Many people today feel like they are adrift in a deep and expansive sea of competing worldviews. They are searching for truth and meaning for their lives. Too often, however, they ignore the greatest treasure they have access to for building their own worldview — the Bible. In his book, The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment (Crossway, …
Caesarea Maritima / Caesarea Palestina Intertestamental Period In the 3rd century BC the Persians gave the area to the Phoenicians who built a small anchorage here and named it Strato’s Tower. The site had been controlled by the Sidonians, but the Romans under Octavian (who later became Augustus Caesar and the first emperor of the Roman …
This final post reporting on my research trip to Jordan includes two sites we visited on our first day. I’ve done so in order to tie together some of the significance aspects of our visit to Gerasa and our later examination of sites in Israel. Elijah’s Hill / Tell Elias In order to identify sites …
This particular research trip set as one of its goals the evaluation of three lines of evidence with regard to identifying the locations of Sodom and Gomorrah and attempting to establish chronological timelines: (1) Biblical evidence within the text of Scripture itself as the prima facie evidence; (2) archaeological evidence as provided in excavation reports; and, (3) …
Peor Geographical details in the account regarding Balaam in Numbers 22–24 provide information identifying the area where Israel camped east of the Jordan River before entering Canaan. When King Balak of Moab sent for Balaam to curse Israel, he went to meet him at Ar of Moab on the Arnon Gorge (Numbers 22:36; see Post …
Over 40 years ago I published “Samson’s Removal of Gaza’s Gates,” Journal of the Near Eastern Archaeological Society 8 (1976): 83–93. Prof. Stan Swinney and I worked on the research for this article a mere four years into my first full-time teaching post in Denver, CO. We intended to publish a series of articles we …
This apparent contradiction of the timing of the events involved Jesus’ cleansing the Temple and cursing the fig tree. Matthew 21:12–19 reports that Jesus cursed the fig tree on the day following His cleansing of the Temple. However, Mark 11:12–24 appears to indicate that Jesus left Bethany (v. 12), cursed the fig tree for not …
The Synoptic Gospels’ Inerrancy: When Did Jesus Curse the Fig Tree? Read More »
The Lord Jesus Christ Himself attributed the book of Daniel to the prophet bearing that name (cf. Matthew 24:15). The Book of Daniel itself indicates that Daniel was the author (“I, Daniel,” 8:1). Details in the Book of Daniel concerning the history, locale, and culture of Babylon and Medo-Persia favor a firsthand witness of the …
The synoptic Gospels seem to put different words into Peter’s mouth when he makes his statement regarding the identity of Jesus. Compare the following: Matthew 16:16, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Mark 8:29, “You are the Christ.” Luke 9:20, “The Christ of God.” In our thinking the event was so …
The Synoptic Gospels’ Inerrancy: What Did Peter Say? Read More »
Let’s return to the synoptic Gospels’ reporting of the healing of the demon-possessed men (or man?) from Gadara (Matthew 8:28–34; Mark 5:1–20; Luke 8:26–39). We dealt with the apparent geographical contradiction in our first post. At least one more problem exists when we compare these passages. According to Matthew, two demon-possessed men approached Jesus. However, …
The Synoptic Gospels’ Inerrancy: How Many People? Read More »
