Dear Bro. George,
I think you should appoint me as your Scottish editor! Your title of the golfing piece [July issue] would be better rendered, “Will ye no’ come back again?… greater loo’ed ye cannae be….”
For all that, I enjoy the magazine very much! God bless!
Bro. Hamilton Wilson (Glasgow Kelvin, Scotland)
Dear Bro. Hamilton,
Ach mon… wud na’ tha greet Robbie Burns hae sed, “For a’ that….” — no’ “For all that”?
Ne’erth’less, good point. Your editor this side of the Atlantic is a southern boy — much like Bobby Jones himself (he was a Georgian, and I’m, as you may have guessed, a Texan). Y’all may recognize that, to a Texan, even the northern United States presents a linguistic challenge. Canada is another challenge yet — and then England is surely a further challenge of the third order.
That leaves the spoken word of the Scots as a linguistic conundrum of at least the fourth degree of difficulty.
Never mind Hebrew and Greek: we native speakers of that variegated tongue known as “English” have more than enou’ on our plate, just trying to understand one another!
George
“Decently and in order”
Dear Bro. George,
Thank you for all the time you put into the Tidings, and for all the interesting articles you have provided us.
In response to the May editorial entitled “Decently and in order”: I am unclear as to the connection between God meeting with man in the tabernacle/temple of the Old Testament, and the memorial meeting that was instituted in the New Testament to remember our Lord’s death and resurrection.
It is my understanding that, through Jesus’ death, the Holy of Holies was opened up to all believers, and we now enjoy ongoing and open fellowship with the Father and the Son at any time and in any place.
I can’t think of where in Scripture the breaking of bread is considered to be our specific time to fellowship with our Father. Remember Jesus’ sacrifice, yes, and praise and worship our Father, but my understanding is that our fellowship is always there. This is why we don’t carry our sins with us all week to be forgiven at the breaking of bread. Rather, this is an ongoing everyday process.
I don’t think that the Mosaic mode of worship of the Old Testament can really be transposed onto our remembrance service of our Saviour.
As an aside, I would also like to comment on the state of mind necessary for the memorial meeting. I do agree that it is important to give our best, but as a mother of two young children, sometimes it is nigh on impossible to be mentally calm and focused when the emblems are passed around. We do our best to maintain peace and quiet, and this often absorbs us entirely. For this reason, I praise God that my access to Him is open at any time and not just on Sunday morning.
Sincerely, Rachel Perrott
Dear Sis. Rachel, Thanks for your letter.
The connection I sought to make was with the words themselves — “decently and in order”. Seeking out the Hebrew equivalent for the Greek “setting in order” (1 Cor. 14:40) led to the detailed descriptions of the numerous features in the Old Testament worship of Yahweh. But I did not mean to imply that there was an exact correlation between the tabernacle/temple worship and the Memorial Meeting. Nevertheless, there are surely points of comparison. For example, in the tabernacle worship, man might come into the presence of God through offered sacrifice; likewise, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ makes it possible for us to come into the presence of God today.
As there are points of comparison, so — as you say — there are points of contrast. Even though the Memorial Meeting is a very important service, it is not the only time one may approach God, or seek forgiveness of sins. But it is — because of its being commanded, and because of its regular repetition in our ecclesial life — a very special time, and one that ought not to be neglected, if it is at all possible to attend and participate.
Some differences of opinion fall into the category of an “either-or” discussion. But I don’t think this is one of those. This is more of a “not only — but also” discussion. In other words, we do not have to choose between coming into God’s presence at the Memorial Meeting, or not coming at all. Instead, we may not only beseech His forgiveness at the breaking of bread, along with our brothers and sisters, and in generally quiet meditation; but we may also seek His blessing morning and evening, in a bustling household or a secluded park. God is always there.
However, for most of us, and for most of the time, the Memorial Meeting is the best place (even if not the only place!) to approach the Throne of Grace. And, considering the Old Testament examples cited, it is surely a more effective “meeting place” when Paul’s advice (“decently and in order”) is followed — as much as is reasonable.
George
Current Events
News from the Promised Land
The Old City of Jerusalem, 40 years later
Four decades after the battle that liberated the Old City of Jerusalem during the Six Days War, Israeli leaders still refer glowingly to Jerusalem as the “eternal, undivided capital” of the Jewish state. But the motto is accurate only as myth. Even as they celebrated the 40th anniversary of the war, a growing number of Israelis are voicing the once unthinkable: Jerusalem may never truly be united. The city is now Israel’s poorest metropolis; ambitious young people prefer making their living in the country’s high-tech corridor along the Mediterranean. A tremendous gap in the standard of living divides Jerusalem’s Arabs and Jews, who only rarely mix. A concrete barrier cuts through the city, locking more than 50,000 East Jerusalemites outside the wall. Not a single foreign nation keeps its embassy there anymore. “The story of Jerusalem is a story of decay and deterioration,” says historian Tom Segev. “All these dreams of 1967 were actually illusions.”
Overall, roughly 300,000 Jews have left the city since 1967. According to a demographic study released in June by the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies, 17,200 people left Jerusalem last year, while only 10,900 moved in. With Arab birthrates rising faster than Jewish ones, demographers predict the Jewish-to-Arab ratio in the city will be roughly even within 20 years.
