#dead sea scrolls

[principiumindividuationis777]

Patrick Cotter O'Brien (1760-1806), of County Cork, Ireland, holds the distinction of being the first person confirmed, in his own lifetime, to be at least eight feet tall, at 8 foot 1 inch (c. 2.46 meters).

Depending on which source one reads, he may have been the first confirmed eight-foot tall person period, though I have read sources claiming that a skeleton was later found of another man, who supposedly lived earlier than O'Brien, and measured at eight feet in length.

Prior to him, there were the reports on Goliath's height, but the Dead Sea Scrolls demonstrated that a simple typographical error had inflated Goliath's height from something around 6 foot 9 (c. 2.06 meters), which means that Goliath was actually about the size of a basketball power forward, up to a fantastical 9 foot 9 (c. 2.97 meters)

#Patrick Cotter O'Brien #Ireland #County Cork #history #tall people #historical #black and white #drawing #Goliath #Dead Sea Scrolls #Georgian

[tonyshape]

The Binging of Isaac - Dead Sea Scrolls

#dead sea scrolls #the binding of isaac #tboi #tboi fanart #TonyShape

[santmat]

The Five Names of God: Simran Words - Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcast - A Satsang Without Walls

In many branches of Sant Mat we have a five-name (panch naam) mantra (five simran words). These are sacred names of God associated with the first five planes, heavenly realms of creation. From the glossary of Sant Mat we read: "Simran means Remembrance: repetition of names or thoughts; in Sant Mat, the simran of worldly thoughts is controlled through the Simran of the Five Charged Names, repeated by an initiate throughout the day, and when sitting for meditation, as a means of collecting the thought-currents at the Third Eye Center. These Divine names are also used as passwords of sorts to higher planes, and provide protection from Negative Power influences." (Repeat the Name)

Today: all about the Five Names of Sant Mat, their proper use as an essential technique to concentrate at the Third Eye Center and go within according to Hazur Baba Sawan Singh, Sant Garib Das, from the Satsang Discourses of Sant Ram Singh, as well as there is discussion about the origins and history of the Five Names dating back to the Kabir-Sant Dharam Das line of Masters. Also explored: the Five Sufi Names, and about the importance of the Most High name Radhasoami used by Sant Garib Das (Anmol Vachan) and Swami Ji Maharaj (Sar Bachan Radhaswami Poetry). In Sant Mat mysticism there are not five or seven deities but one God, the one Lord of the Soul  manifesting at the various levels of creation. As Guru Nanak has said in his Morning Prayer (Jap Ji): "There is One God, Truth is His Name." (One Love)

The Five Names of God: Simran Words - Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcast @ YouTube: 

https://youtu.be/JAfca83Jox4

YouTube Channel: Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts: 

https://www.youtube.com/@SpiritualAwakeningRadio/videos

The Five Names of God: Simran Words - Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcast - Listen or Download MP3 @ 

https://traffic.libsyn.com/spiritualawakeningradio/The_Five_Names_of_God.mp3

@ the Podcast Website With Buttons That Go To the Popular Podcast APPS - Wherever You Follow Podcasts: 

https://SpiritualAwakeningRadio.libsyn.com/the-five-names-of-god-simran-words

@ Apple Podcasts: 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-five-names-of-god-simran-words/id1477577384?i=1000643766511

Collection of Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts @ Apple: 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/spiritual-awakening-radio/id1477577384

@ Spotify Podcasts: 

https://open.spotify.com/episode/2UWbqjkGQBrOMWteT0x3dT

@ Amazon Music and Podcasts: 

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/ca7918b0-4005-4724-a2e5-b27f51ecdba6/spiritual-awakening-radio

& @ Wherever You Subscribe and Follow Podcasts - At Your Favorite Podcast APP Just Do a Search for "Spiritual Awakening Radio" -  (Youtube, Youtube Music, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon, Audible, PodBean, Podcast APP, Overcast, Jio Saavan, iHeart Radio, CastBox, etc...): 

https://linktr.ee/SpiritualAwakeningRadio

Simran is described as a Bhakti practice to be done in a spirit of love and devotion, with passages on this from Sant Tulsi Sahib and Kabir. (God is Love)

Mention is made of a mystical Jewish Gnostic sect of antiquity referred to by scholars as the Sethians who also had a five-name mantra approach, only using five Hebrew names, which are to be found embedded in certain Nag Hammadi and other texts. Recommended are two books that compare contemporary Sant Mat with mystical Judaism including Kabbalah. The program concludes with selections from the mystical poetry of a mysterious figure called "the Master" and "the Teacher of Righteousness", mystic verses found in the Psalm Scroll of the Dead Sea Scrolls mainly about the experience of Divine Light, but one might also notice references to reincarnation, the liberation of the soul, the Third Eye, and spiritually hearing the Divine Word or Spiritual Sound. Note: practices associated with contemporary Sant Mat were also known in earlier times by followers of various cousin mystical movements and schools of spirituality that have existed over the centuries. Even ideas that became associated Christianity and Gnostic movements such as seeking out living masters or living ones (Odes of Solomon, Gospel of Thomas), vegetarian ethics, humane treatment of animals (scriptures attributed to Enoch and Isaiah), initiations, baptism in rivers of living water, a new covenant (Dead Sea Scroll texts), genesis interpretations that include a lesser demiurge figure and a sophia wisdom figure (Septuagint, Apocryphon of John), the view that the soul needs to ascend through a series of heavenly regions (Book of First Enoch, Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, Ascension of Isaiah, Ginza Rabba) are ideas developed during the Second Temple period of Judaism. Continuations and interpretations of Judaic ideas were adopted by many sects and spiritual movements during the first and later centuries AD. (Education For a More Peaceful Planet!)

At the Feet of the Masters,

James Bean

Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts

Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts

Sant Mat Radhasoami

A Satsang Without Walls

https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com

#Spirituality #Meditation #Simran #Satsang #God #SantMat #Radhasoami #SuratShabdYoga #Gnosticism #Kabbalah #DeadSeaScrolls #Podcasts #SpiritualAwakeningRadio #SpiritualityPodcasts #SpiritualPodcasts #Sant_Mat #Radha_Soami #Radhaswami #Radhasoamiji #ScienceOfTheSoul #ScienceOfSpirituality #RSSB #RSSBBeas #RssbQuote #ThirdEye #ThirdEyeOpen #ThirdEyeThoughts #ThirdEyeAwakening #ThirdEyeChakra #3rdEye

#simran #names of God #prayer of the name #sacred names #mantras #jappa #meditation #spirituality #spiritual awakening radio #podcast #mysticism #gnosticism #kabbalah #dead sea scrolls #sant mat #radhasoami #satsang

[dailyhistoryposts]

On This Day In History

September 22nd, 1991: The Dead Sea Scrolls are made available to the public for the first time.

Also called the Qumran Caves Scrolls, they are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts which are a keystone discovery in archaeology.

They can be viewed online here.

