Picture of the Week Archives - Page 9 of 13

Picture of the Week: Lower Beth Horon in the Early 20th Century

(Post by Seth M. Rodriquez)

It is impossible to send a photographer back to biblical times to capture the sights that were familiar to Abraham, David, and Peter…but a photographer taking pictures in the early 20th century could come pretty close.

Our picture of the week comes from Volume 1 of The American Colony and Eric Matson Collection. This is a remarkable collection of photographs from the first half of the 20th century. I had a hand in the early stages of this project, working through and cataloging thousands of photos. It was a remarkable experience and in the process I learned much about the cultures of that period, the daily life of the inhabitants, the notable events of the day, and the various archaeological sites. The collection published by LifeInTheHolyLand.com is a selection of the best of the photographs taken by the American Colony and Eric Matson. Over 4,000 photos from Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt are presented in eight volumes. We will spend the next few weeks highlighting a photo from each volume. LifeInTheHolyLand.com describes the collection in this way:

Founded in 1881 by Horatio Spafford (author of the famous hymn, It is Well With My Soul), the American Colony in Jerusalem operated a thriving photographic enterprise for almost four decades. Their images document the land and its people, with a special emphasis on biblical and archaeological sites, inspirational scenes, and historic events. One of the photographers, G. Eric Matson, inherited the archive, adding to it his own later work through the “Matson Photo Service.”

As you spend time in the collection, you really do feel like you have stepped back in time. The landscapes are picturesque because buildings are sparse or non-existent and the air is free from smog. The local villages are full of primitive dwellings while the new churches, hospitals, and municipal buildings are pristine. You see dirt roads, horse-drawn carriages, boats powered by wind, and people walking from one town to the next. Archaeological sites are untouched by the excavator’s spade or are being subjected to excavation for first time. What an amazing time to be a photographer in the land of the Bible!

For example, as I was looking through Volume 1 the picture above stood out to me. Two women are walking barefoot along a narrow, dirt path in the hills of Ephraim, balancing water jugs on their heads. Behind them is the small town of Lower Beth Horon surrounded by farmland and a handful of trees. You can almost feel the silence that must have hung in the air in this sleepy countryside. Such a scene must have been familiar during the biblical period, and a photo such as this has the ability to transport us back to biblical times and to help us read Scripture in its historical context.

This photograph and 600 others are available in Volume 1 of The American Colony and Eric Matson Collection and can be purchased here for $20 (with free shipping). Volume 1 focuses on “Northern Palestine,” and other photos from the volume can be seen here, here, and elsewhere on LifeInTheHolyLand.com. Images and information about other work carried out by women during this period can be found here.

Tagged American Colony Photos, Picture of the Week

Picture of the Week: Nazareth in 1894

(Post by Seth M. Rodriquez)

Why is it that the more important the biblical site, the more it tends to be surrounded by modern buildings? Sites such as Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer have a lower level of biblical significance (see 1 Kings 9:15) yet they are delightful places to visit because they are relatively untouched by modern developments. But take a city like Jerusalem, Bethlehem, or Nazareth, and you need to hire a professional guide to help you find the ancient remains among the modern.

Take Nazareth for example. I have been to Nazareth a number of times, but I have seen few (if any) ancient remains in that city. It is completely covered by modern buildings.

Nazareth Today

This is not to criticize the modern inhabitants of the city. They have a right to live there and build comfortable houses and reliable roads. I am merely pointing out that often modern developments can diminish the usefulness of a location for teaching purposes. This is why a site such as LifeInTheHolyLand.com and the resources available through that site are so helpful.

Our picture of the week comes from a book entitled Earthly Footsteps of the Man of Galilee, which has been reproduced in electronic form and is available through LifeInTheHolyLand.com. It contains nearly 400 photographs taken in 1894. The book follows the life of Christ and the apostles chronologically, traveling back and forth through various countries. Below is a picture entitled

“Nazareth from the East” and is followed by an excerpt from the book. In this image, the city of Nazareth is much smaller than it is today. The Nazareth of 1894 was probably much larger than the Nazareth of the 1st century, and yet this photograph provides a better impression of the Nazareth that Jesus knew than any modern photograph could hope to reproduce.

