Participants: John Bradshaw
Series Code: IIW
Program Code: IIW001437A
01:30 ♪[Theme music]♪
01:40 ♪[Theme music]♪ 01:49 >>John Bradshaw: This is It Is Written. 01:51 I'm John Bradshaw. Thanks for joining me. 01:54 As you read the Bible, you read some of the great 01:57 stories of all of history. 01:59 Accounts that God has placed into the Bible for us to learn 02:03 not only their history, but to understand the heart of God, 02:06 the love of God, and the plan of salvation. 02:08 And as we read the Bible, we read simply some 02:12 mundane information about everyday life. 02:15 But, rightly understood, that mundane information 02:18 shines a bright light onto the lives of Bible characters, 02:22 the culture and the environments from which they sprang, 02:25 and help us understand in greater depth 02:29 the great themes of the Bible. 02:30 Well, today to that end, I have come to the 02:32 Lynn H. Wood Archaeological Museum 02:35 on the campus of Southern Adventist University, 02:37 and my special guest today is Dr. Michael Hasel, 02:39 a professor of Near Eastern studies and archaeology. 02:42 Dr. Hasel, thanks for joining me today. 02:44 >>Michael Hasel: It's great to be with you, John. 02:45 >>John: Now, I don't mean to be disparaging. 02:47 And I talk about mundane details about everyday life. 02:50 But we read about people who were shepherds. 02:53 They herded sheep. 02:54 We read about people who were 02:56 farmers; perhaps they grew crops. 02:59 What about some of these details can 03:02 help us really understand the Bible in a greater way, 03:06 and in a way that grows our faith in the Bible? 03:08 >>Michael: Well to me this is what makes archaeology 03:11 such a relevant thing for the Bible. 03:13 We have these 66 books of the Bible 03:15 that give us this grand scope of history 03:18 going through from the beginning of Earth's history 03:20 all the way to the end. 03:22 And yet, many times the details: 03:24 the details of how people lived, what they ate, 03:27 how they prepared their food, 03:28 what kind of houses they lived in, 03:29 all of those kinds of things, are mentioned in passing 03:32 but they're not really the main focus of what 03:34 the Bible writers are interested in. 03:36 One of the things that we have to remind ourselves is: 03:38 they lived in a very different kind of world 03:41 than many of us do, at least in the western world. 03:42 They were, they were agricultural people. 03:45 Agriculture was a major part of, of their way of life. 03:48 >>John: Let me ask you something about the, the, the signs, 03:50 the discipline of archaeology. You're an archaeologist. 03:53 You, you dig in Israel, you've dug in other places, 03:56 um, I'd like to think that most of your work is, is 04:02 unearthing temples, gates, great streets, cities, 04:10 but I think the reality for archaeologists 04:13 is that a lot of the time you're finding scraps of pottery, 04:16 and what sort of things might you find in the field 04:21 that somebody like me wouldn't realize is actually of great use 04:25 to an archaeologist? >>Michael: Right. 04:26 >>John: What would some of those things be? 04:27 >>Michael: Well, we find, we find, like you said, 04:29 we do find temples. We do find palaces. 04:31 Those are always the highlights. Whenever we find a big building, 04:34 it's, it's, it's a great thing. 04:35 But we're also interested in household archaeology; 04:38 how people lived in their everyday lives. 04:40 And, and we excavate those houses. 04:42 In the last several years I've been working 04:43 at a site called Lachish, or Lachish, 04:45 and we have been digging a row of houses 04:48 right next to the palace, or the major uh, building of that time. 04:52 And, and, and the materials that we find in there 04:54 give us an insight into how people lived. 04:56 Let me give you a couple of examples. 04:57 >>John: Sure. 04:59 >>Michael: Um, 05:02 this is a very heavy, I'll let you hold it in a minute, 05:05 a very heavy piece of basalt. This is a volcanic rock. 05:08 It comes, actually, from the northern part of Israel, 05:10 um, up near the Sea of Galilee, which was a very volcanic area. 05:15 And this was what the ancients used, this heavy rock 05:19 with the coarse area, to, um, to grind their grain with. 05:24 And so, you know, you, you have a, you have uh, 05:27 an under part here, and you're moving back and forth, 05:31 and this is what you use to make your flour 05:33 so that you can make your bread every day. 05:35 Um, just feel the weight of that. 05:37 This is, this is not something... 