Current Events: January 2008 Archives

What fun. What embarassment. Listen for John Edwards whining occasionally that he’s really experienced, too, and has a nicer hair style.

Once again, archeaology confirms the Bible. From the Jerusalem Post:

A stone seal bearing the name of one of the families who acted as servants in the First Temple and then returned to Jerusalem after being exiled to Babylonia has been uncovered in an archeological excavation in Jerusalem’s City of David, a prominent Israeli archeologist said Wednesday.

According to the Book of Nehemiah, the Temech family were servants of the First Temple and were sent into exile to Babylon following its destruction by the Babylonians in 586 BCE.

The family was among those who later returned to Jerusalem, the Bible recounts.

The seal, which was bought in Babylon and dates to 538-445 BCE, portrays a common and popular cultic scene, Mazar said.

The 2.1 × 1.8-cm. elliptical seal is engraved with two bearded priests standing on either side of an incense altar with their hands raised forward in a position of worship.

A crescent moon, the symbol of the chief Babylonian god Sin, appears on the top of the altar.

Under this scene are three Hebrew letters spelling Temech, Mazar said.

The Bible refers to the Temech family: “These are the children of the province, that went up out of the captivity, of those that had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and came again to Jerusalem and to Judah, every one unto his city.” [Nehemiah 7:6]… “The Nethinim [7:46]”… The children of Temech.” [7:55].

The fact that this cultic scene relates to the Babylonian chief god seemed not to have disturbed the Jews who used it on their own seal, she added.

The seal of one of the members of the Temech family was discovered just dozens of meters away from the Opel area, where the servants of the Temple, or “Nethinim,” lived in the time of Nehemiah, Mazar said.

One thing about the interpretation of the seal bothers bothers me greatly. The new moon almost does not refer to the Babylonian god, but rather to the new moon that marks the begining of each Jewish month. The new moon has to be witnessed by two priests — note that the seal shows two priests — and a fire is lit to announce the moon. I believe that the seal represents two priests sighting a new moon and lighting a fire to signal the beginning of the month, not two priests burning incense with a symbol for a Babylonian god overhead. These were pious Jews who returned to Israel and they would never recognize any god but the One True God. From Congregation Melech Yisrael:

The New Moon is the most pivotal date in the Jewish Calendar. Without the New Moon, we could not have any of the Jewish Holidays. All the Jewish Holidays revolve around the date of the New Moon. The New Moon tells us which day is the first of the month.

…

Rosh Chodesh is the day from sundown to sundown on the night that the moon is fully shadowed from the sun by the earth. The new lunar month occurs at the moment when the earth is exactly between the moon and the sun. The moon makes an orbit of the earth in 29.53059 days. At the moment of the New Moon just an outline of the moon is visible pointing toward the earth.

The new moon must be sighted and verified by two witnesses. Some months the moon is not visible in Israel on the actual night of it’s birth so the Rosh Chodesh sighting date does not agree with the astronomers date for the new moon.

The actual dates of Rosh Chodesh can be observed one of two ways. One could use the dates as defined on The Jewish Calendar.

The dates are established by the Rabbis using a special method developed long ago. Or one could use the actual observance dates which depend on conditions.

In Biblical Times the beginning of each month was watched for and, after being verified by two witnesses, the Jewish Priests in Jerusalem would announce it’s arrival.

The word was sent afar by a series of signal fires so the entire land — and even beyond — would know.

The more I grow as a Christian, the more I find that there are very few things that I believe by blind faith. Not only do I see the Bible being validated by archeaology, but I see God working within my life and the lives of others. I am reminded of two quotes from C.S. Lewis:

I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.

Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.