LivingDusty Blog

Understanding the Land of the Bible: Four Thousand Years in Eight Weeks!

2011-11-02T07:00:00.000-05:00

I would like to invite you to join me in an upcoming Bible study: Understanding the Land of the Bible. This eight week exploration will delve into the geographical, historical and cultural backgrounds of the Bible.

The Bible's historians, prophets and poets were all intimately familiar with the world in which they lived. They wrote about their world expecting their readers to also be familiar with it.

Living thousands of years and miles away from those biblical writers in an extremely different culture we must take the time to learn about their world so that we might more fully understand their writings. As we understand the Bible in its context, we can better understand our contemporary world and its current struggles.

The materials used in this course will be a Bible and the Introductory Study Package from Biblical Backgrounds. The cost of materials is $29 plus shipping and handling. Please order these as soon as possible to receive before the first class.

Space is limited to the first 25 people who respond to me either in person or via email.

The class will be taught at the offices of Christ-Life Ministries at 2980 99th Street, Urbandale, IA 50322, on Thursday from 7:30-9:00 PM, November 10th until January 12th (class will not meet November 25th or December 15). If you are not able to attend these first 8 weeks, I will teach this class again in the Spring.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Grace and peace,

Peter Blankenship

A Master of Arts in Biblical History and Geography

2011-06-08T21:46:00.000-05:00

It's been nearly 2 months since my last blog post. I'm sorry about that. Life has been very busy.

I graduated from JUC with my masters in biblical history and geography at the beginning of May! Yeah! Dr. Paul Wright, the president of the university, is standing with me, holding my diploma in the picture to the left. My time living and studying in Jerusalem and traveling throughout Israel, Jordan and Egypt was life-changing. While I was excited to come home I was sad to leave and will miss living in the Land of the Bible. Hopefully I will be back to visit before very long.

A couple days after my graduation I flew back to Rochester, NY and spent a couple weeks there before packing up everything I own and moving it all to Des Moines, Iowa where I will be living with my bride following our wedding on July 17. Life at the moment is focused on preparing for the wedding and finding a job in Des Moines. I would appreciate your prayers on both of those items.

I meant to post this a long time ago, but was sidetracked by all the events of life. A week and a half before I left Israel I went from Jerusalem to Hebron with Sam Salem, an Arab-Christian tour guide, and 3 other guys from school. Hebron shows up in the stories of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as well as that of David. It is at Hebron that the three Patriarchs were buried, and it was also there that David was made king. David ruled from Hebron for 7 years before taking Jerusalem from the Jebusites and turning it into his capital city.

The Tomb of the Patriarchs was probably built by Herod the Great, a few years/decades prior to the birth of Jesus Christ. Today the structure contains a synagogue and a mosque. At one time the whole structure was open to the members of both of these religions. However, following the Goldstein Massacre, they have been separated by a wall within the structure.

It is believed that this structure was built by Herod because it has so many characteristics of Herodian architecture. Herod was the architect of the Temple Mount which is seen today. It is believed that around the upper level of the Temple Mount were massive pilasters like those of the Tomb of the Patriarchs. Check out the pictures below.

Below the Herodian monumental building is a cave, believed to be the Machpelah Cave, which Abraham bought to bury Sarah in. Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob and Leah are also believed to have been buried in this cave as well. Today, the building stands over the cave and no one is allowed to enter it. Six giant sarcophagii-like memorials draped in cloth stand within the mosque/synagogue, and are memorials to Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob and Leah, who are all supposed to have been buried here.

Following our visit to the tomb we drove through the center of town to the ancient tel of Hebron, where the city in the time of Abraham and David would have been. This central area of the modern city is a ghost town. No one lives here and all the shop doors are welded shut. The only people in this area were Israeli soldiers on patrol. You can see this area in the video at the bottom of this post.

The top of the tel of the ancient site has been built over by a military base and an apartment building. So, there is not a lot to see. Beneath the apartment building we were able to view the remains of a 4-room Israelite house from the biblical period. The 4-room style house is a classic Israelite structure.

In this video you can see the inside of the Tomb of the Patriarchs, the center of Hebron and the 4-room house on top of the ancient tel of Hebron. The guy doing a lot of the talking is Sam Salem, a Christian-Arab guide. I highly recommend employing him to take you on visits to sites in the West Bank/Palestine. You can contact him to set up a tour at guide.holy@gmail.com. Thank you for reading! Enjoy the video!

Palm Sunday Processional in Jerusalem

2011-04-19T12:37:00.000-05:00

This week is Holy Week, not just for the Christians but also for the Jews. This week is not only the Christian observance of Palm Sunday, Passover, Good Friday and Easter. This is one of those years where the Jewish observation of Passover (in Hebrew it is Pesach) falls in the same week. As you would imagine that leads to a busy week here in Jerusalem.

You may not know this, but the Eastern Orthodox Church runs on its own calendar, so the Orthodox Holy Week does not always line up with that observed by Western Christians. This is one of those years when it does line up. Thus, the city is packed with Protestants, Catholics and Orthodox Christians as well as Jews. All of them have made pilgrimage from somewhere far away and there are thousands and thousands of them.

It is the most interesting week of the entire year to go people-watching around the Old City. It's also a great opportunity to see how many languages you can identify.

As you probably know, this last Sunday was Palm Sunday, the day that remembers Jesus' final entrance into Jerusalem prior to his death. The Bible tells us that Jesus came up the road from Jericho to Jerusalem, stopped at Bethphage on the back of the Mt. of Olives and then came over it and into the city of Jerusalem (Matthew 21, Mark 11, Luke 19).

Today this event is remembered with a giant procession involving between 7,000 and 10,000 people ever year. I'm not sure how accurate those numbers are. I was given those numbers by a local and they could be accurate. I've never seen 7-10,000 people in a group before though so I don't know what that many people would look like.

These people line up starting at Bethphage and march up and over the Mt. of Olives. Once they reach the bottom they climb to the Lion's Gate (also called Stephen's Gate) and enter through it into the Old City of Jerusalem. Once inside they make their way into the courtyard of St. Anne's Church and have a party. Few among them know it, but they are actually having their party on top of the unexcavated lower Pool of Bethesda. In John 5 Jesus heals a man who had been crippled for 38 years at this spot.

While walking in the procession I made a video. Unfortunately, all the tourists in Jerusalem seem to be causing the internet to act up. This has so far prevented me from uploading my video of Sunday's procession. So, I discovered CNN's brief video of Palm Sunday here in Jerusalem and have embedded it below. CNN doesn't have the internet bandwidth issues I have.