#history #jewish history #palestianian history #dead sea scrolls #religious history

[ammg-old2]

The Dead Sea Scrolls, first uncovered by a trio of Bedouin wandering the Judean Desert in 1947, provide a fascinating glimpse into what Scripture looked like during a transformative period of religious ferment in ancient Israel. The scrolls include the oldest copies ever found of the Hebrew Bible, “apocryphal” texts that were never canonized, and rules and guidelines for daily living written by the community of people who lived at Qumran, where the first scrolls were found. All told, scholars have identified as many as 100,000 Dead Sea Scrolls fragments, which come from more than 1,000 original manuscripts.

Experts date the scrolls between the third century B.C. and the first century A.D. (though Langlois believes several may be two centuries older). Some of them are relatively large: One copy of the Book of Isaiah, for example, is 24 feet long and contains a near-complete version of this prophetic text. Most, however, are much smaller—inscribed with a few lines, a few words, a few letters. Taken together, this amounts to hundreds of jigsaw puzzles whose thousands of pieces have been scattered over many different locations around the world.

In 2012, Langlois joined a group of scholars working to decipher close to 40 Dead Sea Scrolls fragments in the private collection of Martin Schøyen, a wealthy Norwegian businessman. Each day in Kristiansand, Norway, he and specialists from Israel, Norway and the Netherlands spent hours trying to determine which known manuscripts the fragments had come from. “It was like a game for me,” Langlois said. The scholars would project an image of a Schøyen fragment on the wall beside a photograph of a known scroll and compare them. “I’d say, ‘No, it’s a different scribe. Look at that lamed,’” Langlois recalled, using the word for the Hebrew letter L. Then they would skip forward to another known manuscript. “No,” Langlois would say. “It’s a different hand.”

Each morning, while out walking, the scholars discussed their work. And each day, according to Esti Eshel, an Israeli epigrapher also on the team, “They were killing another identification.” Returning to France, Langlois examined the fragments with computer-imaging techniques he had developed to isolate and reproduce each letter written on the fragments before beginning a detailed graphical analysis of the writing. And what he discovered was a series of flagrant oddities: A single sentence might contain styles of script from different centuries, or words and letters were squeezed and distorted to fit into the available space, suggesting the parchment was already fragmented when the scribe wrote on it. Langlois concluded that at least some of Schøyen’s fragments were modern forgeries. Reluctant to break the bad news, he waited a year before telling his colleagues. “We became convinced that Michael Langlois was right,” said Torleif Elgvin, the Norwegian scholar leading the effort.

After further study, the team ultimately determined that about half of Schøyen’s fragments were likely forgeries. In 2017, Langlois and the other Schøyen scholars published their initial findings in a journal called Dead Sea Discoveries. A few days later, they presented their conclusions at a meeting in Berlin of the Society of Biblical Literature. Flashing images of the Schøyen fragments on a screen, Langlois described the process by which he concluded the pieces were fakes. He quoted from his contemporaneous notes on the scribe’s “hesitant hand.” He pointed out inconsistencies in the fragments’ script.

And then he dropped the gauntlet: The Schøyen fragments were only the beginning. The previous year, he said, he’d seen photos of several Dead Sea Scrolls fragments in a book published by the Museum of the Bible, in Washington, D.C., a privately funded complex a few blocks from the U.S. Capitol. The museum was scheduled to open its doors in three months, and a centerpiece of its collection was a set of 16 Dead Sea Scrolls fragments whose writing, Langlois now said, looked unmistakably like the writing on the Schøyen fragments. “All of the fragments published there exhibited the same scribal features,” he told the scholars in attendance. “I’m sorry to say that all of the fragments published in this volume are forgeries. This is my opinion.”

The weight of the evidence presented that day by several members of the Schøyen team led to a re-evaluation of Dead Sea Scrolls in private collections all over the world. In 2018, Azusa Pacific University, a Christian college in Southern California that had purchased five scrolls in 2009, conceded that they were likely fakes, and it sued the dealer who had sold them. In 2020, the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, in Fort Worth, Texas, announced that the six Dead Sea Scrolls it had purchased around the same time were also “likely fraudulent.”

The most stunning admission came from executives at the Museum of the Bible: They had hired an art-fraud investigator to examine the museum’s fragments using advanced imaging techniques and chemical and molecular analysis. In 2020, the museum announced that its prized collection of Dead Sea Scrolls was made up entirely of forgeries.

Langlois told me that he derives no pleasure from such discoveries. “My intention wasn’t to be an expert in forgeries, and I don’t love catching bad guys or something,” he told me. “But with forgeries, if you don’t pay attention, and you think they are authentic, then they become part of the data set you use to reconstruct the history of the Bible. The entire theory is then based on data that is false.” That’s why ferreting out biblical fakes is “paramount,” Langlois said. “Otherwise, everything we are going to do on the history of the Bible is corrupt.”

#history #languages #linguistics #religion #christianity #judaism #forgery #biblical hebrew #bible #dead sea scrolls #michael langlois

[phaloplasty]

Genesis Apocryphon. 13 inches in length; 2.75 inches in width; widest point in the middle. One of the seven Dead Sea Scrolls. Sourced from WikiMedia Commons.

#📡 #✡️ #dead sea scrolls #apocrypha #id in alt

[claudiosuenaga]

O Livro de Enoque para principiantes: Anjos Caídos e Vigilantes

Esclarecimentos básicos sobre o apócrifo Livro de Enoque.

Errata: Adão vive 930 anos e não 93, conforme me corrigiu Carlos Lopes, a quem agradeço.

Torne-se membro de minha comunidade no Patreon e tenha acesso a todos os meus posts públicos sem pagar nada por isso, ou torne-se o meu Patrono e tenha acesso a centenas de conteúdos exclusivos: https://www.patreon.com/suenaga

🎬 Seja membro deste Canal e receba benefícios: https://www.youtube.com/ClaudioSuenaga/join

➡️ Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/ClaudioSuenaga

➡️ Site Oficial: https://claudiosuenaga.yolasite.com

➡️ Repositório de todos os meus trabalhos: https://suenagadownloads.yolasite.com/

➡️ Blog Oficial: https://www.claudiosuenaga.com.br/

➡️ Medium: https://medium.com/@helpsuenaga

➡️ Facebook (perfil): https://www.facebook.com/ctsuenaga

➡️ Facebook (página): https://www.facebook.com/clasuenaga

➡️ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/claudiosuenaga

➡️ Pinterest: https://br.pinterest.com/claudiosuenaga

➡️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/suenaga_claudio

➡️ GETTR: https://gettr.com/i/suenaga

➡️ E-mail: [email protected]

✅ Adquira "Encuentros cercanos de todo tipo. El caso Villas Boas y otras abducciones íntimas", meu primeiro livro traduzido em espanhol, na Amazon:

Amazon.com (envios a todo o mundo desde os EUA): https://amzn.to/3Lh93Lb

Amazon.es (envios a todo o mundo desde a Espanha): https://amzn.to/3LlMtBn

Amazon.co.uk (envios dentro do Reino Unido): https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/es/Cl%C3%A1udio-Tsuyoshi-Suenaga/dp/B0BW344XF1/

