900-year-old sword discovered in Israel

Last week, Shlomi Katzin was scuba diving off the coast of Atlit, when something caught his eye. Moving closer, he realized it was an iron sword more than 3 feet in length!

Having already seen marine-encrusted stone anchors and pottery shards, he realized this was a big deal and brought the to shore in order for it to be kept safe from moving sand. There he called the Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA) to let them know of his find. Simple tests showed that this sword was more than 900 years old—dating back to the time of the Crusades!

WOW!

Such finds like this are common, the IAA's Marine Archaeology Unit Director, Kobi Sharvit explained, because "the Carmel Coast has a lot of natural coves, which once upon a time, 'provided shelter for ancient ships during storms, and larger coves around the port cities developed.'"

Since 2010, when a huge winter storm brought more than 50-foot waves to hammer the Carmel coastline, the underwater topography changed as well, which ushered in one of the largest and most prolific periods of marine archeology in Israel's history according to the Jerusalem Post's Rossella Tercatin. 

Sharvit pointed out that "the coast of Israel is a bridge between east and west and north and south", and then a thick layer of sand from the Nile has helped preserve archeological evidence.

Every storm that comes through, every strong wave, has the potential to shift the seabed and reveal more historical treasure underneath. With the winter rains still to come, I wonder what will be revealed this year?

The Secrets of the Cross Trilogy by Elizabeth Musser

Last month, I read this fascinating trilogy by Elizabeth Musser. It doesn't directly touch on Jewish culture (though there are Jewish characters in the series), but I did see correlation as far as honor/shame cultures and the importance of family.

So, I wanted to share the Secrets of the Cross Trilogy with you!

Set primarily in the early 1960s (book 3 is set in 1994), the story follows characters in southern France and northern Algeria during the French-Algerian conflict, detailing the dynamics of racism and clashing cultures between Algerians loyal to their country, descendants of Algerian soldiers who are loyal to the French army and fought against Algeria in the war, Europeans living in Algeria as a result of the conflict, and all of those 3 also living in France. 

From a cultural standpoint, it's a fascinating story to explore, as I knew little of this dynamic. Combined with daring rescues, harrowing escapes, plots, and intrigue, it's a great read!

But what I wanted to share is what stood out to me on page 204, as the character of Ali, an Algerian socialist, vows revenge on his father's death against the descendants of the man who killed his father (who is also dead): "Ali spat. 'Captain Duchemin! You traitor. I'll find your daughter and granddaughter, and then I can draw the line through your family no one will remember them. My father will be avenged'".

This reminded of the blogs I wrote a few years ago about the importance of family, names, and the dynamics of honor and shame in Eastern cultures. This character is so focused on revenge that he wants to wipe out the whole family line of a man who is already dead (so he won't know it happened) in order to avenge his dead father.

He's focused on the name. He wants to completely remove the name. There is importance in names in Eastern cultures that we don't pick up on right away in Western cultures. As I stated in this blog, "The idea is so much deeper in Jewish culture, however. 'It's hard to overstate how important names were in Biblical times,' Lois Tverberg states in Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus. 'In ancient thought, without a name, an object or being didn't even exist. Egyptian documents describe the time before creation as "when no name of anything had yet been named,' and it was only when God created and named things that they officially existed.

Names in ancient Near Eastern culture were more than just descriptive words. They were reputations... legacies... identities."

Wow! That's very different from Western culture. What other media (books, movies, tv shows, etc have you seen this)? I'd love to know in the comments below!

You can find the trilogy here on Amazon!

The Rock, The Road, and the Rabbi: The First and Second Temples

Speaking of the importance of pictures and analogies in Hebrew culture, here's another one from The Rock, the Road, and the Rabbi that really stood out to me:

The Temple Mount is the most contested piece of land in all of the world. I'm not going to go into all of it here, as this blog might take up the whole internet. So I'm going to quickly summarize the legitimate claim of Israel and the Jewish faith to it. 

The First Temple, built on Mount Moriah, was built by Solomon on the very mountain where God led Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. It was destroyed in 586 BC by the Babylonians, when the last of the Israelites were carried away into captivity. God allowed this to happen because Israel had turned away from their first love: YHWH.

In 538 BC, the Second Temple was built by Zerubbabel, who was allowed by Babylonian King Cyrus to do so (Ezra 2). However, it was much smaller, less ornate than the original temple. Then, God allowed King Herod to begin a large-scale renovation and expansion of it, which "was one of the largest construction projects of 1st century B.C. Because of the immense resources Herod invested, the Second Temple became one of the wonders of the ancient world [....] The Second Temple stood from 516 BC to 70 AD" when the Romans destroyed it (page 157). All that remains today is the most Western Wall, considered to be holy ground to the Jews, as it is all that remains from the Temple. Sobel says God allowed this temple to be destroyed because of the intense hatred Jews at the time felt towards their fellow man.

In fact, he says, "The choice of location for the temple was connected to—and symbolic of—its spiritual foundation, which was love. The First Temple was destroyed because of idolatry, and the second was destroyed due to a senseless hatred that the Jewish people had towards one another. 

Thus, the First Temple was destroyed when Israel broke the 1st and greatest commandment, which is, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength,' (Deut. 6:5). The Second Temple was destroyed when Israel broke the 2nd greatest commandment: 'Love your neighbor as yourself' (Lev. 19:18)."

WOW! Talk about a powerful picture. 

To this day, the Jewish people wait to rebuild the temple. Plans are already made and materials gathered for its construction. And the Bible says there will be one, because the antichrist will declare himself to be God, which will lead to the ultimate abomination that causes desolation. But honestly, I think that will be the 4th Temple, because of what Kenneth E. Bailey said here. According to him—according to Paul—we as believers are the Third Temple, with Jesus as the cornerstone. 

What do you think? What I do know is that watching for the rebuilding of the physical Temple is a key sign of the last days. Currently, it doesn't exist. But I heard that it could literally be rebuilt in as quickly as 90 days, because of the plans in place! WOW!

The Rock, the Road, and the Rabbi: The Dead Sea Coming back to Life!

This is the last post from the series on The Rock, the Road, and the Rabbi. I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have!

This last post is going to talk about the Dead Sea, and something incredible discovered in 2011. Actually called the Salt Sea, it was nicknamed the Dead Sea because nothing can live in it. The water is about 10x more mineral than an ocean, which means that you can float in it. It's literally impossible to drown. If you walk far enough out, your feet will just fly out from under you (this happened to me) and you will float. It's so trippy! At 2000 feet below sea level, it's the lowest place on earth, and believed to be the site of Biblical Sodom and Gomorrah. It's also evaporating at the rate of 1 meter a year. 

Many years ago, a tourist noticed freshwater pools along the shores of the Dead Sea with fish swimming in them! WOW! And then somehow they figured out how to explore the bottom in 2011 and discovered "huge craters on the seafloor, fifteen meters across and 20 meters deep, full of fresh fish and covered with mats full of microorganisms, with freshwater flowing from the craters" (page 165)!

WOW! This is especially incredible to me in light of Ezekiel's words about what will happen in the Millennial Kingdom: 

"He asked me, 'Son of man, do you see this?'

Then he led me back to the bank of the river. When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. He said to me, 'This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh. Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds—like the fish of the Mediterranean Sea. But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing'” (Ezekiel 47: 6-12)

SO COOL! This is what's coming—but it's already happening!

I hope this series encourages you to get this book (click on the picture below to get it on Amazon, or click here). Have you guessed the meaning of the title yet? The Rock is the Jesus, the Road is the Holy Land, and the Rabbi is the Word of God.

What did you think of this series? Let me know in the comments below!