Below is another video about Jerusalem during this week. It is from gloria.tv, which is a Catholic website. Their slogan is "The more Catholic the better." I don't know about that, but in any case, it's an interesting video. A lot of the video is done inside the Holy Sepulcher. Remember that the Catholics are only one of the six churches present within the Holy Sepulcher. Check out this previous blog post to learn more about the Holy Sepulcher.

If you have any questions about Holy Week in Jerusalem, please comment on this post.

Grace and peace!

Follow Me Ministries

2011-03-29T07:47:00.000-05:00

There's a new website that you should know about, but before learning about it you need to know about The Ultimate Journey, also known as The Christ-Life Solution. God used this program to totally transform the life I had been living into something brand new. Through my experiences in the Christ-Life sessions I realized that God loved me in spite of myself and all the stuff that I had done and been involved in up to that point. I discovered that He had made me exactly as He wanted me to be from day 1of my conception. From the very beginning He had given me everything I would ever need to be exactly the man who He created me to be. I am His beloved child and He is with me every single day of this adventure of life.

Because of the amazing change that God brought me through via The Ultimate Journey. I strongly recommend you consider going through it as well. God didn't stop changing life for me after going through the initial process. This journey of growing in Him is an eternal one.

One other way God used The Ultimate Journey to change my life is through the daughter of the current directors of the program. She happens to currently be my fiance! In only 110 more days she'll be my wife!

After checking out The Ultimate Journey go to Follow Me Ministries. This is a site set up by the writer of the The Ultimate Journey materials, John Marquez. He has recently felt God leading him on to a new step in their journey together. You can follow along with John's journey via Follow Me Ministries.

Hiking west from Jerusalem

2011-03-27T04:16:00.003-05:00

On Friday of last week I went on an all-day hike with Dan and Paula Moore, the couple who is doing the cooking at JUC this year. We walked across Jerusalem, stopping by the market to get some pita for lunch. We walked beneath the big white train bridge and then went off the road onto a trail leading down to an old abandoned Arab town called Neftoah. This town is here because of a spring which still functions even though the town is now deserted. The waters coming from this spring appear in Joshua 15:9 and 18:15 as part of the border between the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.

Today, the spring runs out of a rock face into a pool. Unfortunately for us, we didn't get any pictures of the pool in the morning because it was full of 60-something year old men skinny (or perhaps not so skinny) dipping! We scurried on down the trail.

As you can see from the pictures it was a beautiful, though overcast, day. There were flowers and birds everywhere. We saw kingfishers and a golden eagle. Also, we saw two mountain gazelles. One had only one horn. They were too far away for me to get a picture.

After hiking for about four hours we turned around and walked back up the Sorek Wadi to Jerusalem. We were rained on pretty hard on the way back, but it was fun. And, the rain might have been why their were no naked men at the pool of Neftoah upon our return. Thus, I have a picture of the pool included in this post.

Enjoy the pictures. For those of you who have only been here in the summer, fall or winter, this is what the entire hill country from Dan to Beersheba looks like in the spring! It is an amazing transformation.

Safe in Jerusalem

2011-03-24T00:13:00.000-05:00

If you watched the international news yesterday you could not help but hear about a bus stop bombing in Jerusalem. First, I and all the other students here at JUC are safe. Second, realize that all the news reports about Israel and Palestine are acts of terrorism and reprisal. The news does not tell how, on a daily basis, Arabs, Jews and Christians live in peace here. Life in Jerusalem does require extra awareness of your environment. But, it does not cause us to live in fear.

My grandpa on my Dad's side regularly tells me, "The safest place you can be is in the center of God's will." That is where I believe I am.

So, what can you do about the ongoing violence in this part of the world? Read Psalm 122.

A song of ascents. Of David.

I rejoiced with those who said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the LORD.”
Our feet are standing
in your gates, O Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is built like a city
that is closely compacted together.
That is where the tribes go up,
the tribes of the LORD,
to praise the name of the LORD
according to the statute given to Israel.
There the thrones for judgment stand,
the thrones of the house of David.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May those who love you be secure.
May there be peace within your walls
and security within your citadels.”
For the sake of my brothers and friends,
I will say, “Peace be within you.”
For the sake of the house of the LORD our God,
I will seek your prosperity.

Please also pray for the family of the woman who was killed.

Grace and peace to you.

Zedekiah's Cave

2011-03-20T08:48:00.001-05:00

On shabbat this last weekend I went on an adventurous expedition to Zedekiah's Cave with three awesome people who work for JUC, Cameron, Dan and Paula. This cave is an ancient stone quarry. It is unknown what period it was first used in though legends say that King Solomon had the stones for the 1st Temple quarried from this place. Rather than an open quarry, those who carved out this cave dug under the ground, creating a large complex of tunnels, the largest of which are four stories high.

The cave entrance is just east of the Damascus Gate in the northern wall of the Old City of Jerusalem. From that entrance the cave extends beneath the Muslim Quarter of the Old City for around 755 feet. The stone between the roof of the cave and the streets of the Muslim Quarter above measures around 30 feet thick.

Where does the name come from?

"Then the city wall was broken through, and the whole army fled. They left the city at night through the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden, though the Babylonians were surrounding the city. They fled toward the Arabah, but the Babylonian army pursued King Zedekiah and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his soldiers were separated from him and scattered, and he was captured." —Jeremiah 52:7-9a

The name comes from a Jewish legend of the 11th century CE. A Jewish historian named Rashi wrote "And a cave extends from the house of Zedekiah to the plains of Jericho, and he fled through the cave, and God summoned a hart, which went on the roof of the cave outside of the city. The Babylonians pursued the hart and when it reached the cave opening in the plains of Jericho, Zedekiah came out, and they saw him and captured him."

Thus, even though this cave does not lead to anywhere, Jews have maintained this tradition for centuries and the name has stuck until today.

Less ancient history of the cave

At some point the entrance to the cave was blocked by construction and its location became unknown. No one today is sure when this happened, but many suppose that it was when Suleiman the Magnificent rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem's Old City in the 1540s. It would have been blocked at that point to keep invaders from undermining the city. It was rediscovered in 1854 by Dr. James Turner Barclay. Check him out on the Early Historical Geographers tab on the Introduction page. He and his son were walking around the Old City of Jerusalem with their dog when it suddenly vanished. They heard its barks and eventually discovered that it had fallen into a hole at the foot of the Old City's northern wall. This hole was the entrance to Zedekiah's Cave.

Not many years after Barclay's dog rediscovered Zedekiah's Cave the Ottomans who ruled this region at that time, forbade anyone to enter the cave to prevent enemies of the government from hiding out there.

