DAVID WITH A SLINGSHOT

3,000-year-old artifacts reveal history behind biblical David and Goliath

3,000-year-old artifacts reveal history behind biblical David and Goliath

 

Yosef Garfinkel, an archaeologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, shows off an ark, or stone shrine model, that was found during excavations at Khirbet Qeiyafa, an ancient settlement southwest of Jerusalem.

An archaeological dig near Goliath's biblical hometown has yielded evidence of Judean religious practices 3,000 years ago, pointing up fresh historical connections to the stories of King David and King Solomon.
"We have a city with a population relating to the Kingdom of Judah," Yosef Garfinkel, an archaeologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, told me today. "This is totally different from Philistine, Canaanite or the cult in the Kingdom of Israel."
The site, known today as Khirbet Qeiyafa, is about 20 miles (30 kilometers) southwest of Jerusalem, on top of a hill overlooking the Valley of Elah. For the past five years, Garfinkel and his colleagues have been excavating the ruins of a fortified city there, situated across from what was once the Philistine city of Gath. In the Bible, the giant Goliath came out from Gath to face the Israelites, and was smitten by a rock hurled from David's sling.

David's Sling
When he was thus equipped with brazen helmet, coat of mail, and sword, David began to walk, but soon found that he could do nothing with these. He therefore said to Saul, “I cannot go in these things, for I have not tried them;” and having taken them off, he took his shepherd's staff in his hand, sought out five smooth stones from the brook-valley, and put them in the shepherd's thing that he had, namely his shepherd's bag. He then took the sling in his hand, and went up to the Philistine. In the exercise of his shepherd's calling he may have become so skilled in the use of the sling, that, like the Benjaminites mentioned in Jdg_20:16, he could sling at a hair's-breadth, and not miss.

An archaeological dig near Goliath's biblical hometown has yielded evidence of Judean religious practices 3,000 years ago, pointing up fresh historical connections to the stories of King David and King Solomon.
"We have a city with a population relating to the Kingdom of Judah," Yosef Garfinkel, an archaeologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, told me today. "This is totally different from Philistine, Canaanite or the cult in the Kingdom of Israel."
The site, known today as Khirbet Qeiyafa, is about 20 miles (30 kilometers) southwest of Jerusalem, on top of a hill overlooking the Valley of Elah. For the past five years, Garfinkel and his colleagues have been excavating the ruins of a fortified city there, situated across from what was once the Philistine city of Gath. In the Bible, the giant Goliath came out from Gath to face the Israelites, and was smitten by a rock hurled from David's sling.

sling — The sling consisted of a double rope with a thong, probably of leather, to receive the stone. The slinger held a second stone in his left hand. David chose five stones, as a reserve, in case the first should fail. Shepherds in the East carry a sling and stones still, for the purpose of driving away, or killing, the enemies that prowl about the flock.

An archaeological dig near Goliath's biblical hometown has yielded evidence of Judean religious practices 3,000 years ago, pointing up fresh historical connections to the stories of King David and King Solomon.
"We have a city with a population relating to the Kingdom of Judah," Yosef Garfinkel, an archaeologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, told me today. "This is totally different from Philistine, Canaanite or the cult in the Kingdom of Israel."
The site, known today as Khirbet Qeiyafa, is about 20 miles (30 kilometers) southwest of Jerusalem, on top of a hill overlooking the Valley of Elah. For the past five years, Garfinkel and his colleagues have been excavating the ruins of a fortified city there, situated across from what was once the Philistine city of Gath. In the Bible, the giant Goliath came out from Gath to face the Israelites, and was smitten by a rock hurled from David's sling.

