Missives

It was just one of those weeks, folks.  What promised to be a light schedule quickly turned into a series of first world problems.  Instead of complaining, I’ll look for God’s sovereign purposes so I can turn chaos into a Christ-centered contemplation.

The only thing I find in common with a flooded basement, a “frost-free” refrigerator that won’t defrost, and a dead dishwasher is water.  It’s either in the wrong place at the wrong time, or it’s not there at all.  The timely and reliable control of water plays a huge role in our lives, whether in modern or ancient times.

Scripture references water frequently. Maiym, the Hebrew transliteration for “water”, appears 525x in the Old Testament; likewise, hydor (Greek) appears 70x.  It’s featured in the creation of the earth (Gen. 1:9), acted as the main mechanism of God’s judgment in Noah’s day (Gen. ch.6-7), and supplied cities with its life-supporting function (2Ki. 20:20). It was miraculously given to the Israelites (Ex. 17:1), Samson (Ju. 15:19), and Jehoshaphat’s army (2Ki. 3:16-20). The Lord controls when and where it rains (Amos 4:7). Moses and Joshua divided it. Jesus and Peter walked on it.

Somehow these all point to spiritual realities.  Isaiah refers to the water of affliction. Other metaphors include the water of salvation and the water of life. When we consider how God saves sinners, by directing His Word in due season to one of His elect, we perceive that God is the ultimate Water Manager, both physically and spiritually.

Believers are exhorted to draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Our Lord Jesus shall sanctify and cleanse His church with the washing of water by the word. God’s promise through the prophet Ezekiel is that He will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness, and from all your idols. No deed is so great that God’s water of salvation can’t cleanse. After listing many horrible sins, the Apostle Paul writes such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. This surely is that fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. Jesus boldly declared, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

When the Lord chooses to afflict sinners, He sometimes withholds the rain. Elijah told Ahab as the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word. Hosea pleaded for Israel and Judah to repent, lest God make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst. He also may create a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.

Why does God weary men with spiritual drought?  Simply put, to alert them to their deepest need.  Jesus said blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. It seems He sifts for true saints like David: As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? Even today, Jesus still cries out, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.  In mercy, He will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: and they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses. The Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. But am I truly thirsty?

Faithful men use God’s word to their benefit, while those who are ungodly seem to like spiritual famines: for the earth which drinketh in the rain … bringeth forth herbs and receiveth blessing from God: but that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.  Jeremiah says cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness. Jeremiah goes on to compare the man who truly trusts God to a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. May we be mindful to regularly direct God’s water to our souls; then these other things won’t matter as much.

Some carols endure beyond the volume of work from prolific poets, such as Cecil Alexander’s “Once in Royal David’s City”.  Born in Ireland in 1818, Cecil Frances Humphries soon developed her innate skills by writing poetry in her school’s journal. She was so capable that by the age of 22, several of her hymns appeared in the hymnbook of the Church of Ireland.  At age 32 she married Rev. William Alexander who eventually became the chief bishop of Ireland.

A rarity for women of her day, she extended a deep care for charity and social causes. Historian B. Polman notes “she showed her concern for disadvantaged people by traveling many miles each day to visit the sick and the poor, providing food, warm clothes, and medical supplies. She and her sister also founded a school for the deaf.”

Concerning her impressive volume of hymns, Polman recounts that “Alexander was strongly influenced by the Oxford Movement and by John Keble's Christian Year. Her first book of poetry, Verses for Seasons, was a ‘Christian Year’ for children. She wrote hymns based on the Apostles' Creed, baptism, the Lord's Supper, the Ten Commandments, and prayer, writing in simple language for children. Her more than four hundred hymn texts were published in Verses from the Holy Scripture (1846), Hymns for Little Children (1848), and Hymns Descriptive and Devotional (1858).” 

