The Al-Aqsa (or Al-Aksa) Mosque is one of the two important buildings erected by Moslems on the platform built by Herod the Great. A Brief Guide to the Dome of the Rock and Al-Haram Al-Sharif, published in 1965, says the Al-Aksa Mosque was built in A.D. 693 or A.D. 705. The other significant building on the platform is called The Dome of the Rock or the Mosque of Omar. It is built over the rock where, according to tradition, Abraham offered Isaac (Genesis 22), and where the Temple of Solomon once stood (1 Kings 6).

This building has often been in the news. In 1951 King Abdullah of Jordan was assassinated in the Mosque. In 1969 an Australian tourist set fire to the building. Just a couple of days ago we saw news reports of disturbances in the Mosque. The Guardian of London headline reports,

Palestinians clash with Israeli troops at al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. Demonstrations at holy shrine erupt into violence as youths fight battles with riot police.

Paul’s admonition to the brethren at Philippi is often used in sermons.

Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12-14)

Most often we hear speakers compare what Paul said to the effort put forth by individuals running in a race. This is certainly not inappropriate. However, many years back I ran across a statement by E. M. Blaiklock that changed my thinking. Blaiklock was a noted classicist. This particular comment comes from Cities of the New Testament.

One mark of the Roman colony is perhaps to be detected in the letter which Paul wrote, over ten years later, to the Macedonian church which he had come to love. It is a hidden metaphor from the chariot race. Exhorting his Philippians to effort and single-minded endurance, Paul writes: ‘This one thing I do-forgetting the things behind, and stretching out to those before, I make for the mark, the prize of the upward calling’.

Commentators generally have not marked the fact that Paul appears to have in mind, not the athletic contests of the Greeks, from which he commonly drew illustration, but the chariot racing of Rome. He was writing to a Roman colony. He was writing also from Rome itself, and never was there such rivalry of racing colours, and circus fever than at that time. The common talk of the soldiers of the soldiers was of the chariot racing, and Paul would gain a vivid impression of this most perilous of sports.

Such a race as that which forms the substance of Paul’s figure is described well in Ben HUR. The charioteer stood on a tiny platform over sturdy wheels and axle. His knees were pressed against the curved rail, and his thighs flexed. He bent forward at the waist, stretching out hands and head over the horses’ backs. This is surely what he means by ’stretching out to the things before’. The reins were wound round the body, and braced on the reins the body formed a taut spring. It can easily be seen how completely the charioteer was at the mercy of his team’s sure feet and his own fine driving skill. Euripides, in his Hippolytus, tells how the hero fell and was killed in such conditions. Ovid describes the same disaster in Book XV of his Metamorphoses. In his intense preoccupation the driver dare not cast a glance at ‘the things behind’. The roaring crowd, crying praise or blame, the racing of his rivals, all else had perforce to be forgotten. One object only could fill the driver’s eye, the point to which he drove at the end of each lap.

Here is a photo that might help to illustrate what Blaiklock said. It was made at the RACE show (Romy Army and Chariot Experience) at Jerash, Jordan.

Chariot race at the RACE show in Jerash, Jordan. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

This is a reprint from April 30, 2008, but with a different photo suitable for use in presentations. Click on the image for the larger photo.

Todd Bolen has announced the publication of Jerusalem: Volume 2 of The American Colony and Eric Matson Collection. We mentioned this marvelous set of photographs earlier here. For more information on the current CD on Jerusalem click here

Todd Bolen has produced a new collection of photos. These are not his photos. They are the famous photos of The American Colony and Eric Matson Collection. This set of 8 volumes features 4,000 high-resolution photographs taken by resident photographers in the Holy Land from 1898 to the 1940s.

Every Bible student who has been using Bible study resources for several years has seen the photographs of The American Colony photographers and Eric Matson. When I edited the Truth in Life Bible class literature in the early 1970s we purchased and obtained permission to use several of the photographs in the literature.

