Participants: Pr. Tony Moore
Series Code: OTR
Program Code: OTR000705
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01:00 We like to welcome you
01:01 this evening to "Digging Up the Future" 01:04 Bible Prophecy Exposed. 01:05 That was a catchy title to me, 01:07 Digging Up the Future. 01:08 You would usually think of digging up the past. 01:11 But as we're going to learn in this seminar, 01:14 the archeological evidence 01:17 actually points not just backwards but also forward. 01:20 And this is like a two part series. 01:23 We have archeology at the beginning 01:25 and then we go right into a prophecy seminar 01:28 with Louie Torres. 01:30 This evening our guest will be Tony Moore. 01:33 And Tony Moore has traveled many places 01:37 in the Middle East many times. 01:38 He was just regaling me 01:39 with stories a little bit earlier 01:41 as we ate at a local Middle Eastern restaurant. 01:44 And he was actually owing to me 01:46 to some of the food here in town 01:48 even though I had been to the restaurant many times. 01:50 So we're glad that you are here. 01:51 We welcome you. 01:52 We're glad that you're our special guest 01:54 Tony Moore is here with us as well. 01:56 Let's bow our heads and just ask the Lord's presence 02:00 as we begin this evening. 02:03 Father in heaven, we're indeed grateful 02:05 that we can come and study, 02:07 we can look to the future 02:09 by looking at the archeological evidence tonight. 02:13 We just ask that Your spirit would be here. 02:15 In this meeting we ask that You would be 02:17 with our speaker and with each person attending. 02:20 And we come in the all powerful 02:22 and most worthy name of Jesus Christ, amen. 02:27 We're delighted that Rafael Scarfullery is with us. 02:29 He is going to have a special number for us "Rock of Ages." 02:34 As we're gonna be talking about some rocks, 02:36 the most important is that Rock of Ages. 05:30 Wasn't that wonderful? 05:37 Looking forward to hearing 05:38 more from Rafael tomorrow and actually later this evening. 05:42 And he's gonna be with us 05:44 for a number of days in the seminar here 05:47 and so thank you very much 05:49 and God be praised Rock of Ages clear for me. 05:52 Let me tell you a little bit about our speaker 05:54 this evening. 05:55 Tony Moore is, 05:59 I guess I can't say a long time acquaintance 06:01 but he is someone I've known about for quite sometime. 06:04 Just recently, he finished a series 06:08 called The Footsteps of Paul, 06:10 where he went through Turkey 06:12 and went through the Middle East 06:13 tracing the footsteps of Paul and doing on location filming. 06:18 And I had occasion to look at the DVD that he created 06:25 and as I looked at I became more and more impressed with the work 06:27 that Tony Moore has been doing. 06:30 And I have been impressed 06:33 with not only the depth of the material 06:35 but also the ease at which you can understand it. 06:39 And I think you'll enjoy the presentations. 06:42 He is gonna actually be doing five presentations for us, 06:45 this first one is going to be looking at Fabulous Tales 06:50 the Tel Tells and he'll explain 06:52 what that title means to you 06:54 if you haven't already figure it out. 06:56 And then later this evening the Arab, the Jew and Jerusalem 07:01 and we're gonna be looking at some archeological 07:04 finds and different things that 07:05 I think will kind of even open up in your mind perhaps 07:09 current situations there in Jerusalem. 07:13 And then secrets of the Nile 07:15 and then next the footsteps of Jesus 07:18 and then finally when Iraq ruled or Iraq 07:22 rather to be more correct when Iraq ruled the world. 07:26 So I think that's gonna find this fascinating 07:28 and also I'm delighted that 07:33 Tony is going to making available to you his notes. 07:38 And so if you're listening tonight and you'd say "man, 07:40 I really would like to remember 07:42 what he said about this or about that." 07:45 His notes will be available and you can fill it a card 07:48 and let us note whether or not you want those. 07:50 We're gonna be trying to put together a binder 07:54 for you that you can keep these things 07:57 and make that available to you 07:59 in several days time if you are interested in that. 08:03 So I know that, you will join me 08:07 in really enjoying this mini series and archeology 08:12 before we get into the series 08:15 on Bible Prophecy with Louie Torres. 08:18 Now some of you may not know 08:20 who Louie Torres is and Louie Torres in the flier 08:24 you will be equally impressed with him. 08:26 As he goes to Bible prophecy, 08:29 as he starts to look at those prophecies 08:31 and the actual books of Daniel and Revelation. 08:35 Some of the things will be seen archeology 08:37 then we'll come alive 08:38 as he goes through those time prophecies 08:41 with you as well. 08:43 One other note as I see 08:45 we have a little bit more time here 08:47 and that is concerning our music as well. 08:50 Dr. Scarfullery actually 08:52 his name is that just played for you 08:55 he is originally from Dominican Republic 08:57 and he just finished his PhD 09:00 in music presentation and performance, 09:03 actually he his doctorate. 09:05 And he wrote a fascinating dissertation 09:06 he just told me about 09:08 on the music of the Dominican Republic. 09:10 And he might be willing to play some of that 09:12 for on one of the evenings I don't know. 09:15 And he has some several CDs out meditative 09:18 and religious in nature 09:19 and then also some that are looking 09:21 in that and more classical themes. 09:23 And I think that you'll find those very enjoyable. 09:27 We'll make them available to you in the, 09:31 in the near future. 09:32 Well, it gives me great joy this evening 09:34 to welcome Tony Moore 09:37 and he is going to be sharing with us 09:40 Tales the Tel is going to tell us. 09:44 Welcome, Tony. 09:45 Thank you. 09:52 Thank you so much pastor, its great to be here in Wichita. 09:55 I had to come and warm up from California. 09:57 They say California is hot. 09:58 But when I flew in, yesterday, 10:01 it was about a 15 to 20 degree 10:02 difference in temperature I believe. 10:04 But anyway it's wonderful to be here. 10:06 I haven't, I'm not too familiar with Kansas. 10:08 I've driven through a couple of times 10:10 and been able to, to see the great state. 10:12 But my first time to Wichita 10:14 and I'm looking forward to being here for several days. 10:16 How many of you been to the holy land. 10:19 You know, I don't call it the holy land 10:21 I call it the Bible Lands. 10:24 For me there is really not a lot holy there 10:26 but it is a place 10:27 where the story of the Bible happens. 10:28 So how many of you been to the Bible Lands? 10:30 Anyone been to the Bible Lands? 10:32 How many of you been to Petra? 10:35 Okay, well tonight we're going to Petra 10:38 which I think is my favorite natural wonder 10:41 or my favorite manmade wonder in the world. 10:43 People often ask me, 10:44 Tony, all the places you've been, 10:46 what is the most spectacular? 10:47 What's the most fantastic? 