Todd Bolen, Author at BiblePlaces.com

Purim and the Book of Esther

The celebration of Purim begins tonight and commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people described in the book of Esther. If you have not read the book in a while, this might be a good occasion to do so with family and friends.

You might understand the book better if you recognize that there are three sections. The first two chapters introduce the main characters and put them in position for their timely action. The central section reveals the plot, beginning with Haman’s successful efforts to secure a degree ordering the slaughter of the Jews and concluding with Haman’s death and the issuing of a counter-edict (3:1–9:19). The third section concludes the book with the declaration of the annual celebration of Purim to remember the deliverance of the Jews (9:20-10:3).

If you are a more advanced reader, you might pay more attention in your next reading to the author’s use of the number two. There are two queens, two heroes, two decrees, two banquets hosted by Esther, and many other such examples.

In a recent study of the book, I appreciated this statement by Robert Gordis:

Anti-Semites have always hated the book, and the Nazis forbade its reading in the crematoria and the concentration camps. In the dark days before their deaths, Jewish inmates of Auschwitz, Dachau, Treblinka, and Bergen-Belsen wrote the Book of Esther from memory and read it in secret on Purim. Both they and their brutal foes understood its message. This unforgettable book teaches that Jewish resistance to annihilation, then as now, represents the service of God and devotion to His cause. In every age, martyrs and heroes, as well as ordinary men and women, have seen in it not merely a record of past deliverance but a prophecy of future salvation” (Megillat Esther. New York: Rabbinical Assembly, 1974, p. 14).

More about the modern celebration of the holiday is given in this article published yesterday by Arutz-7. A couple of years ago we posted a few photos of the holiday in connection with an article about “The Tomb of Mordechai and Esther.”

Tagged Holidays

Touring Israel

A number of articles or blog pieces have appeared recently about various sites and trails around Israel.

Shmuel Browns recently completed an eight-day hike on the Israel Trail, beginning at its southern end near Eilat. He posts some reflections and photos from his experience. The last picture in particular should get some of you to thinking about when you’re going to book your next flight to Israel. Browns also recommends a hike from the Timna Valley where one can see many plants in bloom this time of year.

Yoni Cohen writes in the Jerusalem Post about hiking in the Yehudia Forest Reserve, though the article is too brief. The National Parks official website has similar information, and I noted previously (with links) that this is the best place to hike in the summer. Last week Cohen wrote about Ein Akev and Ein Zik near Kibbutz Sede Boqer.

Ferrell Jenkins has written about two of the lesser known sources of the Jordan River, the Nahal Senir (Hasbani) and the Nahal Iyon (Bareighit). He also recently pointed readers to his free guide to biblically related artifacts in the British Museum.

Leon Mauldin is touring Israel now and has recently visited Gordon’s Calvary, Anathoth, and Gibeon.

Carl Rasmussen has begun a blog and his most recent post features several beautiful photos of a synagogue mosaic at Sepphoris.

In a new column at the Jerusalem Post, Wayne Stiles writes of Tel Dan and Qumran. On his blog, Stiles notes the release of a DVD four years in the making entitled “Experience the Land and the Book.”

Tagged Tourism, Travels, Weekend Roundup

Stolen Egyptian Antiquities Recovered

A police trap has led to the recovery of 12 objects recently stolen from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. From the Luxor Times Magazine:

Ahmed Attia Mahmod lives at Dar El-Salam district in Cairo formed a group to attack the Egyptian Museum on 28th January, during the clashes that occurred around the museum which distracted the attention.
This was revealed when he was arrested with a friend of his who owns a coffee shop in the same district and a third partner with 12 objects of the Museum’s missing objects. The perpetrators started to spread videos and pictures of the objects to mobile phones of others trying to find a buyer. The Antiquities police in co-operation with the Armed Forces tracked them and set them a trap with the help of a foreigner who works at the American Embassy in Cairo convening the criminals that he will buy the objects for 50 million dollars when the police and military police arrested them.

The full story is here. The same source provides a list of all 54 missing objects from the museum.