05:38 >>John: Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's real heavy. 05:40 >>Michael: ...that, that's light. 05:41 But because of the porous nature, 05:42 it really allows the grinding of those grains down to 05:47 something that, that can be edible 05:49 and can be put into bread. 05:50 >>John: So let me ask you a question. 05:51 This seems to answer the question, well, really, 05:53 this, this is an everyday stuff of life... 05:56 >>Michael: Right. 05:57 >>John: item that you might find. 05:59 How do you know that that's what this was used for? 06:01 >>Michael: Well, you, you know this because of the shape of it. 06:03 It's been shaped, it's been, it's been carved 06:06 so that it nicely fits into a human hand like this. 06:08 And then you can see the bottom of it, 06:11 is, is often very smooth from, 06:13 from that grinding that has taken place over time. 06:15 You see a rock like this and you know this is, this is manmade. 06:18 This is something that they've taken and shaped. 06:20 And that's when a rock, for an archaeologist, 06:22 becomes an artifact... >>John: Right. 06:24 >>Michael: before that time. 06:25 It's simply a rock, and geologists study those. 06:28 But, but as soon as you have something 06:30 that's been formed by human hands and used as a tool, 06:33 which this was, 06:34 then it's something much more significant. 06:36 >>John: In endeavoring to understand the culture, 06:37 the life and the times of the people who lived way back then, 06:40 it seems to me that, 06:41 almost anything you find is valuable. 06:43 I know that we've had discussions before 06:44 and you've talked about how, how, how bones 06:47 that have been found, just bones, discarded bones, 06:50 told a lot and gave a lot of information... 06:53 >>Michael: Absolutely. 06:54 >>John: ...that became very useful. 06:55 >>Michael: Every bit of information that we can gather, 06:57 much of it is left behind, much of it is garbage 06:59 or things that people didn't want anymore. 07:02 But they all give us a glimpse into what people did, 07:04 how they lived back then. 07:06 The bones can give us information about the diet 07:09 of the ancients, uh, what kind of things they ate. Um. 07:12 >>John: And therefore who they were. 07:14 >>Michael: And who they were, exactly, because.. 07:16 >>John: Jews would leave different bones behind 07:17 than non-Jews, for instance. >>Michael: That's right. 07:18 We've, we've dug at a number of Judean sites where we have found 07:21 not a single pig bone after digging for seven seasons, 07:24 and, and digging 30 percent of the site. 07:26 Whereas the Philistines had 15 to 30 percent 07:28 of the remains that are found at Philistine sites are pig bones. 07:31 We also know today that the pigs that are in Israel, 07:34 there have been studies done of these ancient pigs, 07:37 and they're, they're species that they were coming from 07:40 Europe, and that fits very well with the Philistines, 07:43 who are also coming from Greece and from that area. 07:45 So they were introduced, not by the Israelites, not by locals, 07:49 but they were brought from the outside in. 07:50 >>John: Now, is there a story in the Bible 07:53 you think'd be great to look at? 07:55 Maybe it continues something relatively everyday, 07:59 sort of mundane, but, but, 08:02 in archaeology we've been able to learn more about these 08:06 cultural practices that shine a light on, 08:08 our understanding of the Word of God. 08:09 Where would we begin? 08:10 >>Michael: Well, there's many, many places we could go to, 08:12 but as I think about rural lifestyle 08:15 and especially agricultural lifestyle, 08:16 I can't help about, think about the story of Ruth and Boaz, 08:20 >>John: Ok. 08:21 >>Michael: and, uh, that, that great little book of Ruth 08:23 that's found, um, in the Old Testament 08:26 is a, is a, is a glimpse into the ancient world 08:29 and the period of the Judges, 08:31 and it gives us an understanding of what life was like. 08:34 Now, the setting is the city of Bethlehem, 08:37 the town of Bethlehem. 08:38 It's the same place, uh, that, that David would later be born. 08:42 In fact, Ruth is David's great-grandmother. 08:45 And then later on, of course, this is where Jesus 08:48 would be born as well. So this, that's the setting, 08:50 and it's still a rural community today. 08:52 You can still see the shepherds 08:54 out in the fields with their flocks, and 08:56 you can still see agriculture taking place there today. 