Tag Archives: Israel and Bible

King Hezekiah and King Menashe of Judea – the archaeology

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If you’ve been following my podcasts recently you might know that I’ve been talking mainly about King Hezekiah and his son Menashe of Judah. Hezekiah lived around the same time as the Assyrian Emperor Sennacharib 705-681 BCE. There is a clay prism in the British Museum which chronicles Sennacharib’s life. It mentions Hezekiah too. It describes Sennacharib’s conquest of Judea and siege of Jerusalem.

(If you are looking for the podcasts scroll to the bottom of the page)

The Taylor Prism viewable in the British Museum

The British Museum used to have a complete transcript available online. It got removed, I will update this page with any further resources.

In addition to the Prism there is also a display  in the British Museum of a wall frieze of the  siege of Lachish, a town in the foothills of Judea. This siege is both mentioned on the Prism depicted above and the Bible, namely in the book of Kings (II Kings 18) and Chronicles (II Chronicles 32).

The Frieze includes:

A depiction of Sennacharib sitting on his throne at the gates to the city:

Source : Wikimedia Author : User:oncenawhile

Depictions of the battle:

Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net)

And, as mentioned in the podcast the capture and punishment of enemies, possibly a cruxifiction, possibly a flaying, what do you think?

Source: Wikimedia Author: Zunkir

Fairly recently an archaeologist called Eilat Mazar found an official Bullae or clay stamp of Hezekiah in an archaeological park called the City of David. I have also sketched my observation of the stamp. Note that the lettering is “Proto – Canaanite script and the “logo” of Hezekiah is a sun with wings and an Ankh.

If you listen to the podcasts posted at the bottom you will hear that this is part of the evidence confirming both Hezekiah (podcast 8) and Menashe (Podcast 9) as historical actors.

Source: Wikimedia Author: Rubén Betanzo S.

“Artist”‘s impression of Hezekiah’s official stamp

Similar “logos” were found on numerous jug handles from the same era possibly for the collection of money or produce for the King, in fact “for the King” was written on many such handles.

More stylised sun with wings logo common to the jug handles.
Author: Hanay
Source: Wikimedia

In addition to this we have a 533m long tunnel outside the Old City of Jerusalem amongst other building projects that as you will hear in podcast 8 Hezekiah and later Menashe (Podcast 9) build structures that include the tunnel depicted below.

IMG_1056

On Tour at Hezekiah’s tunnel, City of David

Podcast 8 : Hezekiah

Podcast 9 : Menashe

As of March 25th 2020 I have been furloughed from all tourism related work, due to COVID-19 all tourist flights have stopped.

If you want to help: please share this article.

In order to produce more articles and podcasts I need to pay bills, contributions will be happily recieved by clicking on the coffee mug below.

Family Tour – Judean Foothills

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A hands on educational experience for all the family

Tel Socho also known as “Lupine Hill”

The “Shfeila” or Judean Foothills is the area between the Jerusalem Hills and the Coastal Plain. It has been the battlefield of Judea for more than 2000 years. The soft chalk hills crowned with grassy meadows are a perfect home for many plants and animals. Join me on a fun family adventure, exploring the Foothills of Judea.

Itinerary:

  • Nature Walk in Tel Soho (pictured above). The first part of the David and Goliath Story. In the spring the best place to view flowering Lupines.
  • Dramatic Enactment of David and Goliath at Tel Azeikah.  Bringing the Bible and archaeology to life at a classic archaeological site.

 

Khirbet Midras Bar Kochba Caves

  • Crawl the Bar Kochba Caves.  A system of crawl caves where Judeans held out against the forces of Roman Emperor Hadrian.
  • Lunch in area

  • Underground Adventure at the Soreq Stalactite caves.
  • Animals and The Bible explore the nature in the Holy Land at the Biblical Museum of Natural History.

Continue reading →

Podcast 4: Isaac and Rebecca: The Other Hebrew

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Bibliography

Hittite Treaties and Letters, D. Luckenbill

The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures

Vol. 37, No. 3 (Apr., 1921), pp. 161-211

University of Chicago Press

Reflections on The Mitanni Emergence, G. Schwartz

Berlin Studies of the Ancient World, Vol. 17

The Beginning of Desire: Reflections on Genesis, A Zornberg

Image Books 1996

Studies in Bereishit, Nechama Leibowitz

Jerusalem, WZO, 1976

Pseudo Translation of Yonatan ben Uzziel:

http://targum.info/targumic-texts/pentateuchal-targumim/

Please see the main Bibliography for more.

Bibliography for 1st 3 Podcasts and Timeline of History

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The Time of The Patriarchs

 

Bibliography

Tanach – The Jewish Bible, an anacronym of Torah (1st 5 books), Nevi’im (prophets), Ketuvim (Witings). Any Hebrew Tanach with clear print will do. preferably with all the major commentaries for this you will need:

Tanach with Mikraot Gedolot.