Historian John Julian lists her other major works. “Mrs. Alexander's hymns and poems number nearly 400. They are mostly for children, and were published in her Verses for Holy Seasons, 1846; Poems on Subjects in the Old Testament, pt. i. 1854, pt. ii. 1857; Narrative Hymns for Village Schools, 1853; The Legend of the Golden Prayers, 1859; Moral Songs, N.B.; The Lord of the Forest and his Vassals, an Allegory, &c.; or contributed to the Lyra Anglicana, the S.P.C.K. Psalms and Hymns, Hymns Ancient & Modern, and other collections.”

“Some of the narrative hymns are rather heavy … but a large number remain which have won their way to the hearts of the young, and found a home there. Such hymns as ‘In Nazareth in olden time,’ ‘All things bright and beautiful,’ ‘Once in Royal David's City,’ ‘There is a green hill far away,’ ‘Jesus calls us o'er the tumult,’ ‘The roseate hues of early dawn,’ and others … are deservedly popular. Mrs. Alexander has also written hymns of a more elaborate character; but it is as a writer for children that she has excelled.” [1]

‘Once in Royal David’s City’ is based on the words of the Apostle’s Creed, originally written in six stanzas of six lines each.  Dr. Hawn, Professor of sacred music at SMU, provides an interesting analysis of the carol.  “This is one of Alexander’s most narrative and vivid texts, shattering perceptions of the picturesque Nativity with the realities of the lowly stable, and the weak and dependent baby. The hymn’s controversial nature comes from the language expressing the cultural patronizing of children during the Victorian era (words such as ‘little,’ ‘weak’ and ‘helpless’ are ones found particularly appalling in a 21st-century context).

In the spirit of the Romantic poetic era, Alexander speculates in stanza three that Jesus was ‘little, weak, and helpless’ when there is no biblical account to support this. To the contrary, the one biblical witness we have of Jesus’ boyhood in Luke 2:41-52 indicates that he strayed from his parents and caused quite a stir in the temple when teachers were astonished at His understanding and answers.  (Luke 2:47)

One could make a case that Alexander’s third stanza was more concerned with supporting Victorian child-rearing principles—children as submissive and ‘seen, but not heard’ — rather than providing an accurate account of Jesus’ life. On the other hand, the child who is God incarnate surely felt the human and childlike feelings that all children face.

The final stanza moves from actual childhood to a metaphorical family in which we are all children of God. The poet explores the paradox that this ‘child, so dear and gentle’ is actually the ‘Lord in heaven’ who ‘leads his children on the place where he has gone.’

The original final stanza explores another paradox—the journey from the ‘lowly stable’ to a place ‘at God’s right hand.’ The little child who sings this song then joins the throngs in heaven who will shine ‘like stars’.” [2]  Who would have thought that a ministry to young people would yield fruit enduring down to our day?

One would expect professional musicians to be the driving force behind famous songs, but this cannot be said for the words of a most recognizable and popular Christmas carol, “What Child Is This”. In this hymn we have the heart cry of a white-collar Christian businessman, one whose life the Lord touched with difficult times.

In 1837, John and Sussanah Dix gave birth to William Chatterton Dix in Bristol, England.  His middle name honored his father’s favorite poet, Thomas Chatterton, of whom his father wrote a biography. It seems his father’s love for articulate verse was passed to William in more than just a name, as William also held a passion for poetry.  In addition to being an author, Mr. Dix practiced surgery by trade, yet William wasn’t cut out for this line of work.

Instead, he opted for more ordinary service.  At first, he dipped into his grandfather’s soap and candle making business at Bristol.  Eventually he landed a job at a maritime insurance company in Glasgow to float the family finances.  Successful at hauling in big ship insurance policies, he was soon roped into a manager position, and anchored himself in numerous managerial roles throughout his career.

