Posted by Bronwen Manning on January 26, 2009 under Biblical Hebrew | 
Jewish Migration
There are several ideas that seek to understand how the Jews arrived and settled in Egypt in the first place, but all agree that at the end of the 5th century BCE, there was a Jewish Temple operating in the country of Egypt.
The Daily Correspondence Uncovered
What can be reconstructed of this Jewish community comes from a wealth of papyri generated by members of the community and archaeological confirmation. Before the papyri began appearing on the Egyptian market for sale in the early 19th century- no one knew of its existence, a Temple unchronicled in the Biblical narrative.
A Temple like Jerusalem
The findings in the papyri generated enough interest for an archaeological investigation to be made on the Nile island of Elephantine. There they uncovered the communal archive of the Jewish leader by the name of Yedaniah ben Gemariah. From this archive we learned that the sanctuary they built was not like a synagogue but rather a fully established Temple with animal sacrifices and incense and grain offerings as in Jerusalem. Furthermore we learn that when the Temple was destroyed by Egyptian priests of Khnum in 407 BCE (who jostled for power on the same island), the Temple authorities in Jerusalem gave permission and possibly also provisions to rebuild the Egyptian Jewish Temple.
When was this Temple Established?
The antiquity of the Elephantine Temple is mentioned in a letter “Now our forefathers built this temple in the fortress of Elephantine back in the days of the kingdom of Egypt, and when Cambyses came to Egypt he found it built. They (the Persians) knocked down all the temples of the gods of Egypt, but no one did any damage to this temple.” This indicates that the Temple had already been established before the Persian’s took control of Egypt in 525 BCE. It is supposed that Elephantine was a military colony for Jewish soldiers and their families and that they were brought out of Judah to support Pharaoh Psammetichus in his regional and border wars that we know occurred around 650 BCE. This may be the beginning years of this Jewish Temple.
Persecuted Priests Build a New Home?
The report by the Jewish historian Josephus that a Temple to YHWH was established in 164 BCE in Leontopolis Egypt by persecuted Jewish priests in the time of the Hasmoneans’, has led to circumstantial conclusions that the Temple of Elephantine was established in a similar way. Along with the idea of a Jewish military base, it has been hypothesized that persecuted priests from the reign of the Judean King Manasseh, fled for their lives to Egypt and helped set up the religious life of the already existent community of military Jewish soldiers.
Biblical Significance of Two Temples
One of the characteristics of the worship of Yhwh was its prohibition against the worship of other gods, and the injunction to sacrifice to Yhwh at only one place, Jerusalem (Deuteronomy 12). The fact that at Elephantine they carried out sacrificial worship and were known by the Jerusalem establishment may lead to some new perspectives on the commandments in the Bible. However it has been duly noted that when Jerusalem responded to the plight of the Egyptian Jews and gave them consent to rebuild their Temple, they stipulated in their letter that the rituals of grain and incense offerings were permitted, but they made no mention of animal sacrifices! This then may confirm the biblical stipulation that sacrificial offerings were for Jerusalem alone, and though communities such as those in Egypt also carried out sacrificial offerings, it was done without the authorization of Jerusalem.
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Posted by Ricci Carr on January 18, 2009 under Biblical Hebrew, Personal stories |
“I put the phone down I went straight to the piano and my wrote some words… When I had finished I had a song called “Water from the wells of Zion”…”
I am now 60 years old but at 57years of age in 2006 and suffering serious physical illness from heavy metal, chemical & pesticide poisoning, I cried out to Ha Shem to please take me if He wanted me that I could not stand the physical pain anymore. I added at the same time, or if you want me, put me where you need me to be!
During 2007-2008 when I had a window of wellness I left New Zealand to seek the warmer climate of Queensland. I was seriously ill, my marriage in tatters and wherever I turned physicians and healers would somehow get so far with helping me then I would regress. The climate was good for me and although still unwell and searching to be well, I found good Healers to work with (drug free.) I met some incredible people I still call friends now that I am back in New Zealand and they encouraged me and still do today.
I decided to hold Rosh Chodesh Sabbath dinners at my place as I could not go out much and the scripture came to me “In my fathers house there are many nations” Thankfully I am a good cook because of Claudia Roden’s The Book Of Jewish Food. We started with 5 people and within 18 months it became 25! One day a friend called me from her farm and said that their creek (river) had dried up and the neighboring farmers were coming to their place to take showers and the water situation was very serious, they were beginning to lose livestock. She told me that she had been led to scripture where the Israeli army was in the desert in the same situation. They had been instructed to take staffs, go to a certain spot and dig there, pray, take a minstrel and sing a song of praise to El Azar. She also said that the farmers had made the staffs, they had chosen the prayers and that Ha Shem had told her I was to be the minstrel! My reply was that I had not written songs or sang properly for years ad I didn’t think I was up to it but as she insisted and I said o.k. that I would give it a go. I had 3 weeks to prepare for this.
