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Hitler Finds Out Blogger FTP Service is Ending

Hitler Finds Out Blogger FTP Service is Ending


This is how that 5% of bloggers who blog through FTP felt when Blogger announced they were ending FTP services.






HT: Erik Aronesty

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Blogging, Blogger, Google

An Introduction to the Bible

Eerdmans Publishing Company has published a new introduction to the Bible. The book, An Introduction to the Bible, was written by Robert Kugler and Patrick Hartin. The book was written for college students and for those who desire to gain a better understanding of the Bible.

This introduction shows “how to read the Bible on the literary, historical, and theological levels.”

Eerdmans has made available online (in PDF format), a general introduction to the book and an introduction to the books of Joshua, the book of Amos, to the Gospel of Matthews, and to the books of Galatians and Romans.

Read the General Introduction here, the Introduction to the Book of Joshua here, the Introduction to the Book of Amos here, the Gospel of Matthews here, and the books of Galatians and Romans here.


Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

If you enjoyed reading this post, subscribe to my posts here.

Tags: Hebrew Bible, Book of Joshua, Book of Amos, Gospel of Matthews, Galatians, Romans

How Do You Explain That God Does Not Exist?

How do you explain that God does not exist? In his absurd answer, atheist John W. Loftus begins with absurdity.





I want to thank Marcus McElhaney for this information.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

If you enjoyed reading this post, subscribe to my posts here.

Tags: Atheism, John Loftus

An Introduction to the Book of Amos

Eerdmans Publishing Company has published a new introduction to the Bible. The book, An Introduction to the Bible, was written by Robert Kugler and Patrick Hartin. The book was written for college students and for those who desire to gain a better understanding of the Bible.

This introduction shows “how to read the Bible on the literary, historical, and theological levels.”

Eerdmans has made available online (in PDF format) a general introduction to the book and an introduction to the book of Amos. Read the General Introduction here and the Introduction to the Book of Amos here.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

If you enjoyed reading this post, subscribe to my posts here.

Tags: Hebrew Bible, Book of Amos

An Introduction to the Book of Joshua

Eerdmans Publishing Company has published a new introduction to the Bible. The book, An Introduction to the Bible, was written by Robert Kugler and Patrick Hartin. The book was written for college students and for those who desire to gain a better understanding of the Bible.

This introduction shows “how to read the Bible on the literary, historical, and theological levels.”

Eerdmans has made available online (in PDF format) a general introduction to the book and an introduction to the book of Joshua. Read the General Introduction here and the Introduction to the Book of Joshua here.


Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

If you enjoyed reading this post, subscribe to my posts here.

Tags: Hebrew Bible, Book of Joshua

The Suffering of Job and Divine Justice - Part 2

Read Part 1: The Suffering of Job and Divine Justice

People reading the book of Job today will encounter a strange and disturbing view of God, a view that reflects a theology which affirms that God was the source of both good and evil. This theology is behind the words of Job’s four friends who came to sympathize with Job in his time of distress. The dialogue of the four friends with Job was aimed at comforting him, but in the end they concluded that Job was suffering because he had sinned against God.

The friends’ inability to understand the real cause of Job’s suffering prompted them to accuse Job of being like the wicked: he was reaping the consequences of his wickedness. Their words of accusation were based on their experience and knowledge of God. However, they accused Job because they were unaware of what was transpiring in the council of God. In their attempt at defending God, Job’s friends overstated their case by putting the blame on Job.

In their dialogue, Job’s friends presented a lofty and unyielding view of God, a view that makes God appear to be removed from the arena of human experience. According to Job’s friends’ theology, God was so removed from humans that unless a mediator served as a go between God and humans, that separation would leave human beings hopeless when confronted with unyielding justice.

The theology of Job’s friends was not all wrong, but neither was their theology right enough to explain Job’s suffering. Notwithstanding their words of wisdom, Job’s suffering continued. Thus, in the end, human wisdom could not bring the healing or the answers Job was so desperately seeking.

At the end of the dialogue between Job and his friends, God revealed himself to Job. Awed by the divine presence, Job forgot all the bitterness and complaints of his soul. The presence of God required Job’s attention. Finally, Job’s request to present his case directly to God was granted. As Job had already expressed, he knew that he could not contend with the awesome majesty of Almighty God.

Speaking to Job out of a whirlwind (Job 38:1), the Lord answered none of Job’s questions, neither did God explain the reasons he had to endure such torment. No mention was made in God’s response to Job of the events in the heavenly court as narrated in the prologue of the story. God had a more powerful way to demonstrate his justice.

The Almighty God revealed himself to Job. How simple that encounter seemed to be, and yet, how profound were the implications of that revelation. In a moment, Job’s attitude changed. His life was flooded with purpose, with hope, and with the expectation of healing. God healed Job by bringing him out of his anxiety into acceptance of his situation, an acceptance that brought peace to Job’s life.

