These two are unrelated, except that I’m involved with each. The new 2005-2006 calendar from Messianic Jewish Publications is out. This is the fourth year they have used my photos, but this calendar is the best of them, in my opinion. As before, the calendar features the Jewish (and Christian) holidays, but this time they have added a number of visual enhancements. It’s $10 and I think it’s worth it, esp. for those of you who want to keep in touch with Israel and the Jewish holidays.

A couple of weeks ago I was interviewed by Gordon Govier for the Book and the Spade radio program. The subject was the recent excavations of the Pool of Siloam. It’s about 15 minutes and can be downloaded as an mp3 file (8 MB). I haven’t yet heard it as I’m on vacation and have only a dial-up connection. If you could show pictures on a radio interview, these are the ones I would have shown.

Tiberias has never been more than a lunch stop for groups I lead. I explain the important history on the drive into the city, but the remains that are preserved are much later than biblical history. Current excavations plan to change that and add an archaeological stop to our Tiberias visit. Excavators have been uncovering the Roman city, including two main streets, the basilica where the Sanhedrin met, and now an apparent palace of the city’s founder, Herod Antipas. This Herod, one of 5 in the New Testament, ruled Galilee during Jesus’ ministry and was called a “fox” by the Lord on one occasion. Excavators have identified the structure as his palace on the basis of the date and the impressive marble floor. Marble is not native to Israel and must be imported, indicating the wealth of the builder. I visited these excavations with my sons a few months ago and include a photo from that time.

Ten years from now, the memory of my visit to the Oriental Institute may well have blended in with my other visits to other ANE museums. But I can’t imagine that yesterday’s trip to the Body Worlds Exhibit will ever be forgotten. I may well have learned more about the human body in 2 hours than in the rest of my life together. Simply, this exhibit displays dozens of (real) human bodies that have been specially preserved in a plastination process. The exhibit is divided into sections of systems (skeletal, muscular, respiratory, blood, etc.) and in each section, you see real bodies that have been prepared for display to teach about the aspects of that system. Each section had entire bodies standing in interesting poses, as well as related body parts in separate display cases. So, you could compare the lungs of a non-smoker with those of a lifetime smoker (black!). You could see the way the joints (e.g., hips, knees, etc.) came together, various views of the human brain, layers of fat on an obese person, and the development of the fetus. I saw how the womb (which is quite small when empty!) sits directly on top of the bladder (that explains it!), and I saw how the diaphragm separates one section of internal organs from another. The liver is huge and covered with blood vessels, and the spinal cord is carefully protected by the backbone. I could go on and on.

In short, if there’s any way that you can get to this exhibit, you should. It’s in Chicago (and a second one in Cleveland) until Sept, and then to Toronto and Philadelphia through the winter. It’s not cheap ($21), but considering that one can spend that much for a meal out, it’s easily worth it. Those going to Philadelphia in Nov for SBL or ETS should plan a half-day for this.

My visit to Chicago yesterday went well; my only regret – too little time for the museums, in the city, and with my friend Steve. I last visited the Oriental Institute Museum about 5 years ago when only the Egyptian wing was open. The remainder of the renovations are now complete (except for the Nubia wing) and the museum is excellent. As with any good museum, you leave with the desire for more time and greater mental capabilities. The displays are beautifully laid out, and the explanations provide an excellent education. If you could limit yourself to one wing a visit, you would appreciate it more. They allow photographs (but no tripod), and do not charge admission (but accept donations). I highly recommend a visit.

A sidenote: I saw that one of my photos was on display in the Megiddo hall. The museum had contacted me a couple of times about using it but we had never quite come to an agreement that I was aware of. Nonetheless, it was neat to see my name in print in such an excellent museum.

Museum highlights: Sennacherib prism (1 of 6 in the world), colossal statue of King Tut, lions from ancient Babylon, bull head from Persepolis, Canaanite statue of El(?), and the Megiddo ivories.

The museum guide is worth picking up for $3.50; unfortunately it has the Dead Sea Scrolls fragment printed upside-down.

If you look, there’s a lot out there about the “disengagement” of Israel from Gaza. (For those not following the story, this is about the forced evacuation by the Israeli government of Jewish residents of 20 communities in the Gaza Strip). I’ll just make a couple of brief comments about it, without denying the complexities of the issue.

1. Has there ever been a move “of peace” by Israel that resulted in better relations with the Palestinians? I cannot think of one. Why then does the Israeli government (and majority of Israeli citizens) think that this time will be any different? I don’t think that it is a foolish optimism (such as is characteristic of Americans).

2. Does anyone really think that there will be less violence in/with Gaza than there has been in recent years? What will happen, in the opinion of many, is that Gaza will become the new Afghanistan – a breeding ground for terrorists, moreso than it already is. The degree to which it is “successful” in this in directly proportional to the degree that Israel gives in to Palestinian demands (e.g., to allow free Palestinian movement on land and sea borders).

Poor Condoleeza Rice – what a lousy job she has. Does she really believe what she says when she tells the Israelis to withdraw but not to seal Gaza off? That the Palestinians want their cake and to eat it too (that is, to have full freedom to develop terrorism and also to enjoy the benefits of Israeli economics) should surprise no one, but that Rice is their advocate should. Assuming that she is honest. Though that’s one requirement for working at the US State Department – you simply can’t be honest (for then you would be choosing sides).

I think that this post from Daniel Pipes gives a better explanation for how many suicide bombers are recruited than the traditional argument gives (that is, from purely an ideological motivation). It’s short and easy: How a Young British Muslim Was Tempted into Jihad.

The press is just now reporting the March purchase of two fragments of Leviticus by Hanan Eshel. They are quite small and really insignificant in light of everything else previously found, EXCEPT that it reminds everyone that there must be more scrolls hidden (there certainly are). There is no hint that the Bedouin who sold the fragments has any more to offer, or that he has revealed the exact location of the find. Rather than repeating what you can find in the regular news reports (MSNBC, USA Today) or the blogs (Ralph the Sacred River, Biblical Theology), I’ll contribute a couple of photos of the Nahal Arugot, where the fragments were allegedly found.

The Nahal Arugot is a very large canyon in the Judean Wilderness that flows into the Dead Sea at En Gedi (the En Gedi kibbutz is the green patch at the bottom of the photo). Most of the biblical “Dead Sea Scrolls” were found in caves near Qumran, about 20 miles (30 km) to the north. Other scrolls were found in some of the canyons (wadis) both north and south of the Arugot. BTW, the Arugot is a great canyon for hiking, especially in the winter!