11.29.2007

Nehemiah's wall found?

Israeli says elusive bibical wall found

A biblical wall that has eluded archaeologists for years has finally been found, according to an Israeli scholar. A team of archaeologists in Jerusalem has uncovered what they believe to be part of a wall mentioned in the Bible's Book of Nehemiah.

The discovery, made in Jerusalem's ancient City of David, came as a result of a rescue attempt on a tower which was in danger of collapse, said Eilat Mazar, head of the Institute of Archaeology at the Shalem Center, a Jerusalem-based research and educational institute, and leader of the dig.

Artifacts including pottery shards and arrowheads found under the tower suggested that both the tower and the nearby wall are from the 5th century B.C., the time of Nehemiah, according to Mazar. Scholars previously thought the wall dated to the Hasmonean period (142-37 B.C.).

The findings suggest that the wall is actually part of the same city wall the Bible says Nehemiah rebuilt, Mazar said. The Book of Nehemiah (chapters 3-6) gives a detailed description of construction of the walls, destroyed earlier by the Babylonians.

Comment: Here's the odd thing, our reading tonight was Nehemiah 3 (Kathee has a cold so we only read one chapter).

5 comments:

  1. That's amazing. I absolutely love the story of Nehemiah.

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  2. I like Nehemiah because it records ordinary God-fearing people working together to accomplish a great cause. God's church needs to be more like this.

    One I really like:

    Nehemiah 3:8, "Also next to him Hananiah, one of the perfumers, made repairs; and they fortified Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall."

    I don't know anything about perfuming ... but I surmise that it is an occupation about as far removed from wall repairing as any occupation could be! And here is a guy willing to lift a hammer and nail / mortar and trowel to serve God!

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  3. I like Nehemiah because it records ordinary God-fearing people working together to accomplish a great cause. God's church needs to be more like this.

    One I really like:

    Nehemiah 3:8, "Also next to him Hananiah, one of the perfumers, made repairs; and they fortified Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall."

    I don't know anything about perfuming ... but I surmise that it is an occupation about as far removed from wall repairing as any occupation could be! And here is a guy willing to lift a hammer and nail / mortar and trowel to serve God!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Looks like I did the stutter step on my response!

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  5. I have so many favorite passages in Nehemiah, but perhaps my favorite is 4:20 "Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.” Now that is faith. To believe what you say and that what you say will actually come to pass.

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