypt for generations and were steeped in Egyptian myth) he presumed that they would want to know the secret name of God.

In the KJV the name the Lord gave to Moses has been translated into English as "I AM THAT I AM". The phrase "I AM THAT I AM" can be confusing to modern English speakers because it's meaning isn't very clear. The phrase comes from the Hebrew "Ehyiah asher Ehyiah" which can be translated various ways. According to John Gill's Exposition of the Bible the English rendering of this phrase from the Targum Jonathan is "I am he that is, and that shall be" which makes more sense than the phrase "I AM THAT I AM". The Targum Jonathan translation sounds very similar to the Lord's introduction to the apostle John in Revelation chapter 1 verse 8:

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty

In these verses Jehovah seems to be teaching Moses and John important truths regarding his mission and Eternal nature. The Greek letters alpha and omega are, respectively, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. During John's time Greek was the lingua franca of the Hellenistic world and was the original language of the New Testament. John's audience would have understood what the Lord meant when he described himself as "Alpha and Omega". At the time of Moses the Israelites were unfamiliar with the Greek alphabet of John's day so, of course, this phrase is not used but in both instances the Lord seems to be communicating similar ideas.

Circumcision and Redemption

In Margaret Barker's book Christmas: The Original Story there is an interesting insight about the life of the Savior from the time when he was an infant. This post is a quick summary of this insight which I thought might be interesting to anyone reading this blog.

For any male infant born in ancient Israel the well known rite of circumcision was performed eight days following the birth as commanded by the Lord. As far as we know this ordinance was first practiced by Abraham when Jehovah established his covenant with him. We read about this in Genesis 17:9-13 :

9 And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.
10 This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.
11 And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.
12 And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.
13 He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.

For every firstborn son born into an Israelite family another important but less well known ordinance was performed. This was the redemption of the child performed by the parents with a payment of five shekels of silver. In the Law of Moses the Lord claimed the firstborn of every animal and the first fruits of each harvest to be used as a sacrifice. Likewise he also claimed every firstborn male infant as a sacrifice. However, the parents could make a payment of five shekels to the temple priests in order to redeem their child from the sacrifice. This practice is set forth in Numbers 18:8-19. Below are verses fifteen and sixteen which tell of the provision allowing redemption of each firstborn male son:

15 Every thing that openeth the matrix in all flesh, which they bring unto the Lord, whether it be of men or beasts, shall be thine: nevertheless the firstborn of man shalt thou surely redeem, and the firstling of unclean beasts shalt thou redeem.
16 And those that are to be redeemed from a month old shalt thou redeem, according to thine estimation, for the money of five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs.

Luke in chapter two of his gospel gives an account of the birth of the Savior and mentions Jesus Christ being circumcised at eight days old, as required by the Lord, in verse 21:

And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

Even though the circumcision of Jesus is mentioned there is no mention of his being redeemed by the five shekels of silver. This is a very conspicuous omission. Any Jew of Jesus' day reading this most likely would have noticed right away because this was such a major component of their religious practices. Why the omission? Margaret Barker suggests that perhaps this is because Luke was trying to teach an important principle. Whether or not Mary and Joseph made the payment is irrelevant. Luke left out this important detail because, unlike every other firstborn male Israelite, Jesus Christ was not redeemed. He was sacrificed on behalf of all mankind so everyone could be redeemed from sin and death. He made it possible for every man, woman and child to become the redeemed firstborn and this is what Luke was trying to teach his readers.