Though his job weathered life’s storms, his health did not. At age 29 he was hit with a near fatal illness and confined to bed for months. Severe depression sunk into his soul as a spiritual crisis washed over him.  After earnestly spending his time in prayer and reading the Word of God, William rose from the depths of despair. While still a manager at the insurance company, he devoted his spare time to writing Christian-themed poetry. [1] 

He considered most of his poems as a form of worship, and initially left them in his desk drawer.  In 1865, “What Child Is This” came from his longer poem titled “The Manger Song”, one he felt deserved a place outside the writing desk. Not musically inclined, he sought to pair it with an established yet delightfully somber melody.  He chose “Greensleeves”, already associated with Christmas, yet one whose chords seemed adrift without Dix’ words.  His combination spread from church to church as Christmas seasons came and went. Six years later, “What Child Is This” was published in a collection called “Christmas Carols Old and New.” In time, the short poem from a humbled businessman became the most well-known use of Greensleeves’ haunting sound. The carol spread quickly in Britain and over the pond to the United States, where it became even more popular, along with his other famous Christmas carol, “As With Gladness, Men of Old.”

Those who venture into the difficult waters of hymn writing soon appreciate Dix’ deep draws from scripture (Matt. 2:11, Luke 2:11-20; and thematically from Matt. 27:35-50, Php 2:9-11, 1Tim 6:3-16, Rev. 19:11-16) while leaning into romantic poetry.  Galaxy Music notes “the lyrics pose questions the shepherds might be pondering during their encounter. The first stanza starts with a rhetorical question, condensing the incarnation within a single sentence. The poet successfully paints a classic picture of the nativity – the Christ child sleeping on mother’s lap, as the angels and shepherds provide the background score with ‘Anthems Sweet’ and ‘Watch and Keep’. The poet registers similarity to the first stanza with another rhetorical question, a momentary reference to ‘mean estate’, Jesus’ less than ideal condition. He wonders why, and reasons the birth of Christ is entangled with His future sufferings. The second stanza alludes to the anguish and distress of Christ's future. The poet utilizes the final stanza to expand the emphasis on the people attending the humble scene. He focuses on the metaphorical gifts brought for the infant, flouting the conventional structure of time where ‘king’ or ‘peasant’ is given an equal offer.” [2]

One historian made a fitting comment: “Physical sickness revealed to William the sickness of his own soul, and it sent him on a quest for true purpose. Thankfully, answers were sought and found in the right place, and when William was physically well he began living his life for God. So, how did William live for God? Did he become a minister? A missionary? A monk? No, he returned to his life as an insurance manager, trusting God to use him exactly where he was.”  May we realize that service to Jesus is not limited to the pulpit, since the shores of time reveal other pearls fashioned by God’s quiet work.

The Christian hymn “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence” is among some of our oldest Christmas songs.  It’s based on a portion of the Liturgy of St. James, a customary repertoire used in early NT worship, particularly before the Lord’s Supper.  It allegedly began out of the Jerusalem ministry of James half-brother of Jesus (Acts 21:17–19), but is more likely related to the work of Bishop Cyril of Jerusalem (circa 347 AD).  Extant manuscripts of this hymn date to the 7^th, 9^th and 12^th centuries, written in places such as Mosul, Iraq. It was translated into multiple languages, especially Syriac, but also in Georgian, Armenian, and Ethiopian.

The Liturgy prepared congregations for partaking of the Lord’s Supper (e.g., references to Christ as being our “heavenly food”).  The hymn emerged into English during the Oxford Movement, a period when ancient Christian texts were translated into English from Greek and Latin. Gerard Moultrie (1829–1885), an Anglican minister and scholar, versified this section of the Liturgy, based on a prose translation published by J.M. Neale (see inset, below). His hymn appeared in the second edition of Lyra Eucharistica, a collection of communion hymns compiled and edited by Orby Shipley. Shipley’s goal in producing the collection was to correct a lack of available hymns on the subject, which he attributed in part to the way “the English Office for Holy Communion is not considered sufficiently elastic to allow of hymns, other than those which the Office itself already contains,” and thus, “it is only natural that such hymns from the Latin and from the Greek, as well as those of German and other origin, have been but rarely translated into English verse”.