Nazareth in 1894

NAZARETH FROM THE EAST.–After an absence, according to Dr. Andrews, of something like six months, the Holy Family with the infant Jesus came in sight again of their own home. If they approached the city from the East they would get the view, as far as the topographical features are concerned, given above. Nazareth stands almost mid-way between the Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea, as we have already said. It lies on the eastern slope of the hill, from the summit of which a magnificent prospect opens out. Toward the north are the hills of Galilee and the majestic summits of the snow-crowned Hermon. On the east is the Jordan valley and in dim outline the heights of the ancient Bashan. To the south spreads the beautiful plain of Esdraelon, with Mount Tabor, Little Hermon and Gilboa; in sight, beyond, are the hills of Samaria, and on the west Carmel faces the blue waters of the Mediterranean. No traveler should miss this view from the hill behind Nazareth. It is perhaps the richest and most extensive in all Palestine. The nearer hills are wooded, and drop in graceful slopes to broad and widening valleys of “living green.” In the village below, upon this eastern slope, the Savior of the world passed his childhood. His feet must frequently have wandered over these hills, and his eyes looked again and again from the summit as do the eyes of pilgrims now. Here the Prince of Peace looked upon the great plain of Esdraelon, where had so often been heard the din of battle; and upon that sea over which the swift ships were to bear the tidings of his salvation to continents and nations then unknown. The history of Nazareth seems to cluster about one remarkable event, “The Annunciation.” Before that the place was unknown. But to the Christian, Nazareth is the home of the Savior’s boyhood; the scene of his early labors, his prayers, his domestic relations, his whole private life for thirty years. This gives unspeakable charm to the town.

Quote taken from John H. Vincent, James W. Lee, and R. E. M. Bain, Earthly Footsteps of the Man of Galilee (New York: N. D. Thompson Publishing, n.d.), p. 101, which can be purchased here. The entire work contains almost 400 images, each with an explanatory note. Additional images of Nazareth can be seen here (1800s and 1960s) and here (modern day).

Tagged Picture of the Week, Then and Now

Picture of the Week: Joppa in the 1880s

(Post by Seth M. Rodriquez)

If you have been to Israel today then chances are that you flew there and your first glimpse of the country was from the air. But what was it like to visit the Holy Land before the luxuries of modern travel?

Our picture of the week comes from a book written in the 1880s by a scholar and traveler named J. L. Porter. The book is called Jerusalem, Bethany and Bethlehem and chronicles Porter’s travels and reflections in the Holy Land. It has been reproduced electronically and is available through LifeInTheHolyLand.com.

Joppa from the Southwest

In the introduction, Porter describes the port city of Joppa. Today Joppa is engulfed by the modern city of Tel Aviv, but in Porter’s day it stood alone and was one of the most common places for travelers to enter the Promised Land. In the picture you can see the shallow waters of the Mediterranean and the city rising above the boats in the harbor. The following excerpt gives you a taste of Porter’s writing style as he describes his experience in this city:

     Joppa is one of the oldest cities in the world. Pliny says it was founded before the Flood; and Josephus attributes its origin to the Phoenicians in the earliest stage of their commercial enterprise. Strabo has another story, making it the scene of Andromeda’s exposure to the sea-monster.
     But Joppa has a far higher claim upon our attention than could be given by heathen fables, or by even the most extravagant ascription of mythical antiquity and commercial greatness. It was the port of Jerusalem three thousand years ago, when the mariners of Hiram brought down timber from Lebanon for the building of the Temple. It is the port of Jerusalem to this day [in 1886]. Most Western travellers there first touch the sacred soil of Palestine, and thence go forward on their pilgrimage journey to the Holy City. …
     When one reaches the shore, through barriers of rocks,—rather a difficult and even dangerous task if the wind happens to blow from the west,—he is charmed at once with the quaintness of the streets and houses, the picturesque beauty of the fountains, gates, and Crusaders’ walls, and the crowd of people dressed in the costumes of nearly every country of Europe and Asia. … The views obtained from the terraced roofs of the higher houses of the town, and from some of the old towers along the walls, are singularly rich. The eye roams over a vast sea of verdure, many-tinted and varied in outline, with the palm, the pomegranate, the spreading terebinth, the golden orange and lemon, and the stately cypress. Beyond the orchards appear wide reaches of the green meadows and corn-fields of the Plain of Sharon; while on the eastern horizon, miles away, is the long range of the Judean hills, delicately coloured with light-gray summits, russet sides, and deep purple glens. It is a grand panorama, and, as it seemed to me, it is a fitting introduction to the traditional and historic glories of the Promised Land.

