Biblical Heritage Center Blog

A massive entranceway has been revealed at King Herod’s palace. Archaeologists from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem have been excavating the Herodian Hilltop Palace over the past year. This entranceway is one of the most impressive features found at the site so far. One of the most startling features of the entryway is a corridor with complex systems of arches spanning its width on three separate levels. The arches act as buttresses for the corridor’s vast side walls; these would have allowed the King and his entourage direct access to the Palace Courtyard.  See picture and read article at -- http://www.newhistorian.com/magnificent-entryway-king-herods-palace-revealed/2524/

Scholars from the University of California at Berkeley have brought to life the ancient sounds of Mesopotamia following the decryption and study of a set of ancient cuneiform texts that date back 3,400 years, according to a report on WFMU. The result is the recreation of a piece of music unheard for thousands of years. Although nearly 40 hymns in cuneiform writing were found on fragments of clay tablets, only one of these tablets, the Hurrian hymn to Nikkal, was found to be nearly complete. The tablet contains the lyrics for a hymn to a goddess of orchards, Nikkal, and instructions for a singer accompanied by a nine-stringed sammûm, a type of harp or, much more likely, a lyre. One or more of the tablets also contains instructions for tuning the harp. Listen to song, see pictures and read article at -- http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/882920-listen-here-ancient-song-recreated-from-3400-year-old-cuneiform-tablets/

A 1,500-year-old fragment of Greek papyrus with writing that refers to the biblical Last Supper and "manna from heaven" may be one of the oldest Christian amulets, say researchers.  The fragment was likely folded up and worn inside a locket or pendant as a sort of   protective charm, according to Roberta Mazza, who spotted the papyrus while looking through thousands of papyri kept in the library vault at the John Rylands Research Institute at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom. See pictures and read complete article -- http://www.livescience.com/47705-last-supper-papyrus-discovered.html

“The only ancient description we have of the making of papyrus is that of Pliny the Elder in his Natural History Book XIII. He wrote in the latter half of the first century A.D., and while some scholars have questioned whether he had actually seen the process due to some of his remarks, even if he got it second hand, this is valuable first century information… (Pliny, Natural History, 13.74-82)” Paper is made from the papyrus plant by separating it with a needle point into very thin strips as broad as possible. The choice quality comes from the center, and thence in the order of slicing. The (choice) quality in former times called ‘hieratic’ because it was devoted only to religious books has, out of flattery, taken on the name of Augustus, and the next quality that of Livia, after his wife, so that the ‘hieratic’ has dropped to third rank. Paper of whatever grade is fabricated on a board moistened with water from the Nile: the muddy liquid serves as the bonding force. First there i...

Excavations in town of Magdala in Golan Heights reveal remains of ancient structure; “historic and rare findings” include fragments of columns, parts of benches and pottery. The structure's grandeur led researchers to conclude that the site contained the ruins of an ancient synagogue. "We're still at an early stage of unearthing the structure," they said. "We found parts of the structure, fragments of columns, parts of benches, the threshold of a door and pottery fragments." See pictures and read complete article at -- http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4608001,00.html

Blessed are the SHALOM makers, for they shall be called sons of God . Who are the SHALOM makers? TZEDAQAH ( righteousness ) is one of the most important words in the Hebrew Scriptures, the Bible of Yeshua (the real Jewish Jesus). The teachings of Yeshua make it very clear that TZEDAQAH is the most important word to him, too. We have witnessed what happens when “believers in Jesus” understand the teachings of Yeshua – they stop believing institutional doctrines and start revealing the image of God through their acts of TOV. Read the complete blog at -- http://therealyesua.blogspot.com/2014/12/hearing-real-yeshuas-voice.html

