October | 2013 | Life and Land

Meta:

18Oct

TITUS: Blessed Are the Peacemakers (and Administrators)

Profiles in Missions Comments Off on TITUS: Blessed Are the Peacemakers (and Administrators)
by Gordon Franz

Introduction
As the Lord Jesus sat on a hillside over looking the Sea of Galilee, He instructed His disciples with some of the most profound words ever uttered by human beings (Matt. 5:1-7:29). He began His discourse by saying, “Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs in the Kingdom of Heaven” (5:3). He went on to say, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God” (5:9). At the end of what has been called, the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus gave a parable of two builders. He said, “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise builder who built his house on the rock” (7:24). James, the son of Zebedee, an “ear-witness” to this discourse would comment on this parable with the words, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only” (James 1:22).

One who took these spoken and written words to heart was Titus, a co-worker of the Apostle Paul. The Early Church Fathers indicate that Matthew’s gospel was the first gospel written and probably in circulation by AD 40 (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 6.25.3-6; LCL 2:75). Perhaps Titus had seen a copy of this gospel and read the Sermon on the Mount and was touched by the Beatitude, “Blessed are the peacemakers” while he was in Antioch on the Orontes. Titus was a peacemaker in the church at Corinth and the churches on the island of Crete. He has been described as being “capable, energetic, tactful, resourceful, skillful in handling men and affairs, and effective in conciliating people” (Hiebert 1992: 105). All these character traits served him well as he worked along side of the Apostle Paul, or as an emissary from the Apostle Paul, to reconcile different factions in the church and to build up the Body of Christ. Truly Titus was a blessed man because he was a peacemaker.

In this study on the life of Titus, we will consider how God used a man with the spiritual gift of administration to be a peacemaker in the church at Corinth and the churches on the island of Crete, and to bring blessing to the saints in Jerusalem.

Titus – A True Son in the Faith
The Apostle Paul was Titus’s spiritual father because he led Titus to faith in the Lord Jesus. In his epistle to Titus he states: “Titus, a true son in our common faith” (1:4). Unfortunately Paul does not recount when, where, or how Titus came to faith. Timothy was another young man that Paul led to the Lord, probably on his visit to Timothy’s hometown of Lystra during Paul’s first missionary journey (cf. 1 Tim. 1:2).

There are several possibilities as to when and where Titus came to faith. The first opportunity would have been while Paul was in the region of his hometown of Tarsus (Gal. 1:21; Acts 9:30), or while working among the Gentiles in Antioch on the Orontes between AD 35-46 (Acts 11:25-26).

If the later is the case, Antioch on the Orontes was the third most important city in the Roman Empire, after Rome and Alexandria, and was noted for its immorality. Juvenal, a Roman satirist of the 2nd century AD, in his Third Satire asks the question: “And yet what fraction of our dregs [sewerage] comes from Greece [the Greek world]? The Syrian Orontes [River] has long since poured into the Tiber, bringing with it its lingo and its manners, its flutes and its slanting harp-strings; bringing too the timbrels [tambourine] of the breed, and the trulls [prostitutes] who are bidden ply their trade at the Circus. Out upon you, all ye that delight in foreign strumpets [harlots] with painted head-dresses!” (Satire 3:61-67; LCL 37; brackets mine – GWF). Is it any wonder that Paul reminded his son in the faith what environment he had come out of? “For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures …” (Tit. 3:3). But Paul goes on to say, “But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward men appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (3:4-7).

Another possibility when Paul could have shared the gospel with Titus, according to a Second Century AD tradition, was during Paul’s first missionary journey (AD 47-48). This tradition hints that Titus was from Iconium in South Galatia and that was where he first met Paul. Titus had seen Paul “in the spirit” and described him to Onesiphorus as being short, bald, and bow-legged (Acts of Paul and Thecla 3:2-3; Schneemelcher 1992: 2: 239). Onesiphorus (cf. 2 Tim. 1:16; 4:19) proceeded to meet Paul on the Via Sabaste and invited him to Iconium. It is possible that Titus came to faith at this point and Paul invited him to be his disciple / student and joined Paul’s team when they returned to Antioch on the Orontes. In the Acts of Paul and Thecla, a sermon at Iconium by Paul is recorded and there are a number of quotes from Matthew’s gospel. Perhaps this is where Titus heard: “Blessed are the peacemakers.”

When Titus came to faith, we do not know, but he became a “son of God” by faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior (John 1:12). Most likely Titus was included in the number of the “disciples” that Paul and Barnabas worked with after they returned from their first missionary journey (Acts 14:26-28).

Titus – A Relative of Dr. Luke?
Titus’s name appears eleven times in four of Paul’s epistles (Gal. 2:1-3; 2 Cor. 2:12-13; 7:6-7,13-14; 8:6,16-17, 23; 12:17-18; Tit. 1:4; 2 Tim. 4:10), but interestingly, his name does not appear in the Book of Acts. Sir William Ramsay, a British classical scholar, suggested that Titus was a relative of Dr. Luke, the author of the book of Acts (1896: 390). This may account for why Titus is not mentioned in this book because it demonstrates the humility of Luke. He does not mention his own name in either his gospel, or the Book of Acts. Luke did not want to draw undue attention to his family. Others have gone so far as to suggest that Luke and Titus were brothers (Souter 1906-1907a: 285; 1906-1907b: 285-286; Boys-Smith 1906-1907: 380-381). Souter goes so far as to suggest that “Titus, in fact, becomes the authority from whom Luke acquires most of his information about Paul’s doings prior to the period at which he himself became acquainted with him” (1906-1907b: 335). He even sees a connection between the two because their names are mentioned together in 2 Tim. 4: 10-11 (1906-1907b: 336). He also suggested “the brother” mentioned in 2 Cor. 8:18 and 12:18 could be Luke. But this is conjecture because it could also be just another unnamed brother in the Lord.

Titus in Jerusalem – Exhibit A
The first time we encounter Titus with the Apostle Paul is when he takes Titus to Jerusalem as “Exhibit A” concerning whether Gentile’s needed to be circumcised in order to be saved as recorded in Galatians 2. We read: “Then after fourteen years I [Paul] went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and also took Titus with me. And I went up by revelation, and communicated to them that gospel which I preached among the Gentiles, but privately to those who were of reputation, least by any means I might run, or had run, in vain. Yet not even Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in (who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage), to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you” (2:1-5).

Scholars have debated when this visit to Jerusalem took place. The two possibilities that have been suggested are the famine relief in AD 44 (Acts 11:27-30; Bruce 1995: 157-159). Or the Jerusalem Council in AD 49 (Acts 15:1-4). The chronological indicator in verse one, however, seems to point towards the second view. Assuming the Lord Jesus was crucified and resurrected in AD 30, Paul was saved on the road to Damascus in AD 32 or 33 and he is in the Arabia Desert and Damascus for three years before he goes up to Jerusalem for the first time after he is saved. Do the math: 32 + 3 + 14 = 49, the year of the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15.

This Council was instigated by an issue in the church in Antioch on the Orontes: “Do Gentiles have to be circumcised in order to be saved?” There were certain people who were of the sect of Pharisees who believed (Acts 15:1, 5) who were in the church and said a Gentile person must be circumcised in order to be saved. Paul and Barnabas challenged this with an emphatic “No!” The decision was made to send a delegation to Jerusalem and ask the Apostles to settle the issue once and for all. Paul and Barnabas went up to Jerusalem with “certain others” (Acts 15:2) and this group included Titus (Gal. 2:1). The Apostle Paul was responsible for taking Titus: “I … took Titus with me.” Titus was “Exhibit A” because he was an uncircumcised Greek (Gal. 2:3) who had trusted the Lord Jesus as his Savior at least two, if not four or more years prior to this trip.

The decision of the Jerusalem Council, composed of the apostles and elders of the church, was that Gentiles did not have to be circumcised in order to be saved (Acts 15: 13-39).

On the other hand, Paul had Timothy, another son in the faith, circumcised at Lystra (Acts 16:3). According to Jewish Halakah, Timothy was Jewish because his mother, Eunice, and grandmother, Lois, were Jewish, yet his father was a Gentile (Acts 16:1; 2 Tim. 1:5; 3:15). Timothy’s circumcision, however, had nothing to do with his salvation, nor his sanctification. In fact, Paul is delivering the decrees given by the Jerusalem Counsel in Acts 15 which explicitly states that circumcision has nothing to do with salvation (Acts 16:4). Paul had Timothy circumcised for a very practical reason. They could get free lodging in the synagogue!

Titus at Ephesus – Partner and Fellow Worker with Paul
Four years passed since the Jerusalem Council and the next time Titus appears in Scripture. His whereabouts during this time are not recorded. Did he labor in Antioch on the Orontes, or return to Iconium? The Apostle Paul could have taken him from Antioch, or picked him up in Iconium on his way to Ephesus during his third missionary journey (AD 53-55). Paul identifies Titus as a vital “partner and fellow worker” in the work in Ephesus (2 Cor. 8:23).