Quote taken from J. L. Porter, Jerusalem, Bethany and Bethlehem (London: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1887), pp. i-ii, which can be purchased here. The entire work contains over 90 images and almost 200 pages of text. Additional images of Joppa can be seen here (1800s) and here (modern day).

Tagged Picture of the Week

Picture of the Week: Pyramids of Gizeh

(Post by Seth M. Rodriquez)

People often wonder how the Great Pyramids of Giza were built and how much work it took to construct them. But have you ever asked yourself, “How much work would it take to tear down the pyramids?” In the late twelfth century, some people tried to do just that. Volume 4 of Picturesque Palestine, Sinai and Egypt provides us with the story.

The image below is entitled “Pyramids of Gizeh” and is one of the few steel engravings in this volume. (The rest of the images are wood engravings.) In the section below, the author summarizes the work of a 13th century physician known as ’Abd-el-Latif of Baghdad. ’Abd-el-Latif visited Egypt and wrote of his experiences there. In 1196, the governing authorities decided to tear down one of the pyramids to provide raw material for a new construction project.

’Abd-el-Latif tells us how he saw the workmen of El-Melik El-’Azîz, son of Saladin, employed in 1196 in pulling down the Third Pyramid—that at the left in our steel engraving of the Three Pyramids of Gîzeh, from a sketch made during the inundation. A large body of engineers and miners pitched a camp close to the Red Pyramid (as the Third was called from its beautiful granite casing), and with their united and continuous efforts achieved the removal of one or two stones a day. The blocks fell down with a tremendous shock, and buried themselves in the sand, whence they were extricated with immense toil and then were laboriously broken up. At the end of eight months the treasury was exhausted and the work of destruction abandoned. To look at the quantity of stone taken away you would think, says the observer, that the whole monument had been razed to the ground; but when you lift your eyes to the Pyramid itself, it is hard to see that it has suffered the least diminution! One day ’Abd-el-Latîf asked one of the workmen, who had assisted in laboriously removing one stone from its place, whether he would put it up again for a thousand gold pieces? The man answered that they could not do it if the reward were many times multiplied. And so in spite of the efforts of man and the wearing of time, the Red Pyramid of Menkara still stands besides its two sisters at Gîzeh, and verifies the saying that “Time mocks all things, but the Pyramids laugh at Time.”

Quote taken from Picturesque Palestine, Sinai and Egypt, vol. 4, pp. 170-173. This and other images of nineteenth-century Egypt are available in Picturesque Palestine, Volume IV: Sinai and Egypt and can be purchased here. Additional images of the Giza Pyramids can be seen here and here.

Tagged Egypt, Picture of the Week

Picture of the Week: Cultural Images of the 19th Century

(Post by Seth M. Rodriquez)

Have you ever asked yourself, “How can I make my preaching and teaching come alive? How can I grab people’s attention?” There are many ways to answer that question. Today we will look at one of them.

One value of a work such as Picturesque Palestine, written and illustrated in the late 1800s, is how it shows Middle Eastern culture as it was before the modern era. Things changed slowly over the centuries and in many ways the Middle East seen by the early explorers was the Middle East of biblical times. That said, many of the drawings can be used effectively in preaching and teaching to transport the listener to biblical times and grab their attention. Due to the arrival of the digital age, modern western culture is highly visual, so Bible teachers and preachers should use this to their advantage.