08:58 >>John: Ruth, chapter 2, I'm going to read a little passage. 09:03 See if you can comment on this. 09:05 >>Michael: Sure. 09:06 >>John: Part of the book of Ruth, you know, 09:07 for those of us who have been raised in a modern world 09:10 and we've been raised in cities and so on, 09:12 it, it, it's hard to even make it compute. 09:14 You really must try to understand 09:16 the cultural milieu. >>Michael: Sure. 09:18 >>John: So let me read this. 09:19 Ruth, chapter 2, starting in verse 2. 09:21 "Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, 09:24 'Let me go now to the field, and glean ears of corn 09:27 after him in whose sight I shall find grace.' 09:31 And she said unto her; 'Go, my daughter.' 09:33 And she went, and came, 09:34 and gleaned in the field after the reapers..." 09:36 Now, that's just an everyday sort of occurrence. 09:39 What does archaeology help us understand about that? 09:43 >>Michael: Well, I think to understand the, 09:47 the setting of all of this, 09:49 and to go back to that setting again, um, we have, 09:53 we have some, some grain here. 09:57 >>John: Now, that's not corn. 09:58 >>Michael: This is not corn, no. 09:59 >>John: And that's because? 10:00 >>Michael: Because the, the King James version, of course, 10:03 was translated in 1611 in Britain, and Britain, 10:06 the term corn was the generic term that was used for grain. 10:10 That's, that's, uh, it, it means grain. 10:12 And if you know the Hebrew, it simply means grain. 10:14 So they used corn. 10:16 It's not maize, because maize is a New World product that, uh, 10:19 that comes from the Aztecs and the Mayans and so forth. 10:22 >>John: So this was wheat. 10:23 >>Michael: So this was wheat. 10:24 Barley and wheat, 10:26 they would, they would take in the fields. 10:27 And this is how it grew, as it grows today. 10:30 And, uh, they would, they would harvest it, they would cut it. 10:33 We find the sickles still in the field, uh, 10:35 not in the field, sometimes in the homes. 10:37 The sickles that were used for this, sometimes they're made uh, 10:40 from actual iron blades in later periods. 10:43 In earlier periods they were actually made from stone blades 10:46 that were found in that context. So they would cut them down, 10:50 and then they would gather them up like this. 10:52 And then the process at that point would be to separate, 10:56 of course, the kernels from everything else, 10:59 and they would then throw, throw these up in the air 11:02 and allow the chaff, after, after they, they, uh, 11:05 would go over it with, with, with a heavy 11:07 uh, piece of, of uh, wood that had stone in it, 11:12 to kind of separate all this stuff out. 11:14 They would then throw it up in the air, 11:16 and the chaff would fly away, 11:18 and the kernels of grain would drop down, 11:20 and they would have a nice pile of, of whole kernels, 11:24 that then they would have to grind into flour. 11:26 >>John: Um, using one of those. 11:28 >>Michael: Using one of these grinders. 11:29 And I've, I have another one here I want to show you 11:31 that was found. >>John: How old is this? 11:33 >>Michael: This is probably dating to the eighth century. 11:36 Uh, this is the time period of Isaiah and, um, and Amos, 11:40 who were also, Amos came from very close by, 11:43 from Tekoa, very close by to Bethlehem. 11:47 So in this case, this is a much smaller 11:49 stone that was used to grind. 11:50 Sometimes these smaller, uh, items were used for, 11:54 not so much for grain, but for fruits and that kind of thing, 11:57 to, to, uh, to use that. 11:59 And you can see the beautiful decorations here. 12:01 This is the same material. It's made out of basalt. 12:03 It's not as coarse basalt as we had before. 12:06 But it's still the same material and weighs a lot. 12:09 >>John: And once again, 12:10 archaeology bringing into clearer focus 12:12 the ordinary lives, the daily details of those people 12:15 who lived so long ago, the people of whom we read, 12:18 about whom we study in the Word of God. 12:20 Real people who lived real lives. 12:23 Back with more in just a moment. 12:25 ♪[Music]♪ 12:32 >>John: It's a subject that is talked about much, 12:33 studied often, and you want to know what the Bible says 12:37 about the temple in scripture. 12:39 To find out, receive today's free offer: 12:41 "Rebuilding the Temple." 12:43 Call 800-253-3000. 12:46 Or visit us online at iiwoffer.com. 12:50 What does the Bible say about the Temple and its services? 