Paul and his team ministered in Ephesus for almost three years (Acts 19:10; 20:31). They began by doing evangelism among the Jewish people in the city (Acts 19:8-9; cf. Rom. 1:16), but then set up a teaching center in the School of Tyranus (Acts 19:9; cf. 2 Tim. 2:2). As a result of this discipleship program, all in Asia Minor heard the gospel (Acts 19:10). A riot ensued in Ephesus because the silversmiths were losing business because tourists were not buying the silver trinkets of Artemis in the temple to her honor, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world! We are not told where Titus was when the riots in the theater of Ephesus broke out. Perhaps he was on a peacemaker mission in Corinth at the time.

Titus at Corinth – The Peacemaker
The Apostle Paul, along with his co-workers, Silas and Timothy, established the church at Corinth about AD 50-52. A delegation, led by Stephanas, visited Paul in Ephesus about three years later and shared some of the problems that were occurring among the saints in Corinth. These carnal believers were creating divisions among themselves and saying, “I am of Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, [and the real pious ones], I am of Christ” (1 Cor. 1:10-17, especially verse 12; brackets by GWF). They were also allowing a moral scandal, one that included a man sleeping with his father’s wife, to continue in the church that was ruining the testimony of Christ in that city (1 Cor. 5:1-13). Some in the church were also abusing the Lord’s Supper by coming to the meeting with unconfessed sins and then getting drunk at the Lord’s Table (1 Cor. 11:17-34). Paul addressed these issues head-on in his first epistle to the Corinthians.

Scholars have had a field day trying to figure out the chronology of when and how often Titus went to Corinth on Paul’s behalf. I will suggest a plausible chronology based on the work of D. Edmond Hiebert (1992: 109-11).

Titus apparently makes three trips to Corinth. I don’t know if they had “Frequent Sailing Miles” in the 1st century AD, but if they did, Titus would have racked up his “frequent sailing mileage” between Ephesus and Corinth! The purpose of the first trip was to collect money for the poor in the Jerusalem church (1 Cor. 16:1-3; 2 Cor. 8-9; Rom. 15:25-28). I believe that he was exercising his spiritual gift of administration as he saw to it that the collection was done decently and in order. This trip apparently took place a year before Second Corinthians was written (2 Cor. 9:2) and Titus was accompanied by “our brother” (2 Cor. 12:18). Some have suggested it was Dr. Luke (Souter 1906-1907a; 1906-1907b), but that is just conjecture. When Paul had written his first epistle to the church, the collection had already been started (1 Cor. 16:1-3).

A delegation consisting of Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus reported to Paul in Ephesus about the problems in the church at Corinth. Paul wrote his first epistle to the church. More than likely this delegation took the letter back with them to the city. Apparently Titus was in Corinth working on the collection and was in the meeting when the letter was read to the congregation. Upon his return to Ephesus, he reported to Paul the reaction to the letter and opposition expressed by some in Corinth (2 Cor. 10:12-18; 11:22, 23; 13:1-3).

Paul sends Titus back to Corinth in order to be a peacemaker (Matt. 5:9), with the intention of meeting up in Troas when the conflict was settled. When Titus does not show up in Troas, Paul had “no rest in his spirit” and moved on to Macedonia (2 Cor. 2:12-13).
Perhaps Paul was a bit impatient and expected instantaneous results from his letter and the personal ministry by Titus. Once he was in Macedonia, he was still troubled by the situation in Corinth (2 Cor. 7:5). Eventually Titus did meet Paul in Macedonia with the good news of the repentance of the sinning saint and his reconciliation to the church and also the church in Corinth’s acceptance of Paul’s authority (7:6-11). In this, Titus was joyful (7:13, 14), and Paul greatly rejoiced (7:6-9).

Paul wrote a follow-up epistle (2 Corinthians) to the believers in Corinth and sent this letter back with Titus and two unnamed brothers. This Titus was eager to do this (8:6, 16-18). He also went back to finish gathering the money for the saints in Jerusalem (8:18-22).

Paul gives Titus a very strong recommendation (8:23). He writes, “If anyone enquires about Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker concerning you.” Paul declared that Titus could be trusted with the money because he would not take advantage of them (12:18).
Sometime after Paul wrote the letter, he arrived in Corinth for a three months stay (Acts 20:3). If Titus was with him, this would have been his third visit to the city. Fortunately for the Apostle Paul, the problems in the church at Corinth were resolved because of Titus’ ministry as a peacemaker. This freed Paul to write the most important epistle of the New Testament, the epistle to the church in Rome spelling out the great doctrinal truths of justification, sanctification and living for the Lord in a wicked world. At the end of the epistle, Paul sends greetings to the saints in Rome from the saints in Corinth, yet he does not mention Titus among those believers (Rom. 16:21-23). Perhaps Titus was on his way to Jerusalem with a token of the collection for the saints in the Holy City, with the rest to follow (Acts 20:4). Paul could thank the Lord for Titus as a peacemaker. The words of the Lord Jesus rung in his ears: “blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matt. 5:9).

Titus on Crete – The Administrator
During Paul’s fourth missionary journey (AD 63-66) he left Titus on the island of Crete to take care of some problems that existed in the churches on that island. This was an island with an unsavory reputation of being made up of people who were always liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons (Tit. 1:12). The church itself had a divisive element that was leading people astray. After more than 20 years in the faith, Titus was Paul’s “go to guy” to take care of the problems at hand. Paul left him on the island to “set in order the things that are lacking” (1:5). The Greek word “set in order” (epidiorthoo) is only used here in the New Testament. Before the First Century AD, the word is used only once and ironically, it was on a Second Century BC inscription that was found at Hierapytna on the island of Crete! The word was used to refer “to the activity of a regional administrator. Evidently this rare term had some currency in Crete in the context of political organization” (Wieland 2009: 351).

The purpose of the ministry of Timothy and Titus was to establish stable leadership within the churches that they ministered, rather than to serve as pastors themselves among the flock on a long-term basis. Thus Titus was functioning as an administrator among the churches on the island of Crete.

What was lacking in the church was suitable leadership so Paul instructed him to ordain elders in every city. These elders should be grounded in the Word of God so they can overcome opposition and teach sound doctrine to the people in the churches. After he completed this task, Paul instructed Titus to meet him in Nikopolis (Tit. 3:15). Titus apparently goes to Nikopolis and Paul is arrested there and taken to Rome and imprisoned again. Titus followed the arresting party, probably at a distance, to Rome.

Titus in Dalmatia – Apostolic Mission
During the Apostle Paul’s second imprisonment in Rome (AD 67), Demas abandoned him and departed for Thessaloniki (2 Tim. 1:16, 17; 4:10). In the same passage, Paul mentions that Crescens went to Galatia and Titus to Dalmatia. The text does not seem to indicate that the latter two abandoned him like Demas did.

The borders of Dalmatia in the First Century AD were not clearly defined. At times it was considered the southwestern part of Illyricum, in the area of present-day Albania / Croatia, along the coast of the Adriatic Sea (Pattengale 1992:2:4, 5).

More than likely, the Apostle Paul sent Titus on an apostolic mission of some sort, but what the nature of this mission was, we are not told. There are two possibilities to consider. First, it is plausible, but not probable, that Paul sent Titus to follow up on the church that Paul and Dr. Luke would have planted during the three months they were shipwrecked on Malta (Acts 28:1-10). I mention this possibility because in the First Century AD there were two Malta’s in the Roman world: Melite Africana, the traditional landing site of Paul in the book of Acts, and Melite Illyrica, the island of Mljet off the Dalmatian coast (Meinardus 1976:145-147). Personally, I do not share Meinardus’ view. I believe that Melite Africana was the island Paul was shipwrecked on, thus ruling out this possibility as to why Paul sent Titus to Dalmatia.

The second possibility, and this is more likely, is that he was sent to follow up on the churches Paul planted on his third missionary journey. Paul departed from Ephesus after the uproar had subsided and went through Macedonia and Greece (Acts 20:1-2). A plausible reconstruction of this part of the journey might be that he went through Macedonia encouraging the churches along the entire length of the Via Egnatia through Illyricum (Rom. 15:19) to the Adriatic Coast and then took a ship down to Corinth. Titus would have visited the churches that were planted during the Illyricum phase of this journey.

Titus in Church Tradition
The brochure from the church of Titus in Heraklion on the island of Crete summarizes the Greek Orthodox tradition of Titus on the island. It states: “Titus’ activity in Crete is not sufficiently known because there are no ancient official and verified records about the first period of the Cretan Church. In later times, there was founded in Crete a very rich biographical tradition about the first bishop and patron of the local Church. According to that tradition, Titus was Cretan of a noble family descending directly from Minos, the mythical King of Knossos. Titus was a relative of Rustillus (or Rustulus), the Roman proconsul in Crete. He was well-educated and spent some time in Jerusalem where he became an eye-witness of the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Later, as a bishop in Crete, he founded nine bishoprics in Knossus, Ierapytna, Kydonia, Chersonissus, Eleftherna, Lambe, Kissamus, Kandanus, and Gortys. According to the same tradition, Titus died 94 years old in about 105 AD” (Detorakis 1990:2). There is no way to independently confirm any of these traditions so they should be taken with caution.

Tradition also states that Titus died and was buried at Gortyn on the island of Crete. There was a sixth century AD basilica built over the burial place of Titus. The bones were removed to Venice when the Ottoman Turks invaded the island (824 AD). His skull was later returned to a new church of Titus in Heraklion on May 15, 1966. One can still see his skull today!