10:49 And I have to say "that Petra is the most beautiful 10:52 manmade facility in the world, 10:54 the most beautiful manmade buildings in the world." 10:57 We're gonna and maybe 10:58 we get to look at some other sites 11:00 my favorite natural wonder in the Bible Lands 11:03 there's a place called Pamukkale or Hierapolis 11:06 and this is mentioned in the book of the Colossians 11:08 and it's just a fabulous site of the mountain. 11:11 It's all white with mineral deposits 11:13 but tonight we're gonna be going to Petra. 11:15 We're gonna look at Fabulous Tales the Tel Tells. 11:18 And what is the Tel anyway? 11:20 Before we get started what is the Tel? 11:23 Any idea? No. 11:25 You came to this program, didn't know what a Tel was. 11:27 Well, I'm gonna tell you tonight, what to Tel is? 11:31 A Tel is actually a mount of debris or ruin. 11:34 It's where the ancient city or the ancient town used to be. 11:38 And we're gonna talk about that tonight. 11:39 We're gonna survey several sites. 11:41 We're gonna look at some sites in Syria and Turkey. 11:45 And tonight we're gonna start at Jordan. 11:48 But tonight I'm gonna take you 11:49 on the screen to Petra, 11:51 "a rose-red city half as old as time." 11:54 Those words where immortalized 11:56 by Dean Burgon in his prize poem of 1845. 12:00 Few sites have captured our imagination 12:02 or stirred our sets of imagination 12:05 as much as the ancient Nabataean city, 12:08 carved out of the red rock in south western Jordon. 12:11 From the first time I heard about this ancient city 12:14 I had a deep desire to visit 12:16 what was purported to be the most spectacular 12:18 ruins on earth 12:20 because of its location in the rocks. 12:22 It was first called the cela 12:25 a simmetic word meaning the rock. 12:27 In later times, it received its Greek name 12:29 Petra which means the same thing. 12:31 And my first trip down to Petra 12:33 I started out in Amman 12:35 and it's a three hour drive down the dessert highway. 12:38 And it was amazing 12:39 because we were snaking our way 12:40 through 100s of trucks loaded 12:43 from the countries only port at Aqaba. 12:45 Now this car was bound for Kuwait. 12:47 It's so loaded. 12:48 It looks like it might just fall over. 12:51 And occasionally as you drive around 12:53 in this farther world you see more interesting cargo. 12:56 Now you see that often here in Kansas, don't you? 12:59 Well, our first stop was at Ain Musa the spring of Moses 13:02 where a local traditions says, Moses struck the rock 13:05 and the water began to gush forth. 13:08 Actually the Edomites refused to allow Moses 13:11 and the children of Israel to pass through their territory 13:14 and so they have to go all the way around 13:17 through the land of Moab to the Promised Land. 13:19 This started a long often bitter animosity 13:22 between the children of Jacob and the children of Esau 13:26 that continues to this day. 13:28 And none the less, the spring and wadi 13:31 which flows in the spring 13:33 were named after the Prophet Moses. 13:35 At the insistence of the local hotelier 13:37 my wife inspected the room 13:40 and refused it at any price. 13:42 You see, 13:43 the shower was directly above the Turkish toilet. 13:47 Do you know what the Turkish toilet is? 13:50 A hole in the floor. 13:51 Okay, we'll go on. 13:54 So anyway we found more comfortable accommodations 13:57 here at the government rest house. 13:59 This was fascinating because the rooms 14:02 were actually built in the ancient tombs themselves. 14:06 And so you'll actually get to stay 14:08 in the ancient tombs of the Nabataeans. 14:10 And so it was a fascinating place to stay there. 14:12 After a goodnight sleep we were up early 14:14 and because we wanted go out 14:16 and to see the ruins that are just so spectacular. 14:20 Off in the distance you can actually see Mount Hor. 14:23 Do you remember what Mount Hor is? 14:24 That's the traditional place 14:26 of Aaron the brother of Moses burial. 14:29 His tomb can be seen off in the distance 14:32 where we enjoyed scouting out 14:34 through the mountain peaks, 14:36 some of them reaching over 3,500 feet above the foothills. 14:40 A summit name Um al-Biyara by the Arabs can also be seen. 14:44 It means, "Mother of Cisterns" 14:47 because this is a place 14:49 where the Edomites the descendants of Jacob lived 14:51 of Esau lived. 14:53 And they carved cisterns on the top of that mountain 14:55 to capture the few inches of rain that fall each year. 15:00 Because of its location at the top of this mountain, 15:03 it seemed like it would be and impregnable fortress. 15:08 Yep, the Hebrew Prophet Jeremiah 15:10 predicted downfall of the people 15:12 who lived up on top of Mount Seir. 15:15 Notice what the Bible says, 15:16 Jeremiah 49:16 15:20 "'You who live in the clefts of the rocks, 15:22 who occupy the heights of the hill. 15:25 Though you build your nest as high as the eagle's, 15:28 from there I will bring you down,' 15:30 declares the Lord." 15:33 This prophecy met a marked fulfillment 15:35 as the Edomites disappeared from the stage of history. 15:40 They were replaced by the Nabateans 15:42 who carved the fantastic 15:45 and wonderful temples and tombs of Petra. 15:48 Well, the view was splendid from up high 15:51 but we've not come to see the mountains 15:53 we had come to visit the ruins of the Nabateans. 15:56 Start up taking the long trial 15:58 back to the government rest house 15:59 and running horses like most tourists 16:01 I convinced my wife to join me 16:04 as we climbed down the 300 foot cliff 16:07 down to the wadi below. 16:08 Now as we went down, 16:10 we deposited blood on the rocks 16:11 and it was quite exciting 16:13 it just added to our sense of excitement 16:15 as we were about to go in 16:16 and see these fabulous ruins in Petra. 16:20 Entrance into this city is obtained 16:22 through a few narrow rock gorges called wadis. 16:27 Now wadi is a dry river bed. 16:29 Its dry most of the year but when the winter rains come 16:32 it fills up with water. 16:35 And so you can see 16:37 that it's very, very difficult to climb up besides 16:41 and there's little narrow road going down. 16:44 Once in a while flash floods would come through. 16:47 About 25 years ago a flash flood came through 16:50 and it caught a group of British tourists. 16:52 Twenty of them lost their lives. 16:54 Now the water has been directed underneath the mountain 16:59 and it comes out inside the city 17:00 so its very, very safe to travel there. 17:03 The rainfalls in the winter time 17:06 as I said about 12 inches per years. 17:08 So it's very, very dry except for that 17:11 that winter time rains. 17:13 Now the Wadi Musa winds through the mountains 17:16 forever a mile and a half about 8,000 feet. 17:19 The Arabs called this narrow, 17:21 this narrow area the Siq or the cleft 17:27 most of the places it's about 60 feet wide. 17:30 And some places it goes down to 20 feet wide. 17:32 And as you wander through it, 17:34 it is just a fabulous experience. 