Some hymnal editors omit or alter the second stanza, pointing to potential concern over the doctrine of transubstantiation in the line, “He will give to all the faithful His own self for heavenly food,” especially in relation to the preceding lines, starting with “Christ our God to earth descendeth.” The line itself does not espouse any particular doctrine or interpretation, being consistent with Christ’s own language, “This is my body, which is given for you”; see also Christ’s declaration “I am the bread of life” and the related discussion in John 6. The sense of supreme reverence in stanza one, the imagery of light and darkness in stanza three, and the picture of angelic worship in stanza four, draw from Bible passages.  The table below illustrates the hymn’s solid biblical roots.

PICARDY, the tune generally sung with this text, first appeared in the French songbook, Chansons Populaires des Provinces de France. This French folk song was transcribed and arranged for piano by J.B. Wekerlin from Ms. Pierre Dupont, who learned it during her childhood in Picardy, France.  Famed composer Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958) was the first to pair this tune with Moultrie’s text in The English Hymnal, where Williams named the tune after Dupont’s childhood residence. The tune is regarded by some scholars as being from the 17^th century.

Hymnologist J.R. Watson, in his Annotated Anthology of Hymns, describes it this way: “The hymn is a sublime command, and the invocation of silence adds emphasis to the awe-inspiring greatness of God which is signaled in this hymn. This is the opposite of those hymns which express the kindness and closeness of God (‘What a friend we have in Jesus’): here God appears in majesty and light, accompanied by the glory of the heavenly host. The Lord’s Supper is celebrated as an event in which this glory is given to the faithful.”

Who would have thought that a preparatory hymn for communion would become a richly treasured Christmas hymn? The word of God, when set to appropriate music, enjoys another medium to cheer God’s people down through the ages.

Sources: HymnologyArchive.com and Hymnary.org.

During this season at MBC, we devote the month of December to singing Christmas hymns and carols.  “O Come, O Come, Emanuel” is a favorite, whose history reaches back to Apostolic times.  It is a form of antiphonal music, which refers to any call-and-response style of singing. Antiphonal chants of early Christianity had its root in the synagogue, where early Christians borrowed the traditions of the chanting of psalms. Socrates of Constantinople wrote that antiphony was introduced into Christian worship by Ignatius of Antioch (~100 AD). Antiphonal singing was an element of Jewish liturgy believed to have entered the monasteries of Syria and Palestine in the 4^th century from Jewish communities such as the one in Antioch.

Antiphons have remained an integral part of the worship in the Byzantine and Armenian Rites. The practice did not become part of the Latin church until more than two centuries later. Ambrose and Gregory the Great are credited with 'antiphonaries', collections of works suitable for antiphon.[1]  For over 12 centuries, monasteries and convents in the Latin church, during the final week of Advent, chanted a series of verses known as the “Great O Antiphons” for each name of Christ by a different biblical title: Wisdom, Adonai, Root of Jesse, Key of David, Dayspring or Radiant Dawn, King of Nations, Emmanuel. These Antiphons are the source of today’s hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” one of the few hymns and carols adapted by Protestants.

Around 1100 AD, an unknown author transformed these antiphons into a metrical Latin poem. Shortly after 1700, another unknown editor printed this metrical version in a Psalter collection. A little less than 150 years later, the poem caught the attention of Anglican priest and hymn writer John Mason Neale (1818–1866), who translated many great early and medieval Greek and Latin hymns. Among Neale’s hymnal collections, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” appears in Medieval Hymns and Sequences (1851), with the notation: “This Advent hymn is little more than a versification of some of the Christmas antiphons commonly called the O’s.”

For instance, “O Oriens” (O Dayspring) was initially: “O Radiant Dawn, brightness of light eternal and sun of all justice; O come and illumine those who live in deep darkness and in the shadow of death.” Today, one hymnal translates that same stanza about the true source of our joy: “O Come, thou Dayspring, come and cheer/ Our spirits by thy coming here;/ Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,/ And death’s dark shadows put to flight.”