There is somewhat very interesting in this equipping David for the battle; in the putting on, and putting off the unsuited armour, and at length, choosing only a few stones from the brook. Surely without much enquiry, we may see the gracious lesson it teaches us, under this similitude. In going forth against the cursed enemy of our souls, no human armour, though burnished, and sharpened with the keenest edge, will answer our purpose. The enemy, as is said of the Leviathan, laugheth at the shaking of a spear. The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold. Job_41:28-29. David went forth, as he saith himself in another place, in the strength of the Lord God: Psa_71:16. He that prompted him to undertake the battle, armed him with strength suitable to it. The smooth stone of the brook, which was of God’s own creating, and which no human heart had polished or worked upon, was a sweet type, that both the Lord’s armour and the Lord’s strength should nerve his arm to give it the full commission intended. And how didst thou come, blessed Jesus, and of what was thy armour composed, when, in thy victory for us, and for our deliverance, thou didst enter the lists alone, to vanquish Satan, and sin, and death, and hell, and the grave. Surely thine own arm brought salvation unto thee; and thy fury it upheld thee. Isa_63:5.

Garfinkel can't vouch for the story of Goliath, but he says the weapons, the cult items and even the animal bones found around Khirbet Qeiyafa support his view that the settlement was a key military outpost for the historical House of David, riven by conflict. "There was something here quite military and quite aggressive," he said. "It was not a peaceful village."
Based on radiocarbon dating of burned olive pits found at the site, archaeologists believe the ancient city lasted for only 40 years, from 1020 to 980 B.C., before it was destroyed. Some skeptics have suggested that Khirbet Qeiyafa was just another Canaanite settlement, and that David was at best a minor chieftain, or perhaps a folkloric figure like Robin Hood. But Garfinkel said the items found at the site strengthen the connection to King David and the religious practices specified in the Bible.
"Over the years, thousands of animal bones were found, including sheep, goats and cattle, but no pigs," he said in a news release from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. "Now we uncovered three cultic rooms, with various cultic paraphernalia, but not even one human or animal figurine was found. This suggest that the population on Khirbet Qeiyafa observed two biblical bans — on pork and on graven images — and thus practiced a different cult from that of the Canaanites or the Philistines."
Garfinkel told me that the absence of human imagery was peculiar to the Judeans. "In the northern Kingdom of Israel, you find human representations," he said.

One of the cultic standing stones can be seen in this picture of the Khirbet Qeiyafa site.

This basalt altar was found during excavations at Khirbet Qeiyafa.

 

A decorated clay shrine model was found at the Khirbet Qeiyafa site.
The cult objects included five standing stones, two basalt altars, two pottery libation vessels and two portable shrines. Garfinkel said the shrines reflected a Mesopotamian architectural style that went back centuries before the era of King David, and probably inspired the look of the palace built by Solomon, David's son. "It seems that Solomon didn't want to be Canaanite and took a different model from Mesopotamia," Garfinkel told me.
The shrines are boxlike containers made of stone or clay. "I think they were called in Hebrew 'Aron,'" Garfinkel wrote in an email. "This had been translated into English as 'ark' and became a mystic artifact. I think that the Hebrew name was just a simple technical term: a box for keeping god symbols."

Such shrines were probably similar in look to the "Ark of God" highlighted in the Bible as well as in such movies as "Raiders of the Lost Ark."
The clay shrine has an intricate facade, featuring two guardian lions, pillars and birds standing on the roof. The stone shrine was painted red, and its facade is decorated with characteristic triglyph symbols as well as a triple-recessed doorway in front. Garfinkel said the Bible may have referred to those architectural features in its description of Solomon's palace. The technical term usually translated as referring to pillars ("Slaot") may actually be talking about triglyphs, while another term that was thought to refer to windows ("Sequfim")  might instead refer to the doorways.
"Now you can see by the model that you have triglyphs at the roof, and you have recessed doorways," Garfinkel said. Such features are also mentioned in biblical references to King Solomon's temple, which was built decades after the age that gave rise to the shrines found at Khirbet Qeiyafa.

1Sa 17:40  And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine. 