Both the rising violence and the demographic trends led Israel to construct the long, winding barrier that now surrounds and divides Jerusalem. Yet the wall creates new problems. According to a Red Cross report, the Israeli government has shown a “general disregard” for Palestinian human rights by carving out “isolated Palestinian enclaves” in the city. The demographic realities, combined with the resentment created by the wall, are “like a small atomic device,” says Jerusalem rights lawyer Danny Seidemann. “It can blow up at any minute,” adds Segev.
“I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling… When all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves” (Zech. 12:2,3).
Faking antiquities
(Jerusalem, May 2007) Testimony in a Jerusalem district courtroom is giving a rare glimpse into the shadowy world of Biblical antiquities.
Three of Israel’s most respected experts in ancient archeological treasures are on trial, charged with 18 counts of fraud, receiving money through deception, damaging antiquities, and other violations of Israeli antiquities laws.
The defendants are accused of faking a range of artifacts, including the burial box of Jesus’ brother, a wine decanter used in Solomon’s Temple, and ancient seal impressions and inscriptions — some of which were sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Since the trial began in September 2005, witnesses have described furtive encounters with Arab grave-robbers, international smuggling, and large transactions based on a handshake. Lawyers involved in the case expect court proceedings to continue for at least another year.
Oded Golan, the first accused, came to worldwide attention in 2002 as the man behind a sensational discovery that rocked the world of Biblical antiquities: a first-century stone ossuary, or burial box, with an ancient Hebrew inscription identifying it as the last resting place of “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.”
The ossuary was exhibited in Toronto and hailed by scholars as the first physical link ever discovered to the family of Jesus. But when the two-foot long limestone box returned to Israel in March 2003, it was seized by the Israel Antiquities Authority and submitted to a committee of experts to determine its authenticity.
Meanwhile, the Antiquities Authority was already investigating Golan in connection with another item, the Joash stone. This was a black stone tablet with an ancient Hebrew inscription that appeared to record the renovation of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem by King Joash in the ninth century BC. If genuine, it would be the first physical evidence of the temple ever recovered.
The committee of experts was asked to rule on both items and in 2003 announced that both were modern fakes. Golan was arrested on suspicion of violating Israel’s antiquities laws and repeatedly interrogated while police raided his apartment and two other properties in Tel Aviv. There they seized a range of tools and materials that they said could be used to fake ancient artifacts.
In 2004 the Israeli police indicted Golan and two others. Charges against the two others were later dropped. Shuka Dorfman, director of the Israel Antiquities Authority, described the charges against Golan and his alleged colleagues as “the tip of the iceberg.” “These forgeries have worldwide repercussions,” he said. “They were an attempt to change the history of the Jewish and Christian people.”
Shaul Naim, head of the two-year police investigation, said: “This was fraud of a sophistication and expertise which was previously unknown. They took authentic items and added inscriptions to make them worth millions.”
Naim said forgers managed to fake inscriptions, decorations, and even the patina (the thin sediment created over centuries by moisture collecting on the items). “We believe that there are many more items in museums and collections around the world which are yet to be identified,” he said.
Golan rejects all the charges against him and accuses the Israeli authorities of a witch-hunt, insisting that all the items are genuine.
“There is not one grain of truth in the fantastic allegations relating to me,” Golan said in an interview.
Committee protests dig at Temple Mount
The Waqf Muslim religious trust is digging a ditch from the northern side of the Temple Mount compound to the Dome of the Rock as a prelude to infrastructure work in the area, generating protests from archaeologists.
The dig has been approved by the police, but the Israel Antiquities Authority declined to respond to the Waqf’s excavations and would not comment on whether one of its archaeologists had approved the move.
The Committee for the Prevention of Destruction of Antiquities on the Temple Mount, a political group comprised of archaeologists and intellectuals, criticized the use of a tractor for excavation at the Temple Mount “without real, professional and careful archaeological supervision involving meticulous documentation.”
Speaking for the committee on July 10, archaeologist Eilat Mazar said, “There is disappointment at the turning of a blind eye and the ongoing contempt for the tremendous archaeological importance of the Temple Mount.”
At the beginning of the year, Israeli excavations near the Temple Mount, part of a plan to rebuild the Mugrabi bridge walkway, near the Robinson Arch, led to violent protests from Arabs in Israel and around the world.
The Pharaohs’ Fortress
The largest known fortress from the days of the pharaohs has been unearthed near the Suez Canal, archaeologists announced in August.
The massive fortress, discovered at a site called Tell-Huba, includes the graves of soldiers and horses and once featured a giant water-filled moat, scientists said.
The discovery dates back to ancient Egypt’s struggle to reconquer the northern Sinai Peninsula from an occupying force known as the Hyksos. The campaign against the Hyksos was depicted in etchings on the ancient walls of the Karnak Temple, 450 miles south of Cairo.
Archaeologists said the new find shows those stone-chiseled tales to be surprisingly accurate. “The bones of humans and horses found in the area attest dramatically to the reality of such battles,” said Zahi Hawass, director general of Egypt’s Supreme Council for Antiquities. “Previously, the area was known only from depictions in temples elsewhere in Egypt. We had no firsthand evidence of what was happening there during the period of the pharaohs.”
The discovery was part of a broader effort called the North Sinai Archaeological Project, which was started in 1991 to identify and protect archaeological sites that were threatened by an industrial agriculture project.
The fort, called Fort Tjaru (or Tharo), was unearthed by a team led by Abdul Maqsoud of the antiquities council. The fort dates from the 18th and 19th Dynasties (estimated as somewhere between 1560 to 1081 BC).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One