Ebal and Gerizim

 

Welcome! Today, as we continue our exploration of the intersection of archaeology and the truths of the Bible, we are going to look at a very recent discovery. This morning, we are going to chain some seemingly unconnected passages together.

Our first passage comes from the book of Job. Recall that Job was a devout follower of God who enjoyed a good life, prosperous and filled with the joys of family. But God allowed Job’s faith to be severely tested, and in a very short time he lost his health, his wealth, and even his children. Job, as he mourned, initially responded by continuing to praise God, accepting the tragic turn of events even if God did not tell him why it had happened. But Job’s friends said in speech after speech that it had to be because of Job’s sin. Job began to be worn down by their accusations, and in Chapter 19, he says the following:

 

“How long will you torment me and crush me with words?” […] “Oh, that my words were recorded, that they were written on a scroll, that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead, or engraved in rock forever!” – Job 19:2, 19:23-24

 

Why am I pointing out this particular passage? Stay tuned. For now, let me mention that we know that Job is one of the oldest books of the entire Bible, if not the oldest.

 

Let us now turn to Exodus 20. Many of you, without even looking at your Bibles, can probably tell me what famous passage occurs in this chapter. What is it? It is in Exodus 20 that God gives Moses the Ten Commandments. What are the Ten Commandments?

 

1. No other gods before God.

2. No worshipping images.

3. No misusing God’s name.

4. Remember to keep the Sabbath.

5. Honor your parents.

6. Do not murder.

7. Do not commit adultery.

8. Do not steal.

9. Do not give false testimony.

10. Do not covet what is not yours.

 

Remember the context in which God gives these commandments. The setting was Mount Sinai. There was thunder and lightning and a thick cloud over the mountain. There was the sound of a loud trumpet blast. There was tons of smoke, and the mountain itself shook violently. As the trumpet sound increased in volume, Moses spoke, and God answered him. And then God spoke these commandments. The people were terrified, and they begged Moses to make it so that no more would God speak in this way, but that God would only speak (more quietly) to Moses, and then they would listen to whatever Moses would pass on to them. And this is what happened. God began by telling Moses, tell the people that they have seen for themselves that God has spoken to them, and tell them not to make idols. But what did God tell Moses next?

 

“Make an altar of earth for Me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, your sheep and goats and your cattle. Wherever I cause My name to be honored, I will come to you and bless you. If you make an altar of stones for Me, do not build it with dressed stones, for you will defile it if you use a tool on it. And do not go up to My altar on steps, or your private parts may be exposed.” – Exodus 20:24-26

 

Huh. Maybe not what you would expect. We go from the Ten Commandments, which really feel like the most important laws there are, foundational and categorical rules to live by, to a passage that is quite detailed, and, frankly, not as easy to understand. I mean, I get it, don’t murder people. Don’t worship false gods, etc. But is it really so terrible to cut the stones a bit to make them fit better? Or carve some pictures on them to make them prettier? And what is the deal exactly about the no steps rule? God can certainly see us through our clothes. But part of following God is to follow Him even if you don’t fully understand the reasons for His commands. We need to trust in His directions when we don’t understand them, just as we need to trust in Him when we don’t understand what is going on in our lives, as was the case in Job’s situation.

 

God gave a variety of other commands to Moses, and then we read the following:

 

When Moses went and told the people all the Lord’s words and laws, they responded with one voice, “Everything the Lord has said we will do.” Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said. He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord. Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he splashed against the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, “We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey.” Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.” – Exodus 24:3-8

 

You can be sure that the altar was made according to the specifications in Exodus 20. It used uncut stones and did not have steps. Moses then goes back up to be with the Lord on the mountain, for 40 days, to learn additional laws and regulations mostly focusing on the mobile house for God, the Tabernacle, but unfortunately, the people who have just pledged themselves to the Lord lose patience and break the laws they have already been given. They make an idol and worship it! We know that the people disobey God again and again, and ultimately God sentences them to 40 years in the desert, rather than being able to go immediately to the Promised Land. The older generation dies in the desert, and the younger generation grows up.

 

I want us to turn next to the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy is written in the first person – it is Moses’ own words. The book appears to be a combination of several addresses Moses made to the people and additional historical events.

 

In Chapter 11, we are near the end of the 40 years, and it will soon be time to cross the Jordan River and enter the Promised Land. Moses reminds the people of all the powerful things they have seen God do until now and encourages them to remain faithful and obedient to the Lord.

 

We then have the following passage:

 

See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse—the blessing if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today; the curse if you disobey the commands of the Lord your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known. When the Lord your God has brought you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim on Mount Gerizim the blessings, and on Mount Ebal the curses. As you know, these mountains are across the Jordan, westward, toward the setting sun, near the great trees of Moreh, in the territory of those Canaanites living in the Arabah in the vicinity of Gilgal. You are about to cross the Jordan to enter and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you. When you have taken it over and are living there, be sure that you obey all the decrees and laws I am setting before you today. – Deuteronomy 11:26-32

 

Now, we will go deeper into this location later today. But let me say for now that these two mountains are very close together, and it is possible to do what is being suggested here, to proclaim the blessings of following the Law from one side and the curses for disobeying the Law from the other.

 

Note that this activity is very important to God – it is one of the first things God wants the Israelites to do. Why? It is what we call in teaching a reinforcement activity. It is a way to get the ideas to sink in more deeply. As we have already seen, the earlier generation couldn’t make it 40 days without throwing away everything that they had been commanded.

 

Now this passage isn’t the only passage where Moses describes this activity. He comes back to it later in Deuteronomy, in Chapter 27, and there he also gives description of an additional activity, which is described first.