Once the Ottomans were driven out and the British Mandate took control the cave was reopened. (See the Timeline on the Introduction page for more information on this transition.) The British constructed a concrete wall at the front of the cave and columns inside the cave to prepare it for use as a shelter in case the Germans and Italians should try to bomb Jerusalem during World War II. After the State of Israel was created in 1948 the cave was under Jordanian control. The Jordanians closed the cave to the public. It was not until the Six Day War (1967) that Israel gained control of the cave and reopened it for tourism. It has remained open until this day.

The Ark of the Covenant

Towards the end of the 20th century a guy named Ron Wyatt claimed to have discovered the Ark of the Covenant within Zedekiah's Cave. However, he was unable to remove the Ark from the cave because only he was able to come to the place where it was. According to Wyatt, the chamber of the cave which contains the Ark is directly below Gordon's Calvary, which is just northeast of Damascus Gate and the entrance to Zedekiah's Cave. This worked really nicely for Wyatt because he said that on the Ark he saw blood and this blood had dripped down through a crack in the ceiling above. This crack began at a spot where Wyatt claims he found the hole which Jesus' cross was set in. So, Jesus was crucified directly above the Ark of the Covenant and when he died the earth split and his blood dripped down through the earth, onto the place where God's presence had once resided on the Ark of the Covenant. It is a nice picture, but there is absolutely no evidence to back up any of Wyatt's claims besides his own account of what he saw. While it is possible that Jeremiah or some other person hid Ark in this cave to keep it from the hands of the Babylonians, I do not believe the Ark will ever be found. It was made of wood, plated in gold. By now the wood will have rotted and if it were found, what would happen to Judaism and Christianity? If the Ark were to be discovered it would be the greatest relic in the world. Christians and Jews would do ridiculous things in order to obtain it for themselves.

My visit to Zedekiah's Cave

It is extremely hot and moist inside of this cave. The main passage that the tourist path goes down is interesting, but to really have some fun in this cave you have to jump the chain draped across the entrance to other parts of the cave and go exploring.

I found that the "Do Not Enter" signs are really helpful in finding great places to go exploring. Dan, Paula, Cameron and I proceeded to jump the chain and find one of these signs which was set over a hole through which we dropped about 5 feet down into a small chamber. There were cockroaches all over the place. From that small chamber went three tunnels. The first one we tried went for a little way but ended in a pile of rubble. The third tunnel ended really quickly. The center tunnel was the one we wanted. It led us in a giant loop with a lot of side tunnels for exploring.

At one point we came across a house inside the cave! I have no idea why someone would have ever built a house down here. At another place in the tunnels we climbed a giant pile of dirt, possibly ancient dried up sewage, and found a blocked up entrance to the cave. It appeared to be the underside of the basement floor of one of the houses in the Muslim Quarter.

We did a lot of crawling and exploring on all fours. There were no lights except our flashlights. It was awesome. Eventually we saw the lights of the main passage of the cave and snuck past another "Do Not Enter" sign and back into the lighted passage without anyone noticing.

If you ever spend a week in Jerusalem and are up for scrambling through some caves and having some fun exploring the way the first Western explorers of Jerusalem did, then I highly recommend visiting Zedekiah's Cave. Just be careful, bring a good flashlight with fully charged batteries, clothes that can get really dirty, and be in good physical shape.

Israel Museum: 2nd Temple Model

2011-03-18T02:43:00.000-05:00

Hello again! It has been a while since my last post. Since then I have been in the midst of finishing up requirements for my masters degree here at JUC. I have taken and passed two comprehensive exams on the Bible and now have only my thesis, my seminar project and two more comprehensive exams plus one final exam standing between me and a masters degree. I'm almost there.

Have you ever wondered what Jerusalem looked like when Jesus was here? This last weekend I went to the Israel Museum with Dr. Gabriel Barkay, my archaeology professor, and received an overview of the model of Jerusalem from the 2nd Temple period. This is the period of time that stretches from Nehemiah, the return of the Exiles, and the rebuilding of the Temple, up until the destruction of the Temple by the Romans following the 1st Jewish Revolt. Jesus died, rose again and ascended to heaven about 40 years before the end of this period.

The image on the left shows you the view of 2nd Temple Jerusalem looking down from the top of the Hill of Evil Council, which wraps around the southern and western edge of Jerusalem. Extending to the left (west) is the Hinnom Valley. To the northeast goes the Kidron Valley and the base of the Mt. of Olives. Also in the left part of this picture is the Upper City, where the wealthy, including Herod the Great, lived. The poorer class are shown in this model to have lived on the slopes of the Western Hill, dropping into the Central Valley. Down the center of the picture runs this Central Valley, also known as the Tyropean or Cheese-maker's Valley. To its right, between two walls is the City of David. The buildings of the City of David in this model are probably not at all accurate to what would have been between in this area. Above the City of David you can see the southern wall of the Temple Platform. The platform walls, as they are constructed here, are about a third higher than the walls of the Temple Mount are today!

The picture to the right is a close up of the eastern wall of the Temple Mount. This includes the Shushan Gate, which is also called the Golden Gate or the Gate of Mercy. On the left (south) stands the Royal Stoa, which was built by Herod and until the invention of the skyscraper was the largest structure ever built in this region of the world. In the center stands the Temple built by Herod. This and most of the rest of the model was created based on written descriptions in the writings of Josephus. (See the Resources page for a recommended translation of Josephus' works.)

You can click on the pictures to get a better view of the model.

Tonight at church I heard that today the Egyptian army started rebuilding a Christian church that was recently destroyed somewhere in Egypt! A Nazarene pastor in Egypt had let the speaker at my church here know about it earlier today. This is amazing that the Egyptian military would do such a thing as this in a country where the persecution of Christians has been commonplace. There are many things, both good and evil taking place in the world right now. I am excited that I get to be alive during this time in history.

Isaiah 19 and the current situation in Egypt

2011-02-27T01:02:00.000-06:00

Have you ever been to Israel/Palestine? If you have, what were your top 5 favorite sites that you visited? If you have not, what are the top 5 sites you would put on your 'need to visit' list?

Have you been keeping up with the news of this region? Once again I am recommending CNN's Unrest in the Middle East and Africa —country by country article. CNN is keeping this article up to date with new developments making it an excellent resource for a quick overview of recent events in this part of the world.

The historical context of Isaiah 19

You may have recently heard someone mention Isaiah 19 in context with current events in Egypt. If you have not read Isaiah 19 recently, you can read it here.

What is it that Isaiah 19 is talking about? The book of Isaiah can be a complicated and confusing book to read whether or not you know the historical context in which it was written. Knowing that historical context certainly does help.

