Todd Bolen, Author at BiblePlaces.com

Women with Water Jars

Women with water jars, early 1900s

“Water is generally brought from the fountain, or cistern, in skin bottles, which the women carry on their backs, and a rope holding this in position passes round the forehead. If, however, they have no skin bottles, known as ‘kirby,’ they have big earthenware jars, which they carry on their heads.” –Philip Baldensperger, “Women in the East,” Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement (1900): 173.

“A great part of their lives seems to be spent in going to and fro between the tent and the spring.” –C. R. Conder, Tent Work in Palestine (1878) 2: 284.

The photo and quotations are taken from the Traditional Life and Customs volume of The American Colony and Eric Matson Collection (Library of Congress, LC-matpc-00063).

Tagged American Colony Photos

Flash Floods in the Negev

From the Jerusalem Post:

Many roads in the South were closed down following floods and a storm which has been raging since Sunday night.
Four tourists became trapped in their car in Arava Monday due to intense flooding.
Rescue units, including a helicopter, were working to evacuate them from the vehicle.
Route 90, leading from the Dead Sea hotels to the Center, Route 40 and Route 211 in the Negev were closed for traffic. The Nitzana Bridge collapsed due to heavy rainfalls.
The Nitzana, Tzin, Revivim Besor Haroe’h and Beersheba streams were overflowing.
A vehicle drifted away near the Revivim quarry and was still being sought on Monday morning. Two trucks with three travelers were swept into the Paran stream near Eilat and the travelers needed assistance from the local rescue unit and IDF helicopters.
All schools in the Ramat Hanegev Local Council were closed because of the floods. Schools in Kadesh Barne’a, Ezuz, Kmehin, Nitzana, Revivim, Mashabe Sadeh, Telalim and Retamim were closed.
Significant downpours swept the land, especially in the Negev and northern Negev, where 49 millimeters were registered during the night.

This reminds one of Psalm 126:4: “Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like streams in the Negev.”

UPDATE: Arutz-7 reports:

One tourist was killed in the Arava area north of Eilat Monday morning when he and two friends tried to drive their jeep through a raging river bed, powered by rare heavy rainfall. The roaring stream crushed the vehicle against rocks, and army helicopters manage to rescue two accompanying tourists. It was not known if they are from Israel or from outside the country.
Earlier on Monday, IDF helicopter rescue crews saved three people trapped in two trucks in flash floods in the central Negev and others near Eilat as the torrential but badly needed winter rains head north.
More than one inch of rain fell in Eilat, more than the normal rainfall for several years, and schools were closed throughout the region. Eilat also suffered electricity blackouts….
Nearly two inches of rain flooded Be’er Sheva, where a raging river bed was filled with water for the first time in years.

Tagged Negev, Weather

Camel Caravan

Camel caravan on Mount of Olives, 1925-46

“The camels of loaded caravans are usually fastened one behind another in single file, and thus make one deep track or footpath; but in the Haj and in a small party like ours, they are left to choose their own way, and seldom follow each other in line; so that many parallel tracks are thus formed” –Edward Robinson and Eli Smith, Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petrea (1841): 1:60.

“The first time I came up this road from Jaffa, many years ago, midway between Upper Beth-horon and el Jîb, in the narrowest and most difficult part of the pass I encountered a long and straggling drove of camels—more than five hundred—which Ibrahim Pasha had bought from the Arabs east of the Jordan, in order to transport provisions and war material for his army. Though I have since seen many thousand camels in one caravan of the Wuld ‘Aly—some said fifty thousand—that sight did not affect my imagination to an equal degree. Those five hundred loose camels, with their Bedawin drivers shouting to them at the top of their voices, came lunging and plunging down the rocky path in wild confusion; and my terrified horse becoming quite unmanageable, rushed away amongst the rocks, to the no slight danger of breaking his own neck and that of his rider” –William M. Thomson, The Land and the Book (1882): 2:73.

The photo and quotations are taken from the Traditional Life and Customs volume of The American
Colony and Eric Matson Collection (Library of Congress, LC-matpc-04570).

Tagged American Colony Photos

Doing the Laundry

My home is decorated with photos from the Middle East, arranged by geographical region or theme.

One of the photos my wife chose to put in the laundry area is this one.

Women washing clothes at fountain, mat05312

Date of Photograph: Early 1900s

“Dirty clothes are generally carried to the nearest running water; sometimes this is far from the village, and where there are only wells, water must be drawn; but seldom are things washed with warm water” –Philip Baldensperger, “Women in the East,” Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement (1901): 75.

The photo and quotation are taken from the Traditional Life and Customs volume of The American Colony and Eric Matson Collection (Library of Congress, LC-matpc-05312).

