Judah Archives - Page 37 of 39

Merry Christmas

Nativity scene in Bethlehem, early 1900s

“And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2:4-7).

The photograph is taken from the “Christmas Story” on the Traditional Life and Customs volume of The American Colony and Eric Matson Collection (Library of Congress, LC-matpc-05495).

Tagged American Colony Photos, Judah

Watching Their Flocks by Night

“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night” (Luke 2:8).

The photo is taken from the Traditional Life and Customs volume of The American Colony and Eric Matson Collection (Library of Congress, LC-matpc-05403).

Tagged American Colony Photos, Judah

Scribe at Work in Masada Synagogue

Visitors to the Masada synagogue will be able to watch a scribe making a copy of a Torah scroll.

From Arutz-7:

A ritual scribe has begun spending his days behind a glass wall in the famous Masada synagogue – writing a Torah scroll to be installed there.
The young scribe, Shai Abramovitch, moved from the northern city of Tzfat, together with his wife and three young children, to the Negev city of Arad, in order to be able to carry out and complete the project. He will make the 45-minute Arad-Massada trek each morning after immersing in a mikveh (ritual bath) – a customary prelude to ritual scribes’ work – and will return after seven and a half hours of painstaking writing.
His glass-enclosed“office” is in the very spot used as a synagogue by hundreds of Jews who found refuge from the Romans on Masada some 2,000 years ago. Hard at work throughout the day, the scribe can be seen through the glass by the many tourists who visit the famous site.
Rabbi Abramovitch’s job “is not easy,” commented Rabbi Shimon Elharar, director of the closest Chabad chapter, Chabad-Lubavitch of the Dead Sea. “There are at least 800,000 people a year who come through that synagogue, and he will be working in a place designed somewhat like an incubator. It’s a little like working in an aquarium.”
In addition, scribe Abramovitch takes a break a few times a day to come out and explain the holy work of writing Torah scrolls, tefillin, mezuzot and more.

The story continues here.

HT: Paleojudaica

Tagged Dead Sea, Judah, New Exhibits

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

Lecture: Lederman on Beth Shemesh

I realize that posting lecture notices only serves to make jealous a large portion of this reading audience, but in the interest of serving those who may be within driving distance, I will persist. I think that there are more lectures in the coming week from non-American archaeologists who are on their way to New Orleans for the annual meetings of ASOR and SBL.

From Pittsburgh Theological Seminary:

Pittsburgh Theological Seminary will host Zvi Lederman, a researcher in archaeology at Tel Aviv University, Sun., Nov. 15 at 7:30 p.m. in the Knox Room. Lederman will present a lecture entitled “At the Border: Iron Age Beth Shemesh.”

Its location, name, and history would indicate that Beth-Shemesh was a community on the Philistine border. When the Ark of the Covenant was taken by the Philistines, it was finally returned to the people of Beth-Shemesh, but the Lords of the Philistines, stepping after the Ark, went only “up to the border of Beth-Shemesh.” Dr. Lederman will discuss recent excavations that have illuminated life at Beth-Shemesh from a series of flourishing Iron Age 1 villages (1200-950 BCE) to a fortified Iron 2 city established during the days of the early Monarchy. In the course of its history, this important biblical town became embroiled in conflicts with the neighboring Philistines as well as conflicts between Israel and Judah, Syria and Ephraim, and eventually between Judah and the Assyrians.

Lederman was a member of the Land of Ephraim Survey, and has excavated at Beer-Sheba and Shiloh. Since 1990 he has served as co-director of the Te Beth-Shemesh excavations.

A reception will follow the lecture. Additionally, the Bible Lands Museum will be open from 6:00-7:30 p.m. and after the presentation. This event is co-sponsored by the Biblical Archaeology Society of Pittsburgh.

See the website for contact information.

HT: Joe Lauer

Beth Shemesh excavations, dumps, basket women, mat03005

Excavations at Beth Shemesh, 1931

This is one of 25 photos of Beth Shemesh in the Southern Palestine volume of The American Colony and Eric Matson Collection (Library of Congress, LC-matpc-03005).

Tagged American Colony Photos, Judah, Lectures

Rachel’s Tomb, Then and Now

The traditional location of the tomb of Jacob’s beloved wife is located on the north side of Bethlehem, next to the main highway that has run from Jerusalem to Hebron for thousands of years now. The photo below gives a good idea of what the monument looked like in the early 1900s. It’s quite picturesque.

The traditional Tomb of Rachel, early 1900s

Today, it’s a little harder to get a photo (see below). The tomb is here, just behind that fortified IDF watchtower on the right. The ancient highway now has “walls reaching up to heaven,” and Joshua himself might have despaired of getting through.

The reason for such security is that the tomb is a holy site for some religious Jews, but the Arab city of Bethlehem has grown up around the tomb. When the Israelis built the partition wall, they designed its route so that the tomb and the road accessing it would stay on the Israeli side of the wall. In difficult days, even this protection is not enough and travel to the tomb is banned. The Palestinians who live next to the tomb can no longer cross the street.

Access to the traditional Tomb of Rachel, Sept. 2004

Looking for a bright spot in all of this? How about this: the tomb has nothing to do with Rachel anyway. According to 1 Samuel 10:2, her tomb was in the tribal territory of Benjamin, which begins five miles north along the Hinnom Valley of Jerusalem. So all this expense and rancor is over Jews who want to pray at what likely was originally the tomb of a Muslim holy man!

The top photo is one of more than 550 photos included in the Southern Palestine volume of The American Colony and Eric Matson Collection (Library of Congress, LC-matpc-09188). For less than 4 cents a photo ($20/CD), you get a unique and outstanding collection of high-resolution photographs of Bethlehem, Hebron, the Shephelah, Tell Beit Mirsim, the Judean wilderness, Jericho, the Jordan River, the Dead Sea, Masada, Qumran, and the Negev.

Tagged American Colony Photos, Judah, Then and Now