 

Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people: “Keep all these commands that I give you today. When you have crossed the Jordan into the land the Lord your God is giving you, set up some large stones and coat them with plaster. Write on them all the words of this law when you have crossed over to enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you. And when you have crossed the Jordan, set up these stones on Mount Ebal, as I command you today, and coat them with plaster. Build there an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones. Do not use any iron tool on them. Build the altar of the Lord your God with fieldstones and offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God. Sacrifice fellowship offerings there, eating them and rejoicing in the presence of the Lord your God. And you shall write very clearly all the words of this law on these stones you have set up.” – Deuteronomy 27:1-8

 

I want to highlight the fact that this is indeed an additional activity. It was not mentioned at all in the previous passage. The people are to get large stones, coat them with plaster, and on them, write the words of the Law. They are to set these stones up on Mount Ebal. And there, on this mountain, they are to build another altar. Once again, altar is to be made from stones, stones that have been uncut. Although not specifically mentioned, to obey previous commands, this altar would also have no stairs. And there on the altar they are to prepare offerings and eat them. One detail I love about this passage is that they are to rejoice. Why are they to rejoice? Because God is with them, and by extension, He is why they have made it at last to the Promised Land. The passage goes on:

 

On the same day Moses commanded the people: When you have crossed the Jordan, these tribes shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin. And these tribes shall stand on Mount Ebal to pronounce curses: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali. – Deuteronomy 27:11-13

 

Now, Deuteronomy 27:14-26 describes twelve initial curses that the Levites are to recite to all the people. This is interesting, because the Levites are on Mount Gerizim, the blessing side. After each curse, all the people are to say, “Amen!” Following this passage, Deuteronomy 28:1-14 gives a list of blessings for obedience, and Deuteronomy 28:15-68 presents a much longer list of curses for disobedience. We don’t have time to go through these verses, and much of it is depressing reading. Assuming that these were the actual passages read from the two mountains, it would have been quite sobering to hear the curses, which go on and on compared to the blessings. I do want to highlight the fact that at the beginning of each passage there is a kind of summary, and the two passages are very parallel in their structure.

 

Compare verses 1-2 and 15:

 

If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all His commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God: – Deuteronomy 28:1-2

 

However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all His commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you: – Deuteronomy 28:15

 

Although the differences in the verb choices “accompany you” for blessings and “overtake you” for curses sound interesting, they aren’t actually there. The Hebrew verbs are identical in both passages, so the passages are even more parallel than they appear in this English translation.

 

Here are verses 3 and 16:

 

You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. – Deuteronomy 28:3

 

You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country. – Deuteronomy 28:16

 

Here are verses 4 and 18:

 

The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. – Deuteronomy 28:4

 

The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. – Deuteronomy 28:18

 

(Note that we have jumped from verse 16 to verse 18. The verse order is a bit different.) Here are verses 5 and 17:

 

Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. – Deuteronomy 28:5

Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed. – Deuteronomy 28:17

 

And verses 6 and 19:

 

You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. – Deuteronomy 28:6

You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out. – Deuteronomy 28:19

 

It is very interesting to me that the word “blessed” and the word “cursed” each appear exactly 6 times in these verses. Recall that there are 6 tribes on each mountain. Perhaps each tribe says the word assigned to them once.

 

Let’s now jump ahead to the book of Joshua. The people at last did enter the Promised Land, and as the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant entered the Jordan River, the water dried up, reminiscent of the parting of the Red Sea forty years earlier, and the people crossed the river by going through dry ground. Soon after, the Lord delivered Jericho and the people of Ai into their hands. And now, with a measure of peace, Joshua had the opportunity to obey the command that Moses had given them about what they should do when they entered the Promised Land. From Joshua 8:

 

Then Joshua built on Mount Ebal an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses—an altar of uncut stones, on which no iron tool had been used. On it they offered to the Lord burnt offerings and sacrificed fellowship offerings. There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua wrote on stones a copy of the Law of Moses. All the Israelites, with their elders, officials and judges, were standing on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the Lord, facing the Levitical priests who carried it. Both the foreigners living among them and the native-born were there. – Joshua 8:30-33a

 

I want to point out that this was probably not something just erected over a few hours – it was probably a reasonably significant structure. Note that it had to be built somewhere where there was room for a huge amount of people to be there – using the census data in the Scriptures themselves, it is reasonable to estimate that there were about 2 million people who left Egypt, and also about 2 million people who entered the Promised Land 40 years later.  

 

And so this structure was built, and then when they had this sacrifice, it would have been a large sacrifice, a huge event. We would expect there to be a ton of animal bones left over after this event. Continuing with the passage:

 

Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord had formerly commanded when he gave instructions to bless the people of Israel. Afterward, Joshua read all the words of the Law—the blessings and the curses—just as it is written in the Book of the Law. There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of Israel, including the women and children, and the foreigners who lived among them. – Joshua 8:33b-35

 

Now, through most of history, people have assumed that the location for the reading of the blessings and the curses matches the location of the earlier part of the passage. But this does not actually make sense. The altar had to be one location, a location where everyone was together celebrating the Lord, as we read earlier. They were all on Mount Ebal. And then the people had to move, change positions, so that they could do the calling of blessings and curses from the two mountains. Six tribes were on Mount Ebal, and the other six were on Mount Gerizim. I would assume that there were no foreigners with them as they did this. Now it is possible that the location of the altar on Mount Ebal was also where the six tribes stood when they shouted out the curses, but there is no reason to think that this had to be the case.

 

Hopefully you now see where this is going. It is going to these two mountains. We know exactly where they are. There is a valley, and Mount Gerizim is south of this valley, and Mount Ebal is north of it. The valley itself is the location of Shechem, which could lead to another whole discussion. The entire location is about 30 miles or so north of Jerusalem. On a Bible map, you can see the path the Israelites must have taken, as you can see the Jordan River, and then Jericho, and then Ai, further into the interior of the Israel, and further north, you find Shechem and the two mountains. It is in the West Bank, and the Palestinian city of Nablis is at the location of Shechem.

 

One of the first interesting things about these two mountains is that it is immediately clear why Mount Gerizim was chosen as the place to represent the blessings of obeying God, whereas Mount Ebal was chosen as the place to represent the curses of disobeying Him. Mount Gerizim has natural springs and is, relatively speaking, lush compared with Mount Ebal, on which almost no trees grow. Recently, there has been some farming projects on Mount Ebal, but even that is difficult because the mountain is absolutely covered with rocks. 