Why did Paul value Titus and the Lord used him in the His work?
The Apostle Paul describes Titus as his “partner and fellow worker” in the Lord’s work. There are at least four reasons Paul valued Titus and he was useful in the work of the Lord. The first reason was that Titus was exercising his spiritual gift of administration (1 Cor. 12:28). This was manifested in his organizing the collection for the saints in Jerusalem and well as appointing elders on the island of Crete.

William McRae in his book, The Dynamics of Spiritual Gifts, defines the gift of administration as: “a God-given capacity to organize and administer with such efficiency and spirituality that not only is the project brought to a satisfactory conclusion but it is done harmoniously and with evident blessing” (1976: 52). He goes on to say that the person with this gift: “is able to give vision and direction, … is able to organize and direct toward a specific goal, … sees that everything is done decently and in order. Projects are done in a way that promotes the work of God and the growth of those involved” (1976: 52).

A number of years ago when I was working with the Youth Group at my home church, we had a number of young people that were heading to college the next year and they were not sure what to do, where to go, and how to discern God’s will for their life. At one leaders meeting, the adults were discussing this situation and what could be done to help the teen-agers make an informed, spiritual decision about this important junction in their life.

I suggested that we have a mini seminar about how to choose a college, what to look for in a college, and discerning God’s will for ones life. Everyone thought it was a great idea, but who would organize it? They looked at me as if I should organize this event. The expression on my face read, “Don’t look at me, I don’t know what I’m doing. I just had the idea.” One man at the meeting caught the “deer in the headlight” look right away and said that he would organize the event. It was obvious, this man had the gift of administration and did a wonderful job organizing and carrying out the event. This man relished the opportunity to exercise his spiritual gift. I believe that Titus had the gift of administration and he exercised that gift well to build up the Body of Christ in a practical, as well as a spiritual way.

The second reason I believe Paul used Titus was that Titus showed maturity when dealing with carnal Christians at Corinth. More than likely, Titus was in the meeting in Corinth when Paul’s first letter arrived admonishing them to deal with the sins in the church, even a gross sin (1 Cor. 5:1). These words upset some people in the church and some even questioned Paul’s authority to say what he said! Yet Titus, lovingly and patiently, worked with these people, using the Scriptures that Paul had written, so they responded positively to the message (2 Cor. 7:5-15). The main goal of church discipline should always be restoration, not ex-communication (Matt. 18:15-17; cf. Gal. 6:1).

The third reason Paul used Titus was that he was open and above board in his dealings with the Corinthians. He had pure motives (2 Cor. 12:17-18). While he was among the Corinthians, he worked for their edification, to build them up in their faith, and not for his own gain (12:19).

The final reason Paul used Titus was that he was a “people person.” He had a concern for the spiritual well being of the believers in Corinth (2 Cor. 8:16), so he volunteered to help them. He saw a job that needed to get done and he did it.

Life Lessons to be Learned
The reasons Paul valued Titus in the work of the Lord are the same lessons for us to learn so the Lord can use us in His work today.
- First, we should discern what our spiritual gift is and exercise it to build up the Body of Christ, both numerically, as well as spiritually.
- Second, spiritual believers in the Lord Jesus need to have patience and gentleness when dealing with carnal, or sinning, Christians in the church. Paul instructed the believers in Galatia: “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted” (6:1).
- Third, in dealing with Christians, especially carnal Christians or new believers, we should have pure motives, not taking advantage of people, and be open and above board in our dealings with them.
- Finally, we need to be “people persons.” We need to be involved in people’s lives to help them in time of spiritual, and/or, physical need. If we see a need in the assembly, or the Body of Christ, we should seek to meet that need, quietly and seeking no rewards or glory for ourselves.
Paul admonished the believers in Corinth: You follow me, as I follow the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 11:1). Titus heard the truth of the Word of God, believed it, applied it, and is in himself evidence of that truth. Titus was blessed for his work as a peacemaker and administrator and was a vital part of the historic spread of the early church. He heard the truth, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” Applied it to his life, and he was blessed as a result. Might we do the same in our lives.

Bibliography

Barrett, C. K.
1969 Titus. Pp. 1-14 in Neotestamentica et Semitica. Edited by E. E. Ellis and M. Wilcox. Edinburgh: T & T Clark.

Bowman, John
1963 A Guide to Crete. London: Pantheon.

Boys-Smith, E. P.
1906-1907 Titus and Luke. Expository Times 18: 380-381.

Bruce, F. F.
1985 The Pauline Circle. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans.

1995 Paul. Apostle of the Heart Set Free. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans.

Detorakis, Theocharis
1990 Holy Archdiocese of Crete, Parish of Saint Titus. Holy Church of Titus, the Apostle. Bulletin 6.

Eusebius
1980 Ecclesiastical History. Vol. 2. Trans. by J. Oulton. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University. Loeb Classical Library 265.

Evans, Harold
1979 An Apostolic Partner. Expository Times 90: 207-209.

Hiebert, D. Edmond
1992 In Paul’s Shadow. Friends and Foes of the Great Apostle. Greenville, SC: Bob Jones University.

Juvenal
1993 Juvenal and Persius. Trans by G. G. Ramsay. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University. Loeb Classical Library 91.

Lees, Harrington C.
1917 St. Paul’s Friends. London: Religious Tract Society.

McRae, William
1976 The Dynamics of Spiritual Gifts. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Meinardus, Otto
1976 St. Paul Shipwrecked in Dalmatia. Biblical Archaeologist 39/4: 145-147.

Mitchell, Margeret M.
1992 New Testament Envoys in the Context of Greco-Roman Diplomatic and Epistolary Conventions: The Example of Timothy and Titus. Journal of Biblical Literature 111/4: 641-682.

Munn, James
1956-1957 The Man Who Was Left Behind. Expository Times 68: 377-378.

Pattengale, Jerry
1992 Dalmatia. Pp. 4, 5 in Anchor Bible Dictionary. Vol. 2. Edited by D. N. Freedman. New York: Doubleday.

Quinn, James
1978a Paul’s Last Captivity. Studia Biblica 3: 289-299.

1978b “Seven Times He Wore Chains” (1 Clem. 5:6). Journal of Biblical Literature 97/4: 574-576.

Ramsay, William
1896 St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons.

Rolston, Holmes
1954 Personalities Around Paul. Richmond, VA: John Knox.

Schneemelcher, Wilhelm, ed.
1992 New Testament Apocrypha. Vol. 2. Cambridge: James Clarke; Louisville, KY: Westminster / John Knox.

Seekings, Herbert S.
1914 The Men of the Pauline Circle. London: Charles H. Kelly.

Souter, Alexander
1906-1907a A Suggested Relationship between Titus and Luke. Expository Times 18: 285.

1906-1907b The Relationship between Titus and Luke. Expository Times 18: 335-336.

Stenstrup, Ken
2010 Titus. Honoring the Gospel of God. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical.

Thomas, W. D.
1985 Titus, the Good All-rounder. Expository Times 96: 180-181.

Walker, William O., Jr.
1980-1981 The Timothy – Titus Problem Reconsidered. Expository Times 92: 231-235.

Wieland, George
2009 Roman Crete and the Letter to Titus. New Testament Studies 55: 338-354.
12Oct

REPORT ON THE “INTERNATIONAL NOAH AND JUDI MOUNTAIN SYMPOSIUM” – SIRNAK, TURKEY

Noah’s Ark Comments Off on REPORT ON THE “INTERNATIONAL NOAH AND JUDI MOUNTAIN SYMPOSIUM” – SIRNAK, TURKEY

REPORT ON THE “INTERNATIONAL NOAH AND JUDI MOUNTAIN SYMPOSIUM” – SIRNAK, TURKEY

Gordon Franz

Introduction

The “International Noah and Judi Mountain” symposium was held in Sirnak, Turkey, under the auspices of Sirnak University. One of the purposes of this conference was to set forth the case for Cudi Dagh, the mountain just to the south of Sirnak, as the landing place of Noah’s Ark in South East Turkey. This mountain is not to be confused with the (late) traditional Mount Ararat, called Agri Dagh, in northeastern Turkey.

Interestingly, at this conference I learned of another mountain that allegedly Noah’s Ark landed on. It is located at Mount Gemikaya in Azerbaijan. By my count, that is the sixth mountain vying for the honors of this historical event: two in Turkey, three in Iran, and one in Azerbaijan. The Iranian and Azerbaijani sites are far outside the Land of Ararat / Urartu, and in the case of the Iranian sites, deep inside the Land of Media. We can safely dismiss these mountains as the place where Noah’s Ark landed according to the Bible. To be truthful, Agri Dagh must be dismissed as well because it is a post-Flood volcanic peak in a plain, and not within the “mountains (plural) of Ararat” (Gen. 8:4).

The Setting of the Symposium

The symposium was held at the Sehr-I Nuh Otel (translation: Noah’s City Hotel) in Sirnak, just north of Cudi Dagh (Cudi or Judi Mountain). This mountain is within the “mountains of Ararat” (Gen. 8:4) where Noah’s Ark landed. The facilities at the hotel were first class, the food was absolutely delicious, and we had a spectacular view of Cudi Dagh from the panorama view windows as we ate our meals.