12:53 Get today's free offer: "Rebuilding the Temple." 12:55 800-253-3000, 12:57 visit us at iiwoffer.com. 13:02 >>Announcer: Have you ever struggled 13:02 to say no to temptation? 13:04 You're not alone. 13:06 Everybody has at some point. 13:07 But there is hope. 13:09 "Taking a Stand" 13:10 is a five part series presented by Pastor John Bradshaw 13:13 that will help you win your spiritual battles. 13:15 To order your copy of "Taking a Stand" on DVD, 13:18 call 1-888-664-5573, 13:22 or download it from our web store at 13:24 www.itiswritten.shop. 13:27 Discover powerful ways you can live 13:29 a victorious Christian life. 13:31 >>John: This is It Is Written. 13:33 I'm John Bradshaw. Thanks for joining me today. 13:36 Today my guest is Dr. Michael Hasel, an archaeologist. 13:39 I'm at the Lynn H. Wood Archaeological Museum 13:42 in Collegedale, Tennessee. 13:45 Dr. Hasel, there's something I want to ask you about. 13:47 Here in 1 Samuel, chapter 2, I'm going to read in verse, uh, 19: 13:51 "Moreover, his mother made him a little coat, 13:54 and brought it to him from year to year, 13:56 when she came up with her husband 13:58 to offer the yearly sacrifice." 14:00 So Hannah was making Samuel a coat every year. 14:05 As he grew, he'd need a new one. What was involved in that? 14:09 >>Michael: Well, it was, it was a very involved process, 14:11 very different from us going to a store today 14:14 and simply buying something, buying a piece of clothing. 14:16 Uh, we have some interesting artifacts here. 14:19 The first thing, of course, that they had to do 14:22 was to get the wool from a sheep. 14:25 And, um, of course, 14:27 they didn't have to kill the sheep necessarily to do this. 14:30 They could shear the sheep and, and, and get the wool, 14:32 uh, in, in, in different times of the year. 14:35 And they would take that wool, of course, 14:37 and then once they had the wool, 14:39 they would take an artifact like this. 14:42 This is a, they could get any stick, 14:45 and they would put what is called a spindle whirl 14:47 on the bottom of it. 14:49 Spindle whirl, this doesn't really fit very well, 14:52 but normally it would fit very nicely. 14:54 And then they would spin that spindle whirl. 14:56 That the weight of this would allow them to spin it 14:58 very nicely around, and they could take strands of that wool 15:02 and make it into yarn, or make it into, uh, 15:07 material that they could use for weaving. 15:09 The next part of that process, after they were done 15:13 making the strands, was they would use a loom 15:16 that has, also, loom weights at the bottom. 15:19 These, uh, would, would, these weights at the bottom 15:23 would hold down the strands of cloth in the vertical position, 15:28 and then they would bring the other cloth across and slowly, 15:33 they would slowly begin to weave that back and forth. 15:37 And in time this all would create either a nice new carpet, 15:43 a part of a tent, or, uh in the case of Samuel, his mother, 15:48 uh, she could construct a very nice, 15:50 or weave a very nice piece of clothing for him every year. 15:54 >>John: Now, from an archaeological perspective, 15:55 I doubt very much that too many full looms have ever been 15:58 uh, excavated. 15:59 So what do archaeologists find that talks of this? 16:02 >>Michael: In this, uh, particular case what we find 16:06 in the heartland of Israel in not-so-dry regions is, 16:10 uh, we find the actual loom weights. 16:13 Uh, this last summer we were excavating a series of houses, 16:15 and we found in one area, in one house, 16:18 we found 58 of these loom weights. 16:21 So we knew there was a loom there at some time. 16:23 We didn't find any cloth. 16:25 The, uh, the wood of the loom had already 16:28 disintegrated over the last, uh, it was about 16:30 the, the, the room dated to 2700 B.C. 16:34 uh, about 2,700 years ago, about 700 B.C. 16:36 And so you have, though, the remnants of what could survive. 16:41 And these loom weights, uh, they're made out of, uh, clay, 16:45 they would be baked, uh, in the destruction debris 16:48 and would be preserved as a result of that. 16:49 >>John: So who would have made this? 16:51 Would it have been Hannah herself? 16:53 Would it have been a servant? 16:54 Who would use a loom like that? 16:56 >>Michael: Well, it probably would have been Hannah herself 16:59 from the context we have in the biblical passage. 17:01 But we really don't know for certain. 