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Picture of the Week: Tabernacle Replica

(Post by Seth M. Rodriquez)

Most readers of this blog are familiar with reconstructions, sketches, and diagrams of the Tabernacle.

From our reading of the text and with some help from Bible encyclopedias and study Bibles, we know the Tabernacle inside and out … the courtyard, the altar, the tent itself with its various coverings, the outer room, the Holy of Holies, the various articles in the rooms, how the items were arranged in the court and in the tent, etc., etc.

But did you ever stop to think what the Tabernacle looked like to an ancient Israelite? I’m not talking about the priests and Levites who ministered in the Tabernacle, but just your average Israelite man or woman who would have passed by the Tabernacle on their way from one side of the camp to the other. What it would have looked like to their kids as they approached the Tabernacle, bringing the sacrificial animals that God had required? How much of God’s tent could the average person see from outside the courtyard?

Our picture of the week seeks to portray just that:

This photo comes from Volume 5 of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands which focuses on the Negev and the Wilderness. Within this volume you will find a collection of pictures that captures a life-sized replica of the Tabernacle that stands in the Timna Valley in Israel. The PLBL states the following about the replica’s history:

The model was created in 1986 by the Bible Center Theological Vocational School in Breckerfeld, Germany. It was displayed at exhibitions in seven European cities, mainly in Germany and Switzerland, before being erected in the Timna Valley.

You can see better pictures of the model on the BiblePlaces website here, but this particular image caught my attention because it is what the average Israelite would have seen on an average day. The outer screen of the Tabernacle’s courtyard blocked most of the tent from view (Exod. 27:9-18), but someone standing outside could still see the top of the Tabernacle itself over the top of the screen.

We know this because the height of the Tabernacle was at least 10 cubits (Exod. 26:15-16) while the height of the screen was around 5 cubits (Exod. 27:18), so the screen was only half as high as the tent.

A cubit is the length from the tip of your fingers to the tip of your elbow, thus in modern measurements a cubit is approximately half a meter or 18 inches. So to be more exact, the Tabernacle stood at least 5 meters (15 feet) tall and the screen was about 2.5 meters (7.5 feet) high. You would not be able to see anything if you were standing right next to the screen (unless you were extremely tall, like Goliath), but if you stood back away from the screen, the top of the Tabernacle could be seen towering over its surroundings.

On the one hand, the screen would have served as a reminder of the separation between a holy God and sinful man. Yet on the other hand, the tent itself was a visible reminder of the nearness of God.

The book of Exodus teaches that God didn’t deliver Israel from Egypt and then just walk away, but instead He delivered them so that He could dwell among them:

Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. They will know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God. (Exod. 29:45-46.)

This image and over 700 others are available in Volume 5 of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands and can be purchased here for $34 (with free shipping). Additional information and images of the Tabernacle model can be seen here and here on the BiblePlaces website. For my thoughts about what happened to the Tabernacle after it was retired, see my posts on the Wild Olive Shoot blog here and here.

Tagged Picture of the Week

Wednesday Roundup

Matti Friedman posts new photos and information about the royal (proto-Aeolic) capital discovered in a water tunnel not far from Bethlehem.

The first official Israeli exhibit in the Louvre is the Lod Mosaic. It opens tomorrow and runs through August 19.

Wayne Stiles explains why Nazareth Village is not just another tourist trap.

The Jewish Voice suggests 13 Must-See Museums in Israel.

Jerusalem Experience has a new video of the Pools of Bethesda.

All of the articles of the latest issue of Atiqot are now online.

Ferrell Jenkins recommends the new Satellite Bible Atlas for tours anywhere in Israel.

The Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem
Photo from the Pictorial Library, volume 3

Tagged Discoveries, Galilee, Jerusalem, Museums, Resources

How the British Museum Protects Its Collection

The BBC has an interesting piece on how they protect their seven million objects from six million visitors annually. Threats include curious hands, inadvertent bumps, and chewing gum.

David Saunders, head of conservation and scientific research at the museum, said there had been very little malicious damage.
“The most worrying thing is people bumping into them,” he said.
“On a busy Saturday the museum can be very crammed and we obviously keep things in cases but not everything can be cased.
“Massive statues and architectural monuments can’t be so these have to be on open display.”
To protect them, the placement of every object is carefully considered.
Those that are vulnerable to breaking, such as porcelain statues, are placed in cases while bigger objects are placed behind a screen.
The FOI figures also show several objects – including a first century Roman marble statue and a Middle-eastern alabaster statue had to have chewing gum removed from them.
“It’s a strange thing to do, to stick a piece of chewing gum on an object,” said Mr Saunders.
“It’s very easy to remove and although we think of chewing gum as being something that is extremely sticky, it doesn’t pull away the surface when you remove it… [but] it’s a nuisance.
“Anything that has a surface where we absolutely would not want a piece of chewing gum attached to it we wouldn’t have on display.”