 

HUMILITY

HUMILITY

HUMILITY (INCREASE CONTINUED)

John 3:22-36

John was fully satisfied with the place and work assigned him; but Jesus came on a more important work. He also knew that Jesus would increase in honour and influence, for of his government and peace there would be no end, while he himself would be less followed. John knew that Jesus came from heaven as the Son of God, while he was a sinful, mortal man, who could only speak about the more plain subjects of religion. The words of Jesus were the words of God; he had the Spirit, not by measure, as the prophets, but in all fulness. Everlasting life could only be had by faith in Him, and might be thus obtained; whereas all those, who believe not in the Son of God, cannot partake of salvation, but the wrath of God for ever rests upon them.

Humility

hū̇-mil´i-ti
 (ענוה, ‛ănāwāh;
 ταπεινοφροσύνη, tapeinophrosúnē):
(1) The noun occurs in the Old Testament only in Pro_15:33; Pro_18:12; Pro_22:4, but the adjective “humble” appears frequently as the translation of ‛ānı̄, ‛ānāw, shāphāl, meaning also “poor,” “afflicted”; the verb, as the translation of ‛ānāh, “to afflict,” “to humble,” and of kāna‛, “to be or become humbled”; cānā‛, “to be lowly,” occurs in Mic_6:8. For “humble” (Psa_9:12; Psa_10:12) the Revised Version (British and American) has “poor”; Psa_10:17; Psa_34:2; Psa_69:32, “meek”; for “humbled” (Psa_35:13), “afflicted” (Isa_2:11; Isa_10:33), “brought low”; for “He humbleth himself” (Isa_2:9) “is brought low,” margin “humbleth himself”; Psa_10:10, “boweth down”; tapeinophrosunē is translated “humility” (Col_2:18, Col_2:23; 1Pe_5:5); in several other places it is translated “lowliness” and “lowliness of mind”; tapeinós is translated “humble” (Jam_4:6; 1Pe_5:5; elsewhere “lowly,” etc.; 1Pe_3:8, tapeinóphrōn), the Revised Version (British and American) “humble-minded”; tapeinóō, “to humble,” occurs frequently (Mat_18:4; Mat_23:12, etc.); tapeı́nōsis is “humiliation” (Act_8:33); for “vile body” (Phi_3:21) the Revised Version (British and American) gives “body of our humiliation.”
(2) (a) In the Old Testament as well as in the New Testament, humility is an essential characteristic of true piety, or of the man who is right with God. God humbles men in order to bring them to Himself (Deu_8:2, Deu_8:3, etc.), and it is when men humble themselves before Him that they are accepted (1Ki_21:29; 2Ch_7:14, etc.); to “walk humbly with thy God” completes the Divine requirements (Mic_6:8). In Psa_18:35 (2Sa_22:36) the quality is ascribed to God Himself, “Thy gentleness (or condescension) hath made me great.” Of “him that hath his seat on high” it is said, (Hebrew) “humbleth (shāphēl) himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth” (Psa_113:6). It is in the humble heart that “the high and lofty One,... whose name is Holy” dwells (Isa_57:15; compare Isa_66:2).
(b) The word tapeinophrosunē is not found in classical Greek (Lightfoot); in the New Testament (with the exception of 1Pe_5:5) it is Pauline. In Greek pre-Christian writers tapeinos is, with a few exceptions in Plato and Platonic writers, used in a bad or inferior sense - as denoting something evil or unworthy. The prominence it gained in Christian thought indicates the new conception of man in relation to God, to himself, and to his fellows, which is due to Christianity. It by no means implies slavishness or servility; nor is it inconsistent with a right estimate of oneself, one's gifts and calling of God, or with proper self-assertion when called for. But the habitual frame of mind of a child of God is that of one who feels not only that he owes all his natural gifts, etc., to God, but that he has been the object of undeserved redeeming love, and who regards himself as being not his own, but God's in Christ. He cannot exalt himself, for he knows that he has nothing of himself. The humble mind is thus at the root of all other graces and virtues. Self-exaltation spoils everything. There can be no real love without humility. “Love,” said Paul, “vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up” (1Co_13:4). As Augustine said, humility is first, second and third in Christianity.
(c) Jesus not only strongly impressed His disciples with the need of humility, but was in Himself its supreme example. He described Himself as “meek and lowly (tapeinos) in heart” (Mat_11:29). The first of the Beatitudes was to “the poor in spirit” (Mat_5:3), and it was “the meek” who should “inherit the earth.” Humility is the way to true greatness: he who should “humble himself as this little child” should be “the greatest in the kingdom of heaven”; “Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled; and whosoever shall humble himself shall be exalted” (Mat_18:4; Mat_23:12; Luk_14:11; Luk_18:14). To the humble mind truth is revealed (Mat_11:25; Luk_10:21). Jesus set a touching example of humility in His washing His disciples' feet (Jn 13:1-17).
(d) Paul, therefore, makes an earnest appeal to Christians (Phi_2:1-11) that they should cherish and manifest the Spirit of their Lord's humility - “in lowliness of mind each counting other better than himself,” and adduces the supreme example of the self-emptying (kénōsis) of Christ: “Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus,” etc. The rendering of heautō̇n ekénōsen (Phi_2:7 the King James Version) by “he humbled himself” has given rise to the designation of the Incarnation as “the Humiliation of Christ.”
(e) There is a false humility which Paul warns against, a self-sought, “voluntary humility” (Col_2:18, Col_2:23). This still exists in many forms, and has to be guarded against. It is not genuine humility when we humble ourselves with the feeling that we are greater than others, but only when we do not think of self at all. It is not alone the sense of sin that should create the humble spirit: Jesus had no sin. It belongs not merely to the creature, but even to a son in relation to God. There may be much self-satisfaction where sinfulness is confessed. We may be proud of our humility. It is necessary also always to beware of “the pride that apes humility.”

