Makhtesh Ramon

Bible History Daily:

In the heart of Israel’s Negev desert, about 50 miles south of Beersheba, sits Makhtesh Ramon, one of the largest craters on earth. The natural wonder, which measures more than 25 miles long, 5 miles wide and plunges as deep as 1,300 feet, has been called the “Grand Canyon” of Israel. Geologists believe the crater formed not from an asteroid collision, but from the gradual erosion caused by a single waterway flowing through the central Negev mountains. In antiquity, the Negev, including Makhtesh Ramon, was remembered as the place where the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. Later, Makhtesh Ramon became an important trade route for the Nabateans of Petra, who conveyed valuable spices and resins through the canyon en route to the ports cities of the Mediterranean.

In the heart of Israel’s Negev desert, about 50 miles south of Beersheba, sits Makhtesh Ramon, one of the largest craters on earth.

Read more about Makhtesh Ramon here.

Ark of the Covenant Found in Greece?

Don’t bet on it! Anyway, here is the Huffington Post with the news:

Reports are cropping up that the fabled Ark of the Covenant, said to contain the remnants of the Ten Commandments, has been discovered along with the Tomb of Alexander the Great on the Greek island of Thasos.

The Focus Information Agency, a Bulgarian outfit not exactly renowned for accuracy, is reporting that Grekomania.ru, a Russian web portal that purports to be an “official information partner of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Greece,” has claimed that a group led by Nikolaos Kumardzis, an archeologist apparently unaffiliated with any other dig, has identified one of the world’s great treasures. At least one Armenian newspaper is running a similar story.

What more confirmation could anyone possibly want?

Thasos, which is near Macedonia, has long been rumored as the potential resting place of Alexander the Great, who died in Babylon in 323 BC after conquering Persia and consolidating Eurasian power. The connection between the great military leader and the ten commandments — none of which he could truly be said to have followed — is unclear, which makes the news that they were discovered together even less credible.

That being said, the Ark of the Covenant has inspired travelers and explorers for hundreds of years and is likely to continue to do so. It is worth remembering that pilgrimages remain part of the modern travel culture and that visiting relics or searching for them is quite popular in much of the world…

These sorts of purported sensational finds perpetually pop up in the news. Nothing new. Same old trash.

Bethlehem and Beyond: Tracing the Life of Jesus

In the Washington Times:

The Holy Land has preserved churches and monuments that memorialize events in the life of Jesus. The truth is that we cannot be absolutely certain of the identity of these places. Tradition, Scripture, and reason are guides to indicate potential sites. For Christians the “holy sites” are not places to be worshipped, but an aid to understanding the events and teachings of the Bible.

Characters in the original scenes did not leave a pillar or stone to designate the location of an event. They were too busy with the cares of daily life. Nevertheless, knowledge of the background of Scripture is important to the interpretation of the events and instructions mentioned in the Bible.

Just how are the biblical locations identified with any degree of certainty when they were lost so long ago? Can tourists to the Holy Land be assured they are visiting real, identifiable sites or are they imaginary unsubstantiated locations used to satisfy a spiritual pilgrimage?

There are various avenues of research that can be used to identify traditional sites:

1) Literary sources, such as Josephus (1st century Jewish historian) and the church fathers often record distances from one location to another. These are invaluable for discovery. They may also remark how something is near a place previously identified.

2) Toponomy (study of place names) is often preserved in modern Arabic or Hebrew names.

3) Archaeology and geography are apt to paint a picture that match the biblical account.

4) Tradition, while it may be flawed, can be quite reliable. Sites became “holy” very early because eyewitnesses remembered traumatic events and where they took place…

Read on here.