Neale’s translation of the hymn slipped into the Church of England’s official hymnal in 1861 and spread throughout Protestantism. Along the way, various translators tweaked the text. The version commonly used today combines Neale’s with alterations from the 1940 Episcopal Hymnal and stanzas on Christ as Wisdom and Desire of Nations translated by Presbyterian preacher and social activist Henry Sloane Coffin (1877–1954). (Now that’s a grave name. – Ed.)

In Neale’s day, hymnals for congregations were published in sizes small enough to carry to church in a pocket or bag. Unfortunately, most tunes were dropped to conserve space.  However, in Neale’s tune collection The Hymnal Noted (1854), he copied the melody, using it for the first stanza and refrain, from “French sources.”

For many years, no one knew quite what or who Neale’s “French sources” were.  Its origin was eventually traced to a fifteenth-century French processional funeral hymn, found in a manuscript in the National Library of Paris. An odd origin, perhaps, but his matching of tune and text are heavenly; it is difficult to imagine the words set to any other music — especially when the verses are sung in a contemplative unison and the “Rejoice!” bursts forth in sudden, amazing harmony.

What is it about this text, whether as prose or poetry, that helped it to survive so long, in so many different traditions, to witness a continuing presence? In a world, and sadly even in churches, that celebrate Christmas as an endless obligation of organized exuberance, these words remind us that true Christians are to long for a heavenly country, one where the coming Messiah wipes the tears of the sorrowing and casts the mighty from their thrones into outer darkness. It is Him, in the darkness of our world, for Whom we wait; and, in the glory of His second coming, in Whom we will arise victorious. [2]

Babylon’s king Nebuchadnezzar (604-562 BC) “walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon … and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?” From man’s perspective, the king had much of which to boast. Historian Herodotus (c. 450 BC) described Babylon as a square city 14 miles per side, surrounded by brick walls 300 feet high and 25 feet thick - with another wall 75 feet behind the first; and all walls extended 35 feet below ground. The city had 250 towers, each 450 feet high, a wide and deep moat encircling the city.  The Euphrates River flowed through the middle of the city, and its half-mile-long drawbridges closed at night.  Eight massive gates controlled its access, and the inner city had 100 brass gates.  The streets were paved with 3-foot square stone slabs. Hydraulic pumps raised water up to the city. A ziggurat (stepped tower and temple to Marduk) rose high over the city, displaying golden statues weighing over 50,000 lbs of solid gold each. An 18-foot-high solid gold human figure loomed nearby. Nebuchadnezzar used over 15 million bricks, each bearing his name. Babylon was no shanty town (see artist depiction, below).

Systematic and scientific excavations led by Robert Koldewey of the German Oriental Society began in 1899 and continued for 18 years. Koldewey made numerous discoveries, including the famous blue-bricked Ishtar Gate, the Processional Way which led to the Temple of Marduk, and the Southern Palace of king Nebuchadnezzar. In 1987, Saddam Hussein came to visit the site of Babylon’s ruins. He ordered one of the palaces to be rebuilt, with little regard for the archaeological past which he erased; however, some remains untouched and are clearly visible in Google Earth images today (see photo, below).

Daniel saw this daily, as did the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel. While Lot became too comfortable with Sodom’s luxury, Daniel never did.  Though surrounded by great wealth, he faithfully conveyed God’s messages to this powerful king: “It is thou, O king, that art grown and become strong: for thy greatness is grown, and reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the earth. [Yet] … they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will. … Wherefore, O king … break off thy sins by righteousness …”  If Daniel confronted a mighty king, could you speak God’s truth to power?

Condensed from Biblical Archaeology Report, et al.  Sources: Herodotus from Bible-History.com; History from Biblical Archaeology. Annotated map from CrossRoadsBible.net.  Artist depiction from ArtStation. 