Special thanks goes to Dr. Mehmet Ata Az, a philosophy professor at Sirnak University, for coordinating the speakers and making sure our needs were met. He truly has a servant’s heart and our best interest in mind. Thank you my friend!

Synopsis of Select Papers

The conference on Friday and Saturday (September 27 and 28, 2013) was well organized with sixty-six papers presented in two parallel sessions so I did not get to hear them all. There was simultaneous translation into Turkish, Arabic, and/or English. I learned much from each of the presentations that I attended.

Each paper was 15 minutes long. Much to my surprise, the moderators kept the conference on schedule! Unfortunately most of the papers were summaries of the presenter’s longer paper that will be published in the proceedings of the symposium. So I look forward to this publication with the papers published in book form so they can be studied in more detail. This volume should be published in a couple of months.

At least one-third of the papers were devoted to Noah, his Ark, and/or the Flood in the Qur’anic sources and Islamic theology. This was a surprise to me because I did not realize how much the Qur’an spoke about Noah. Thus it was helpful and of interest to me because I did not know the Arabic sources and it filled in some big gaps in my understanding. The Qur’an, as well as other ancient Jewish, Christian, and Pagan sources, places the landing site of the Ark on Cudi Dagh (Crouse and Franz 2006).

I will summarize and discuss several papers that I think might be of interest for those researching Noah’s Ark.

Bill Crouse, president of Christian Information ministry, was one of four plenary papers at the beginning of the conference. His paper was: “Five Reasons for Rejecting Agri Dagh as the Ark’s Final Resting Place and Five Reasons Why it Did Land on Cudi Dagh.” His five reasons for why it did not land on Agri Dagh, the traditional site of Mount Ararat, are: (1) The early ancient sources do not mention Agri Dagh as the landing site of Noah’s Ark, (2) Agri Dagh is a volcanic mountain and was never submerged under water, and thus it was formed after the Flood and could not be the landing site of the Ark, (3) Geographically, the peaks of “Greater Ararat” and “Lesser Ararat” are not located in the “Mountains of Ararat,” but rather, in a plain, (4) The “eye-witness” accounts are unreliable, and (5) Thus far, after 60 plus years of searching, nothing has ever been found there. The five reasons Bill believes the Ark landed on Cudi Dagh are: (1) There is a consensus of diverse ancient sources that place the landing site of the Ark in the area of Cudi Dagh, including pagan, Jewish, Christian, and Islamic sources, (2) Diverse groups of pilgrims have visited the site for over at least two thousand years, (3) There are olive trees in the area of Cudi Dagh (cf. Gen. 8:10), but none in the area of Agri Dagh, (4) Possible archaeological remains have been discovered on the top of Cudi Dagh, including wood that has asphalt on both sides (cf. Gen. 6:14), 9-12 inch nails/spikes (cf. Gen. 4:22), and other objects found in the area of the landing site, and (5) Cudi Dagh is a much more accessible mountain for disembarking from the Ark.

After the first session, Bill was interviewed by Turkish national television. Also, the conveners of the conference are translating his paper into Turkish so that it can get a wider distribution in the Turkish language, giving Turks a better understanding of the issues relating to Noah’s Ark.

The Sirnak Investment Support Office Coordinator, Faik Bugday, presented a paper on the “Relationship between Noah and Development.” I had dinner with him during the conference and he shared more about how they were planning to develop the region for tourism and to expand the economy. Some of the ideas include: A new airport that was recently built to the west of Cizre (also spelled Jizra) two months ago (summer 2013), and has three flights a week. It is called the Sirnak Airport by Turkish Air. As peace prevails and tourism increases, I’m sure the airline will add more service to this soon-to-be-important airport.

Some of the projects on the drawing board include a high speed rail service connecting Sirnak with other regional cities, several of which have connections with Noah’s Ark. This has the potential for individual tourists who want to visit the area to get around economically and fast.

Another project is a cable car (think ski lift) up to the top of Cudi Dagi from the area of Sirnak. Once Noah’s Ark has been excavated, this will facilitate tourists getting to the mountain to visit the remains of this Biblical object.

I can envision, when peace prevails in the region, a 12 day “Genesis / Revelation” Biblical study tour of Turkey, with some sites visited by the Apostle Paul thrown in for good measure. The Christian tourist would fly into Istanbul and transfer to a domestic flight to Sirnak Airport. A few days will be spent in eastern Turkey visiting Cudi Dagh and the landing site of the Ark; Shah and Hassana, where ancient Assyrian inscriptions were found; the Tomb of Noah and a museum in Cizre; the Monastery of Milatya and the church with the sarcophagus of St. Jacob in Nusaybin, the ancient site of Nisibis. The group would then fly to Izmir in Western Turkey and visit the Seven Churches of Revelation (chapters 1-3), as well as some of the sites visited by the Apostle Paul.

The local historian from Cizre, Abdullah Yasin, was scheduled to speak in the parallel session that was not being translated into English. He was moved to the other session, on-the-spot, so that the English speaking participants could hear him. He addressed some of the evidence found in the Cudi Dagh area for Noah’s Ark. It was also timely that his new book, Nuh Peygamber (a.s.) Tufani ve Cudi Dagi (ISBN: 978-605-5053-03-1), just saw the light of day. It is well illustrated but is only in Turkish. I hope that it will be translated into English soon. Abdullah Yasin has a small museum in Cizre dedicated to the archaeology of Cudi Dagh.

Anne Habermehl presented a paper on “The Role of Science in Determining the Resting-Place of the Ark.” One of the main points of her paper was that Agri Dagh, the (late) traditional site of the Ark landing was a post-Flood volcanic mountain and thus could not be the place of the Ark landing. This important paper had been peer-reviewed by two of the leading creation geologists before she gave the paper. This information should be seriously considered by the proponents of Agri Dagh.

My friend, Rex Geissler, gave a paper entitled: “Archaeology, Excavations, Historical Documents on Mount Ararat.” This was the only paper given at the conference that defended the traditional site. Other Agri Dagh proponents had been invited, but they declined for one reason or another. One point that Rex stressed was that there was no Urartean pottery ever found in southeastern Turkey, and thus the area of Cudi Dagh was outside “mountains of Ararat.” This statement is very misleading for two reasons: Few, if any, excavations have been made there, and absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

Mark Wilson gave an excellent paper on “Noah, the Ark, and the Early Flood in Christian Literature.” Basically it was about what the New Testament said about Noah and the Great Flood. Timo Roller, a German researcher, gave a paper on “The German Explorers of Cudi Dagh: 114 Years of Examining the Real Landing Place.” He discussed the explorations by Johannes Lepisius, Friedrich Bender, the Hans Thoma team, and his own research with Google Earth. Timo had a collection of old photographs of Cudi Dagh and was able to identify exactly where each picture was taken on Google Earth and the direction the camera was pointing. This paper was very helpful in getting a good visual perspective on the mountain.

The vice-rector of Sirnak University, Dr. Ibrahim Baz, gave an impressive PowerPoint presentation on “An Ancient Settlement on Judi Mount: Shah Village and Sheik Yahya Darshavi.” Sah is located at the western end of Cudi Dagh and had some Assyrian reliefs left by Sennacherib, king of Assyria, and possibly other Assyrian kings. He had some spectacular pictures of Sah in the springtime with beautiful flowers in them. The Assyrian reliefs have been published, but further study is in order.

I was surprised to learn after talking with several Muslim participants at the conference that they believed in the Flood of Noah’s day, but they believed it was a local flood and not a universal flood. They hold to this view for theological reasons and not geological reasons. Dr. John Baumgardner, formerly of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, gave a paper on “Noah’s Flood: The Key to Correct Understanding of Earth History.” In the paper he discussed the R.A.T.E. (Radioisotope and the Age of the Earth) project he worked on with ICR. His main point was to show the scientific evidence for a young earth and geological evidence for a universal, world-wide Flood.

My paper (Gordon Franz) was entitled: “Did Sennacherib, King of Assyria, Worship Wood from Noah’s Ark?” This question was prompted by an account in the rabbinic sources that Sennacherib worshiped wood from the Ark. I answered the question in the affirmative because Sennacherib was on Cudi Dagh during his Fifth Campaign about 697 BC when he saw the Ark and brought wood back to Nineveh. He most likely learned of the history of the Ark from Israelites or Judeans with whom he came in contact. The wood he worshiped was in the House of Nisroch his god (2 Kings 19:36-37; Isa. 37:37-38). Nisroch means plank (of wood), or board.

It cannot be said with 100% certainty that Sennacherib worshiped wood from Noah’s Ark until the Temple of Nisroch is found and excavated, but it can be said that the “rabbinic legend” of Rabbi Papa in Tractate Sanhedrin is historically plausible, if not probable. This “legend” has its basis in historical reality. If that is the case, Sennacherib saw Noah’s Ark on Cudi Dagh, the Assyrian Mount Nipur, in the mountains of Ararat / Urartu, because he was never on, or in the area of, Agri Dagh, the traditional Mount Ararat!

The “Reader’s Digest” version of my paper is up on my website:

https://www.lifeandland.org/2013/10/did-sennacherib-king-of-assyria-worship-wood-from-noah%e2%80%99s-ark-as-a-deity/

The final presentation of the conference was by the Rector (president) of Sirnak University, Prof. Dr. Ali Akmaz. In his summery of the conference he said that Sirnak University was going to start an Institute of Noah Studies and produce a documentary of the history and archaeology of Cudi Dagh. But the most important announcement was that they were going to excavate the site of the Ark Landing once they get a team of archaeologists and engineers in place and secure a permit from the Department of Antiquities. I wish them well in this important, and potentially history changing, endeavor.

