The Israel National News reports here on a new exhibit at the Davidson Center in the Jerusalem Archaeological Garden in Jerusalem.

A very special exhibition opens next week in Jerusalem, revealing to the public for the first time all of the ancient coins uncovered in excavations at the foot of the Temple Mount.

Alexander Jannaeus coin. Photo: IAA

The article includes some nice photos of the exhibit and a couple of the coins. One is labeled Lily King Yehonatan. In most English sources I have used on the period between the Testaments this ruler is called Alexander Jannaeus. He was the Hasmonean ruler recognized as King of Judea from 103 to 76 B.C.

Hendin, Guide to Biblical Coins,  shows a similar coin with the obverse (head) showing a lily surrounded by a Hebrew inscription (Yehonatan the king). The reverse (tail) shows an anchor with the inscription “of Alexander the king.”

HT: Joseph I. Lauer

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

The history of Veterans Day is available here.

The first reference to Kiriath-jearim is in Joshua 9:17 where it is listed as one of the cities of the Hivites along with Gibeon, Chephirah, and Beeroth. These cities were located on the western side of the Judean hill country.

The name, Kiriath-jearim, means “city of forests” or wood, and is identified with Deir el-Azar. The Arab village at the site today is called Abu Ghosh and can be seen about nine miles west of Jerusalem to the right of the main highway to Tel Aviv. Several other names are given for the place. It is called Kiriath-baal (Joshua 15:60; 18:14), Baalah (Joshua 15:9), possibly Baalath (1 Kings 9:18), and Baale-judah (2 Samuel 6:2). Perhaps the simplest and correct explanation is that the Israelites changed the name from a place that honored Baal to a geographical one, the city of forests.

When the Danites moved from their allotted territory to the north they camped a little to the west of Kiriath-jearim at a place they called Mahaneh-dan (Camp of Dan; Judges 18:11-12).

Kiriath-jearim’s highest honor is in the association with the ark of the covenant. The Israelites took the ark from the tabernacle at Shiloh to the battle field at Ebenezer when they were fighting with the Philistines (1 Samuel 4). The ark was captured by the Philistines and taken to Ashdod, then to Gath, and finally to Ekron before they decided to get rid of it. The ark was returned to Beth-shemesh (1 Samuel 4-6).

The men of Beth-shemesh sent messengers to the residents of Kiriath-jearim asking them to come and take the ark to their town. The ark was brought into the house of Abinadad on the hill. His son, Eleazar, was consecrated by the men of the city to keep the ark of the LORD. The ark remained there for many years until David had it brought to Jerusalem (1 Samuel 6:21-7:2; 2 Samuel 6).

A prophet named Uriah, a contemporary with Jeremiah, lived at Kiriath-jearim. He preached a message similar to that of Jeremiah regarding Jerusalem in the days of the Babylonian threat. When he was threatened by King Jehoiakim he fled to Egypt, but was captured and brought back to Jerusalem and put to death (Jeremiah 26:20-24).

The ark of the covenant was here at Kiriath-jearim before David took it to Jerusalem. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

Our photograph shows the hill of Kiriath-jearim. Our Lady of the Ark of the Covenant Church was built in 1911 on the ruins of a fifth century Byzantine church.

This article was published in Biblical Insights, June, 2007.

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.

This is a sunset view I made at Pamukkale (biblical Hierapolis; Colossians 4:13). Hierapolis is famous for hot mineral springs and terraced travertine formations. It is now a World Heritage site.

For I bear him witness that he [Epaphras] has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis. (Colossians 4:13 ESV)

Sunset at Hierapolis in the Lycus River Valley. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

The Global Arab Network reports on a statement made by German archaeologist Markus Gschwind, head of the Syrian-German Archaeology Expedition, here. The report says,

Syria, the land of civilizations and history, is rife with ancient monuments that tell the stories of the many peoples and civilizations that lived in it, whose stories endured in the face of time to tell humanity about their greatness.