With a thousand of his lords in attendance at the feast, Belshazzar, king of Babylon, dusted off the golden goblets that his predecessor Nebuchadnezzar plundered from God’s temple in Jerusalem. Belshazzar and his party guests drank wine from the sanctified vessels “and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.”  That’s when all heaven broke loose:  “In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. Then the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another. The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spake, and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing, and shew me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.”

Daniel in the Critics’ Den.  Because of the remarkable fulfilled prophecies in Daniel, critics have long tried to cast doubt on its historical reliability. Although Daniel lived in the 6th century BC, scholars want to date the book to the time of the Maccabees—four centuries later. This allows them to say that Daniel’s prophecies were actually written after the events he ‘predicted’. So, it’s no wonder experts commonly assumed Daniel contains significant historical errors, including claims that Belshazzar’s name and story were fabricated by someone unfamiliar with true Babylonian history.

End of an Empire. The Bible presents the famous ‘writing on the wall’ episode as occurring on the same day that the city of Babylon, capital of Babylonia, fell to the Medo-Persian empire under king Cyrus the Great, as per Daniel’s interpretation to the king. The Bible claims Belshazzar fell dead “that very night”, and with his murder the Babylonian kingdom succumbed to the control of Medo-Persia. However, all other known historical records seemed to disagree. Ancient historians (Herodotus, etc.) and a vast number of cuneiform documents were united in claiming Nabonidus as the last king of the Neo-Babylonian empire.  Belshazzar remained unmentioned.

Buried Treasures. But just when it looked like all the evidence undermined the Scriptures, a series of archaeological discoveries showed that Belshazzar did exist after all, and the details given about him in the Bible stand profoundly correct.  First, in 1854, four clay cylinders with identical inscriptions were excavated from Ur. These Nabonidus Cylinders (photo, right) contained Nabonidus’ prayer to the moon god for “Belshazzar, the eldest son—my offspring.” Thus, Belshazzar was Nabonidus’ firstborn son and heir to his throne.

Then, in 1882, a translation of another ancient cuneiform text, the Nabonidus Chronicle (photo, left), revealed Nabonidus as an absentee king, spending 10 years of his 17-year reign living in Tema, Arabia (450 miles away from Babylon). The king left Belshazzar, whom the text calls “the crown prince”, to take care of affairs in Babylon during that time. Also, the Chronicle explained that Nabonidus departed Babylon before it fell. Two days earlier he fled from the Persians after they defeated him at Sippar, so Belshazzar held the highest office in Babylon at the time of its capture.  Next, the Persian Verse Account of Nabonidus, published in 1924, stated that, as “he started out for a long journey”, Nabonidus “entrusted the kingship” to “his oldest (son), the firstborn.” Belshazzar clearly served as king for years while his father stayed away.

Strange Offer.  Remarkably, this also sheds light on a small detail in the Bible —why king Belshazzar only offered the third highest position in the kingdom. Since Nabonidus remained alive until even after Babylon fell, this means that Belshazzar ruled like a co-regent, officiating at the same time as, and under the authority of, his father. So Nabonidus held in the ‘number one’ position, while Belshazzar took second place. This explains why Belshazzar could not offer to Daniel the second spot; third place was the highest available office!

Unbeatable Book. The fact of Daniel’s historical accuracy—even down to what once seemed an insignificant detail—shows he wrote near that narrow window of time.  Daniel remains right to this day and, as archaeology has shown, possessed a better understanding of Belshazzar and his actual role in Babylon than the critics!

Condensed from Keaton Halley, Creation.com, July 2015

Few Biblical archaeology discoveries stirred as much excitement as the Tel Dan inscription — writing on a 9^th century B.C. stone slab (or stela) that furnished historical evidence of King David from the Bible. Israeli archaeologist Avraham Biran discovered the artifact in 1993 at the site of Tel Dan in northern Israel.