The Jewish Bible: Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures — The New JPS Translation According to the Traditional Hebrew Text: Torah * Nevi’im * Kethuvim JPS Paperback – November 1, 1985

An English Translation of Rashi on the Pentateuch M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann (5 vols., London, 1929–34)

Carta Bible Atlas, Y. Aharoni, Hendrickson Publishers, 2015

Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land, A. Negev , Mackmillan, 1990 (constantly updated)

A Chronology of Israel, A Wolff, 2008

The Jewish People: Their History and Their Religion , D. Goldberg and J Rayner Penguin 1992

Biblical Archaeology Review, Ed. Herschel Shanks, 1975 – present,

The Beginnings of Israel: A Methodological Working Hypothesis, Zecharia Kallai, Israel Exploration Journal, Vol. 59, No. 2 (2009), pp. 194-203

Jar-burial Customs and the Question of Infant Sacrifice in Palestine, WH. Wood, The Biblical World, 36.4  1910

Bereishit (Genesis) Rabbah – A Hebrew midrash, a translation can be found at: http://www.sefaria.org/Bereishit_Rabbah

Midrash Tanchuma – Another Hebrew Midrash, a translation can be found at http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/mhl/mhl04.htm

 

 

 

 

Torah Portion Ekev: A Land of Light

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Olive Trees, Haas Promenade

Olive Trees, Haas Promenade by YossiTourGuide

Olive trees on the Haas Promenade

“A Land of Wheat, of Barley, Grapes, Figs and Pomegranates, a land of  Olive Oil and honey” (Deuteronomy / Devarim  – 8:8)

This weeks portion of the Torah discusses some of the blessed qualities of the land of Israel.

There is a slight textual difficulty in that it only mentions one product of a fruit; Olives. It does not say a land of ‘Wheat Bread’ or ‘Grape wine’ or ‘Pomegranate slushies’.

What Are Olive Trees Good For ?

So one answer given by Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (10th Century Torah commentator) is to tell us that the Olive trees were used for oil. But is n’t this a bit obvious; we can get 2 things from an olive tree:

1 Olives

2 Olive Oil.

Surely we could say that about all these fruits.

Ah! but all these other fruits have multiple uses: you can have beer or bread, pomegranites, pomegranite slushies or grenadine etc. With olives thats pretty much all you get; olives and oil. Ever heard of Olive wine ? Normally (unless we’re constipated) we do n’t drink Olive Oil. All these other products are edible as well.

Its all Part of the Process

Three of the fruits have a process associated with them. Both wheat and grapes can be fermented to make bread, beer or wine, by extension all of the fruits except for Olives can be fermented but that’s fairly uncommon, people mosly ferment wheat and grapes.

Olives have a special process associated with them. Firstly they are squashed normally releasing a tiny little bit of oil. This first squeezing releases the best oil or ‘Virgin Oil’. Then the pips and skins are gather again, put in baskets and squeezed once more. Since antiquity Olives have undergone this intricate process of squeezing.

This is for collecting the virgin Oil from the first crush, the upper stone is called a memel, the lower stone is called a 'yam.

This is a re -constructed ' beam and weight' press from Tel Hatzor, the baskets of olive bits are squashed by the Kora 'beam'' to collect the lower stage of Olive Oil.

Olives: Not just for Salad Dressing – a symbol of Light

 

Olive oil was the main source of lighting in the Ancient Near East, the purpose of the process mentioned above was light. The product of Olives – oil gets a special mention because of its high value.  My teacher, Rabbi Yitzchak Hirshfeld said that Olives are a symbol of the Jewish people that they are crushed through the travails of history and continue to produce the Light of Truth, the light of the Torah.

 

 

(These words of Torah are dedicated to the speedy recovery of Zlata bat Sima, please include her in your prayers and in the memory of the seven precious souls who were killed today in Southern Israel)

Torah Portion: Shelach

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When I used to think of the word ‘Negev’, I would think of it meaning ‘South’ or ‘Desert’. I never used to think of it as being something that one ‘goes up to’. In fact from my vantage point in Jerusalem today, I very much descend in altitude to the Negev.

However if we look at the topographic map pictured above, we can clearly see (as indicated by the orange and red colours signifying altitude) that if I was coming from Paran, which is part of the central valley system (running down the centre of the map in green and blue signifying a lower area) I would certainly be rising in altitude. In fact the whole Negev system, which is the southern part of the map from Beersheva to the Jordan and Arava valley running down the middle, is a highland.

But this phrase is not just talking about a rise in altitude, but also a ride in spirituality. A rise in the spiritual depths of wandering the Desert to the heights of the Holy Land.  This phrase was also used by Ben Gurion in his attempts to settle the Negev, he told the people;

‘Go up to this Negev!’

 

Torah Portion: B’ha’alotcha

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‘And this was the deed of the Menorah beaten out of Gold, from its base to its flowering it was beaten out, just as the Eternal revealed to Moses in a vision’. (Bamidbar / Numbers 8:4)

Why did Moses need to be illustrated the method of building the Menorah or Candelabra in a vision, why could n’t he just have it shown to him?

The making of the Menorah is described earlier in the Bible, it was supposed to be made of pure Gold and beaten out of one piece of metal. This involves two impossibilities:

Firstly if the Menorah was made of pure gold, it would not keep its shape. Most gold is mixed with an impurity so that it will keep its shape, gold is normally fairly soft. This is why we have the karat system, which is a system of grading the impurities in the gold.

Secondly, how could it be beaten out of one piece of gold, this is metallurgically impossible. It can be molded out of one piece, or many pieces could be beaten and then stuck together, but to get one massive lump of gold and beat out an intricate item  would be impossible.

This is why Moses required a vision, because the making of the Candelabra or Menorah was a miracle and only the Eternal could show him how to do it. The Menorah in the picture above is the Menorah that belongs to the Temple Institute in Jerusalem, it stands next to the steps to the Western Wall Plaza. To illustrate this point, it was made of a high quality of gold (but not pure gold)   and was formed by a chemical / electrical process called electrolysis.