I look forward to that cable-car ride up to the top of Cudi Dagh to visit the remains of Noah’s Ark! ?

Sight-seeing After the Symposium

The university had scheduled a trip for some of us by helicopter to the top of Cudi Dagh so we could view the landing site of the Ark, conditions permitting. As it turned out, on Sunday morning the army cancelled the trip because of problems in the area, including on top of Cudi Dagh. It was for the best. I appreciate the university’s concern for our safety, even though we were never in any real danger. “Better safe then sorry!”

Well, what do you do for three “free” days before your return flight? You know the old saying: “When life deals you lemons, make lemonade!” Well, “Plan B” was instituted and we had a nice tall glass of cool lemonade that was very good! We took a taxi from Sirnak to Sanliurfa and spent the rest of our time there visiting the sites in the area. On the way we stopped at Nusaybin to visit the Church of St. Jacob and his sarcophagus in a vault underneath the church. St. Jacob of Nisibis is important for Noah’s Ark studies because he noted that the Ark was not on Mount Ararat (Agri Dagh) but on a mountain in the canton of Kortuk where we find Cudi Dagh.

On Monday we went to Gobekli Tepe to view its impressive prehistoric archaeological remains. Then we went on to Harran where Abraham once lived before he went to the Land of Cannan. It was thrilling to read the unconditional covenant that God made with Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3) at Harran where it was first given!

On Tuesday we visited local sites in Sanliurfa, named in the Greek period by Alexander the Great as Edessa, after the well watered city of the same name in Macedonia. Wednesday we returned to the good ol’ US of A.

Thank you for reading this article. Feel free to pass it on to your family and friends.

Bibliography

Crouse, Bill; and Franz, Gordon

2006Mount Cudi – True Mountain of Noah’s Ark. Bible and Spade 19/4: 99-113.

by Gordon Franz

Introduction

The “International Noah and Judi Mountain” symposium was held in Sirnak, Turkey, under the auspices of Sirnak University. One of the purposes of this conference was to set forth the case for Cudi Dagh, the mountain just to the south of Sirnak, as the landing place of Noah’s Ark in South East Turkey. This mountain is not to be confused with the (late) traditional Mount Ararat, called Agri Dagh, in northeastern Turkey.

Interestingly, at this conference I learned of another mountain that allegedly Noah’s Ark landed on. It is located at Mount Gemikaya in Azerbaijan. By my count, that is the sixth mountain vying for the honors of this historical event: two in Turkey, three in Iran, and one in Azerbaijan. The Iranian and Azerbaijani sites are far outside the Land of Ararat / Urartu, and in the case of the Iranian sites, deep inside the Land of Media. We can safely dismiss these mountains as the place where Noah’s Ark landed according to the Bible. To be truthful, Agri Dagh must be dismissed as well because it is a post-Flood volcanic peak in a plain, and not within the “mountains (plural) of Ararat” (Gen. 8:4).

The Setting of the Symposium

The symposium was held at the Sehr-I Nuh Otel (translation: Noah’s City Hotel) in Sirnak, just north of Cudi Dagh (Cudi or Judi Mountain). This mountain is within the “mountains of Ararat” (Gen. 8:4) where Noah’s Ark landed. The facilities at the hotel were first class, the food was absolutely delicious, and we had a spectacular view of Cudi Dagh from the panorama view windows as we ate our meals.

Special thanks goes to Dr. Mehmet Ata Az, a philosophy professor at Sirnak University, for coordinating the speakers and making sure our needs were met. He truly has a servant’s heart and our best interest in mind. Thank you my friend!

Synopsis of Select Papers

The conference on Friday and Saturday (September 27 and 28, 2013) was well organized with sixty-six papers presented in two parallel sessions so I did not get to hear them all. There was simultaneous translation into Turkish, Arabic, and/or English. I learned much from each of the presentations that I attended.

Each paper was 15 minutes long. Much to my surprise, the moderators kept the conference on schedule! Unfortunately most of the papers were summaries of the presenter’s longer paper that will be published in the proceedings of the symposium. So I look forward to this publication with the papers published in book form so they can be studied in more detail. This volume should be published in a couple of months.

At least one-third of the papers were devoted to Noah, his Ark, and/or the Flood in the Qur’anic sources and Islamic theology. This was a surprise to me because I did not realize how much the Qur’an spoke about Noah. Thus it was helpful and of interest to me because I did not know the Arabic sources and it filled in some big gaps in my understanding. The Qur’an, as well as other ancient Jewish, Christian, and Pagan sources, places the landing site of the Ark on Cudi Dagh (Crouse and Franz 2006).

I will summarize and discuss several papers that I think might be of interest for those researching Noah’s Ark.

Bill Crouse, president of Christian Information ministry, was one of four plenary papers at the beginning of the conference. His paper was: “Five Reasons for Rejecting Agri Dagh as the Ark’s Final Resting Place and Five Reasons Why it Did Land on Cudi Dagh.” His five reasons for why it did not land on Agri Dagh, the traditional site of Mount Ararat, are: (1) The early ancient sources do not mention Agri Dagh as the landing site of Noah’s Ark, (2) Agri Dagh is a volcanic mountain and was never submerged under water, and thus it was formed after the Flood and could not be the landing site of the Ark, (3) Geographically, the peaks of “Greater Ararat” and “Lesser Ararat” are not located in the “Mountains of Ararat,” but rather, in a plain, (4) The “eye-witness” accounts are unreliable, and (5) Thus far, after 60 plus years of searching, nothing has ever been found there. The five reasons Bill believes the Ark landed on Cudi Dagh are: (1) There is a consensus of diverse ancient sources that place the landing site of the Ark in the area of Cudi Dagh, including pagan, Jewish, Christian, and Islamic sources, (2) Diverse groups of pilgrims have visited the site for over at least two thousand years, (3) There are olive trees in the area of Cudi Dagh (cf. Gen. 8:10), but none in the area of Agri Dagh, (4) Possible archaeological remains have been discovered on the top of Cudi Dagh, including wood that has asphalt on both sides (cf. Gen. 6:14), 9-12 inch nails/spikes (cf. Gen. 4:22), and other objects found in the area of the landing site, and (5) Cudi Dagh is a much more accessible mountain for disembarking from the Ark. Bill’s presentation is on YouTube and can be viewed here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cp0sUCKKj74

After the first session, Bill was interviewed by Turkish national television. Also, the conveners of the conference are translating his paper into Turkish so that it can get a wider distribution in the Turkish language, giving Turks a better understanding of the issues relating to Noah’s Ark.

The Sirnak Investment Support Office Coordinator, Faik Bugday, presented a paper on the “Relationship between Noah and Development.” I had dinner with him during the conference and he shared more about how they were planning to develop the region for tourism and to expand the economy. Some of the ideas include: A new airport that was recently built to the west of Cizre (also spelled Jizra) two months ago (summer 2013), and has three flights a week. It is called the Sirnak Airport by Turkish Air. As peace prevails and tourism increases, I’m sure the airline will add more service to this soon-to-be-important airport.

Some of the projects on the drawing board include a high speed rail service connecting Sirnak with other regional cities, several of which have connections with Noah’s Ark. This has the potential for individual tourists who want to visit the area to get around economically and fast.

Another project is a cable car (think ski lift) up to the top of Cudi Dagi from the area of Sirnak. Once Noah’s Ark has been excavated, this will facilitate tourists getting to the mountain to visit the remains of this Biblical object.

I can envision, when peace prevails in the region, a 12 day “Genesis / Revelation” Biblical study tour of Turkey, with some sites visited by the Apostle Paul thrown in for good measure. The Christian tourist would fly into Istanbul and transfer to a domestic flight to Sirnak Airport. A few days will be spent in eastern Turkey visiting Cudi Dagh and the landing site of the Ark; Shah and Hassana, where ancient Assyrian inscriptions were found; the Tomb of Noah and a museum in Cizre; the Monastery of Milatya and the church with the sarcophagus of St. Jacob in Nusaybin, the ancient site of Nisibis. The group would then fly to Izmir in Western Turkey and visit the Seven Churches of Revelation (chapters 1-3), as well as some of the sites visited by the Apostle Paul.

The local historian from Cizre, Abdullah Yasin, was scheduled to speak in the parallel session that was not being translated into English. He was moved to the other session, on-the-spot, so that the English speaking participants could hear him. He addressed some of the evidence found in the Cudi Dagh area for Noah’s Ark. It was also timely that his new book, Nuh Peygamber (a.s.) Tufani ve Cudi Dagi (ISBN: 978-605-5053-03-1), just saw the light of day. It is well illustrated but is only in Turkish. I hope that it will be translated into English soon. Abdullah Yasin has a small museum in Cizre dedicated to the archaeology of Cudi Dagh.