God’s purpose was not only to heal Job, but also to instruct him. God asked Job several rhetorical questions which were beyond human capability of answering.

God wanted Job to catch a glimpse of his work in creation so that Job could realize that his suffering was insignificant when placed next to God’s work in the world. At the end of God’s questioning, Job recognized the vast gulf between God’s wisdom and power and his own ignorance of the many mysteries of life. The greatest lesson Job learned was that God was sovereign over his creation and that divine sovereignty governs all reality, including Job’s own life.

At the end of God’s encounter with Job, Job humbly repented of his presumption, that he could contend with God. He also repented of his pride in seeing only himself while failing to recognize that God’s purpose for his life was much more than he could understand. He bowed in recognition of his insignificance before his sovereign Lord.

Job confessed his unwavering faith in God’s sovereignty and his total submission to that sovereignty. Job admitted that he was unable to understand the marvelous work of God, and asked God to grant him wisdom and understanding. Job’s repentance signals the end of his intense suffering and the restoration of God’s blessings on his life.

The issue that vexes people with such an intensity, the problem of evil, is presented in the book of Job in the form of the suffering of a good and righteous man. His friends tried to console him, but they failed. Their words were not totally wrong. To the contrary, what they said made sense, but not in the case of Job. So, at the end, God himself told them they were wrong in their accusation of Job.

However, at the end of the book, the reader is still perplexed. Why did a good God allow Job’s suffering to happen? This question presupposes one very important assumption: whoever asks this question believes in a God of justice. Atheists cannot ask this question. Since they do not believe there is a God, they cannot say God allows this kind of evil to happen.

The problem of the suffering of the innocent is a problem for believers, because they believe in a caring and loving God, a God who is in control of his creation. Those who do not believe in the providence of God, find reasons for human misery by denying or diminishing the God of the Bible.

Many people explain the problem of human suffering by denying the existence of God, by limiting the power and the sovereignty of God, or by affirming that God is not good. Many people are like Job’s friends. When people are confronted with the limitations of humanity to understand or explain natural disasters, such as Katrina, Haiti, and Chile, disasters that take hundreds and thousands of human lives, they blame God for these disasters.

When people are challenged by the helplessness of one individual such as Job, a man who suffered and agonized for days and months with an incurable disease, they lose their faith in God and blame the deity for allowing violence, disease, and disasters to occur in the world.

But it is precisely because we know that the Lord is good that we insist that this goodness be shown in the world. It is because we know that the Lord is a righteous judge that we demand that justice be adjudicated in the world. But when we look at the world in which we live, we recognize that goodness and evil are not rewarded evenly. The wicked prosper and the righteous suffer. This was the problem Jeremiah had with God: Jeremiah said: “LORD, you have always been fair whenever I have complained to you. However, I would like to speak with you about the disposition of justice. Why are wicked people successful? Why do all dishonest people have such easy lives?” (Jeremiah 12:1 NET).

In light of such a disparity, how can we continue to believe that God is good? The presence of evil and suffering in the world is evidence to many people that either God is not good or that God is impotent to deal with the problems of the world. But the Bible provides ways of reconciling the problem of suffering with the goodness of God.

The Bible affirms that the God of the Bible is a God of justice: “For the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him” (Isaiah 30:18). Isaiah says that God’s justice will be revealed, but that the believer must wait for it. However, human beings do not have the patience to wait for divine justice to be manifested, either in the near future or at the end of time. People desire to see divine justice manifested while they are alive. Few are willing to wait for divine justice to be done in the life to come. People want justice done in the land of the living.

Human questioning and reasoning about divine justice are important for humans. Job questioned divine justice until he was confronted with the presence of the sovereign and omnipotent God. Job understood the reason for his sufferings no better after his restoration than he understood it when he sat upon the heap of ashes.

Job found wisdom and understanding when he encountered God. The book of Job demonstrates that wisdom is not found in seeking answers to life problems, but in experiencing God. God’s justice lies not in what a person perceives as fair, but in God’s willingness to justify that person. Perhaps God’s justification of Job was the deepest significance and meaning Job found for his suffering. God provides for each person a Justifier and an Advocate, the one whom Job earnestly desired.

To Job, his witness was in heaven: “my advocate is on high” (Job 16:19). Job’s words indicate that he saw God as his vindicator. But it is clear that Job saw no vindication in this life. Job believed he was going to die but he knew that he would be vindicated: “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God” (Job 19:25-26).

To Christians, Jesus Christ is the answer to all Job's questions and to ours. Jesus is the culmination of all that Job wanted God to do for him: “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). Only through Jesus can human beings be justified, and only in justification will human beings learn the true meaning of divine sovereignty and divine justice.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

If you enjoyed reading this post, subscribe to my posts here.

