Jesus is a liar, and the Bible is wrong?

Jesus is a liar, and the Bible is wrong

That is what you might have read when scanning through the book The Myth of Nazareth (http://goo.gl/spVFl8) by Salm and Zindler. [I do not support you buying this, but I linked to it so that you could see what it is.]

I was asked about this "Nazareth myth" this morning, and being an Old Testament guy I wasn't sure of the answer. Apparently, according to some, Nazareth didn't exist in the time of Christ. If Nazareth didn't exist, well ... then Jesus is a liar and the Bible is wrong ... period. But, fortunately for us, that isn't the end of the story. The problem with this thinking is that it is an argument from silence. Do you know how many times people have tried to argue against the Bible from silence only for evidence to be found later? Quite a few ... 

Again, not really knowing the answer, I turned to an online database and began to study out some peer reviewed articles on the matter. The first one I read demolished the entire book with one little statement: "No. 6 is the slightly everted rim and cup-shaped neck of a storage jar dating to the mid-first century BCE to mid-first century CE."1 ... So ... what happened to that "no evidence" idea? 

I stumbled upon another article, which was actually a response to an article that Salm wrote. The opening line was, um, humorous: "Occasionally a layperson with little or no background in a field decides to evaluate a technical report."2 I know, I know ... not very funny, but this is how I feel when people come to me about giants, aliens, and Noah's ark after reading some technical paper somewhere. These authors go on to say that they must answer the criticism put forth by Salm, and these non-laypersons do just that. In fact, what they point out in their article is pretty much that Salm was mistaken (I would add that he was probably looking for something that didn't exist). 

These authors work through the criticisms, debunking each one. One point that should be noted is (as I first mentioned) the existence of early Roman pottery at the site, which indicates an early Roman presence at the site - the time of Jesus. Sure, the great majority of the pottery was late Roman, but that is only because the site grew over time (including the addition of a large priestly family in the second century AD). The fact that the site grew says little to the fact that there was an earlier site, except that the earlier site was smaller. Actually ... that is quite important. Remember, nothing good comes from Nazareth - that tiny little village over there? (At this point I should note that I grew up in New Miami, OH ... and I was quite proud of our TWO stop lights. Unfortunately for me, nothing good has ever come out of New Miami either.) The smaller the village, the less we are going to find - thus, we find very little at Nazareth. 

Without going into too much detail, let me jump to the end of the article I read: "Salm’s personal evaluation of the pottery, which he rehearses from his book The Nazareth Myth, reveals his lack of expertise in the area as well as his lack of serious research in the sources. By ignoring or dismissing solid ceramic, numismatic and literary evidence for Nazareth’s existence during the Late Hellenistic and Early Roman period, it would appear that the analysis which René Salm includes in his review, and his recent book must, in itself, be relegated to the realm of ‘myth’. By upholding the idea of a myth, Salm has created a myth himself."3 ... wow ... those are strong words.

As it turns out, Nazareth did in fact exist at the time of Christ. While it has taken some time to find the evidence for the site, many of us simply had faith that the evidence would one day turn up - as it did - and the lack of evidence in times past didn't really bother us as it did Salm. So what will he do with his book now? Will he retract it? I doubt it, but at least those of you who might run into the book can have some evidence to the contrary. 
_______________
YEHUDAH RAPUANO, "The Nazareth Village Farm Project Pottery (1997–2002): Amendment," Bulletin of the Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society 2008 Volume 26, p. 124.

STEPHEN J. PFANN AND YEHUDAH RAPUANO, "On the Nazareth Village Farm Report: A Reply to Salm," Bulletin of the Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society 2008 Volume 26, p. 105.

ibid., p. 108

Archaeological excavation of an ancient house in Nazareth - from http://www.bible-archaeology.info/nazareth.htm

Assimilation. Resistance is Futile.

Astarte figurine; Iron Age II; Israel (http://baidun.com/israelite-astarte-holding-a-drum-or-bread/)

All of us are in some way a product of assimilation. Throughout history, as in today's world, humans naturally adapt to their environment, transferring ideas between neighbors, and since just about everyone has a neighbor eventually those ideas make their way up or down or across the globe. 

A couple of weeks ago I was playing the most annoying game I have ever played (I tried to go back and look for it, but it has already been kicked off the ArmorGames list of new games). In the game, it is your duty to advance your culture to the point ... well ... to the point that you win the game. There are several ways to do this. You can build your culture from the ground up, trade with other cultures, or assimilate with other cultures. Of course, it is impossible not to trade or assimilate for when nomads come by and they either have what you need or are more advanced than you are (and you are fighting the clock to win the game!) you find yourself doing whatever you can to advance to the next level! (And ultimately lose the game each time you play because it is impossible to advance as quickly as is required!!! ... but I digress.)

This week I have been reading about the origins of Aphrodite (check out my G+ picture albums (http://goo.gl/EmRwRK) for an Aphrodite idol/stone from Paphos, Cyprus - one of the earliest). There is question as to whether Aphrodite is of Greek origin, Phoenician origin, or maybe even Mesopotamian origin, but the answer is probably none of the above. It is almost impossible to ever trace an idea back to its origin as any idea goes through a process of adaptation through time and space where thoughts are added from this culture or that one, and then another group takes some out and adds additional thoughts. 