Amazon.de (envios dentro da Alemanha): https://www.amazon.de/-/es/Cl%C3%A1udio-Tsuyoshi-Suenaga/dp/B0BW344XF1/

Amazon.fr (envios dentro da França): https://www.amazon.fr/-/es/Cl%C3%A1udio-Tsuyoshi-Suenaga/dp/B0BW344XF1/

Amazon.it (envios dentro da Itália): https://www.amazon.it/-/es/Cl%C3%A1udio-Tsuyoshi-Suenaga/dp/B0BW344XF1/

Amazon.co.jp (envios dentro do Japão): https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/es/Cl%C3%A1udio-Tsuyoshi-Suenaga/dp/B0BW344XF1/

✅ Adquira "As Raízes Hebraicas da Terra do Sol Nascente: O Povo Japonês Seria uma das Dez Tribos Perdidas de Israel?" https://www.lojaenigmas.com.br/pre-venda-as-raizes-hebraicas-da-terra-do-sol-nascente-o-povo-japones-seria-uma-das-dez-tribos-perdidas-de-israel

✅ Adquira “Illuminati: A Genealogia do Mal”, bem como meus dois primeiros livros, "Contatados: Emissários das Estrelas, Arautos de uma Nova Era ou a Quinta Coluna da Invasão Extraterrestre?" e "50 Tons de Greys: Casos de Abduções Alienígenas com Relações Sexuais - Experiências Genéticas, Rituais de Fertilidade ou Cultos Satânicos?", diretamente com o editor Bira Câmara pelo e-mail [email protected]

✅ Adquira os meus livros em formato e-book em minha loja no Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/suenaga/shop

#enoch #book of enoch #biblia #bible #apocryphal #nephilim #gigantes #gnosticism #gnose #religião #judaísmo #dead sea scrolls #Youtube

[thepastisalreadywritten]

The earliest and most complete Hebrew Bible ever discovered – a “vital touchstone of human history” that dates back more than 1,100 years – is to be sold at auction.

The ninth-century volume, referred to as the Codex Sassoon, is a critical link between the Dead Sea scrolls and the Bible of today.

It is being offered by Sotheby’s with an estimate of $30m-$50m (£25m-£42m), making it the most valuable historical document or manuscript to appear at auction.

Composed of 24 books divided into three parts – the Pentateuch, the Prophets and the Writings – the Hebrew Bible is the foundation of Judaism and other Abrahamic faiths.

In Christianity, the texts are referred to as the Old Testament and are incorporated into the biblical canon.

Islam also holds the stories of the Hebrew Bible in special regard, with many of them included in the Qur’an and other significant works of Islamic literature.

“The Hebrew Bible is the sacred, foundational text for peoples across the globe,” said Sharon Mintz, Sotheby’s senior Judaica specialist.

“For thousands of years, the faithful have closely studied, analysed, mediated on, and delved into the holy scriptures – it is the first book of the people of the Book – to acquire wisdom and attain spiritual enlightenment."

“In Codex Sassoon, a monumental transformation in the history of the Hebrew Bible is revealed, bringing to light the full story of the Hebrew Bible that had previously never been presented in book form.

[It] marks a critical turning point in how we perceive the history of the divine word across thousands of years and is a transformative witness to how the Hebrew Bible has influenced the pillars of civilisation – art, culture, law, politics – for centuries.”

Before the first codices (manuscripts in book form) of the Hebrew Bible, there existed only portions or sections of biblical texts in scroll form.

Known as the Dead Sea scrolls, they date to the third century BC – but they were copied without punctuation or vocalisation and contained no verses or chapters.

This meant the correct reading of the scrolls was not easily apparent; instead Jews in antiquity relied on inherited oral traditions to understand, preserve and transmit the words of the Hebrew Bible.

The Codex Sassoon is named after its prominent modern owner, David Solomon Sassoon (1880-1942), who assembled the most significant private collection of Jewish artefacts and Hebrew manuscripts in the world.

It comes to auction from the collection of Jacqui Safra and will be sold in New York this May.

The record for the most valuable historical text and manuscript sold at auction is held by the first printing of the US constitution, which sold for $43m in November 2021.

While Codex Sassoon has been recognised for its importance by scholars for generations, it has remained virtually out of public view for centuries and will be exhibited for the first time in 40 years next week at Sotheby’s London before a worldwide tour.

The manuscript also includes annotations from several owners throughout the centuries, including an entry dating to the early 11th century referencing a sale by Khalaf ben Abraham, assumed to be a near eastern businessman active in Palestine and Syria, to Isaac ben Ezekiel al-Attar.

In the 13th century or later, the codex was dedicated to the synagogue of Makisin (present-day Markada in north-east Syria).

When the town of Makisin was destroyed, perhaps by the Mongols in the 13th century or by Tamerlane’s troops in 1400, the codex was entrusted to the care of a community member, Salama bin Abi al-Fakhr.

Sassoon ultimately acquired the codex in 1929.

Richard Austin, Sotheby’s global head of books and manuscripts, said Codex Sassoon was “undeniably one of the most important and singular texts in human history.”

This article was amended on 16 February 2023.

The operating area of a presumed 11th century businessman was earlier given as Israel and Syria. Israel (created in 1948) has been changed to Palestine.

#Hebrew Bible #Codex Sassoon #Dead Sea scrolls #Bible #Old Testament #Pentateuch #Prophets #Writings #Qur’an #David Solomon Sassoon #Jacqui Safra #Sotheby’s London

[wisdomfish]

The Dead Sea Scrolls are a fascinating witness to the authenticity of the Old Testament text. Prior to their discovery in 1947, the oldest complete Old Testament texts dated from around AD 900. The Dead Sea Scrolls date to around a century or so before the time of Christ and include many Old Testament manuscripts. The book of Isaiah was found amongst the scrolls and 'proved to be word for word identical with our standard Hebrew Bible in more than 95 percent of the text. The 5 percent of variation consisted chiefly of obvious slips of the pen and variations in spelling.'[18] ~ Mark Pickering, Peter Saunders 

#dead sea scrolls #fascination street #og #discovery channel #manuscript #hebrew

[quotesfrommyreading]

Enoch, an apocryphal text thought to be written sometime between the third century B.C. and the second century A.D., is named for the biblical Noah’s great-grandfather. One reason Langlois didn’t know much about the book was that it didn’t make it into the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament. Another is that the only complete copy to survive from antiquity was written in an ancient Ethiopic language called Ge’ez.

But beginning in the 1950s, more than 100 fragments from 11 different parchment scrolls of the Book of Enoch, written largely in Aramaic, were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. A few fragments were relatively large—15 to 20 lines of text—but most were much smaller, ranging in size from a piece of toast to a postage stamp. Someone had to transcribe, translate and annotate all this “Enochic” material—and Langlois’ teacher volunteered him. That’s how he became one of just two students in Paris learning Ge’ez.

