TL;DR: The blog post examines the story of Gideon and his 300 soldiers in Judges 7, exploring the curious water-drinking test used to select an elite fighting force and its significance in the broader context of the lawless Period of the Judges. Welcome back to the Holy Land Studies blog after a long hiatus! In […]
Most people are familiar with the major Jewish festivals of Rosh Hashanah and Passover. But there are many other minor festivals that the general public has not heard of. One of the most interesting Jewish holidays of the year is a rather minor festival that takes place in the middle of the winter called Tu […]
The 20th century was without a doubt the most eventful century for the Jewish people since the 1st century. The calamity of the Holocaust followed by the establishment of the State of Israel is more consequential than anything the Jewish people experienced collectively in two millennia. But no less historic than the return of the […]
TL;DR The Holy of Holies was the innermost, most sacred room of the Jerusalem Temple, housing the Ark of the Covenant and accessible only to the high priest once a year on the Day of Atonement. In daily conversation, people often use the phrase “holy of holies” as a way to express a place that is superlatively […]
The Bible records the names of hundreds of places, both inside the tiny Land of Israel itself as well as throughout the vast territory comprising the Ancient Near East. Some places are well known to readers of the Bible, like Bethlehem and Nineveh. Others are more obscure, like Ziklag and Gurbaal. Many of these place names […]
Many readers of the New Testament are familiar with Paul’s statement at the end of his first letter to Corinthians regarding the absolute clarity which the future holds for those willing to abide in the murkiness of faith in the here and now: For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. […]
TL;DR: Tel Arad is one of Israel’s most important yet undervisited archaeological sites, located on the southern agricultural boundary of ancient Israel in the northern Negev. Although it is not as familiar as the names of other famous biblical places, Tel Arad is certainly one of the most important archaeological sites in Israel. But it […]
TL;DR The Hebrew word for ‘calf’ (egel) carries deeper meaning rooted in ancient Israelite shepherding culture, and the Golden Calf incident represents a pivotal moment of idolatry in biblical history. As many of us have heard, the Eskimos have dozens of words for snow because this is so crucial to their daily lives. Although this […]
Appearing towards the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus’ teaching about the “narrow gate” is a familiar passage for many Christians: Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and […]
TL;DR The east wind in the Bible is associated with destruction because it brings hot, dry, dusty air from the Arabian desert into Israel, damaging crops and making life miserable, in contrast to the beneficial westerly winds from the Mediterranean. If you read the news from Israel regularly, you know that the last few days […]
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