The image you see is an image of Astarte (Iron Age II; from Israel) holding what appears to be either a drum or possibly bread. An earlier form of Astarte is what many believe to be a parent idea of the origins of Aphrodite. The problem is that some of the ideas don't match up (e.g., Astarte is known as a huntress, but Aphrodite is not). Now, of interest is the fact that Aphrodite doesn't really appear as a Greek goddess until the Iron Age, but the Phoenicians didn't really begin to settle in areas where they would come into contact with the Greeks until the same period of time - and assimilation takes time.

Did the ideas transfer? Yes, they did, but they did so slowly, mixed with another culture. It was the prehistorical culture of Cyprus that helped to give way to what we now know as Aphrodite. As the story goes, Aphrodite rose up out of the water for the first time on Cyprus' shores (near the big black rock known as Aphrodite that you will see in my G+ picture album: http://goo.gl/EmRwRK), but she was alive and well in an earlier form before this event.

Without getting too deep, in Cypriot figurines we find aboriginal figurines, but we also find these aboriginal figurines mixed with Aegean and even Near Eastern (Astarte) concepts. We are not sure if Aphrodite ever had an aboriginal Greek form, but the old tails of Aphrodite being born on Cyprus most likely hold water. Someone brought a pot of local delicacies, and then said, "Hey, you Greek people, why don't you throw some of your favorite spices in here," and then turning to the Near Easterners said, "and you, Canaanites, why don't you throw some in here, too." ... After a while, we have Aphrodite. ... Of course, the story doesn't end there, as the Romans came and mixed her with their aboriginal goddess to create a new one ... and on and on and on.

Question for you. What happened to our holidays? Today is the evening before All Saints Day, a day that quite a long time ago believers held vigil for the saints who have already gone before us. Somehow, somewhere, we are handing out candy and scaring each other. How? That's debated (read a couple of good articles on the non-pagan origins of Halloween this past week). Why? Because that is what cultures do ... we change, we adapt, and we assimilate. ... Resistance is futile. 

You'll Shoot an Eye Out!

Anthony Tyler lost his eye in an accident. Please help him by donating toward his surgery: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/take-his-aaaaye-patch/x/885353

Okay, we have all seen the movie, and we all laugh when little Ralphie _thought_ that he really shot his eye out. Personally, having watched the movie as a kid and then ran out into the woods to play with my BBGun, I have also always been a bit worried about losing an eye (thanks a lot Hollywood for putting the fear into me!). What would it be like to lose an eye? What about both?

Zedekiah was the last king of Judah, and he had both of his eyes put out by the Babylonians. I can't imagine how this must have been. Read this: "And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon" (2 Kgs 25:7).

Recently a very close friend "shot his eye out." Well, he didn't really shoot it out, he was actually doing everything correctly, but as he was approaching the firing line at a shooting range (in the process of putting his eye protection on), a casing from another person's gun flew back and hit his eyelid - causing the retina to detach. He is now facing a $15,000 surgery that his insurance won't pay for. He is attempting to raise only $5,000, but I have confidence in the G+ community that we can get him all the way to $15,000 ... this is what we do; we network and work together. (So please donate and share the link. I donated $40 this morning, and I am an extremely poor PhD student with a family of 7 who has Chronic Fatigue Syndrome from the war ... you have no excuse, lol!) Okay, at a minimum, donate $20 and get a free online backup account for one year. http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/take-his-aaaaye-patch/x/885353

Back to Zedekiah, what brought on the eye gauging event? He revolted and allied himself with Egypt. According to the Babylonian Chronicles (Chronicle 5), "The seventh year: In the month Kislev the king of Akkad mustered his army and marched to Hattu. He encamped against the city of Judah and on the second day of the month Adar he captured the city (and) seized (its) king. A king of his own choice he appointed in the city (and) taking the vast tribute he brought it into Babylon." So, the question is raised ... why on earth would anyone revolt against this powerful empire?!?!?!?

We really need to put this into perspective. There were three (possibly four) deportations by the Babylonians: 605BC, 598BC, and 586BC (the possible fourth was a smaller deportation not mentioned in the scriptures and occurring after the destruction of the temple). This places about seven years between the first two and twelve years between the last two. ... That's a long time between the second and third deportations ... plenty of time for Zedekiah to start feeling strong.

Yeah, but why rebel? Why not just pay the tribute? That's a silly question to ask a bunch of Americans! They rebelled because they wanted to! But we also need to understand a little about the Babylonians.

The Babylonians were different than the Assyrians (the previous great threat). The Assyrians were mean, and the Babylonians were mean. The Assyrians were powerful, and the Babylonians were powerful. The Assyrians ran a well oiled governmental, administrative machine ... but the Babylonians were just, well, pirates. (Look I'm bringing the eye patch back into it! Oh yeah!)