Tags: Hebrew Bible, Old Testament, Book of Job, Divine Justice, Job, Satan, Suffering

Benny Hinn’s Letter About His Divorce

Several days ago, newspapers around the world reported that evangelist Benny Hinn’s wife had filled for divorce. At that time, the newspapers did give give a reason for the divorce.

Benny Hinn has written a letter to his supporters in which he seeks to provide an explanation for his wife’s decision to terminate their marriage. In that letter Benny Hinn speaks of his “broken heart” and how he was informed about his wife’s decision.

The following is an excerpt from the letter:

I come to you with a broken heart.

You may have heard by now that my wife, Suzanne, whom I love very much and always will, filed for divorce on February 1. Even though Suzanne has been under great stress, the children and I never expected this to happen.

Divorce was the last thing on my mind and theirs.

It was a total shock when her lawyer called me the morning of February 17 to inform me that she had filed 16 days before. Suzanne never gave the family even a hint that this was on her mind. Even to this moment, the children and I don’t know why she did it.

Read the letter in its entirety here.

HT: Peter Kirk


Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tag: Benny Hinn

The Head of Amenhotep III

Image: The Head of Amenhotep III










A massive, 3,400-year-old, granite head of Amenhotep III, the grandfather of King Tutankhamun, was discovered recently in Luxor, Egypt.

Read the story here.


Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

If you enjoyed reading this post, subscribe to my posts here.

Tags: Archaeology, Amenhotep III

Bread and Beer

Image: Hieroglyphs at the burial chamber of Queen Behenu







A recent translation of the hieroglyphs found at the burial chamber of Queen Behenu shows that the queen was offered bread and beer during her funeral.

The following is an excerpt from an article published by Discovery News:

One loaf of bread and one jug of beer: that's what Egypt's Queen Behenu was offered during her funeral, according to a translation of hieroglyphics engraved on white stone found in her 4,000-year-old burial chamber this week.

Known as the "Pyramid Texts," these hieroglyphics represent the oldest body of Egyptian religious writings and were widely in use in royal tombs during the 5th and 6th Dynasties of the Old Kingdom.

Discovery News asked one of the top scholars of the Pyramid Texts, James P. Allen, a Wilbour Professor of Egyptology and Chair of Egyptology and Ancient Western Asian Studies at Brown University, to translate part of the newly discovered hieroglyphs.

****

The Offering ritual accompanied preparation for and presentation of a great meal. For example, in the case of Queen Behenu, we have (middle of the third complete column in the middle of the image):

Recitation: Osiris Behenu, accept Horus’s Eye: gather it to your mouth.
Presentation, 4 times.
1 loaf of bread and 1 jug of beer.

The offering is usually called "Horus's Eye," referring to the mythical struggle in which the eye of the falcon-god Horus was torn out by his opponent Seth, and later restored.

Read the article in its entirety by clicking here.

Read my previous post on Queen Behenu.


Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

If you enjoyed reading this post, subscribe to my posts here.

Tags: Archaeology, Bread, Beer, Queen Behenu, Hieroglyphics

The Nail from Christ’s Cross: A Fantasy

A few days ago, I posted an article announcing that archaeologists had discovered a nail that some believed to have originated in the first century, at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion. For this reason, some people believed that the nail was similar to nails used by the Romans on Christ’s Cross.

However, Archaeologist Élvio Sousa of the Center for the Study of Modern and Contemporary Archeology (CEAM) on the Portuguese island of Madeira has denied that the nail came from the first century. In a statement released by CEAM, Souza called the alleged discovery of three Templar skeletons and a 'crucifixion nail' dating from the Roman era "a fantasy." Élvio Duarte Martins Sousa is an archaeologist and researcher at the Faculty of Humanities, University of Lisbon, Portugal.

Below is the statement released by from CEAM:

Subject: Roman Relics (Board) found in Madeira (Forte São José).

The news published yesterday in England, on the assumed Roman relics found in archaeological excavations carried out at Fort São José,erected in the eighteenth century, at Funchal Port, Madeira, requiresthe following statement from the Scientific Council of CEAM:

1. Considering the scientific archaeological work done by CEAM at Fort São José (2004-2006), is manifestly false the news of the discovery of Roman objects, especially in an area (dig) that corresponds with the excavated area.

2. This dig identified, to the bedrock, objects dating from the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries, although there are some traces that can date back to the seventeenth century.

3. The news of the findings of Romans relics is a "fantasy," even more ridiculous by the sensationalist news of a wooden box (incredibly preserved, near the sea, over two thousand years), with three skeletons and three swords.

4. The nail that illustrates the news, if discovered inside the fort, it is just an object used in residential constructions during the early Moderns times (seventeenth and eighteenth centuries). Many nails like this were found in the excavations (2004-2006). Equally, the references to skeletons are also a creation, to give emphasis to the mythical theory.

