Analysis Archives - Page 19 of 29

Time Magazine on Archaeology in City of David

A couple of weeks ago I read an article in Time Magazine on archaeology in east Jerusalem. I would normally link to this kind of article (and many other bloggers did), but this one was so thoroughly one-sided that I couldn’t in good conscience link to it without a lengthy refutation. But you can waste your life on such drivel and I decided to pass.

A couple of days ago, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) reviewed the article and noted some of its problems. For instance,

The journalist respectfully refers to Daniel Seidemann, an outspoken foe of Israeli sovereignty and habitation in eastern Jerusalem, as a lawyer who works for a civil rights organization and, elsewhere in the article, as “Lawyer Seidemann,” but does not afford similar honorifics to the archeologist who heads the Jerusalem excavation. McGirk conveniently omits her credentials, introducing her simply as “Eilat Mazar” and incorrectly describing her as “an associate of the right‑wing Shalem think tank” And while he includes this incorrect affiliation – Time has already issued a correction stating that Mazar is not currently affiliated with the Shalem think tank – McGirk neglects to inform readers that Dr. Mazar is a respected archeologist – the granddaughter of Benjamin Mazar, who was a prominent archeologist, historian and former president of the Hebrew University. She received her PhD in archeology more than a decade ago, has published in scholarly journals, was a visiting scholar at the Hebrew University’s Institute of Archeology and is currently a research fellow there.
By contrast, McGirk characterizes those who oppose the field of biblical archeology and disagree with Mazar and her team’s findings as “scholars” and “experts.”

Note that this has nothing to do with the essence of the controversy, which is whether Israel has the right to excavate in Jerusalem. The “journalist” has carefully selected and withheld information in the manner of a defense lawyer or political lobbyist. This is all the more distasteful when it involves mischaracterization of scholars and archaeologists.

The conclusion:

Time’s readers cannot reliably learn about the controversies and arguments surrounding the history, archeology, and future of Jerusalem as long as Time’s Jerusalem bureau chief continues to serve as an advocate for one side of the debate instead of as a responsible and ethical journalist.

Time should be ashamed of this article. To the degree that it is not, we know that objective reporting is not its goal. If you read the original Time article, you should read this response.