 

In the 1980s, an Israeli archaeologist discovered a site on Mount Ebal that looked interesting. Access to this area is currently restricted by the Palestinian Authority. The location has been controversial, because it is several miles away from Shechem, and people who thought that the location had to be the same as that used for shouting the blessings and curses argued that it was too far away. Indeed, one of the reasons the site wasn’t discovered until so recently is that previous searches focused on the area very close to Shechem (literally within shouting range). But as I have explained, the Bible doesn’t say that these locations had to be identical. The Bible is briefly summarizing these events, and in only a few verses, little detail is given. Furthermore, the location that has been found makes a lot of sense if it needed to support the massive numbers of people that were there. Even the archaeologist who excavated the site was skeptical of the idea for several years while he was doing the work.

 

Now if you look at the more close-up image of the site, you notice two things: It is made of uncut, natural stones, and there is a ramp up to the center, instead of steps. Israelite altars are the only ones that use ramps instead of steps. Another interesting feature is that the ramp is on the west, so that the altar would have faced towards the east. The reason this is significant is that the Tabernacle of Moses in the desert had the same orientation, according to Exodus. And you also have this huge flat area behind the altar where huge crowds could congregate. And all of them, as they faced the altar, would also be facing east.

 

After this ceremony, the people could have gathered again in Shechem, and the men could have climbed the steep areas close to the village at the feet of Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, and they could have shouted the blessings and curses. They could be quite close to each other, and close to the people in Shechem. It is awesome to imagine the sound of hundreds of thousands of men shouting the words of God in this place. Recall that just a short time earlier, the Israelites had used sound (along with God’s mighty hand) to destroy the walls of Jericho. For a foreigner living there, who had already undoubtedly heard about both Jericho and the military rout at Ai, the experience must have been terrifying.

 

Now, let’s talk more about the site. They found the remains of an even older altar under the upper altar layer. The two structures were only about 200 years apart, so it appears that it was rebuilt sometime within the first couple hundred years of Israel’s conquest of the land. It gets even more interesting: They found large collections of bones in pits attached to the site. Bones of humans? No. That would be indicative of a site of Baal or Asherah worshippers. Did they find the bones of pigs or other non-kosher animals, animals that the Law forbids the Israelites to eat? No. They found the bones of sheep, goats, and deer, all of which are permissible for Israelites under the Law to eat. The fact that there were no non-permissible bones there makes it impossible that it was anything other than an Israelite location.

 

The site also had scarabs. What are these? Scarabs are Egyptian amulets. They were used as jewelry. Hmmm. What are these doing there? The only reasonable explanation is that these were Hebrews there who had a recent connection to Egypt!

 

The evidence does not stop here. Just in the last decade, new technology has been developed for exploring archaeological sites. One item used is a dirt sifter that carefully sifts discarded dirt from excavations looking for very small items such as bits of pottery. This technology was initially developed in Israel for looking at tombs on the hill where the Temple Mount is. This area was torn up by Palestinians between 1948 and 1967. The sifter has been used to discover important small artifacts in the rubble that was left behind. The developer of this technology was invited to the site on Mount Ebal and encouraged to try it. It had not been used before on a non-corrupted site.  Did they find anything? Yes – they found two things of interest.

 

First, they found small bits of ancient plaster! The plaster is being analyzed presently. But expectations are that this was what was described in the book of Joshua, Joshua himself writing the Law on stones. If we can find any evidence still of writing, we might actually have Joshua’s own writing! Remember that Moses instructed Joshua to do this, to coat the stones with plaster, and then to write the Law on them.

 

The second thing they found is the most amazing of all, and this goes back to the first verse we discussed today. They found a tiny tablet, only about 2 cm in length, with the earliest known form of Hebrew writing on it. Talk about a needle in a haystack! What was this tablet made of? Lead. Lead etched by metal. The tablet has been dated, and it is older than any previously found Hebrew writing, older by several centuries! The dating is consistent with the time that Joshua would have been at these two mountains. It was actually very difficult for scientists to decode the writing of the tablet because it consists of two sheets of lead smashed together. But the writing has been determined and translated.

 

Are you ready to hear what the tablet says? Here it is: Cursed, cursed, cursed—cursed by the God YHW. You will die cursed. Cursed you will surely die. Cursed by YHW—cursed, cursed, cursed.

 

Now, YHW is the most ancient rendition of the God of Israel. Later spellings added the Hebrew letter “Heh” at the end, giving YHWH, or Yahweh, or Jehovah, depending on how you want to pronounce it. Not only does this tablet add incredible evidence that this site really is the site of Joshua’s altar; it also destroys a long-held claim by Bible skeptics that there was no writing at the time of Moses, and so, the first five books of the Bible were written centuries later, and therefore, they would argue, mostly fiction. The translation of this folded lead tablet only came out this year, in 2022. 

 

Let me mention that there are also multiple letters, known as the Amarna tablets that describe various enemies of the Israelites at the time of Joshua requesting military aid from Egypt to help them defend against the Israelites who were winning all their battles. They include multiple Biblical details, such as the fact that Gath was spared.

 

Now, before we finish today, I have a question. Why was the altar on Mount Ebal, the mountain of cursing, instead of on Mount Gerizim, the mountain of blessing? The answer is that sacrifice is needed as a response to sin. In the Old Testament, the sacrifices of animals innocent of the sins of man were God’s foreshadowing of the once-for-all sacrifice of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. He too was innocent of any sin, unlike every other person who has ever lived. All others “have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” 

 

For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” – Galatians 3:10

 

This means that we are under a curse, as we, like all people, are sinners. But a few verses later, Paul reminds us of the following:

 

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” – Galatians 3:13

 

This verse reminds me of the events that happened when Joshua defeated Ai:

 

So Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolate place to this day. He impaled the body of the king of Ai on a pole and left it there until evening. At sunset, Joshua ordered them to take the body from the pole and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And they raised a large pile of rocks over it, which remains to this day. – Joshua 8:28-29

 

A body hung on a pole and left until evening at which time it was taken down and buried. Does this sound familiar to you?