HT: Jack Sasson

Tagged Egypt

Israel to Remove Minefields

Israel has finally decided to remove its minefields. From Arutz-7:

A law that will require the removal of all known mines in Israel passed its second and third Knesset reading Monday. The law, originally sponsored by former MK Tzachi Hanegbi (Kadima) and later by MK Roni Bar-On (Kadima), was approved by a 43-0 vote. It authorizes the Defense Ministry to set up a new department that will be responsible for clearing minefields in the Negev, Golan, and other parts of the country that the IDF had set up in the early days of the state.
[…]
Among those present in the Knesset plenum as the law was passed was Daniel Yuval, who was badly hurt several years ago when he entered a minefield in the Golan. Yuval, now 13, lost a leg to the mine that exploded when he inadvertently stepped on it in a snow-covered field where signs indicating that the field was mined were difficult or impossible to see. Yuval became an Israeli ambassador for the cause of land-mine removal, speaking around Israel and at international forums on the problem of land mines.

The full story is here.

Minefield near the southern end of the Sea of Galilee

Tagged Golan, Tourism

Na'aman Lecture at Penn State

Professor Nadav Na’aman of Tel Aviv University will be lecturing this week at Pennsylvania State University on the subject of “Text and Archaeology: Two Sets of Competing Data of Urban Culture Decline.” The lecture will be held on Thursday, March 17, 2011 at 4:00 p.m. in 102 Weaver Building.

It’s probably just a coincidence that this week Penn State professor Donald Redford is lecturing on a variety of subjects in Jerusalem.

HT: Eric Welch

Tagged Lectures

Archaeologists Battle in Elah Valley

A feud between archaeologists in Israel today resembles the ancient struggle between David and Goliath. As with the battle of old, one combatant is from Jerusalem (Yosef Garfinkel of Hebrew University) and the other from the Philistine plain (Oded Lipschitz of Tel Aviv University). The skirmish is only the latest in an on-going conflict that goes back to the establishment of the entity on the coast (the Institute of Archaeology founded by Yohanan Aharoni). The subject of dispute is the very same as that between the ancient Israelites and Philistines—control of the lowlands (Shephelah). In fact, it is the site of Socoh, identified in connection with the Philistine encampment that is at the heart of the dispute between the two archaeologists.

Aren Maeir, excavator of the Philistine city of Gath, is an outside observer who drew our attention to a report of the clash in Haaretz (Hebrew). The article observes that archaeologists at Tel Aviv University typically deny or minimize the existence of David and the Israelite kingdom. Hebrew University researchers, however, tend to defend the greatness of the ancient state centered in Jerusalem. Archaeology has been used to support both sides of the debate, and most recently Hebrew University has claimed a major advance with the excavations of the 10th century site of Khirbet Qeiyafa and its ancient inscription.

With Hebrew U excavating Khirbet Qeiyafa on the north side of the Elah Valley and Tel Aviv U surveying Tel Azekah on the west side, Tel Socoh on the south side is up for grabs. The Israel Antiquities Authority gave permission to survey the site to both parties. But when Tel Aviv U discovered that more than surveying work was going on, Lipschitz fired off a testy letter to the authorities, claiming that Hebrew U had opened excavation squares and was blatantly violating the terms of the license.

Garfinkel has defended himself against the attack, arguing that the “excavation” is clearly the work of antiquities thieves and that Lipschitz cannot tell the difference between an excavation and a robbery.

Lipschitz, however, found incriminating evidence in one of the excavation trenches—a water bottle with the name of one of Garfinkel’s team! Garfinkel has observed that the site is not far from the
West Bank and the area where the partition fence ends giving Arab thieves easy access.

The Israel Antiquities Authority has responded to Lipschitz’s letter by rejecting his claims and declaring the “excavations” to be the work of antiquities thieves. Only time will tell who will secure rights to excavate Socoh and what evidence it will supply concerning the ancient conflict between the Israelites and the Philistines.

Tagged Excavations, Shephelah