“Beneath every footstep in Syria is an ancient civilization,” says Archaeologist Markus Gschwind, head of the Syrian-German Archaeology Expedition working at al-Rafina in Hama. He notes that this saying is repeated around Germany, as most Germans consider Syria the most historically deep-rooted country in the Mediterranean.

In a statement to SANA, Gschwind said that he has been living and excavating in Syria for six years, each day discovering many secrets from the history of mankind.

Gschwind is working at the ancient city of al-Rafina in Hama. Hama is at the site of Biblical Hamath  (2 Kings 14:25; 2 Chronicles 8:4).

My limited visits to Syria have convinced me that the statement by Gschwind is correct. Of course, the same could be said of Israel, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq, et al.

The Assyrian Empire ruled the ancient near east from the battle of Qarqar (853 B.C.) till the battle of Carchemish (605 B.C.) when they were defeated by the Babylonians. Nineveh had fallen seven years earlier. This was the time of the Divided Kingdom period in Israelite history, and Assyria had contact with a numerous biblical kings. Ahab, for example, fought against the Assyrians at Qarqar. Qarqar is north of Hammath. Both are on the Orontes River.

The tell of Qarqar in northern Syria. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

HT: Biblical Paths

Israel National News has posted a video featuring Dr. Gabriel Barkai.

In wake of the claims that Israel is excavating under the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount and undermining Muslim mosques in order to cause them to collapse, archaeologist Dr. Gabriel Barkai told IsraelNN TV the opposite is true.

He charged that it is the Arabs who have acted against the status quo and have “brutally” excavated land that contains many ancient artifacts from Jewish history.

Dr. Barkai spoke about the “Sifting Project,” in which countless archaeological finds are being discovered in the rubble dug up by the Muslims. He also discussed his most famous discovery: small silver plaques containing the Priestly Benediction from the Book of Numbers, which he found in 1979.

These plaques contain the oldest surviving Biblically-related inscription discovered to date, dating back to 600 B.C.E.

Some of the comments made by Dr. Barkai are controversial, but I think readers who are interested in the archaeology of Jerusalem will find this 10-minute video beneficial.

The link takes you to the report and the video with all of the associated ads.

HT: Joseph I. Lauer

Austrian Times reports here on the discovery of a Babylonian seal impression at Tell el-Dab’a in Egypt.

Austrian archaeologists have found a Babylonian seal in Egypt that confirms contact between the Babylonians and the Hyksos during the second millennium B.C.

Irene Forstner-Müller, the head of the Austrian Archaeological Institute’s (ÖAI) branch office in Cairo, said today (Thurs) the find had occurred at the site of the ancient town of Avaris near what is today the city of Tell el-Dab’a in the eastern Nile delta.

The Hyksos conquered Egypt and reigned there from 1640 to 1530 B.C.

She said a recently-discovered cuneiform tablet had led archaeologists to suspect there had been contact between the Babylonians and the Hyksos.

Forstner-Müller added that Manfred Bietak had begun archaeological research on the period of Hyksos dominance at the remains of a Hyksos palace at Avaris in 1966.

Babylonian seal impression.

Earlier in the year we reported on the discovery of a Babylonian tablet at Tell el-Dab’a here.

The report  says the Austrian plan to build a museum in the area. A more complete report in Die Presse says they also have plans to restore the river. The Pelusiac branch of the Nile once flowed by this ancient site. Below is a photo of the canal which often follows the course of the Pelusiac.

Canal along the Pelusiac Branch of the Nile near Tell el-Dab’a. Photo by FJ.

Tell el-Dab’a is in the eastern Nile Delta. In Biblical times it was known as the Land of Goshen, and served as the home of the Israelites.

“Hurry and go up to my father, and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, “God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay. “You shall live in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children and your flocks and your herds and all that you have. “There I will also provide for you, for there are still five years of famine to come, and you and your household and all that you have would be impoverished.” (Genesis 45:9-11 NAU)

These new findings might shed some light on the plausibility of Achan finding a garment from Shinar (Babylon) at Jericho (Joshua 7).

HT: Biblical Paths

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

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