COLORING PAGE

RARE EVIDENCE OF RELIGIOUS PRACTICES IN THE EARLY DAYS OF KINGDOM OF JUDAH

RARE EVIDENCE OF RELIGIOUS PRACTICES IN THE EARLY DAYS OF KINGDOM OF JUDAH

Pi

Picture and article from Demotix.Com

A temple, pottery figurines and other artifacts, providing rare testimony of a ritual cult in the Jerusalem region at the beginning of the Monarchy Period, uncovered in excavations by the Israel Antiquities Authority at Tel Motza.

Excerpt from Israel Antiquities Authority press release, 26-Dec-2012:

Rare evidence of the religious practices and rituals in the early days of the Kingdom of Judah has recently been discovered at Tel Motza, to the west of Jerusalem. In excavations the Israel Antiquities Authority is currently conducting at the Tel Motza archaeological site, prior to work being carried out on the new Highway 1 from Sha'ar HaGai to Jerusalem by the National Roads Company (previously the Public Works Department), a ritual building (a temple) and a cache of sacred vessels some 2,750 years old have been uncovered.
According to Anna Eirikh, Dr. Hamoudi Khalaily and Shua Kisilevitz, directors of the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, "The ritual building at Tel Motza is an unusual and striking find, in light of the fact that there are hardly any remains of ritual buildings of the period in Judea at the time of the First Temple. The uniqueness of the structure is even more remarkable because of the vicinity of the site's proximity to the capital city of Jerusalem, which acted as the Kingdom's main sacred center at the time." According to the archaeologists, "Among other finds, the site has yielded pottery figurines of men, one of them bearded, whose significance is still unknown."
Tel Motza and the surrounding region are renowned for their prime archaeological importance. Many finds have previously been uncovered at the site, from a variety of different periods. From the 1990's to the beginning of the present millennium, the site was excavated in preparation for the new route taken by Highway 1. At the time, the site's archaeologists proposed once more identifying the site with the Biblical settlement "Mozah" mentioned in the Book of Joshua – a town in the tribal lands of Benjamin bordering on Judaea (Joshua 18: 26). The proposal was based, among other things, on the discovery at the site of a public building, a large structure with storehouses, and a considerable number of silos. At the time, archaeologists identified the site as a storehouse, run by high-ranking officials, for Jerusalem's grain supplies.
The current excavations have revealed evidence that provides another aspect to our understanding of the site. According to archaeologists Eirikh, Dr. Khalaily and, Kisilevitz, "The current excavation has revealed part of a large structure, from the early days of the monarchic period (Iron Age IIA). The walls of the structure are massive, and it includes a wide, east-facing entrance, conforming to the tradition of temple construction in the ancient Near East: the rays of the sun rising in the east would have illuminated the object placed inside the temple first, symbolizing the divine presence within. A square structure which was probably an altar was exposed in the temple courtyard, and the cache of sacred vessels was found near the structure. The assemblage includes ritual pottery vessels, with fragments of chalices (bowls on a high base which were used in sacred rituals), decorated ritual pedestals, and a number of pottery figurines of two kinds: the first, small heads in human form (anthropomorphic) with a flat headdress and curling hair; the second, figurines of animals (zoomorphic) – mainly of harnessed animals. The archeologists stress that "The find of the sacred structure together with the accompanying cache of sacred vessels, and especially the significant coastal influence evident in the anthropomorphic figurines, still require extensive research."