Anne Habermehl presented a paper on “The Role of Science in Determining the Resting-Place of the Ark.” One of the main points of her paper was that Agri Dagh, the (late) traditional site of the Ark landing was a post-Flood volcanic mountain and thus could not be the place of the Ark landing. This important paper had been peer-reviewed by two of the leading creation geologists before she gave the paper. This information should be seriously considered by the proponents of Agri Dagh. Anne’s paper and report from this trip are up on her website: http://www.creationsixdays.net/

My friend, Rex Geissler, gave a paper entitled: “Archaeology, Excavations, Historical Documents on Mount Ararat.” This was the only paper given at the conference that defended the traditional site. Other Agri Dagh proponents had been invited, but they declined for one reason or another. One point that Rex stressed was that there was no Urartean pottery ever found in southeastern Turkey, and thus the area of Cudi Dagh was outside “mountains of Ararat.” This statement is very misleading for two reasons: Few, if any, excavations have been made there, and absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

Mark Wilson gave an excellent paper on “Noah, the Ark, and the Early Flood in Christian Literature.” Basically it was about what the New Testament said about Noah and the Great Flood. Timo Roller, a German researcher, gave a paper on “The German Explorers of Cudi Dagh: 114 Years of Examining the Real Landing Place.” He discussed the explorations by Johannes Lepisius, Friedrich Bender, the Hans Thoma team, and his own research with Google Earth. Timo had a collection of old photographs of Cudi Dagh and was able to identify exactly where each picture was taken on Google Earth and the direction the camera was pointing. This paper was very helpful in getting a good visual perspective on the mountain.

The vice-rector of Sirnak University, Dr. Ibrahim Baz, gave an impressive PowerPoint presentation on “An Ancient Settlement on Judi Mount: Shah Village and Sheik Yahya Darshavi.” Sah is located at the western end of Cudi Dagh and had some Assyrian reliefs left by Sennacherib, king of Assyria, and possibly other Assyrian kings. He had some spectacular pictures of Sah in the springtime with beautiful flowers in them. The Assyrian reliefs have been published, but further study is in order.

I was surprised to learn after talking with several Muslim participants at the conference that they believed in the Flood of Noah’s day, but they believed it was a local flood and not a universal flood. They hold to this view for theological reasons and not geological reasons. Dr. John Baumgardner, formerly of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, gave a paper on “Noah’s Flood: The Key to Correct Understanding of Earth History.” In the paper he discussed the R.A.T.E. (Radioisotope and the Age of the Earth) project he worked on with ICR. His main point was to show the scientific evidence for a young earth and geological evidence for a universal, world-wide Flood.

My paper (Gordon Franz) was entitled: “Did Sennacherib, King of Assyria, Worship Wood from Noah’s Ark?” This question was prompted by an account in the rabbinic sources that Sennacherib worshiped wood from the Ark. I answered the question in the affirmative because Sennacherib was on Cudi Dagh during his Fifth Campaign about 697 BC when he saw the Ark and brought wood back to Nineveh. He most likely learned of the history of the Ark from Israelites or Judeans with whom he came in contact. The wood he worshiped was in the House of Nisroch his god (2 Kings 19:36-37; Isa. 37:37-38). Nisroch means plank (of wood), or board.

It cannot be said with 100% certainty that Sennacherib worshiped wood from Noah’s Ark until the Temple of Nisroch is found and excavated, but it can be said that the “rabbinic legend” of Rabbi Papa in Tractate Sanhedrin is historically plausible, if not probable. This “legend” has its basis in historical reality. If that is the case, Sennacherib saw Noah’s Ark on Cudi Dagh, the Assyrian Mount Nipur, in the mountains of Ararat / Urartu, because he was never on, or in the area of, Agri Dagh, the traditional Mount Ararat!

The “Reader’s Digest” version of my paper is up on my website:

Did Sennacherib King of Assyria Worship Wood from Noah’s Ark as a Deity?

The final presentation of the conference was by the Rector (president) of Sirnak University, Prof. Dr. Ali Akmaz. In his summery of the conference he said that Sirnak University was going to start an Institute of Noah Studies and produce a documentary of the history and archaeology of Cudi Dagh. But the most important announcement was that they were going to excavate the site of the Ark Landing once they get a team of archaeologists and engineers in place and secure a permit from the Department of Antiquities. I wish them well in this important, and potentially history changing, endeavor.

I look forward to that cable-car ride up to the top of Cudi Dagh to visit the remains of Noah’s Ark! 🙂

Sight-seeing After the Symposium

The university had scheduled a trip for some of us by helicopter to the top of Cudi Dagh so we could view the landing site of the Ark, conditions permitting. As it turned out, on Sunday morning the army cancelled the trip because of problems in the area, including on top of Cudi Dagh. It was for the best. I appreciate the university’s concern for our safety, even though we were never in any real danger. “Better safe than sorry!”

Well, what do you do for three “free” days before your return flight? You know the old saying: “When life deals you lemons, make lemonade!” Well, “Plan B” was instituted and we had a nice tall glass of cool lemonade that was very good! We took a taxi from Sirnak to Sanliurfa and spent the rest of our time there visiting the sites in the area. On the way we stopped at Nusaybin to visit the Church of St. Jacob and his sarcophagus in a vault underneath the church. St. Jacob of Nisibis is important for Noah’s Ark studies because he noted that the Ark was not on Mount Ararat (Agri Dagh) but on a mountain in the canton of Kortuk where we find Cudi Dagh.

On Monday we went to Gobekli Tepe to view its impressive prehistoric archaeological remains. Then we went on to Harran where Abraham once lived before he went to the Land of Cannan. It was thrilling to read the unconditional covenant that God made with Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3) at Harran where it was first given!

On Tuesday we visited local sites in Sanliurfa, named in the Greek period by Alexander the Great as Edessa, after the well watered city of the same name in Macedonia. Wednesday we returned to the good ol’ US of A.

Thank you for reading this article. Feel free to pass it on to your family and friends.

Bibliography

Crouse, Bill; and Franz, Gordon

2006Mount Cudi – True Mountain of Noah’s Ark. Bible and Spade 19/4: 99-113.
04Oct

Did Sennacherib, King of Assyria, Worship Wood from Noah’s Ark as a Deity?

Noah’s Ark Comments Off on Did Sennacherib, King of Assyria, Worship Wood from Noah’s Ark as a Deity?

Gordon Franz

Introduction

In Tractate Sanhedrin, Rabbi Papa (ca. AD 300-375) recounts a story about Sennacherib, king of Assyria, finding a piece of wood from Noah’s Ark. It states: “He [Sennacherib] then went away and found a plank of Noah’s ark. ‘This’, said he, ‘must be the great God who saved Noah from the flood. If I go [to battle] and am successful, I will sacrifice my two sons to thee’, he vowed. But his sons heard this, so they killed him, as it is written, And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adram-melech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword.” This story is recounted in Louis Ginzberg’s classic work, Legends of the Jews, and implies that this is a legendary account. One reason it might have been considered a legend is because Sennacherib was never on, or near, the modern-day Mount Ararat (Agri Dagh). Yet there are plausible historical reasons to believe this story is true and not legendary.

There are three lines of arguments that suggest the historical plausibility of this event. First, at one point in his life, Sennacherib was on the mountain in the Land of Ararat where tradition and ancient history say Noah’s Ark landed. Second, he learned of the story of Noah’s Ark from some Israelites or Judeans with whom he had contact. Third, the strongest, the temple of Nisroch was dedicated to a plank of wood from Noah’s Ark.

Sennacherib Saw Noah’s Ark

Sennacherib would have seen Noah’s Ark during his fifth campaign carried out about 697 BC. This campaign was precipitated by the rebellion of seven cities located on Mt. Nipur, the Assyrian name for Cudi Dagh which were not subject to the Assyrian yoke.

The flat area to the south of Mt. Nipur, today called the Cizre Plain, was a “buffer zone between the Mesopotamian lowlands and the Anatolian highlands”. In antiquity, the Cizra Plain was called the province of Ulluba. In the year 739 BC, after annexing Ulluba, Tiglath-Pileser III built and fortified a city named Ashur-ipisha. The surveyors of the Cizre Plain project have tentatively identified the site located in the center of the plain, Takyan Hoyuk as the site of Ashur-ipisha.

The Assyrians used this agriculturally rich province to supply food for Nineveh and other cities in central Assyria. They would float grain and other foodstuff down the Tigris River on crafts called kalakku. These crafts consisted “of a raft supported by inflated animal skins”.

The Assyriologist Julian Reade, suggested that the original cause of the Mount Nipur expedition [Sennacherib’s fifth campaign] was to punish the inhabitants for sinking loads of grain or stone sphinx colossi in transit to Nineveh. Others have suggested that the mountain villagers were attacking the Assyrian farms on the Cizre plain.

Sennacherib successfully campaigned against the seven cities on Mt. Nipur (Tumurra, Sharim, Khalbuda, Kipsha, Esama, Kua and Kana). To commemorate his victory he placed at least nine sculptured panels near the top of the mountain. Seven were found near the village of Shakh. Two were found near the village of Hasanah. It has been suggested that Tummurra, the chief city of the region, lay under the village of Shakh because of its close proximity to the bulk of the inscriptions. The city of Esama should be identified with Hasanah, located at the foot of Cudi Dagh, because the toponym is preserved in the name of the village, and there too, the village is in close proximity of the inscriptions. I would be most grateful if any of the Turkish archaeologists are aware of any archaeological surveys on Cudi Dagh that could help identify the other five cities that were destroyed by Sennacherib.