 

Of course, the ending is different, because the king of Ai was a sinner receiving the just punishment of God for his own sins. Jesus, also, was hung on a pole until evening, and He too was taken down and buried, in His case, behind a single large stone. But He did not remain there! Jesus rose from the dead, because He did not die for His own sins. He was innocent of any sin. He died for our sins. And He rose and now He intercedes for us before His Father.

 

In the end of the book of Joshua, Joshua, now an old man, is back at Shechem, between the two mountains. He is near the end of his life. And he asks the people, “Choose this day whom you will serve.” In the years since Joshua had led them into the land, the people had again turned to idols. As Joshua recounts the history of God’s faithfulness to the people, they promise to serve the Lord. But Joshua had heard this before. He says, “You are not able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins.” The people promise again, but we know how that went.

 

In our own strength, we too are not able to serve the Lord. We absolutely need to depend on the Lord not only for our salvation, but for our daily walk. May we choose this day to serve the Lord, and choose to serve Him tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that, day by day, as long as we live. But may we also rely on Him, lean on Him, every moment, and continually receive His grace, through faith.   

Introduction to Biblical Archaeology, Mamre

Introduction to Biblical Archaeology 

Mamre

Welcome! Today we begin a five-week series on Biblical Archaeology. This is a bit of a departure for us. Although we do have some topical series, the majority of our series are book-based, as we go line by line through a book of the Bible. In this series, the heart of each message will still be a Bible passage, but we will also look in depth at the physical evidence that has been found to corroborate these passages, and we will also talk about how the evidence was found.

 

Why are we doing this? Well, for one thing, the physical evidence helps us in our faith. I believe God has continued to work in modern times to help us to uncover these evidences of the truth that the Bible is not a collection of myths, fables, and fictions, but instead is a historical account of events, some of which are miraculous and others more “ordinary”, but all of which have actually taken place.

 

Now I realize that when many people think about Biblical archaeology, they think of Indiana Jones. The so-called holy grail, the cup Jesus used at the Last Supper, has been “found” over 200 times over the centuries, but real historians point out that there is no evidence that the cup was ever preserved, or anything special. Indeed, stories about the cup only seemingly began in the 12^th century AD, when medieval legends, Christian influences, and older Celtic myths apparently collided and merged into a story that describes the cup as a jewel-covered chalice that has miraculous, or magic, powers.

 

Unfortunately, stories like these have tainted popular opinion of Biblical archaeology. But real Biblical archaeology, like all archaeology, is based on science, on history, on painstaking, slow, and detailed exploration of ancient items, ideally undisturbed, buried and preserved under many centuries of dirt. Finding complete locations undisturbed, and uncovering the history of a site, layer upon layer, is the, if you will permit me the turn of phrase, the real holy grail of archaeology.

 

Interestingly, there is a beautiful example of Biblical archaeology in Scripture! I think it is good to begin our series by reading this account. The context is the long period of the kings of Israel and Judah. As you may remember, the later kings were almost exclusively corrupt, following after the false gods of the peoples around them. It got so bad that almost all of the belief in the one true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, had ceased. The Law was forgotten. The practices, the sacrifices at the Temple proscribed by the Law, had ceased. Near the tail end of this period, shortly before essentially the entire nation is blotted out, its people scattered, we read that Daniel and his friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were led in captivity to Babylon. What is remarkable is that young Daniel and his friends were fiercely loyal to God, despite being “romanced” so to speak with the niceties of upper-class life, experiences specifically designed to assimilate groups into the Babylonian culture. The Babylonians were very experienced at assimilation, very good at it, employing what we today might call psyops, to get young people to forget about their heritage and embrace their new country, their new culture, their new life.

 

This attempt at assimilation completely failed with Daniel and his friends. In Daniel’s case, we know he lived out his life in this foreign land, under multiple administrations, but he never wavered in his faith and devotion to God.

 

How did this happen? Why wasn’t Daniel like nearly every other descendant of the Israelites, people who had abandoned their faith and abandoned God? The answer lies in King Josiah. It was only four years after Josiah died that Daniel and his friends were captured and brought to Babylon. They and their parents lived under Josiah, the king of Judah, who first became king as a boy, at age 9. Let us read of Josiah in 2 Kings 22, verse 3.

 

In the eighteenth year of his reign, King Josiah sent the secretary, Shaphan son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, to the temple of the Lord. He said: “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest and have him get ready the money that has been brought into the temple of the Lord, which the doorkeepers have collected from the people. Have them entrust it to the men appointed to supervise the work on the temple. And have these men pay the workers who repair the temple of the Lord—the carpenters, the builders and the masons. Also have them purchase timber and dressed stone to repair the temple. But they need not account for the money entrusted to them, because they are honest in their dealings.” – 2 Kings 22:3-7

 

Now, the Temple has fallen into severe neglect. People offer sacrifices to false gods at high places throughout the land. Josiah collects money so that the Temple can be restored, and as the men work on restoration, they have to move broken parts of the temple, perhaps dig a little, and so on. Portions of the Temple have been neglected for a very long time.  The workers are, unknowingly, and admittedly uncarefully, working as archaeologists. And they find something!

 

Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the Lord.” He gave it to Shaphan, who read it. Then Shaphan the secretary went to the king and reported to him: “Your officials have paid out the money that was in the temple of the Lord and have entrusted it to the workers and supervisors at the temple.” Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king. When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his robes. – 2 Kings 22:8-11

 

How amazing – and depressing – to realize that the Law of Moses, the book containing the history of the people God had called, and the Law God had given to them, has become an ancient, forgotten artifact! But Josiah, to his great credit, listened to what the God-breathed book had to say. And he heeded the words! The passage goes on to say that Josiah sent someone to inquire of a prophet. The prophet explained that because the people had forsaken God, destruction would come, but that it would be deferred until after Josiah died, because Josiah was responsive to the words of the Law, and because he humbled himself before God, tore his robes, and wept in God’s presence.

