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Well...it's happening really soon.   It's only an hour and a half move, but it's still a move. Why does our house have so much crap?  I'm thinking we should buy a winnebago and never have to pack again.

Click above for larger image.

Here's the temporary press release the Israeli Antiquities Authority (for you Hebrew and MSS buffs, here's a link to a great high quality image of the MS that is also provided at the end of the press release):

A Rare 2,000 Year Old Hebrew Document Written on Papyrus was

Seized in an Operation

 

The director of the Unit for the Prevention of Antiquities Robbery in the Israel Antiquities Authority: “It seems we are dealing with rare historic evidence regarding the Jewish people in their country from more than 2,000 years ago”.
 

A document thought to be an ancient text written on papyrus was seized yesterday (Tuesday) in an operation led by the Intelligence Office of the Zion Region and the Undercover Unit of the Border Police in Jerusalem, in cooperation with the Unit for the Prevention of Antiquities Robbery and the Archaeological Staff Officer in the Civil Administration.
 

The document is written in ancient Hebrew script, which is characteristic of the Second Temple period and the first and second centuries CE. This style of the writing is primarily known from the Dead Sea scrolls and various inscriptions that occur on ossuaries and coffins. The document itself is written on papyrus. The papyrus is incomplete and was in all likelihood rolled up. It is apparent that pieces of it crumbled mainly along its bottom part. The holes along the left part of the document probably attest to the damage that was caused to it over time. The document measures 15 x 15 centimeters.

Fifteen lines of Hebrew text, written from right to left and one below the other, can be discerned in the document. In the upper line of the text one can clearly read the sentence “Year 4 to the destruction of Israel”. This is likely to be the year 74 CE – in the event the author of the document is referring to the year when the Second Temple was destroyed during the Great Revolt. Another possibility is the year 139 CE – in the event the author is referring to the time when the rural settlement in Judah was devastated at the end of the Bar Kokhba Revolt.

The name of a woman, “Miriam Barat Ya‘aqov”, is also legible in the document followed by a name that is likely to be that of the settlement where she resided: Misalev. This is probably the settlement Salabim. The name Miriam Bat Ya‘aqov is a common name in the Second Temple period. Also mentioned in the document are the names of other people and families, the names of a number of ancient settlements from the Second Temple period and legal wording which deals with the property of a widow and her relinquishment of it.
 

According to Amir Ganor, director of the Unit for the Prevention of Antiquities Robbery in the Israel Antiquities Authority, “Theoretically, based on the epigraphic style, the material the document is written on, the state of preservation and the text, which includes a historic date that can be deciphered, we are dealing with a document that appears to be ancient as defined by the Antiquities Law. Since this object was not discovered in a proper archaeological excavation, it still must undergo laboratory analyses in order to negate the possibility it is a modern forgery”. Ganor adds, “The document is very important from the standpoint of historical and national research. Until now almost no historic scrolls or documents from this period have been discovered in proper archaeological excavations. A historic document that can be definitely dated based on a reference to a historical event such as the ‘destruction of Israel’ has never been discovered. Much can be learned from this document about the names of people, their surnames names and the locations of settlements in Israel during this period. From an initial reading it seems that this document deals with the property of Miriam Bat Ya‘aqov, who was apparently a widow. The deciphering of the entire document by expert epigraphers and historians may shed light on how the people of the period managed their affairs and supplement our knowledge about their way of life. What we have here is rare historic evidence about the Jewish people in their country from more than 2,000 years ago, during the days following the destruction which sent the people of Israel into exile for a very long time – until the creation of the State of Israel”.
 

 For downloading a high resolution image - click here

 
Photograph: The Scroll Conservation Laboratory, Israel Antiquities Authority.
 