5. This view is supported by the British archaeologist and expert at Roman archeology Brian Philp (Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit) who has been following the present study of archaeological materials in partnership with the Scientific Council of CEAM.

6. In conclusion: this is a pure imagination, without accuracy and scientific crediblity. We are not familiarized with Mr Christopher Macklin and Bryn Walters and we do not recognize in them, any authority in the findings within this Military construction.

Élvio Sousa

HT: Chris Cunnyngham

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

If you enjoyed reading this post, subscribe to my posts here.

Tags: Christ, Crucifixion, Cross, Nail

Netaim, The City of Potters

The Hebrew Bible identifies the city of Netaim as a city of potters: “These were the potters who were inhabitants of Netaim and Gederah. They lived there in the king’s service” (1 Chronicles 4:23). The reference that these potters were “in the king’s service” may indicate either that the king had a production of pottery for export (or local sale) or that the pottery were being made for the king’s personal use and not to be sold.

It is also possible that the expression “in the king’s service” may indicate the existence of a guild that specialized in the production of pottery, similar to the statement that a family of scribes lived at Jabez (1 Chronicles 2:55) and that a clan of linen workers lived at Beth-ashbea (1 Chronicles 4:21).

In a recent article published by the University of Haifa, Professor Gershon Galil of the Department of Bible Studies at the University of Haifa has identified Khirbet Qeiyafa as the city of Netaim, the city of potters mentioned in the book of Chronicles.

The following is an excerpt from the article:

Has another mystery in the history of Israel been solved? Prof. Gershon Galil of the Department of Bible Studies at the University of Haifa has identified Khirbet Qeiyafa as “Neta’im”, which is mentioned in the book of Chronicles. “The inhabitants of Neta’im were potters who worked in the king’s service and inhabited an important administrative center near the border with the Philistines,” explains Prof. Galil.

Khirbet Qeiyafa is a provincial town in the Elah Valley region. Archaeological excavations carried out at Khirbet Qeiyafa by a team headed by Prof. Yosef Garfinkel and Mr. Saar Ganor have dated the site to the beginning of the 10th century BCE, namely the time of King David’s rule. A Hebrew inscription on a pottery shard found at the site, also dating back to the 10th century, has recently been deciphered by Prof. Galil and indicates the presence of scribes and a high level of culture in the town.

The genealogy of the Tribe of Judah dated to the same period is recorded in 1 Chronicles. The last verse of this genealogy, 1 Chronicles 4:23, mentions two important cites: Gederah and Neta’im, both of which were administrative centers, since they were inhabited by people who work “in the king’s service”: “These were the potters, the inhabitants of Neta’im and Gederah, they dwelt there in the King’s service.” Gederah has been identified by A. Alt with Khirbet G(udraya, near the Elah Valley, but Neta’im, which is mentioned only once in the Bible, remained unidentified.

You can read the article in its entirety by clicking here.


Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

If you enjoyed reading this post, subscribe to my posts here.

Tags: Archaeology, Hebrew Bible, Old Testament, Netaim, Gershon Galil, Khirbet Qeiyafa, Elah Valley

Support for the Decision to Declare the Cave of Machpelah a Heritage Site

In a previous post I wrote about Neil Silberman’s post in which he declared his opposition to the decision of the Israeli government to declare the Cave of Machpelah a Heritage Site.

In a recent article, Jeremy Sharon declared his support of the Israeli government’s decision by saying that “Palestinian protests against the restoration of Jewish heritage sites are part of a campaign of delegitimisation against Israel.”

The following is an excerpt from his article:

Unfortunately, the inclusion in the restoration plan of two of the most sacred Jewish sites, the Cave of the Patriarchs and Rachel's Tomb, has sparked riots in the West Bank and Jerusalem over the past few days and led supposedly moderate Palestinian leaders to burst forth with disturbingly inflammatory rhetoric. Mahmoud Abbas even raised the spectre of "religious war" in light of the inclusion of these two sites. The international community weighed in too, with the US State Department and the UN secretary general, both reprimanding Israel for the decision.

Why has the seemingly innocuous announcement to upgrade these sites prompted such a caustic response? Muslims have full access to the Cave of the Patriarchs and the Islamic waqf's role in administering it remains unchanged. Rachel's Tomb is currently only accessible via Israel, but this has been the case since the late 1990s, owing to the high number of Palestinian attacks against the site in recent years.

Regrettably, it seems that this latest uproar, just like the unrest last autumn regarding the Temple Mount, is yet another example of the general Palestinian unwillingness to accept and acknowledge the deep-seated historical roots of the Jewish people in the region.