 

Josiah responded by calling for a giant assembly at the Temple, where he read the words of the holy scroll to everyone. And then he called on the Lord, renewing the covenant within the book, promising to follow the Lord and keep His commands. And the people there also pledged themselves to the covenant. He then had the priests remove and destroy every idolatrous item from the Temple. He also had the priests go throughout the land, destroying all of the altars and other items of idolatrous worship at the high places where worship took place. He even had the small idols of the people destroyed. The account of Josiah says this:

 

Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses. – 2 Kings 23:25

 

I believe all these praiseworthy actions, and even the repentance of the people, came in response to God putting on Josiah’s heart the idea of restoring the Temple. I do not believe that he had any idea that in so doing this, he would be an archaeologist, uncovering the most important artifact of the Israelite people that there was, God’s holy book.

 

Although my own story is nowhere near as exciting or profound as what we see of Josiah, I can say that reading about Biblical archaeology had a significant effect on my life when I was an unbeliever. One of the books I read was Evidence that Demands a Verdict, by Josh McDowell. This book is written more like a bunch of footnotes than like fully written prose. Nevertheless, it is packed with examples of archaeology, corroborating history, and much more, and it moved me from believing that the Bible was certainly fiction, embellished over the centuries, to believing that there was every reason to believe that the Bible was true, describing true history. My desire and prayer for you is that the examples we look at in this series will likewise strengthen your faith, and perhaps you will be able to pass on some of these things to someone either weak in faith or not yet a believer so that they too can grow in Christ.

 

One book I am using for some of this material is called Where God Came Down: The Archaeological Evidence, by Joel Kramer. Joel mentions that Biblical archaeology, like most of modern science, is dominated by secular scientists who a priori reject the Bible as a source of information. I think this is unfair, illogical, and foolish. It is important to remember that the Bible itself is an archaeological item, as our account of Josiah so profoundly illustrates. Archaeologists constantly use other ancient written documents to guide their analysis, documents that are subject to the limited view of their authors, and often include fanciful accounts. When we homeschooled our children, they read from Herodotus, who is considered the “father of history” by many historians even though his writings include many accounts scientists would call fanciful. Despite this, the accounts are used to guide much of our understanding of the events of ancient history. It is unfair to reject the Bible, even if it were to contain fanciful elements (which it doesn’t). 

 

Joel makes what I think is an excellent analogy for the actual process of archaeology:

 

A five-hundred piece jigsaw puzzle box is found with only five pieces inside: one percent of the jigsaw puzzle remains; the rest of the pieces are lost. Those few pieces are important evidence supporting the reality that at one time, the whole puzzle existed. But what can be done with only five pieces out of a five-hundred-piece puzzle? Practically nothing. There is one help, however. The box lid is still intact, and it shows a picture of the whole puzzle. Equipped with this bigger picture, we can now see where the five pieces fit in to their larger context. In Biblical archaeology, the five puzzle pieces represent what the archaeology – what comes out of the ground – while the picture on the front of the box represents the role of the Bible.

 

And so, in this series, as in Joel’s book, we will use the “box lid” to guide us to understand what the “puzzle” pieces mean, what they are actually showing us.

 

And so let us go to the first excavation site, starting with the “box lid”, the Bible. Our first passage is Genesis 13, starting at verse 5.

 

Now Lot [Abraham’s nephew], who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together. And quarreling arose between Abram’s herders and Lot’s. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time. So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herders and mine, for we are close relatives. Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.” – Genesis 13:5-9

 

Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company: Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom. Now the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord. – Genesis 13:10-13

 

The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.” So Abram went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he pitched his tents. There he built an altar to the Lord. – Genesis 13:14-18

 

Our first location, surprisingly enough, is Mamre. Now I find it almost impossible to imagine that anything could be found of a site where God spoke to Abraham roughly 4000 years ago, a site where a group of nomadic people (Abraham and his family) spent some time. Nomads, by their very nature, move around, and they take with them whatever they have. Even finding a trace of a nomadic group ten years later is often difficult, if not impossible. But let’s dig a bit deeper into this final verse, as there are additional details.

 

First of all, our location is described as Mamre at Hebron. The preposition is specific. It is not “in” Hebron but “at” it. When you think about Abraham and his family as a large group of nomads, it makes sense that he would not live within the walls of an established city, but instead, that he would live less than a day’s walk away from the city.

 

The passage also mentions the “great trees”. Now it would be too much to hope that descendants of those great trees would still be great trees at the same location 4000 years later. But for such great trees to grow, we would expect there to be a water source, and it is entirely possible that that water source would still be there. Additionally, much of the terrain of the Middle East is quite rocky, so large trees often grow up through multiple layers of rock, and even after the trees have died, even after any trace of the trees is gone, you can find large holes in the rock where the trunks and roots of the trees had been.  

 

Now, if we could find this place, that would really be something. It would validate something in the ancient book of Genesis. Is this the only place Mamre is mentioned? No.

 

In Genesis 14, the next chapter, we read about a great battle between one group of kings and another group of kings, and how one consequence of this battle is that the winning side carried off the goods and people of Sodom, including Abraham’s nephew, Lot. Continuing in verse 13:

 

A man who had escaped came and reported this to Abram the Hebrew. Now Abram was living near the great trees of Mamre the Amorite, a brother of Eshkol and Aner, all of whom were allied with Abram. When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he called out the 318 trained men born in his household and went in pursuit as far as Dan. During the night Abram divided his men to attack them and he routed them, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus. He recovered all the goods and brought back his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the other people. – Genesis 14:13-16

 

From this passage we see that Abram is still living at Mamre, and still by the great trees. We also learn about the size of Abram’s party, which included 318 men of fighting age. This is a lot of people. What was the size of Abram’s whole family? We don’t know but it could easily be a thousand people. Why is this relevant? For several reasons. If Abram lived there with all these people, there had to be a reliable water source for his people and his many animals. This place had to be chosen because it was relatively flat, had the shade of the giant trees, had water, and so on. Recall that Abram had been told by God to explore the length and breadth of the land – and he chose this particular place. So it had to be relatively perfect, with a good city nearby to get goods he did not have, etc. In this passage we see that Mamre, from whom the place is named, along with his brothers Eshkol and Aner, were allied with Abram. So, in this location, he really had everything, even friends.