Tagged Analysis, Excavations, Jerusalem

How “Top 50” Lists Work

This post relates more to blogging than to biblical sites, but it may be of interest to fellow bloggers and those curious about some of the issues we face. A couple of days ago I received an email informing me that this blog had been named “a top 50 biblical history blog” by “A Blog of Biblical Proportions.” I’ve seen a handful of similar emails over the last year and they always struck me as a bit strange. For one, the name of the domain is unrelated and sounds commercial, such as accreditedonlinebiblecolleges.org. For another, when I look at the “Blog of Biblical Proportions,” I see that the blog posts are sporadic (none since November) and there is no consistent theme (other posts are “25 Excellent iPhone Apps for Bible Study” and “Top 50 Blogs for Online Scripture Study”). Each of these posts consists of annotated listings of blogs or websites. That’s nice, but why? Who is creating this and what is their motivation? I don’t see any Google ads or other obvious advertising which would suggest a profit motive. Another observation is that this site (and ones similar) is pseudo-anonymous. By that I mean that they have names associated with them, but they are only first names and they seem generic (Linda, Miranda, James). There is nothing else on the website that gives any background about the writer(s). Bloggers don’t necessarily put their address online, but they have some kind of identity. It’s clear to me that something is fishy, but I just can’t put my finger on it. Last week, I received an email suggesting that my readers would enjoy the new post at the “Biblical Learning Blog” (notice the goofy name again) on 25 Open Courseware Classes about Early Christianity. The post listed a few good options for study (but not related to “Early Christianity”) and I included the link on the Weekend Roundup, though I was still not sure what was going on. I think I understand now how the operation works. Some entrepreneur (probably a single individual with multiple pseudonyms) wants to earn a few bucks and he knows he can do that through a service that pays you if you collect address details for prospective college students. I don’t know what this pays, and apart from what I’ve deduced, I didn’t know that colleges paid for address lists. But that clearly seems to be going on at this website with their links to nine different schools at the bottom of this page. None of the links go directly to the colleges, but all are directed through a third-party site, which suggests that this is not someone primarily concerned with getting you information about the school. How does this tie in to the “top 50 biblical history blogs”? In order to make money, the site needs visitors interested in going to college. The best way to get visitors is from Google (though BiblePlaces.com is linked from thousands of websites, more visitors come from Google searches than from the rest combined). The key to getting visitors from Google is to be highly ranked. If a prospective college student searches for “online bible college,” he probably will never click on your site unless it is ranked in the top three. Securing a high rank for the website is a challenge. Many, many “entrepreneurs” have tried various methods for years to trick Google into thinking a purely commercial portal is actually a worthy site with content. Google learns their tricks, and so new methods evolve. The current method appears to combine a commercial portal with some “genuine content.” So in our example, a list of top blogs or best courseware is written. It doesn’t take that much time to create such a list (a few hours with Google), especially when the “annotations” reflect nothing more than a brief visit. For instance, the annotation on the “top 50” list for this blog simply copies what is given in the blog description (professor in Israel…). I wouldn’t say that that is not helpful, but it is fast and easy and could be written by absolutely anyone. Google likes it that the site has “real content.” But what is even more necessary are incoming links. Google isn’t a person and it doesn’t evaluate each website individually. Rather it lets other humans do its work. If lots of humans are adding links from their websites/blogs to a particular site, then Google thinks that people must value it and its ranking goes up. The old way to get links to your site was by “link exchanges,” but these are basically dead now. I get a couple of requests a week, asking me to add a link to a website such as “Real Estate in Cyprus” and in return they’ll add a link to BiblePlaces.com. The problem with this is that the requests are rarely to websites of interest or value to my readers. Even if they were, I have no idea if the company is honorable or not. So how does the commercial website get links when reputable websites won’t link to them? One strategy apparently is to post “top 50” lists. The entrepreneur then emails everyone who has been “named a top 50 blog” with the comment that “I thought you and your readers at Bible Places might be interested in taking a look.” The blogger is “honored” and when he mentions his ranking on his blog, he links back to the “top 50.” A link exchange has just occurred. The “top 50” websites/blogs may not be the most popular websites, but they have a real author and real readers and they have just made the “online bible college” website more worthy in Google’s eyes. Furthermore, given that many of these websites are blogs, the links last forever. Years ago, many websites had lists of links which were occasionally revised. If the website owner got wise to the fact that a certain site was never updated and appeared to be a front, he would delete the link. But bloggers are very unlikely to dig back through previous posts to check and remove links. Even if no one ever goes back to read the old posts, the links still exist in Google’s index. The approach is rather ingenious. The website has one goal (earn commissions from college recruits), but it achieves its goal primarily through the creation of unrelated content. Bloggers are flattered by the “honor” and may not realize that the list was created by someone without any interest in or knowledge of their discipline. As I said at the beginning, this discussion is only tangentially related to “Bible Places,” but it may be helpful to a few bloggers who don’t realize what is going on. I don’t want to criticize websites or blogs that make money through advertising or sales (this one does), but knowing that things are not exactly as they seem makes me less likely to link to these sites in the future.

Tagged Analysis

Best of 2009: Books, Software, Photo CDs

This list isn’t comprehensive, but these are works I noted as I reviewed the posts for this year on the BiblePlaces Blog. Feel free to suggest other valuable works in the comments below.

Books of the Year:

Barry Beitzel, The New Moody Atlas of the Bible – The long-awaited second edition is now available.

Hanan Eshel’s three field guides on Masada, Ein Gedi, and Qumran – There is nothing better for a quick but careful review of these important sites near the Dead Sea.

John Walton, ed., Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary: Old Testament – The bar has forever been raised for illustrated works on the Old Testament. Purge all of those references in
your books and syllabi to ANEP.

Anne Spangler and Lois Tverberg, Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus – This is a great little book for those who want to see background information applied to Scripture, and in a very readable style.

James Martin, John Beck, and David Hansen, A Visual Guide to Bible Events – If you believe that there’s a reason for everything, you’ll love this book which shows you in story after story why the geography matters. Along the way, you’ll enjoy beautiful and instructive photographs and maps.

Best Bible Software of the Year:

Bible Mapper 4 – The best software for making your own maps is now better. Bonus: you can use these maps without restriction.

Glo – Interactive Bible software that puts the Bible together with videos, reconstructions, photographs, and more in an impressive and immersive experience. (And now only $50 at Amazon.)

Logos 4 – The whole program has been re-engineered to take advantage of the latest in computing technology. I haven’t installed it yet, but word on the street is that the program is significantly better than the previous version.

BibleWorks 8 – The best software for exegesis of Scripture now includes the best Hebrew and Greek grammars.

Best Photo CDs of the Year:

The American Colony and Eric Matson Collection: Vol. 2: Jerusalem – Not less than 700 images hand-picked from thousands of photographs taken by a group of resident photographers from 1898 to 1946.

The American Colony and Eric Matson Collection: Vol. 6: Traditional Life and Customs – These are photographs that you thought you’d never see.

I’m more than a little biased on this last category, but I’m happy to welcome any challengers in the comments below.