Isaiah was God's prophet to King Hezekiah and the people Judah in the 7th century BCE. Isaiah 19 takes place at a time when a man named Shabaka had just ascended to the throne in Ethiopian Upper Egypt (what is today considered Nubia or northern Sudan). Shabaka was preparing for conquests to the north to assert his rule over Lower Egypt (the Nile Delta) as well. In preparation for that conquest Shabaka tried to ally himself with Assyria and Judah (Isaiah 18:2)

The 25th Dynasty was ruling Egypt during the time of Isaiah. This Dynasty was not the powerful kingdom with a dominant pharaoh like the dynasties of the Old Kingdom of Egypt had been. The power of the ruling family of Egypt had waned until there was an independent lord or petty king in every city of the Delta (History of Egypt, 536)! Struggles among those independent rulers eventually led to the fall of Egypt and its subjugation to the foreign Ethiopian king, Shabaka (The Third Intermediate Period, 125). This all lines up very well with the events described in 19:2-4.

Verses 19:5-10 describe an economic nightmare for the Egyptians. These verses draw upon 19:1, illustrating God's power over the weather and nature. These natural economic disasters combined with the external and internal political pressures to bring Egypt to its knees. This is somewhat reminiscent of the disastrous plagues that befell Egypt prior to the Exodus. It is no wonder the leaders of Egypt were confused and helpless (19:11-15).

In the remainder of Isaiah 19 the phrase "in that day", or sometimes translated "In such a day", appears 5 times. This phrase communicates the potential results that will follow if the people of Judah, whom Isaiah is speaking to, comply with God's plan.

5 potential results

1) The Egyptians will be terrified at what God is doing (vv 16-17). 2) The Hebrew language will be spoken and worship of God will be performed in 5 Egyptian cities (v 18). 3) God will be worshipped throughout Egypt and God will rescue the Egyptians (vv19-22). 4) A highway will be opened between Egypt and Assyria and peace, trade and worship of God will take place. 5) Israel will be a third member of this group. Egypt, Assyria and Israel will all be blessed by God (vv 24-25)

The LORD Almighty will bless them, saying, "Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance." (19:25)

This is God's will and plan for this region. This helps us understand Isaiah's presentation of Assyria as God's tool (chapter 10) and Cyrus, the king of Persia, as God's servant (chapters 45-46).

Summary

If God had people in this region doing exactly what He wanted, what would happen? This is the question asked and answered in Isaiah chapters 18-19. Sargon, king of Assyria, is consolidating a fractured empire. Judah has a new king. Egypt is nearing the end of a period of chaos. Shabaka is seeking aid, or at least neutrality, on Egypt's northern border while he subjugates the rebellious cities of Lower Egypt. His messengers to Jerusalem are referred on to Assyria, which is the real power in the region (18:1-2). God waits and watches and is ready to act when the time comes (18:4-6).

To this day, this plan of God's has not come to completion. Results 1 and 2 in the list probably took place with the migration of Jews into Egypt during the Persian and Hellenistic periods. There are clear ancient textual references to Jewish temples existing in cities in Egypt. It is number 3 that we still wait upon today. God is not recognized and worshipped throughout Egypt. The same is true of Israel and the region that used to be Assyria (Syria-Iraq). Can you imagine if these modern nations and peoples worshipped God? That would be incredible and seems impossible at this time. But, with God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26).

Notice the titles given to each of the three nations in Isaiah 19:25.

Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance

These are all titles normally given to Israel! These blessings assure Egypt and Assyria of God's blessing and claims them as a means of blessing others, particularly Israel. Isaiah 19 demonstrates that God's plan and blessings do not just incorporate Israel but the entire known world!

Is peace in the Middle East possible?

YES! Isaiah 19 outlines God's plan to bring peace to these lands. As Christians living in the United States what can you do? Be an example of Christ and His love and justice for all people where you are in your community today. Pray for your Christian brothers and sisters living in the Middle East to have the strength and confidence to live as Christ's disciples. And, pray for all of those who do not know God and His love, grace and peace.

May you constantly experience the love, grace and peace of your Heavenly Father who "works for the good of those who love Him and have been called according to His purpose" (Rom 8:28).

The Grace Card

2011-02-24T11:14:00.000-06:00

A new movie is coming out in some theaters tonight. It looks worth watching. It is produced by a Nazarene church from the Memphis, Tennessee area. Go to the site to find out if your local theater is showing it.

If you watch it, please let me know what you thought of it. Just don't give away the plot! I won't be able to watch it until I get back to the States.

Grace and peace,
Peter

Where does my help come from?

2011-02-22T12:10:00.000-06:00

In my last video blog post did you notice that the City of David is on a hill closely surrounded by much higher hills? If you don't remember or haven't watched that post please check it out then come back and finish reading.

What's up? Everything!

Anywhere you stand within the City of David you are always looking up at a tight horizon-line. The City of David was built on a hill in the middle of a topographical bowl. This was not unusual for ancient capitals. Tall hills/mountains surrounding your capital gives a feeling of being hidden or protected from whatever lies beyond.

Jerusalem was unique because unlike the other capitals of ancient kingdoms, such as Ammon, Moab and Edom, the hills surrounding Jerusalem are close enough for an attacking army to stand on one of these hills and shoot arrows into the city. Though surrounded by deep valleys on three sides, Jerusalem was still in a vulnerable place. Its enemies could stand on the hills around it, look into the city and see what was going on. Not the defensive situation anyone ever wants to be in.

So, when the Psalmist said, "I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come (121:1)?," he is literally looking UP at these mountains that surround him and threaten the safety of his city. The Psalmist is completely aware of the precarious situation of Jerusalem. He knows that little or no aid will be coming from these mountains that are closely pressed around his city.

Even though he is aware of the precarious situation, the Psalmist is aware of God's protection and provision. "My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth" (121:2).

This trust in God's protection shows up 4 chapters later: "Jerusalem—the mountains surround her. And the LORD surrounds His people, both now and forever" (125:2). God surrounds his people just as the mountains surround Jerusalem. I think that if you can draw a picture illustrating God's protection and provision utilizing the very thing that endangers you, then you must be completely trusting God!

Through whose eyes do I see the world around me? Those of my self or those of God's Spirit living in me (Romans 7-8).

Remember that if you are in Christ, your protection and provision do not come from mountains or men. Your provider, protector and sustainer is the Maker of heaven and earth!

Egypt and the rest of the Arab World

2011-02-21T01:57:00.000-06:00

Unless you have been boycotting TV and the internet for the last 3 weeks you will have heard that there are lots of very interesting things going on in the Middle East and Africa. See this article on CNN for a good summary.

