Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 results
Although the Bible gives a detailed description of Solomon’s Temple, we have no physical remains of the building destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.E. Thanks to the recent excavation of several hitherto-unknown ancient Near Eastern temples, however, archaeologists are shedding new light on similarities and differences between these temples and King Solomon’s structure.
Biblical Archaeology Review, March/April 2011
“Then Solomon said … ‘I have built thee an exalted house, a place for thee to dwell in forever.’” (1 Kings 8:12–13) A vision of Isaiah, “I beheld my Lord seated on a high and lofty throne; and the skirts of his robe filled the Temple.” (...
Bible Review, April 1994
Visitors to Jerusalem understandably are often confused by the jumbled and disconnected layers of the past that exist side by side with the teeming modern city. Jerusalem at the time of the First Temple—the Jerusalem of the Bible, the...
Biblical Archaeology Review, May/June 1989
Stylistic and architectural similarities between the cave of Machpelah enclosure at Hebron and the Temple Mount enclosure in Jerusalem have been clearly demonstrated by Nancy Miller in “Patriarchal Burial Site Explored for First Time in 700...
Biblical Archaeology Review, May/June 1985
Slowly it emerged from the ground: a beautiful, 8-inch-long bronze incense shovel, the prize find of the 1996 excavations at Bethsaida, near the northeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. The shovel lay in a first-century C.E. refuse pit. Just...
Biblical Archaeology Review, January/February 1997
Jerusalem is not only one of the oldest cities in the world, it is one of the few cities which has been continuously inhabited for more than 40 centuries. From before 1850 B.C., when the first wall surrounded and defended Jerusalem, people...
Biblical Archaeology Review, July/August 1981
For 30 years, archaeologists have been excavating et-Tell in the Lower Golan, east of the Jordan Rift Valley. See why they believe their site is biblical Bethsaida.
Biblical Archaeology Review, Spring 2020
Discovering the idolatry of the even maskit
Leviticus bans the Israelites from bowing upon a maskit stone. But what is a maskit? A recently deciphered Assyrian inscription may hold the key to identifying this mysterious prohibited object.
Bible Review, October 1999
How the deity became more distant from Exodus to Deuteronomy
A spectacular sound and light show greeted the Israelites when the new nation encountered God for the first time at Mt. Sinai.1 The awesome display of divine presence and power so terrified the Children of Israel that they begged God not to...
Bible Review, October 1998
Readers Letter Sparks Article When reading Victor Hurowitzs Inside Solomons Temple, BR 10:02, a question suddenly occurred to me that I should have thought of years ago. In the shrine of the temple were two huge, gold-plated, olive-wood cherubim, writes...
Bible Review, October 1994
Reading an introduction to biblical criticism, a beginning student might well think he or she is peering into a bowl of alphabet soup—or perhaps perusing a catalogue of foundations and corporations. Letters are all over the place, especially...
Bible Review, June 1996
Made by Man...or God?
While Moses was up on Mt. Sinai receiving the first edition of the Ten Commandments, the people down below grew impatient and asked Aaron, Moses’ brother, to make them another god to...
Bible Review, April 2004
A small shovel started it all. In the summer of 1996, at the excavation of the Galilee site of Bethsaida (which we codirect), we uncovered a small bronze incense shovel. Others like it were used in the imperial cult throughout the Roman...
Biblical Archaeology Review, January/February 2001
Long-lost city found north of Galilee shore
Bethsaida is the town that disappeared. Soon after playing a prominent role in the Gospels—Bethsaida is mentioned more often in the New Testament than any city except Jerusalem and Capernaum—this fishing village on the Sea of Galilee simply...
Biblical Archaeology Review, January/February 2000
Iconography in the Ancient Near East
Tryggve N.D....No Graven Image? Israelite Aniconism in Its Ancient Near Eastern Context
Biblical Archaeology Review, May/June 1997
The differences between the Jewish diasporas
The Jewish diaspora in Roman times and Late Antiquity was not just a scattering of people from the Land of Israel. Geographical, cultural, religious and language differences resulted in two distinct diasporas—western and eastern—which helps explain why Paul went west from Jerusalem.
Biblical Archaeology Review, January/February 2011
Was ancient Judaism a missionary religion? Well, it depends on what you mean by “missionary.” In one sense—say, in contrast to Christianity—Judaism, with one exception of short duration, never was. From earliest times Christianity saw the...
Bible Review, August 2003
Unlocking the mysteries of Chalcolithic ossuaries
For nearly a century before the Romans destroyed the Temple in 70 C.E., Jews, especially in the Jerusalem area, would inter the bones of their deceased in stone boxes, or ossuaries, about 2 feet long and a foot high. The ossuary had to be...
Biblical Archaeology Review, November/December 2011
Is the Creation Story Babylonian?
On December 3, 1872, George Smith, a former bank-note engraver turned Assyriologist, stunned the Western world by announcing that he had discovered a Babylonian story of a great Flood resembling the well-known account of the Deluge in the...
Bible Review, Anniversary Issue