The broken, fragmentary inscription commemorates the victory of an Aramean king over his two southern neighbors: the ‘king of Israel’ and the ‘king of the House of David.’ In the carefully incised text written in neat Aramaic characters, the Aramean king boasts that he, under the divine guidance of the god Hadad, vanquished several thousand Israelite and Judahite horsemen and charioteers before personally executing both of his royal opponents.

Epigrapher Christopher Rollston writes in Bible Odyssey: “Unfortunately, the recovered fragments do not preserve the names of the specific kings involved in this brutal encounter.  However, based on the historical content of this inscription, plus Meso-potamian and biblical sources, the most convincing con-clusion is that the king of Damascus (Syria) known as Hazael (see annotated photo art, right) commissioned it in the ninth century B.C., after he usurped the throne of Damascus from Ben Hadad (2Ki 8:7,15). Hazael subsequently formed an alliance (1Ki 19:17, 2Ki 9:14) with king Jehu of Israel (reigned 843–815 B.C.E.), who was also a usurper. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that the Bible (2Ki 9) states Jehu of Israel slew both king Jehoram of Israel (849–843 B.C.E.) and king Ahaziah of Judah (843 B.C.E.), whereas the Tel Dan Inscription attributes these royal assassinations to Hazael.  That is, these two usurpers were working together and so both could legitimately claim to have been responsible for the coup d’etat.”

Within its 13 partial lines, the Tel Dan inscription stunningly aligns with the Bible, naming eight kings of that period, and corroborating Elisha’s prophecies of Hazael’s rise to the throne as well as his victory over Israel (see annotated photo art, below).  Yet what makes the Tel Dan inscription one of the most exciting archaeology discoveries to scholars and laymen alike is its clear reference to the ‘House of David.’ The stela’s fragmented inscription, first read and translated by the renowned epigrapher Joseph Naveh, proved that king David from the Bible was a genuine historical figure and not simply the fantastic literary creation of post-exilic writers.  Most biblical scholars and archaeologists readily accept that the Tel Dan stela supplies concrete proof of the historic King David, making it a top biblical archaeology discovery.

Sources: Biblical Archaeology Review, June 14, 2022, and Bible Odyssey, Oct. 2022.  Annotated photo art from Steve Rudd at Bible.ca.

For those who don’t think the Bible’s mention of specific names and lineages are important, think again. The phrases “{son, seed} of David” are mentioned over 30 times in the Bible, 12 of those directly connected to Jesus as the promised Messiah.  But what if king David never actually existed? This would raise crucial questions about the historical Jesus and whether He fulfilled prophecies concerning His lineage. If so, many would seriously doubt His claims of truth, let alone as Savior. As late as the end of the American Civil War, and up until the mid-1990s, liberal critics insisted “nothing in the Bible before the Babylonian exile can lay claim to any historical accuracy”.

Enter F.A. Klein, an Anglican missionary living in Jerusalem. In 1868, he traveled near Dhiban (old Dibon) in west central Jordan where Moab was once located, helping the medical needs of a Bedouin tribe (see map, right). He traced down their rumors of a large stone with ancient writing and found an engraved basalt monument, 45”x26”x14” in size. The French obtained it, then stored in the Louvre (see photo, below) where it dated to around 830 BC.  By 1994, the renowned French epigrapher Andre Lemaire deciphered its 34 lines of proto-Hebrew letters. 

The stone was Moabite king Mesha’s victory proclamation (stele) of his rebellion against the king of Israel and “house of [Da]vid”. At that time, Moab was under tribute to Israel for an hundred thousand lambs, and an hundred thousand rams, with the wool (2Kings 3:4).  After the death of Israel’s king Ahab, king Mesha stopped paying this heavy tribute, and carved his self-righteous side of the story in stone. 

Though liberal scholars still debate whether the damaged letters refer to David or someone else, it wasn’t long before another archaeologist uncovered a clear “house of David” inscription (which we’ll cover in a future edition.) There is no debate, however, over the Moabite stone specifically naming king Omri and “YHWH”, the earliest extra-biblical reference to Jehovah (see below, annotated photos, written right to left). 

