Photos worth 1000 words (or more)

Locusts

Shmuel Browns, Israel guide and photographer, has posted the best photo of a locust that I have seen. And the photos of flowers in the Judean Desert are something most tourists never get to see. Look here.

From the top of the Great Pyramid

Carl Rasmussen, at his HolyLandPhoto’s blog, calls attention to some photos made by some Russians from the top of one of the Great Pyramid of Giza here. There you will find links to the Mail Online (British) and English Russia.

I suppose I never wished to climb the Great Pyramid, but I had two men with me in 1978 who wanted to do so. In the photo below you might be able to make out two men (Jim Puterbaugh and Bob Lyman) to the right of the marker showing the original height of the structure. Click on the photo for a larger image.

Two climbers on top of the Great Pyramid in 1978. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

The Great Pyramid of Cheops (or Khufu) was constructed about 2500 B.C. No, not by the Israelites. That is even earlier than the biblical Patriarchs. It is said to contain more than 2,300,000 blocks of stone, each weighing an average of 2½ tons. The height was originally 479 feet, but now is 449½ feet.

It is April 1, but this is no joke.

Jerusalem Panorama

Look at this great high resolution panorama of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives here. Spend some time with it. (HT: Bible Places Blog.)

Limited time bargain on a great Bible atlas

Christianbook.com is offering Carl Rasmussen’s Zondervan Atlas of the Bible for a limited time at the unusual price of $14.99. Click here.

I can’t promise that it will still be available by the time I get this posted, but you can try.

Update Noon  12-04-12:  I see the price is now $19.99. If you have a a Prime account with Amazon (postage free), or wish to add another item, the price may be better at $22.73 for Zondervan Atlas of the Bible.

This Atlas is an extremely good one. It is well written, accurate, colorful, filled with great photos and helpful maps. Earlier this evening I emailed a notice to folks who have traveled with me recently, or who plan to, with this note:

This is an excellent book for anyone planning a tour to Israel, or anyone who has been. It should be one of your most helpful Bible study tools.

One of the ladies who traveled to Israel earlier this year replied with this note:

That is a great price. I got one before we went. I use it daily as I read and it sure brings the scriptures alive. It is much more so now that we have seen the country.

Monday meandering — August 1

My upgrade to BibleWorks 9 arrived about a week ago. I am enjoying getting acquainted with some of the new features and resources. For information see here.

Mark Hoffman has given a sort of pre-review at his Biblical Studies and Technology Tools website here. Hoffman was a beta tester for the new version.

Hoffman also talks about Logos for Android here. As a user of Logos (Libronix) I was delighted to see this beta app for the Android. I am enjoying access to many of the Logos books and have downloaded a couple of significant volumes.

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Carl Rasmussen, author of Zondervan’s Atlas of the Bible, recently visited a well preserved portion of the Caesarea aqueduct. But it is not the portion of the aqueduct that most tourists see immediately north of Caesarea. This portion is about 3 miles north-northwest of Caesarea. Nice photos included on his HolyLandsPhoto blog here.

Carl also reports that a new paved road now goes directly to Yodfat (Jotapata). This is an improvement over the hour long walk to the site. See here. He visited Qumran, caves 1 and 11. See here.

Since I wrote the two paragraphs above there is a new post about the Middle Bronze I Age tombs (2200-2000 B.C.) located about 16 miles northeast of Jerusalem at Dhahr Mirzbaneh (east of Ein Samiya). Click here.

These three posts by Prof. Rasmussen include photos with a link to additional photos at his Holy Land Photos site.

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The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM) announces that they have added Free Audio and Video at iTunes U.

The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM) has always been committed to helping others understand the reliability of our New Testaments, the history of translations, the study of the text, and significant figures who have made this possible.

Beginning today, CSNTM is making a series of videos concerning New Testament manuscripts, textual criticism, history of the New Testament, and expert commentary on key verses available as a free download on iTunes U.

Featured in the videos are interviews and footage shot around the world of important people involved in the work of the Center. Dr. Daniel B. Wallace will also be featured as he explains important aspects in the study of the text of the New Testament.

CSNTM homepage is here. The direct link to the series on Biblical Criticism at iTunes U is here. Inexpensive way to get a great education. Daniel Wallace does a superb job with these presentations. Take some time to listen and study.

Dr. Wallace will debate Bart D. Ehrman at SMU in Dallas Saturday October 1 on the subject Can We Trust the Text of the New Testament? There is a charge for admission, but perhaps this material will be available later on audio/video. Info here.