What do I mean? When the Babylonians conquered the Assyrians, they just took over the Assyrians' administrative system, but they didn't really run it ... they didn't want to. To the Babylonians, there is only one great place on Earth - Babylon. This is the oldest and therefore greatest place on the planet (Nebi-K actually stamped some bricks in an archaic script just to make the buildings look older!), and the Babylonians wanted nothing more than to seize wealth and bring it back to Babylon (they weren't interested in what happened elsewhere - so long as the money kept flowing in).

So here are the Judahites sitting scared in Judah. "Don't mess with us or we'll be back!" the Babylonians say, but then ... nothing but crickets. The Babylonians were smart enough to set up a puppet king, but beyond that, they were eating, drinking, and making merry back home. After the first victory, eventually the Judahites rebelled, and they were squashed. Now, Jeremiah keeps saying their coming back, but where are they? Welllllll, I don't see them on the horizon. What if we link ourselves with Egypt? That'll help, right?

Of course we know the story. The Babylonians eventually did come back and swept the land clean, destroying the temple in the process. I can hear Zedekiah's mother right now, "Zedi! Don't you rebel; you'll shoot an eye out!' ... He should have listened.

_Hey, all, please help out my good friend and fellow brother in Christ. I believe in the power of prayer, and I am praying that you all will reach deep into your pockets and help this very worthy cause - a brother in need. You don't have to give much if you don't have it, and you can give via PayPal for security. Check out the perks (I ordered a T-Shirt). I highly recommend the online backup service for $20. That is unlimited data and an unlimited number of computers ... very awesome deal._ http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/take-his-aaaaye-patch/x/885353

What Shall We Do with a Drunken Sailor? Early in the Morning.

Mendable amphora found at Kourion, Cyprus; Photo by Justin Singleton (2013)

I know what you're thinking about that title. You're thinking, "WHA?!?!"

See the picture? Isn't it pretty? This is an amphora that I found floating in my square this past summer. I saw floating because it wasn't resting on the floor of the room; instead, it was just in the dirt somewhere between the floor and topsoil. This means that someone must have simply thrown this beauty out at some point (we never found the whole thing, so maybe it was busted).

Amphora were used to transport and store all kinds of different products, both dry and liquid, but they were used mostly for wine. (Ah, now the title might make sense?) ... Okay, hold that thought.

Now I want to pick you up and transfer you over to a buddy of mine named Danel. Danel lived in the ancient times, and he was quite upset because he didn't have a son. We find his story in the ancient Canaanite story of Aqhat or Belonging to Aquat. As we read, we find that Danel performed a ritual called incubation (talking with the gods through dreams), and on the seventh day he finally got word from them.

What did Danel want? He wanted a son, an heir. This is actually where the story ends for my purposes, but just to give you some closure, Aquat is born, given a special bow by the craftsman of the gods, Anat sees it and wants it but Aquat won't give it, so Anat kills him. ... Fun stuff, eh?

Here is what I found simply fascinating. When the desire to have a son is described, here are the words used:

"Let him have a son in his house,
    an heir inside his palace,
to set up a stela for his divine ancestor,
    a votive marker for his clan in the sanctuary;
to send his incense up from the earth,
    the song of his burial place from the dust;
to shut the jaws of his abusers,
    to drive off his oppressors;
to hold his hand when he is drunk,
    to support him when he is full of wine;
to eat his grain-offering in the temple of Baal,
    his portion in the temple of El;
to patch his roof when it gets muddy,
    to wash his clothes when they get dirty."

These same lines are referenced about three or four times in the story, showing the emphasis that is here. Some of these lines may not make sense to my readers here, but the overall idea is that a son's duty is to take care of his aging father.

A few years back, my two oldest sons (then about 7 and 9) were arguing terribly. As I tried to figure out what was going on, I found out that they were arguing about whose house I would live in when I am old. Alex (the oldest) said that since he was the oldest then I have to live with him, but Isaac didn't want to give up his chance to take care of me. (Mama might have been mentioned, but I don't remember, lol.) I ended the fight by saying that perhaps Mama and I could travel back and forth between all the kids houses so that everyone could take care of us.

If you have't guessed it, we have tried to secure within them the idea that children of responsibilities for their parents, and that we can't forget our parents when they are old and fragile. Here in the story above, Aqhat is supposed to help Danel through many difficulties, but also to remember him when he is gone (and moved on to be one of the deified ancestors). What I found fascinating, though, was the reference to drinking. A son is not only supposed to care for his aging father, but he is supposed to care for his imbecilic father as well, to the point of both helping him walk when he is drunk and shutting the mouths (with his fist?) of those who talk bad about him.

We seem to forget that we, as children, have responsibilities like this. Yes, I know that these are not biblical truths here (they are cultural), but there is some truth hidden within. As a matter of fact, I think it is this cultural norm that was violated in the story of Noah and Ham.

