BiblePlaces Blog - Page 379 of 555

Nations Come to Israel to Make Desert Bloom

A four-day international conference in the Negev is aimed at helping 200 million people around the world threatened by poverty and hunger. More than 50 countries will be represented at a four-day international conference in the Negev that is aimed at helping 200 million people around the world threatened by poverty and hunger. The third annual conference, with the unwieldy title of “Conference on Drylands, Deserts and Desertification: The Route to Restoration,” opens Monday at Ben Gurion University’s campus in Sde Boker, located between Be’er Sheva and Eilat. More than 500 government officials and academics, including those from the Palestinian Authority and Jordan, will participate. The conference is co-sponsored by the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). "If you do nothing about desertification, people will starve and die," said Prof. Alon Tal, Arava Institute founder, Ben Gurion professor and native of North Carolina. Israel’s success in rehabilitating the Arava desert has attracted worldwide attention to the Jewish State, where 97 percent of the land is arid. Israel has not only "made the desert bloom,” it also has also invested major resources in learning how to keep dry lands from overtaking fertile soil. With increasing worldwide soil erosion, salinization and groundwater mismanagement, Israel wants to share its solutions with the world.

The story continues here. Farm at Neot Hakikar in the Aravah of Israel
Photo by David Bivin

Tagged Negev

Bible and Archaeology Fest 2010

The Bible and Archaeology Fest has now posted a schedule of speakers and their topics (pdf).

Lectures of greatest interest to me on the first day include:

David Ussishkin, “Sennacherib’s Attack on Lachish: What We have Learned from Archaeology”

Yosef Garfinkel, “The Sanctuary of Khirbet Qeiyafa: Judean Cult at the Time of King David”

Jodi Magness, “Masada: Last Stronghold of the Jewish Resistance against Rome”

James Tabor, “Was There an Essene Quarter and a “Church of the Apostles” on Mt. Zion in the time of Jesus? What We Know Now in 2010”

Amihai Mazar, “Beth Shean: Biblical Traditions and Archaeological Reality”

Other speakers for the weekend include Mark Wilson, Ben Witherington, James Charlesworth, Mark
Goodacre, Michael Coogan, William Dever, Craig Evans, and Marvin Meyer.

Tagged Lectures

Weekend Roundup

Anson Rainey will be lecturing in the Chicago area on “The Order of Sacrifices in Levitical Ritual” in the inaugural lecture of a new series: “The Trinity Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology Lecture.” For more details on the Nov 15 lecture, see here.

The Albright Institute in Jerusalem is hosting a “Workshop on the History and Archaeology of the Negev and Edom in the Iron Age” on December 12. For more details, see this flyer.

Ehud Netzer was remembered in a broadcast this week on LandMinds.

A special exhibit opened at the British Museum this week entitled, “Journey through the Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead.” Ann Wuyts has some related information.

Atiqot has placed their two most recent issues online. Arutz-7 explains the significance of this journal.

There are a couple of new articles about the irrigation system at Ramat Rahel.
Israel’s Supreme Court has ruled against a petition intended to stop the destruction of artifacts on the Temple Mount.

If you’ve ever wondered if Jews are or are not allowed to walk on the Temple Mount, you now have your answer.

There has been some discussion online recently about Rachel’s Tomb near Bethlehem in light of UNESCO’s claim that the Jewish holy place is actually a Muslim mosque. Leen Ritmeyer has the best images and discussion, but my guess is that it probably was a Muslim shrine before it was “Rachel’s Tomb.” In any case, the biblical evidence is decisively against the authenticity of the site.

Maybe I’ll explain more one of these days, but for the real short answer, see 1 Samuel 10:2. [I now see Jim Davila’s request for an explanation, so I’ll bump it up on my priority list and try to post on it soon.

UPDATE: That explanation is here.]

HT: Joe Lauer

Tagged Jerusalem, Lectures, Museums, Weekend Roundup

New Book: Biblical Turkey

The premiere scholar on biblical sites in Turkey is Mark Wilson, and his long-awaited book has just been published. Biblical Turkey: A Guide to the Jewish and Christian Sites of Asia Minor is a 400-page work that includes “all the references to cities, regions, provinces, and natural features in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, Apocrypha/Deuterocanonicals, New Testament, and Apostolic Fathers.” Though I haven’t seen the book, I have no doubts that this is the best book on the subject and an essential reference work.

