See, a king will reign in righteousnessand rulers will rule with justice.Each man will be like a shelter from the windand a refuge from the storm,like streams of water in the desertand the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land. Isaiah 32:1-2 I’ve written in the past about the Nabateans. With their capital in Petra, they controlled trade along the spice route south of Judea. Their peak was in the first century BC and first century AD until the Romans incorporated them into the empire. While Petra is the most well-known site, we stopped at another of their […]
Monthly Archives: April 2015
Changing Seasons
So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today–to love the LORD your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul–then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and oil. I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied. Deuteronomy 11:13-15 Often when I read the Bible, I ignore what time of year events take place. Sometimes this is because the passage doesn’t mention it. […]
A Tale of Two Gates
David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years. 2 Samuel 5:4 I remember seeing from Tel Azekah a few years ago a new excavation at a site called Khirbet Qeiyafa. It has received quite a bit of press the last few years. I was excited to visit it a couple weeks ago. Khirbet Qeiyafa is situated overlooking the Elah Valley (where David fought Goliath) in the Shephelah (foothills). There are two gates through the city walls, making many think it may be Biblical Shaaraim (Hebrew for “two gates”) (Joshua 15:36, 1 Samuel 17:52). What […]
The Empty Tomb
But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if […]
Crucified
Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 1 Corinthians 1:22-24 In a burial cave north of Jerusalem, an ossuary (bone box) was found which included the remains of a heel bone with an iron nail through it, indicating the deceased has been crucified. Crucifixion was a horrible way to die. The Romans perfected this torturous method of execution. While we look today for […]
Unleavened Doritos
On the fifteenth day of that month the LORD’s Feast of Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast. Leviticus 23:6 We stopped at some grocery stores while in Israel for food. Chips always make a good snack while on the road, and we found a bag of Doritos with the logo transliterated into Hebrew. The packaging, while written in Hebrew, was otherwise recognizable. However, there was something a little odd: a tag stuck to it. My limited Hebrew was enough to translate the largest words: “kosher for Passover”. These chips are unleavened! When the […]