Langlois quickly grasped the numerous parallels between Enoch and other books of the New Testament; for instance, Enoch mentions a messiah called the “son of man” who will preside over the Final Judgement. Indeed, some scholars believe Enoch was a major influence on early Christianity, and Langlois had every intention to conduct that type of historical research.

He started by transcribing the text from two small Enoch fragments, but age had made parts of it hard to read; some sections were missing entirely. In the past, scholars had tried to reconstruct missing words and identify where in the larger text these pieces belonged. But after working out his own readings, Langlois noticed the fragments seemed to come from parts of the book that were different from those specified by earlier scholars. He also wondered if their proposed readings could even fit on the fragments they purportedly came from. But how could he tell for sure?

To faithfully reconstruct the text of Enoch, he needed digital images of the scrolls—images that were crisper and more detailed than the printed copies inside the books he was relying on. That was how, in 2004, he found himself traipsing around Paris, searching for a specialized microfiche scanner to upload images to his laptop. Having done that (and lacking cash to buy Photoshop), he downloaded an open-source knockoff.

First, he individually outlined, isolated and reproduced each letter on Fragment 1 and Fragment 2, so he could move them around his screen like alphabet refrigerator magnets, to test different configurations and to create an “alphabet library” for systematic analysis of the script. Next, he began to study the handwriting. Which stroke of a given letter was inscribed first? Did the scribe lift his pen, or did he write multiple parts of a letter in a continuous gesture? Was the stroke thick or thin?

Then Langlois started filling in the blanks. Using the letters he’d collected, he tested the reconstructions proposed by scholars over the preceding decades. Yet large holes remained in the text, or words were too big to fit in the available space. The “text” of the Book of Enoch as it was widely known, in other words, was in many cases mistaken.

Take the story of a group of fallen angels who descend to earth to seduce beautiful women. Using his new technique, Langlois discovered that earlier scholars had gotten the names of some of the angels wrong, and so had not realized the names were derived from Canaanite gods worshipped in the second millennium B.C.—a clear example of the way scriptural authors integrated elements of the cultures that surrounded them into their theologies. “I didn’t consider myself a scholar,” Langlois told me. “I was just a student wondering how we could benefit from these technologies.” Eventually, Langlois wrote a 600-page book that applied his technique to the oldest known scroll of Enoch, making more than 100 “improvements,” as he calls them, to prior readings.

His next book, even more ambitious, detailed his analysis of Dead Sea Scrolls fragments containing snippets of text from the biblical Book of Joshua. From these fragments he concluded that there must be a lost version of Joshua, previously unknown to scholars and extant only in a small number of surviving fragments. Since there are thousands of authentic Dead Sea Scrolls, it appears that much still remains to be learned about the origins of early biblical texts. “Even the void is full of information,” Langlois told me.

  —  How an Unorthodox Scholar Uses Technology to Expose Biblical Forgeries

#chanan tigay #michael langlois #how an unorthodox scholar uses technology to expose biblical forgeries #history #religion #christianity #judaism #canaanite religion #languages #linguistics #translation #palaeography #forgeries #bible #torah #dead sea scrolls #technology #digital technology #canaan #book of enoch #aramaic #ge'ez

[didanawisgi]

Controversial Lead Codices With Earliest Written Account of Jesus Confirmed Authentic

In 2007, Jennifer Solignac and David Elkington were shown images of a newly discovered set of books, of codices. They were surprising in one particular way: they were composed almost entirely of impure lead. Attempts to bring the lead codices into the public eye soon led to controversy and dismissals that they were fake – from people and institutions that had never even analyzed them.

“More Important than the Dead Sea Scrolls”

What we were looking at were very early books. The discovery was soon to be described as ‘more important than the Dead Sea Scrolls ’ by the Director of Antiquities in Amman, Jordan – and here we were in Northern Jordan, in pursuit of documents that could very well change everything we know of the origins of Christianity.

The documents first came to light in 2007 when we were first asked to provide an initial assessment. At first glance they looked unremarkable - odd leather books that looked quite beaten up and, frankly, such things are to be seen on the open market. Ever since the discovery of the Nag Hammadi texts in 1945 all manner of codices have flooded the market, most of them forgeries.  

However, it was when we were informed that they were made entirely of lead rather than leather that we realized that we were looking at something unique. This was soon confirmed by an enquiry to the Palestine Exploration Fund in London: on the theme of lead codices we could find nothing.

The Codices Are Authentic

Initial analysis at several prominent laboratories confirmed the Roman provenance of the lead. The job was now to discover whether it was reused Roman lead – reused by cunning forgers on the hunt for willing but gullible buyers and considerable riches.

Ten years and fifteen separate tests later we knew these things were for real. But by this time, a campaign to suppress them had already begun. Dissonant voices had already said that the metal might be old but it had been re-beaten into these codices.

It was Prof. Roger Webb of the University of Surrey’s Ion Beam Centre, working with Matthew Hood, an independent analyst, who was able finally to entirely refute this supposition. Not only was the metal old, it also demonstrated all the signs of great antiquity. The codices are authentic.

Looking for Signs of Radiation and Corrosion

The first observation was a simple one: if there was no active radiation coming from the metal then it was not a product of the modern era. As Prof Webb has stated: ‘The lead naturally contains a radioactive isotope which decays away slowly after it has been mined. The lead can be re-activated from radioactive polonium in the air. This originates from naturally occurring Radon, which decays away to Polonium, the Polonium itself decaying ultimately to the radioactive Lead isotope we are looking for – this potentially gave rise to a difference we observed between the outer and inner pages of the codices, meaning that analysis of the objects must be performed carefully.’ (In 1945 the first of the Atom Bombs were exploded in the deserts of New Mexico. This event sent radioactive polonium into the sky – and, from that day on, any metal fabricated in forges across the globe, contains radioactive polonium.)

This test managed to confirm that the lead is older than 100 years: and one hundred years ago the information available to forgers was far less than it is now ergo, it is highly unlikely that they are forged. But this begs a question: if they are forgeries then what are they forgeries of? The metal of the codices is consistent with being Roman lead. Another critical factor is the state of the corrosion on the surface of the codices.

Modern lead is not only very pure but also very malleable to the touch; it is like plasticine when beaten out in sheets. The lead of the codices is highly impure but, significantly, it is fragile and in some cases is easily fractured. Quite simply, no one had ever seen or handled lead like it – a common observation of those who have come into contact with it. Under the microscope it exhibits all of the qualities of great age, with crystalline impurities leeching out of the metal, leaving holes in their wake – a process that takes upwards of 1800 years.

Depicting Sacred Symbols

The work of the metallurgists is done. We now had to find out what they were – and the answer was dramatic: for at the heart of the discovery was something astonishing, something of profound sanctity, whether you are a believer or not.

The collection of books that Jennifer and I had seen both in Jordan and in Israel were mostly small in size, not much larger than the average paperback. Some are even smaller, no bigger than the size of a human palm. All of them have illustrations of palm trees and menorahs on them as well as other symbols. The script upon them is mostly Paleo-Hebrew, a language that dates back a thousand years before Christ. Tellingly Aramaic is also to be seen – the lingua franca of Jesus’ time. Thus, we have a link between two separate periods.

