My travel partner was Andrei Tsvirinko, a former IBEX student now at TMC. He flew from California for Christmas break to go on the trip with me and help to prepare. Before we left, we (and especially he) researched the sites on our itinerary and prepared notes which would help us understand the sites and also could be used as explanatory notes on a revised Egypt CD. I also intend to revise and expand my “Egypt Travel Guide” which students use when they visit on their own during the semester break. The best books for general research of the sites: Baines and Malek, Atlas of Ancient Egypt, and Murnane, Penguin Guide to Ancient Egypt. We took two current guidebooks along with us on the trip – Lonely Planets and the Rough Guide. We found the second to be better than the first even though the latest edition is a year older than the LP book. A few other books of use in selected points of biblical relevance for Egypt include: Kitchen, Reliability of the OT; Currid, Ancient Egypt and the OT; Hoffmeier, Israel in Egypt; and Hoerth: Archaeology and the OT. All of these are recommended. This photo was taken early morning at Lake Qarun in the Fayyum Oasis.

I’m back from 8 days in Egypt – trying hard to visit only those places that few ever do. Indeed we didn’t see more than a handful of tourists except at a few sites. It was a hard trip, in part because we did it all ourselves (not one thing was arranged by another or in advance) and in part because it’s Egypt. I’d like, in the coming days, to comment on various features of Egypt that will never make it into any future publication or lecture. I ‘ll save the technical details of the sites visited for the revised edition of the Egypt CD (whenever that might be), but observations of the culture and interesting photos will go here. Lord willing. I feel like I have a million and two things to do. This could perhaps be a way to relax. A few quick numbers to end this initial Egypt post. We traveled upwards of 1900 miles, visited about 20 sites, and I took over 1500 photos. The days were short (10 hours of light), but we were usually on the move about 16 hours a day. We missed about one site a day from the intended itinerary, because the days were short and the travel long. The photo here shows Andrei and me in front of the Temple of Horus at Edfu. True, this is a site that many tourists visit, but I hadn’t seen it yet because I’d not been on a Nile cruise which is how most get to Edfu. This is the best preserved temple in all of Egypt – pharaonic in style but Ptolemaic in date.

One of the best ways you can spend $16 is on John Piper’s biographical series Men of Whom The World Was Not Worthy. This mp3 CD includes 16 messages on various important figures in Christian history (three books have also been produced from this series: here, here, and here). The books are good, but Piper’s delivery makes the audio messages superior, in my opinion. And he also sometimes says unscripted things that aren’t in the manuscript. Like the following which I heard this morning in his message on J. Gresham Machen. My current interest in starting a PhD program is relevant, though I like this quote not because it tells me something new, but because it echoes what I have observed. But, of course, I’m not qualified to say it.

“Incidentally, in regard to this morning’s comment, [Machen] never got any advanced degree beyond Princeton. Neither did, by the way, F. F. Bruce, beyond his Masters [degree], and numerous others. There is no necessary correlation between insight and degrees. Most of the worst teachers in the world have Ph.D.s. There is no correlation between pedagogical ability and advanced training. They are in two totally separate worlds. And the same is true with passion. The same is true with orthodoxy. The only thing a Ph.D. does is certify you in the guild. That’s all it guarantees. And that isn’t much.”

John Piper, J. Gresham Machen’s Response to Modernism (but this statement is on the tape and not in the manuscript)

A doctorate will take years of my life and thousands of dollars. Am I really sure?

In any case, buy that CD and listen to it.

There are a number of things worth blogging about (e.g., Pool of Siloam, ivory pomegranate), but I’m working on a “Top 5” list for the BiblePlaces Newsletter where I’ll cover some of that. This post is motivated by a photograph I took a few hours ago in the Old City. It’s not often that you can get a truly candid photo of your family. We had split up and they were nearly to the rendezvous point (Jaffa Gate). I was standing far away (with a telephoto lens) and shot this as they came out of the covered market. Bethany is looking ahead at the policemen on horseback. Katie has fallen asleep in the stroller. Kelli’s parents are behind with their shopping treasures. I had just returned from seeing several new developments in the City of David.

Krauthammer’s column yesterday (Just Leave Christmas Alone) says this:

“Some Americans get angry at parents who want to ban carols because they tremble that their kids might feel ‘different’ and ‘uncomfortable’ should they, God forbid, hear Christian music sung at their school. I feel pity. What kind of fragile religious identity have they bequeathed their children that it should be threatened by exposure to carols? “

We live in a reverse situation, where Christians are the distinct minority, and kids get days off for Hanukkah but not Christmas. I can’t even imagine having the thought that the majority should refrain from celebrating their heritage and religion because it could be offensive to us, the minority. To go further, one of our sons goes to a public kindergarten where part of the school day includes (Jewish) prayers. Not only do we not demand they stop (I suppose we could as it is a public school and not supposed to be religious), but we allow him to participate. On Friday, he was the chazan, a highlight of his week. Some, I’m sure, would be horrified that we do this. I disagree, for a number of reasons. In any case, CK does again what he does so well: say eloquently what seems like common sense.

Several extra activities have kept me from adding entries lately (and in the near future), but today we were with our students in the City of David, excavating next to the Pool of Siloam (or what might later be understood as part of the Pool of Siloam). The work that the excavators have done in the last couple of months is very impressive. There are now 16 steps visible, and the length exposed is about 50 meters, including one corner. I expect that this discovery will be one of the most significant in modern Jerusalem archaeology. This photo will give you an idea for how things look today; for scale, note the people at the far end of the photo.