A First World War soldier’s account of the Christmas truce of 1914 has been released for the first time, chronicling “one of the most extraordinary sights anyone has ever seen”. Captain A D Chater was serving with the 2nd Battalion Gordon Highlanders when peace came briefly to the English and German trenches on the Western Front. His letter to his “dearest mother”, describing the famous moment former enemies risked their lives to walk out into no-man’s land to wish each other a happy Christmas and play football, has been released . See pictures and read article at -- http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/christmas-truce-of-1914-letter-from-trenches-shows-football-match-through-soldiers-eyes-9942929.html

Ignorance we can understand, but we cannot wink at deception.  Jesus would define "deception" as "the stealing of a mind."  The greatest thieves of history are not those who steal money or gold, but those who steal minds. (Jim Myers 1992)

The message repeated throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, and taught by Jesus, is do not elevate the value of anything above the value of human.

As 2014 comes to an end and we prepare for 2015, we are asking those who consider the work of the Biblical Heritage Center important to help fund the work by making a generous year-end donation. BHC provides streams of information designed to help people understand their biblical heritages – all of the things that have been linked to a biblical text. We publish this information in our newsletter Discovering the Bible, BHC Google Group, BHC Blog, The Real Yeshua Blog, From One Jesus to Many Christians Blog, BHC Bible Study Blog, Twitter, Facebook pages, and the BHC website – and we do not charge people for it. Has BHC’s information or have we made a difference in your life? If we have – please take time to make a generous donation today – we want to be able to continue providing information for you and help others too. For information about how to make a donation or to make an online donation today go to -- http://biblicalheritage.org/BHC/donate.htm . If you would li...

The other day, someone gave me a note with Nahum 1:7 printed at the top: “The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him.” For some reason, they neglected to include the next line, which continues the thought from verse 7: “But with an overflowing flood he will make a complete end of Nineveh.” Okay, so maybe the fuller version doesn’t deliver quite the same Hallmark moment. And maybe that’s the problem with how many Christians use the Bible. Christians read (and quote) Scripture in tiny, artificial fragments all the time. And by doing so, do we alter the meaning without even realizing it. Digital Bible apps make it easier than ever to Twitterize holy writ . But we’ve been doing it for ages.  Read the complete article at -- http://www.faithstreet.com/onfaith/2014/04/01/five-bible-verses-you-need-to-stop-misusing/31534

Six clay seals unearthed at Khirbet Summeily, an early Iron Age site in southern Israel, suggest that there was more political complexity in the region at that time than had been previously thought. “These appear to be the only known examples of bullae from the tenth century [BCE], making this discovery unique. See pictures and read article at -- http://www.archaeology.org/news/2832-141216-israel-clay-seals

Beginning with the reign of Adad Nirari II (912-891 BCE), the empire made great territorial expansions that resulted in its eventual control of a region which spanned the whole of Mesopotamia, part of Anatolia, the Levant, and Egypt. They fielded the most effective fighting force in the world at that time, the first to be armed with iron weapons, whose tactics in battle made them invincible. Their political and military policies have also given them the long-standing reputation for cruelty and ruthlessness though this has come to be contested in recent years, as it is now argued they were neither more nor less cruel than other ancient empires (such as that of Alexander the Great or of Rome). The kings of the empire, such as Tiglath Pileser III, Shalmaneser V, Sargon II, Sennacherib, and Esarhaddon, are mentioned a number of times throughout the Bible as the enemies of the Israelites, although the inscriptions of the Assyrians and the books of the Bible differ, sometimes dramatically, ...

Surprising as it seems, the camel is a relative newcomer to the Sahara – at least when compared to other domestic animals such as cattle, sheep, horses and donkeys. Although the process is not yet fully known, camels were domesticated in the Arabian Peninsula around the third millennium BC, and spread from there to the Middle East, North Africa and Somalia from the 1st century AD onwards. The steps of this process from Egypt to the Atlantic Ocean have been documented through many different historical sources, from Roman texts to sculptures or coins, but it is especially relevant in Saharan rock art, where camels became so abundant that they have given their name to a whole period.   What is it that makes camels so suited to deserts? It is not only their ability to transform the fat stored in their hump into water and energy, or their capacity to eat thorny bushes, acacia leaves and even fish and bones. Camels are also able to avoid perspiration by manipulating their core temperatu...