Intriguingly, one of the most striking aspects of the illustrations on the codices is the presence of Temple-type architecture, in one codex the interior of the temple can be seen: in contemporary terms this would have been seen as a forbidden image, as would the representation of the seven-branch menorah. In its day this was seen as God’s own furniture – and came from the holiest place in the Temple – the Holy of Holies.

Was this the reason the codices were sealed and hidden away in caves? Because they were holy objects depicting secrets forbidden to anyone but initiates to see? The Second Book of Esdras (14:25-46) , an early Hebrew-Christian text , speaks of the making of ninety-four books - seventy of which are then hidden away in a cave.

However, more dramatic than this is the mention of a small book in Revelation 5 . (This is often – and mistakenly – translated as a scroll, but the original Greek says biblioridion – meaning book not scroll.)  This book matches the description of the codex central to the discovery, a small book with seven seals down one side. On its front cover there is a portrait of a Nazarene-type figure. The description of this would appear to tally with that given in Revelation – which means only one thing: that it is an apocalypse, not the end of the world - but instead a book about a vision, about the secrets of the temple!

According to the eminent scholars thus far involved in assessing the language and iconography on the codices, the very fact that these texts exist in book form points to them being early Christian documents – the oldest thus far discovered. They have no problems with the authenticity – the codices merely confirm long held suspicions. The translations gained so far would seem to point to this.

But the script seems nothing more than a random set of quotations from Proverbs and Psalms, Daniel and other books of the Old Testament. What is it that they are trying to impart?

Testimonia

Well, the answer to that is that if we read the rest of the quotations these passages begin to reveal much. In essence, these books are testimonia. They bear witness to the truth as it was delivered from the mouth of the Messiah. These books are telling us of the coming of a messiah, of a great King who will liberate his people – and free them from oppression: but they speak of liberation from this world, of liberation from the burden of having to pay tax to Caesar. They speak of a great event that the messiah has come to oversee, and they speak of much else.

These books were predicted. In the 1950’s, Dr. Hugh Schonfield was translating the Damascus Document , one of the Dead Sea Scrolls, when he noticed that it spoke of a metal book, a very holy object that the scroll suggested, had a portrait of its Holy One on its cover. This is a good description of the codex central to the discovery.

Could this be the first icon? The icon from which all other icons are derived? Has Christ returned as he predicted in the New Testament?

Christianity has its secrets.

And if you have a secret, you have power over those who do not, perhaps that is why certain people and organizations are afraid of these sacred relics. It could also be the reason why a Medieval Pope Innocent III gave instruction for them to be tracked down – and destroyed.

Only time will tell.

There will be an announcement from the University of Surrey in the coming weeks on the latest ground-breaking data from analysis of the codices.

Top Image: An authentic codex, left, as opposed to a modern forgery, right, which is crude by comparison and betrays all of the hallmarks of modern manufacture: not the uneven patina, which is obviously applied and not accrued by age. Source: (© David Elkington)

By David & Jennifer Elkington

#early christianity #dead sea scrolls #Jordan Codices #gnosticism #gnostic gems #holy of holies #temple #kabbalah #paleohebrew #damascus document #Christianity #Judaism #tree of life #sacred astronomy

[archivyrep]

It makes my head hurt: Analyzing terrible records management in "Tangled"

As I said on Twitter, when I posted these images (which I've combined here for your benefit), "Rapunzel, I know you love Cass, but can you organize your scrolls, books, and artifacts (?) correctly? 'Cause this looks really bad. What's your organizational system here? Stuff is gonna get lost, I guarantee it."

Ever thought, what would happen if you stuck a bunch of valuable scrolls in a wall, inside a big hallowed out tree, and left them there for thousands of years? Well, the Tangled animated series, called Tangled: The Series and Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure beat you to it, ha. The records management in this series really makes my head hurt. When re-watching this series I wondered, again, where the archivists, or librarians, are. I held out some hope, however little, that they re-organized records and hired some archivists. In this post, I'll review notoriously awful records management in this animated series, focusing on two episodes, connecting to actual preservation of scrolls, and other paper documents, by archivists, conservators, and others, and information about trees, especially dead ones, to give further context.

This post was originally published on WordPress on Apr. 12, 2023

In the past, I've noted how the abandoned scrolls inside a tree shown in the episodes "Rapunzel and the Great Tree" and "Islands Apart", which are organized but no archivist is in sight. [1] These scrolls are sitting around a tree, and there seems to be no set organization system, and writing that "sticking scrolls in random wall slots doesn't seem like a good organizational system". I've also pointed out that a well-educated man named Ricky Roxburgh, with a degree from SUNY Albany, wrote episodes for the The Ghost and Molly McGee and the aforementioned Tangled series, both of which contributed to perpetuation of archives stereotypes! Beyond that, the scrolls themselves clearly have value, as there are incantations written on them, but are still within a tree in what could be called scroll boxes, specifically the Great Tree, rather than in a library or an archive.

Specifically, the scrolls, in the episode, [2] are deserted and clearly untended. In the episode it is revealed that it has been millennia since the tree was a sentient being, then corrupted by evil sorcerer Zhan Tiri, and then put in a sort of stasis by Lord Demantius who stopped the magic of the tree by using an enchanted spear. Considering that Demantius used magic and science to build machines, capturing evil spirits almost like the ghostbusters, perhaps he installed these scroll boxes? Anyway, by the Rapunzel (Raps), Cassandra (Cass), and their compatriots arrive there, no one is there to help them. No one warns Raps to not use an incantation which unleashes death and decay to anyone around it, and changes her "seventy-feet long hair from blonde to black, and her eyes from green to black"! This incantation almost kills her, and she is only helped/saved by her friend, Cass.

There is more to the scrolls than this. Not only is there a scroll for ancient, and magical, spell that grants "miraculous, life/light-based powers to heal minor injuries and even return those to life" which can only be activated by singing it, but there are many other scrolls. Presumably, all these scrolls are other incantations. This spell is more directly associated with Raps (Mandy Moore), who is the manifestation of the Sundrop Flower, while the other spell I mentioned in the previous paragraph is associated with the Moonstone.

So many disorganized scrolls, which I noted on Twitter. But, why? And who put the scrolls there? This is never answered.

These scrolls are put in an even worse position when the tree, a magical and ancient place, collapses after Raps uses the death and decay spell. However, this room makes a reappearance later in the series. At the end of the episode "Islands Apart", Cass (Eden Espinosa) and the evil blue fairy, the Enchanted Girl (a manifestation of Zhan Tiri) visit the tree looking for scrolls in hopes of unlocking the Moonstone's full powers, but find these scrolls have been destroyed. It is then that the Enchanted Girl mentions the Demanitus Scroll, and Cass realizes she needs to go to Corona to retrieve it. At the same time, neither of these characters seem to care about the scrolls, which are in worse shape, lying scattered across the ground due to the tree's collapse.