17:37 The perpendicular walls go up on each side 17:39 about 160 feet high. 17:42 It can be verily seen that a city that will be hidden 17:45 in the mountains like this 17:47 and accessed only by a few narrow wadis like this 17:50 that are few soldiers could be upon the top 17:53 and defend themselves 17:54 against thousands of their enemies. 17:57 And that's exactly why they moved to Petra. 18:00 The light of the sun is nearly blocked out 18:02 as you wander down the water as you walk down to the coolness 18:07 many twists and turns 18:09 through the beautiful sandstorm mountains 18:11 you come into a narrow opening just nine feet wide. 18:15 And I know of nothing to equal the site 18:18 when you first see the rock cut facade 18:21 as you pass through that narrow nine foot opening. 18:25 The brilliance of the sunshine upon the Red-Rose Rock 18:28 is breathtaking. 18:29 It's called Al Khazneh which means the treasury. 18:33 It was carved in the Greeks style from the living rock. 18:36 The two storeys were there. 18:38 Corinthians columns were over 90 feet tall. 18:42 Being on points secluded from wind and rain 18:45 the beautiful lines of the architecture 18:47 is still clear and fresh. 18:49 All though the sculpture has suffered quite a bit 18:51 from human hands. 18:53 Now, Petra has no great significance 18:55 for the archaeologists 18:57 but for the lover of art and beauty 18:59 nothing more spectacular can be seen anywhere 19:02 except in Kansas. 19:04 Actually, it's not a treasury or temple 19:07 it's actually a tomb. 19:09 The Arabs call it Al Khazneh, 19:11 Al Faroun or Pharaohs treasury. 19:14 Now this erroneous concept of that being a treasury 19:18 has caused countless people to take rifle shots 19:22 at the little top on the urn through the years. 19:25 The room and the treasury is very small and unimposing 19:29 and we're looking back at it here on the screen 19:32 quite unlike that fictitious room 19:34 that was Indiana Jones movie of Indiana Jones and Holy Grail, 19:38 where we paused to take a look back at the Siq 19:41 before we continue our journey into the city of Petra. 19:45 As we proceed down the wadi 19:46 we see over a 1,000s buildings carved into the rocks, 19:50 tombs, temples, dwellings. 19:53 Some have eroded with the rain 19:54 over a period of time 19:55 others are still preserved in very good condition. 19:58 The urn tomb is a very imposing monument 20:00 with an open courtyard and colonies 20:02 little cut into the rock. 20:04 The facade of the tomb is quite impressive 20:06 especially with its simplicity 20:08 and the great height of its pilasters 20:09 and comparison with its width. 20:12 Next is the Corinthian tomb, 20:13 now the Corinthian tomb is so badly weathered, 20:16 it's barely recognizable 20:18 but it is still a fabulous site to see. 20:21 High above the city is another gigantic monument. 20:26 It was fashioned not by carving in the mountain site 20:30 but they actually hewing away the mountain itself. 20:34 The size is enormous, 20:36 the doorway more than 30 feet high as it, 20:38 it was to be used by a race of giants. 20:41 Every inch was cut with the most careful detail. 20:44 The temple is called Ad Deir 20:46 which means the Monastery. 20:48 It was one of the most sacred shrines of the city. 20:50 From the top of Ad Deir 20:52 they designed an imposing monument, a stone vase or urn. 20:57 And you can actually climb up on the top of this 20:59 and you'll have splendid view of the Wadi Araba 21:02 that descends down from the Dead Sea. 21:04 It's a fabulous place to visit. 21:08 The temples and tombs are striking in their beauty. 21:12 You can see these fairy land veins of good red and blue. 21:17 And the rocks are just spectacular. 21:20 Yes, it's a wonderful place to visit. 21:22 Well, as we go through the city 21:23 we pass by the theater 21:25 cut out of the rocks by the Romans. 21:27 It's seated over 3,000 people 21:29 with a caustic it's so wonderful 21:31 you did not have to raise your voice to be heard. 21:34 And up the steps we come up to the high place 21:37 on top of the Acropolis. 21:39 This is a place where people would go 21:42 to do their sacrifices to the sun god. 21:45 Channels hidden found here in the altar 21:48 where the blood of both animals and humans 21:51 is believed to have drained. 21:54 Yes, Petra was a fabulous place, 21:56 well watered, protected, 21:59 yet it was deserted and forgotten 22:01 for over six centuries. 22:04 It seemed to be a legendary city 22:07 known only from the records of the past. 22:09 Could you believe what the Greeks and Romans 22:11 wrote about Petra? 22:12 No one was sure, no one knew for certain. 22:18 Until 1812 22:21 when a young Swiss explorer named John Lewis Burckhardt 22:26 stumbled upon the ruins of Petra. 22:28 He was exploring the Middle East 22:30 on behalf of a lernende British society. 22:33 He journeyed from Damascus to Cairo 22:35 a very hazardous undertaking in those days. 22:37 He dressed himself as an Arab 22:39 and as he proceeded slowly down the way 22:41 he began to hear about some extraordinary ruins 22:44 hidden away in the mountains. 22:46 He began to wonder 22:47 if this could be the last ruins of Petra. 22:51 He first mentions it in his journal 22:53 on August the 22nd. 22:55 It studies very, the desire as to visit the ruins 22:58 of what Wadi Musa and its antiquities 23:00 of which he heard the people speak. 23:02 Notice from his journal he said 23:04 "The road from Shobak to Aqaba, 23:06 which is tolerably good lies to the east of Wadi Musa, 23:10 and to have quitted it 23:11 out of mere curiosity to see the Wadi 23:13 would have looked suspicious 23:14 in the eyes of the Arabs. 23:17 I, therefore, pretended to have made a vow 23:19 to have slaughtered a goat in honor of Aaron, 23:22 whose tomb I knew was situated 23:24 at the extremity of the valley, 23:27 and by this strategy 23:28 I thought that I should have the means of seeing the valley 23:31 on my way to the tomb. 23:33 To this my guide had nothing to oppose, 23:35 the dread of drawing on himself, by resistance, 23:38 the wrath of Aaron completely silenced him." 23:42 Well, when he reached Ain Musa 23:44 the spring of Moses he was press to make a sacrifice here 23:47 because you could see 23:48 the tomb of Aaron in off in the distance 23:50 and that's what most people did. 23:51 But he said no. 23:52 I want to actually go out to the tomb 23:53 and make my sacrifice there. 23:55 Finally, he found a guide 23:57 who would take him and someone 23:58 who would carry the necessary water 24:00 and then lead the goat. 24:01 And they began to set off, 24:03 off into the distance. 24:05 He was overwhelmed to begin to traverse 24:08 through the Wadi Musa. 24:10 Somehow he managed to get a plan of the treasury 24:12 and the urn and the Corinthian tombs. 24:14 And he crossed over to get a plan of the Roman temple 24:17 and his guide began to accuse him of being a treasure hunter 24:20 and begin to threaten him with his rifl 24:22 and so we had to press on. 24:24 He made his sacrifice 24:26 returned to the town Elgin and in the darkness 24:30 and didn't get to see anymore of the ruins. 24:32 But this is what he wrote in his diary. 