by admin | May 8, 2018 | Browse All, Dead Sea Scrolls, Qumran, Scrolls from the Judean Desert
What was “the deep” over which lay darkness? How deep was it and what was it doing there before Creation? Good questions with surprising answers. It turns out that “the deep” was originally named after a goddess! Her name was Tiamat, and she was the goddess...
by admin | May 8, 2018 | Browse All, Dead Sea Scrolls, Qumran, Scrolls from the Judean Desert
Fifteen of the 150 psalms found in the Bible — Psalms 120-134 — are labeled “a song of ascents”. The English translation accurately reflects the Hebrew שיר המעלות, which means simply a song of ‘going up’. The question occupying many commentators has been, going up...
by admin | May 8, 2018 | Browse All, Inscriptions, Monumental Inscriptions, Stone
Why did they need a warning on the gates of the Temple? The Temple that Herod rebuilt in Jerusalem was the center of Jewish life in the world. It was the place where man met God. It was the largest religious structure (35 acres of space) ever built by one man. And it...
by admin | May 8, 2018 | Browse All, Metal
The Silver Amulets: Part 4 The amulets are vitally important not simply because of what they say, but because they are very old. They are dated to approximately 600 BCE and contain actual lines from the Bible: the Priestly Blessing (Numbers 6:24-26), ^24 The Lord...
by admin | May 8, 2018 | Browse All, Masada, Scrolls from the Judean Desert
There are some references, usually disparaging, to Bar Kokhba in the Talmud. They concern the proclamation of Rabbi Akiva, who seems to have been the spiritual leader of the revolt and who is credited for changing the leader’s name from Bar Kosiba to Bar Kokhba (in...
by admin | May 8, 2018 | Browse All, Masada, Scrolls from the Judean Desert
Who Was Bar Kokhba? Judea rose in revolt against Rome in 66 CE. That revolt was crushed by the Romans within four years, ending when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in the late summer of the year 70 CE. A few isolated places, most famously Masada, still held out. In...