The American Colony in Jerusalem was founded in 1881 by Horatio Spafford (author of the famous hymn, It is Well With My Soul). Eric Matson, one of the photographers inherited the collection, added his own work, and later donated his negatives to the Library of Congress. These photos have been available to the public for some time, but it has been difficult to locate a particular photo. And the quality of some of them, after so many years, is not good.

Bolen describes the collection:

This collection includes more than 4,000 selected photographs of sites and scenes from Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt. All of the images are included in pre-made PowerPoint® files for quick and easy use, as well as in high-resolution jpg format, suitable for projecting or printing. Quotations from 19th-century travelers give additional context to many of the photographs.

The Collection Includes:

• Volume 1: Northern Palestine
• Volume 2: Jerusalem
• Volume 3: Southern Palestine
• Volume 4: Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan
• Volume 5: Egypt and Sinai
• Volume 6: Traditional Life and Customs
• Volume 7: Early 20th-Century History
• Volume 8: People of Palestine

The first volume has been released on CD. Other volumes are being released one CD a month. The complete 8-volume set is available now on 2 DVDs.

In recent weeks Todd has written about Shechem, Samaria, and Beth Shean. Almost every tour group visits Beth Shean, but many are unable to go to the other sites. Take a look here at the way Beth Shean looks now and the way it looked in the 1920s.

Complete information on this set is available at Life in the Holy Land.

This morning I wanted to share a photo made from Qumran on the western shore of the Dead Sea. Weather conditions were fairly good that day. You can see across the Dead Sea to the mountains of Moab.

View east across the Dead Sea to Moab. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

We associate the land of Moab with Ruth the grandmother of King David.

So Naomi returned, and with her Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, who returned from the land of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest. (Ruth 1:22)

Dr. Robert R. Cargill announced here that images and a movie of Virtual Qumran are available for free download. To view the images go directly to www.VirtualQumran.com. These images will be helpful in any teaching about Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Cargill is Chief Architect and Designer of the Qumran Visualization Project.

Virtual Qumran. North East View. UCLA Qumran Visualization Project.

Here is a photo I made at the reconstructed ruins of Qumran.

View of proposed study room at Qumran. View NE. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

The sign in the room reads,

The members of the Qumran Sect occupied themselves with studying the books of the Bible. Hundreds of pottery lamps were discovered in this room, validating the supposition that it was used for study during the night.

I am not sure this is a valid conclusion.

Qumran Potters Quarter. UCLA Qumran Visualization Project.

Check our earlier discussion of the Dead Sea Sect here.

Three items from the period of the wilderness (desert) wandering of the children of Israel were considered significant enough to be included in the ark of the covenant.

Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place, having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail. (Hebrews 9:3-5 ESV)

The picture below, made at the model of the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, shows a replica of the Ark of the Covenant with the contents mentioned by the writer of Hebrews. For more information about the model read here.

Replica of the Ark of the Covenant showing contents. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

At Jerash in Jordan, young boys were selling small bags of green almonds. Not my preference, but apparently there is a market for them. “Jordan almonds” are famous for use at weddings. The fresh almond is bittersweet in taste, but the sugar coating adds sweetness. The “Jordan almonds” are still “Jordan almonds” even when they come from California!

Green almonds at Jerash, Jordan. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

Jerash is thought to be the site of Gerasa, one of the cities of the Decapolis (Matthew 4:25). Perhaps it is the city belonging to the country of the Gerasenes (Mark 5:1; Luke 8:26,37).

Jesus took advantage of the opportunity to teach the woman of Samaria at the well where they met (John 4). She went into the city and told the men about Jesus (John 4:28-29). When the disciples of Jesus returned from the city where they had gone to buy food they encouraged Jesus to eat. He said, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” The disciples misunderstood this, thinking He had reference to material food. This conversation led Jesus to say,

Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” (John 4:35-38 ESV)

The disciples apparently did not know that Jesus had been teaching the woman, and that she had gone into the city to tell others about Him. Jesus is reminding the disciples of a common thing in the agricultural practices of that time. One sows and another reaps. It may have been sowing time, but some were ready to be reaped. The fields were ready to be harvested.