The inscriptions on the sculptured panels reveal the ego of Sennacherib. After attributing his victory to the Assyrian gods, he describes himself as “the great king, the mighty king, king of the universe, king of Assyria, and the exalted prince!”. He goes on to describes himself as an ibex, leading the charge up the mountain, through gullies and mountain torrents to the highest summits. The impression one gets from his inscriptions is that he climbed all over the mountain in his conquest of the seven cities.

When Friedrich Bender visited Cudi Dagh in the spring of 1954 he obtained wood samples from an object that might be Noah’s Ark at a level of about 2,000 meters, just below the summit of Cudi Dagh. This location is also near some of the inscriptions that were carved by Sennacherib’s artisans.

Sennacherib would have seen an intact Noah’s Ark. He apparently, according to Jewish tradition, had “relic fever” and brought some wood back to Nineveh with him from Cudi Dagh.

Sennacherib Heard about Noah’s Ark from Israelites or Judeans

How did Sennacherib know that the object he saw was Noah’s Ark? More than likely he heard about the Ark from Israelites or Judeans with whom he had come in contact. There are several possibilities as to their identity. The first possibility is that his mother told him.

In the spring of 1989, Iraqi archaeologists excavated a vaulted tomb (Tomb II) in the North-West Palace at Nimrud, ancient Kalkhu. Inside was a sarcophagus that contained two skeletal remains as well as 157 objects. The two occupants have been identified as Yaba, the wife and queen of Tiglath-Pileser III (744-727 BC), and Atalia, the wife and queen of Sargon II (721-705 BC). In a detailed study of these names as it relates to the foreign policy of Assyria, Stephanie Dalley suggests that they were Judean princesses married to the kings of Assyria. She concluded that “Atalya was almost certainly the mother of Sennacherib.”

This is a tantalizing possibility, but is it the case? K. Lawson Younger, in an article discussing the Yahwistic theophoric element in names written in the Neo-Assyrian language, Akkadian, says it is far from certain that the name of Sargon’s queen, Atalia, contains the Yahwistic theophoric element and it is probably best to refrain from too much speculation on the queen’s ethnicity. Ran Zadok concurs with Younger. With these cautions in mind, we probably should look elsewhere for Sennacherib’s contact with Israelites or Judeans.

The second possibility would be an Israelite or Judean soldier in the Assyrian army during Sennacherib’s Fifth Campaign. It is known that the Assyrians incorporated the armies of their defeated foes into their army.

A third possibility how Sennacherib could have come in contact with Israelites or Judeans were those Judeans working on Sennacherib’s “Palace without Rival” in Nineveh. David Ussishkin, the excavator of Lachish, did a detailed study of the Lachish relief in the British Museum. He concluded from the dress that some of the laborers working on Sennacherib’s palace were Judeans, and “quit possibly the men of Lachish.”

John Russell, in his monumental study on Sennacherib’s Palace, points out that Rooms 29, 30, and 33 of the palace were embellished with a special stone panel from Mount Nipur (Cudi Dagh) of polished stones. On the back of one winged lion from Room 33, door p, was an inscription that stated: “Palace of Sennacherib, great king, powerful king, king of the world, king of Assyria: [grain stone], whose appearance is like mottled barley (?), which in the time of the kings, my fathers, was valued only as a necklace stone, revealed itself to me at the foot of Mt. Nipur. I had female sphinxes made of it and had them dragged into Nineveh.” In a study conducted at the British Museum on the slabs that originated at Mt. Nipur, it was determined that the stone was fossiliferous limestone, also known as biopelsparite, and contained microfossils and shell fragments that fit the description of “cucumber seeds” or “finely grained barley.”

The Israelites or Judeans that Sennacherib came in contact would have told him some of the great stories from the Torah. One of the most dramatic being the account of Noah’s Flood and God providing salvation for Noah and his family by placing them in an Ark built by the great patriarch.

The Deity of the Temple of Nisroch Was a Plank from Noah’s Ark

The Bible recounts the death of Sennacherib, king of Assyria, in this way: “Now it came to pass, as he [Sennacherib] was worshiping in the house (temple) of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammeleh and Sharezer struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into the Land of Ararat.” Archaeologists, Assyriologist, and Bible commentators have been puzzled over the identification of the Sennacherib’s god, or personal divine patron, Nisroch because there is no Assyrian god named Nisroch! Some have suggested that Nisroch might be the god Enlil, whose name was sometimes used as an epithet of the god Ashur, the chief god of Assyria. Or he might be Ninurta the Assyrian god of war. But in both cases the biblical form of the name does not match the forms preserved in Assyrian sources. Others suggest that the name of the god Nisroch (Heb. nsrk) was a corruption of the name Marduk. Yet Lettinga points out: “There is no evidence that Sennacherib especially worshipped the divinity whose city, Babylon, he thoroughly destroyed in 689 BC. Sennacherib does not call Marduk his god but Assur.” But Lettinga goes on to suggest, based on Sennacherib being buried in the city of Assur, that the name Nisroch is a blend of the divinity names Assur and Marduk since Sennacherib had taken the statue of Marduk to a temple in Assur after he destroyed Babylon.

Another commentator, giving sage advice, offered this suggestion: “To date, no Assyrian god by the name of Nisroch is known. However, given the Biblical record for accuracy in the reporting of obscure details of ancient life, it is reasonable to assume that archaeology has simply failed to uncover the data as yet. The implication is that this was the private tutelary [guardian or protector] god of the king.”

Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, in a footnote on the rabbinic story based on this passage, says: “Because Sennacherib worshiped in the house of Nisroch (the house of the neser – the plank from Noah’s ark that Sennacherib turned into a god), his sons, Adrammelech and Sharezer, came and smote him.” In Aramaic, the word nsr could mean “plank.” In Syriac, it could mean board. Jastrow gives the definition of “board” for “neser” and “nisra.” Instead of looking for an unknown Assyrian or Babylonian god, or saying the name Nisroch is a corruption of some god, we should consider the possibility that the god he worshiped was a plank of wood … wood from Noah’s Ark! Sennacherib had heard the story about the Flood from an Israelite or Judean, but because of pagan influence in his life, he thought that the plank was the god who saved Noah and not the Lord God Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth! During his fifth campaign to Mount Nipur Sennacherib came across the remains of Noah’s Ark and brought back a plank and worshiped it as his personal god.

Where was the Temple of Nisroch located? Cogan and Tadmor also state: “Likewise, the location of the Nisroch Temple remains, for the present, enigmatic” (1988: 239). There are several possibilities for the location of this temple. The first would be in Sennacherib’s “Palace without Rival” in Nineveh. A second possibility would be Assur, one of the provincial capitals of Assyria and the city where Sennacherib was buried. Neither city has revealed any evidence for this temple. It has been suggested that Sennacherib was murdered in Dur-Sarruken, a provincial capital about 20 kilometers to the north of Nineveh. Perhaps this is where we should look for the House of Nisroch where Sarruken might preserve the name Nisroch!

Conclusion

It can not be said with 100% certainty that Sennacherib worshiped wood from Noah’s Ark, but it could be said that the “rabbinic legend” is historically plausible, if not probable. This “legend” has its basis in historical reality. If that is the case, Sennacherib saw Noah’s Ark on Mount Nipur (Cudi Dagh) in the mountains of Ararat / Urartu, because he was never on, or in the area of, Agri Dagh, the (late) traditional Mount Ararat!

by Gordon Franz

Introduction

In Tractate Sanhedrin, Rabbi Papa (ca. AD 300-375) recounts a story about Sennacherib, king of Assyria, finding a piece of wood from Noah’s Ark. It states: “He [Sennacherib] then went away and found a plank of Noah’s ark. ‘This’, said he, ‘must be the great God who saved Noah from the flood. If I go [to battle] and am successful, I will sacrifice my two sons to thee’, he vowed. But his sons heard this, so they killed him, as it is written, And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adram-melech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword.” This story is recounted in Louis Ginzberg’s classic work, Legends of the Jews, and implies that this is a legendary account. One reason it might have been considered a legend is because Sennacherib was never on, or near, the modern-day Mount Ararat (Agri Dagh). Yet there are plausible historical reasons to believe this story is true and not legendary.

There are three lines of arguments that suggest the historical plausibility of this event. First, at one point in his life, Sennacherib was on the mountain in the Land of Ararat where tradition and ancient history say Noah’s Ark landed. Second, he learned of the story of Noah’s Ark from some Israelites or Judeans with whom he had contact. Third, the strongest, the temple of Nisroch was dedicated to a plank of wood from Noah’s Ark.

Sennacherib Saw Noah’s Ark

Sennacherib would have seen Noah’s Ark during his fifth campaign carried out about 697 BC. This campaign was precipitated by the rebellion of seven cities located on Mt. Nipur, the Assyrian name for Cudi Dagh which were not subject to the Assyrian yoke.

The flat area to the south of Mt. Nipur, today called the Cizre Plain, was a “buffer zone between the Mesopotamian lowlands and the Anatolian highlands”. In antiquity, the Cizra Plain was called the province of Ulluba. In the year 739 BC, after annexing Ulluba, Tiglath-Pileser III built and fortified a city named Ashur-ipisha. The surveyors of the Cizre Plain project have tentatively identified the site located in the center of the plain, Takyan Hoyuk as the site of Ashur-ipisha.