In addition to the “house of David” reference, this fractured slab reveals a stunning degree and number of similarities between king Mesha’s record and the Bible’s accounts. He particularly mentions pagan gods, towns and regional features which match the biblical record identically, even to the spelling (see table below).

Bottom line:  David was a real king.  His “house” (nation) was an Iron Age regional influence.  One of his descendants was born in due time as the Messiah. Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?

Sources and quote: Bible-history.com, WorldHistory.org.

Photo: WorldHistory.org.

Map and annotated depictions: BibleArchaeology.org.

Data source for Table: AccuracyInGenesis.org. 

There are times in archaeology’s history of incredible finds that God inserts His own sense of irony. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? Case in point: prior to 1979, many impressive academic scholars, well credentialed, well respected and published, maintained that the five books of Moses were written in Babylon, not by Moses, but by a spunky group of Jewish patriates seeking to reinvent history to cover up their embarrassing beginnings. Why not spice it up with a bunch of miraculous myths?

Enter Israeli archaeologist Gabriel Barkay, and his team of under-age assistants. One 13-year-old boy was particularly annoying to Barkay, whose use of child labor to help with the mundane tasks of digging and sifting was beginning to feel like work. He gave the annoying teenager a task: clean around this tomb area so I can make a photograph. The boy quickly did that, got bored, and took out his hammer. That’s when he broke open the door to a sizable burial chamber full of ancient artifacts hidden from the millennia of tomb raiders (see picture, right). And that’s when Barkay made the discovery of his career: the oldest known Hebrew inscriptions of The Old Testament (OT), dating to the days of Jeremiah.

Threatening the boys with severe punishment if they failed to keep the site a secret (see map, left), Barkay feverishly drove them to remove and sort over 1,000 objects: gold, silver, and precious stones; as well as iron arrowheads, ivory, glass, and skeletons.  All of them dated to the late 7^th to early 6^th century BC, a truly amazing discovery.  Yet it was two 1-inch-long silver scrolls, the size of a cigarette butt, which put a foul taste in the critics’ mouths.

They found late Iron Age amulets, typically worn around the neck as a charm, which would retain engraved markings since silver is a noble metal and thus inert. After two Universities declined to unravel the fragile pieces, the Israel Museum undertook the task. Later, in 1994, the University of California’s School of Religion took detailed, high-resolution images to better expose traces of letters not previously identified.  The images clearly revealed the Aaronic Blessing of Numbers 6:24-26, with references to other OT covenantal promises.

Scroll #1 reads: [...]YHW...the grea[t...who keeps] the covenant and [G]raciousness toward those who love [Him] and those who keep [His commandments...]. The Eternal? [...]. [the?] blessing more than any [sna]re and more than Evil. For redemption is in Him. For YHWH is our restorer [and] rock. May YHWH bles[s] you and keep you. [May] YHWH make [His face] shine …  Similarly, scroll #2 (see photo with enhanced letters, above) reads:  May h[e]/sh[e] be blessed by Yahweh, the warrior [or 'helper'] and the rebuker of [E]vil: May Yahweh bless you, keep you. May Yahweh make His face shine upon you and grant you p[ea]ce.

The Ketef Hinnom scrolls made it hard for liberal critics to insist the Pentateuch was written in the 5^th century BC when you have a quotation from 200 years earlier.  The scrolls also contain the third oldest reference to “YWHW”. (It used to be the second oldest, but Dr. Scott Stripling’s discovery of the Mount Ebal curse tablet, dating to the days of Israel’s Judges, now takes the top slot.)  They also imply a literal aspect to Psalm 12:6, the words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in a furnace of earth. God’s fingerprints are all over – even a 13-year-old can find them if he pokes in the right place.

Info, map, and photo sources: Associates for Biblical Research, Biblical Archaeology Society, and Bible Archaeology Report, search for “Ketef Hinnom”.