However, in the ensuing 3 weeks I was quite unwell, in pain and confused a lot. Time passed and I just happened to call her one day and said that I would have the song ready for next week when there was dead silence at the end of the telephone. “Its tomorrow” said my friend. Righto! Was my reply, see you then and hung up on the call before she could ask me to hear it.
Water from the wells of Zion
At this time I had not done anything but had prayed about it as I did want to do this for my friend even though I had no experience of asking Our Creator for water I wanted to be a part of this event. When I put the phone down I went straight to the piano and my wrote some words that I really didn’t understand and my hands flew to places in perfect good timing on the piano (unusual for me) giving me the chords for the music. I was surprised. I gave hanks and praise. When I had finished I had a song called “Water from the wells of Zion” I called my friend and sang it to her. Again there was dead silence at the other and of the telephone. “Bring the song she said, I know it is from Ha Shem. There is a line in it that He had given me that I have never told anyone else about! (Oooh!)
Click Here to Hear Kol Kore Mix
At this time by Queensland & local government decree the population was on 3 minutes showering for the population and no use of garden hoses. It was said to have been the worst drought in 75 years.
17 people came to the farm with ribbons and banners and staffs, prayers and the minstrel “Ricci” who taught them the catchy song and in no time they were all singing it. We gathered, sang prayed and dug at the driest piece of riverbed I had ever seen in my life. The sticks hardly moved the earth as it was so hard.
Within 6 weeks down came the rains, in fact in Northern Queensland it even flooded. The river was full and life came back to the earth. We all gave thanks from the bottom of our hearts and realized how gracious He is when we are obedient (even though we do not see).
Biblical Hebrew lessons experience
That was not the end of the story! As I began to attend Biblical Hebrew lessons when I was well enough I found myself pulling the teacher aside after our lessons (which I just could not get enough of) asking her how I would pronounce what I had written while she was teaching. She asked me what I was doing and I told her I was not sure yet but that I thought maybe one day they might be songs. “That’s nice dear, I will help you” was the reply. So in the ensuing months my teacher patiently helped me after lessons, come to terms trying to pronounce the most beautiful language of old that gave me a sense of joy! My teacher was Malyah Bar from Israel. The most gentle, sharing and loving lady I have had the pleasure to know. In fact, on the Gold Coast in Australia where I began to learn, the class regulars had a nickname for her “rocket scientist of the scriptures” None of us had ever met such a person. She made the scriptures come alive to us outside the land. She opened up a whole new world to the many and varied people from all walks of life who came and wished to learn the truth. When I realized I wanted to learn how to pronounce it she was always there to help.
I was unwell for quite some time and so had stopped writing the words into my computer in English. (I cannot write the Hebrew script.) When I went back to think about perhaps writing some more, there in front of me was the most amazing 4 lines in Biblical Hebrew Script with corresponding English. (No one goes to my computer except me and I was living alone)
The words were” Blessed are you our G-d, creator of time and space, who performed miracles for our ancestors in the days of long ago and in this time!
I tried to cut and paste it, send it by email to my teacher, but it would not go. So I had her come to see and she verified its contents and told me I was very blessed. It was then I decided I had better finish and get recorded the song which finally became “Kol Kore Le Kol Ha Amim” (A Voice calling all nations). As time passed I was placed most
Unexpectedly, for the winter of 2008, all alone on an Island in New Zealand called Waiheke Island. it was to be rent free, up high with the sun & the birds with a vehicle to use where I finished the songs over winter in amongst much physical pain, many unwell times and affliction. I then recorded them in His name and the most wonderful other signs have been given along the way.
Barukh Haba Ba Shem!
(Isaiah 42:8-10)
Ricci Carr, New Zealand
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Posted by Bronwen Manning on January 7, 2009 under Archaeology |
1. Seal Impression of Jeremiah’s Attempted Killer
It is rather outrageous to directly assume that the Minister Gedaliah Ben Pashur of the Bible who attempted to kill the Jerusalem prophet, is the same man mentioned on the 2,600 year old seal impression. However taking into consideration that this Biblical character was entangled in this ugly affair with another Minister, namely Yehuchal Ben Shelemayahu (Jer 38:1), and that this second man’s name was also found in the same excavation seems enough material evidence to suppose these bullae refer to true biblical-period men in the courts of King Zedekiah of Judah.