The full article is here. In my opinion, the British Museum is the best in the world for students of the Bible. An excellent guide is that by Peter Masters.

HT: Jack Sasson

Some ancient Assyrian monuments, including the White Obelisk and Black Obelisk, are protected by a low glass wall that does not block the visitor’s view.

Tagged Museums

Weekend Roundup

Shmuel Browns has posted a series of high-res photos of the new mosaics at Bet Qama.

Donald Trump wants to build Israel’s second 18-hole golf course. It will be located along the coast between Ashkelon and Ashdod.

Israel’s Water Authority will begin allowing 1,000 cubic meters of water per hour to flow out of the Sea of Galilee into the Jordan River.

Wayne Stiles shows why Beth Shemesh is an appropriate place to reflect on the feast of Shavuot (Pentecost).

Coastal plain south of Ashdod once claimed by the Philistines and now the proposed location of Donald Trump’s golf course.
Photo from the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands.

Tagged Discoveries, Holidays, Jordan Rift, Philistines, Shephelah

Picture of the Week: Graf Zeppelin Over Jerusalem

Our picture of the week is one of the most surprising images in any of the collections available on BiblePlaces.com and LifeintheHolyLand.com. It was taken on April 11, 1931 and displays a German dirigible floating over Jerusalem.

Several familiar landmarks can be clearly seen in the photograph. (You can click on the image to enlarge it.) The dirigible is hovering over the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and the Dome of the Rock can be seen in the background just above the church’s dome. To the right is the tower of the German Lutheran Church, and framing the whole scene in the background is the Mount of Olives.

The photo comes from Volume 2 of the American Colony and Eric Matson Collection which focuses on Jerusalem. There is another photo of this zeppelin in that collection which shows a clear profile of the airship as it passed by the Citadel of David near Jaffa Gate.

How and why did a zeppelin get here in 1931? The PowerPoint® notes in the collection provide the following explanation (hyperlinks in the quote were added for the convenience of our readers):

The viewpoint is a rooftop, or perhaps the city wall, in the Christian Quarter, west of the Holy Sepulcher. The photo documents the visit of the German dirigible “Graf Zeppelin” to Jerusalem on April 11, 1931. The famous airship began its journey on April 9th in Friedrichshafen, Germany and it landed at Heliopolis near Cairo at dawn on the 11th. It then set off on a one-day, round-trip excursion to Jerusalem, reaching there at 10 a.m. The airship reportedly hovered for some time, with its engines stopped, about 100 meters above the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and that seems to be exactly what was captured in this photo. That date–April 11, 1931–being Holy Saturday in the Eastern calendar, the dirigible’s passengers were almost certainly viewing the colorful spectacle of the annual “Holy Fire” ceremony being played out in the streets below. Without touching down in Palestine, the Graf Zeppelin (average speed approx. 60 miles (100 km) per hour) returned to Egypt and landed in Cairo at 4 p.m. the same day. [Source: web-site of the German Embassy in Cairo, www.kairo.diplo.de]

This particular zeppelin traveled the world over the course of a decade. It crossed oceans, traversed hemispheres, made a “round the world” voyage, and even helped explore the Arctic. With such a colorful career, I guess it couldn’t resist squeezing in a quick trip to Jerusalem at some point.

This photograph and over 650 others are available in Volume 2 of the American Colony and Eric Matson Collection, and is available here for $25 (with free shipping). Further information and images of Jerusalem in the 1800s and early 1900s can be found on LifeintheHolyLand.com here, here, and elsewhere. Further information on the Graf Zeppelin can be found here and here.

Tagged Jerusalem, Picture of the Week

Wednesday Roundup

A proposal to create a large platform for mixed prayers along the Temple Mount’s western wall south of today’s prayer plaza has evoked some cries of protest. Though the elevated platform would create space for visitors to tour the archaeological remains below, this is “absolutely not an option,” says Eilat Mazar. “It’s a sacred archaeological site.” Nir Hasson’s article in Haaretz is superior to the reporting in the Jerusalem Post.

If you’re interested in the history of the Western Wall, from the earliest Jewish prayers to the present day, Ofer Aderet’s article in Haaretz is quite interesting. The final quotation implicitly reveals why the Jewish people no longer refer to it as the Wailing Wall.

The LMLK Blogspot reports on a letter written from Jerusalem in 1868 by a member of Charles Warren’s excavation team.

The Times of Israel: Gleaning just like Ruth would have done, if she’d had Google Maps
Leen Ritmeyer links to an interview with archaeologist Yuval Gadot who describes the earliest results from his excavation in the City of David.

The Spring 2013 issue of the electronic newsletter DigSight is now online. The focus is on Southern
Adventist University’s upcoming excavations of Lachish.

There is an explanation for the photo showing a Ferris wheel on the Temple Mount.

HT: BibleX, Mike Harney

Jewish worshipers at the Western Wall, early 1900s
Photo from the American Colony and Eric Matson Collection

Tagged Jerusalem, Shephelah, Temple Mount