17:03 Um, the womenfolk were normally the ones that would do 17:06 kind of the household activities of this type. 17:09 And, uh, Hannah very well may have been the person to do that. 17:12 >>John: Which is interesting you say the women, 17:15 because then we have the story of Joseph's coat, 17:19 who it appears, uh, that was made by his father. 17:22 And he would have used something much like this. 17:24 >>Michael: Oh, yes, 17:25 he would have used something very similar to this. 17:27 Of course, Joseph lived about 17:28 700 years before the time of Samuel, maybe 750 years. 17:32 So again, this is a, a kind of lifestyle, 17:37 a kind of way of life that would have gone 17:39 for hundreds of years through the ancient Near East. 17:41 And it's interesting, with Joseph, we have uh, we have a 17:45 uh, tomb painting called the Beni Hasan tomb painting, 17:48 which shows Asiatics coming to trade in Egypt. 17:51 And they're dressed in, in, in very colorful clothing, 17:55 which seems to mirror the kind of clothing that Joseph was 17:58 given by his father. So it's another one of those 18:00 corroborating facts that we have from, from history. 18:03 >>John: Magnificent. Thanks for that. 18:05 The Bible, a living book, a dynamic book. 18:08 Archaeology bringing to life the times, the daily lives, 18:13 the personalities of the Word of God. 18:16 Don't go away. We'll be back with 18:17 more in just a moment. 18:19 ♪[Music]♪ 18:22 >>Announcer: In Matthew 4:4, the Word of God says... 18:24 “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, 18:27 but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'” 18:31 "Every Word" is a one-minute, Bible-based daily devotional 18:34 presented by Pastor John Bradshaw, 18:36 and designed especially for busy people like you. 18:39 Look for Every Word on selected networks, 18:42 or watch it online every day on our website, 18:44 ItIsWritten.com. 18:47 Receive a daily spiritual boost. 18:49 Watch "Every Word" you'll be glad you did. 18:51 Here's a sample. 18:55 ♪[Theme music]♪ 19:01 One day Jesus was asked 19:02 to heal the desperately ill servant of a certain centurion. 19:06 Before Jesus got to the man's house, 19:07 the centurion sent word telling Jesus not to come. 19:10 He said, "You don't even need to come here. 19:12 Just say a word, and my servant shall be healed." 19:15 He explained that as a man in authority, 19:17 he knew that when he gave orders, they'd be carried out. 19:19 He said, "I believe that when You say something, 19:22 Your orders will be carried out too." 19:24 Jesus was impressed. 19:25 The Bible says He marveled, and said, 19:28 "I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." 19:31 Luke 7, verse 9. 19:33 The man had total confidence that if Jesus spoke, 19:36 what He said would happen. 19:37 Now, that's faith. 19:38 Have that sort of real faith today. 19:40 Believe that when Jesus speaks, 19:43 and He speaks in the Bible, 19:45 you can expect what He says to happen. 19:49 I'm John Bradshaw for It Is Written. 19:51 Let's live today by every word. 19:57 ♪[Theme music]♪ 20:06 >>John: Thanks for joining me today on It Is Written, 20:08 where my guest is archaeologist Dr. Michael Hasel. 20:12 Dr. Hasel, today we're talking about archaeology 20:15 and everyday life in the times of the Bible. 20:18 And if you'll allow me, there's a question I want to put to you, 20:20 because this has intrigued me. 20:22 I'll read the passage; you'll know why. 20:24 2 Kings, chapter 4, starting in verse 8: 20:28 And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, 20:31 where was a great woman; 20:33 and she constrained him to eat bread. 20:35 And so it was, that as oft as he passed by, 20:38 he turned in there to eat bread. 20:40 And she said to her husband, 20:42 Behold now, I percieve that this is an holy man of God, 20:44 which passes us by continually. 20:46 Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; 20:50 and let us set him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, 20:52 and a candlestick: and it shall be, when he comes to us, 20:55 that he shall turn in there. 20:57 What were houses like back then 20:59 that this family could just decide to make him 21:02 a chamber whether that's a room or a lean-to, 21:05 I don't quite know. 21:07 Tell me about what houses were like 21:09 back in the time of the prophets. 21:11 >>Michael: It's very interesting. 21:13 The way houses were built is a very typical style 21:17 for Israelites. 21:18 It's, uh, it's a different style than you have 21:20 in other surrounding cultures. 