Ritual elements in the Kingdom of Judah are recorded in archaeological research, especially from the numerous finds of pottery figurines and other sacred objects found at many sites in Israel, and these are usually attributed to domestic rituals. However, the remains of ritual platforms and temples used for ritual ceremonies have only been found at a few sites of this period. According to the site's directors, "The finds recently discovered at Tel Motza provide rare archaeological evidence for the existence of temples and ritual enclosures in the Kingdom of Judah in general, and in the Jerusalem region in particular, prior to the religious reforms throughout the kingdom at the end of the monarchic period (at the time of Hezekiah and Isaiah), which abolished all ritual sites, concentrating ritual practices solely at the Temple in Jerusalem."

Hezekiah (2)

(חזקיּה, ḥizḳı̄yāh, “Yahweh has strengthened”; also written חזקיּהוּ, ḥı̄zḳı̄yāhū, “Yah has strengthened him”; Ἑζεκίας, Hezekı́as): One of the greatest of the kings of Judah; reigned (according to the most self-consistent chronology) from circa 715 to circa 690 bc.

2. Religious Reform

The sense of this unspiritual state of things furnishes the best keynote of Hezekiah's reforms in religion, which according to the Chronicler he set about as soon as he came to the throne (2Ch_29:3). It is the Chronicler who gives the fullest account of these reforms (2 Ch 29 through 31); naturally, from his priestly point of view and access to ecclesiastical archives. Hezekiah began with the most pressing constructive need, the opening and cleansing of the Temple, which his father Ahaz had left closed and desecrated (2Ch_28:24), and went on to the reorganization of its liturgical and choral service. In connection with this work he appointed a Passover observance, which, on a scale and spirit unknown since Solomon (2Ch_30:26), he designed as a religious reunion of the devout-minded in all Israel, open not only to Jerusalem and Judah, but to all who would accept his invitation from Samaria, Galilee, and beyond the Jordan (2Ch_30:5-12, 2Ch_30:18). The immediate result of the enthusiasm engendered by this Old Home Week was a vigorous popular movement of iconoclasm against the idolatrous high places of the land. That this was no weak fanatical impulse to break something, but a touch of real spiritual quickening, seems evidenced by one incident of it: the breaking up of Moses' old brazen serpent and calling it what it had come to mean, neḥushtān, “a piece of brass” (2Ki_18:4); the movement seems in fact to have had in it the sense, however crude, that old religious forms had become hurtful and effete superstitions, hindering spirituality. Nor could the movement stop with the old fetish. With it went the demolition of the high places themselves and the breaking down of the pillars (maccēbhōth) and felling of the sacred groves ('ăshērāh), main symbols these of a debasing naturecult. This reform, on account of later reactions (see under MANASSEH), has been deemed ineffective; rather, its effects were inward and germinal; nor were they less outwardly than could reasonably be expected, before its meanings were more deepened and centralized.

