Hoard of Coins from Jewish Rebellion Discovered in Jerusalem.

On Monday and Tuesday of this week Jews around the world commemorated the destruction of the temple by the Romans in 70 CE. This holiday is known as Tisha B'Av (the ninth of Av), which is the day on the Jewish calendar the traditionally marks the destruction of both Solomon’s and Herod’s temple.

Also this week, an announcement was made that a stash of ancient coins dating from the rebellion that led up to the temple's destruction, was discovered in Jerusalem.

This is an unusual find in some way. Here's a bit of what the archaeologists have to say. 

The coins are all of identical size and age, and possibly from the same mint. Their value has yet to be determined, but they are likely quarter or one-eighth shekel bits, Betzer said. They are all marked with the words “For the redemption of Zion” and “Year four,” indicating they were made during the fourth year of the revolt against the Roman Empire, or between spring 69 and spring 70 CE. They are decorated with the Biblical four species — palm, myrtle, citron and willow — and a vessel that may symbolize those used in the temple. The coins are still encrusted in nearly 2,000-year-old dirt and oxidation, and await cleaning and study by IAA specialists.

 “What this teaches this is that the person who held onto this trove received it all in one batch,” he said while exhibiting the brilliant greenish coins at the IAA’s Har Hotzvim laboratories in Jerusalem. “He received them from the rebel leadership; he may have been part of the rebel leadership.” Perhaps, he speculated, they were funds destined for the purchase of arms or provisions for the Jewish fighters against the Roman legions.“These coins were minted a few months before the destruction of the temple [in Jerusalem],” he said. “It was one of the last efforts by the rebels to prevail.” Ultimately, however, they failed, and on the Ninth of Av, 70 CE, the Romans crushed the rebellion by destroying the temple in Jerusalem and slaughtering the city’s inhabitants. 

You can read the rest of the article here. 

Introducing the Forever Bible: Because everyone needs a Bible that floats!

There's an old saying among church ladies that goes something like this "A Bible that is falling apart belongs to someone who is not." The saying, apparently a quote from Charles Spurgeon, is used as a way to suggest that if one reads the Bible your life will be perfect. But I suspect there are many daily Bible readers who might testify to the opposite.

Nonetheless, a "falling apart Bible" is a problem. I once had a Bible for only a year before the leather binding began separating. And my Greek New Testament, which I have used regularly for twenty years, has been been glued together several times. So it is true that if you use/read your Bible it will eventually begin to show wear. And at some point you will either buy a new one or decide to tape it back together and hold on to it like an old, dear friend.

But now one enterprising company has a solution for our "falling apart Bibles." Forever publishing has announced an indestructible Bible. Here is what they have to say:

“Using Space Age nanotechnology, we are able to print the Bible on an advanced paper that doesn't use any trees, is 24X stronger than regular paper, and is completely waterproof, dirt-proof, tear-proof, and otherwise life-proof,” the company boasts. “The Forever Bible even floats in water, while keeping your notes and highlighted passages pristine.”

I'm not sure that the world really needs such a Bible and must admit that this really does antagonize the recovering cynic in me. However, watch the below video clip and let me know what you think. Perhaps I am off base and you will be ordering one of these for Christmas.


You will be forgiven if you have flashbacks of old Ronco commercials as you watch the below video. If you can't watch it all the way to end then I highly recommend that you go to minute 3:57 in the video where a gentleman compares the forever Bible to Jesus.