For further details, kindly contact: Yoli Shwartz, Israel Antiquities Authority spokesperson, 052-5991888, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

From the sermon SCRIPTURAL CHRISTIANITY, preached at St. Mary's, Oxford, before the University, August 24, 1744 (emphasis added):

9. But it did not satisfy him [the early Christian], barely to abstain from doing evil. his soul was athirst to do good. The language of his heart continually was, "`My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.' My Lord went about doing good; and shall not I tread in his steps?" As he had opportunity therefore, if he could do no good of a higher kind, he fed the hungry, clothed the naked, helped the fatherless or stranger, visited and assisted them that were sick or in prison. he gave all his goods to feed the poor. he rejoiced to labor or to suffer for them; and whereinsoever he might profit another, there especially to "deny himself." he counted nothing too dear to part with for them, as well remembering the word of his Lord: "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me" (Matt. 25:40).

10. Such was Christianity in its rise. Such was a Christian in ancient days. Such was every one of those who, when they heard the threatenings of the chief priests and elders, "lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and were all filled with the Holy Ghost. The multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul:" So did the love of him in whom they had believed constrain them to love one another! "Neither said any of them that aught of the things which he possessed was his own but they had all things common:" So fully were they crucified to the world, and the world crucified to them! "And they continued steadfastly with one accord in the Apostles" doctrine, and in the breaking of bread, and in prayers" (Acts 2:42). "And great grace was upon them all; neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the Apostles' feet: And distribution was made unto every man according as he had need." (Acts 4:31-35.)

Apparently wrote this note to myself a while back: 

• I choose to seek God's Kingdom first.
• I choose to recognize small moments for their great potential.
• I choose to be faithful to God's call and my conscience. 

I don't remember the occasion, and I don't remember if it was original or if I picked it up from someone.  But I like it.  I think I'll keep it.

One cool thing I learned from the Biblical Studies Carnival 41 was that Mark Goodacre, associate professor of NT at Duke, was doing a podcast blog:  podacre.  The subtitle for podacre is:  "Weekly podcast about the world of Biblical scholarship with special reference to the New Testament and Christian origins"

I'm planning on subscribing to his episodes.

James McGrath has hosted the content-packed and entertaining Biblical Studies Carnival 41 over at ExploringOurMatrix.  Be sure to check it out.

And to brag just a bit, four of my posts made the list!

Next up in this parade, the amazing size-changing text performs for your entertainment! Watch it grow, watch it shrink!
Jimmy Doyle looked at the evidence for the longer and shorter text in Luke 22:14-20, as well as posting on the parable in Luke 16:1-14.

and

Good Friday/Crucifixion posts
Near Emmaus offered a round-up of Good Friday posts, kindly saving me the trouble. Nevertheless, deserving separate mention are Mark Goodacre's podcasts (on his podcast blog, Podacre) providing 4-minute treatments of the Passion Narratives,

Jesus’ Trial and Arrest, and his Crucifixion and Burial. See too Jimmy Doyle's post on early depictions of the crucifixion. Darrell Bock was involved in discussions about the Via Dolorosa.

and

Easter/Resurrection posts
Ken Schenck blogged through Tom Wright's Surprised by Hope.
Jimmy Doyle blogged about the resurrection of Jesus in the New Testament.
Jesus Creed connected resurrection and the New Perspective. Michael Gorman blogged about Paul and the resurrection.

The Biblical Studies Carnival is hosted monthly by different bibliobloggers and is "a monthly carnival showcasing the best of weblog posts in the area of academic biblical studies."  I'm honored to even be listed with the others.  I mean, seriously, look at the links of those listed around mine:  Goodacre, Bock, Schenck, McKnight, Gorman . . . and Doyle?

Enoch fragment from DSS

One of the assumptions of many modern Christians goes something like this:

1. God spoke in OT times
2. He said nothing for four hundred years
3. He started speaking again in the time period of the NT.

A four hundred year gap where nothing happened. Malachi and then… silence.