The First Temple was built in the 10th century B.C.E. by King Solomon, according to the Hebrew Bible (1 Kings 5-9). But the sanctity of the site goes back hundreds and possibly thousands of years before that. The land on which Solomon built the temple had been acquired by King David, Solomon's father, who thought to build a grand temple himself. But the Lord, according to the biblical story, rejected David's ambition because of the king's sins and the job passed to the son. The land David chose, a threshing floor, was associated with Moriah, where the patriarch Abraham brought his son Isaac for sacrifice (Genesis 22:14). (In the Bible, the mount is also referred to as “Zion,” a name that eventually came to encompass the entire Land of Israel.) That too is a tradition shared by the three great monotheistic religions. Other than that, and a few other minor references to the site in the Bible, however, there is no obvious explanation why Solomon built his temple here....

The Atlantic pistachio tree is not only a source of food and a lesson in mutuality, thanks to a very strange symbiotic relationship it has with an insect. It was also a goddess, at least once upon a time. In Israel, fall  doesn't  trumpet its arrival in a cacophonous changing of leaves. A rare one whose leaves do turn russet in the best tradition of more northern climes is the wild terebinth, a.k.a. the Atlantic pistachio – oft-mentioned in the bible and a source of superfood for the locals before they were even human. Some terebinths are low and bushy, like in the Valley of Elah, where   David   fought Goliath (1 Sam. 17:2 -   elah is the name of this tree in Hebrew). Yet others have broad girths and wide crowns, in the rare places where deforestation over the centuries was avoided. The   Pistacia atlantica   nuts among the “choice fruits” of Canaan that Jacob instructed his sons to take back to Egypt (Gen. 43:11) were pistachios (althou...

Isaiah son of Amoz towers among the giants of classical biblical prophecy -- repeatedly challenging the nation and its leaders with the ethical and religious will of God, and providing instructions and visions of moral renewal and universal peace. In such ways, he both dramatizes the engagement of a prophet with the social and political events of his times and expresses an impassioned concern for a life governed by covenantal values. For Isaiah, deceit and dissembling, like moral blindness and greed, corrupt the religious spirit and are anathema to God. The ancient covenant is thus no abstract teaching, but a concrete challenge for rectitude and justice in daily life. Intensely alive in the troubled times of Judah in the late eighth century B.C.E., Isaiah's words and deeds have became a model for a life of prophetic witness to divine demands. Isaiah's prophetic career was enmeshed in the political and cultural turmoil of the times. According to the superscription to th...

Always watch for clues that reveal how much time passes in the verses of the Bible that you are reading. Not only will this help you better understand the context of what you are reading, it will make you aware of what happened in that period of time. This will often help fill in blanks about what took place in that period of time; it may also raise some very interesting questions. And the man knew his woman Chavah, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain . (Genesis 4:1a) Read the complete BHC Bible Study at -- http://bhcbiblestudies.blogspot.com/2014/12/importance-of-time-markers-who-came-up.html

Did Jesus want to start a new religion or was his goal to teach his fellow Jews how to be more faithful to the Jewish Scriptures of the Jewish religion that he practiced?  Read the latest Real Yeshua Blog at -- http://therealyesua.blogspot.com/2014/12/did-jesus-try-to-start-new-religion.html

Today is “ Giving Tuesday ,” a new tradition in the holiday season after Black Friday and Cyber Monday . It is a day of giving to support your favorite nonprofit organizations. We hope you'll keep the   Biblical Heritage Center in mind as you give today. Please remember that you might be able to double your gift if your company matches charitable donations . Also, PayPal will add 1% to all donations made today until December 31 by our online PayPal link. To donate click on – http://biblicalheritage.org/BHC/donate.htm Thank you!