This is evidenced by numerous statements made by Palestinian political and religious leaders in recent days, such as that of Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, the grand mufti of Jerusalem and highest Islamic authority in the Holy Land. He said that Israel has "devoted all of its efforts to steal Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem, Hebron, and Palestinian cities to change their Arab and Islamic character to prove the country is Jewish". The theme of Israel "stealing" Islamic sites for its own cultural and political purposes was also explicitly mentioned by Abbas, as well as by Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh (who called for a new intifada as well).

The implication is that the Cave of the Patriarchs has nothing to do with the Jewish people and the Israeli government is fabricating history for political ends. But the shrine is mentioned in the Bible and has been a focus of Jewish pilgrimage for more than 3,000 years. It is Judaism's second holiest site and is central to Jewish national identity as the burial place of the people's three forefathers.

Read Sharon’s article in its entirety by clicking here.


Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

If you enjoyed reading this post, subscribe to my posts here.

Tags: Cave of Machpelah, Heritage Sites, Jeremy Sharon

Opposition to the Decision to Declare the Cave of Machpelah a Heritage Site

Neil Silberman, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the coordinator of Projects and Policy Initiatives at the Center for Heritage and Society, has written a very critical post on the decision of the Israeli government to include the Cave of Machpelah to the list of Israel’s Heritage Sites.

Since many Christians welcomed the decision of the Israeli government, it is just fair that they should also read Silberman’s view opposing the decision. The following is an excerpt from his post:

There is a point where the manipulation of heritage becomes so blatant, so transparent a cover for territorial acquisition, for population removal, and for private commercial gain, that even some of the most fervent flag-wavers and Bible-belters have to take pause.

In the last weeks we have witnessed a series of gratuitously aggressive public demonstrations. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s declaration of the establishment of a “heritage list” of sites connected with Jewish and Zionist history in both pre-1967 Israel and the West Bank not only offered no specifics that could actually help the Israel Antiquities Authority keep up with the enormous volume of development-related archaeological salvage projects throughout the country, but was pitifully primitive in its goal of instilling a ‘proper’ appreciation of history among the younger generations of Israelis– through the installation of informational signboards and the establishment of hiking trails.

Worse yet, the announcement– for all its emptiness of value and content– succeeded in providing an occasion for violence both in the tinderbox of Hebron (ironically on the eve of the 16th anniversary of the terrorist attack by settler icon Baruch Goldstein that killed 29 and wounded more than a hundred Muslim worshippers in the Tomb of the Patriarchs, one of the sites added to the new Israeli “Heritage List”) and throughout the West Bank.

When will the advocates of strong-armed tactics and arrogant nationalism see that it just doesn’t work?

Read Professor Silberman’s post by clicking here.


Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

If you enjoyed reading this post, subscribe to my posts here.

Tags: Cave of Machpelah, Heritage Sites, Neil Silberman

The Invention of the Alphabet

In an article published in the March/April issue of the Biblical Archaeology Review, Orly Goldwasser contends that the alphabet may have been invented almost 4,000 Years ago by Canaanite workers. According to the article, inscriptions similar to Egyptian hieroglyphics left behind during a mining expedition by Canaanite miners 4,000 years ago may be the beginning of the alphabet.

The following is an excerpt from the article:

The Canaanites at Serabit probably connected this pictogram, which they saw everywhere at the site, with a loud call or order emitted by an official when he raised his hands to assemble the people, a typical shout such as Hoy! (also known in Biblical Hebrew),5 which may be the origin of the letter h in the Proto-Sinaitic script.

If I am correct that the first alphabetic script was invented at Serabit el-Khadem in the reign of Amenemhet III (mid-19th century B.C.E.), I believe I can plausibly explain the process by which it was invented—not by sophisticated scribes, but by comparatively unlettered Asiatic workers.

The inventors at Serabit clearly used models of hieroglyphs taken from the Egyptian Middle Kingdom inscriptions around them. The Proto-Sinaitic pictograms were adapted from the hieroglyphic pictograms and appear mostly in the area of the turquoise mines and the roads leading to the mines.

It may seem strange, but I believe the inventors of the alphabet were illiterate—that is, they could not read Egyptian with its hundreds of hieroglyphic signs. Why do I think so? The letters in the Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions are very crude. They are not the same size. They are not written in a single direction: Some are written left to right, others right to left and some from top to bottom. This suggests that the writers had mastered neither Egyptian hieroglyphic nor any other complex, rule-governed script.

The article is very informative and it is illustrated with pictures and drawings that show the development of the alphabet. Highly recommended.

Read the article in its entirety by visiting BAR online.


Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

If you enjoyed reading this post, subscribe to my posts here.

Tags: Archaeology, Alphabet, Canaanite, Orly Goldwasser, Serabit

Queen Behenu

Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered the burial site of Queen Behenu. Queen Behenu has been called “the mysterious queen” because archeologists do not know whether she was the wife of King Pepi I or II, two pharaohs of the Sixth Dynasty.