Also, I've recommended this before, but it is worth recommending again. Check out the blog of Lynne Hybels. Throughout February she has been making excellent posts on the events going on in Egypt, focusing on her Christian friends living in Egypt and the Muslims they have been interacting with throughout these last few weeks of revolution.

A friend and teacher has passed away

2011-02-19T23:00:00.000-06:00

Last night, February 19, Anson Rainey passed away due to pancreal cancer. You might know him as one of the two authors of The Sacred Bridge which I highly recommend reading. Many of his accomplishments and publications can be seen on the Tel Aviv University website.

I am blessed that I had the honor of being one of his students and of completing some of my graduate thesis work with him. Thank you to those of you who have kept him in your prayers.

Post-Super Bowl report on human trafficking

2011-02-19T13:06:00.000-06:00

On February 2 I made a post concerning sex trafficking at the Super Bowl. This Thursday the attorney general of Texas released a statement on the crackdown on traffickers that occurred surrounding the Super Bowl. Thanks to the raised awareness of human trafficking in the North Texas region, 133 sex trafficking related arrests were made.

Thank you to those of you who acted by signing the petition and raising awareness of this crime.

Video Blog: Southern Jerusalem

2011-02-19T05:04:00.000-06:00

This morning I was up bright and early (6am on a Saturday!) to Skype with my fiance. Once we finished talking I set out to see what there was to see around the southern wall of the Old City of Jerusalem today.

The big stone building that is the first thing you see in the video is the Dormition Abbey. I took this first part of the video from the rooftop of the building that houses the room of the Last Supper and the tomb of King David. It is also the center of a Jewish school and silence was required because it was shabbat and some rabbis were praying on the roof where I was. I hope you enjoy the video!

Shabbat shalom ("peaceful Sabbath")!

Learn Biblical Hebrew for free!

2011-02-16T01:09:00.000-06:00

A couple days ago one of the other graduate students here at JUC stumbled upon an amazing resource. animatedhebrew.com is a totally free resource for learning Biblical Hebrew. It contains excellent lectures that take you step-by-step from the basics to the more advanced aspects of Biblical Hebrew. Vocabulary flashcards are also available for download from the site. It is all maintained by Charles Grebe of Saskatchewan, Canada.

The website accepts donations but does not require them. The information provided in the lectures on this site is equivalent to two semesters of university-level Biblical Hebrew, and it's free! Check it out! animatedhebrew.com

The first video of the series is shown below.

Egyptian Tombs

2011-02-15T02:28:00.000-06:00

This is part 5 of 7 in a series of posts on my trip to Egypt at the end of 2010. Earlier posts: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4

Day 5, Wednesday, December 8

Stop #1: The Valley of the Kings

This is a large valley where the pharaohs of the Egyptian New Kingdom had themselves and their families buried. Here I visited the tombs of Rameses III, Tausert/Setnakht, Thutmose III, and Tutankhamun.

Tausert was one of the few queens who ever ruled Egypt. She was the last ruler of the 19th Dynasty. She probably only ruled for a couple of years but was honored with a burial in the Valley of the Kings by her husband, Seti II. Her tomb was later taken over by Rameses III who used it as a tomb for his father, Setnakht.

Rameses III was the second king of the 20th Dynasty and was the last great king of the New Kingdom. He repelled an attempted invasion by the Sea Peoples (probably Philistines) and made successful conquests into Canaan.

Thutmose III was possibly the greatest military leader in all of human history. He conducted at least 17 campaigns during his reign and expanded the Egyptian empire to its greatest extent ever.

Tutankhamun is well known because his tomb is the only tomb of a pharaoh that has ever been found untouched by grave robbers. Based upon the massive amount of riches found within the tomb of this boy-king who only ruled a handful of years, we can only imagine what riches pharaoh's like Rameses II and Thutmose III must have had in their tombs.

I was not allowed to take any photographs in the Valley of the Kings. The Egyptian government originally allowed people to take pictures inside the tombs but only without the camera flash. Lots of people still used the flash so the government revised the rule to only allow pictures outside the tombs in the Valley. However, people would sneak their cameras into the tombs and take pictures. Now, the law is that no pictures are allowed in the Valley and if you are caught with a camera it will be confiscated. So, sadly I have no pictures. You will have to check out Wikipedia a documentary or the video below to see images of the tombs. The video is not well done, it looks like the guy was probably hiding a camera in his pocket as much as the frame bounces around. In this video's favor, it does give you an opportunity to see what the climb down into three of these tombs (Thutmose III, Rameses III, and Merneptah) is like. For that reason, I recommend watching it.

Stop #2: The Mortuary Temple Complex of Hatshepsut

Hatshepsut was the mother of Thutmose III and was the longest reigning female in Egyptian history.

Stop #3: Deir el-Medina and some reflectons

This was the village of the workmen who built the tombs in the Valley of the Kings. It was set up by the pharaohs as a place where the workmen could easily reach their worksite, be provided for, and be watched closely. The inhabitants of this village could possibly have been slaves like the Hebrews.

When we imagine the Hebrews in slavery in Egypt we imagine slavery as it was in the United States prior to the 20th century. In the ancient world, slaves, unless they were convicted criminals, do not appear to have been treated harshly. Their owners needed dedicated, strong workers and so they provided for their slaves needs. Numbers 11:4-6 says, "The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, 'If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!'" These complaints do not come from a people who were struggling to survive under oppressive slavery. They were being provided for with good food. Why would anyone want to return to Egypt if it was a place where they struggled to survive? Maybe life in Egypt was not so bad for the Hebrews. Perhaps the temptation to return was attractive because working for the pharaoh may not have been great but it was at least decent and reliable. Would that not make leaving Egypt, a place where they are being somewhat provided for by the pharaoh, and heading to a land they did not know except by stories passed down from their forefathers, much more difficult than might be imagined if The Ten Commandments, Charlton Heston, version was correct?

Leaving behind a life that might not have been great, but where needs were being met and setting out into the unknown trusting that the God of their forefathers would lead them someplace better was a big step. Not only that, but when they finally arrived in the Promised Land, what was it? A land flowing with milk and honey? Certainly not by American standards. The Promised Land was a land of rocks, rocks and more rocks. Sure there is the Hill Country where a few crops can be grown, but it isn't very big and if God really wanted to bless the Israelites with a good, bountiful land, then why did He not lead them to Iowa, Illinois or Missouri?