24:35 He said "it appears very probable 24:38 that the ruins in Wadi Musa are those of ancient Petra, 24:42 and it is remarkable that Eusebius says 24:44 that the tomb of Aaron was shown near Petra." 24:48 How could such a fantastic city 24:51 as this be lost for over 600 years? 24:56 Well, originally the region was settled by Edomites 24:58 the descendents of Esau. 25:00 They were overrun and replaced by the Arab Nabataeans 25:03 the descendents of Ishmael. 25:05 The Nabataeans made Petra a rich caravan city. 25:09 Since their territory stretched from Aqaba 25:11 and the Gulf of Aqaba on the Red Sea 25:13 all the way to Damascus, 25:14 they controlled the strategic desert highway 25:17 which by the way is still called the Kings Highway 25:21 even to this day. 25:23 They control that and at first they'd go out 25:24 and they'd raid the caravans 25:27 but then they came over the better idea. 25:28 Why I should we raid the caravans 25:30 why don't we protect the caravans for a fee? 25:34 And those fees made them a rich people 25:37 and that's how they build 25:39 all of these fantastic tombs and temples. 25:43 Well, once the sea lanes around Africa were discovered 25:46 there was no longer any reason to have all the caravan traffic 25:50 and so the trade routes changed 25:52 and soon Petra was forgotten about. 25:54 It had been erased from the memory 25:57 for six centuries. 25:59 And yet the Bible had mentioned the land of Edom, 26:02 Scripture had said "This is what the Sovereign 26:05 Lord says about Edom, 26:07 You who live in the clefts of the rocks 26:09 and make your home on the heights, 26:11 you who say to yourself, 26:12 'Who can bring me down to the ground?' 26:15 Though you soar like the eagle 26:17 and make your nest among the stars, 26:19 from there I will bring you down. 26:22 There will be no survivors from the house of Esau. 26:25 The Lord has spoken." 26:28 You know it was seen 26:29 that the city is so well protective. 26:32 So well protected is this which survive forever 26:36 but the prophet had predicted the downfall 26:39 of the city of Petra. 26:40 By rejecting the message of the prophets 26:43 the people became more and more corrupt 26:45 until ultimately they sacrificed human beings 26:49 on their high place. 26:50 And history shows a remarkable fulfillment of the prophecy 26:54 as the Edomites are no more. 26:55 The proud fortress of Petra 26:56 disappeared for over 600 years. 26:59 As the archeologists quietly uncover the past 27:02 and ancient tombs and buried cities 27:04 they're finding more and more evidence 27:07 that the smallest details of scripture 27:09 are fact and not fiction. 27:11 Indeed the spade of the archeologist 27:14 confirms the Bible. 27:16 Archeology is a recent science 27:19 it's not geology the study of the earth 27:21 and nor is it anthropology 27:23 the study of the development of man. 27:25 Archeology is a science that looks at the artifacts 27:28 and remains of human beings. 27:30 And biblical archeology that we we're talking about tonight 27:33 it really looks back at the people 27:36 in Bible times and lands 27:38 and their remains and their artifacts. 27:41 Now interesting the Bible lands says 27:43 ebbed and flowed through the years. 27:45 After the conversion of Constantine's mother Helena 27:48 people began to go to the Bible lands 27:50 because they felt they go on pilgrimage 27:52 and receive salvation. 27:54 Well, that kind of past 27:55 by when the time of renaissance 27:57 when the reformation came because 27:59 we didn't need to go there to receive salvation anymore. 28:02 They believe you could go right to Jesus 28:03 and receive salvation 28:05 and so they kind of lost interest in it. 28:06 But as they began to read their Bibles 28:09 and sing in their hymn books, 28:11 they began to wonder what where these places like. 28:15 And so explorers began to go and they were coming back 28:17 with a cursory understanding of the Bible lands. 28:21 It was a fascinating story during the Renaissance 28:25 treasure hunters began to filter the land 28:27 they were seeking valuable pieces 28:29 that could be sold on the antiquities market. 28:33 And they really were not interested 28:37 in trying to understand the land 28:39 but just to get things that they could sell 28:41 and then Napoleon invaded Egypt. 28:44 And Napoleons invasion of Egypt 28:46 created a sensational desire to understand these lands. 28:50 Then they discovered the Rosetta Stone 28:51 and they were able to understand the ancient hieroglyphics 28:54 and it fueled all types of under of desire 28:58 to understand the Bible lands. 29:01 As the language is of the past 29:02 was resurrected interest was fueled in antiquities 29:06 but there were no trained excavators. 29:08 In 1850 Edwin Robinson was standing here 29:11 at the spring of Jericho 29:13 and so as he was standing at the spring of Jericho 29:15 he looked over and he told his friend he said 29:18 "I wonder where the ancient city of Jericho is." 29:21 Now you have to realize 29:22 if you ever been to the spring of Jericho 29:23 about a 100 feet from it was a large hill. 29:26 He didn't realize that the ancient city of Jericho 29:29 was under the hill. 29:32 And so he said where it could be that he didn't know. 29:35 In 1860 they began to excavate the tombs in Jerusalem 29:38 and again they were just destroying things 29:40 as they were looking things to bring back to Europe 29:43 and sell on the antiquities market. 29:45 Sir William Flinders Petrie went down to Egypt 29:48 and he began to measure and study the pyramids. 29:50 And in the process he became enamored 29:52 with the relics of antiquity 29:53 he became a stellar Egyptologist. 29:56 Painted pottery from the past had been used 29:58 for many for a long time to actually be able to correlate 30:03 periods of human history. 30:05 And he began to wonder 30:07 could we also use the unpainted pottery. 30:09 These broken pieces of potsherds 30:11 that are found in such abundance 30:12 in the Palestinian tels, 30:14 could we use these to take civilizations too. 30:16 And so he began to dig down in Gaza, Tell el-Hesi. 30:20 A Wadi had actually carved away a section of the, 30:23 of the tel and he began to see 30:25 all of these various layers 30:27 and he wondered what does all this mean. 30:30 Could he establish the occupational history 30:33 of the mount? 30:34 Well, indeed they excavated 30:36 and they were able to establish 30:37 the occupational history based on the potsherds. 30:41 And so "The humble potsherd," 30:42 that the broken piece of pottery, 30:44 "the rubbish on the ground of any excavated site, 30:46 was elevated to become the major implement 30:49 in the archaeologist's hand in his attempts 30:51 to pry open the vault of time." 30:55 These two findings sequence telling of prophecy-- 30:59 of pottery and stratigraphy of the mount 31:02 form the basis of scientific archeology. 31:05 A person name Pierre Vincent 31:07 became the expert in pottery typology. 31:09 He began to show how that the lamps and balls 31:11 clearly evolve from one era to the next. 31:14 Occasionally broken sherds of pottery will be found 31:17 with writing on them. 31:18 They are known as Etruscan. 