 

But still, up until this point, Mamre is essentially a campsite, maybe a long-term campsite, yes, but not a significant location. But there is one more passage that mentions Mamre, a very significant passage because it completely changes the nature of this site from the perspective of history. Let’s look at Genesis 18.

 

The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground. He said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by. Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant.” “Very well,” they answered, “do as you say.” – Genesis 18:1-5

 

So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. “Quick,” he said, “get three seahs of the finest flour and knead it and bake some bread.” Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree. – Genesis 18:6-8

 

“Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him. “There, in the tent,” he said. Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.” Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?” – Genesis 18:9-12

 

Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.” But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.” – Genesis 18:13-15

 

When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way. Then the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.” – Genesis 18:16-18

 

This entire passage is mysterious. In verse 1, we are told that the Lord appeared to Abraham (this is YHVH – the unpronounceable name of God) but in verse 2, we are told that three men had appeared, standing. The clear implications are (1) these men are God, or somehow a representation of God. Theologians have a field day on what this means, whether this was a picture of the trinitarian God, or two angels and God, or two angels and a preincarnate manifestation of Jesus. We are not going to be able to settle this today. Indeed, you can ask God someday in the life to come. (2) These men simply appeared. This is consistent with both angelic appearances and the way the post-resurrection Jesus could just appear and disappear. Taken together, these two statements mean that, although we don’t know exactly what is going on here, we do know that this is an immensely significant event, as in one way or another, God is visiting Abram in “person”, and He is letting him know that an impossible childbirth will happen in about a year’s time, a child born to people far too old to have children.

 

As believers, we know that this miraculous birth is appropriate because it foreshadows Jesus’ own miraculous/impossible birth, and indeed, Jesus will be from the seed of the one who will be born miraculously to Abraham and Sarah.

 

Now, did this birth happen? As believers who believe in the Bible, our answer is yes. But step back a moment and let us ask about the later centuries in which the Israelites lived here. Would they know about this location? Well, the location seems to have been clearly known by the author of Genesis, who was likely Moses. The description of Mamre made it likely that the next generation, the children of those who died in the desert for their disobedience against God, would have known where to find Mamre. It was near a known city, and had the identifying trees. And there was quite possibly still standing the altar that Abram had made. Recall that Abram had many people with him; the altar could have been far more than just a pile of rocks, especially since Abram had taken up long-term residence there. And if the location was known to the generation who took the land, then, given the importance of the location, its knowledge would have been preserved over the centuries, even on into the ages of the kings, including that of Josiah. It is even possible that over those centuries, a structure may have been made to commemorate the location. If this were true, it would not only lend credibility to the account in Genesis, but to the succeeding books of the Old Testament.

 

We then have the period of exile, and then the time of return, and the exile is short enough to suggest that this location would still be known. There were also some small numbers of Israelites who stayed in Israel despite the exile. Given that this is the case, is it unreasonable to think that the location would still be known at the time of Herod the Great, in the first century BC?

 

Now the existence of Herod is not contested by anyone, as there is physical evidence on coins and such as well as writings including that of the Jewish historian Josephus. Now, if the site was still known, we know that Herod, who was a terrible ruler except for his ability to direct masterful building projects, may have wanted to build up a structure for this location. If Herod had done so, we would expect to see certain signature signs of his work – especially the use of huge cut rectangular stone blocks, such as we see in Jerusalem. If Herod had built such a site, he would have likely torn down any sort of exterior structures that would have been there. It would make sense that the location would have walls and an altar, although, to please his Jewish subjects, the altar would be solely commemorative, because Jews were only allowed by Jewish law to sacrifice at the Temple in Jerusalem.  

 

Let’s jump past the time of Christ, to the time of Constantine, in the fourth century AD. Constantine was a Roman emperor who, at a minimum, proclaimed to be a Christian. We know that Constantine’s mother-in-law Eutropia visited a location believed to be Mamre. We know this because of a letter we have from Constantine to regional leaders – this letter is preserved through the writings of a church historian named Eusebius. Here is what Constantine writes:

 

She [Eutropia] assures me, then, that the place which gains its name from the oak of Mamre, where we find that Abraham dwelt is defiled by certain of the slaves of superstition in every possible way. She declares that idols which should be utterly destroyed have been erected on the site of that tree, that an altar is near the spot, and that impure sacrifices are continually performed.

 

According to Eusebius, Constantine made the following order:

 

That every idol which shall be found in the place above-mentioned shall immediately be consigned to the flames; that the altar be utterly demolished… the place itself we have directed to be adorned with an unpolluted structure… a church; in order that it may become a fitting place for assembly of holy men.

 

Constantine over his life only commissioned four churches in Israel, this being one of them.

 

Now Muslims conquered this area in AD 638. Because Abraham is also greatly respected in Islam, it would make sense that they would preserve this site. And as Hebron grew tremendously in these years, it would also make sense that they would grow the city around Mamre rather than destroying/rebuilding the site.

 

Hopefully you see where this is leading. Amazing as it is, we have found the location of Mamre. The location is very close to Tel Hebron, the location of the ancient city of Hebron, and it lies on an ancient road that connects Hebron with Jerusalem.

 

There is an ancient mound known in Arabic as Ramet Haram Al-Khalil, which means “The Height of the Sanctuary of the Friend.” It was first excavated in 1926-1928 by Evarsitus Mader. Mader’s team dug into the mound one layer at a time, going all the way down to bedrock. 