Tagged Analysis, Resources

Top Discoveries of 2009

National Geographic has posted their top 10 discoveries of the broader archaeological world, and that has prompted me to create a list of the 9 most important discoveries from 2009 related to the biblical world. It is too difficult to rank these, especially as the significance of some of them is not yet fully known. The order follows the chronology as they were mentioned on this blog, from February to December.

1. Heliodorus Stele Discovered – This temple inscription from Maresha-Beit Guvrin features a proclamation from Seleucus IV and dates to 178 BC.

2. Foot-Shaped Stone Enclosures Discovered in Israel – Five large stone enclosures were discovered in and near the Jordan Valley. From the air, they look like footprints. They appear to date from the period when Israel was recently settled in the land.

3. Seal of Saul Found in Jerusalem – Seals with personal names from the biblical period in Jerusalem continue to be helpful. Apparently Judeans in the time of Hezekiah were still naming their sons after Israel’s failed monarch.

4. Cryptic Ten-Line Inscription Found on Mount Zion – This lengthy inscription from the 1st century AD continues to confound scholars.

5. Middle Bronze Passageway Found in City of David – This discovery solves the problem of how the Jerusalem inhabitants accessed the secure water source in the 18th century BC. What’s not new, but still most impressive, is the monumental construction found in the city.

6. First-Century Synagogue in Magdala – Dozens of synagogues exist in Galilee from later periods, but this is now an excellent example of one from the time of Jesus, and at a place that he almost certainly visited.

7. Temple Mount – This makes the list because of the collective discoveries, not only on the platform itself, but also in the debris sifting operation. Some of the finds made have not yet been publicized.

8. Minoan-Style Wall Paintings on Israel’s Coast – Canaanite rulers on the coast liked the decorating style of the Cretans.

9. First-Century House in Nazareth – The first residential structure from the time of Jesus will not only help scholars understand the ancient village but will become a popular destination for pilgrims.

If you think something else should be added (or substituted), feel free to note that in the comments.

Likewise, if you see a similar list elsewhere, include that link in the comments.

Other Important Posts of the Year: (in reverse chronological order)

Leper Wrapped in Cloth Buried in Jerusalem – A new scientific publication on a decade-old discovery brings renewed attention.

Photos from Israel in 1948 – Ben Atlas has created several sets of images from the huge Life Magazine online archive.

Qeiyafa: Survey vs. Excavation – The results don’t differ a little, but they contradict each other in each period.

Qeiyafa Inscription Details – This ostracon from c. 1000 BC is difficult to decipher.

“Joseph’s Coins” – This story would have fared better if it had been released on April 1.

Bar Kochba Coin Cache Discovered – An outstanding collection of coins from the 2nd century AD were found in a cave in the Judean hills.

The James Ossuary Inscription Proven Fraudulent in Court of Law – Oh, wait, that’s never happened. Apparently the prosecution is less than convincing.

Virtual Walking Tour of Temple Mount – In some ways, this is better than visiting the Jerusalem holy place in person.

Alexander the Great Carving Found at Dor – A very tiny gemstone with a portrait on the Greek conqueror attests to the abilities of the artist.

Aphrodite and Odeon Found at Hippos – This Roman-Byzantine city overlooking the Sea of Galilee is home to beautiful discoveries large and small.

Another Herodian Quarry Found in Jerusalem – This quarter-acre quarry north of the Old City might have made the list of top discoveries if several other Herodian quarries had not been found in recent years.

The Bones and Face of the Apostle Paul – Excavators found the remains of a person dating to the right period at the traditional location of Paul’s burial site.

Roman Quarry = Ancient Gilgal? – Archaeologists have proposed a connection between this underground quarry and the missing site of Gilgal.

Survey of Western Palestine – This post gathers together known links to electronic versions now available online for free.

Norman Golb’s Son Arrested on Charges of Impersonation – Bloggers suspicious of hundreds of comments and links in the past few years were not surprised to learn that they apparently are all the
work of a single individual.

That Rope Around the High Priest’s Ankle – It didn’t exist.

Tagged Analysis, Jerusalem, Temple Mount

Leper Wrapped in Cloth Buried in Jerusalem

The headlines on the web this morning are a little more sensational:

Burial cloth found in Jerusalem cave casts doubt on authenticity of Turin Shroud (Daily Mail)
Jerusalem tomb discovery casts further doubt on Turin Shroud (Telegraph)
Jesus-era leper sheds light on Turin shroud mystery (Haaretz)
Remains in tomb near Old City show first known case of leprosy (JPost)
‘Jesus-era’ burial shroud found (BBC)

The tomb was found nearly a decade ago, and all of the sensational results have been known for years. Two of the excavators, Gibson and Tabor, have both written extensively on this discovery in books they have published.