31:20 Now Etruscan are very interesting. 31:23 You can see here on the screen 31:24 that there as writing on this 31:27 and in ancient Greece when you were being tried 31:30 they would actually take these broken pieces of pottery 31:33 and they would write on them 31:34 whether you were guilty or not guilty. 31:35 If you were guilty they would say 31:37 that you were to be their Etruscan. 31:41 They were said you to be Etruscized 31:44 you see because of the Etruscan. 31:46 And so they would write on them and occasionally 31:48 they actually find even the names of the villages 31:51 written on the potsherds that they find in the tel. 31:55 Well, Vincent passed on his knowledge 31:57 of pottery to a man by the name of Albright 32:00 he was a son of missionary parents. 32:02 He lost his faith in the Bible 32:04 but the longer he stayed in the Bible lands 32:06 and began exploring the more and more 32:08 he saw that the archeology was confirming the Bible. 32:12 And so he developed a great belief in the Bible. 32:16 He is known as the father of biblical archeology. 32:19 Well, we need to hurry on here 32:20 the, as we think about the, 32:23 ancient tels we might ask why was it site chosen? 32:26 Why they decided to live there? 32:28 Why they decided to live here 32:29 in Wichita by the way? 32:32 Was it because of the trade routes going through? 32:35 Is there river going through? 32:37 Well, you have to have water, right. 32:39 In every city it has to have water 32:41 and anciently you have to have water. 32:43 And where would you get water from? 32:47 The river, okay. 32:48 And so almost all of the cities in America 32:49 are built around rivers aren't they. 32:51 Just in Albuquerque 32:52 there is a river there I mean all, 32:53 whole city is almost. 32:54 Now if you don't have a river 32:55 what would you need? 32:58 A spring. 32:59 And so Jericho was built by a spring. 33:00 By the way Jericho was taught to be the oldest city 33:05 in the world, okay. 33:06 And has a spring right there. 33:07 And if you didn't have a spring 33:08 what would you need? 33:11 A well, and so we gonna look at the Beersheba 33:13 and our teaching on Jerusalem and where under Beersheba 33:16 where Abraham went and he went there 33:18 and he dug up well. 33:20 What else much you need? 33:22 A cistern. 33:24 And so we get to about the 7th-century BC 33:26 and they developed the technology 33:28 to built cisterns and they were able to build new cities 33:30 at places like its not Shechem but Nablus. 33:36 And Ahab built the city and for his capital there. 33:40 And so they were able to do that. 33:41 So you have to have a source of water. 33:43 Second thing you have to have is defense. 33:45 See if figure it out a long time ago 33:47 there was easier throw rocks down the hill 33:49 than it was up the hill. 33:51 So you want to build your city on top of the hill. 33:53 Because it's easy to thrown those rocks down. 33:55 And so they have to have defensive walls. 33:58 And third thing you had to have was, 34:00 what you have here in Kansas 34:01 it will have arable soil, 34:03 a place where you can grow your crops, right. 34:05 And so we need to have all three of these. 34:06 Source of water, defensive walls, 34:08 and arable soil. 34:09 Well, there were very few sites 34:11 that had all three of those kind of-- 34:13 those combinations. 34:15 And so what would tend to happen 34:16 is people would live there. 34:18 And when enemy would come through, 34:19 he would come through 34:20 and he would knock your buildings down 34:21 and knock your houses down 34:23 and take your women away and kill the men. 34:25 And when the people recovered guess what, 34:28 they would come back to the area 34:29 and because there was water 34:31 and because there was defensive walls and arable soil 34:34 they would go back 34:35 and they will build their town on top of that, that hill. 34:38 And so they would just kind of take, 34:39 the rubble and they kind of flattened out 34:41 and they build a new city on top of it. 34:43 You see, and so over a period of time 34:45 your city would actually grow. 34:47 And people were living there may be for a 100-years 34:50 and they throw there garbage out on the street 34:51 because men were in charge of the world and not women. 34:53 And they throw their garbage out there 34:55 and no one was there in town to pick it up 34:56 and they live it there and guess what. 34:58 The old city would just keep on growing up and up and up. 35:01 And so these cities actually 35:02 grow taller and taller and taller. 35:05 So Tell el-Hesi 35:06 when they were in they told you about a few minutes ago 35:08 it was a 120 feet high. 35:10 The picture I want to bring up on the screen right now 35:13 here we have a fabulous tel its over 90 feet tall. 35:18 And so the area would actually taller and taller and taller. 35:23 Now, when the Israelites return from the Persian captivity 35:27 the Persians and the Greeks 35:29 and the Romans they were providing security. 35:30 So you didn't have to build 35:32 your house on top of the hill anymore. 35:34 Now you could actually build your houses 35:37 around the base of the hill. 35:38 You could build a temple up on the top, 35:40 you could build a graveyard up on the top 35:42 and life was quite a bit easier. 35:44 And so that's how these things have developed. 35:48 So the hills would actually grow 35:50 and that's where we have the strata, the stratification 35:53 and they start with a good building site 35:55 and it's passed on and on. 35:57 And then what is left is a mount of debris 36:00 and that's called tel. 36:02 Okay, so fabulous tales that Tel tells, 36:06 fabulous tales the Tel tells. 36:07 Well how do you know 36:08 if it's a Tel or if it's just a hill out there? 36:12 Well, there's a couple of ways. 36:14 First of all usually the Tel is conical in shape. 36:17 It's kind of going up at an angle, conical in shape. 36:20 Secondly, as you're walking around the top 36:23 you often see building remains sticking right above the ground. 36:26 You can see hewing rocks 36:27 and so you notice one used live there. 36:29 And then there are ancient traditions 36:31 often the name has reflected in Arabic, 36:33 the name of the village is right there reflected in Arabic. 36:36 And then as we are walking around you see potsherds. 36:39 And I have lived in New England for a number of years 36:42 and I had a garden and it's seemed like every year 36:45 in my garden I grew rocks, all right. 36:49 Every year I go on plough my garden it will be more rocks, 36:52 every year. 36:54 But in this part of the world you know when it grows? 36:57 Potsherds, broken pieces of pottery. 36:59 They just keep coming up to the surface, 37:01 surface these broken pieces of pottery. 37:04 And so they see the garbage 37:06 that has a way of working itself 37:08 up to the top of the ground 37:10 and you can see it as you walk around. 37:11 Actually, you can just stumble up on it, 37:13 its quite fascinating 37:14 and I often tell people that's one of the best little things 37:17 to take for a souvenir. 37:19 I shouldn't tell them that anymore. 