If you remember, Noah was dead drunk; Noah went to his tent, was overheated from the wine, and so he stripped naked. Ham "saw his father’s nakedness" and told his brothers. There is a lot of debate about what that means. Did he have sex with Noah (unlikely)? Did he have sex with Noah's wife/his mother (also unlikely)? Or did he just view Noah's nakedness (most likely)? Whatever happened, he then turns and tells his brothers all about it. "Hey, bros, did you see dad? He is passed out drunk in his tent" (slapping his thigh and laughing). Later, Noah learned what Ham had done (maybe his others sons told him?), and he cursed Ham's descendant because of it. [Side note: we don't often understand how serious a crime it is to view the nakedness of another because in our society nakedness is the norm. See my study on nakedness.]

What did he do wrong? Well, think about what he SHOULD have done. It is a child's duty to care for his father when he is old, sick, or drunk. Ham didn't do this. Instead, Ham blabbed about it, making his father out to be a mockery.

If you really think about it, how much do our children know about us? (Scary thought, eh?) Granted, we need to be working with our children so that they understand the things we do, and we need to avoid doing things that would make us look bad in their eyes, but we also need to instill upon them the sense of loyalty to their family. If I get the flu and mess my pants, I don't need my sons running down the street and telling everyone. Could you imagine the next time I stood up to teach or preach? "Hey look, there's that guy that messed himself. I bet that was difficult to clean up!" ... No, my son's should help me through, clean me up, and keep my honor intact.

Okay, so NOW the title makes sense! Eh? Eh?

Goliath! You beastly devil!

Grave of a Bedouin slave; Photo by Justin Singleton (2009)

What do you know about David and Goliath? I'm sure you remember the story. I remember the story! Actually, I remember that when I was a wee lad of maybe 8 years old, there was a really big kid who threatened me. What did I do? I quoted David. "You come to me with a spear and a shield, but I come to you in the name of the Lord!" ... If I remember correctly, I didn't get beat up, so it must have worked, lol.

There is actually a lot of controversy surrounding David, especially since there are so many pictures being circulated around social media - pictures of giants in graves, etc. (I have attached a picture of one of the graves I dug - no he isn't a giant.)

Let me first point out that all of those images you see of giants in graves from around the world are fake. I'm sorry if I have just destroyed a pet of yours, but they are all very much fake. We have never, to my knowledge, found a giant skeleton. Just to point out one more thing, the giants in those images are far greater than Goliath anyway ... many of the images floating around show "giants" of around 20-30 feet!

So, was Goliath not real then? I didn't say that. Goliath was real, but I would argue that some of what we might believe about Goliath is just our fantasy.

For example, the first thing you need to get out of your head is the idea that Goliath was a "giant." Okay, yes, he was a giant, but that isn't the point. A better way to think of it wasn't that he was a giant but that he was gigantic! Goliath wasn't a monster, he was a really big boy! How big was he? That depends. Note first that the average height of a man at this time was somewhere around 5 1/2 feet (my height - rather short). Saul  stood, according to 1 Sam 9:2, "head and shoulders above all the people" (so, maybe 6 feet?). David, according to some, was probably about 5'3", but I don't have a problem placing him at the 5'6" average. That said, he wasn't a little scrawny kid. David was killing fierce animals, his oldest brother was a fierce warrior, so he had it in his genes.

Okay, so how tall was Goliath? Don't kill me! Probably about 6 1/2 - 7 feet. Yes, I know you are used to reading 9'9" ("six cubits and a span"), but there is some good manuscript evidence to support the reading "four cubits and a span" (some Greek witnesses, Josephus, and a manuscript of 1 Samuel from Qumran).

Now, let me back track a bit. Even though I think Goliath was only about seven feet tall, I could be wrong. I have no problem placing him at 9 feet ... it doesn't hurt the story either way. Also, there is textual evidence from Egypt (the Egyptian letter on Papyrus Anastasi 1 states, "The(?) narrow defile is infested(?) with Shosu concealed beneath the bushes; some of them are of four cubits or of five cubits, from head(??) to foot(?)").

Why doesn't it hurt the story? Because his height isn't the only thing mentioned. Remember, this Goliath was a Philistine warrior. Whether he was actually a Philistine or not is somewhat debated, but at the very least he was fighting with the Philistines. His helmet was a Philistine bronze helmet, his scaled body armor sounds very much like the well-known Egyptian armor weighing over 125 pounds (I wore body armor in Iraq weighing around 80-90 lbs - and I could barely move). Actually, this kind of armor is described in the Nuzi texts as having anywhere from 700-1,000 bronze scales of different sizes. Goliath's greaves were probably Mycenaean, made of molded bronze and surrounding the entire calf. He also had  scimitar (NIV: javelin), which was a curved sword used by Egyptians and Canaanites. His shield was not the type of shield we see the Philistines using two centuries earlier, but this was probably simply adopted over time. Finally, his spear was special because it had an iron tip. Everything he had was bronze, except his spear. (Iron was hard to come by, and pretty much only the Philistines had it at this time.)