The following is an excerpt from the news report:

CAIRO – French archaeologists announced Wednesday the discovery outside Cairo of the burial chamber of a mysterious queen from Egypt's Old Kingdom more than 4,000 years ago.

The necropolis of Saqqara outside Cairo has yielded a string of new discoveries as 10 different teams excavate a previously untouched area of these burial grounds were used continuously for more than 2,000 years until Roman times.

French mission head Philippe Collombert said the mummy of Queen Behenu was destroyed, but the chamber contained green hieroglyphics picked out on white stone known as the "Pyramid Texts."

"We are excited because the texts are well conserved," he told The Associated Press, adding that the queen's titles were written on the walls of the 33 by 16 foot (10 meter by 5 meter) burial chamber inside her small pyramid.

Read the news report in its entirety by clicking here. The article also contains a photo of a section of the burial chamber showing some of the hieroglyphics found at the site.



Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

If you enjoyed reading this post, subscribe to my posts here.

Tags: Archaeology, Queen Behenu, Egyptian Queen

Worshiping at the Temple

CBN News has a video and a story about the steps pilgrims climbed on their way to worship God in the temple at the time of Jesus.

The Story:

THE CITY OF DAVID, Jerusalem - Ancient steps and a storm sewer dating back to King Herod are two of the recent finds in Jerusalem.

The discoveries help tell the story of the Jewish pilgrimage to the Temple in the time of Jesus.

"I was glad when they said to me let us go to the house of the Lord," King David wrote in the Psalms.

Some 2,000 years ago, Jewish pilgrims might have recited this psalm of ascents as they climbed stairs on their way to worship at the Temple.

Three times a year, the Bible commanded the Jewish people to go up to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feasts of the Lord.

"They probably camped outside the city in the valleys in the Kidron Valley... came in the city through the southern gate into the pool to take a ritual bath and then went up to the Temple Mount to pay their respects to the God of Israel," said Haifa University archaeologist Roni Reich.

The excavation is located just outside the City of David. Many believe the area was Jerusalem at the time of King David.

Recently archaeologists uncovered the other side of the broad stairway leading to the Temple Mount. Paved with large limestone blocks, it is thought to be about 140 feet wide and climbs less than a half mile uphill to the Temple Mount.

Reich said Jesus, too, most likely walked the steps.

Read the article in its entirety here.

The Video:



Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

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Tags: Psalms of Ascent, Temple Worship

Hellenistic Coins from the Time of Alexander the Great

Image: Hellenistic Coins



A collection of Hellenistic coins dating back to the time of Alexander the Great were found in northern Syria.

The collection contains two groups of silver Hellenistic coins: 137 tetra drachma (four drachmas) coins and 115 drachma coins.

One side of the tetra drachma coins depicts Alexander the Great, while the other side depicts the Greek god Zeus sitting on a throne with an eagle on his outstretched right arm. 34 of these coins bear the inscription "King Alexander" in Greek, while 81 coins bear the inscription "Alexander" and 22 coins bear "King Phillip."

The drachma coins bear the same images as the tetra drachma, with "Alexander" inscribed on 100 of them and "Philip" on 15 of them.

Read the story in its entirety by clicking here.


Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

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Tags: Archaeology, Alexander the Great, Hellenistic Coins, Drachma

A Nail from Christ’s Cross?

Image: A Nail from the First Century

Photo: Greg Grundy





The Telegraph of London is reporting that a nail believed to be dated from the time when Christ was crucified has been found at a fort that probably belonged to the Knights Templar.

Archaeologists believe that the nail’s remarkable preservation indicates that the nail was kept as a precious religious relic. For this reason it is possible that Knights Templar believed that this nail was one of the nails used in Christ’s crucifixion.

Read the story in its entirety by clicking here.


Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

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Tags: Christ, Crucifixion, Cross, Nail

The Suffering of Job and Divine Justice - Part 1

The book of Job has fascinated readers over the years because the book deals with the problem of suffering, a problem that sooner or later will touch every human being. The plight of Job has a universal appeal because it raises the question of how a just God can allow a good man to suffer so intensively.

The message of the book is focused on the issue of God’s justice: why must a good and devout man suffer undeservedly? However, although the book of Job is a study of the suffering of the righteous, the book also deals with the character of God, primarily in God’s dealings with Job. Three aspects of God’s character are dealt with in the book.

The first is the justice of God, which is the focus of Job’s argument. The second is the sovereignty of God, which is demonstrated in God’s dealings with the adversary. The third is God’s treatment of Job, an issue that is raised by those who read the book.

At the conclusion of the book, although these issues were not fully addressed and remain partially unsolved, the sovereignty of God was affirmed and divine justice was upheld and it was recognized by Job. The conclusion of the book of Job shows that, although the reader and even Job himself cannot fully comprehend what happened and why it happened, God holds and controls the events in absolute sovereignty, wisdom, and justice.