37:21 I will tell you a story sometime 37:23 about an unfortunate experience 37:24 I had a Beirut Airport with that type of thing. 37:26 But anyway, there are these broken pieces of pottery 37:29 everywhere and it's quite fascinating. 37:31 Well, the Biblical world is dedicated 37:34 to seeking meaning from the scent of the past. 37:36 And so I want to ask this question 37:38 what does the Tel tell us about meaningful life today? 37:43 And as we narrow down our interest in archeology, 37:46 the Biblical archeology we might ask this question 37:48 what light does archeology shine upon the scriptures? 37:53 Well, we can safely say that today 37:55 we know more about the Bible than at anytime in the past. 37:59 Albright that I mentioned earlier he wrote this, 38:02 he said "There can be no doubt that archaeology has confirmed 38:06 the substantial historicity of the Old Testament tradition." 38:11 For instance, archaeologist digging 38:13 in the Mesopotamian city of Neuse they found clay tablets 38:16 from the middle of the 2nd-millennium BC. 38:20 These clay tablets parallel 38:22 the story of Abraham and Sarah 38:24 and the birth of Ishmael through Sarah slave Hajar. 38:28 The tablets tell how that the barren wife now 38:31 pay attention guys. 38:32 The tablets tell how do the barren wife 38:35 the woman who cannot have any children 38:37 had the right to chose a surrogate for her husband 38:42 to have a child through 38:43 that is to have an heir through. 38:44 Now, who chose? 38:47 She chose and I'm sure 38:49 she was on the most beautiful woman in the town, right. 38:52 Well, she would chose as surrogate now the law 38:55 then these tablets that actually says 38:56 that later on that the original wife 38:59 became pregnant and bore a child 39:01 that her child will be the right for heir. 39:04 It sounds just like the story 39:06 of Abraham and Sarah, doesn't it. 39:08 And they found another tablet that told of man 39:11 who sold of birthright for three sheep. 39:14 It reminds us of Esau 39:17 who sold his birthright for a bowl of porridge. 39:21 And so the Bible stories it seems fantastic, 39:24 so strange to western readers have actually been confirmed 39:28 by clay tablets thousands of years old. 39:31 Well, in 1988 I made my way to Syria 39:34 to inspect the fabulous ruins of Tell Mardikh 39:37 better known as Ebla. 39:39 They are an exceptional, 39:40 it was an exceptionally large mount 39:42 it covered over a 140 acres. 39:43 It rouse 50 feet above the surrounding area, 39:46 now in contrast most towns in Israel or Palestine 39:49 are 10 to 15 acres. 39:50 So here was one it was ten times 39:52 a size of the average Israelite town. 39:55 It was a very furl area and in 1964 39:59 the University of Rome began to dig there. 40:02 A few important islands were found 40:03 during the next four years. 40:04 A headless basalt statue 40:06 of man wearing a robe that was inscribed 40:08 with the cuneiform signs it's found. 40:09 And but in 1973, they found the royal palace. 40:14 They found 42 tablets. 40:18 They resembled petrified waffles 40:20 being strung all over the floor. 40:23 Almost a thousand more tablets 40:25 were unearth in September of 1975 40:28 but the day they were make Ebla a historic find 40:31 came at the end of the month. 40:33 The team located a wall and the small palace. 40:36 Remember they sank a shaft down into the western corner. 40:39 And Professor Mathia, 40:41 peered down and he saw the most significant library 40:44 of the ancient world ever discovered. 40:46 He said "My first impression 40:48 was that I was looking at a sea of clay tablets." 40:52 Now most of them were down in piles on the floor 40:54 where they'd crashed down 40:55 when the city was sat in 2250 BC. 40:58 Ironically, the fires of the Acadian conquerors 41:01 ensure that the tablets would endure through out time 41:05 making them to a stone like hardness. 41:08 Over 20,000 clay tablets were discovered. 41:13 Twenty thousand clay tablets, so royal archives of a town 41:17 but it controlled the region not for military might 41:19 but through commerce have been discovered. 41:21 They found over a thousand dictionaries 41:24 to enable the scholars to understand the new language. 41:28 At its height in 2300 BC, 41:30 30, 000 people lived within the walls of Petra. 41:34 Perhaps 300,000 lived in environs. 41:37 Abraham would have stopped at Petra 41:40 on his journey to the Promised Land. 41:43 Most of the tablets were trade records 41:45 chronicling the trade being done with other cities. 41:48 Its fascinating that listed in the correspondence 41:51 are many names that we read about in the Book of Genesis. 41:54 Names like Hazor and Lachish, 42:00 Meggiddo, Gazza, and then Salem. 42:03 And you might recall in Genesis 14. 42:07 It's not called Jerusalem its called Salem, 42:10 Melchizedek was the priest king of Salem. 42:13 They also discovered many names 42:15 that seemed to confirm the biblical names. 42:17 Professor Pettinato made a very starling discovering in 1977 42:22 when he mentioned that they found bills of seal 42:27 to Sodom and Gomorrah. 42:29 Now before that there was no record 42:31 and so that Sodom and Gomorrah ever existing. 42:33 So most liberal scholars felt it was obvious. 42:35 It is just Jewish folklore, it's not true. 42:38 Now, there is a bit of debate about that today 42:43 he is the linguists who worked on the site. 42:46 Professor Mathia was the person in charge of the dig 42:49 and he said no, no it doesn't talk about Sodom and Gomorrah. 42:51 However Professor Pettinato say it does. 42:55 Now, when I was taking a group of pastors on tour recently 42:59 and we were traveling through Syria 43:01 I said we must go to Tell Mardikh. 43:03 And my tour guide said no, no 43:04 you don't want to go to Tell Mardikh. 43:05 And I said yeah, no, we want to go to Tell Mardikh. 43:07 No, no you don't want to go there. 43:08 I said well, what is going on here. 43:10 I want to, I want to take them its very important. 43:13 And so as we traveled I finally got out of him 43:17 what was going on. 43:19 Because of this connection the biblical names 43:23 he thought people there thought 43:26 that Israel would use as an excuse to invade 43:28 and occupy the land as part of greater Israel. 43:31 I said you don't really believe that do you? 43:33 Yes, it was very convinced that it was, 43:35 I'm not into politics but I'm not into that at all. 43:39 Well, it's very interesting. 43:41 Professor Pettinato who said they would bills of seal there 43:44 he no longer has a visa to excavate in the country. 43:47 Professor Mathia continues to excavate. 43:50 So it's unfortunate that some times politics 43:53 kind of stretches across even into archaeology. 43:56 Well, there were some other names of good sounds 43:58 names parlaying Abraham and Ishmael 44:01 Israel and Esau and even Eber the king 44:05 that is mentioned there in Genesis 14. 44:08 And so it's amazing as 44:10 Albright saw more and more data coming in, 44:12 confirming the Bible he wrote this in 1936. 44:15 He said "Genesis 14 used to be considered as unhistorical, 44:18 now we are more modest." 