My brother alerted me a couple of days ago to a deal for Dell notebooks – buy one that costs $1500 or more and get $750 off. So for instance, you could get a pretty decent one (1.5Ghz Pentium M, 14-inch SXGA+, 768MB) for $750 including shipping. That special was one day only. Where do you find deals like this? Techbargains.com. Recommended to keep an eye on things there if you’re looking for something electronic.

I’ve used Dreamhost with the www.ibexsemester.com website for nearly a year now and it’s been good and reliable. $10/month. Now they have a special for new customers – $.77/month for the first year. This service is worth $10/month, so it’s a great deal if you’ve been looking for one. Package is very good, including 800MB of space, 40GB bandwidth, 60 email accounts. I am now transferring BiblePlaces.com over and of the 777 accounts they’re accepting at this price, 144 are left. See www.dreamhost.com for all the details.

We received this email from a friend today. It is even more forceful to us because we too have a 5-month-old daughter named Katie. Your prayers for the family would be appreciated.

A close friend of mine, Sang Hong, lost his 5 month old baby girl to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome on Tuesday. He and his wife are Christians but are devastated. He called me in tears tonight trying to understand and asking for prayer. Please pray for Sang and Nancy. Knowing their little Katie is in heaven is of some comfort, but at this stage of grief it is so very difficult.

I read a lot of news, but rarely am involved or have direct knowledge of a news event. Those rare times seem to have one thing in common: the news reports contain significant errors. A couple of days ago, a major Israeli news organization, Arutz-7, reported the following story about “Anti-Missionary Activity.” You can read the whole story for context, but the relevant section for me is this:

Yad L’Achim has been contacted about a possible missionary threat to the hareidi town of Kiryat Ye’arim (Telz Stone), 15 minutes west of Jerusalem. Just this past Yom Kippur, eight young members of nearby Yad HaShmonah – a “missionary village,” according to Yad L’Achim – made their way to a synagogue in the neighborhood, and were invited into the home of a well-meaning resident in the mistaken belief that they wished to learn more about their “Jewishness.” She later related that she had to interrupt them several times when they began to speak about Christianity. “Don’t try to change us,” she said. “Our Torah is perfect.” Just a few days earlier, a group of over 100 people walked provocatively past the religious community, singing Biblical songs, blowing shofars, and even standing outside the community gates in a briefly successful effort to attract children from the town; so state residents and eyewitnesses to the event. Local residents were in contact with Yad L’Achim following these events, and are trying to formulate a strategy – educational and otherwise – to fight this threat. “I would like to ask the community to please begin to be involved,” the woman of the first incident writes. “The guards at the gate of our community must be alert, our children must know how to respond if they are approached, and we need people with suggestions to get involved.”

The “eight young members” are students at the school where I teach and I have talked at length with them. Not everything in the story is factually inaccurate: it is true that Kiryat Ye ‘arim (Tel Stone) is 15 minutes west of Jerusalem. After that, nearly everything is inaccurate.

1. The “eight young members” are American students. They are not members of Yad HaShmonah, but are spending several months as tourists in the guest house. Yad HaShmonah is not a “missionary village.” It is a community of Jewish believers in Jesus.

2. The students visited the synagogue in order to learn more about Jewish practices and customs. Their official studies include coursework in Judaism, with the goal of gaining a greater appreciation for Jewish culture and religion. This is genuine and sincere in every respect.

3. They did not invite themselves to the lady’s house, but were invited by her. The article blurs this by insinuating that the students were aggressively pursuing her or someone else. If she hadn’t invited them over, they would have returned to the school after the synagogue service.

4. The students were clear from the start that they are Christians. No one should be surprised that Christians believe in Jesus.

5. The students talked about Christianity only in response to her questions. She specifically asked one student, “What do you think about the Messiah?” It is strange then that she would be offended by the mention of Jesus.

6. She did not interrupt them several times, but when they mentioned “Jesus” by name, she asked them not to say his name in her house. They honored her request.

7. After talking, they had a peaceful departure, helping in the kitchen, taking photos with her, and signing their names in her guestbook.

8. She did not say, “Don’t try to change us. Our Torah is perfect.” Perhaps she said this to the news reporter, but not to the students. The students didn’t try to change her, and they agree that the Torah is perfect. They were willing to answer her questions until she decided she didn’t like the answers.

The lady was disturbed about the group that walked by a few days earlier and asked the students about it. They didn’t know, as it was an unrelated tour group. But, for the record, this tour group walked on the highway outside of Tel Stone, and not in the residential area. Blowing trumpets may elicit attention, but it’s also a rather natural thing to be done around the time of the Feast of Trumpets (Rosh HaShanah). That a group of Christian tourists walking along a mile-stretch of highway (part of which also runs near Tel Stone) is offensive tells us more about the offended than about the tourists.

So what is this “threat” that Arutz-7 speaks so breathlessly about? Do Christian tourists need to be treated like terrorists, with guards on the lookout for them? Is it honest to call a “threat” those who respond to an invitation to visit and answer questions they are asked? Isn’t it a bit disingenuous to ask, “Our children must know how to respond if they are approached” when no children have been approached, and no adults for that matter.

There is an attitude here that is unfortunate which says, “If there is not a threat, invent one.” The news organization should be more discerning and careful in their reporting.