The story of Job’s suffering begins with a brief introduction of the man Job, who is presented as a righteous and devout man, one who fears God. According to the introduction of the book, Job was “a man of perfect integrity, who feared God and turned away from evil” (Job 1:1 HCSB). In addition to being an upright man, Job was also very rich and “greatest man among all the people of the east” (Job 1:3).

According to the text, Job was blessed with a large family of seven sons and three daughters (Job 1:2). The writer of Job stresses these moral and religious aspects of Job’s life in order to demonstrate his righteousness. Job’s wealth was evidence that he was blessed by God. Job’s righteousness was constant, essential, and stable. Job’s wealth was temporary, accidental, and not essential to his righteousness. What the writer of the book was trying to demonstrate was that without his righteousness Job was nothing; without his wealth Job remained everything.

The word tam in Job 1:1, translated “perfect integrity” (“blameless” in other translations) comes from a Hebrew word taman, a word that suggests completeness. The reason the writer used this word was to introduce a person who had integrity and who tried to please God. Thus, Job was not the kind of person that Satan, and after him Job’s three friends, insinuated Job was: one kind of man on the surface and another man in his real self. Although Job was not a sinless man, Job was a righteous man whose integrity of character showed itself in his relationship with God and in his dealings with people with whom Job came in contact.

It was important for the writer of the book to establish the upright character of Job, for had Job not been righteous and blameless, there would be no meaning to the book because Job’s suffering could have been understood by the reader as God’s judgement on Job’s iniquity. But Job was a righteous man, and the fact that Job was blameless and righteous gives rise to the puzzle of the book of Job. Since Job’s suffering was not the judgement of a righteous God on a wicked man, what then was the purpose of Job’s suffering?

In the prologue of the book, the author introduced his readers to a part of the big picture of the story which Job and his friends never saw. The story of Job begins when the sons of God appear in heaven to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came and joined the assembly of the sons of God. In the ensuing conversation between God and Satan, the Biblical writer emphasizes the subordination of Satan to God.

The text shows that the adversary was subject to God and could not act without the approval and permission of the Lord. The text also shows that it was Satan and not God who caused the disasters to Job’s life that caused his suffering. As a member of the divine assembly, Satan was the accuser of human beings before God, and it was in that role that he came to report human failures to God. To Satan’s accusations of the failure of human beings, Yahweh addressed the adversary with a pointed question: “Have you considered my servant Job?” (Job 1:8).

God’s question was important to the development of the story because it was God who drew Satan’s attention to Job’s character. So confident was God of Job’s perfect integrity that God challenged the accuser to find any flaw in Job’s blameless character. Satan knew that Job was a righteous man but contended that Job was a mercenary behind his upright behavior. Satan said: “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not put a fence around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land” (Job 1:9-10).

Satan insisted that Job would not be so stupid as to do anything that would compromise a relationship that worked so well in his favor. The adversary believed that if Yahweh would change his treatment of Job that Job would certainly reverse his conduct toward Yahweh, that is, when piety would no longer pay, Job would become defiantly profane and would deny and even blaspheme God.

The adversary then proposed a challenge to God: “But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face” (Job 1:11). This proposition of Satan was a challenge which God confidently accepted. Yahweh knew the heart of Job and demonstrated his faith in his servant by staking his honor on the way Job would respond to the loss of his children and all his possessions. The development of the story affirmed God’s confidence in Job. Job’s integrity held strong and God’s honor was upheld by Job’s righteous words: “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1: 21b).

After Satan’s first attempt at forcing Job to deny God, the author returns to the scene in heaven. Satan and the sons of God came again to present themselves before the Lord. Although no time is given, it is possible that one year had passed. As the accuser again prepares to list the failures of human beings, the Lord asked Satan: “Have you considered my servant Job?” (Job 2:3).
God again expressed his confidence in Job: “He still persists in his integrity, although you incited me against him, to destroy him for no reason” (Job 2:3).

Satan, however, was not convinced. He wanted nothing less than to impute God’s honor by demonstrating that Job served God only out of selfish motives. So the accuser proposed another challenge to Job’s integrity: “Skin for skin! All that Job has he will give to save his life. But stretch out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face” (Job 2:4-5, slightly paraphrased). Once again the Lord agreed to Satan’s evil request. Satan immediately proceeded to inflict Job with inflamed loathsome sores all over his body, which eventually become breeding places for worms (Job 7:5), gnawing pains (Job 30:17), blackened, scaly skin (Job 30:30), intense pain, and feelings of terror that lasted many excruciating days.