 

The first thing the team found was broken walls from the Islamic period. The walls appeared to have no other purpose than to preserve the site of something older. Digging a bit deeper, the team discovered the foundations of a building dating to the Byzantine period, the time of Constantine. Unlike the other known churches of Constantine in Israel, this one has unusual dimensions, being wide and shallow. Mader reasoned that the building had been built between two pre-existing structures, limiting its dimensions. This makes sense with what was found going deeper. Also found was evidences of an altar, and also pieces of broken idols and a stone carving of Hermes. Although pagan, Hermes makes sense to pagan thinking about a site commemorating angels or God coming to Abraham because Hermes was their “messenger of the gods.” And if you remember Acts 14, in Lystra, when Paul was with Barnabas, Paul healed a man who was lame from birth. What did the locals do? Ask about the Hebrew God, the true God? No, they declared “The gods have come down to us in human form,” and they began to refer to Barnabas as Zeus and Paul as Hermes, Paul being equated with Hermes because he was the one speaking. And so in the Abraham account you have people representing God speaking with Abraham – of course pagans would equate the messengers with Hermes.

 

The next layer, still seen today, consists of walls made with huge cut rectangular stone blocks. Pottery and other small items found in this layer date the construction to the first century BC. (Pottery styles change continually and are one of the best ways to estimate the age of a structure.) All of this is completely consistent with the walls being made by Herod. This site had been built up over an existing site, similar to how Herod had made the outer structures at the Temple in Jerusalem. Later excavations have led archaeologists to believe that the center of the site held an altar, consistent with both how Herod made similar sites and the statements of Eutropia.

 

Digging still deeper, Mader found the foundations of two square structures with a narrow passage between them. He believed these to be a gate system. It was common for protective enclosures to have such structures so that a narrow passage is the only entrance. In fact, sheep pens were made this way even in Jesus’ time. The passage was narrow enough for a single shepherd to completely block the opening. This structure gives insight into Jesus’ statement in John 10:7, “I am the gate for the sheep.” Shepherds would sit in the narrow gap, protecting the sheep from wolves who would have to go through them in order to reach the sheep.  These structures at Mamre have been dated to the iron age, 1000-586 BC. Kramer, the author of the book mentioned earlier, asks why the nation of Israel would build such significant structures. He rightly answers that it is because the Israelites believed that this location was deeply significant, the location of God’s promise to Abraham that was the reason that they even existed.

 

The bottom layer was perhaps the most interesting of all. Digging down to bedrock, Mader found a water source, a spring, which continues to give water to this day. And he also found two large holes in the bedrock, holes which also can be seen today, where the grass grows lushly compared to the areas around them. What would have caused these holes? The most reasonable explanation is giant trees, which are known to grow through the bedrock! 

 

Using the Bible as a guide, all of this evidence points to this location actually being Mamre, the site where Abraham and his large family lived, the location where he built an altar, and the place where God Himself or God’s representatives appeared and gave him the incredible promise that he would have a son, a son whose descendant Jesus would be the One through whom all nations would be blessed!

 

The fact that we have archaeological evidence of Abraham, a nomadic man with only a few hundred men with him, a man who lived in a tent, a man who was not a king, but a shepherd, is remarkable, if not miraculous. Hopefully this evidence builds your faith that you can really trust in the Bible, and therefore, you can trust in Jesus of the Bible with your life.

God Intended it for Good

 Genesis 49:29—50:26, Joshua 24:32

 Beginning in Genesis 49:29 we read:

 Then he gave them these instructions: “I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite, the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan, which Abraham bought as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite, along with the field. There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried, and there I buried Leah. The field and the cave in it were bought from the Hittites.” – Genesis 49:29-32

I recently drove my father-in-law to the cemetery where his wife’s body is buried.  The grave stone had her name and the year she was born and the year she died, and it had his name on it and the year that he was born.  I noted how he had already made preparations to be buried next to her.  Here in Genesis 49 we read about how Jacob made preparations to be buried in a cave that he buried his first wife Leah.  His father Isaac and his grandfather did the same thing with their wives.  His grandfather Abraham had not only bought that cave but also the field where the cave was located. 

When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed, breathed his last and was gathered to his people. – Genesis 49:33

Note that it says that he was gathered to his people.  When we die our bodies stop breathing but our spirit goes to be with the Lord and to be with the rest of the people who have died in Christ. On the question of marriage and resurrection of the dead, in Matthew 22:29-32,

Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” – Matthew 22:29-32

So, although in Egypt Israel breathed his last in this life, according to Jesus, Jacob/Israel’s spirit will be resurrected from the dead and will be like the angels in heaven because God has the power to raise his spirit from the dead.

Now back to today’s passage in Genesis 50. After Israel breathed his last we read that:

Joseph threw himself upon his father and wept over him and kissed him. Then Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father Israel. So, the physicians embalmed him, taking a full forty days, for that was the time required for embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days. – Genesis 50:1-3

The methods of embalming, or treating the dead body, that the ancient Egyptians used is called mummification. Using special processes, the Egyptians removed all moisture from the body, leaving only a dried form that would not easily decay. It was important in their religion to preserve the dead body in as life-like a manner as possible. So successful were they that today we can view the mummified body of an Egyptian and have a good idea of what he or she looked like in life, 3,000 years ago.  The process was very expensive and therefore very few common people were mummified.  

You may ask, “Why do dead bodies need to be embalmed?” The answer is legally, they don’t.  However, embalming accomplishes three goals: disinfection, preservation, and restoration. The remains are disinfected so that harmful microbes are destroyed, preserved so that the natural processes of decomposition are slowed, and restored so that an eased appearance can be returned to the person for their friends to view.  Unlike the ancient Egyptian practice of embalming, today’s embalmed bodies are not spared from natural decomposition, which begins a few days to a week after embalming. However, for medical purposes and extenuating reasons, bodies can be kept for six months to two years. Bodies that are not embalmed, on the other hand, begin decomposing almost immediately.

That is why we read in John 11: 38-39

Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” He said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” – John 11:38-39

So, you see even in Jesus’ time it was common knowledge that a dead body that was not embalmed would decay and begin to stink.

