Sermons and Biblical Studies

Nothing in life is accidental. He who believes in accident does not believe in God. (Alexander Yelchaninov) On a recent flight home from Israel, I noticed an article in El Al’s inflight magazine ISRAELAL on the discovery and excavation of Ashkelon’s “Wine city.” The paragraph that intrigued me the most stated: “Ir Hayai’in – The … Continue reading “ACCIDENTAL
ARCHAEOLOGY”

Response to TIME’s article. . . Francis Danby, 1793–1861 The Deluge, Tate Gallery Mount Ararat (Montage by Gene Fackler) The following is our research staff’s response to the article in the July 5th issue of Time magazine, and to a similar story released by Associated Press on June 29th. Both articles asserted that George Jammal, … Continue reading “PHONY
“ARK” AEOLOGY”

Ancient Tomb Is Found Near Giza Pyramids ABU SIR, EGYPT – Archeologists have found a 3,200-year-old underground tomb near the Pyramids of Giza and say it may be part of a previously unknown necropolis. “We are in front of a very big discovery,” the director of the Egyptian Antiquities Organization, Mohammed Ibrahim Bakr, told reporters … Continue reading “NEWS
AND NOTES. . .”

Wilbur Fields Professor, Ozark Christian College Joplin, MO Aerial view of Khirbet Nisya. Size of the site is about 7 acres. El-Bireh (ancient Bethel?) is beyond the mountain off upper right hand corner. I have been involved off and on since 1972 in the search for the town of ʾAi. Since 1981, I have worked … Continue reading “THE
SEARCH FOR ʾAI”

Gary A. Byers While it is a bit outside my field of study (by about 65 million years), I want to visit “Jurassic Park” with you. Destined to make all other box office records “extinct,” this movie is a mix of Michael Crichton’s literary techno-thrillers, Steven Speilberg’s patented cinematic humor and thrills, and George Lucas’ … Continue reading “JURASSIC
PARK, DINOSAURS AND THE BIBLE”

Milton C. Fisher Many of the pioneer archaeologists discussed in this series have been strong personalities. Driven by curiosity or a flare for adventure, they were ambitious to explore and discover. Some were practically loners in their work, choosing to perform a whole range of tasks on their own. Clarence Fisher at Herodian Colonnade, Sebaste … Continue reading “CLARENCE
STANLEY FISHER (1876–1941)”

David A. Wisea The earliest evidence we have of public health and sanitary practices is found in the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch. In these writings, the Israelites were instructed to isolate, and if necessary, quarantine those who were sick (Lv 13:1–14:57; Nm 5:2–4; Dt 23:10). They were to destroy contaminated objects … Continue reading “MODERN
MEDICINE IS NOT SO MODERN”

Duane A. Garretta The time has long passed for scholars of every theological persuasion to recognize that the Graf-Wellhausen theory, as a starting point for continued research, is dead. The Documentary Hypothesis and the arguments that support it have been effectively demolished by scholars from many different theological perspectives and areas of expertise. Even so, … Continue reading “THE
DOCUMENTARY HYPOTHESIS”

Dear Friends, With this issue of our quarterly magazine we return to the original name for this publication, Bible and Spade. While nothing about the magazine on the inside has changed, this does signal our ongoing commitment to make our message clear and to give it as wide a hearing as possible. Here at Associates … Continue reading “PUBLICATION
NAME CHANGE”

G. Herbert Livingstona All that remains of the city of Nippur are three large mounds of debris located about 100 miles south of Baghdad. Its modern name is Naffar, a rare instance of a site abandoned for a thousand years retaining to the present time its ancient name. The mounds rise about 55 ft above … Continue reading “THE
ARCHIVES OF NIPPUR”