The aforementioned Demanitius Scroll has an important role in the series, as it is an ancient parchment which outlines the abilities of the Sundrop and Moonstone, giving "instructions of how to wield a supreme power of unknown heavenly origin". The scroll, written by Demanitus, was later ripped apart and hidden in different parts, since the valuable document would be dangerous if it fell into the "wrong hands". Raps goes on a quest to find the missing pieces in the show's second season, along with her companions. The scroll, in the right hands, however, can be "used for good". It is later examined, in the episode "Cassandra's Revenge", by Varian (Jeremy Jordan), who finds a third incantation, allowing Cass to "control the Moonstone and create a fortress" in the place where Raps had been imprisoned in the infamous tower. He later finds another incantation and transcribes it before the scroll is destroyed, allowing Raps to "recite it and unlock the full powers of the reborn Sundrop Flower".

With this summary of what happened in the two episodes, from which I excluded some details so as to make sure it was not too long, it brings me to preservation of actual paper documents by archives and other institutions. Sometimes loose items, like a map or brochure can be repaired with "conservation-grade double-sided tape" but there's also pamphlet binds, repair of pages with heat-set tissue, and inside hinges. At other times, new spines are added to books, while original and damaged ones are removed. There are specific and specialty conservator labs, with repairs to documents by conservators, reference staff, and others with experience with rare materials or even interns with work at libraries and archives. [3]

The Library of Congress (LOC) has a whole division that focuses on this, called the Preservation Research and Testing Division or PRTD, which works with the Conservation Division, as preservation is a major priority for the library. The PRTD, which undertakes research to "advance and support Library preservation", even has a pigment reference collection used to "gain historical understanding and scientific information about the materials." The division often has projects which evaluate "condition of fragile and damaged items and proposing preservation actions". There are also machines, like the BC100 which takes extensive photos of "brittle books and newspapers for archival purposes." [4] Imagine if something like that was used on any of the scrolls inside the Great Tree or the Demanitius Scroll? Both would need to have restricted access if anything equivalent to them existed in archival collections, with extensive conservation care.

Two scrolls from the Dead Sea Scrolls lie at their location in the Qumran Caves before being removed for scholarly examination by archaeologists. Original image on Wikimedia, reprinting an image from an 1959 Israeli book.

This is another way that the Great Tree is a terrible place to store documents. What kind of ways does the tree "properly manage temperature, humidity, and other conditions" which can prevent "damage to materials" [5]? If that isn't enough, there are no organization of the scrolls. There is no method shown for protection of fragile and vulnerable items, i.e. the scrolls. The scroll boxes, as they could be called, are nothing akin to boxes used by LOC to store valuable records, nor any stabilization statements or deacidification conservation treatments. The latter can be used on records like older comic books, for example. There are further issues if the paper is acidic, and yellows over time, as it can decompose more, and faster, than neutral paper. None of this was considered by whoever put the scrolls in boxes, of sorts, within the tree. [6]

The LOC also notes that paper of a good quality which is "stored in good conditions," i.e. cooler temperatures with 30-40% relative humidity can last a long time, perhaps "even hundreds of years." Is this the case with the tree? Well, another paper from LOC adds this:

"Good storage significantly prolongs the preservation of paper materials and includes…A cool (room temperature or below), relatively dry (about 35% relative humidity), clean, and stable environment (avoid attics, basements, and other locations with high risk of leaks and environmental extremes)…Minimal exposure to all kinds of light; no exposure to direct or intense light…Distance from radiators and vents…Supportive protective enclosures*…Unfolded and flat or rolled storage for oversized papers[, and] individual/isolated storage of acidic papers to prevent acids from migrating into the other works on paper…Supportive protective enclosures include…document boxes…and polyester film sleeves that are stiff enough to adequately support the paper(s) within"

Now, it has been shown that trees across the world strive to "maintain a near-constant temperature of 70 degrees in their leaves". It has also been shown that trees can have a cooling effect. But what about inside a hollow tree? Can it still regulate its own temperature? They can regulate their own internal temperature and have homeostatis, i.e. keeping temperatures "mostly stable no matter what's going on outside", although they regulate temperatures more with leaves.

In some ways they can. In fact, a 2016 study by Chris O'Connell and Gunnar Keppel in Wildlife Biology, an open-access, and high-quality, scientific journal, stated that tree hollows can be crucial habitats for fauna and even buffering "ambient environmental conditions". This means that these hollows can provide stable microclimates, even "maintaining lower temperatures and higher humidity during the day and higher temperatures and lower humidity during the night." However, the Great Tree in Tangled is dead, and tree hollows are a cavity in a living tree, as the tree was a living organism, but became dead over time. Instead, the tree is almost equivalent, in some ways, to coarse woody debris or large woody debris.

More than that, dead tress, generally, can be teeming with life, playing a vital role in "lifecycles of hundreds of species of wildlife, providing a place to nest, rest, eat and grow". They can provide excellent habitats, benefit the environment, shelter, regenerate soil, or provide additional resources to an ecosystem. [7] This is clear from the aforementioned "Rapunzel and the Great Tree" episode, where the inside of the tree is teeming with life. However, by the "Islands Apart" episode, this is likely no longer the case, especially due to effects from Raps' death and dying spell, although the tree would continue its decomposition into the ground around it, but perhaps faster than before.

This article took a direction I did not originally plan for when I started writing it, but that made it all the more fascinating! I am no expert in trees, nor in preservation (or conservation) of documents, by any means, but this does give me a bit more context and analysis than any of my previous posts focusing on or mentioning this series. I had originally intended review all the episodes with themes about records and archives in one post, but decided it would make more sense to divide them into various posts. Those will follow later this year. As always, comments and suggestions are welcome.

© 2022-2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Notes

[1] The show has at least four episodes with archivy themes: "Keeper of the Spire," "Rapunzel and the Great Tree," "Islands Apart," and "Race to the Spire." On an additional note, I mentioned the series in passing in posts here and here.

[2] On Disney+, the episode "Rapunzel and the Great Tree" is divided into two parts, each of which is 25 minutes long. There is also another magic tree in the series, the Eternal Tree which is used to order to open a portal and free Zhan Tiri.

[3] See Tydall, Lily. "Librarians Learning Conservation: My 10 Weeks as the First General Collections Conservation Section Intern." Guardians of Memory. Library of Congress, Aug. 29, 2022.

[4] See Villafana, Tana. "Paints and Pigments – When Art and Science Combines". Guardians of Memory. Library of Congress, Aug. 20, 2022; Hasbo, Beatriz. "Exploring Collections Management and so Much More: a Summer Experience at the Library of Congress." Guardians of Memory. Library of Congress, Aug. 18, 2022; Chaletzky, Aaron D. "Preservation Intern Profile: Brandon Mack." Guardians of Memory. Library of Congress, Aug. 11, 2022.

[5] For information on LOC doing this, see Overstreet, Anna Katherine and Alexandra Ptacek, "Climate Correlation: Environmental Monitoring at the Library of Congress." Guardians of Memory. Library of Congress, Aug. 1, 2022.