21:22 It's not a Canaanite house; it's not an Egyptian house; 21:24 it's not a, the Israelite house was a very, very 21:27 singular type of architecture. 21:30 And there's been a lot of discussion 21:32 in the scholarly community about why they had these kind of, 21:36 what we call four-room houses, or pillared houses. 21:39 Uh, normally it would have four different rooms, 21:42 often in the basement, or not the basement, 21:44 but the first floor you would have cattle or sheep and goats. 21:48 It would be kind of like a barn. 21:51 Um, in the back areas you would have storage areas, 21:54 uh, and so forth. 21:55 And then you'd have an upper floor as well. 21:57 So whether this was something that was added 21:59 as an upper floor, um, 22:01 or whether this was added onto, I, I think maybe 22:04 what the Bible's talking about, 22:06 knowing the architecture of that time, 22:07 is that maybe they added a room above, perhaps, for him. 22:11 Uh, these houses were occupied by, 22:14 a nuclear family but also by extended family. 22:17 >>John: So how many people would you have typically in a home? 22:19 >>Michael: It depended, but you could have as many as 22:21 10 to 15 people in a home of 900 to a thousand, 22:26 maybe 1200 square feet. 22:27 >>John: That's not real big to have 10 or 15 people. 22:30 >>Michael: No, it's not. 22:31 >>John: Now, let me ask you this, then: 22:33 Did, was there a, 22:35 did these homes differ based on the standing of the individual? 22:40 Was it common to find humble dwelling for the humble folks, 22:44 much larger place, did it work like that? 22:47 >>Michael: There was some of that as well, yes. 22:49 And depending on also where in the city it was located, 22:52 if it was a city house or if it was out in the country. 22:54 But the style was very much the same, many times, 22:57 in terms of those four rooms. 22:59 Um, and some of the rooms were simply divided by pillars. 23:02 It wasn't really divided by a wall, let's say. 23:05 The material that was used for them was quite, quite extensive. 23:08 >>John: Yeah, what, what were they, what were they built from? 23:10 >>Michael: They were built from stone primarily, 23:13 that were then plastered on the outside, or even, um, 23:17 either with mud, or with actual plaster lime from, from, 23:21 uh, from limestone, limestone plaster. 23:24 And to construct a house that had 23:26 those four rooms at the bottom, 23:28 plus a roof area with perhaps rooms above, 23:31 you're talking about a construction that would involve 23:34 470 tons of material. 23:36 >>John: That's a heavy house. 23:38 >>Michael: This is a heavy house. 23:39 This is not the kind of houses we build here in North America. 23:42 We're just framing up 2x4s or 2x6s, 23:45 and then putting drywall on it. 23:47 This was solid, solid houses. 23:49 And we find stairs going up to what 23:52 presumably would be a second floor. 23:54 Many times we only find the, 23:56 the um, the foundations of these homes. 23:59 Uh, but we find the staircases that go up to them. 24:01 We find collapsed ceilings, and we find the materials that were, 24:04 that were there. 24:05 So we have huge storage jars, 24:07 many times they're lined up in these houses, 24:09 that would have had olive oil in them, 24:11 or, or perhaps uh, uh grape juice 24:13 or wine or something of that nature. 24:15 So we have, we have, again, uh done a lot of analysis and, 24:20 and looked at the way people lived, and they had, 24:23 they had comfortable homes. 24:24 >>John: Now, these jars that are discovered in archaeological 24:27 ruins, I understand you found some of those, 24:30 and these are genuine ancient, what were they used for? 24:34 >>Michael: Well, they were used to, uh, 24:36 contain all kinds of things uh, often water or oil. 24:43 Olive oil, of course, was produced 24:44 very extensively in the Mediterranean world; 24:47 still is today. 24:48 >>John: This one here, how old is this, and what is this? 24:50 >>Michael: This, this is dating to about the eighth century, 24:52 about 750 B.C. or so. 24:54 So this would date to the time of Isaiah and Amos and, 24:57 and Hezekiah, the king, 24:59 during Sennacherib's famous campaign that he took 25:01 the Assyrian king. 25:02 And I love this, this particular artifact, 25:04 because it has a spout over here on this side. 25:07 This is a spout where you can actually pour out material. 