When the days of mourning had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh’s court, “If I have found favor in your eyes, speak to Pharaoh for me. Tell him, ‘My father made me swear an oath and said, “I am about to die; bury me in the tomb I dug for myself in the land of Canaan.” Now let me go up and bury my father; then I will return.’” – Genesis 50:4-5

Note Joseph’s respect for authority here.  Joseph has authority over all of Egypt.  Yet he asks Pharaoh for permission for time off to bury his father.  He even makes his request through the proper channels so that there is no mistake or misinterpretation in anyone’s mind about his intention to return.  As John indicated in last Sunday’s message, communication is very important when it comes to succeeding in an important major project.  Poor communication can easily scuttle the best laid plans.

Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear to do.” So Joseph went up to bury his father. All Pharaoh’s officials accompanied him—the dignitaries of his court and all the dignitaries of Egypt—besides all the members of Joseph’s household and his brothers and those belonging to his father’s household. Only their children and their flocks and herds were left in Goshen. Chariots and horsemen also went up with him. It was a very large company. – Genesis 50:6-9

This reminds me of the recent funeral for Queen Elizabeth, II.  More than 500 heads of state and dignitaries made up the 2000 guests invited to her funeral.  Among them were the President of the United States of America, the French President, Canada’s Prime Minister, New Zealand’s Prime Minister, the British Prime Minister, the King and Queen of Spain and the Emperor and Empress of Japan, just to name a few of the 500 heads of state and dignitaries. 

When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, near the Jordan, they lamented loudly and bitterly; and there Joseph observed a seven-day period of mourning for his father. When the Canaanites who lived there saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “The Egyptians are holding a solemn ceremony of mourning.” That is why that place near the Jordan is called Abel Mizraim. – Genesis 50:10-11

So Jacob’s sons did as he had commanded them: They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre, which Abraham had bought as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite, along with the field. After burying his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, together with his brothers and all the others who had gone with him to bury his father. – Genesis 50:12-14

When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs, we did to him?” So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died: ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.” When their message came to him, Joseph wept. – Genesis 50:15-17

Here we get a glimpse of what has been on the minds of Joseph’s brothers for more than 17 years.  They have not accepted the forgiveness that Joseph gave them. Instead they worry that his mercy and forgiveness may not be permanent.  They worry that Joseph may have a change of heart after their father dies and want to punish them for the past sins against him.  So, they come up with this plan to lie so that Joseph would honor their father’s last wishes and forgive them.  Even after 17 years of Joseph providing for them every day but they still doubted his forgiveness and mercy.

Many religious people today do the same thing.  They can’t believe God could or would forgive them permanently so they try to earn forgiveness from Him by doing good works.  Little do they know that good works won’t save them.  Isaiah 64 verses 5b and 6 says:

How then can we be saved? All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. – Isaiah 64:5b-6

Apparently Joseph’s brothers finally realized that their lie would not save them because:  

His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said. But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them. – Genesis 50: 18-21

Joseph stayed in Egypt, along with all his father’s family. He lived a hundred and ten years and saw the third generation of Ephraim’s children. Also the children of Makir son of Manasseh were placed at birth on Joseph’s knees. – Genesis 50:22-23

Note 110 years is 54 years after his father’s death.

Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” And Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath and said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.” So Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten. And after they embalmed him, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt. – Genesis 50:24-26

An article appeared originally in the June and July 1999 Levitt Letters about how some modern Egyptologists think that they have found the possible palace, tomb and statue of Joseph in an archaeological dig in an area in Goshen.

There in Goshen one last stunning piece of evidence for Joseph exists, and that brings us back to his burial in Goshen, and his bones that were removed by Moses at the time of the Exodus. In this same area in Goshen, where a large contingent of Semites lived, a great palace has been discovered, with a garden and a tomb, curious in its combination of Egyptian and Semitic styles. The Archaeologist Rohl and his colleagues believe the palace is that of Joseph, perhaps his retirement villa after many years of service to Pharaoh. It has two apartments in front, suggesting the living quarters of his sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. In the rear are the more spacious living quarters of the prime occupants, perhaps Joseph and his Egyptian wife.

Adjacent to the ruins of the palace, there is an elegant garden area, and in the garden was an unusual tomb. The tomb was in the shape of a small pyramid, but it is clear that the vault was broken into and the remains removed. However, the damage to the tomb was not like that done by the all-too-common grave robbers of Egypt. It appears to be a careful and methodical removal of bricks from the tomb, as one would expect where the bones of Joseph were carefully removed from his long-used grave by Moses. Could it be that we have here the very tomb of the great patriarch Joseph? This relatively new evidence certainly takes it out of the realm of mythology, even for the hardened scientist, and into the realm of accurate history.

But there is more. In the tomb complex, there are ruins of an ancient statue, also unusual in its design and subject matter. It has been violently smashed almost beyond recognition, but enough of it has been found to piece together a possible identification. The statue is of a man who had obvious stature in the Egyptian power structure, with the symbol of Pharaoh’s authority, the throw-stick, on his chest. Yet he also has an unusual Semitic hairdo, with flaming red hair, and wears a coat with variegated colors. The statue has been deliberately smashed and defaced, with an obvious attempt to destroy the head and face. It is as though the remaining Egyptians were so angry with the Semitic inhabitants that, when the Semites left, the Egyptians tried to destroy any trace of their occupation.

 We read in Joshua 24:31-33 that:

Israel served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had experienced everything the LORD had done for Israel. And Joseph’s bones, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the tract of land that Jacob bought for a hundred pieces of silver from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem. This became the inheritance of Joseph’s descendants. – Joshua 24:31-33

Recall that in Genesis 37 we read: 

Now his brothers had gone to graze their father’s flocks near Shechem, and Israel said to Joseph, “As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I am going to send you to them.” “Very well,” he replied. – Genesis 37:12-13

So, Joseph’s bones had come full circle from where he was with his father Jacob minding his own business prior to being kidnapped and sold into slavery by his brothers.  They meant it for evil but as the title of this message states “God intended it for good” in order to save the world from starvation.  In the same way, the Pharisees meant Jesus’ death on the cross for evil but “God meant it for good” to save us and the world from the punishment that was due us for our sins. Let’s pray.