Monthly Archive for October, 2008

BIBLE AND ARCHAEOLOGY FEST XI

Published
by
Leen Ritmeyer
on October 30, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 1 Comment

In about three weeks time, from November 21-23, the Bible and Archaeology Fest XI of the Biblical Archaeology Society, will be held in Boston MA. I will be speaking on the Roman Destruction of the Temple Mount, see below. Lectures will be held in two different rooms, which means that you can only enjoy half the conference. Here is the full program:

BIBLE AND ARCHAEOLOGY FEST XI
Radisson Hotel Boston; Boston, Massachusetts

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2008
9:00 - 10:15 AM
Bart Ehrman, “Is the New Testament Forged?”
Leonard Greenspoon, “Text in the City: How the Septuagint, the
First Bible Translation, Adapted the Bible for an Urban Audience”
10:45 - NOON
David Vanderhooft, “Ezekiel in Babylonia: Cultural
Borrowings of a Learned Deportee”
Jodi Magness, “Archaeology 101: How We Dig, How We Date
What We Dig Up, and Much More”
2:00 - 3:15 PM
Lawson Younger, “The Arameans and the Bible”
Leen Ritmeyer, “Reading Josephus: What His Record of the
Sequence of the Destruction of Jerusalem Tells Us about the
Layout of the Temple Mount”
3:45 – 5:00 PM
Alan Millard, “Authors and Books in Biblical Times”
Gary Rendsburg, “Leviticus - Structure and Meaning in the
Least-Read Book of the Torah”
7:00 - 8:30 PM PLENARY SESSION
James Charlesworth, “Was Jesus Influenced by the Dead Sea
Scrolls?”

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22
9:00 - 10:15 AM
Peter Flint, “The Priestly Benediction from Numbers 6
in the Silver Hinnom Amulet, the Hebrew Bible, and the Septuagint”
Amihai Mazar, “The City of Rehov in Northern Israel: Ten Years of
Discoveries”
10:45 am – NOON
Richard Newman, “What Science Can and Cannot Tell Us
about the James Ossuary”
Sharon Zuckerman, “The Rise and Fall of a Canaanite
Kingdom: A View from Hazor”
2:00 - 3:15 PM
James Hoffmeier, “Israel and Egypt–Friends and Foe:
From Solomon to 586 B.C.”
Michael Coogan, “Jonathan Loved David:
Same-sex Relationships in the Bible”
3:45 - 5:00 PM
Amy-Jill Levine, “Violence on the Jerusalem-Jericho
Road: How Biblical Scholarship Reads, and Misreads,
the Parable of the Good Samaritan.” 
John Huehnergard, “Silver from the Souk:
Semitic Loanwords in English”

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 23
9:00 - 10:15 AM
Mark Goodacre, “When Were the Gospels Written?”
Mary Joan Leith, “War in the Bible: What’s Really Going On?”
10:45 - NOON
James Tabor, “Excavating Mt. Zion: Past, Present, and Future”
Ryan Byrne, “The Archaeology of David and Solomon:
Ancient Politics and Modern Controversies”

First Temple Period Hebrew Seal found

Published
by
Leen Ritmeyer
on October 30, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

It is always exciting when an Hebrew seal of the 7th Century B.C. is found, as announced today here. In an excavation 100 m west of the Western Wall an impressive seal was found. It shows a Hebrew archer in Assyrian style military outfit and his name, Hagab, engraved in ancient Hebrew script next to him. At least he doesn’t look like a grasshopper, which the Hebrew meaning of this name is. The name appears in reverse, so that it would come out right, when impressed in clay.

It was stated that this name of Hagab also appears in the Bible, namely in Ezra 2.46. That is where the comparison ends, of course, for this Hagab was one of the Nethinim, temple servants. Temple servants were not usually dressed in warrior’s suits.

The seal was found in an excavation, located some 100 m. from the Western Wall. This wall, of course, did not exist at the end of the First Temple period. The Western wall at the end of the First Temple period was located at least 25 m further to the east. That wall was part of the 500 cubit square Temple Mount, which was probably built a century earlier by King Hezekiah.