25:11 Uh, and it has, it's designed in such a way where you can put 25:14 a little tiny dipper juglet like this inside the spout, 25:17 and just kind of, it hangs out there as kind of a little 25:21 resting place for it. 25:22 This is a little measuring cup. 25:24 So if you have a large jar, 25:26 sometimes there's jars even larger than this, 25:27 rather than picking up the whole thing 25:29 and accidentally spilling olive oil in your fire and creating, 25:33 burning the whole city down, 25:34 or something like that, you can just take your little dipper jar 25:37 dip it in, maybe on a string or something, 25:39 dip it in, bring out a little bit, 25:41 and this just take it, take it, 25:43 a little bit, this little dipper juglet, and do that. 25:47 So this is a very typical Israelite artifact 25:50 that we find from that time period. 25:52 And it, it just is an amazing piece. 25:55 We find the dipper juglet separately. 25:57 Uh, two summers ago we actually found them together, 26:01 very much like this. They were crushed, 26:03 but perfectly restorable uh, 26:05 on the level that Sennacherib destroyed. 26:08 >>John: When you find something like this, for me, 26:10 for the non-archaeologist, 26:12 it just kind of lights me up and brings the Bible to life. 26:16 This is really real, 26:17 and these were real people living real lives. 26:18 What did it do for you after you've been digging in the 26:22 Middle East for years and years? 26:23 >>Michael: I still get excited. I still get excited. 26:26 Somebody made this 2,700 years ago. 26:29 Somebody uh, cooked with it, prepared for their families. 26:33 Um, there were children running around in the house. 26:36 Uh, you know, it, it, it really to me brings the Bible to life 26:40 in an incredible way, 26:42 in, in a sense that, you know, these were, like you said, 26:46 real people, and uh, we can touch and taste and feel 26:52 the material that they lived with. 26:54 >>John: Archaeology bringing to life the Bible. 26:58 My encouragement to you is that the Bible comes alive 27:01 in your life. 27:02 Archaeology isn't given to us simply so that we can see 27:05 how people lived 2,800 or more or less years ago, 27:09 but so that the Bible can come to life, be real, be accessible. 27:14 And it's real when it's read and believed and leaned upon. 27:20 There were Bible figures or people living among them, 27:24 handling these very artifacts. 27:26 Today, we can handle the Word of God, 27:29 and it can be alive and real for us. 27:31 ♪[Music]♪ 27:38 >>John: It's a subject that is talked about much, 27:40 studied often, and you want to know what the Bible says 27:43 about the temple in scripture. 27:45 To find out, receive today's free offer: 27:48 "Rebuilding the Temple." 27:50 Call 800-253-3000. 27:52 Or visit us online at iiwoffer.com. 27:56 What does the Bible say about the Temple and its services? 28:00 Get today's free offer: "Rebuilding the Temple." 28:02 800-253-3000, 28:04 visit us at iiwoffer.com. 28:08 >>John: Thank you for remembering that It Is Written 28:10 exists because of the kindness of people just like you. 28:13 To support this international, life-changing ministry, 28:17 please call us now at 800-253-3000. 28:21 You can send your tax deductible gift 28:22 to the address on your screen. 28:24 Or you can visit us online at itiswritten.com. 28:28 Thank you for your prayers and for your financial support. 28:30 Our number again is 800-253-3000, 28:35 or you could visit us online at 28:36 itiswritten.com. 28:38 >>John: Dr. Michael Hasel, 28:40 thank you so much for joining me today on It Is Written. 28:41 >>Michael: It's a privilege. 28:42 >>John: It's a joy to see the Bible come to life. 28:45 It really is. Let's pray together. 28:47 Our Father in Heaven, 28:48 we thank You today that Your word is living, 28:52 it's dynamic, 28:53 it, it is alive. 28:55 And I pray that it would be alive in our lives. 28:58 There is somebody right now participating in this prayer 29:03 who needs the touch of God in her or his life, 29:06 who needs the power of Your Word to flow through that life 29:11 and that experience. 29:13 We thank You for a Savior who lived, who breathed, 29:16 who died, and who is soon to return to this earth 29:20 and take us home. 29:21 Let that day come soon, we pray, in Jesus' name, 29:26 amen. 29:27 ♪[Theme music]♪ 29:28 Thanks so much for joining us today. 29:30 I look forward to seeing you again next time. 29:32 Until then, remember: 29:34 "It is written, 29:36 'man shall not live by bread alone, 29:38 but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'" 29:42 ♪[Music]♪ |
Revised 2018-02-23