ISRAEL ---> old man, ancient city

today we interviewed dr. gabriel barkay. we've interviewed him before but today we interviewed him at ketef hinnom (the shoulder of hell in hebrew), a site where he made the most famous discovery of his archaeological career. in 1979 he and his team excavated there and found the only untouched ancient repository in jerusalem. there they discovered two small silver amulets, each containing inscriptions of old testament passages from numbers and deuteronomy dating all the way back to 600 B.C. making this the most ancient biblical text ever discovered. on one of the scrolls several lines from the jewish priestly blessing is inscribed, the same blessing that 2600 years later, the jewish priests of today recite at the wailing wall on the jewish holiday of sukkot (the feast of tarbernacles). we were at the wall last year when the priests recited the blessing: click here to watch it.

JOEL AND BARKAY AT KETEF HINNOM

over the past few weeks we've spent many days waking up at 3 in the morning and driving to the city of jericho to take footage for our feature documentary. today, in palestine there is a modern city of jericho surrounding the ancient tel of jericho. a tel is an artificial hill made up of several layers of occupation over many many years time. one city would be built and destroyed and another city would be built and destroyed on top of it until eventually you have a large hill comprised of ancient layers of civilization.

THE ANCIENT TEL OF JERICHO (IT'S A PILE OF DIRT, I KNOW)

out of all the ancient cities in israel, jericho is the most debated. several archaeologists have excavated at jericho, and while they all found the same things, they interpreted their findings differently. some say the walls of jericho fell just the way the bible records and others say that the city was destroyed by and earthquake long before the israelites would have ever arrived. the reason jericho is so crutial is because if it's true that jericho was destroyed by an earthquake long before the bible says the israelites came, than not only does that mean that the conquest never happened but neither did the exodus, and therefore the entire biblical history of the israelites coming out of egypt into the promise land is a myth. on the other hand, if what they found at jericho matches the biblical account, than not only does that support the conquest and the exodus, but jericho would then become one of the most prominent evidences for the validity of the scripture in regard to the conquest of canaan by the israelites. it's quite a battle among scholars, but with the insight of biblical archaeologist dr. bryant wood, we are convinced that there is reason to believe that the bible tells the story as it happened, as true history. keep checking back for more updates on how that documentary is shaping up. (the pictures throughout this entry are screen shots from the footage we've taken recently at ketef hinnom and jericho)

CAMEL RIDERS OUTSIDE THE ANCIENT CITY OF JERICHO

JOEL FILMING FROM THE CABLE CAR SUSPENSION TOWER

ISRAEL ---> we're back

well, we are back in israel, and so far it's been a busy few weeks. we've been traveling around and exploring the judean wilderness, more specifically the ancient city of jericho. we are currently working on a feature length documentary about whether or not the walls of jericho actually came tumbling down like the bible records; whether or not it makes sense archaeologically and scientifically for joshua and the israelites to have actually destroyed the city as God commanded them. so keep in touch for more about how it's going. it's my intention to post a video every once in a while on what we are up to...we'll see if i stick to that commitment.

it's honestly hard for me to recall all that has happened since we first arrived. though at the moment all i can think about is yesterday...

earlier this week we got wind that the jewish priests (the cohen - blood dependents of moses' brother aaron) were going to sacrifice a lamb in the old city for passover, so we did everything we could to find out where and when. joel went down to the old city yesterday morning to poke around and see what he could find out about it, but everyone he asked acted unknowing because he is was a gentile (passover is strictly jewish). joel came home and told dave and i about it and we all placed our bets on the fact that nothing would happen, that they wouldn't end up actually doing a sacrifice. but as we say, if you go and bring your camera nothing will happen, if you don't go then you'll read all about how awesome it was in the news the next day. so joel took a camera and went back to the old city later that evening and found out where the priests were meeting. he found them in a large room and as he entered the doorway they had just wrapped up a meeting and were headed out the same door he came in. as they passed by him he noticed a man carrying a little metal briefcase and suspected that it carried the blade for the sacrifice. he followed them through countless ally ways down in through the old city and deep into the jewish quater, a specific rout intended for secrecy. eventually they came to an inner courtyard where the sacrifice was to take place.

i'd love to tell you more but i would rather you see it for yourself. it's very graphic...though i will say it's extremely insightful into scripture as far as the old testament sacrifices and Jesus as the sacrificial lamb of the new covenant. so while it's hard to watch, it's immensely educational. i've posted the video below.