The words of the prophet Amos provide insight into this episode. He said,

“Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “When the plowman will overtake the reaper And the treader of grapes him who sows seed; When the mountains will drip sweet wine And all the hills will be dissolved. (Amos 9:13 ESV)

In modern times, with the use of some mechanical farm equipment, it is becoming difficult to find scenes exactly like the practices of the time of Jesus. But we still see things that remind us of these teachings. The photo below shows a field in Jordan just above the Jordan valley floor near Deir Allah. On a clear day one could see the valley.

The field has been plowed while grain grows nearby. Photo by F. Jenkins.

Notice the rocks in the field. The plowman has worked around them. In the days of broadcast sowing, like in the parable of the sower (Luke 8), this scene has all of the elements. Good soil, rocky soil, road, and certainly thorns.

Extend our view to the left in the photo above. You will see, in the photo below, sheaves in the field that has been plowed. Indeed, the plowman overtakes the reaper.

Harvested grain in a field already plowed for sowing. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

It is true today in the preaching of the gospel. One plows and another reaps. Paul says, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:6).

If we had more sowing, there would be more reaping.

One of the new things I noticed in a visit to Petra last year was the Bedouin actors demonstrating various aspects of daily life. Many of these customs are similar to those we read about in the Bible. This photo shows a man using an animal skin as a churn.

Using an animal skin for producing butter. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

The writer of Proverbs speaks of churning in giving advice about those who stir up strife.

If you have been foolish in exalting yourself Or if you have plotted evil, put your hand on your mouth. For the churning of milk produces butter, And pressing the nose brings forth blood; So the churning of anger produces strife. (Proverbs 30:32-33 NAS)

When the three men came to the Patriarch Abraham to announce the birth of Isaac, Abraham showed hospitality to them. He provided water so they could wash their feet. He told Sarah to prepare bread. He took a young calf from the herd and had the servants prepare it. Then the text says,

He took curds and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and placed it before them; and he was standing by them under the tree as they ate. (Genesis 18:8 NAS)

Read Genesis 18 for the complete account.

Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan, has long been associated with archaeological work, especially in Jordan. This work is carried out under the name of the Institute of Archaeology.

The interesting history of the Siegfried H. Horn Museum may be read here. The name of Siegfried H. Horn is well known to anyone who had read about biblical archaeology in modern times.

Last week I was at Valparaiso, Indiana, presenting a series of lessons on Bible History and Archaeology. I had long wanted to visit the Horn Archaeological Museum. When we learned that we were slightly more than an hour away, Mark Russell, Steve Wolfgang and I made the trip one morning. The Museum is hopeful of moving into a new facility as soon as the project can be funded. At this time the small museum is open only on Saturday afternoon, but they will open by appointment, as they did for us.

The Siegfried H. Horn Archaeological Museum houses over 8,500 artifacts, but only a small portion of those are on display. There are replicas of a few famous artifacts such as the Black Obelisk of Shalmannessar II and the Moabite Stone

There are significant original pieces from most areas of the Bible world with Mesopotamia and Transjordan being featured. There is a mummified Ibis from Egypt. The Egyptian god Thoth was portrayed with the head of an Ibis. I never see representations of these gods without thinking of Paul’s description of the Roman world prior to the coming of Christ.

Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. (Romans 1:22-23 ESV)

Mummified Ibis from Egypt. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

In the main exhibit hall there is a life-size Bedouin tent. This makes a good background for explaining patriarchal life.

Authentic Bedouin Tent at Horn Museum. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. (Hebrews 11:8-10 ESV)

Two other things should be mentioned. There are some wonderful models. One that impressed me was of the Roman rolling-stone tomb at Heshbon. The murals covering biblical and modern church history are impressive.

I recommend that anyone traveling in the vicinity of Berrien Springs, or those living within driving distance, take advantage of this opportunity to visit. Bible class teachers would do well to become familiar with this Museum and arrange for their students to see it.

Our thanks to Jody Washburn, an Administrative Assistant at the Institute of Archaeology, for her help in making our visit pleasant.