Christmas article gets attention in London

Clay Harris, formerly (perhaps, still) with the Financial Times, calls attention to “The Truth About Christmas” which is posted on our Biblical Studies Info Page here, and at Bible World. Harris argues for an appropriate secular observance of Christmas in his post in The London Echo here.

Two years ago I wrote about the origin of the legend about Santa Claus in a post on “Christmas, St. Nicholas, and Myra” here.

Take a look at all of this material.

Thanksgiving Day – 2009

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! (Psalm 107:1 ESV)

Shepherd with sheep in the Land of Ararat. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

An aerial view of Tel Dor

Earlier we wrote about the excavation at Tel Dor here. Dr. Ayelet Gilboa, chair of the Department of Archaeology at the University of Haifa, and the co-director of the Tel Dor Excavation Project, was kind enough to provide us with one of the wonderful aerial photos of Tel Dor.

Aerial view of Tel Dor looking northeast. Photo courtesy: Dr. Ayelet Gilboa.

Click on the image for a photo suitable for use in a PowerPoint presentation.

Dor has a long history extending from the Canaanite period around the 20th century B.C. It was also controlled by the Phoenicians, the Sea People, the Israelites, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans. Dor was abandoned in the third century A.D. (Biblical Archaeology Review, Nov./Dec. 2002).

Dor is mentioned only a few times in the Old Testament Scriptures.

• When Jabin, king of Hazor, heard of the victories of Joshua and the Israelites he put together a confederacy of armies including the king of the “heights of Dor on the west” (Joshua 11:2).
• Joshua conquered “the king of Dor in the heights of Dor” (Joshua 12:32).
• Dor was allotted to the tribe of Manasseh (Joshua 17:11). The writer of Joshua quickly acknowledges that Manasseh could not take possession of these cities, “because the Canaanites persisted in living in that land” (Joshua 17:12; see Judges 1:27).
• Solomon appointed his son-in-law Ben-abinadad over the height of Dor (1 Kings 4:11).
• Ephraim’s territory extended to the border of Manasseh, including “Dor with its towns” (1 Chronicles 7:29).

For more information about the 2010 excavation season at Tel Dor check the official web site here.

Moussaieff called “The genuine article”

The Jerusalem Post Online Edition Magazine ran a feature article November 12 here about Shlomo Moussaieff here. Moussaieff, 86, is known for many things. He is a billionaire, but he is also a collector of archaeological artifacts, Torah scrolls, cuneiform inscriptions, and other significant items.

Shlomo Moussaieff

Moussaieff has received renewed attention in connection with the recent law suit accusing antiquities experts of forgery. Here are a few comments by Lauren Gelfond Feldinger, author of the magazine feature.

His stories, like his collections, are often considered controversial. In the antiquities world, he is especially renowned for often turning his nose up at the accepted logic that artifacts should be documented in situ by archeologists to make the most of their historical meaning. Moussaieff bah-humbugs traditional thinking, arguing, like his old friend Moshe Dayan, that so-called looters are also salvaging history by bringing it into the light and keeping it out of the dusty cellars of antiquities authorities.

In court I showed them how to know if the clay is genuine – I lick it. I know the taste. After so many years in the business, just looking, you also know. Everyone who is jealous says that I have some fakes. I spend a lot of money to double-check, and so far in four years of court cases they haven’t been able to prove any one of them is a fake. I have been collecting for 65 years and have 60,000 items in my collection. It is possible I have made a mistake, but if I have made a mistake, nobody can prove it. (Laughs.)

When asked why he snubs Israel’s antiquities laws, Moussaieff said,

These are ridiculous laws from the time of the Turks. The Antiquities Authority should be teaching and not torturing. They should ignite history. Instead, they find Arab shepherds and beat them and take what they have. What do they have, broken clay pieces? Bravo. All day they sit with a telescope to see who is going in the field to look for something, it’s ridiculous. For a 500-millimeter piece of parchment, they will put a man in jail.

If you build a building, you have to stop work, you have to pay for the excavation – not them. This is torture. The laws don’t make any sense. This is what they do with their budget? The law should allow more freedom, let anybody display anything in his house, and not make a coin collection worth $10 illegal. They have 600,000 coins in storage, what do they display? A few pieces.

I have artifacts from the time of Abraham. I have artifacts from the second our people were born. They call me a looter. They call me an antiquities thief. Nobody wanted to publish my things [that were not found in situ]. But the museums could only pray to have such a collection as I have. Now that they realize that how much I have and that it is not fake, they all love me, they all want my collections.

HT: Joseph I. Lauer

Fisherman in Egypt

A fisherman brings in a large catch of fish in a lake on the outskirts of Alexandria, Egypt.

Fisherman Near Alexandria, Egypt. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

The wise writer of Ecclesiastes likened the unfortunate things that happen in life to fish being caught in a net.

Surely, no one knows his appointed time! Like fish that are caught in a deadly net, and like birds that are caught in a snare– just like them, all people are ensnared at an unfortunate time that falls upon them suddenly. (Ecclesiastes 9:12 NET)

This photo was made in the street fish market along the pier in Alexandria.

The Fish Market at Alexandria, Egypt. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

The prophet Isaiah (about 725 B.C.) spoke of a time that was coming upon Egypt in these words.

The fishermen will mourn and lament, all those who cast a fishhook into the river, and those who spread out a net on the water’s surface will grieve. (Isaiah 19:8 NET)

Veterans Day – November 11, 2009

Flag of the United States of America. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

The history of Veterans Day is available here.

The fall of the Berlin Wall

Twenty years ago today the Berlin wall began to come down. The wall had been a vivid symbol of the Iron Curtain and of the Cold War.

The phrase Iron Curtain came into common use after the speech by Winston Churchill at Westminster College, Fulton College, March 5, 1946.

From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia, all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and, in some cases, increasing measure of control from Moscow.

My first visit to Berlin was March 25, 1978. I took a group there to be able to visit the fabulous Pergamum Museum. In my tour brochure I had included this statement from one of Arthur Frommer’s books. He says that the entire trip to East Berlin “is worthwhile just to see the Pergamon Altar…not even in Greece itself does one get a more solid idea of the glory of Greek civilization.”

I went back to Berlin several times prior to the fall of the Wall, and I have been back several times since then. This photo shows a small portion of the Wall that remains as a reminder of the previous division.

A remnant of the Berlin Wall. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

What is in the basement of the Cairo Museum?

Tourists who visit the Egyptian Museum in Cairo are overwhelmed at the large collection of Egyptian artifacts. In fact, most folks just see a few of the displayed items. Have you ever thought about the basement. Take a look at this video featuring Dr. Zahi Hawass, the flamboyant director of antiquities in Egypt.

Now, if they would only allow the taking of photos in the galleries!
HT: Biblical Paths

Something lite for October 31

This is a photo I made in front of Stephen King’s house in Bangor, Maine.

Bok Tower in Florida

This week, through Wednesday, I am presenting a series of lectures at the Lake Wales (Florida) Church of Christ. When I drove into the parking lot yesterday morning I looked to a distant hill and saw Bok Tower. I recall visiting Bok Tower one time as much as 5 decades ago. It is certainly a place to remember.

The tower and gardens were envisioned in the 1920s by Dutch immigrant and humanitarian Edward W. Bok. This site, set among orange groves, is one of the highest spots in Florida. The National Historic Landmark was dedicated by President Calvin Coolidge in 1929. In the afternoon we went by Tower so I could capture a photo.

Bok Tower Gardens, Lake Wales, FL. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

According to the brochure available at the entry this tower houses one of the world’s finest carillons. Concerts are presented daily.