The land He gave the Israelites was a land between empires. It was constantly run over by massive armies from the north going to Egypt or vice versa. This was one of the worst places in the ancient world anyone could try to live and possess. Why did God bring them out of Egypt where things might not have been great, but they were alright? And, why would He bring them to a place as unstable as Canaan and call it the Promised Land? Perhaps because what God sees as good is not the same as what our self-centered minds see as good. God's desire is that we trust Him with 100% of everything we possess. If you are being provided for by a pharaoh, there is no need to trust God to provide for you. Whatever slavery was like in Egypt, whether better or worse than our mental picture of it, the Hebrews were still slaves. Upon exiting Egypt they had to wander around in the desert for forty years, not because they were geographically lost, but because they were spiritually lost. They had to make a decision whether to completely trust God and move forward into the unknown, or to go back to what they had known.

God's Promised Land was a place where there was no way His people could survive unless they trusted Him. He was their one and only option. From Joshua to Malachi the Bible tells the story of the Hebrews/Israelites repeating a cycle of trusting God and being successful in this Promised Land and then turning from him, and being run over by one of the great empires on this land's borders.

We do not comprehend the extent of God's desires and plans for our lives. Only by trusting Him with absolutely every part of life and turning that life over to Him (a very scary thing to do since that act enters us into the greatest unknown we have ever faced) will we ever begin to see the Promised Land, a land flowing with God's love and provision. A safe place where whatever happens, the creator of the universe has your best interest at heart.

Stops #4, 5, and 6

We finished the day with visits to the Medinet-Habu Temple where the sacrifice of human beings is mentioned in Egypt for the first time since Prehistory. We also went to the Ramesseum, which was the mortuary temple of Rameses II. Rameses II was possibly the pharaoh of the Exodus. And lastly, we visited the Colossi of Memnon. These two gigantic statues were named after Agamemnon, from the Illiad and Odyssey. The Greeks who came here thought that the wind coming through the stones sounded like the weeping of Agamemnon over his lost wife. These two statues are actually all that remains of a massive temple built by Amenophis III, also known as Amenhotep III. The rest of the temple was destroyed by the annual flooding of the Nile.

If you click on the pictures you will find that they contain captions which often provide interesting information on the contents of the picture.

Later that night…

We returned to Luxor for the evening and I went shopping in the marketplace with a few other JUC students. The experience in the marketplace was very disappointing. The shopkeepers were really aggressive and whined a lot. It is not fun to bargain with people of that sort. We managed to get a couple good deals, but the process of getting those is not one I care to go through again.

At 6:45pm we got on the bus and went to the Luxor train station. The train actually arrived early! Nothing in Egypt ever seems to be on time, much less early. The train left on time and soon after dinner was served. We had rice with some chicken. We also had a roll, some yogurt (which was actually sour! Yogurt in Israel usually isn't sour.) and a honey-filled dessert. In addition to that there was an orange and a packet of Borio's thanks to a fellow JUC grad student. Borio's are the exact same thing as Oreo's. However, one is not affiliated in any way with the other. There are lots of companies over here that are total knockoffs of American companies.

After dinner we discovered that we are supposed to be arriving in Cairo at 4am! Ugh. That means we have a 3:30am wake up visit from the conductor. That also means that I am going to sleep right now.

Good night!

A Field Day at Acco and Dor

2011-02-14T08:47:00.000-06:00

The day began on the bus at 7am, Sunday morning. It was very exciting to discover that Paul and Diane Wright were coming with us. Dr. Wright spent part of the 3 hour ride to Acco teaching about the regions and geological formations we were driving through. That stuff is always interesting to me even when I'm hearing it for the 5th or 6th time.

Acco

Technically, Acco is not in the Coastal Plain. It is in the Acco Plain. The Coastal Plain ends at the Mt. Carmel Range. Just to the north of Mt. Carmel lie Haifa and Acco on either side of one of the only natural ports on the east end of the Mediterranean Sea. Acco shows up throughout ancient history, but the ancient remains you can see there today are primarily those left behind by the Crusaders. It was the chief port and eventually the final stronghold of the Crusaders in this region.

About 500 years after the Crusaders were driven from Acco by the Mamelukes, Napoleon Bonaparte came here and attempted to take the city. His attempt was unsuccessful. The Ottoman Turks who ruled the region were able, with British help, to repel Napoleon and withstand his siege. Below are some pictures from around the Old City of Acco. As you can see from some of the pictures, the city is built up against the Mediterranean Sea.

If you click on the pictures you will find that they contain captions which often provide interesting information on the contents of the picture.

Dor The settlement at Dor began sometime in the Bronze Ages. It shows up in the Biblical text as an ally of Jabin, king of Hazor (Joshua 11:1-2; 12:23). It also appears in Judges 1:27 and 1 Kings 4:11. Though it was probably within the region allotted to the tribe of Asher, it does not appear that this city was controlled by the Israelites until the time of King Solomon in the 10th century BCE.

This city, like Acco, sits on the edge of the Mediterranean Sea. This meant that this port city was usually controlled by those peoples who were accustomed to moving about on the sea such as the Phoenicians and the Greeks. Today, Hebrew University is carrying out excavations on the tel. You can view pictures of my visit to Dor below.

Temple Day in southern Egypt

2011-02-10T04:59:00.000-06:00

This is part 4 of 7 in a series of posts on my trip to Egypt at the end of 2010.
Earlier posts:
Day 3: The south of Egypt | Day 2: Egypt and its earliest pyramids | Day 1: Sinai: Wandering in a land between

Day 4, Tuesday, December 7

Today I'll be visiting four temples on the bus ride from Aswan to Luxor. The first is Kom Ombo.

Kom Ombo — The Place of Gold

This temple is actually two symmetrical temples, each built for a different god. The gods of these two temples were Sobek, the crocodile god, and Horus, the falcon god. The temples were constructed by the Ptolemaic dynasty around 280BCE.

This was a major center of medicinal healing during the time when these temples were used. This is known from the heiroglyphs throughout the temples which display all sorts of medical instruments given as offerings to these temples. One of the students from JUC who had done a bit of research on Egyptian medicine told me that these ancient doctors had all sorts of interesting remedies, including using crocodile dung as a contraceptive!

Between the holy of holies of these side-by-side temples was a hidden chamber. Supposedly, a temple priest would hide in the chamber whenever a pharaoh came to ask for the blessing of the god. The priest would respond to the pharaoh's request by pretending to be the voice of the god. The pharaoh, not knowing it was just a priest hiding behind the wall, thought the god was speaking to him. So, when the pharaoh was told to bring this much gold and that much food to the temple so that he might be blessed on his venture, he did it. If that's true, it's no wonder the priests were wealthy and controlled so much property.

Note: If you click on the pictures you will find that they contain captions which often provide interesting information on the contents of the picture.

Edfu

Edfu was once the capital of Upper Egypt. It was probably from here that the pharaoh, Narmer, set off to conquer Lower Egypt and unify the two lands for the first time in all history. Like the Philae and Kom Ombo temples, this temple was also not built until the Ptolemaic period. It is dedicated to Horus.