44:20 Well, 19-years later he republished the article 44:23 and this is what he said. 44:24 It was even more positively written. 44:26 He said "Genesis 14 can no longer be considered 44:29 as unhistorical 44:31 in view of the many conformations of details 44:34 which we owe to the recent finds." 44:36 We have to wonder what all would I have written 44:38 if you'd lived to see the discoveries 44:40 that were made at Ebla. 44:42 Well, 1988 44:43 I followed in the footsteps of Charles Texier 44:48 a French traveler exploring Northern Turkey and in 1834 44:52 he just left this little village of Bogazkoy 44:55 and he began to go out. 44:56 And he climbed up a rugged road into the rugged hills 45:00 and he suddenly there before him 45:01 were a long giant rows of stones. 45:06 He came upon the remains of a wall. 45:08 It was miles in length. 45:10 There was not a town he realized this must have been city 45:13 at least as large as Athens at its height. 45:17 Problem was there was no such city missing. 45:22 He found two massive gates 45:24 on one of them was carved a king or perhaps a God. 45:28 The other entrance in the city was guarded 45:30 by gigantic statues of lions one on each side. 45:34 And the carvings were unlike anything 45:36 he had ever seen before. 45:37 And they liven to a plateau about two hours away 45:40 where he found a place called the inscribed rock 45:44 and there were precipitous cliffs 45:45 and they were rounded off. 45:46 And then they was edged into the cliffs 45:49 these warrior guards, processions of guards 45:52 moving stiffly across the walls. 45:55 He was amazed. 45:56 Another narrow passage guarded by carved demons, 46:01 what was this city that had been that he had discovered. 46:05 He didn't know what it meant. 46:06 He observed writing strange, strange writing on the rocks. 46:09 Resembled hieroglyphics 46:10 but it was nothing like you'd ever seen before. 46:12 He was mystified. 46:14 William Hamilton was visiting the ruins 46:17 not long after Texier and he discovered more ruins nearby. 46:20 What these men discovered was actually an embarrassment 46:23 to archaeology which was still a young science. 46:26 They were discovering more than was known to be lost. 46:29 Archaeologist didn't know what to do with the finds. 46:32 It wasn't long until a strange writing was found 46:36 all the way up to the Black Sea. 46:38 All the way out to the Aegean Sea 46:42 in western Turkey or western Anatolia. 46:44 What strange empire could have had a writing 46:48 that stretched all these distances? 46:50 They were mystified what did it mean. 46:53 What did it mean? 46:54 Well, in 1880 Archabbot Henry says, 46:57 presented paper to the society of British Archaeology. 47:02 He advanced the theory that these mysterious ruins, 47:05 these strange writings belonged to the Hittites. 47:07 So people mentioned in the Bible 47:09 but hitherto passed off is unimportant or nonexistence. 47:13 And yet the Bible mentioned Hittites 48 times. 47:18 One instance it actually spoke of the king of the Hittites 47:21 and the kings of the Egyptians. 47:23 The very mention of the Hittites along with the Egyptians 47:27 one of the great powers of the past 47:28 should have made men's topping wonder yet aside from the Bible 47:31 there was not one mention of the Hittites. 47:34 And all of the records of antiquity 47:36 there was a not trace of them, not a word. 47:38 So scholars reason well, it will be impossible for 47:40 such an empires its just pass off the stage of history. 47:44 And so they took the silence as evidence 47:47 that the Hittites never existed. 47:49 It all the while the stately columns 47:52 these half buried statues, 47:55 these massive ruins bore a testimony to the Hittites. 48:01 And once the language is discovered they actually 48:05 saw that this was true that the Bible was true. 48:07 What happened is this. 48:08 The Rosetta Stone was discovered 48:12 and once they were able to understand 48:14 the hieroglyphics the vast museum 48:17 and pillars along the Nile began to open their doors. 48:20 Muddy carnage began to reveal its story. 48:22 Here on these massive pillars and palace walls 48:25 Ramses described its political conflicts 48:27 with the king of Hittite. 48:29 They began to piece the facts together. 48:32 But even then historians had not guessed the truth. 48:35 They thought it was some of the important tribes 48:36 it didn't occurred to them 48:37 the very length of time of this tribe 48:40 because skirmish of the two great powers of the day 48:41 was an indication that it was not a tribe at all 48:44 but a third great empire of the day. 48:46 Well in 1906 the Assyriologist Winckler 48:48 was digging at Bogazkoy 48:50 and he discovered a clay tablet 48:52 and it turns out to be a tablet from Ramses the Great 48:54 to the king of the Hittites. 48:55 It's the first international peace treaty that we have. 48:59 Fascinating isn't it. 49:00 How that the Bible was confirmed. 49:04 The Bible was confirmed. 49:05 Well, we have to hurry along. 49:07 The Hittites were got into the skirmish with Egyptians 49:12 and Hittites king was quite wise he knew that Ramses was 49:18 subject to flattery and so he sent better one spied 49:20 and he said you know the Hittites 49:22 that they heard you of coming and they ran away. 49:24 And so Ramses the great he was very susceptible to flattery. 49:28 And so he took his army up into a trap 49:30 and almost lost his life. 49:32 That's why he was willing to make peace 49:34 with the king of the Hittites. 49:36 Well, the Hittites they pioneered the use of iron 49:38 and they explored the technology of the Palestine. 49:40 They were relative gentlemen in new eastern standards 49:43 they didn't torture or kill people. 49:45 They made them their source. 49:46 They destroyed Ebla in 1600 49:49 and then they came to end themselves 49:50 69-years after the peace treaty written by Ramses the Great. 49:54 So it's amazing that the spade of the archaeologist 49:57 has dug open the windows of the remote past 50:00 confirming the biblical account of history by clay tablets 50:04 hidden manuscripts, stone cylinders and hieroglyphics, 50:07 the Bible again and again is proving to be reliable document. 50:13 The Book of Isaiah I mentioned Sargon the king of Assyria 50:16 as of remarkable fulfillments of that we're going to skip over 50:18 that as our time is slipping away on us here. 50:23 I want to come down and tell you fascinating story 50:26 that took place in Babylon. 50:27 Babylon is in the news quite a bit today isn't it 50:29 and modern Iraq. 50:31 And so here in ancient Iraq there was a fabulous story 50:34 and we're gonna talk about this on Sunday evening. 50:36 It's a mystery because the Bible talks about Belshazzar 50:40 being the king of Babylon. 50:45 And yet Belshazzar was not mentioned 50:46 in any of the Babylonian record, 50:48 in any of the Greek or roman records. 50:50 And so again this obviously it must be a Jewish myth 50:52 talking about Belshazzar. 50:55 Well, its time we are on to began to discover 50:59 some of the Persian and Babylonian records 51:02 such as the Prayer of Nabonidus in 1861. 