King Solomon’s Copper Mines

Published
by
Leen Ritmeyer
on October 28, 2008
in Excavations, History, Jerusalem, Research and Temple Mount
. 3 Comments

Excavations in Jordan have revealed copper mines that were in use during the 10th Century B.C., i.e. the time of King David and Solomon. The site is called Khirbat en-Nahas, which means ‘the ruins of copper’. The massive smelting plant was probably operated by King Solomon, who may have derived part of his wealth from this site, just a King Herod the Great amassed huge wealth from the mining of copper in Cyprus. The site has also revealed some Egyptian artifacts, which may be related to the invasion of the Egyptian Pharaoh Sheshonq (Shishak of the Bible), soon after Solomon’s death. You can watch an interesting video here about these excavations, which were led by Thomas Levy of the University of California in San Diego.


Huge amounts of bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, were used in Solomon’s Temple for the two pillars, Yachin and Boaz, the Altar, the Great Sea and other installations, as shown in this model of Solomon’s Temple.

Some scholars have cast doubt on the existence of the fabled King Solomon, because of the few remains of the 10th Century B.C. that have been found, especially in Jerusalem. However, when King Hezekiah created a new artificial platform around the renovated Temple, the remains of Solomon’s Royal Complex, such as his Palace and the House of the Forest of Lebanon, may have been dismantled and therefore will never be found. It does not mean, of course, that they never existed.

Jerusalem - reconstruction drawings in the various periods

Published
by
Leen Ritmeyer
on October 19, 2008
in Jerusalem and Products
. 2 Comments

Our new line of downloadable images has proven to be very successful. It is a great way to download the reconstruction drawings or model images you need for your powerpoint presentation and you can have them immediately. And our clients are asking for more. The latest images available are reconstruction drawings of the City of Jerusalem in the various periods.

1. The City of Solomon drawing (above) was the first reconstruction to incorporate the massive fortifications that have been uncovered near the Gihon Spring. No wonder that this was the place where Solomon was anointed king. Another first in this drawing is the interpretation of the Spring Tower as part of an additional gateway to the city on the east, so that to get into the city from this direction, one had to pass through two gate systems.
2. The next drawing is more schematic, as it shows how Jerusalem developed in the Biblical period or Iron Age. It shows at bottom left the City of David as he had conquered it from the Jebusites and rebuilt it. On the right of the drawing one can see how Solomon, by building the first permanent sanctuary in Jerusalem, extended the city to the north, doubling its size.
The top part of the drawing shows Hezekiah’s expansion of the city by building a city wall around the south-western hill. This was given expression in Ps. 122.3, “Jerusalem is a city that is joined together” or, as the ESV has it “Jerusalem—built as a city that is bound firmly together”. A section of this wall has been excavated in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City and called “The Broad Wall”.
3. Jerusalem in 30 A.D. This drawing was first made for The Times Atlas of the Bible and later made available as a poster. It shows Herodian Jerusalem at its peak with landmarks indicated such as the Temple Mount (of course), the Herodian and Hasmonean Palaces, the Bethesda and Siloam Pools and two alternatives for Golgotha.

Son of the High Priest

Published
by
Leen Ritmeyer
on October 6, 2008
in Excavations, History, Jerusalem, News and Temple Mount
. 0 Comments

Just before Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, a fragment of a stone cover of a sarcophagus has been found with the fragmentary Hebrew inscription: “Son of the High Priest”. It could not have been timed better, for in another 3 days, on October 9th, it will be Yom Kippur, the only day in the year that the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies. You can read about it on the Israel Antiquities Authority website, from where you can download images of the inscription and the excavation site.
The High Priest used to wear ornate garments, but not on Yom Kippur when he entered the Holy of Holies, for then he only wore linen garments. Here is a picture showing the High Priest in his official garments from our book “The Ritual of the Temple in the Time of Christ”.