[6] See Long, Leslie and Lily Tyndall, "Box Making Activities in the General Collections Conservation Section." Guardians of Memory. Library of Congress, Jul. 28, 2022, Tyndall, Lily, "Live Long and Repair: Caring for the Library of Congress’ Comic Book Collection." Guardians of Memory. Library of Congress, Jul. 21, 2022, and Shovlin, K.F. "When the Paper Fails the Test." Guardians of Memory. Library of Congress, Jul. 14, 2022.

[7] See "Tim-ber? … Not So Fast: The Important Role of Dead and Dying Trees | EarthCare Northwest", Seattle Audubon Society, Mar. 7, 2022; Miranda, Tango. "Dead Trees and Their Role: A Naked Encounter." Age of Awareness. Medium, Dec. 8, 2020; "Snags: The Life-Affirming Role of Dead Trees." Blue Thumb, Apr. 6, 2022; Wiebe, Shiela. "Why do we leave dead trees in the forest?" Ontario Parks, Nov. 12, 2021; Wuerther, George. "The ecological value of dead trees." The Wildlife News, Dec. 20, 2018; Bundell, Shamini and Nick Petrić Howe, "Dead trees play an under-appreciated role in climate change." Nature, Sept. 1, 2021 for more information.

#tangled #tangled the series #rapunzel #cassandra #records management #archives #sundrop #moonstone #rapunzel tts #rapunzel tangled #dead sea scrolls #scrolls #pop culture #reviews #trees #tree caverns #nature #environmentalism

[tonyrossmcmahon]

Jesus Christ was a Magic Mushroom

Jesus Christ was a magic mushroom worshipped by a drug-fuelled cult claimed Dead Sea Scrolls scholar John Allegro - was he off his head?

There are a huge number of theories about the real Jesus and how his earliest believers really viewed him. Maybe as a God. Or just human. Possibly a mixture of the two. But how about the theory that Jesus was a magic mushroom? Restrain your laughter! Because in the 1960s – that freethinking decade – respected archaeologist and excavator of the Dead Sea Scrolls, John Allegro (1922-1988), came to…

View On WordPress

#Allegro Jesus mushroom #allegro magic mushroom #dead sea scrolls #Father Roland de Vaux #jesus christ #Jesus magic mushroom #John Allegro #magic mushroom

[santmat]

"I am merely a guest born in this world, to know the secrets that lie beyond it." (Rumi)

Finding Light in the Darkness, Rising Above the Darkness Into the Light - Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcast - Listen @: https://traffic.libsyn.com/spiritualawakeningradio/Finding_Light_in_the_Darkness.mp3

@ the Podcast Website - with Show Notes: https://SpiritualAwakeningRadio.libsyn.com/finding-light-in-the-darkness-rising-above-the-darkness-into-the-light

@ Wherever You Follow Podcasts: https://linktr.ee/SpiritualAwakeningRadio

#mystic light #inner light #divine light #podcast #spirituality #meditation #dead sea scrolls #kabbalah #gnosticism #sant mat #radhasoami #satsang #mystics #spiritual awakening #spiritual awakening radio

[eli-kittim]

🔥 Was the Septuagint Destroyed When the Library of Alexandria Was Burnt Down in 48 BC❓🔥

By Author Eli Kittim 🎓

The Argument

Some people (typically Jewish apologists) claim that the Septuagint doesn’t exist because it was destroyed when the Library of Alexandria was burnt down in 48 BC.

This conclusion, however, is both textually misleading & historically erroneous.

First

The Alexandrian Library and its collection were not entirely destroyed. We have evidence that there was only partial damage and that many of its works survived. According to Wiki:

The Library, or part of its collection, was

accidentally burned by Julius Caesar during

his civil war in 48 BC, but it is unclear how

much was actually destroyed and it seems

to have either survived or been rebuilt

shortly thereafter; the geographer Strabo

mentions having visited the Mouseion in

around 20 BC and the prodigious scholarly

output of Didymus Chalcenterus in

Alexandria from this period indicates that

he had access to at least some of the

Library's resources.

Second

The Septuagint had already been written and disseminated among the diaspora since the 3rd century BC, and so many of its extant copies were not housed in the Library of Alexandria per se.

Third

Textual Criticism confirms that the New Testament authors used the Septuagint predominantly and quoted extensively from it. If the Septuagint didn’t exist, where did the New Testament authors copy from? And how do you explain the fact that the New Testament and the Septuagint often have identical wording in their agreements?

Fourth

The Dead Sea Scrolls also demonstrate that the Septuagint was far more accurate than the 10th-century-AD Masoretic text. See, for example, the textual controversy surrounding Deuteronomy 32:8. Both the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Septuagint have “sons of God.” The Masoretic text is demonstrably inaccurate because it has “sons of Israel,” a later redaction. Israel didn’t even exist at that time!

Fifth

Emanuel Tov, a leading authority on the Septuagint who has explained the various textual families (or text-types) of the Old Testament, never once mentioned that we lost the Septuagint, or that it was destroyed, or that it was no longer in circulation. On the contrary, he claims that it continued to be in use during the Christian period and that it is much more older than the 10th-century-AD Masoretic text, which the Jews call the “Hebrew Bible.”

Sixth

If the Septuagint was completely destroyed, as some have erroneously suggested, from where were the later revisionists and translators copying from? We have historical evidence that they were, in fact, copying from the Septuagint itself. Wiki writes:

Theodotion … was a Hellenistic Jewish

scholar, … who in c. 150 CE translated the

Hebrew Bible into Greek. … Whether he was

revising the Septuagint, or was working

from Hebrew manuscripts that represented

a parallel tradition that has not survived, is

debated.

So there’s evidence to suggest that the Theodotion version is a possible *revision* of the Septuagint. This demonstrates that the Septuagint existed in the second century AD! Otherwise, where was Theodotion copying from if the Septuagint didn’t exist?

Seventh

The great work of Origen, Hexapla, compiled sometime before 240 AD, is further proof that the Septuagint was still in use in the 3rd century AD! Wikipedia notes the following:

Hexapla … is the term for a critical edition

of the Hebrew Bible in six versions, four of

them translated into Greek, preserved only

in fragments. It was an immense and

complex word-for-word comparison of the

original Hebrew Scriptures with the Greek

Septuagint translation and with other Greek

translations.

Encyclopedia Britannica adds:

In his Hexapla (“Sixfold”), he [Origen]

presented in parallel vertical columns the

Hebrew text, the same in Greek letters, and

the versions of Aquila, Symmachus, the

Septuagint, and Theodotion, in that order.

Eighth

Besides Origen’s Hexapla, we also have extant copies of the Septuagint. According to wiki:

Relatively-complete manuscripts of the

Septuagint postdate the Hexaplar

recension, and include the fourth-century-

CE Codex Vaticanus and the fifth-century

Codex Alexandrinus. These are the oldest-

surviving nearly-complete manuscripts of

the Old Testament in any language; the

oldest extant complete Hebrew texts date

to about 600 years later, from the first half

of the 10th century.