Now this conclusion is largely based on canonization and seems like a good deduction until one begins to investigate the extant literature from this supposedly quiet period. Furthermore, when one begins to become familiar with this intertestamental literature it becomes clear just how important and influential it was on the worldview and articulation of the NT authors. We may say from a distance of 2300 years that “nothing” was happening, but this would have come as a shock to the people that were writing down all these details of many things that were happening. Read Josephus, the Apocrypha, and the Dead Sea Scrolls and it will become obvious very quickly how narrow this incorrect Christian concept is.

One of the very important stories that was formative in the Second Temple period comes to us by way of a collection now known as 1 Enoch. The book is actually a compilation of books ascribed to the ante-diluvian figure of Enoch–and I plan on writing more on them in the future–but for today’s purposes I would like to bring your attention to one of the most important stories for some groups in Second Temple Judaism: the fall of the Watchers. (read more)

 The collection of works that became 1 Enoch were likely widely read and influential within segments of Judaism and early Christianity.  The text and related literature was among the Dead Sea Scrolls and made up part of the Ethiopic canon.  The NT book of Jude makes direct reference to Enoch literature (Jude 1:14-15) and makes reference to the judgement of angels and "strange flesh" that is clearly drawn from 1 Enoch.  A couple of good sources for the study of 1 Enoch is the OT Pseudepigrapha, the DSS, and the Hermeneia comentary on the text (which I have had checked out from the PTS library for a good while).

"We are afraid of emptiness. Spinoza speaks about our "horror vacui," our horrendous fear of vacancy. We like to occupy-fill up-every empty time and space. We want to be occupied. And if we are not occupied we easily become preoccupied; that is, we fill the empty spaces before we have even reached them. We fill them with our worries, saying, 'But what if ...'

It is very hard to allow emptiness to exist in our lives. Emptiness requires a willingness not to be in control, a willingness to let something new and unexpected happen. It requires trust, surrender, and openness to guidance. God wants to dwell in our emptiness."

My grandfather passed away in 1991. He was 87 years old. He spent his entire life on one farm, dying within yards of where he was born. He never finished high school. As a matter of fact, I think he only finished 7th or 8th grade before he went to work in the coal mines of southeastern Oklahoma. He worked hard all of his life and died with a hammer in his hand. The farthest he ever traveled from home was a trip to Nashville...beyond that, West Texas was about the only long trips he ever took (and those he only took to see his children and grand-children). The highest official positions of honor he held was serving most of his life on the hometown school-board (for a school that ran about 400 students K-12) and being a 32nd degree Mason. My grandfather was a nobody in the world's terms:  He didn't achieve much, wasn't wealthy, wasn't institutionally educated, wasn't famous, he didn't "change the world".

He was the greatest man I've ever known.

My grandfather was brilliant and not just to me. I remember people from my hometown--including the highly educated school superintendant--coming to sit beneath the pecan trees near my grandfather's house to get advice from him. He was not only intelligent, he was wise. He was a faithful husband.  He was a great dad and even better grandfather. His friends knew they could trust him.  Someone who knew him told me once,  "He's one of two men I've never heard anyone say any cross word about".   My grandfather didn't desire fame, wealth, status, or power, so he never had reason to use people. As far as I can tell, his only motivation in life was to be a good, hard-working man.

There's a contentment found in such a life that is rare in this American culture.   It's not enough for us anymore to simply be a good man (or woman).  We must achieve. We must accomplish. We must build. We must pursue pleasure. All the pursuits that left Qohelet feeling that life is lived in vain.

In our culture we are not content to live in our "starter home" for more than a few years.  We are not content with the salaries we make.  In our culture we are not content with the relationships we have.  We are not content to be followers but are obsessed with being leaders. In our culture we are not content to be a "nobody" in the world's eyes, rejecting the pursuit of rank, fame, or power for ourselves.  To be content in such ways in our culture is a sin.  

Our culture cries out:  "Come to me all you who are heavy laden, and I'll give you more. Don't you know you should be doing more?"

(modified from a post that was originally on liquidthinking.org in 2004)