ANGOSTURA BITTERS

 bitter herbs — literally, “bitters” - to remind the Israelites of their affliction in Egypt, and morally of the trials to which God’s people are subject on account of sin.

Angostura Bitters

Angostura bitters is a compound made primarily from gentian (genus Gentiana), a flowering plant with bitter-tasting leaves. Gentians are native to temperate regions from Asia to Europe to North America, with some of its many species found in northwestern Africa, eastern Australia, and the Andes. Gentians can be annuals, biennials, or perennials.
J.G.B. Siegert, a German physician living in Angostura,

Venezuela, first developed Angostura bitters in 1824 as a remedy for stomach maladies. Although the compound did not perform as expected, it was exported to England and Trinidad, where it was adopted as an ingredient in cocktails, as the bitters do help in mild cases of nausea or upset stomach. Angostura bitters is generally about 45 percent alcohol by volume.
Angostura bitters can also be added to soups, glazes for poultry or pork, turkey stuffings, fish dishes, even tomato sauces, custards, and fruit medleys.

Bitters are mentioned in the Bible (Exodus 12:8, Young's Literal Translation) but the reference is probably to bitter
herbs.

Over (upon) bitter herbs they shall eat it.” מְרֹרִים, πικρίδες (lxx), lactucae agrestes (Vulg.), probably refers to various kinds of bitter herbs. Πικρίς, according to Aristot. Hist. an. 9, 6, and Plin. h. n. 8, 41, is the same as lactuca silvestris, or wild lettuce; but in Dioscor. 2, 160, it is referred to as the wild σέρις or κιχώριον, i.e., wild endive, the intubus or intubum of the Romans. As lettuce and endive are indigenous in Egypt, and endive is also met with in Syria from the beginning of the winter months to the end of March, and lettuce in April and May, it is to these herbs of bitter flavor that the term merorim chiefly applies; though others may also be included, as the Arabs apply the same term to Scorzonera orient., Picris scabra, Sonclus oler., Hieracium uniflor., and others (Forsk. flor. cxviii. and 143); and in the Mishnah, Pes. 2, 6, five different varieties of bitter herbs are reckoned as merorim, though it is difficult to determine what they are (cf. Bochart, Hieroz. 1, pp. 691ff., and Cels. Hierobot. ii. p. 727). By עַל (upon) the bitter herbs are represented, both here and in Num_9:11, not as an accompaniment to the meat, but as the basis of the meal. עַל does not signify along with, or indicate accompaniment, not even in Exo_35:22; but in this and other similar passages it still retains its primary signification, upon or over. It is only used to signify accompaniment in cases where the ideas of protection, meditation, or addition are prominent. If, then, the bitter herbs are represented in this passage as the basis of the meal, and the unleavened bread also in Num_9:11, it is evident that the bitter herbs were not intended to be regarded as a savoury accompaniment, by which more flavour was imparted to the sweeter food, but had a more profound signification. The bitter herbs were to call to mind the bitterness of life experienced by Israel in Egypt (Exo_1:14), and this bitterness was to be overpowered by the sweet flesh of the lamb. In the same way the unleavened loaves are regarded as forming part of the substance of the meal in Num_9:11, in accordance with their significance in relation to it (vid., Exo_12:15). There is no discrepancy between this and Deu_16:3, where the mazzoth are spoken of as an accompaniment to the flesh of the sacrifice; for the allusion there is not to the eating of the paschal lamb, but to sacrificial meals held during the seven days' festival.