Ninth

There’s also historical and literary evidence that the Greek Septuagint was in wide use during the Christian period and beyond. Wiki says:

Greek scriptures were in wide use during

the Second Temple period, because few

people could read Hebrew at that time. The

text of the Greek Old Testament is quoted

more often than the original Hebrew Bible

text in the Greek New Testament

(particularly the Pauline epistles) by the

Apostolic Fathers, and later by the Greek

Church Fathers.

Tenth

Today, Biblical scholarship has a *critical edition* of the Septuagint. If it was destroyed in 48 BC, where did the critical edition come from? The Göttingen Septuaginta (editio maior) presents *a fully critical text* and should silence the skeptics and critics who try to mislead the public. They deliberately mislead the public by trying to discredit the far more reliable and much older Septuagint in order to get people to accept the much later Hebrew Masoretic text from the Middle Ages❗️

#lxx #septuagint #Library of Alexandria #Strabo #textual criticism #Masoretic #EliKittim #NewTestamentGreek #dead sea scrolls #Deuteronomy32v8 #EmanuelTov #SBL #Theodotion #the little book of revelation #HebrewScriptures #origen #Hexapla #aquila #julius caesar #IOSCS #Symmachus #ελικιτίμ #GreekOldTestament #critical edition #ΜετάφρασητωνΕβδομήκοντα #biblicalgreek #GöttingenSeptuaginta #τομικρόβιβλίοτηςαποκάλυψης #ΕλληνιστικήΚοινή #ΑγίαΓραφή

[freebiblestudies]

Biblical Archaeology Lesson 01: The Old Testament

There are many skeptics who believe the Bible is a book of legends, myths, and even fairy tales.  However, the Bible speaks of real people, real places, and real historical events.  How can we be so sure of this?  The answer lies in biblical archaeology.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, archaeology is “the scientific study of material remains (such as tools, pottery, jewelry, stone walls, and monuments) of past human life and activities.  Biblical archaeology is a historical discipline that uses relevant archaeological discoveries to shed light on the historical and cultural setting of the Bible.

Let’s examine ten fascinating archaeological discoveries with relevance to the Old Testament of the Bible.

Let’s read together 2 Kings 17:5-23.

The Assyrian Limmu List (also known as the Assyrian Eponym List)

The Assyrian had devised a calendar system where they named each year after a prominent Assyrian official.  The Limmu List is a clay tablet with a list of those names in chronological order, dealing with years 858 to 699 BC.  The Limmu List is important because it establishes the chronology of Assyrian kings, which can be used to cross-reference and reconstruct the chronology of the kings of Israel.

Let’s read together 1 Kings 16:29-33.

Kurkh Monolith of Shalmaneser III

This is an Akkadian inscription on limestone.  It speaks of the military campaigns of the Assyrian King Shalmaneser III.  One campaign of note is the battle of Qarqar in 853 BC.  There is a reference to “Ahab the Israelite.”  This may be a reference to king Ahab of Israel who reigned from 874 to 853 BC.

Let’s read together Daniel 1:7; 2:49; 3:12-30; 2 Kings 25:8-9; and Jeremiah 39:9-14; 52:12-26.  

Nebuchadnezzar II prism

This is an eight-sided clay cylinder with inscriptions on each column (side).  The prism has an inscription telling of its completion in 598 BC.  Only six columns are preserved.  Column six is a list of Babylonian officials.  Nergal-Sharezer and Nebuzaran, two Babylonian officials mentioned in the Bible are on this list.  More notably this list also has the names of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, the Babylonian names of Daniel’s friends Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael!

Let’s read together Numbers 21:29; 2 Kings 3:4-5; and Jeremiah 48:46.

Moabite Stone (also known as the Mesha Stele)

This is a stone inscription written by Mesha king of Moab around 840-860 BC.  It confirms the Moabites worshiped the god Chemosh. It also mentions Mesha winning a victory over Omri, king of Israel.

Let’s read together 2 Chronicles 36:22-23 and Ezra 1:1-8.

Cyrus Cylinder

This clay cylinder is a propaganda account of Cyrus’ conquest of Babylon created around 539 BC.  In addition to establishing Persian rule, the Cyrus cylinder proclaims deported people may return to their homelands.  This proclamation gives credence to the Bible’s claim the people of Israel were allowed by Cyrus to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple.

Let’s read together 2 Kings 24:8-20.

Jerusalem Chronicle

This describes the history of the kings of Babylon from 605 to 594 BC.  It records the first deportation of the Jews in 605 BC.  It also mentions the second deportation of the Jews in 597 BC, the destruction of the Jewish temple, the capture of Jehoiachin, and the appointment of Zedekiah.

Let’s read together 2 Kings 18:13-25 and 2 Chronicles 32:9-10.

Lachish Relief

This is a gypsum wall panel relief dating to 700-681 BC.  It depicts Sennacherib’s victory over the kingdom of Judah at Lachish.  This relief is significant in that the kingdom of Judah was formidable enough for Sennacherib to commission the relief in the first place.  Secondly, it is telling that the relief does not depict the defeat of Jursalem, meaning Sennacherib never conquered it, just as the Bible declares in 2 Kings chapter 18 and 19.

Let’s read together 2 Samuel 2:1-4; 5:3 and 2 Kings 8:25-29.

Tel Dan Stele

This stele was erected by an Aramaic king dating to approximately 900-801 BC.  The inscription boasts of the king’s victory of “the king of Israel” and “the king of the house of David.”  The significance of the Tel Dan stele is that it testifies to the historicity of King David in the Bible.

Let’s read together Psalm 12:6-7.

The Dead Sea Scrolls

This is the most well-known biblical archaeology discovery.  Fragments of all the books of the Bible (except for the book of Esther) have been found in the caves of Qumran in Israel.  These fragments date from roughly 250 BC to 68 AD. The Dead Sea Scrolls prove that the Old Testament we read today is the same Old Testament Jesus read over 2000 years ago.

Let’s read together Numbers 6:24-26.

Ketef Hinnom Silver Scroll

This is the oldest record of the Scriptures.  It records the blessing in Numbers 6:24-26.  The Ketef Hinnom scroll predates the Dead Sea scrolls by hundreds of years, dating to approximately 600 BC.

There are so many more archaeological findings of relevance to the Old Testament.  If you are interested, you can look up the Obelisk of Shalmaneser III, the Merneptah victory stele, Hezekiah’s tunnel inscription, the Lachish Letters, the Nabonidus Cylinder, the Berlin Pedestal, and the palace of Sargon.

These biblical archaeological discoveries show that the Bible is not a book of legends, myths, and fairy tales.  These archaeological finds show that we can trust the Bible when it speaks of historical things.  If we can trust what the Bible says about historical things, then we can trust what it says about spiritual things.

Friend, are you willing to put your trust in the Bible?

#bible study #biblical archaeology #dead sea scrolls #Psalm 12:6-7