2. Roman Gold and Jewels in the City of David
In two separate incidents in the excavations of the Israel Antiquities Authority (that are digging in what used to be a large car park opposite the road from Elat Mazar’s dig in the what is commonly known as the ‘City of David’ dig) – a treasure of 264 gold coins depicting the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Emperor Heraclius, were found; along with a magnificent example of Roman jewellery. The coins were exposed with the collapse of a wall and date to around 1,300 years ago while the single Roman earring found with pearls and emeralds dates to 2,000 years ago.
3. ‘Oldest Hebrew Inscription’ found?
Yossi Garfinkel’s excavation at Khirbet Qeiyafa has revealed a pottery fragment that has five lines of what he claims to be, the oldest attested Hebrew script known today dated to 1000- 975 BCE. His claim has naturally been contested since the break from proto-Canaanite script with its descendants, only one of which is Hebrew, is miry and be-fuddled waters. One cannot with certainty declare the script Hebrew without justifying why in the same breath it cannot represent classic proto-Canaanite script. Garfinkel makes his case- noting that a word exists on the sherd that is a typical Hebrew word. If his case holds, then we will have found in this year the oldest Hebrew Inscription!
4. Half-Shekel Temple Tax coin found in the Rubbish
The full shekel and the half-shekel were well known to have been the prescribed coin with which all the young Israeli men could pay the yearly Temple Tax. The commandment stems from the Lord’s dialogue with Moses (Exodus 30:12-15) and is well documented in the story of Jesus and Peter (Matthew 17:24–27). This year is not the first year that a half-shekel coin has been found, although they are rare, but rather it is the first half-shekel coin that has come from the Temple itself! This coin represents one man’s modest contribution to Temple maintenance and would go straight to the Temple treasury. In a small way it is an exciting find, not so much for the item itself, but from where it came from, and what it paid for.
5. The Messianic Stone
An inscription known as “Gabriel’s Vision” was published this year- the text was written in ink onto a stone sometime in the last first century B.C. and early first century A.D. and due to its Messianic content has come to wide attention. This pre-Christian Jewish text is said to relate to two different concepts of the Messiah. So the text is difficult to read in some places it describes how there will be a militant Messiah of David who will be involved in some king of military victory, while Ephraim, otherwise known as the Messiah son of Joseph will be involved in suffering and death. There is a debate if the inscription also describes how the Messiah son of Joseph will rise from the grave “in three days, live!”
[smartads]
There are several ideas that seek to understand how the Jews arrived and settled in Egypt in the first place, but all agree that at the end of the 5th century BCE, there was a Jewish Temple operating in the country of Egypt.
The findings in the papyri generated enough interest for an archaeological investigation to be made on the Nile island of Elephantine. There they uncovered the communal archive of the Jewish leader by the name of Yedaniah ben Gemariah. From this archive we learned that the sanctuary they built was not like a synagogue but rather a fully established Temple with animal sacrifices and incense and grain offerings as in Jerusalem. Furthermore we learn that when the Temple was destroyed by Egyptian priests of Khnum in 407 BCE (who jostled for power on the same island), the Temple authorities in Jerusalem gave permission and possibly also provisions to rebuild the Egyptian Jewish Temple.
The antiquity of the Elephantine Temple is mentioned in a letter “Now our forefathers built this temple in the fortress of Elephantine back in the days of the kingdom of Egypt, and when Cambyses came to Egypt he found it built. They (the Persians) knocked down all the temples of the gods of Egypt, but no one did any damage to this temple.” This indicates that the Temple had already been established before the Persian’s took control of Egypt in 525 BCE. It is supposed that Elephantine was a military colony for Jewish soldiers and their families and that they were brought out of Judah to support Pharaoh Psammetichus in his regional and border wars that we know occurred around 650 BCE. This may be the beginning years of this Jewish Temple.
The report by the Jewish historian Josephus that a Temple to YHWH was established in 164 BCE in Leontopolis Egypt by persecuted Jewish priests in the time of the Hasmoneans’, has led to circumstantial conclusions that the Temple of Elephantine was established in a similar way. Along with the idea of a Jewish military base, it has been hypothesized that persecuted priests from the reign of the Judean King Manasseh, fled for their lives to Egypt and helped set up the religious life of the already existent community of military Jewish soldiers.
