Biblical Archaeology

[Mr E]

Sorry-- I didn't mean to step on this thread with another.

2. New Papyrus Published Containing Sayings of Jesus (Sept. 2023)​

A photo from 2012 of P.Oxy. 5575 (the recto). Photo: Ardon Bar-Hama
A papyrus fragment containing quotes from Matthew, Luke, and the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas was recently published in the most recent volume of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri (volume LXXXVII). The papyrus dates to the late second or early third century and is part of the collection of over 500,000 papyri discovered at Oxyrhynchus, Egypt in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s by Bernard Grenfell and Arthur Hunt. The fragment, known by it’s technical designation P.Oxy. 5575, contains small portions of Matthew 6, Luke 12 and the Gospel of Thomas 27. It is the oldest manuscript with text from Matt 6 and the earliest witness to the Gospel of Thomas. The Gnostic Gospel of Thomas is a later, second-century work that purports to contain secret sayings that Jesus gave only to Thomas, and it is not considered an authentic record of actual sayings by the historical Jesus described by the canonical Gospels from the first century.


I love the editorializing regarding the Gospel of Thomas. lol (not considered authentic) -- but the fragments of Matthew and Luke? Authentic!

 

[Wick Stick]

Archaeology is always fascinating, but when it comes to Jerusalem I have a hard time with the dating of many of the finds there. For instance, this article says that they found a villa from 1st century Jerusalem.

Elevator project at the Western Wall unearths an ancient archaeological trove

Old City excavations, ahead of work to improve disabled access at holy site, uncover ornate 1st century villa, oil lamps and a ritual mikveh that overlooked the Temple esplanade

www.timesofisrael.com

But Jerusalem was utterly razed in the 1st century. Not one brick left on another is the how the Bible describes it, and secular history from the classical period agrees that the city was literally erased from the earth.

So what they found is probably Roman construction that came after that.

 

[Mr E]

Archaeology is always fascinating, but when it comes to Jerusalem I have a hard time with the dating of many of the finds there. For instance, this article says that they found a villa from 1st century Jerusalem.

Elevator project at the Western Wall unearths an ancient archaeological trove

Old City excavations, ahead of work to improve disabled access at holy site, uncover ornate 1st century villa, oil lamps and a ritual mikveh that overlooked the Temple esplanade

www.timesofisrael.com

But Jerusalem was utterly razed in the 1st century. Not one brick left on another is the how the Bible describes it, and secular history from the classical period agrees that the city was literally erased from the earth.

So what they found is probably Roman construction that came after that.

Good to see you Wick. Yes, I agree.

If you want to find something older, dig deeper.

 

[Matthias]

“Using a ‘breakthrough’ technology based on measuring the magnetic field recorded in burnt bricks, researchers at dour Israeli universities have corroborated the occurrence of an event described in the Bible’s Second Book of Kings - the conquest of the Philistine city of Gath by Hazael, King of Aram. …”

Israeli research use Earth's magnetic field to verify event in Bible

The discovery was achieved by scientists from Tel Aviv University (TAU), the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU), Bar-Ilan University (BIU) in Ramat Gan, and Ariel University in Samaria.

www.jpost.com

 

[Mr E]

Not exactly archeology-related, but interesting to me anyways....

The northern part of Israel is so fascinating. It reminds me a lot of southern California, with a small mountain range extending north to south, which becomes a hilly region dividing the land overlooking the coastal area. It's like when I go to my cabin at Big Bear Lake, which I can drive to in less than 2 hours, from the sand at sea level to the ski hill.... with snow in the winter because it's part of a small mountain range with peaks near 8000 feet above sea level. On a clear day, from those peaks you can see the Pacific.

Similarly in Israel, they have a mountain range with snow-covered peaks in the 8000-foot-plus elevations-- Mount Hermon of course, being the highest peak in Northern Israel, it borders Lebanon and Syria. And like my little resort town of Big Bear -- Mt Hermon has a little ski hill, where Israelis go skiing and snowboarding, or just for snow play in the winter. It's very similar, except we don't get rockets fired at us when we are skiing at Big Bear. I digress.

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia fired dozens of rockets at northern Israel on Saturday, warning that the barrage was its initial response to the targeted killing, presumably by Israel, of a top leader from the allied Hamas group in Lebanon's capital earlier this week.

The rocket attack came a day after Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said that his group must retaliate for the killing of Saleh Arouri, the deputy political leader of Hamas. Nasrallah said that if Hezbollah does not retaliate for Arouri’s killing in its stronghold south of Beirut, all of Lebanon would be vulnerable to Israeli attack.

Nasrallah appeared to be making the case for a response to the Lebanese public, even at the risk of escalating the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel. But he gave no indication of how or when the militants would act.

Hezbollah said Saturday that it launched 62 rockets toward an air surveillance base on Mount Meron and that it scored direct hits. The Israeli military about 40 rockets were fired toward the area of Meron, but made no mention of a base.


Here is a pic from the top of Mt Arbel, overlooking the Sea of Galilee... It's a day-hike.



You have to wonder if Jesus ever climbed these peaks as a young man, for fun-- or with friends, just camping out. Why wouldn't he?

Mount Meron, mentioned in the news story above as the target of the Hezbollah rocket attacks, would have been the highest mountain peak one could see from Galilee where Jesus grew up. Folks tend to think of him 'wandering in the wilderness' as some sort of desert experience, but the reality is that Northern Israel is mountainous and lovely.

If you read this far-- thank you for reminiscing with me.