What is new is the publication of an article in the US Public Library of Science Journal, with the finding that this was evidence of the first human known to have leprosy. That’s good, but it’s not news. Maybe the news is buried in the details, and the publication of this article provides an opportunity to review an important discovery. That’s fine, but it should be noted that news outlets lead you to believe that there are more discoveries than they actually are because they report the same items time after time, particularly during the Christmas and Easter seasons.

If you read only one article, I’d suggest the one in the Jerusalem Post. But the best photos are in the Daily Mail. Here are the important facts:

A man was buried in this tomb between AD 1 and 50.
The rock-hewn tomb was located on the south side of the Hinnom Valley, in a cemetery used by the wealthy.
The man was wrapped in a burial shroud with a different weave from that of the Shroud of Turin.
The deceased suffered from tuberculosis and leprosy. (Apparently even the rich got sick.)
A significant portion of the dead man’s hair was recovered and analyzed (it was clean, short, and lice-free).
The man did not receive a secondary burial in an ossuary, as was typical at the time.

Here’s an important statement in the JPost article:

Based on the assumption that this is representative of a typical burial shroud widely used at the time of Jesus, the researchers conclude that the Turin Shroud did not originate from Jesus-era Jerusalem.

That gives you the basis for the researchers’ conclusion that the Turin Shroud is fake. As long as there was only one shroud maker in town in the first century, we can be absolutely sure that the Turin Shroud is from the medieval period. (I have no interest in or knowledge about the Shroud, but I do care about assumptions necessary for conclusions. The conclusions are in the headlines; the assumptions are always buried if not omitted.)

You can read the rest in the articles linked to above. The books that I alluded to by the archaeologists are these:

Shimon Gibson, The Final Days of Jesus: The Archaeological Evidence
James Tabor, The Jesus Dynasty: The Hidden History of Jesus, His Royal Family, and the Birth of Christianity

UPDATE (12/17): James Davila at Paleojudaica responds to the Jerusalem Post statement quoted above:

That’s not quite what it says in the Daily Mail article quoted in my post yesterday. The claim there is that “[i]t was made with a simple two-way weave – not the twill weave used on the Turin Shroud, which textile experts say was introduced more than 1,000 years after Christ lived.” That is a more general claim that ought to be verifiable or falsifiable based on the reasonably ample surviving textile evidence from antiquity. If it is true that this type of weave is only attested much later, that would severely weaken any case for the genuineness of the Shroud of Turin. Are there specialists in first-century textiles out there who would like to speak up?

Tagged Analysis, Jerusalem

The Star of Bethlehem

A friend wrote and asked me if I knew why the star in the Bethlehem church has 14 points. This star is located at the traditional place of Mary’s delivery of Jesus in a cave below the Church of the Nativity.

Bethlehem Church of Nativity, place of birth, tb102603467

Traditional place of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem

I don’t know. Everyone knows there were three magi, not fourteen. Maybe there were fourteen shepherds? Or maybe fourteen cows (or combination of stable animals)? Or fourteen rooms in the inn? Maybe Jesus was born on the 14th, and not the 25th of December. Maybe, like Joseph in Genesis, it stood for twelve children and his mother and father.

There’s a list on this web page that shows stars with various numbers of points and gives their explanations. The four-pointed star is used as the “star of Bethlehem,” and its shape as a cross is symbolic of Jesus’ death. The five-pointed star is also the “star of Bethlehem,” as it is “shaped roughly like a human being.” There’s the six, seven, eight, nine, and twelve-pointed stars. But none with fourteen.

I asked my friend Tom Powers in Jerusalem. He wondered if it might be related to the 14 Stations of the Cross. But then he checked with a friend, who suggested it stands for the three-fold “fourteen generations” of Jesus’ genealogy given in the Gospel of Matthew. He and I agree that makes the best sense, though we haven’t seen it in print.

A few comments on those genealogies now that I’m thinking about them. The genealogy of Jesus in Matthew has three sections with fourteen generations each. The place where the breaks are located is significant. The first break is with David. Matthew’s Gospel makes the point that Jesus is the “Son of David,” the expected Messiah described in the Old Testament. The second break is at the exile. A more subtle point that Matthew makes is that Jesus is the expected child who would be born in the exile to bring his people out of the exile. You really have to understand Isaiah in order to get this, and Matthew did.

The fourteen generations are not exhaustive. They appear to be arranged that way (with certain known individuals left out) in part to assist in memory. I wonder if you’ve ever taken advantage of this help that Matthew provided. If that’s not enough, you might find the song, “Matthew’s Begats,” by Andrew Peterson helpful. The entire song is composed of this genealogy. This Christmas season I’m enjoying not only this song, but the entire album. The best Christmas music is drenched with the Old Testament.

Star of Bethlehem at Nahal Iyon, tb040400870

The “Star of Bethlehem” in Galilee

Tagged Analysis, Judah