If you’ve been following the news, you will have heard references to the use of the term Amalek which was cited by South Africa at the International Court of Justice in The Hague in January 2024. But...
In the early days of biblical archaeology there was a lot of optimism that the new science could verify the existence of Moses by proving that there was indeed a great migration of people from Egypt...
The biblical story of the Israelites’ Descent and Great Exodus speaks about important events that took place in Egypt. We should, therefore, expect to find records of these events in Egyptian sources...
Historians have dedicated significant efforts to authenticating the biblical narratives of the Exodus. Despite their best efforts, the actual locations of the events described in the account remain...
There is perhaps no greater symbol of Judaism than the white prayer shawl, the tallit . Likewise, there is probably no greater symbol of ancient Egypt’s majesty than the golden funerary mask of the...
Why does the Bible refer to the Ark of the Covenant as a coffin ? Was someone buried in it? Was it a symbolic coffin, or even God’s coffin? The Bible describes the Ark as a sacred chest of wood and...
Are you wondering what exactly “manna” is? Well, you are not alone. It may be something of a familiar word, but what it originally was is a bit of a mystery. According to the Bible, manna refers to...
It is an irony of history that the three great religions of Europe and the Middle East, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, did not originate there but rather had their genesis, like the human species...
The Ark of the Covenant is perhaps history’s most famous archeological relic. I have been fascinated with it ever since watching Raiders of the Lost Ark , the movie that kick-started so many...
One of the Bible’s most enduring exegetical enigmas has to be the strangely shining semblance of Moses . The Book of Exodus relates how after the great Hebrew lawgiver receives the Ten Commandments...
The Levites are members of the Hebrew tribe of Levi. They, and their tribe, are named after Levi, the third son of Jacob, and Leah. In the past, the Levites were entrusted with religious...
An ancient, inscribed Byzantine Greek stone has been discovered in Israel’s Negev desert with a rare Greek dedication to Maria, the Mother of God. The Byzantine Greek stone was found in Israel’s...
The Ark of the Covenant must be thought of as two or even three separate things. First of all it is a box with a cavity in the middle of it that can contain a medium-sized object, such as an...
The origin of Jewish New Year celebrations has long been shrouded in mystery. Families around the world celebrate it during autumn with sweet delicacies, joyous prayers, and the blasting of the...
The religious influences upon both Akhenaten and his brother Tuthmose from the temples of Heliopolis went a long way in fashioning their comparative belief systems. By encouraging the older solar...
The stories of Romulus and Remus, Osiris, and Moses all share a common element. Why is it that the overarching theme surrounding ancient people and the start of their legacy is a male floating down...
The name of the Torah has a complicated history. It has been thought to mean a multitude of things including “instruction”, “law”, and “teaching”. The Torah is often misunderstood to represent the...
Technology is changing almost every aspect of our lives. It is also transforming how we understand and relate to our past and heritage. A new initiative, ‘My Colorful Past’ is using facial...
Buried beneath the themes of first fruits and wheat offerings lie deeper connections between Shavuot and Akhenaten. These are suggestive and persuasive and go far beyond delicious foods and...
The Jewish festival of Shavuot is taking place around the world. It is an ancient celebration of the spring harvest of grains and first fruits. It is the year’s first wheat harvest, and Jews around...
"Let us be quiet, that we may hear the whispers of the gods." This quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson hints at the subjective experience of religious revelation - the revealing of a higher truth to a...
READ PART I HERE While a crocodile showdown conjured up in Pharaoh’s court sounds incredible enough, it was only the magical warm-up for a series of 10 curses to befall the Egyptian slavers. As far...
The Jewish Holiday week of Passover is once again upon us. Millions around the world will experience the traditional Seder meal and remember an event from thousands of years ago. They will eat and...
A new study has shown that Michelangelo knew facts about the human circulatory system over a century before scientists and doctors. A prominent jugular vein in the neck of Michelangelo’s David shows...