This description of Goliath's weapons and armor probably just makes the modern reader think, Yup, he's a warrior, but to the ancient reader, it would have done more than that. You see, in these times, there were quite a few "champion" combats. Individual battles are know from Egypt on the Beni Hassan tomb painting (I wrote about that not too long ago) and in the Egyptian tale of Sinuhe. We find it depicted on a Canaanite vase from around this time. We also know that the Mycenaeans fought in this style (think of the Iliad, Hector against Ajax, Paris against Menelaus). There is a relief found at Tell Halaf that shows two combatants thrusting swords into each other.

What happens in these champion combats is that when one warrior wins, he typically takes a trophy from the loser (armor, sword, whatever). So, think about this with me. Here was have a gigantic man who is probably a Canaanite wearing a Philistine helmet and greaves, but carrying Egyptian armor and sword. ... This sin't just a warrior ... this is a hero! This guy has fought these types of individual "champion" combats before, and he has won! This is not David meets a giant, this is David meets Royce Gracie mixed with Bruce Lee mixed with André the Giant. ... But, God is victorious through David.

The Israelites Worshipped Other Gods??? Really?

Small figurine head of goddess; picture by Justin Singleton (2009)

It probably isn't much of a surprise to you or me, but the archaeological record shows an Israel that wasn't exactly up to par when it came to worship. Not too surprisingly, there are quite a few "less conservative" scholars who try to make this into a big deal.

In his book, _Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From?_ (http://goo.gl/AgMMmH), Bill Dever describes an Israel that didn't leave Egypt in an Exodus but who were just normal Canaanites who wanted a change. A part of his evidence for this was the very wide acceptance of Canaanite worship practices. In fact, here in this book and in another one (_Did God Have a Wife?_ [http://goo.gl/yV47MC]), Dever talks quite a bit about the archaeological evidences containing phrases such as "Yahweh and his Asherah." Now, just in case you didn't know, Asherah was the wife of the god El (the chief god of the Canaanite pantheon, but she eventually became the wife of Ba'al (also mentioned in the Bible).

So what gives? Why is there so much evidence of Canaanite worship in the archaeological record? Does this point to a different truth other than what the Bible teaches us? Were the Israelites just Canaanites in disguise?

Let me answer that last question first. Yes. ... Okay, the Israelites weren't actually Canaanites, but when we read the Bible we learn that the children of God left their God, Yahweh, and began to follow after "foreign" gods ... those of the land of Canaan. as a matter of fact, the larger than life reality presented to us in the Scriptures is the idea that Israel is doing just about everything wrong! They rejected God as their king wanted an earthly king; many rejected Jerusalem as their worship center, so they built others; they rejected Yahweh as their deity, so they started worshiping others.

The little figurine head you see in the picture is one that we dug up at Tall Jalul (Jordan) back in 2009. The area where we were digging belonged to the northern kingdom of Israel at the time, and as would be expected, we find a nice little goddess. The persona of the goddess is unknown, but there she is! She was worshipped by the people.

In the end, the liberals who claim that the Bible is wrong because the archaeological evidence points toward Canaanite worship more so than Yahweh worship are really just verifying what the Bible tells us. If anything, they are helping our cause! Remember, if there is one lesson you are to take away from the books of Kings in the Old Testament, it is this: Israel never needed kings to guide them (they just led them astray); instead, they needed the leadership of the one true God - Yahweh.

Writing!

Erica holding a small bulla (2009); Photo by Justin Singleton

It isn't every day that we find things with writing, but when we do, we get quite excited. Back in 2009, a friend of mine (Erica, pictured here covered in dirt [she is going to kill me for posting this, lol]) found a very small, clay bulla, what most people call a "seal." The difference is that the seal is the object used to make the impression in the clay - the bulla.

As you can see in the picture, she is extremely happy (this was her last day in the field, as she was heading home soon!). Why do we get excited? Well, the writing on the bulla can tell us a whole lot.

Writing is how we corroborate what we find in the dirt. Whether the writing comes in the form of bullae, ostraca (pottery with writing), or whatever, we can match what we find with what we think we know. For example, we may think that a certain object belongs to a certain time period, but if we find something with writing that gives us a completely different story, ... well ... we might need to rearrange what we previously thought.

We have actually found entire libraries of information that has helped us to change and rework what we believed about the past. These libraries have helped us to understand certain cultural practices as well. There was found a small limestone plaque with a calendar on it that helped us figure out the planting, reaping seasons in ancient Israel/Canaan.

As some of you may know, I own a backup business (helping people backup their computer files for an extremely inexpensive cost; it is one of my ministries). As I was helping a friend setup her account the other day (yesteday? I can't remember), I was thinking about some of the ancient libraries, like the one at Alexandria. Wouldn't it had been really nice if they had their entire library backed up! But .. they did not. In all honesty, we have no idea what all was in that library because the entire library was destroyed by fire. Maybe the library would have contained works that would have completely changed the way we think about history? Maybe texts older than the ones we now know to exist would have been found there? It is really quite sad to lose so much information, but what can we do? Once data is gone... its gone.

I typically tell people to backup their family photos, home videos, etc. (and then help them get setup doing that), but we can't forget about all those important documents as well. ... Writings (documents) were extremely important to the ancients, but what about our own documents? Take this time to think about what all could be lost if your library (computer) caught fire!