Karnak

This vast temple complex is the largest religious complex in the world. It was begun in the 18th Dynasty and every pharaoh of that dynasty added something to this complex. Mernepthah inscribed the story of his conquering of the Sea Peoples (Philistines) on one wall. Thutmose III and Shishak both inscribed lists of the cities they conquered on conquests through the Land Between and further north. These lists have been very useful as a sort of map giving the order in which the cities lay, moving from south to north through the Land Between.

LivingDusty Resource Review: Understanding the context of the Bible

2011-02-08T13:11:00.000-06:00

The Understanding the Bible series, by Paul Wright, is one of the best resources out there providing an introduction to the land of the Bible from a perspective that focuses on its often neglected historical, geographical and cultural contexts. This series provides a foundational understanding of the Land Between which enables the reader to appreciate the many references the Biblical authors made to their geographical, historical and cultural surroundings. Understanding these surroundings has increased my appreciation of the Bible more than I can express. I highly recommend these books as a beginning of a journey to understand and appreciate more of the Bible.

The Ancient Context, Ancient Faith series is supposed to be completed with a fourth book by Gary Burge sometime this year. The last installment to this series will be entitled Jesus' Final Week. I am looking forward to reading it. These three books make up the rest of the series and are an excellent read for anyone wanting to better appreciate the historical, geographical and cultural references made within the Biblical text. These books are well written and contain lots of great pictures. Click on any of the books to be taken to Amazon.com where you can get more information and purchase them if you like what you see.

Gary Burge studied in Beirut, Lebanon in the 1970s under Dr. Kenneth Bailey, who is the author of another excellent book I recommend and can be found under the Historical Geography tab on the Resources page. Today Dr. Burge is a professor of New Testament at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois.

The south of Egypt

2011-02-08T12:06:00.000-06:00

This is a continuing part of my series of posts from my trip to Egypt at the end of last semester. You can view the first post I made on the trip, Sinai: Wandering in a land between, or the second post, Egypt and its earliest pyramids.

Day 3, Monday December 6

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

The train ride

I am riding the train from Cairo to Aswan. I and my class from JUC have been making our way south since about 21:30 last night. That's 9:30pm. Everyone on this side of the world uses military time.

It is now Monday morning, around 9 o'clock. Sleeping on the train was not too bad. I was on the top bunk and there were a few times last night when I woke up feeling as though I was flying out of bed because the engineer had just hit the brakes. Fortunately, I never did. There was a seatbelt holding me into my bed.

I just found out that we are not arriving at the Aswan train station until 11:15am. We are 4 hours behind schedule. Oh well, that's the way things are in Egypt.

Breakfast this morning was a roll, a croissant, a slice of fruitcake, a pretty lousy cinnamon roll, strawberry jelly, butter, a pat of butter, and a cheese triangle. Lots and lots of carbs! Not that I'll need to after eating all of those carbs, but when you use the toilet on the train whatever you deposit just drops down a pipe and onto the tracks. Its no wonder the vegetation between the tracks is so healthy.

As we continue riding south the Nile is on the right. On the left is total desert. Most of the time it seems that the train tracks run right along the line between the fertile land of the Nile and the desert beyond. It is an extremely abrupt transition.

We are going through villages where the people live much the same as they did 100 years ago except for the occasional satellite dish on someone's roof. They still plow their fields with oxen and get around on carts hitched to donkeys.

Aswan

Here is Aswan! We made it! You can see how far we have come on the map. Cairo is at the base of the Nile Delta in the north. Aswan is at the first cataract of the Nile far to the south, almost to Sudan.

The Unfinished Obelisk

Our first stop is the Unfinished Obelisk in one of the granite quarries in this area. If this obelisk had ever been erected it would have been about 137 feet tall. That is significantly higher than any obelisk that was ever successfully erected.

Granite was used by the ancient pharaohs for many of their building projects. The problem they were confronted with was that the granite was all the way down here in the south and the pharaohs lived and died and built temples and pyramids far to the north. How did they move granite blocks of stone all the way to the building sites? They waited for the Nile to flood and then floated the stones north on barges. They also used the flooding of the Nile to break the last connections between large granite blocks which had been mostly chiseled out of the cliff and the cliff itself. They did this by cutting holes through the rocks at the seam where they wanted them to break. Then logs were squeezed into those holes. When the Nile flooded these logs would be under water and the moisture would cause them to expand and crack the remaining connection between the rock and the cliff. These were some smart engineers. (Remember to click the pictures to make them larger.)

Note: If you click on the pictures you will find that they usually contain captions which provide interesting information about what is shown.

The Aswan High Dam

Before the period of British control in Egypt (1882-1922) there was no cotton grown throughout all of Egypt. The British brought cotton to Egypt and built the old Aswan Dam to provide consistent water for the cotton. This was done through controlling the annual flooding of the Nile.

The new "High Dam" was constructed by President Nasser between 1960-1964. Nasser was a socialist and wanted to provide wealth to the poor. The only way to do this was to control the water and provide it year-round rather than have it come only once a year at the annual inundation of the Nile. Nasser had a problem though.

When he took control of Egypt from the British he lost all European support and funding and was left to build the dam on his own. This is why he nationalized the Suez Canal. By exacting fees from ships using the canal Nasser was able to raise enough money to fund the dam's construction.

With the construction of the High Dam, which was much larger than the old British dam, Egypt now controlled the water rather than vice versa as it had been since Creation. The Dam also provides 40% of all of Egypt's electricity demands. The High Dam formed a lake behind (south) of it and this is called Lake Nasser. This is the largest man-made lake in the world.

The Philae Temple

Out in the middle of Lake Nasser the Philae Temple sits on an island. It had to be taken apart stone by stone and reconstructed in a different location because the island it was originally built on was covered by the waters of the newly created Lake Nasser.

The construction of the Philae Temple was begun by Ptolemy III in 280BCE. It was a temple to Isis, the mother of Horus and wife and sister of Osiris. The temple's construction began with the innermost holy of holies. This was built by Ptolemy III. It was not until Ptolemy IX that the outer hypostyle hall was completed.

The Nubian Village

We took a boat from Aswan and went around Elephantine Island, where we sadly did not have time to stop (there are remains of a Jewish temple on that island), and pressed on to the west bank of the Nile. There we were met by camels and the bedouin who owned them. They gave us rides up out of the flood plain onto the hills overlooking the plain. On top of the hills at this particular spot was a monastery that we were supposed to visit. By the time we arrived it had already closed. So, we wandered around and took some pictures of the outside of the monastery then hopped back on our camels and went back to the boat.