As the story progresses, the writer begins to describe the different aspects of Job’s response to the sufferings and the terror he faced. Initially, Job remained steadfast in accepting his suffering: “Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?” (Job 2:l0). As time passed, however, two issues became the focus of his dialogue with his friends: his misery and his view of God’s justice. All that Job said in chapters 3 to 31 of the book are the result of his pain and suffering and his bewildered spirit.

At first Job desired the escape of death, even wishing that he had never lived. The life he once lived was now reduced to months of futility and nights of suffering (Job 7:3). He failed to understand the reason God considered him so important that he would not let up on his desperate situation. Job began to believe in the hopelessness of his situation. He also began to believe that he could not contend with the Almighty, although he desired to defend himself by presenting his case before the Lord. Job declared: “If it is a matter of strength, he is the strong one! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?” (Job 9:19).

As his suffering increased and his requests for an audience with God remained unanswered, Job became more and more convinced that God was against him, that God had become his enemy: “My enemy sharpens his eyes against me” (Job 19:11). In the midst of his doubts and suffering, Job clung to his integrity. In his misery Job’s consolation was that he had “not denied the words of the Holy One” (Job 6:10). Confident of his innocence, Job declared: “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face” (Job 13:15).

Read: The Suffering of Job and Divine Justice - Part 2.


Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

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Tags: Hebrew Bible, Old Testament, Book of Job, Divine Justice, Job, Satan, Suffering

Biblical Studies Carnival # 51

G. Brooke Lester has posted the Fifty-first Biblical Studies Carnival at Anumma.

Brooke has called this month’s Biblical Studies Carnival the “Blogroll Amnesty Edition,” because, as he wrote, “it embodies in part God’s preferential option for the smaller blogs.”

Visit Biblical Studies Carnival # 51 by clicking here.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tag: Biblical Studies Carnival

Two Ancient Manuscripts

The Associated Press is reporting that two sections of an ancient biblical manuscript that were kept in different continents were reunited for the first time since they were separated centuries ago. These two sections contain the Song of the Sea (Exodus 15:1-21), a passage that celebrates Israel’s exodus from Egypt and the destruction of the Pharaoh’s armies in the Sea.

Read the news release here.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Ancient Manuscript, Manuscripts

Palestinians Oppose Calling the Cave of Machpelah a Heritage Site

In a previous post, I reported that the Israeli government was planning to add the Cave of Machpelah and Rachel’s Tomb to the list of Israel’s Heritage Sites.

This decision of the Israeli government has drawn strong reaction from the Palestinians. The following is an excerpt from a news release reporting Palestinian opposition to adding the Cave of the Patriarchs to the list of Israel’s Heritage Sites. The article also describes Palestinian reaction to the recent discovery of Solomon’s Wall:

Palestinian protesters have clashed with Israeli police in Hebron after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced Sunday that the two fiercely contested sites in the West Bank would be included in a $100 million plan to restore national heritage sites.

These are the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron and Rachel's Tomb on the outskirts of Bethlehem, 12 miles north of Hebron.

The Hebron site has been a source of conflict for decades. Jews call it the Cave of the Patriarchs, where the Bible says the patriarchs Abraham, Issac and Jacob were buried with three of their wives. The site is also sacred to Muslims, who also revere Abraham. They call it the al-Ibrahimi Mosque.

In 1994, a hard-line Brooklyn-born Jewish settler, Baruch Goldstein, shot to death 29 Palestinian Muslim worshipers in the shrine. He was beaten to death by those who survived the slaughter but remains an iconic figure for Israel's far-right.

Hard-line settlements have grown up around the city, where a few hundred militant settlers maintain an enclave heavily protected by Israeli troops amid a Muslim population of 160,000. The settlers converted part of the al-Ibrahimi Mosque into a synagogue.

The tomb of the Jewish matriarch Rachel stands in an Israeli enclave in Bethlehem, revered by Christians as the birthplace of Jesus. It's surrounded by a 24-foot-high concrete wall.

"We strongly condemn this decision which yet again confirms the Israeli government's determination to impose facts on the ground," declared Saeb Erakat, the chief Palestinian negotiator.

Netanyahu said the sites must be preserved by the state because they show Israelis owned the land in ancient times, a key element in Israelis' claim that they have a legitimate and historical right to the West Bank, which they call by its biblical name of Judea and Samaria.

Read the news release in its entirety by clicking here.

Palestinian reaction to Israel's decision to add the Cave of the Patriarchs to its list of Heritage Sites was to be expected. The same thing was also to be expected with the declaration that the wall discovered in Jerusalem was dated to Solomon's time.

This controversy demonstrates how the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will be difficult to solve. The question is: who owns the land? Israel says that Abraham was the father of their country. But, the Palestinians also say that their ancestry goes back to Abraham.

Not even the wisdom of Solomon can solve this problem.


Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

If you enjoyed reading this post, subscribe to my posts here.

Tags: Cave of Machpelah, Rachel’s Tomb