If you need a service to backup your documents, I can hook you up ... just let me know. See the link below or chat with me.

(Use HHBT at www.boundlesscloud.com to save 25% on the first year)

Hey now ... those are men's clothes!

Beni Hassan tomb paintings depicting Asiatics selling goods in Egypt; Photo snagged from Google :)

I wrote a paper (http://goo.gl/xJISa) not too long ago about a Super Bowel advertisement attempting to convince men to "wear the pants" once again (it was a Docker's ad). This was one of those highly controversial but at the same time not too controversial advertisements that turned a lot of heads. What were they trying to say? Was Docker's trying to convince the world that only men should wear pants, that pants are somehow inherently masculine? Well, no, actually they were just selling pants, but this does raise an issue. What is gender distinct clothing? Did you know that Deuteronomy 22:5 commands that we dress like our own sex and not like the other? Well, however that plays out (read my paper!), I thought about how this actually worked in the ancient world ... I mean, didn't they all just wear robes anyway?

The answer might actually be surprising. The gist of it all is that in most (if not all) ancient Near Eastern cultures there existed a very specific gender distinction in clothing practices, except when involved in cultic/religious ceremonies. A rather interesting Neo-Sumerian hymn “Hymn to Inanna” (fourth kirugu, verse 60) describes a male prostitute who is “adorn[ed] with women’s clothing.” Rather than show a specific style of masculine or feminine clothing, this hymn acknowledges that the ancient Neo-Sumerians at least had a division between male and female dress. In the image I have uploaded, we see Asiatics from about the time of Abraham selling goods in Egypt. What I found rather striking is the difference between male and female dress. Yes, there isn't much, but does there have to be? The point is that there is actually a difference.

I find it fascinating that there is only one instance in ancient Near Eastern literature of transvestism outside of religious practices. In ancient Babylonian literature, “The Assyrian Collection,” we find an instance of transvestitism not associated with the cult. It appears that a man and his wife switch roles in order to woo each other – foreplay. So the only time this occurred outside of religious ceremonies was in a closed door situation ... it was not something people did publicly on the streets.

This is where someone gets mad at me and begins to abuse me verbally in the comments section, lol, but hang in there. Yes, I do actually have a very conservative view on this topic, but all I am trying to do here is point out what is considered "_normal_" in the ancient Near East and to address why Deuteronomy 22:5 actually existed.

I think that the bottom line with Deuteronomy 22:5 is that the Israelites were to avoid non-Hebraic cultic practices, but that doesn't mean that this isn't also a command to avoid transvestism. There really was no need to command that as no one ever did it!

We do find transvestism in later cultures, but even those are considered devious.

So, didn't the ancients just wear robes? How could we tell which is male and which is female? How we can tell isn't the point; the point is that they could tell. However we apply those same principles in our day is actually hotly debated. ... Feel free to debate it in the comments, but keep it civil.

Patriotism

Our grill at Al Asad, Iraq (2006); Photo by Justin Singleton

Well, to be a little more patriotic today, I am uploading a picture of the grill we used while I was stationed in the Anbar province of Iraq. Isn't she a beauty? One of the guys in my platoon would make deals with people from some of the smaller Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) around the province, and we would trade whatever we had on our base for things like lobster tail and steaks (the smaller FOBs got great meals like this as a way to equal out the fact that they didn't have some of the luxuries that larger bases had). ... Yes, it was just like M.A.S.H.

We had quite a few barbecues here. To the right is a kind of gazebo that we built, and behind is our horse shoe pit. We had plans to build a volleyball court, lol, but I can't remember if we ever did that or not.

No, it was not all hard times and living outside the wire, at least not for my platoon. We would go on missions outside the wire ever other day or every three days for one-day missions, but when we came back we "let our hair down" (yeah, that's kind of weird to say about a bunch of guys with almost bald heads).

Typically, it is during these times that we get to think. We miss our wives, kids, families, whoever. We try to think of what we will be doing when we get home, jobs that wait, jobs that don't wait. I (being called Preacher by most) had to think of other things, like answering the question posed to me, "Will God forgive me for being so angry in battle and enjoying the fight?" ... Good question.

How did I answer that? Well, I looked to David. King David was a master warrior. He killed tens of thousands of people, but yet he kept the faith through all of that. Actually, David was said to have had a "perfect heart" - which is a phrase denoting that he only served God and never in his life served a false god (it had nothing to do with his moral character).

David was known to have killed at will (look what he did to the guy who claimed to have killed Saul!), and as an infantryman who also enjoyed the battle, I am assuming that David had what we call the battle rage. Did David sin in this? I don't think he did.

I explained this to my friend who asked me the question while deployed, but I also told him of Romans 13, which speaks of God giving governments the sword to avenge wrong doing (a sword was used to kill, not spank). When soldiers, we were a part of that government using our swords (rifles, machine guns, whatever) to kill the enemy. As representatives of the governing authority, we fell well within the rights to take lives. ... But then I told him something else.