Tagged American Colony Photos

Threshing Floor

Threshing floor, early 1900s

“The threshing-floor is a flat place in the neighbourhood of the village. If possible, a rocky place is chosen, so that it may be easily swept. Where this is not obtainable, a hard, flat piece of ground is made to answer the purpose. The floor is common property, but each thresher keeps to a certain part of it. For four months the Fellah has nothing to fear from rain or bad weather. During that time he almost lives at the beiyâdir (threshing-floor) and some of the villages are nearly deserted, at least by the men. The wheat, &c., is spread out, and the oxen and asses are driven round so many hours a-day to tread out the grain with their hoofs, at the same time treading and softening the straw so that it becomes fit for fodder. This straw is called tibn, bundles of ordinary straw and stubble they call kash.

The animals as a rule are not muzzled” –F. A. Klein, “Life, Habits and Customs of the Fellahin of Palestine,” Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement (1883): 41-48.

“Do you suppose that these floors which we see at Yebna and elsewhere resemble those so celebrated in ancient times? They have, perhaps, changed less than almost anything else in the country. Every agricultural village and town in the land has them, and many of them are more ancient than the places whose inhabitants now use them. They have been just where they are, and exactly as they were, from a period ‘to which the memory of man runneth not to the contrary.’” –William M. Thomson, The Land and the Book (1880): 1:149-51.

The photo and quotations are taken from the Traditional Life and Customs volume of The American Colony and Eric Matson Collection (Library of Congress, LC-matpc-10182).

Tagged American Colony Photos

Qeiyafa Inscription Translation by Galil

From a press release from the University of Haifa, posted at EurekAlert:

A breakthrough in the research of the Hebrew scriptures has shed new light on the period in which the Bible was written. Prof. Gershon Galil of the Department of Biblical Studies at the University of Haifa has deciphered an inscription dating from the 10th century BCE (the period of King David’s reign), and has shown that this is a Hebrew inscription. The discovery makes this the earliest known Hebrew writing. The significance of this breakthrough relates to the fact that at least some of the biblical scriptures were composed hundreds of years before the dates presented today in research and that the Kingdom of Israel already existed at that time. The inscription itself, which was written in ink on a 15 cm X 16.5 cm trapezoid pottery shard, was discovered a year and a half ago at excavations that were carried out by Prof. Yosef Garfinkel at Khirbet Qeiyafa near the Elah valley. The inscription was dated back to the 10th century BCE, which was the period of King David’s reign, but the question of the language used in this inscription remained unanswered, making it impossible to prove whether it was in fact Hebrew or another local language. Prof. Galil’s deciphering of the ancient writing testifies to its being Hebrew, based on the use of verbs particular to the Hebrew language, and content specific to Hebrew culture and not adopted by any other cultures in the region. "This text is a social statement, relating to slaves, widows and orphans. It uses verbs that were characteristic of Hebrew, such as asah ("did") and avad ("worked"), which were rarely used in other regional languages. Particular words that appear in the text, such as almanah ("widow") are specific to Hebrew and are written differently in other local languages. The content itself was also unfamiliar to all the cultures in the region besides the Hebrew society: The present inscription provides social elements similar to those found in the biblical prophecies and very different from prophecies written by other cultures postulating glorification of the gods and taking care of their physical needs," Prof. Galil explains. He adds that once this deciphering is received, the inscription will become the earliest Hebrew inscription to be found, testifying to Hebrew writing abilities as early as the 10th century BCE. This stands opposed to the dating of the composition of the Bible in current research, which would not have recognized the possibility that the Bible or parts of it could have been written during this ancient period. Prof. Galil also notes that the inscription was discovered in a provincial town in Judea. He explains that if there were scribes in the periphery, it can be assumed that those inhabiting the central region and Jerusalem were even more proficient writers. "It can now be maintained that it was highly reasonable that during the 10th century BCE, during the reign of King David, there were scribes in Israel who were able to write literary texts and complex historiographies such as the books of Judges and Samuel." He adds that the complexity of the text discovered in Khirbet Qeiyafa, along with the impressive fortifications revealed at the site, refute the claims denying the existence of the Kingdom of Israel at that time. The contents of the text express social sensitivity to the fragile position of weaker members of society. The inscription testifies to the presence of strangers within the Israeli society as far back as this ancient period, and calls to provide support for these strangers. It appeals to care for the widows and orphans and that the king – who at that time had the responsibility of curbing social inequality – be involved. This inscription is similar in its content to biblical scriptures (Isaiah 1:17, Psalms 72:3, Exodus 23:3, and others), but it is clear that it is not copied from any biblical text. English translation of the deciphered text: 1′ you shall not do [it], but worship the [Lord].
2′ Judge the sla[ve] and the wid[ow] / Judge the orph[an]
3′ [and] the stranger. [Pl]ead for the infant / plead for the po[or and]
4′ the widow. Rehabilitate [the poor] at the hands of the king.
5′ Protect the po[or and] the slave / [supp]ort the stranger.

HT: Joe Lauer

Tagged Shephelah