The Assyrians used this agriculturally rich province to supply food for Nineveh and other cities in central Assyria. They would float grain and other foodstuff down the Tigris River on crafts called kalakku. These crafts consisted “of a raft supported by inflated animal skins”.

The Assyriologist Julian Reade, suggested that the original cause of the Mount Nipur expedition [Sennacherib’s fifth campaign] was to punish the inhabitants for sinking loads of grain or stone sphinx colossi in transit to Nineveh. Others have suggested that the mountain villagers were attacking the Assyrian farms on the Cizre plain.

Sennacherib successfully campaigned against the seven cities on Mt. Nipur (Tumurra, Sharim, Khalbuda, Kipsha, Esama, Kua and Kana). To commemorate his victory he placed at least nine sculptured panels near the top of the mountain. Seven were found near the village of Shakh. Two were found near the village of Hasanah. It has been suggested that Tummurra, the chief city of the region, lay under the village of Shakh because of its close proximity to the bulk of the inscriptions. The city of Esama should be identified with Hasanah, located at the foot of Cudi Dagh, because the toponym is preserved in the name of the village, and there too, the village is in close proximity of the inscriptions. I would be most grateful if any of the Turkish archaeologists are aware of any archaeological surveys on Cudi Dagh that could help identify the other five cities that were destroyed by Sennacherib.

The inscriptions on the sculptured panels reveal the ego of Sennacherib. After attributing his victory to the Assyrian gods, he describes himself as “the great king, the mighty king, king of the universe, king of Assyria, and the exalted prince!”. He goes on to describes himself as an ibex, leading the charge up the mountain, through gullies and mountain torrents to the highest summits. The impression one gets from his inscriptions is that he climbed all over the mountain in his conquest of the seven cities.

When Friedrich Bender visited Cudi Dagh in the spring of 1954 he obtained wood samples from an object that might be Noah’s Ark at a level of about 2,000 meters, just below the summit of Cudi Dagh. This location is also near some of the inscriptions that were carved by Sennacherib’s artisans.

Sennacherib would have seen an intact Noah’s Ark. He apparently, according to Jewish tradition, had “relic fever” and brought some wood back to Nineveh with him from Cudi Dagh.

Sennacherib Heard about Noah’s Ark from Israelites or Judeans

How did Sennacherib know that the object he saw was Noah’s Ark? More than likely he heard about the Ark from Israelites or Judeans with whom he had come in contact. There are several possibilities as to their identity. The first possibility is that his mother told him.

In the spring of 1989, Iraqi archaeologists excavated a vaulted tomb (Tomb II) in the North-West Palace at Nimrud, ancient Kalkhu. Inside was a sarcophagus that contained two skeletal remains as well as 157 objects. The two occupants have been identified as Yaba, the wife and queen of Tiglath-Pileser III (744-727 BC), and Atalia, the wife and queen of Sargon II (721-705 BC). In a detailed study of these names as it relates to the foreign policy of Assyria, Stephanie Dalley suggests that they were Judean princesses married to the kings of Assyria. She concluded that “Atalya was almost certainly the mother of Sennacherib.”

This is a tantalizing possibility, but is it the case? K. Lawson Younger, in an article discussing the Yahwistic theophoric element in names written in the Neo-Assyrian language, Akkadian, says it is far from certain that the name of Sargon’s queen, Atalia, contains the Yahwistic theophoric element and it is probably best to refrain from too much speculation on the queen’s ethnicity. Ran Zadok concurs with Younger. With these cautions in mind, we probably should look elsewhere for Sennacherib’s contact with Israelites or Judeans.

The second possibility would be an Israelite or Judean soldier in the Assyrian army during Sennacherib’s Fifth Campaign. It is known that the Assyrians incorporated the armies of their defeated foes into their army.

A third possibility how Sennacherib could have come in contact with Israelites or Judeans were those Judeans working on Sennacherib’s “Palace without Rival” in Nineveh. David Ussishkin, the excavator of Lachish, did a detailed study of the Lachish relief in the British Museum. He concluded from the dress that some of the laborers working on Sennacherib’s palace were Judeans, and “quit possibly the men of Lachish.”

John Russell, in his monumental study on Sennacherib’s Palace, points out that Rooms 29, 30, and 33 of the palace were embellished with a special stone panel from Mount Nipur (Cudi Dagh) of polished stones. On the back of one winged lion from Room 33, door p, was an inscription that stated: “Palace of Sennacherib, great king, powerful king, king of the world, king of Assyria: [grain stone], whose appearance is like mottled barley (?), which in the time of the kings, my fathers, was valued only as a necklace stone, revealed itself to me at the foot of Mt. Nipur. I had female sphinxes made of it and had them dragged into Nineveh.” In a study conducted at the British Museum on the slabs that originated at Mt. Nipur, it was determined that the stone was fossiliferous limestone, also known as biopelsparite, and contained microfossils and shell fragments that fit the description of “cucumber seeds” or “finely grained barley.”

The Israelites or Judeans that Sennacherib came in contact would have told him some of the great stories from the Torah. One of the most dramatic being the account of Noah’s Flood and God providing salvation for Noah and his family by placing them in an Ark built by the great patriarch.

The Deity of the Temple of Nisroch Was a Plank from Noah’s Ark

The Bible recounts the death of Sennacherib, king of Assyria, in this way: “Now it came to pass, as he [Sennacherib] was worshiping in the house (temple) of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammeleh and Sharezer struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into the Land of Ararat.” Archaeologists, Assyriologist, and Bible commentators have been puzzled over the identification of the Sennacherib’s god, or personal divine patron, Nisroch because there is no Assyrian god named Nisroch! Some have suggested that Nisroch might be the god Enlil, whose name was sometimes used as an epithet of the god Ashur, the chief god of Assyria. Or he might be Ninurta the Assyrian god of war. But in both cases the biblical form of the name does not match the forms preserved in Assyrian sources. Others suggest that the name of the god Nisroch (Heb. nsrk) was a corruption of the name Marduk. Yet Lettinga points out: “There is no evidence that Sennacherib especially worshiped the divinity whose city, Babylon, he thoroughly destroyed in 689 BC. Sennacherib does not call Marduk his god but Assur.” But Lettinga goes on to suggest, based on Sennacherib being buried in the city of Assur, that the name Nisroch is a blend of the divinity names Assur and Marduk since Sennacherib had taken the statue of Marduk to a temple in Assur after he destroyed Babylon.

Another commentator, giving sage advice, offered this suggestion: “To date, no Assyrian god by the name of Nisroch is known. However, given the Biblical record for accuracy in the reporting of obscure details of ancient life, it is reasonable to assume that archaeology has simply failed to uncover the data as yet. The implication is that this was the private tutelary [guardian or protector] god of the king.”

Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, in a footnote on the rabbinic story based on this passage, says: “Because Sennacherib worshiped in the house of Nisroch (the house of the neser – the plank from Noah’s ark that Sennacherib turned into a god), his sons, Adrammelech and Sharezer, came and smote him.” In Aramaic, the word nsr could mean “plank.” In Syriac, it could mean board. Jastrow gives the definition of “board” for “neser” and “nisra.” Instead of looking for an unknown Assyrian or Babylonian god, or saying the name Nisroch is a corruption of some god, we should consider the possibility that the god he worshiped was a plank of wood … wood from Noah’s Ark! Sennacherib had heard the story about the Flood from an Israelite or Judean, but because of pagan influence in his life, he thought that the plank was the god who saved Noah and not the Lord God Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth! During his fifth campaign to Mount Nipur Sennacherib came across the remains of Noah’s Ark and brought back a plank and worshiped it as his personal god.

Where was the Temple of Nisroch located? Cogan and Tadmor also state: “Likewise, the location of the Nisroch Temple remains, for the present, enigmatic” (1988: 239). There are several possibilities for the location of this temple. The first would be in Sennacherib’s “Palace without Rival” in Nineveh. A second possibility would be Assur, one of the provincial capitals of Assyria and the city where Sennacherib was buried. Neither city has revealed any evidence for this temple. It has been suggested that Sennacherib was murdered in Dur-Sarruken, a provincial capital about 20 kilometers to the north of Nineveh. Perhaps this is where we should look for the House of Nisroch where Sarruken might preserve the name Nisroch!

Conclusion

It cannot be said with 100% certainty that Sennacherib worshiped wood from Noah’s Ark, but it could be said that the “rabbinic legend” is historically plausible, if not probable. This “legend” has its basis in historical reality. If that is the case, Sennacherib saw Noah’s Ark on Mount Nipur (Cudi Dagh) in the mountains of Ararat / Urartu, because he was never on, or in the area of, Agri Dagh, the (late) traditional Mount Ararat!

Tags: noah's ark, Sennacherib

Life and Land

Category:

Archives:

Meta:

TITUS: Blessed Are the Peacemakers (and Administrators)

REPORT ON THE “INTERNATIONAL NOAH AND JUDI MOUNTAIN SYMPOSIUM” – SIRNAK, TURKEY

Did Sennacherib, King of Assyria, Worship Wood from Noah’s Ark as a Deity?

Recent Posts

Recent Comments