Yes, we are going to enjoy the killing, but there is a line that can be crossed. We can only kill those who deserve to die. Obviously, killing randomly is a violation - we would become wolves and not sheep dogs at that point. He understood that, of course, but the fact is that afterward he felt like a wolf because he had a blood thirstiness. ... Again, though, don't you think David had that same blood thirst?

We in America often confuse two types of people in our world. Well, let me first describe all three. There are sheep who are the everyday people who live day in and day out. There are the wolves who desire to hurt the sheep, take their stuff, and sometimes even kill them. There are also the sheep dogs; I am a sheep dog. The sheep dogs bark like the wolves, bite like the wolves, kill like the wolves, but we kill to help the sheep of the world.

No, liking the act of killing the enemy isn't really a bad thing. Enjoying combat isn't either. There are a lot of people in this world who have a sheep dog mentality, and more often than not the sheep confuse us with the wolves, but we are not the wolves.

How Old Are You?

Audrey with fishing net weight at Kourion, Cyprus (2013); Photo by Justin Singleton

How Old Are You? What Will You Really Find
This is a dear friend Audrey. She is 83 years young, and she has been digging for I don't know how long. Audrey is my inspiration. In 2009, I was standing next to her (looking the opposite direction) when she was bitten by a camel on her arm. One of the teeth went clean to the bone. She let out a little squeal, and I turned to see what was wrong. There she was standing there a little shaky and she said that she had gotten bit by the camel ... I was shocked, until I saw the blood pouring down her little arm. Surprisingly, she had just broken her foot in Israel a short time before that and had a cast on her foot for a while early in the season.

What did she do afterward? Well, the very next year she went to the field again. And she went every year until I saw her this year, and I'm sure she will keep going in the future.

She is holding what looks like a weight for a fishing net (the hole is more to one side and it is unlike a loom weight). Audrey found this as we were digging in a huge pile of rocks (that someone else had dumped about 20 years ago). This is a good reminder that excavations don't always catch everything. This little weight is an important find, but the guy who dug 20 years ago just threw it out, probably never seeing it.

A bit later in the season, another friend of mine Dr. Randy Younker was dumping a wheel barrow of dirt that the workers had filled. As he dumped it, something caught his eye. He searched back through the dirt and found a complete 1st century oil lamp! Again, something was almost lost.

The problem with archaeology is that it is a destructive sport. When we excavate, we destroy everything we find. If we don't keep great records, then what we have done is simply devastated the earth so that no one will ever know what happened.

A lot of people ask me what I think about treasure hunters like those who search for Noah's Ark or the "real" Mt. Sinai. I typically have the same response each time: I don't think about them, lol. One of the reasons that I dislike these treasure hunters is that whatever they find, they simply rip it out of the ground and destroy any scientific value that it might have had. They don't keep records; they don't take soil samples; they don't take proper photographs; they don't take location readings; they don't do anything that would actually help our cause.

In addition, they make serious and unfounded claims that can be easily debunked. Unfortunately, many Christians simply believe what the treasure hunters say because they have made a really nice video about the "finds." This makes Christians look bad to the world around us.

I highly suggest looking into some real archaeological organizations like some of the academic organizations (Andrews University, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, etc.) and even some church focused organizations (like Associates for Biblical Research [www.biblearchaeology.org] of which I am a part). These places can lead you into many years of study without making the rest of the church look like nut cases!

Prayers Needed

Photo by Marianne Lopez - http://www.flickr.com/photos/mandalatour/sets/7215)

Prayers much appreciated. It looks like I might be spending the next few summers in Sicily digging in Phoenician cultural material. I have some prerequisites to accomplish this fall, but then I will spend a few weeks in Sicily during the spring to prepare the site (site survey and plan), and then start digging in Sicily in the summer (either 4 or 8 weeks over the next four years minimum).

There aren't that many people digging in Sicily at present, so this is a great opportunity for me and my peers (one or two other students). We will be trail blazing in a lot of ways. This could be the project I spend the next ten years on, not sure yet.

(Not my image as I haven't been to the site yet. Photo by Marianne Lopez - http://www.flickr.com/photos/mandalatour/sets/7215

Daily Life

Bronze Age grinding stone and pestle; Photo by Justin Singleton

People don't often think of life in ancient times. How did they live? How did they manage? How do we manage? lol.

Life, in general, was tough. What you see here is a grinding stone and hand grinder. This one has been worn almost all the way through. We walked onto a Bronze Age (prehistory) site in Cyprus to explore a bit, and I found about eight or nine of these. It was quite interesting, really. What would you do with these once they were "finished"? Well, I found two set as seats on a bench against the wall of a house. Several were also used to repair walls.

A friend of mine, Bill Weir (PhD [ABD] from University of Cincinnati) is writing his dissertation on common uses of pottery beyond the norm. When we see things in the archaeological record, we typically think, "Oh, that's a grinding stone; it was used to grind grains so that they could eat," or, "Oh, that's a topper/stopper for a small juglet." What we don't typically think is, "I bet they used this butt shaped grinding stone as a seat in their house," or, "I bet this topper was reused by the kids as a game token," but that is exactly what happens quite frequently.