For example, observe how the following pictures enhance the reading of these biblical passages:

A Peasant Woman Churning

“For as churning cream produces butter,
and as twisting the nose produces blood,

so stirring up anger produces strife.”

Proverbs 30:33, NIV.

Ploughing in the Plains of Philistia

“So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat,
who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him,
and he was with the twelfth. Elijah passed
by him and cast his cloak upon him.”

1 Kings 19:19, ESV.

Scene in the Bazzar at Jaffa

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’”

Matthew 20:1-4, ESV.

It is often hard for people living in the modern era to get their head into the ancient world. Pictures such as these can go a long way to painting the correct picture.

This and other images from the nineteenth-century are available in Picturesque Palestine, Volume III: Phoenicia, Philistia, and the South and can be purchased here. Additional images of domestic work performed by women can be seen here, images of agricultural work can be seen here, and images of the marketplace can bee seen here.

Tagged Picture of the Week

Picture of the Week: The Ruins of Tell Hum

(Post by Seth M. Rodriquez)

Site identification can be tricky business. Just because a Bible atlas or a scholar says that site X was once the ancient city of Y, doesn’t mean that you have to believe him. Let’s look at an historical example.

Our picture of the week comes from Picturesque Palestine, Volume II: Samaria, Galilee, and Syria.

It is entitled “The Ruins of Tell Hum.” Here you can see the ruins of an ancient synagogue as they appeared in the 1870s. Today these ruins have been reconstructed and look like this:

Look familiar? Chances are that if you have visited Israel, you have been here. But today we don’t call it Tell Hum … we call it Capernaum.

In addition to digital pictures in this collection, there is also a full copy of the 1881 book in pdf files. The book provide us with a window into the scholarship of the late nineteenth century, with all its related observations, conclusions, and debates. At the time, the location of Capernaum was in question. Today we are fairly certain that Tell Hum was the location of Capernaum. Yet back in 1881, the site had not been excavated and it was a debated issue, similar to how other sites are debated today. Unfortunately, the author of this section of the work was on the wrong side of the debate. This is how the author argues against identifying Tell Hum with Capernaum:

Tell Hûm itself is so thickly overgrown with thistles and weeds of every kind, that at certain seasons it is almost impossible to get about. Among the ruins the absence of blocks of stone will be noticed, and instead, the extensive use of boulders in all the common houses. In fact, the ruins, as such, are of a very inferior kind. With the exception of what is thought to have been a synagogue, including a large building which at some time enclosed it, Tell Hûm has no ruins that would be worth visiting. The remains of this synagogue have been referred to as an evidence that Tell Hûm represents the site of Capernaum of the New Testament; but the preservation of these ruins is such as to justify the conclusion that they date from the second to the fourth century of our era, rather than from the time of Christ. Besides, Tell Hûm is two and a half or more miles from the point where the Roman road touched the lake, and hence would be a most unlikely place for a custom-house. It has no remains of a road or of a castle, and the unimportant character of the ruins has just been noticed. If Capernaum was here, it could have no possible connection with the plain of Gennesaret, which, we infer from the Gospels, should be the case. The place possesses no harbour, and in fact hardly a landing-place for a boat. This would be quite true in a storm, or at any time if the sea were very rough. (Selah Merrill, “Galilee,” in Picturesque Palestine, Vol. 2, p. 86)

What Dr. Merrill says about the date of the synagogue is correct. The synagogue from the first century was most likely torn down and replaced with this beautiful building that later fell into ruin.

But in the end it is a moot point and his other arguments have not withstood the test of time. The general consensus today is that Tell Hum is the site of ancient Capernaum.

It is true that we have come a long way since the nineteenth century explorers were doing their pioneering work. And yet, one has to wonder … What site identifications do we hold to today that will cause people in the next century to chuckle and shake their heads at our ignorance? I guess that’s part of the appeal of archaeology. There are so many mysteries still left to unravel.

This and other pictures of nineteenth-century Galilee are available in Picturesque Palestine, Volume II: Samaria, Galilee, and Syria and can be purchased here. Additional historic images of the Capernaum can be seen here, and modern images of Capernaum can be found here.

Tagged Picture of the Week, Then and Now