The book is published in Turkey which makes purchasing a little more work. One option is to purchase from the Turkish website for a cost of 30 euros (about $42) including delivery. A second option is to take advantage of an introductory discount (20 euros/$28) available by sending in an order form by fax or email (details below). A third option for those going to Atlanta later this month is to purchase it at the David Brown Books table at the SBL/ASOR conference (but I’d recommend you get one on the first day before they sell out their stock).

Option two details:

After preparing the list of the book you wish to order (Biblical Turkey in this case), click on “By Fax Order Form”. There you can write your credit card details, take a print out and send it as fax to us. Our Fax Number: 90 212 244 32 09.”

You can also download the form, fill it out, scan it, and send it to [email protected] for processing. For any further questions about an order, please email that same address.

Tagged Resources, Turkey

Carta Collection for Accordance

An extraordinary collection of historical and geographical works on the Bible from the Carta Publishing House in Jerusalem has been announced for Accordance Bible Software (Mac). Some of these works are the best in the field and available nowhere else electronically.

Bible Lands Atlases

The Sacred Bridge
Carta’s New Century Handbook and Atlas of the Bible
The Carta Bible Atlas
The Illustrated Bible Atlas with Historical Notes
Bible History Atlas Study Edition
The Onomasticon by Eusebius of Caesarea

Jerusalem

The Illustrated Atlas of Jerusalem
Carta’s Historical Atlas of Jerusalem
Jerusalem in the Time of Nehemiah
Jerusalem in the Year 30 A.D.

Temple

The Quest
Carta’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of The Holy Temple in Jerusalem
The Holy Temple of Jerusalem

You can purchase the entire collection for $500, but there are other less expensive packages available. All the details are here.

HT: William Krewson

Tagged Resources

Logos Software Deal: Travels Through Bible Lands

Some months ago, I mentioned a Logos Bible Software collection of books entitled “Travels through Bible Lands Collection.” This fifteen-volume collection was listed in their pre-publication specials for $130. That collection and many others did not receive sufficient interest and so it has now been moved to “community pricing” where a large number of orders results in a greatly reduced price.

Thus you could now pick up all 15 electronic books for $20 if enough people place bids. Here are a list of titles:

The Land of Israel: A Journal of Travels in Palestine, by Henry B. Tristram (1876)
Land of Moab: Travels and Discoveries on the East Side of the Dead Sea and Jordan, by Henry B. Tristram (1876)
Early Travels in Palestine, by Thomas Wright (1848)
Discoveries in the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon: with travels in Armenia, Kurdistan and Desert, by Austen Henry Layard (1871)
Travels in Turkey, Asia-Minor, Syria, and Across the Desert into Egypt, by William Wittman (1803)
Social Life in Egypt, by Stanley Lane-Poole (1884)
East of the Jordan: A Record of Travel and Observation in Moab, Gilead, and Bashan, by Selah Merrill (1881)
Fifty-Three Years in Syria, Vol. 1, by Henry Jessup (1910)
Fifty-Three Years in Syria, Vol. 2, by Henry Jessup (1910)
A Brief Pilgrimage in the Holy Land, by Caroline Hazard (1909)
The Unvarying East, by E. J. Hardy (1848)
Among the Turks, by Cyrus Hamlin (1878)
Through Persia on a Side-Saddle, by John MacQueen (1901)
Palestine Past and Present, by James Challen (1859)
My Winter on the Nile, by Charles Warner (1892)

The ones in bold are those I’m familiar with and believe would be worth at least $20 each. The others may be outstanding, but I have no knowledge of them. In short, for $130 this is a tough one to recommend. For $20, this would be an excellent addition to your Logos collection. If you’re interested, click on over to the Logos website and place your bid. If enough of us chip in, we all will get a fantastic deal.

In the near future I plan to suggest my own “Travels through Bible Lands Collection.” There are many books better than these and perhaps if Logos is successful with this one, they’ll do a follow-up with my favorite resources.

Tagged Resources