I don't know about you guys, but when my dish washer went out a couple of years ago, I wasn't ready to buy a new one. The door wouldn't stay closed, so I put a bungee strap on it. The trigger wouldn't press, so I stuck a fork inside to catch the trigger better. ... We do so much "fixing" in our world with duct tape or hot glue guns or whatever, but we have to also imagine that the ancients were the same way. They were normal people. Husbands and wives argued about the finances. The kids would run and scream and beg for things that the neighbor kids had. ... But they survived.

We (humans) have always been very resilient people. We are pushed into corners, and we come out swinging for ourselves and for our families. You can go back archaeologically and find the same thing has always been true. From the Ice Ages (what I would argue is right after the flood) until today, we find people making a way to survive with what little they have. God knew what He was doing when He made us as we are.

Making the leap

Justin Singleton jumping off a cliff; Photo by Justin Singleton

Every once in a while it is fun to just let yourself go ... in this case, I am jumping off a cliff (that's the Mediterranean Sea in the background). No, I was not jumping into the sea fully clothed, but I did walk into the sea fully clothed (boots and all) just for the fun of it ... but I need to get back to the story.

A lot of people are interested in archaeology, and in my case Biblical archaeology, but they don't have how to get started. For me, it started when I was still an undergraduate. I fell in love with the history of the Bible (the culture of that time was like a puzzle to me, and I wanted to solve it). Right before I graduated, I spent a tour of duty in Iraq in combat. While there, I fell in love with the Arab people, the land, and the general culture (it too was a puzzle).

After returning from the war, I finished college and started graduate school toward a Master's in Biblical Cultural Settings. For this degree, I spent six weeks in Jordan digging at Tall Jalul.

Now, I am a late bloomer in the field, having five kids, having gone to war, having to work for a living - all this made it somewhat difficult to become an archaeologist. I have studied archaeology for some time, but I really needed to be in the dirt to be labeled an "archaeologist." This past summer I took the leap and went on another excavation, this time in Cyprus. I met great friends, and I established great connections. What's next? Well, I have finally found a way to make the PhD feasible, and so next year I will (inshallah) be heading either to Jordan again or to Sicily to officially begin PhD work.

How about you? For those of you interested in becoming archaeologists, how can you get started? Is it too late to get started? Nah ... I dug this past season with a woman who was 82 years old, and she outworked anyone there. But what about the training? ... I've got you covered there. I am working on a plan to create an 18 credit cognate in Biblical Cultural and Archaeological Studies with the regionally accredited college where I teach. This means that either someone can add the 18 credit cognate to their BA in Biblical Studies degree program or someone can just take the courses to learn as much as possible about the cultural and archaeological background of the Bible. The best part is that 3 of those credits will be archaeological field work joining me or my partner in the field.

If you are interested in taking any of these courses, contact Mark Bird (513-721-7944) and ask him about any of these courses specifically: Archaeology and the Old Testament, Archaeology and the New Testament, Archaeological Field Work, Religions of the Ancient Near East, People and Literature of the Ancient Near East, and/or Biblical Cultural Settings. Dr. Bird is the director of the Aldersgate Distance Education Program (www.gbs.edu/adep) at the college. ... Now, he will only know about one of these courses, but if you ask him about the others then he will get the point that we need to hurry up and finish them.

Translation of the gods

Horned god found at Enkomi, Cyprus; photo by Justin Singleton

I mentioned before the "translation" of the gods in the ancient world, but I never really explained what that was. The idea is that all over the ancient world, one culture would translate another culture's deities into their own deities. The Egyptians would make a treaty with Hatti, and in the treaty would call on both sides' gods to make the pact (they believed in both sets of gods), and often they would compare their gods (Shemesh the God of the sun is the same as Re in Egypt). Many of these local deities represented international ideas, and therefore when those people clashed with other cultures, they would note that the other culture also worshipped the same kind of deity ... who is obviously the same.

We see the same thing happening in ancient Israel. Whereas God (Yahweh of the Old Testament) specifically said that there are no other gods but Him, the people (in general) didn't fully comprehend this until the time of the Exile. Instead, they would see things from the local deities (like Ba'al) and simply translate those ideas onto Yahweh. It wasn't too long before they started comparing Yahweh to Ba'al in other ways. In fact, we have inscriptions talking about Yahweh and his wife, Asherah (Ba'al's wife).

I have uploaded a picture of one of the two horned gods of Enkomi in Cyprus. Just like Ba'al, this unknown horned god is also Canaanite. The Phoenicians made it a point to not only explore the sea, but to spread their culture every where they went. They were so good at it that Ba'alism lived on outside of Canaan long after it died out inside Canaan. As a matter of fact, and I somewhat doubt the full truth to this, Philo of Byblos claims that the Roman gods who are the Greek gods were originally based on the Phoenician gods. Philo relates Chronos to El in Canaan.

It is easy to see how these gods translate between the different cultures, and it is even easier to see how Israel simply grabbed onto the world around them and made it their own. I wonder how much of this we do today in our own culture. We are, after all, supposed to live in the world but not be of it.

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