51:04 There is a prayer for oldest son of Nabonidus 51:08 the king of Babylon and his name was Belshazzar. 51:11 And then we discovered in 1882 the Nabonidus Chronicle 51:17 it was describing 51:19 how that the capture of Babylon took place 51:21 and Nabonidus was down in Arabia 51:23 and team in Arabia collecting butterflies. 51:27 Then some people who believed in the Bible say 51:29 well this is obviously the Belshazzar of the Bible 51:31 but other people said no it can't be, 51:33 it's not mentioned anywhere else. 51:35 But in 1924 Smith published the worse account of Nabonidus 51:39 and it actually says he entrusted his kingship 51:41 to his oldest son Belshazzar. 51:44 A remarkable fulfillment of the Bible, 51:47 a tremendous fulfillment of the Bible 51:49 and yet we see the words R.H. Pfeiffer on the screen 51:52 "We shall presumably never know 51:54 how our author learned that Belshazzar 51:57 mentioned only the Babylonian records, and Daniel 52:00 which is Baruch 1:1 it was based on Daniel 52:03 it was functioning as king when Cyrus too Babylon." 52:06 He says we don't know how he could have information 52:08 that nobody else had. 52:10 Do you know why he had that information? 52:11 Because he lived back at the time 52:14 when the Bible says he did. 52:15 He was an eyewitness to the events, 52:17 an eyewitness to the events. 52:19 Well, some people are amazed as I see 52:23 how that the time has passed and they wondered 52:26 has the Bible really changed through the years. 52:28 How much is the Bible changed? 52:30 And they wonder how much could the Bible have been changed 52:34 over thousand years since it was originally written? 52:38 How much could it be corrupted? 52:39 Well, a modern skeptic wrote this in 1939. 52:42 Remember that day 1939? 52:43 "How well are we provided 52:45 with manuscripts of the Hebrew Old Testament. 52:47 It is generally rather a shock when one first learns 52:49 that the oldest existent manuscripts 52:51 are no earlier than the Ninth Century after Christ. 52:54 Over a thousand years separate our earliest Hebrew manuscripts 52:58 from the date at which the latest of the books 53:00 contained in them were originally written. 53:02 It is a disquieting thought when one reflects 53:05 how much a text may be corrupted or mutilated 53:08 in the course of transmission by manuscript 53:11 over a long period of time." 53:13 Do you get what he is saying? 53:14 He is saying there was over 1,000-years from the time 53:16 when they originally wrote the Old Testament 53:18 until the manuscripts that we have today. 53:20 Just think of it how much have changed during that time. 53:22 Now what you're daily writers in. 53:25 1939, remember that day. 53:29 Eight years later, 15 year old Muhammed Edh-Dhib 53:34 was looking for a lost goat and he was there on the hills 53:36 and he threw a stone into a cave and he heard pottery breaking. 53:43 He was frightened. He thought may be it was ghosts. 53:45 And so he ran away and as he ran away 53:47 he began to wonder was it ghosts or was it a pot of gold. 53:51 And so he got a friend to go back with him. 53:53 And he went in and they were very afraid and they went in 53:57 and they didn't find any gold. 53:59 You know what they found? 54:01 Old pieces of leather. 54:03 Old pieces of leather and they were so disappointed 54:05 when they were over there at the caves 54:06 these old pieces of leather 54:07 and they took some back and they unrolled 54:08 and they went form one side of tent to the other 54:10 and they thought what we are doing this 54:11 I traveled around with them. 54:13 Finally they took it down to Bethlehem 54:15 to Syrian Christian who was informally known as Kando. 54:18 And he said are you interested in this? 54:20 Now this, this guy owned a shoe cobbling business 54:23 as well as a grocery store. 54:25 And so he bought the old leather scrolls 54:28 and thought about using them to mend shoes. 54:30 Can you imagine that, the oldest manuscripts 54:33 of the Bible in the world to be used to mend shoes? 54:36 So not to make your heart start beating isn't it. 54:38 Well, ultimately the scholars the scrolls made there ways 54:43 into the hands of scholars who recognized 54:45 and to be ancient copies of the Bible. 54:47 The entire Book of Isaiah was discovered 54:49 written before the time of Jesus 54:51 and addition portions of every Old Testament book 54:53 were discovered with the exception of Esther. 54:56 The discovery of the scrolls and the caves of the Dead Sea 54:58 raise an important question who would hidden them? 55:00 Who would so loved boyishly copy these Scrolls 55:02 and put them into these caves. 55:04 Well, it turns out that they were Assyrians. 55:06 A group of people from the time of Jesus 55:08 and they lived down there an ascetic life 55:10 and they copied the scriptures 55:12 and they actually had a room here 55:14 you can see on the screen a scriptorium 55:16 where they copy the scriptures and ultimately they found 55:18 the archaeologist found that 55:19 they were evidences that the wells and the inkpots 55:23 match the ink and the scrolls themselves. 55:26 And when the Romans came down 55:28 about the time Sodom was being destroyed. 55:30 The Romans came down they hid this scrolls into the caves 55:33 and they were left there for 1900 years 55:35 until they were rediscovered. 55:37 Well, it was an amazing thing. 55:39 William, I', sorry-- 55:41 Millar Burrows the former director 55:43 of the American School of Oriental Research 55:45 made the first announcement about 55:47 the Scrolls to the western world. 55:48 And he said, you may be disappointed 55:50 that we haven't published all of the Isaiah manuscript. 55:54 But I want you to read what he said. 55:56 "Some readers may be disappointed that the 55:58 translations of the Isaiah manuscript are not included 56:00 in this edition of the text of the Dead Sea Scrolls. 56:05 The fact is that most of the differences between 56:08 these manuscripts and the traditional Hebrew text 56:10 do not involve changes of meaning 56:12 that would be evident in a translation 56:14 and the differences that do involve such changes 56:16 are not sufficiently frequent to justify the space 56:20 for the translation of these texts." 56:22 Can you imagine it? 56:23 Thousand years and you wouldn't notice the difference 56:28 from Hebrew to English translation. 56:31 How much did it change? 56:33 You wouldn't even see it. 56:34 You wouldn't even see it. 56:35 Isn't that amazing? 56:36 The truth is that God has preserved His word. 56:40 He has preserved His Word 56:42 and we can have confidence in it. 56:43 And that's what archaeology tells us. 56:46 Let's pray together. 56:47 Father in heaven, thank You for this opportunity 56:49 to explore the wonderful world of the past 56:52 and to have our confidence in Your holy book 56:55 confirmed and encouraged. 56:57 I pray that each will bless each of us in our spiritual journey 57:00 that we might have more confidence in You 57:02 as a result of this study in archaeology 57:04 I pray in Jesus name, amen. |
Revised 2014-12-17