The boat took us down the Nile and dropped us off at a Nubian village. The Nubians consider themselves to be the only true Egyptians. They are very dark-skinned and they consider the lighter-skinned "Egyptians" to just be Arabs who have moved into land that rightly belongs to the Nubians.

We visited a Nubian household where an old man sang and half-jokingly proposed to several women in our group. It was here that I held a crocodile for the first time! After that little adventure we took the boat back up the Nile to Aswan, where we spent the night.

Tip: In Egypt anyone who does anything for you expects a tip. Locally it is called "bakshish". Often you will probably feel like absolutely nothing has been done that makes this person deserve anything more than what you already agreed to pay them. However, if you do not give them "a little something" (this is all the English many of them seem to know) they will follow you and argue with you (even if you aren't saying anything in reply). The most frustrating thing is at all the public restrooms in Egypt someone sits outside the door to collect tips. If you use the restroom you usually come to the conclusion that this person spends all their time asking for tips and none of it cleaning the restroom. So, if you go to Egypt make up your mind ahead of time whether or not you will tip all the people you encounter. Your visit will be much smoother and more pleasant if you just accept that this is the way things are in Egypt and tip the people. But, if you cannot stand to tip someone who you think (and most likely rightly so) has done absolutely nothing to earn it, then brace yourself for a less expensive but much more abrasive experience. The decision is yours.

More on what's happening in Egypt

2011-02-07T03:54:00.000-06:00

After posting What's been happening in this region recently? I received an email pointing me to the blog of Lynne Hybels. She currently has four excellent posts explaining what is going on in Egypt and how to pray for the situation. Take a look.

Prayer & Fasting for Egypt | A Country at the Crossroads | How to Pray for Egypt | How to Pray for Egypt, Part 2

What's been happening in this region recently?

2011-02-06T11:15:00.000-06:00

If you have not been paying attention to international news recently you will have missed quite a lot. There are massive protests against the Arab governments in several countries bordering Israel. One government has already been partially replaced. Two others have been mostly kicked out. And, here in Israel we're waiting to see what the end result is going to be.

How did it begin?

It started in Tunisia when a college graduate who could not get a job committed suicide by lighting himself on fire in front of a government building. His suicide led to the revolt of the people against the national government and resulted in the president fleeing the country and a new government being put in place.

Trying to oust President Mubarak

Egyptians saw the successful grassroots rebellion take place in Tunisia and this gave them the courage to come out as a united body of citizens revolting against President Hosni Mubarak. The video below is an account of the first five days of the revolt in Egypt. This began the day after I left Egypt.

If Mubarak is ousted, who will take his place? Here is an article on a few possible successors to Mubarak.

Jordan and Syria

This revolution against the national governments of the Islamic nations is continuing to spread. A few days ago King Abdullah II of Jordan sacked his country's cabinet in what appears to be an attempt to keep demonstrations in his country from reaching the levels attained in Egypt. Protests continue to take place in Egypt and Jordan. There were also protests scheduled to take place in Damascus, Syria, but those failed to materialize. And of course, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Ayatollah Khamenei had to give his two cents.

Whatever the results of these protests within these neighbors to Israel, this region is going to change. We will have to wait and find out just what sort of change it will be.

How to subscribe, print, share and comment on the LivingDusty Blog

2011-02-06T05:33:00.000-06:00

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What is the Sabbath?

2011-02-04T12:22:00.000-06:00

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." —Exodus 20:9-11 (also see Exodus 31:12-17)

When did it originate?

The observance of Sabbath, or Shabbat as it is known in Hebrew, goes all the way back to Exodus, the second book of the Bible. It is one of the ten commands God wrote down on stone tablets as part of the covenant which He made with Moses and the Israelites. This command reaches back to creation of the world.

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. —Genesis 2:2-3

What do slavery and freedom have to do with it?

By resting on the seventh day and making it holy (i.e., setting it apart from the others), we remember and acknowledge that God is the creator of all things. By doing so we also emulate His example. Deuteronomy 5:12-15 reiterates the command given in Exodus but includes an instruction for what to do on the Sabbath. "Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day." What does slavery in Egypt and God bringing them into freedom have to do with Sabbath? EVERYTHING! Slaves do not get a day off. For that matter, in ancient civilizations there was no such thing as a day of rest. Only the wealthy and ruling classes had that luxury. Therefore, by observing Sabbath the Israelites were reminded that they were now free. As a Christian observing Sabbath I remember that I too am now free from slavery, but not just a slavery to man but slavery to my sinful nature. This freedom came because there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death (Rom 8:1)

The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. —Romans 8:15

Why do Jews begin to observe it on Friday night?

Did you know that for Jews the 24-hour period of a day begins at sundown rather than at midnight? This is why they celebrate Sabbath with a meal on Friday nights rather than on Saturday mornings. For the reason behind this you must look to the first few verses of the Bible.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. —Genesis 1:1-5

Did you catch that? Notice the last line. "And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day." In this account of creation which tradition says was given to Moses by God, the first day of the world has evening first and morning second. It is for that exact reason that to this day Jews observe the beginning of Sabbath at sundown on Friday.

Why did Christians begin to observe Sabbath on Sunday?

The early Christians of the 1st century CE (Common Era) were largely converted Jews who continued to attend synagogues and observe Sabbath from sunset on Friday until sunset on Saturday. Following the 2nd Jewish Revolt in 70CE being associated with the Jews became increasingly detrimental as the Jews became known as hot-headed, rebellious zealots. From 115-117CE the Jewish Diasporas around the Roman world revolted and caused a further rift between Christianity and Judaism. This separation between Christianity and Judaism resulted in a widening of the gap between Christians who believed the messiah promised by God through the prophets had already come and the Jews who were still waiting for that messiah. Christians were already worshipping on Sunday which they called the "Lord's Day" because it was on Sunday that Christ Jesus rose from the dead (Luke 23). After the rift between the early Christians and the Jews reached the extent where Christians were no longer welcome in synagogues the Christians ceased to attend services on Saturday with their Jewish neighbors but did continue their own services on the "Lord's Day". Read Justin Martyr's First Apology, Chapter LXVII for a description of the practices of the early Christians.

Rest, Remember and Rejoice!

This is what Sabbath is for Christians. Take steps to set apart a day to be free from your job, paying bills, running errands, etc. Spend that day remembering what has been done so that you may receive grace and be set free and rejoice in that freedom. Spend time getting to know your Heavenly Father and His love for you through reading and studying the Bible alone and with others you are are close to. Spend time with your family and close friends doing something that brings you joy and peace. This is the day on which we celebrate all of creation! Enjoy it!

Grace and peace,
Peter