Archives For Pictorial Library

The City of David—Surprises from Original Jerusalem

When people picture Jerusalem, they usually think of the historic Western Wall, or the Old City, or the Temple Mount crowned with the Golden Dome of the Rock.

But most folks are surprised to learn that the original city of Jerusalem lay just south of the Temple Mount on a small spur of land that encompassed about only ten acres.

The City of David—Surprises from Original Jerusalem The City of David—Surprises from Original Jerusalem

(Photo: City of David seen from the Observation Platform. Courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)

Crammed with houses and punctured with archaeological digs, the original area of Jerusalem looks much different today than it did three thousand years ago when King David conquered it.

But you can still get a sense of its drama.

Let me show you.

Continue Reading…

Tower of David Citadel—Jerusalem’s History Made Easy

Whenever someone asks how to spend a day in Jerusalem, I try to steer the person away from shopping malls and toward the Tower of David Citadel—Jerusalem’s museum of the city’s history.

The museum does what no book can. In just a few hours’ time, one can catch a glimpse of Jerusalem’s history as well as observe archaeology from the city’s various periods.

Tower of David Citadel—Jerusalem’s History Made Easy Tower of David Citadel—Jerusalem’s History Made Easy

(Photo: Courtyard of David Citadel, Jerusalem. Courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)

Ironically, the museum that does so much to remove the confusion about Jerusalem’s history is named in error.

The Tower of David Citadel in Jerusalem has nothing to do with David.

Continue Reading…

Tel Megiddo and What Megiddo Tells Us

Location, location, location . . .

If history ever compared the land of Israel to the game of “Monopoly,” the site of Tel Megiddo would be Boardwalk.

It was the most coveted spot on the playing board.

Tel Megiddo and What Megiddo Tells Tel Megiddo and What Megiddo Tells Us

(Photo: Tel Megiddo, courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)

Tel Megiddo’s tremendous value came from its strategic location as the sentinel of the most important pass through the Mt. Carmel range.

Whoever held Tel Megiddo in the ancient world controlled the traffic and trade along the International Highway to and from Egypt. That meant both military and financial security.

Taking Megiddo is like capturing a thousand cities. —Pharaoh Thutmose III

Its value simply can’t be exaggerated.

Continue Reading…

How God Connected Passover, Redemption, and the Holy Land

God told the Hebrews when to observe the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread. At first, to be honest, the command seems random.

The feasts were to occur at the appointed time of Abib, or Aviv (Exodus 23:15)—a Hebrew word that refers to the time in spring when the grain begins to ripen. The first Passover occurred on the fifteenth day of Nisan, which became the first month of the Jewish calendar.

How God Connected Passover Redemption and the Holy Land1 How God Connected Passover, Redemption, and the Holy Land

(Photo: Passover Seder cup, courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)

This timing occurred for good reason.

The Lord gave His people a plain explanation why the celebration should coincide with spring:

For [then] you came out of Egypt. —Exodus 23:15

God linked the Passover celebration with their redemption.

But why the springtime? There was a problem with the calendar that had to get fixed. Its fix offers a lasting lesson.

Even for Christians.

Continue Reading…

Joppa’s Greatest Export—God’s Compassion

If you ever get to stay at a seaside hotel in Tel Aviv, be sure and stroll down the beautiful boardwalk to ancient Joppa. I try to do it every time I’m there.

Wooden statues of Napoleon and some Egyptian ruins suggest significant history occurred here. But very little remains visible to speak of Joppa’s significance.

But history tells a different story.

Joppa aerial from west tbs130070112 Joppa’s Greatest Export—God’s Compassion

(Photo: Joppa’s modern port, courtesy of Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)

Only a few fishing boats float in Joppa’s modest harbor today, hardly representative of its significant past.

Beyond goods and trade, Joppa greatest export was something else.

It was God’s compassion.

Continue Reading…

Samaria’s Crumbling Ruins—A Capital Lesson

I stood on the crumblings of an Iron Age acropolis with a valley all around the isolated hill.

Cool breezes offset the summer heat, but its haze still obscured the western hills toward the Mediterranean.

Samaria Hellenistic Roman western fortifications tb050106596 Samaria’s Crumbling Ruins—A Capital Lesson

(Photo: Hellenistic Roman fortifications, courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)

The final capital stood beneath my feet, rising three hundred feet above the valley floor.

Its silent, crumbling ruins screamed a truth as timeless as it was timely.

Continue Reading…

Chorazin—Sitting in the Seat but Missing the Message

From a distance, the place seems as if it’s hiding. I don’t blame it for trying.

After all, it remains one of the three cities in Galilee that Jesus rebuked for failing to respond to His message and miracles.

Chorazin panorama from west tb041103211 Chorazin—Sitting in the Seat but Missing the Message

(Photo: Chorazin’s ruins hide at center left. Courtesy of Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)

The basalt ruins of Chorazin appear little more than a pile of rocks among so many thousands of others. Clumps of grass and volcanic rock offer a variegated green and gray to the hillside above the Sea of Galilee.

Unless you look carefully, you may not even see the city.

But Jesus saw it. So should we.

Continue Reading…

Lydia—How to Honor a Generous God

Lydia made her way outside the city gate.

A short stroll led her and a group of women to a familiar spot beside the Krenides River. For a synagogue to be established, ten Jewish men had to be in regular attendance. But there weren’t ten to be found in Philippi.

Philippi Baptistery of St Lydia chapel painting of Lydia tb031106958 Lydia—How to Honor a Generous God

(Painting of Lydia at St Lydia chapel in Philippi. Courtesy of Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)

That didn’t keep these women from worshipping together, though. They gathered every Saturday at the river for prayer.

But this Sabbath was different. It would change Lydia’s life forever.

And her change can affect our lives as well.

Continue Reading…

Kiriath Jearim—A Noteworthy Hill Nobody Notices

It’s a place between important places. Few individuals, if any, journey there directly. Most would miss it, in fact, if they didn’t know to look.

Modern commuters along Israel’s Route 1 motor by the site every day, their minds on their routines. Even tour buses rarely point to the place, much less stop there.

Kiriath Jearim from east tb n032000 Kiriath Jearim—A Noteworthy Hill Nobody Notices

(Photo: Kiriath Jearim, Courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands.)

The tourists who do pull over often do so only to snap pictures at the Elvis American Diner (also known as the “Elvis Inn”). A 16-foot-tall bronze likeness of Elvis Presley greets every visitor. Inside the diner, Elvis music is all they hear as they eat their Elvis Burgers. But Elvis isn’t what makes this hill noteworthy.

Around the corner from the offbeat diner, near the modern Israeli Arab village of Abu Gosh, sits the site so few see and even fewer visit—the biblical site of Kiriath Jearim.

You’d never know by looking, but the physical symbol of God’s presence in Israel rested for about a century on this overlooked hill. (Tweet that.)

Continue Reading…